A sci-fi film that walks a fine line between being an unintentional spoof and a straightforward space adventure film.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Screenplay by Michael Carreras
Story by Martin Davison, Frank Hardman, Gavin Lyall
Produced by Michael Carreras
Cinematography: Paul Beeson
Edited by Spencer Reeve
Music by Don Ellis
Production company: Hammer Films
Distributed by Warner-Pathé Warner Bros.
Running time: 100 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: £500,000
Cast
James Olson as Bill Kemp
Catherina von Schell as Clementine Taplin
Warren Mitchell as J. J. Hubbard
Adrienne Corri as Elizabeth Murphy
Ori Levy as Korminski
Dudley Foster as Whitsun
Bernard Bresslaw as Harry
Neil McCallum as space captain
Joby Blanshard as Smith
Michael Ripper as 1st card player
Robert Tayman as 2nd card player
Sam Kydd as barman
Keith Bonnard as Junior customs officer
Leo Britt as Senior customs officer
Carol Cleveland as hostess
Roy Evans as workman
Tom Kempinski as 2nd officer
Lew Luton as immigration officer
Claire Shenstone as female hotel clerk
Chrissie Shrimpton as boutique attendant
Amber Dean Smith as Hubbard's girlfriend
Simone Silvera as Hubbard's girlfriend
The Go-jos as Hilton bar dancing girls
Earth’s Moon
May 2021
Bill Kemp, former astronaut pilot turned space salvager together with his Russian partner, Korminski become involved in a millionaire criminal space industrialist’s scheme to capture a sapphire asteroid and crash it into the far side of the moon for later recovery. Kemp and his partner are initially unaware of the fact that there is also a link between this job and the salvage team’s agreement to help Clementine Taplin locate her missing brother……..
Trailer
Read on for more......
Spoilers follow below....
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Well, as I recollect it, it was back in May 2021 when the the Moon was in the early stages of being colonised. It was then a new frontier drawing in folks to lunar settlements like Moon City and Farside 5. It was almost like the Wild West all over again with hoards of folks heading in from Earth to escape, to settle, to mine and perhaps make their fortunes. It was as if they took the spirit and sentiments contained in a particular old song to heart to the Nth degree:
And take the worlds they did….
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Into this rough and ready new lunar society strode one free-spirited character, Bill Kemp, former top-notch astronaut pilot turned satellite salvager. He is best remembered as being the first man to set foot on the surface of Mars, which I’m sure (hopefully) you’ll recall. He was of the old-school type of astronaut who was more interested in the adventure of space exploration which is why he resigned from Space Corporation which was only interested in the commercial side of space flight, namely operating commercial passenger flights to and from Mars and Venus. In fact, these days the damn Corporation in its present iteration is interested purely in the commercial exploitation of space and ripping the guts out of planets and asteroids in both conjunction with and in competition with other corporate entities.
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Anyway, old Bill along with his pal, engineer Karminski was perfectly happy salvaging broken satellites and dragging them back on board his rather small outmoded moon lander vehicle, Moon Zero Two. Of course, he like many others had to run the gauntlet of Luna city bureaucracy and its regulations at its space port haggling with customs officials over obtaining clearance for his salvage items. He and Karminski were canny enough to bullshit their way through the red tape though.
Even though Kemp earned a modest living as a salvage pilot, I can’t tell you how often other people tried to convince him to return to the Corporation as a commercial pilot, but with no success. Kemp had no interest in being “one of the future captains of the universe.” Hell, who could blame him?
