Rocky Jones: Crash of Moons 2003 Horror Movie Review

Just when you think you know a genre really well, you learn something new.  Such is the case with this movie, culled from the “Rocky Jones, Space Ranger” television show, the first science fiction television show to be put on film.  While the show is relatively crude by even the standards of the next decade, the special effects were quite good for 1954-1955.  The theremin, a musical instrument that provided many of the eerie musical sound effects for early science fiction movies, was liberally used in the show.  The costumes are very dated, including the incredibly short hemline of the beautiful Vena Ray (Sally Mansfield).


In this movie, a pair of Gypsy Moons, connected by an atmosphere bridge, travel through space, nearly destroying a space station, a space station where Rocky had just dropped off his friends Vena Ray, Bobby (Robert Lyden) and Professor Newton (Maurice Cass).  Fortunately, Rocky was able to ram into the docking bay of the space ship and push it out of the atmosphere bridge.


After twiddling some knobs and making interesting scientific-sounding noises, Rocky and friends determine that the Gypsy Moons are going to ram Officious, ruled by obnoxious Cleolanta (Patsy Parsons).  Apparently Cleolanta believes that by keeping the information about the crash of moons from her people that she will prevent the crash from happening.  It helps little that Cleolanta is incredibly paranoid.


There are a lot of spaceship trips and occasional fights, but ultimately Rocky saves the day!


This movie has its cheesy moments.  Rocky’s sidekick Winky (Scotty Beckett) is unnecessary comic relief.  I assume Bobby was thrown into the mix to appeal to children, who were probably assumed to be a bigger audience than adults in this time frame.  It seems incredible to me, fifty years later, that Bobby would ever have been allowed to travel into space, but the show was trying to portray that space travel was as routine and safe as airplanes.  One surprise is Vena Ray, who is quite aggressive and typically takes a lead role.  Vena more than holds her own with the rowdy male characters, both physically and intellectually.


I compare this show to “Star Trek,” which was another 12 years away.  While “Star Trek” was significantly more sophisticated than “Rocky Jones,” so were we.  If you can roll back your mental clock to the technology of the early 1950s, you can see how this show was relatively cutting edge for the time, with its primitive oscilloscopes, large clunky electronics, and devices that have only become practical in the last ten years.  If you are a fan of classic science fiction movies and television, this movie is quite a treat.