In 1945, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are noticed by two figures: Scratch, a caveman from a vague prehistoric era who had been asleep since the last Stone Age and was awakened by the bombings; and the denizens of the exoplanet Futura. The Futurians, an alien race with heads shaped like Reuleaux triangles and small, slender bodies, send one of their own, Colonel Bleep, to investigate. Upon reaching Earth, Bleep commissions Scratch as a deputy, with Bleep representing the future and Scratch the past. Representing the present day is Squeak, a cowboy puppet toy and former actor that can move on his own volition but cannot speak (as a puppet, he cannot speak on his own; this conceit was eventually abandoned, and Squeak spoke—albeit rarely—in some of the later episodes). Together, the three establish a base at Zero Zero Island in the Atlantic Ocean to protect Earth's solar system from extraterrestrial threats.