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Now there are two others that feature in this little recollection of mine. One of them was JJ ‘100%’ Hubbard, a wealthy businessman, which is euphemism for asshole and crook. More about him shortly. The other was Clemantine Taplin, a real easy on the eye gal who was in Luna City looking for her brother, Wally who had been mining a claim on the far side of the moon, but had disappeared for some reason. Knowing that Kemp was a space pilot who was familiar with the far side of the moon she felt that perhaps he could help her. In order to get to the nearest base, Farside 5, it would’ve taken a slow 6 days to traverse the 2000 miles distance by means of a wheeled mining bug vehicle. Kemp’s old space ferry could have done it in 20 minutes. Even sending a message to find out the whereabouts of Clem’s brother would have presented a problem with one of the communication satellites (the one hauled in by Kemp) having been knocked out of action by a meteor strike. Yep, even in the final decades of the 21st century technology still continues to breakdown and become unreliable. Anyhow, Kemp didn’t know Wally but in the mean time he settled for showing her around the city and what it had to offer.
One thing I’ll say about Kemp is that he was a real ladies’ man. His girlfriend at the time was Elizabeth Murphy, a law enforcement officer of all things! She was one of those who especially gave him a hard time about his refusing to rejoin the Corporation and ceasing his salvaging business in his clapped out space craft. Kemp felt that the Corporation was out to get him but it was more like his ship it wanted to eliminate along with what it represented. It’s continued operation threatened the business of Corporation Express which depended on the travelling public’s perception of the safety of space travel which back then was relatively new. Under pressure from the Corporation and her personal feelings for Kemp and concern for his safety, Liz gave him an ultimatum to have his ship made space worthy or to give up being a salvage pilot and return to the corporation. He had only two weeks to decide. Kemp however, had already made up his mind that he wasn’t going back into the corporation on “passenger runs” and that he was “a space pilot, not a mechanically minded wet nurse.” But the feeling was that the days of the maverick space cowboy were just about over.
There was one factor that was patently true about operating in space, especially in relation to Kemp’s line of work. Hell, it’s even true enough these days despite the shiny glow of optimism, arrogance and complacency surrounding human activity in space. Namely, that space is dangerous and it will kill you if given the opportunity.
One of his fellow pilots had his name added to a plaque honouring those who had been killed in space. (Not to be displayed in front of the nervous travelling public of course!) His retro engines had failed on landing and he crashed on the moon’s surface. He had been piloting the same kind of craft that Kemp operated but as Kemp noted, it was just “a little bit older,” as if that made any difference.
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Kemp was sure a complex man. Despite his desire to remain a free and independent space pilot, he often reflected on the purpose of mankind’s presence in space. Take the moon, for instance, “so bleak” with “no air, no vegetation, 1/6th gravity, 14 days sunlight, 14 days night.” Who in their right mind would want to make their home there? As he put it, it was as if “we're all foreigners here” and “we always will be.” He even questioned whether we should ever have come. Nowadays there’s hardly a spot in the solar system where humans have spread to that remains pure and pristine.
As a counterpoint to that negative view of mankind’s presence in space, was Kemp’s knowledge of the legacy exemplified by the monument that had been erected where Neil Armstrong landed on the moon back in 1969. Who’s Armstrong you say, as many these days would ask? The monument is still there so why don’t you all pay a visit some time and learn something about your past? Since then humanity’s dream had been realized with the presence on the Luna surface of power stations turning sunlight into energy, as well as ice mines containing layers of ice that were melted down to produce water for drinking, oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for rocket fuel. Then there’s the hydroponics laboratories for growing plants that process oxygen and provide food to consume. Back then there was “nothing like it anywhere else,” but these days they are almost commonplace throughout much of the settled parts of the solar system.
JJ Hubbard was a bit like a caricature of an evil villain one might’ve seen in an old space opera serial. You know, Flash Gordon and such? Yeah, before anyone's time, I guess. Anyway, Hubbard had apparently learned about the existence of a small 6000-ton asteroid made of pure sapphire that was in a low lunar orbit. It was found to be “quite similar to aluminum, but an aluminum that has been squeezed and roasted in the heart of an exploding planet hundreds of millions of years ago” that resulted in a “ceramic crystalline form of corundum aluminum oxide.” In other words, sapphire, “6,000 tons of gemstone sapphire.”
