Crash of Moons

1954
3.2| 1h18m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 10 July 1954 Released
Producted By: Official Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A three-part episode from the TV series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger edited together and released as a feature for 16mm rental only. Season 1 episodes 21, 22, 23. Episode 21: Rocky saves a space station and his friends when they are trapped between gypsy moons. Episode 22: Cleolanthe tries to destroy one of the gypsy moons with a barrage of missiles. Episode 23: Rocky evacuates the gypsy moon Posetta and stops Cleolanthe's missile barrage.

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Reviews

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Red-Barracuda A couple of inhabited planets are on a collision course. The space federation called the United Worlds warns the rulers of both planets of the deadly situation. The problem is that the ruler of one of the planets, Ophesius, is an evil queen who wants nothing to do with the United Worlds. When she finally accepts the situation, rather than organise a mass evacuation she decides to simply blow the other planet up.This was made up into a feature film by merging a few episodes of the Rocky Jones Space Ranger TV series together. Like a lot of sci-fi films of the 50's it has cold war undertones. The planet Ophesius represent communist thinking in the way that they refuse to join up with everybody else and are only interested in themselves. Well, more accurately, this is how Americans in the 50's mostly thought of communists, as opposed to any particular accuracy of depiction. Whatever the case, you don't need to know this and the film works as a space adventure. Personally I found it interminable but others with a keen interest in 50's sci-fi may well completely disagree. But I think this one is even going to try their patience somewhat.
BA_Harrison While travelling home in their XV2 Orbit spacecraft, pilot Rocky Jones (Richard Crane), co-pilot Winky (Scotty Beckett), translator Vena (Sally Mansfield), elderly scientist Prof. Newton (Maurice Cass) and his young ward Bobby (Robert Lyden) discover a strange atmospheric corridor that connects two roaming moons, Posita and Negato, the inhabitants of which have been at war for millennia.Alert! Learn this: Crash of Moons AKA The Gypsy Moon is another feature compiled from several episodes of 50s sci-fi TV series Rocky Jones Space Ranger and as such is full of incredibly cheap effects, laughable dialogue and implausible science. It does, however, successfully drive home the value of a classical education...In this adventure, insufferable space brat Bobby is forced to read classic Greek literature as part of his education, something that proves very handy when he and his fellow space travellers find themselves in several dangerous situations that mirror Homer's The Odyssey. Armed with Bobby's recently acquired knowledge of The Trojan Horse, the Sirens, and Odysseus's return to Ithaca, Rocky and Co are not only able to negotiate peace between Posita and Negato, but also successfully thwart another dastardly plot by power-mad Queen Cleolanta of Ophesia (Patsy Parsons).Ridiculously contrived and completely logic-free, the plot also suffers from an excess of outlandish scientific twaddle, and is further hampered by the need for language translation between races, something that is achieved through the use of a machine that prints the results on miles of ticker tape, an extremely slow process that is repeated ad nauseum. Dull, dull, dull!Thank heavens then for the film's lovely ladies, without whom this would be a lot less bearable; cast regulars Mansfield and Parsons look great in their usual skimpy 50s space outfits, and they are joined by buxom beauty Maria Palmer as Potonda, owner of two of the biggest 'positives' to be found on Posita.
mstomaso Had this been a 1940s Sci-Fi serial, there would be no question about its place in sci-fi cinematic history. Instead, Crash of Moons - an assemblage of episodes from the 1954 Rocky Jones TV series - sits firmly in the 1950s sci-fi schlock category. Crash of Moons, and the rest of the Rocky Jones adventures, has a very strong serial feel to it, and is enjoyable for many of the same reasons the 1940s serials are still entertaining. For info on the original 1954 series from which this comes, see http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0046639/Jones (Richard Crane) is a space-ship captain who flies around the solar system with his improbably named navigator "Winky" (played by the ill-fated child prodigy Scotty Beckett) representing the United Worlds - an interplanetary political entity which has a very strong resemblance to Star Trek's federation. In Crash of Moons, Jones and Winky find themselves trying to deal with a pair of "gypsy moons" whose eccentric orbit is going to collapse, destroying them both. Of course, both moons are inhabited (I assume, by people who do not require consistent sunlight, food, energy sources, and an atmosphere), and one is presided over by dictator Cleolanta (Patty Parsons). Jones has a number of support personnel - an elderly science professor, The United Worlds' Secretary of Space, a lovely and smart young woman, and a child prodigy. They all pool their resources to avert the crisis, but Cleolanta has other plans. Star Trek fans will find more than the United Worlds concept interesting - the Rocky Jones series also consistently cast women in positions of considerable power and responsibility - a bold move for 1950s TV.The special effects are not at all bad for their time. Mostly, the effects involve miniatures and some creative imagery which merely suggest what they are meant to represent, but the effects scenes are all sewn and filmed together in a surprisingly classy way. The cinematography and directing are quite good for early TV. The script is predictably silly, very inventively deploys technobabble, and has nothing whatsoever to do with science, or even real technology. It is therefore what one might expect had Star Trek Voyager been produced in the 1950s by the same writing team which created it in the 1990s. The acting is serviceable for its intent - family TV viewing. Characterization is a bit light - even for heroes Jones and Winky - but this is not surprising since the film is really just an excerpt from a TV series. I heartily recommend Crash of Moons for those interested in Sci-Fi TV history and B film addicts. Keep what this is intended to be in mind and keep your expectations low, and you just might have a good time with it!
Snow Leopard This is a pretty standard example of the kind of 1950's sci-fi movie that, on the one hand, now comes across as thoroughly dated and often unintentionally funny, but that also has a certain charm, at least to those who can appreciate the genre. This is not a bad film of its kind, despite its deficiencies.The "Crash of Moons" has to do with a pair of 'gypsy moons', one of which is inhabited, that are locked into an irregular orbit around each other (as one character helpfully describes it, 'like two children on a playground'), and that are headed for a collision with another inhabited moon. The 'United Worlds' sends Space Ranger Rocky Jones and his friends to save everybody. One of the moons (whose leader is John Banner, better known as Sergeant Schultz from "Hogan's Heroes") is quite cooperative, but the other world is ruled by an entertainingly mean-spirited queen who, for reasons that apparently satisfy her, would rather eliminate the Space Rangers than have their help.Most of the characters are stereotypes, but the actors are not bad, and most of them seem to enjoy what they are doing, which gives it some real life most of the time. Some of the events and much of the jargon in the dialogue lack any plausibility, but the basic premise of the impending collision comes across pretty well, and creates some real interest. The direction could have been a lot better, because in many of the crises the tension is prematurely defused, but on the other hand there is usually enough going on to keep the viewer's interest. The 'special' effects are about what you would expect, but at least they're good for some chuckles.This movie won't be of general interest today, but if you enjoy movies such as "Plan 9 From Outer Space", this one is worth a look. "Crash of Moons" is not nearly as uproariously inept (what movie is), but it will keep your attention and provide some light entertainment.