The Forest Rangers
The Forest Rangers was a Canadian television series that ran from 1963 to 1965. It was a co-production between CBC Television and ITC Entertainment and was Canada's first television show produced in colour. Executive producer Maxine Samuels founded the show.
The series ran for three seasons, a total of 104 30-minute colour episodes. Early episodes of the series were broadcast in serialized form as part of a CBC children's series entitled Razzle Dazzle, hosted by Alan Hamel and Michelle Finney.
This was the first appearance in a major series by Gordon Pinsent. He left the series in 1965 to star in Quentin Durgens, M.P.. In 1966 the series was adapted into a comic strip by British comics artist John Gillatt, which appeared in the British comic magazine Tiger.
The show was also run in syndication in the United States from 1965-1966.
In June 2004, there was a reunion for ex-cast and fans just south of Kleinburg, where the show was originally filmed. Six of the ex-junior rangers appeared and Peter Tully flew in from his home in Ireland. Another reunion occurred 15 June 2013 at the actual studios where the show was filmed. This time nine junior rangers and Gordon Pinsent were in attendance.
The show's first season was released on DVD by Imavision in early 2007.
Main cast
- Graydon Gould as Chief Ranger George Keeley
- Rex Hagon as Junior Ranger Peter Keeley
- Michael Zenon as Joe Two Rivers
- Gordon Pinsent as Sergeant Scott
- Rolland Bédard as Uncle Raoul
- Ralph Endersby as Junior Ranger Chub Stanley
- Peter Tully as Junior Ranger Mike Forbes
- Susan Conway as Junior Ranger Kathy
- Syme Jago as Junior Ranger Gaby La Roche
- Joe Austin as MacLeod
- Eric Clavering as Shingwauk
- Tom Harvey as Deputy Ranger Brody
- Eric Cryderman as Ranger Matt Craig
- Ronald Cohoon as Junior Ranger Zeke
- George Allan as Junior Ranger Ted
- Mathew Ferguson as Junior Ranger Danny Bailey
- Barbara Hamilton as Aggie Apple
- Ray Bellew as Rocky Webb
- Trudy Young as Wilhelmina
Episode list
Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 |
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Filming locations
- Cinespace Film Studios, Kleinburg, Ontario- the main studio lot
- Lake Muskoka- winter lake scenes from season 3
- Widdifield Fire Tower in North Bay, Ontario- fire tower scenes from season 3
- Trout Mills, Ontario- winter lake plane landing from season 1
- Mono Mills, Ontario- an old mill used in season 1
- Dorset Fire Tower in Dorset, Ontario- opening credits scene
- Mary Lake in King City, Ontario- summer lake scenes from season 1
- Draper Fire Tower in Bracebridge, Ontario- fire tower scenes from season 1
- Whitney, Ontario- river rapids scenes from season 2
- Tottenham, Ontario- a railroad scene from season 1
- King Creek, Ontario in King Township, Ontario- Dog Catcher chase scenes
- Orangeville, Ontario- the rural airport where Charlie Appleby lands his plane from season 2
- Dickie Lake near Baysville, Ontario- summer lake fly-over scene from season 1
- Echo Lake near Baysville, Ontario- summer lake fly-over scene from season 2