Hubbard’s intention was to hire Kemp to retrieve it with his old Moon 02 space ferry. Having accomplished this, Kemp was to transport it down to the surface of the moon’s far side, where it would crash. Of course such an act would have been strictly against Space Corporation law.
But why go to the trouble of retrieving the asteroid and then crashing it on the moon’s surface? Why not mine it? Well, back then, Hubbard knew that you couldn’t just “set up a mine on an asteroid. The cost of flying the equipment up, the supplies, bringing the ore back,” it wouldn’t have paid. Not like these days where we set asteroids to be mined on a trajectory that places them in Earth’s orbit. Tricky business that…...
Hubbard’s plan was to use the sapphire for building improved rocket engine thermal insulators, thereby profiting from the demand for more powerful rockets to colonize Mercury and the moons of Jupiter. Hubbard was aware that Kemp was the “only other pilot on the moon with a ship for charter.” He also knew that Kemp could come and go from the moon without arousing suspicion and as an incitement, he offered him a new space craft in return for participating in his plan.
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Kemp and Karminski soon prepared for the mission and were joined by Whitsun (the man with the portable computer and the brains) and Harry (the muscle for heavy lifting). Whitsun’s role was to assist with the navigation to the asteroid. As he later explained to the others, the plan for getting the asteroid onto the moon’s surface was by the attachment of rockets to the asteroid in order to bring it into orbit around the moon and then set it on a trajectory to the moon's surface.
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Two days later, Kemp and the others managed to land on the asteroid and attach three rocket engines to it in order to redirect it into orbit around the moon. It was touch and go for a while as Kemp remained on the asteroid after the others returned to the ship. He did this to ensure that all three rockets ignited at the specified time. He only managed to release himself with seconds to spare before the velocity was too great for him to escape and he “ended up in his socks.”
Upon his return to Moon City, Kemp met up with Clem in the bar and inquired whether she had located her brother yet. It appeared that no-one had seen him in nearly 4 months. There also seemed to a have been a problem involving moon mining laws in which the ‘Two-Year Rule’ stipulated that “you got a claim for 2 years, and if you haven't found anything, at the end of that time you get thrown off. Somebody else gets it.” The problem was that Clem’s brother would have had his claim for the 2 years in 3 days time and that as far as anyone was concerned he hadn't struck anything yet. Clem assured Kemp that he had and if so he had to get to Moon City and prove it before he lost his claim.
With radio communication out and the convoys not being quick enough, Clem naturally appealed to Kemp to fly her over in his space craft. With the terrain being too rough, they would have to land at Far Side 5 and take a moon bug to Wally’s claim from there. So, on a promise of being paid later if Wally had indeed found something, Kemp agreed to fly Clem out.
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Meanwhile, big Harry had overheard what transpired between Clem and Kemp and he foolishly tried to lean on Kemp to change his mind and remind him that he was working for his boss, Hubbard. Now I know for a fact that Kemp wouldn’t have appreciated being threatened by anyone, least of all by an ugly guerilla like Harry. Inevitably, a bar room fight erupted involving everyone in the bar. As the low grav melee continued, Kemp and Clem slipped away just before the local law enforcement in the form of Liz got involved.
Kemp and Clem soon managed to arrive in one piece at Far Side 5 base from where they intended to hire a moon bug from Smith, the base commander. They would then use this vehicle to continue the rest of their journey on the lunar surface to the location of Wally's claim.
Smith informed them that he had not seen Wally in nearly four months. He then went though all the possible means of communication which he explained wouldn’t have done any good such as “chancy” radio communication in the mountain country and not bothering to declare an emergency with a 6 day delay sending a message by convoy. All somewhat convenient if you ask me. But as Smith pointed out to Kemp, “nobody dies slowly on the moon.”
