Menace From Outer Space

ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER was one of many science fiction shows made for children in the early days of television. Not among the most popular — it was cancelled after just 39 episodes — ROCKY JONES has endured longer than many of its competitors because it was filmed, rather than broadcast live. Also helping it live on was the decision to edit many of its half-hour episodes into movies that could be syndicated in 90-minute timeslots. Although this practice often led to incomprehensible stories (as fans of GEMINI MAN, THE GREEN HORNET, and KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER can tell you), it worked for ROCKY JONES, because many of its episodes were three-parters, as was “Bobby’s Comet,” the shows that became MENACE FROM OUTER SPACE.

Directed by the prolific Hollingsworth Morse (LASSIE) from teleplays by Warren Wilson (THE CISCO KID), the dull MENACE FROM OUTER SPACE stars serial hero Richard Crane (MYSTERIOUS ISLAND) as Rocky, a 22nd century cop who flew around space in a rocketship fighting crime and preventing Earth invasions alongside his sidekick Winky (Scotty Beckett) and his pretty, platonic girl companion Vena (Sally Mansfield). They and little Bobby (Robert Lyden) lift off for one of Jupiter’s moons to find out who is firing deadly missiles at Earth. Turns out it’s evil expatriate Cardos (Nestor Paiva), who has convinced moon leader Zoravac (Walter Coy) that Earthlings are mean and rotten and pass gas in elevators.

Cheap and talky (“The acceleration thrust will be G4 + 6.”), each ROCKY JONES was probably shot in a couple of days. Criticizing the sets and special effects are moot — all the sci-fi series from this era were created on accelerated schedules and paltry budgets — but the script is fair game. Actually, aside from the technobabble, it’s not awful for what it is, which is juvenile space opera made to keep the kiddies quiet for awhile. Crane is good-looking, knows how to throw a punch, and is friendly to kids (and probably pets), making him the perfect face for lunch boxes and decoder rings.