| Big Blue Marble | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's television series |
| Directed by | Joe Napolitano, (1974-76) Joseph Consentino Peter Hammer Cathy Olian |
| Composer(s) | Norman Paris, Paul Baillargeon |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Henry Fownes |
| Producer(s) | Rick Berman Lynn Rogoff |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | syndicated |
| Original run | September 21, 1974 – January 1, 1983 |
Big Blue Marble was a half-hour children's television series that ran from 1974 to 1983 in syndication. Distinctive content included stories about children around the world and a pen-pal club that encouraged intercultural communication. The name of the show referred to the appearance of Earth as a giant marble, popularized by a famous photograph of the same name taken in December 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17.
In keeping with this theme, there was a weekly segment in which a singing globe invited viewers to write letters to the show, often requests for pen pals. The address to send the letters was in Santa Barbara, California.
Production personnel included creators Ken Snyder, Henry Fownes, and Robert Garrison, producer Rick Berman (later of Star Trek fame), writers Lynn Rogoff and Robert Wiemer, and directors Joe Napolitano, Joseph Consentino and Peter Hammer.
Each of the first 78 half-hour episodes produced during the original three years of production contained cartoon shorts and other animated pieces. These animation sequences were created by Ron Campbell Films, Inc., executive produced and directed by Ron Campbell, and were written by Cliff Roberts.
In 1974, A&M Records released an album of songs from the show, also titled Big Blue Marble. The catalog number for the album was SP-3401.
Funded by ITT, Big Blue Marble was syndicated to television stations throughout the United States and Canada. C/F International was the most-recent rights holder to the series; that company folded in 2008.