Kemp and Clem’s journey to the claim was through “a part of the moon the tourists don't usually see” where it gets “awfully cold out there, 200° below zero” and horrendously hot during the day. These days on the moon and other settled parts of the solar system, such bleak and pristine places are harder to find what with so many national flags sticking up out of the ground, so many claims struck, so many machines ripping the guts out of worlds and so many piles of junk being strewn all over the place by human “foreigners.”
There are inevitably those like Clem’s brother who voyage out into space and “always thinks there'll be a bigger and better strike over the next hill.” Or those like Hubbard who see humanity’s presence in space as one big commercial opportunity to exploit it for profit and all it’s worth. On the other hand, people like Kemp saw space as an opportunity to explore, but after his Mars landing “the corporation decided that passengers was where the money was.” And it’s been thus ever since. Despite this, Kemp knew he could never be a passenger pilot and that for him there would always be “something over the hill.”
When Kemp and Clem arrive at the claim site, they found no sign of life so donning their space suits they went outside to investigate. Suddenly, they caught sight of a space-suited figured apparently standing some distance away. When they approached they soon made the shocking discovery that the space suit contained the deceased remains of Wally. It appeared that he died because he ran out of oxygen while prospecting for nickel. However, Wally hadn’t punctured his space suit and had to have had oxygen judging by his body’s condition. It appeared that he had one full and one empty oxygen pack and that to all intents and purposes, Wally had died as a result of a “stupid mistake.”
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As Kemp and Clem returned to the moon bug, they were attacked by three armed men who opened fire on them. They attempted to escape in the moon bug but soon had to abandon it. As they lay in wait for the attackers to approach, Kemp managed to kill two of the assailants before shooting the oxygen tank of the third. Kemp then attempted to save the third man by giving him one of Wally's oxygen packs but the man died because it contained something other than oxygen. The obvious conclusion: Wally must have been murdered.
With their moon bug damaged, Kemp and Clem had no choice but to take the vehicle that was used by the would-be hit squad. However, the moon bug was low on power and overheated before they could reach the Far Side 5 base. With only an hour's insulation charge left in their suits, they quickly exited their critically overheated vehicle just before it exploded. There was nothing left for it, but to wake the rest of the way to Far Side 5.
When Kemp and Clem arrived at the base, they soon discover that Liz has come to investigate Kemp's suspect activities. Also present was Hubbard, Whitsun and Harry. In order to demonstrate a point, Kemp tricked Smith with the fake oxygen packs by compelling him to sniff one of them. All too quickly Smith declared that it could have been cyanide. However, Kemp revealed that he had taken the pack from his own suit that contained only good old fresh air. Smith felt that he had no choice but to admit that he was forced to substitute the packs with ones containing cyanide so that Wally could be disposed of before the asteroid crashed onto the moon at his mine site.
With the plan revealed, Liz tried to arrest Hubbard but she was shot and killed in a shoot out with Harry. Kemp naturally refused to help Hubbard complete his crooked plan but Hubbard seemed to have him over a barrel by threatening to shoot Clem.
Having been forced to comply, Kemp and Karminski pilot the space ship with the others on board for the second leg of the mission to crash the asteroid on the lunar surface. On the way, Clem pointed out to Hubbard that “sapphire is only valuable as long as it's rare” and that if he were to “put 6,000 tons on the market” it would become “as valuable as coloured glass.” Hubbard however, as has already been pointed out, actually planned to use the sapphire to line rocket engines. After all, it's a ceramic and tougher than what had been used to line rocket tubes. Also, “it can stand more heat than stainless steel, 2,000° centigrade.” So why not use it to line rocket tubes” and enable bigger rocket engines to be built?
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For well-known comedian, Warren Mitchell this was not his first outing in a science fiction film. He also acted in the earlier film, Night Caller From Outer Space (1965) which you can also find in this blog.
On a more somber notes, actor and dancer Yvonne Castelle was paralyzed for life after an accident on the film's set, remaining bedridden for 10 years.
