Openai/6919c9ea-bb88-8012-8980-34999120836d

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User: Reference: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/emergent-ventures-winners-48th-cohort.html

Reference: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/11/emergent-ventures-winners-48th-cohort.html

I saw this comment on Marginal Revolution:

One of my oldest memories, probably from 1962-1966, is watching on TV a cartoon about how in the future space debris will become a huge problem due to satellites constantly falling out of orbit. So at the end of the cartoon, humanity builds a giant glass sphere around the earth to protect us from space debris.

Does anybody know what cartoon this is?

Assistant: Best match: Space Patrol UK, 1963–64; syndicated in the U.S.

Best match: Space Patrol (UK, 1963–64; syndicated in the U.S. as Planet Patrol) — specifically the episode “Forcefield X.” In that story, aliens from Neptune surround the entire Earth with a spherical force field that visually reads like a glass shell and causes a global blackout. The dates line up with your “early‑60s” memory, and the show was widely syndicated, so lots of people in North America saw it in the mid‑1960s. Wikipedia

Why I think this is it

• Whole‑planet “glass sphere” look: The episode synopsis explicitly says “The Neptunians create a forcefield around the Earth containing particles with strong electromagnetic properties,” which is shown as a globe‑enclosing shell — easy for a kid to remember as “a giant glass sphere around the Earth.” ITVX
• Right time frame: Space Patrol/Planet Patrol aired 1963–64 (with reruns afterward), right in the 1962–66 window you mentioned. Wikipedia
• You can preview it: The same episode is listed (and has been uploaded/streamed) under the title “Forcefield X.” youtube.com

A small mismatch you mentioned

• Your memory emphasizes space debris / satellites falling out of orbit as the reason for the “sphere.” In Forcefield X, the cause is an electromagnetic force field deployed by Neptunians, not falling satellites. Childhood memories often blend details from different shows, so it’s plausible you’re recalling the spherical Earth shield correctly but merging it with a different “space junk” explanation. (The MR comment you saw frames it exactly that way.) Marginal REVOLUTION

If Forcefield X doesn’t ring a bell, here are two long‑shot alternates that get near your description but not as closely:

• Disney’s “Man in Space / Man and the Moon / Mars and Beyond” (1955–57, rerun in the early ’60s): light‑hearted animated segments about hazards of space; while I don’t find a specific “glass sphere around Earth” gag, these shorts are the right era and vibe if what you remember was pure animation rather than puppets. Wikipedia
• Fireball XL5 (1962–63): another British marionette series with multiple Earth‑in‑danger episodes (e.g., clouds, reflectors), but I don’t see a whole‑planet glass‑dome solution there. Wikipedia

Bottom line: The closest, time‑correct match with a literal Earth‑enclosing “glass‑like” shell is Space Patrol/Planet Patrol — episode “Forcefield X.” If you remember marionette‑style characters (Larry Dart, the Galasphere, etc.), that’s almost certainly it. Wikipedia