S01E11 - Moon Zero Two

Plot

Once a revered hero who became the first man to fly to Mars, a space pilot now spends his days salvaging broken satellites around the moon. But a local millionaire sees him as a means of retrieving an asteroid made entirely out of sapphires without the legal authorities catching on. At the same time, a woman arrives on the moon looking for her brother, who is mining on the moon's far side. These two seemingly unrelated narratives will collide as a strange mystery begins to unravel.


Movie Review

This movie reminds me a little of Women of the Prehistoric Planet, in that with some better writing and a lot of polish, this film could've been salvaged as a decent flick. Instead, the movie falls under the weight of its own ambitions and dissolves into the dustbin of history. But while Prehistoric Planet had a bit of charm to it, Moon Zero Two squanders any goodwill with one of the most annoying and arrogant protagonists I can recall.

The film's main hero, Bill Kemp, is smug - there is no other word to properly describe him. Okay, maybe there are, but smug describes him best. He is cynical, sneering, sarcastic, and snide, and he apparently has a chip on his shoulder the size of the moon itself. Every sentence out of his mouth is either a supposedly witty rejoinder or filled with contempt. Even as circumstances change from ho-hum to dangerous, he keeps his angry and smug persona without much inflection. Obviously he is trying to sound brave and easy-going, but instead he comes across as completely unlikable. His smugness permeates through the rest of the film, as many of the other characters seem to try and mimic his witticisms but fail. Perhaps this is all because of the film's British origin, but even the most English of films isn't usually this pompous and easy to hate.

The rest of the characters aren't as unlikable as Kemp, but they are one-note caricatures and forgettable. Meanwhile, the plot is actually quite interesting, mixing the genres of mystery and action into an intriguing concoction. Unfortunately, the execution of said plot doesn't always reach its potential and much of the movie is boring as a result. If the script had been just a little bit more tightly written, this film could've been something unique in the filming landscape.

One area that Moon Zero Two definitely has a leg-up on Prehistoric Planet is the special effects. Unlike the latter film's horrendously cheap-looking set pieces, this film's set-pieces and effects are incredible, which should be expected considering some of the SFX people had previously worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey. And considering Moon Zero Two was released not too long after the first manned moon landing, the amount of realism in this movie is admirable. From the low gravity moon walks to the zero-g space walks, there is a lot of detail to be admired here.

One can't say the same for the film's opening, though. Similar to the Pink Panther films, Moon Zero Two employs a cartoon music video for the opening credits. But whereas the Pink Panther had Henry Mancini's classic score, this film uses a hideous choir-esque tune that detracts from the film's overall serious tone. And the cartoon itself is also bizarre, as it suggests the film is some kind of commentary on an international space race rather than a mystery-drama film. Also, speaking of the score, the film makers made an odd choice to use upbeat jazz tunes for the background music. Admittedly the use of music in place of sound effects (since there is no sound in space) is rather clever, but the blaring trumpets and generic beats can be grating at times.

Overall, Moon Zero Two is not a terrible film, but it is not a good one, either. Its biggest flaw, a thoroughly obnoxious protagonist, is too much for the rest of the film to overcome, and the remaining, smaller errors add up against the film's favor. Some better planning could've made this film a classic, but instead it crashed like the sapphire asteroid in the movie's climax.


MST3K Review

Compared to the previous episode, Joel and the bots were a lot more interested in this film and subsequently the riffing here was more enjoyable. Even so, it didn't reach the level of some of Season One's best episodes, though there were some standout riffs here and there. Perhaps if the riffing could've learned the same lesson the movie should've learned - better tightening of some things - this episode could've been a classic, but as it stands, it's a good but not great episode.