Spirit of a Space Cowboy
A Memoir by
“Wild” Will Ganymede
Introduction
“You can't tell this man anything about anything.”
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♫“Go find the world you're seeking.
Where stars are new in the making.
It's time to fly.
Deep space is calling you.
Go far, go wild, go lonely.
New worlds are there for the taking.”♫
And take the worlds they did….
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There was one factor that was patently true about operating in space, especially in relation to Kemp’s line of work. Hell, it’s even true enough these days despite the shiny glow of optimism, arrogance and complacency surrounding human activity in space. Namely, that space is dangerous and it will kill you if given the opportunity.
One of his fellow pilots had his name added to a plaque honouring those who had been killed in space. (Not to be displayed in front of the nervous travelling public of course!) His retro engines had failed on landing and he crashed on the moon’s surface. He had been piloting the same kind of craft that Kemp operated but as Kemp noted, it was just “a little bit older,” as if that made any difference.
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It was later at a bar while having a drink and watching a floor show that Kemp was approached by one of Hubbard's goons, a tall ugly bastard by the name of Harry who presented Kemp with an offer to good to refuse to accompany him to meet with Hubbard. So at gunpoint Kemp was directed toward Hubbard’s quarters.
“A 6,000 ton jewel. How would you like to meet the broad who could hang that around her neck?”
JJ Hubbard was a bit like a caricature of an evil villain one might’ve seen in an old space opera serial. You know, Flash Gordon and such? Yeah, before anyone's time, I guess. Anyway, Hubbard had apparently learned about the existence of a small 6000-ton asteroid made of pure sapphire that was in a low lunar orbit. It was found to be “quite similar to aluminum, but an aluminum that has been squeezed and roasted in the heart of an exploding planet hundreds of millions of years ago” that resulted in a “ceramic crystalline form of corundum aluminum oxide.” In other words, sapphire, “6,000 tons of gemstone sapphire.”
But why go to the trouble of retrieving the asteroid and then crashing it on the moon’s surface? Why not mine it? Well, back then, Hubbard knew that you couldn’t just “set up a mine on an asteroid. The cost of flying the equipment up, the supplies, bringing the ore back,” it wouldn’t have paid. Not like these days where we set asteroids to be mined on a trajectory that places them in Earth’s orbit. Tricky business that…...
Hubbard’s plan was to use the sapphire for building improved rocket engine thermal insulators, thereby profiting from the demand for more powerful rockets to colonize Mercury and the moons of Jupiter. Hubbard was aware that Kemp was the “only other pilot on the moon with a ship for charter.” He also knew that Kemp could come and go from the moon without arousing suspicion and as an incitement, he offered him a new space craft in return for participating in his plan.
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“Nobody dies slowly on the moon.”
Upon his return to Moon City, Kemp met up with Clem in the bar and inquired whether she had located her brother yet. It appeared that no-one had seen him in nearly 4 months. There also seemed to a have been a problem involving moon mining laws in which the ‘Two-Year Rule’ stipulated that “you got a claim for 2 years, and if you haven't found anything, at the end of that time you get thrown off. Somebody else gets it.” The problem was that Clem’s brother would have had his claim for the 2 years in 3 days time and that as far as anyone was concerned he hadn't struck anything yet. Clem assured Kemp that he had and if so he had to get to Moon City and prove it before he lost his claim.
With radio communication out and the convoys not being quick enough, Clem naturally appealed to Kemp to fly her over in his space craft. With the terrain being too rough, they would have to land at Far Side 5 and take a moon bug to Wally’s claim from there. So, on a promise of being paid later if Wally had indeed found something, Kemp agreed to fly Clem out.
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Meanwhile, big Harry had overheard what transpired between Clem and Kemp and he foolishly tried to lean on Kemp to change his mind and remind him that he was working for his boss, Hubbard. Now I know for a fact that Kemp wouldn’t have appreciated being threatened by anyone, least of all by an ugly guerilla like Harry. Inevitably, a bar room fight erupted involving everyone in the bar. As the low grav melee continued, Kemp and Clem slipped away just before the local law enforcement in the form of Liz got involved.
