Moon Zero Two
Just finished watching "Moon Zero Two," originally released as a Hammer Film in movie theaters back in 1969, and re-released on DVD by Warner Brothers as part of it's Archive Collection back in 2011.
My first "encounter" with "Moon Zero Two" was the novelization by John Burke, that was released in paperback by Signet Books back in 1970. I bought a copy at Twice Told Tales, a used bookstore that was located across the street from the New River Shopping Center and I do remember that I thought it was a pretty good story. Of course, novelizations can be much better then the original movie and provide much more in-depth detail and character development - think Isaac Asimov's novelization of "The Fantastic Voyage" and Orson Scott Card's novelization of "The Abyss."
And yes, I am aware of Mystery Science 3000 Theater's brutal commentary of "Moon Zero Two."
This was my first viewing of "Moon Zero Two" - promoted as "The First Moon 'Western" - and it's not a bad B-movie from the late 1960s.
It accurately stated the difficulties in mining asteroids and how an abundance of cheap and readily available would crash the market and accurately predicated how satellites in orbit around Earth and/or the Moon, could be recovered by salvagers and sold for profit. Oddly, the science is rather spot on for the time period in this movie.
Now while "Moon Zero Two" was made years before the television series by Gerry Anderson, "UFO," there were similar clothing and purple colored wigs worn by women on the moon, that were similar to woman who helped defend the Earth on Shadow's Moonbase in "UFO" and Catherine von Schell, who is oddly billed here as Catherina von Schell, is seen wearing such an outfit.
The plot concerns Capt. William H. Kemp, an aging astronaut-hero who runs a space salvage operation on the moon where he scratches out every buck for survival. He gets involved with Clementine Taplin, who is trying to find a lost miner brother on the far side of the moon. Throw in a no nonsense, do anything for a Lunar Dollar businessman and an asteroid made of sapphire and there is the standard action conflict.
Granted, "Moon Zero Two" is not a great movie; but it's not really a bad one either, and there are far, far worse movies you could watch.
Recommended.
Three Stars - mainly for getting the science right.
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Zero-Two-...
My first "encounter" with "Moon Zero Two" was the novelization by John Burke, that was released in paperback by Signet Books back in 1970. I bought a copy at Twice Told Tales, a used bookstore that was located across the street from the New River Shopping Center and I do remember that I thought it was a pretty good story. Of course, novelizations can be much better then the original movie and provide much more in-depth detail and character development - think Isaac Asimov's novelization of "The Fantastic Voyage" and Orson Scott Card's novelization of "The Abyss."
And yes, I am aware of Mystery Science 3000 Theater's brutal commentary of "Moon Zero Two."
This was my first viewing of "Moon Zero Two" - promoted as "The First Moon 'Western" - and it's not a bad B-movie from the late 1960s.
It accurately stated the difficulties in mining asteroids and how an abundance of cheap and readily available would crash the market and accurately predicated how satellites in orbit around Earth and/or the Moon, could be recovered by salvagers and sold for profit. Oddly, the science is rather spot on for the time period in this movie.
Now while "Moon Zero Two" was made years before the television series by Gerry Anderson, "UFO," there were similar clothing and purple colored wigs worn by women on the moon, that were similar to woman who helped defend the Earth on Shadow's Moonbase in "UFO" and Catherine von Schell, who is oddly billed here as Catherina von Schell, is seen wearing such an outfit.
The plot concerns Capt. William H. Kemp, an aging astronaut-hero who runs a space salvage operation on the moon where he scratches out every buck for survival. He gets involved with Clementine Taplin, who is trying to find a lost miner brother on the far side of the moon. Throw in a no nonsense, do anything for a Lunar Dollar businessman and an asteroid made of sapphire and there is the standard action conflict.
Granted, "Moon Zero Two" is not a great movie; but it's not really a bad one either, and there are far, far worse movies you could watch.
Recommended.
Three Stars - mainly for getting the science right.
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Zero-Two-...
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