Crash of Moons (1954)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Powerful

One of my all time favorites.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I do like watching the classic serials of the 1940s and '50s what with their constant two-fisted action scenes and cliffhangers, although I'd never experienced the delights of ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER previously. CRASH OF MOONS is an example of three episodes of the popular TV series being stitched together to make a single movie.And boy, is it a dog. It's a drawn out sci-fi movie that drags along in the doldrums for the entire running time, featuring a plot so slight that it barely holds the viewer's attention. The tale is about the titular pair of moons that have been sent out of orbit and are on a collision course with an inhabited planet. Rocky and his team (including a woman, a kid, and a bizarre old professor guy who might as well sit around smoking a pipe) go to help them evacuate, but the planet's stupid queen wants nothing to do with it.I associate these kinds of serial and TV shows with plenty of action and excitement, but CRASH OF MOONS is sorely lacking in that department. There are lots and lots of shots of spaceships landing and docking in which the ships look like they've been drawn on the screen or perhaps animated with a piece of cardboard. Even worse, there are only a couple of fight scenes, and attempts to generate any kind of suspense fall flat. The queen and her people are so unlikeable and stupid in behaviour that you wish the moons would crash on to them and kill them all. Add in a stolid hero and cheap production values and you have CRASH OF MOONS, an entirely dated sci-fi outing.

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.

There's not really that much wrong with Crash of the Moons. Basically it's a few episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger merged into a film. It is extremely dated, however. Winky's treatment of Vena is a good example of this. One has to remember that it was geared to be shown to children in the 1950's. In this respect, it succeeds. If you like children's sci-fi from the 1950's, go ahead and take a look at it. You'll see John Banner in a pre-sgt. Schultz role. He does a pretty good job in it. All in all, I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Not great, but not bad.

Crash of Moons isn't half bad. Considering that it was an MST experiment, you're tendency is to brace for the worst, especially considering it falls into that dreaded 50s-era space movie.The plot is quite evident and the characters are engaging. Rocky Jones is a take-charge, aggressive, and well-meaning character who made James T. Kirk possible a generation later. Miss Ray, whose mini-skirted character is constrained by 1950s perception of women, comes off well. Despite her character being rather hamstrung, she manages to breathe life into the role and lessens the effect. "Winky", on the other hand, is an annoying character who would have been the first to die had he been in either a 80s slasher flick or the original Star Trek series.Be willing to suspend your disbelieve with respect to the scientific end of the story. But don't let that get in the way of enjoying a good rainy Saturday afternoon movie.Sterno says sign up for a mission with Rocky Jones.