Kemp and Clem soon managed to arrive in one piece at Far Side 5 base from where they intended to hire a moon bug from Smith, the base commander. They would then use this vehicle to continue the rest of their journey on the lunar surface to the location of Wally's claim.
Kemp and Clem’s journey to the claim was through “a part of the moon the tourists don't usually see” where it gets “awfully cold out there, 200° below zero” and horrendously hot during the day. These days on the moon and other settled parts of the solar system, such bleak and pristine places are harder to find what with so many national flags sticking up out of the ground, so many claims struck, so many machines ripping the guts out of worlds and so many piles of junk being strewn all over the place by human “foreigners.”
There are inevitably those like Clem’s brother who voyage out into space and “always thinks there'll be a bigger and better strike over the next hill.” Or those like Hubbard who see humanity’s presence in space as one big commercial opportunity to exploit it for profit and all it’s worth. On the other hand, people like Kemp saw space as an opportunity to explore, but after his Mars landing “the corporation decided that passengers was where the money was.” And it’s been thus ever since. Despite this, Kemp knew he could never be a passenger pilot and that for him there would always be “something over the hill.”
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With their moon bug damaged, Kemp and Clem had no choice but to take the vehicle that was used by the would-be hit squad. However, the moon bug was low on power and overheated before they could reach the Far Side 5 base. With only an hour's insulation charge left in their suits, they quickly exited their critically overheated vehicle just before it exploded. There was nothing left for it, but to wake the rest of the way to Far Side 5.
“When you get into trouble, you really jump off the top board, don't you?”
With the plan revealed, Liz tried to arrest Hubbard but she was shot and killed in a shoot out with Harry. Kemp naturally refused to help Hubbard complete his crooked plan but Hubbard seemed to have him over a barrel by threatening to shoot Clem.
Having been forced to comply, Kemp and Karminski pilot the space ship with the others on board for the second leg of the mission to crash the asteroid on the lunar surface. On the way, Clem pointed out to Hubbard that “sapphire is only valuable as long as it's rare” and that if he were to “put 6,000 tons on the market” it would become “as valuable as coloured glass.” Hubbard however, as has already been pointed out, actually planned to use the sapphire to line rocket engines. After all, it's a ceramic and tougher than what had been used to line rocket tubes. Also, “it can stand more heat than stainless steel, 2,000° centigrade.” So why not use it to line rocket tubes” and enable bigger rocket engines to be built?
Sound familiar? Mankind’s expansion into space fueled by the promise of limitless profit filling the avarice of the new style of ruthless venture capitalist and 21st century cosmic corporate carpet bagger which we’re so familiar with today. The likes of Hubbard never really die out, they just re-emerge in various guises and multiply.
Hubbard even tried to entice Kemp with the possibility that such an enterprise as he was proposing would “rapidly help progress space exploration to more distant planets and moons.” Good pilots like Kemp would be needed. A false rationalisation really screening Hubbard’s real motivation whereby the more powerful engines would power ships to Mercury and Jupiter’s moons and they would be his ships and anything that’s found would be his trade and at his prices. Acquisition of power, trade monopolies and cornered markets. The same ingredients that have managed to turn the Earth into a shit hole and are gradually spreading like a malignant tumor throughout the solar system.
The time soon came for the group to land on the asteroid and for Hubbard it was excellent timing as Wally's claim had expired half an hour previously. Therefore, there would be “no legal problems.” However, his problems were about to start as Kemp, Clem and Karminski stealthily cooperated to dispatch Harry and Smith. Yep, space will kill you if given half a chance.
