With a dry name like “Moon Zero Two” (1969), I was expecting the worst. But you know what? It turned out to be a damned entertaining movie!
Groovier than “Barbarella” and less somber than “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun,” “Moon Zero Two” is a compelling adventure that pits Bill Kemp (“The Andromeda Strain”s James Olson) – an on-the-rocks, faded American hero, the first astronaut to land on Mars, now reduced to collecting space junk – against a nefarious millionaire, who presents him with an offer he can’t refuse.
Along for the ride is “Space: 1999”s Catherine Schell (here billed as Catherina von Schell), as Clementine Taplin, who also enlists Kemp for what he thinks will be a quick side-job. Their efforts to reach her brother’s claim on the far side of the moon prove to be a source of friction against Kemp’s previous arrangement.
Any movie that sports Pink Panther-esque opening credits animation and intergalactic go-go dancers (the Go-Jos!) can’t be all bad. With a whacked-out jazz score by Don Ellis of “The French Connection” and a title song sung by Julie Driscoll, this is one crazy Hammer film.
Marketed in the U.S. as a space western, there are also noir elements, but little of the grit desired by the writers. Personally, I think it would make a satisfying double feature with “Outland” (1981), Sean Connery’s “High Noon”-in-outer-space.
All in all, one of the less-deserving targets of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” “Moon Zero Two” is wholly self-aware in providing an hour-and-forty-minutes of diverting entertainment.
Check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEftsDL4Shc), and let us know what you think in the comments section, as we livestream on Facebook. We’ll salvage what we can in our discussion on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT!
(PLEASE NOTE: Because of the upheaval of Hurricane Ida – and the resultant worn nerves – there will be no show tonight.)