Thanks for the memories!

How sad is this?

A Masterpiece!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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.

This is another film that is a series of shows strung together to form a sort of movie. This is the second one I know of featuring Rocky Jones and his copilot/navigator Winky...the other one was titled "Manhunt in Space". That one was centered around a space pirate ring and a new invention on Rocky's ship that turned it invisible. I would have to say that Manhunt was a bit better than this one as it had more action than this one did. This one was very talky and featured way too many shots of ships taking off and landing. I saw this one as a feature on the show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 as they did both this one and "Manhunt". Not sure how long the series ran, but it had to go on for a season or two as each movie is made up of three episodes of the show and in the first one they had already established more than a couple of the villain characters in it suggesting that there were at least more than a couple of shows before the "Manhunt" episodes. Not sure how long it was, but it was probably only a one or two season show because it is one that I had never seen as a child. All the shows they show as repeats it is strange this one never showed up. It really is not that much worse than the original Star Trek.The story in this one has Rocky first having to try and save Bobby, the professor and Vena as they are on a space station that is about to get caught up in the middle of two traveling planets. They later find out that one of the two planets is on a collision course with the planet that is ruled by the somewhat evil queen Cleolanta! So, they have to try and warn her of the impending danger and at the same time escape her clutches as she is a very stupid leader. So it is a race against time so we get lots of talking, lots of takeoffs and finally a crash of moons! This one was a rather good episode of MST3K. With a lot of films they do that are sequels, the sequel tends to get a lot of the same jokes. The Hercules films was especially bad near the end. The second Fugitive Alien also suffered the same fate as did Master Ninja. Not that they were bad episodes, but they all had a been there done that feel. This one they managed to make feel fresh as they did not repeat the same jokes over and over. I also enjoyed the bumps involving the Bannergram as they episode ended in very funny fashion.So, this was not bad, bad...just a lot of inaction going on. If not for the riffs from MST3K, it would have been kind of dull. "Manhunt in Space" featured episodes that were a bit more entertaining as Rocky does more fighting and though there are not many space fights in the series, they once again did more in that episode. This one just had to many scenes where they were talking. I wonder if there were any more of this pieced together films?

Oh boy! I really trashed Manhunt in Space. I think this flopper deservedly rates worse than Manhunt. It goes nowhere and fungi growth was more exciting than this tripe.Poor Cleolanta. She's so misunderstood. Smug Rocky struts around and thankfully, there's no mention from Winky about his "gay nightlife". There's a lot more talking, a really awful (to watch) space marriage on the rocks, and crappy space effects cut-outs. Then, there's Bobby. You decide who's more annoying: Bobby or the Winkster? Personally, I'd jettison them out of an airlock into a black hole not before first subjecting them to killer flesh eating alien mutants.At least there's Vena. She's just a cosmic girl!

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.