Moon Zero Two

"Moon Zero Two" was the most expensive film ever produced by Hammer Studios and is one of the oddest they ever created: a psychedelic western set on the moon in 2021 complete with claim-jumping, gunfights, zero gravity bar fights, candy colored space suits and go-go dancers. SF fans will enjoy early appearances by James Olson ("The Andromeda Strain") and Catherine Schell ("Space 1999"). Also Hammer alumnae Warren Mitchell as the chief villain, Adrienne Corri as a cop (loved her boots), Bernard Bresslaw as a heavy and, of course, Michael Ripper scarfing up distilled rocket fuel at the saloon. The special effects are not that bad. Great '60s kitsch and fun if you don't take it seriously, "Austin Powers" fans may dig it.

When you see Eddie Murphy's upcoming "Pluto Nash" you'll be surprised just how many ideas were taken from this film.

Ah, the year was 1969. Apollo 11 had landed on the moon. I was 11 and eating up any science fiction I could. When I saw the advertisement for this movie I HAD to see it. So I had my mom take me and a friend to see it.

Yeah, it was kind of hokey, but I didn't notice that when I was 11. I simply thought it was plain cool. Besides, the larger Lunar Module looked pretty darn impressive. And the main actor, James Olsen, had been in Andromeda Strain a year earlier.

So, is it worth checking out now, circa 2001? Yeah, if you can catch it on cable or maybe the Sci-Fi Channel, it'd be worth a look. Just to see how events were extrapolated from the reality of 1969. Sadly, the politicians killed Apollo just when they were getting good at going to interesting places on the moon, i.e. Apollo 17 at Taurus-Littrow - incredible scenery. So we never established a moon base like the one in the movie. Sad.

It is indeed a "Western" set on the moon. You'll love the bar scene and all the women. Sorry if that sounds sexist, but hey, this was the sixties, and even 11 year old boys liked girls in mini-skirts. So, if you ever have a chance to catch it, grab a six-pack, sit down, and enjoy.

Interesting effort here by the usually predictable Hammer Studios, best known for all those low budget Dracula movies with Christopher Lee and Frankenstein movies with Peter Cushing. Hammer actually worked in a number of genres during their heyday, with spy films and crime thrillers, wartime potboilers, pirate escapades. They had already crossed their usual horror motifs with a heavy dose of science fiction with their "Quatermass" series, but for whatever reason Hammer never made a traditional looking western, even though some of their principal talent had contributed to a couple. Too bad, I am sure they would have had an intriguing go at it.

This was their compromise, a clearly 2001 inspired concoction mixing some of the more obvious elements of a western -- six guns, saloons, claim jumping gunslingers, a fetching damsel in distress, a cynical hero -- with the then familiar trappings of science fiction space epics. Space suits instead of cowboy attire, moon buggies instead of stagecoaches, and a lady moon sheriff who packs twin pistols in holsters attached to her thigh-high Go Go boots. Whatever. The idea was viable enough for Peter Hyams to revisit in a more sober manner with 1981's "Outland", a subtle remake of "High Noon" set at a mining complex on one of Jupiter's moons.

The blend of genres will either go over well or create profound disbelief, as is evidenced by the film having been enshrined in Mystery Science Theater 3000's hall of fame of parody screenings with all those annoying, smug comments from the dorks in the front row superimposed on the screen. The film is silly enough in itself without their schtick (I'm not a big MST3K fan, sorry), and just as with Elvira, just because they choose to send up a given movie that doesn't mean it may not have some redeeming parts.

This one does, mostly in an endearing willingness to try anything, and for Hammer what was actually a pretty significant budget that let them pull off some ingenious little effects sequences. My favorite touch are the little Moon Fargo buggies, which sure are radio controlled models in the long shots, but by golly they have a sort of charm about them that belies their phoniness. We forgive because in the context of the kind of entertainment we are looking at, namely 1960s European made science fiction, they work just fine.

The story isn't much, but then again the whole show is in the production design, which as others point out apes Apollo era technologies as much as it does a 2001 inspired antiseptic, shiny rubberized look. Some may poke fun at the silly hairstyles and clumsy looking costumes, I say they fit in perfectly with the movie's aesthetic. There is even a healthy dose of realistic science thrown in alongside such recurring SF themes as artificial gravity, miniature space colonies, and foxy babes who casually strip down to their space age underwear once the air conditioning gives out.

Newly re-released by Warner's on a double movie DVD along with the equally long overdue "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth". Couldn't recommend them more, beats the crap out of anything currently projecting onto screens in empty theaters at the cineplexes in any event, and just stupid enough to warrant repeat casual guilty pleasure viewing.

6/10

A space-pilot is caught up in a claim-jumping scheme on the far side of the Moon. Touted as the first 'Moon-western', the film would have been much better if it had simply lifted plot and character tropes from the classic oaters and dispensed with silly trappings such as the 'gunfighter-style' holsters and the awful 'saloon-themed' bar complete with the dancing girls and inevitable brawl (a particularly silly scene). On the plus side, 'Moon Zero Two' has the entertaining look of contemporaneous British science fiction with carefully detailed and well thought-out miniatures, and fashions and hair styles straight out of 'UFO' (1970) or 'Space 1999' (1975). The central plot is clever (albeit implausible) and the special effects generally good (although as usual the filmmakers couldn't resist adding sounds in space). The cast of British character actors is OK but they are saddled with trying to deliver an awkward mélange of adventure and parody through a tongue-in-cheek script that is nether very clever nor witty. Unfortunately, the end product is a film that is worse than it looks and likely of interest only to fans of genre fans or those nostalgic for the short skirts, austere jumpsuits, beepy machines, and vibrantly coloured wigs of the British vison of the future in the late 60s/early '70s. If you can sit though the goofy, incredibly 60s-looking, animated opening-credits sequence and tolerate the theme song, you can probably survive watching the film.

OK, I've read several reviews of this film in books, online and from sci-fi fans and usually the overall feeling of the film is split down the middle. I really enjoy this film, it has a very good cast; James Olson, Catherine Schell (Who would go on to star in the classic sci-fi series; Space: 1999), Adrienne Corri, Warren Mitchell, Michael Ripper (Hammer regular) and Sam Kydd, it had some great looking sets, a very capable director in Roy Ward Baker and the opening tune is one I can't get out of my head for days, after watching the film or listening to that track. Hailed as the first space-western, the film does it's best to combine a futuristic look with the ideals and wild ways of the old west. To sci-fi fans looking for something really serious and up on the technical feel of a straight-from-the-hip science fiction story, chances are you're going to be disappointed with the overall effort of the film, but if you like a film that can be serious at times and still poke fun at itself, then this is a film you're probably going to enjoy.....just don't go into viewing this in a serious mood! Have fun with it and relax.....the anti-gravity fight scene in the saloon is not to be missed!