Kemp then managed to ignite the rockets attached to the the asteroid before Hubbard and Whitsun could get off, resulting in the asteroid crashing into the moon with the pair still ‘attached.’ I guess Kemp just forgot to leave them his cutters! There was little doubt that Hubbard and Whitsun would reach the moon’s surface before the others. At least that part of the plan worked for them and Hubbard certainly “made his mark on the moon, all right.”
The other more important part of the plan worked out exceedingly well for Clem who now found herself to be very wealthy on account of the fact that legally she was entitled to claim the sapphire since it was located on her brother's land. It could also be proved that Wally had been murdered, that he'd found nickel and that “the law doesn't allow profit by murder.”
How, you are probably wondering would I know so much about this Bill Kemp and the early days of space travel and colonization, both of which have become faded memories in the minds of those who have little or no knowledge, sense or feeling for history? You see, when Kemp returned to Moon City with Clem, he did indeed find out what her hotel room was like. And that folks is where my own story began! My name, the one that I use is “Wild” Will Ganymede in accordance with the revived fashion for naming people in reference to where they were born. I believe they did this way back in history on earth. The name my folks gave me is William Kemp jr. Yep, William Kemp snr and Clem were my parents, may their spirits move onward and outward into the beyond in peace. It was they who told me about the events I just related to you and about the times they lived in. I hope wherever they are that their spirits might be travelling to find out what is” over the next hill” to the accompaniment of the old song……..
♫Come on and take me soon.
Know that I'll be riding.
Oh, right into the moon.
Go find the world you're seeking.
Where stars are new in the making.
It's time to fly.
Deep space is calling you.…..♫
As to what became of all that wealth…..well that is a subject of another chapter of this memoir! As for me, well you could say, as you’ll soon see, that I’m considered by many to be the last of the free-minded and free-spirited space cowboys. I'm just trying to keep one step ahead of being extinguished by the powerful rapacious corporations, national governments and their bureaucracies with their suffocating sell-serving red tape, rules and regulations. While I’ve got breath in me I’ll keep trying to live an independent life as mom and dad always encouraged me to do.
Moon Zero Two has been described as being much like a western dressed up as a science fiction film with its shoot outs, bar / saloon fights and survival in a new frontier. Then again that’s what many say in relation to science fiction movies and series in general, that they are at their basic level westerns. Moon Zero Two doesn’t quite pull off the western feel as it comes across as being somewhat too shiny and glossy without the hard- edged grittiness one might expect.
The title song and film score seemed to follow the trend in such films of the swinging sixties which might have been designed to appeal to a younger audience by making the film seem groovy, hip and modern. Unfortunately, such efforts tended to detract from the film’s sci-fi theme and elements.
The floor show bar dance sequences were performed by the dance group, the Go-Jos. Speaking of the ladies, notice that the wigs worn by some of the female personnel of Moon City are much like those worn by the female characters in the lunar base of the TV series UFO (1970).
Apparently the moon suits worn by the actors caused some discomfort resulting in blisters from chafing, back problems from and weight loss.
The film was released three months after the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Comparisons with the reality and with a film like 2001 A Space Odyssey and budgetary constraints may not have helped to improve its standing with audiences and critics.
Much has been said about James Olson being miscast in the lead role. Perhaps, but he was a very capable actor and had the ability to take on roles and give an effective performance when called on to do so. This he certainly did in the sci-fi film The Andromeda Strain (1971) which is featured in this blog.
Hubbard even tried to entice Kemp with the possibility that such an enterprise as he was proposing would “rapidly help progress space exploration to more distant planets and moons.” Good pilots like Kemp would be needed. A false rationalisation really screening Hubbard’s real motivation whereby the more powerful engines would power ships to Mercury and Jupiter’s moons and they would be his ships and anything that’s found would be his trade and at his prices. Acquisition of power, trade monopolies and cornered markets. The same ingredients that have managed to turn the Earth into a shit hole and are gradually spreading like a malignant tumor throughout the solar system.
The time soon came for the group to land on the asteroid and for Hubbard it was excellent timing as Wally's claim had expired half an hour previously. Therefore, there would be “no legal problems.” However, his problems were about to start as Kemp, Clem and Karminski stealthily cooperated to dispatch Harry and Smith. Yep, space will kill you if given half a chance.
Kemp then managed to ignite the rockets attached to the the asteroid before Hubbard and Whitsun could get off, resulting in the asteroid crashing into the moon with the pair still ‘attached.’ I guess Kemp just forgot to leave them his cutters! There was little doubt that Hubbard and Whitsun would reach the moon’s surface before the others. At least that part of the plan worked for them and Hubbard certainly “made his mark on the moon, all right.”
The other more important part of the plan worked out exceedingly well for Clem who now found herself to be very wealthy on account of the fact that legally she was entitled to claim the sapphire since it was located on her brother's land. It could also be proved that Wally had been murdered, that he'd found nickel and that “the law doesn't allow profit by murder.”
How, you are probably wondering would I know so much about this Bill Kemp and the early days of space travel and colonization, both of which have become faded memories in the minds of those who have little or no knowledge, sense or feeling for history? You see, when Kemp returned to Moon City with Clem, he did indeed find out what her hotel room was like. And that folks is where my own story began! My name, the one that I use is “Wild” Will Ganymede in accordance with the revived fashion for naming people in reference to where they were born. I believe they did this way back in history on earth. The name my folks gave me is William Kemp jr. Yep, William Kemp snr and Clem were my parents, may their spirits move onward and outward into the beyond in peace. It was they who told me about the events I just related to you and about the times they lived in. I hope wherever they are that their spirits might be travelling to find out what is” over the next hill” to the accompaniment of the old song……..
♫Come on and take me soon.
Know that I'll be riding.
Oh, right into the moon.
Go find the world you're seeking.
Where stars are new in the making.
It's time to fly.
Deep space is calling you.…..♫
As to what became of all that wealth…..well that is a subject of another chapter of this memoir! As for me, well you could say, as you’ll soon see, that I’m considered by many to be the last of the free-minded and free-spirited space cowboys. I'm just trying to keep one step ahead of being extinguished by the powerful rapacious corporations, national governments and their bureaucracies with their suffocating sell-serving red tape, rules and regulations. While I’ve got breath in me I’ll keep trying to live an independent life as mom and dad always encouraged me to do.
Points of Interest
Moon Zero Two has been described as being much like a western dressed up as a science fiction film with its shoot outs, bar / saloon fights and survival in a new frontier. Then again that’s what many say in relation to science fiction movies and series in general, that they are at their basic level westerns. Moon Zero Two doesn’t quite pull off the western feel as it comes across as being somewhat too shiny and glossy without the hard- edged grittiness one might expect.
The title song and film score seemed to follow the trend in such films of the swinging sixties which might have been designed to appeal to a younger audience by making the film seem groovy, hip and modern. Unfortunately, such efforts tended to detract from the film’s sci-fi theme and elements.
The floor show bar dance sequences were performed by the dance group, the Go-Jos. Speaking of the ladies, notice that the wigs worn by some of the female personnel of Moon City are much like those worn by the female characters in the lunar base of the TV series UFO (1970).
The film was released three months after the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Comparisons with the reality and with a film like 2001 A Space Odyssey and budgetary constraints may not have helped to improve its standing with audiences and critics.
Much has been said about James Olson being miscast in the lead role. Perhaps, but he was a very capable actor and had the ability to take on roles and give an effective performance when called on to do so. This he certainly did in the sci-fi film The Andromeda Strain (1971) which is featured in this blog.
Catherina von Schell can’t help but look lovely on screen. You might recall her playing the shape-shifting alien in the excellent TV series Space 1999 (1975).
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On a more somber notes, actor and dancer Yvonne Castelle was paralyzed for life after an accident on the film's set, remaining bedridden for 10 years.
Full Film
©Chris Christopoulos 2025
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