Red-Barracuda Menace from Outer Space is yet another TV movie made by editing three episodes of the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger TV series together. This show was quite obviously aimed at a family audience, mainly at children. In this entry a couple of missiles strike earth from a moon of Jupiter hitherto thought to not have any inhabitants, Rocky Jones and his crew are sent off to investigate.As with other entries in this series, the film is full of rubbish characters and terrible dialogue. Which wouldn't really matter but for the fact it's all awfully tedious and hard work to sit through. If I am being charitable I would have to say that it is a very early example of a TV movie and so its extreme clunkiness is perhaps to be expected and could be regarded as historically interesting as an example of early TV sci-fi. And it also has to be admitted that it was meant for kids, so can hardly be blamed for not appealing to this adult sixty years later. But, you know what? Even taking all of this into account I still thought this was diabolical stuff. Slagging it off does feel a little like kicking a puppy, albeit a pretty annoying puppy.

bkoganbing I have a soft spot in my heart for this old science fiction show from my childhood in the Fifties so I'll never give it a bad review. However in watching Menace From Outer Space a little knowledge of the show which only lasted for 39 episodes in the 1954 season certainly helps. A moon of Jupiter not thought to contain life starts blasting away at the earth with missiles and we've got nothing that reaches that far. That's of concern to the United Worlds which was later the United Federation of Planets when we got to Star Trek in the Sixties. The place is called Fornax and it's ruled by Walter Coy who has an adviser from earth, a renegade scientist played by Nestor Paiva.Two characters from previous episodes are in this film, one is a man who disgraced the Space Rangers by turning spy, Griff played by Leonard Penn, the other is an agent for the evil Queen of the planet Ophecius Dargento who is played by Frank Pulaski. Patsy Parsons who was Queen Cleolanta of Ophecius was one evil woman who gave this seven year old nightmares. She was a running villain for several episodes on Rocky Jones.The planet Fornax has a powerful kind of energy derived from crystals that everybody wants. Kind of like oil today. I think you know where this one is going.This is high camp and quite a hoot today, but you really have to be a fan of the show to appreciate it fully.

Keith Little This is a mildly entertaining bit of fluff cobbled together from three episodes of an early 1950's US television show. It concerns the adventures of Rocky Jones, his somewhat goofy sidekick Winky, the lovely Vena Ray, a precocious kid named Bobby and Professor Newton. They're all under the authority of the Secretary of Space. Secretary of Space, now there's a job title; I'd like to be Chairman of Gravity myself. As far as the film goes, it's pretty tame as regards the special effects and the action; however, it shares that charm that many of the science fiction films of that specific decade display and, consequently, manages to engage the viewer. It's particularly interesting, if only in a historical sense, to see a sci-fi show from television's early years. If you get a copy of this film in one of those public domain collections - I received mine in the Mill Creek 100 Sci-Fi Classics set - then I'd certainly recommend watching it but, otherwise, I wouldn't expend any energy trying to track it down.

mstomaso In the mid-50s most episodes of the early TV sci-fi show Rocky Jones: Space Ranger" were assembled into a number of TV movies for re-broadcast. Unlike some of these recycled TV movies, Menace from Outer Space has less of a serial feel to it, and flows as if it were intended to be a feature-length film from the beginning.To summarize the Rocky Jones show - Jones (Richard Crane) is a space-ship captain who flies around the solar system with an improbably named sidekick "Winky" (played by ill-fated child prodigy Scotty Beckett) representing the United Worlds - an interplanetary political entity which has a very strong resemblance to Star Trek's federation. Also like Star Trek - the Rocky Jones series also consistently cast women in positions of considerable power and responsibility - a bold move for 1950s TV. Like later series from the Star Trek franchise, the show also employs pseudo-scientific black-box technologies and technobabble quite liberally in order to avoid plot holes and speed bumps on the highway of logic.In this story arc, Rocky and his extended family (a little kid named Bobby, prodigy scientist Veena, an elderly professor and, of course, the stalwart Winky) are drawn into high-stakes interplanetary political intrigue . One of Jupiter's moons, formerly believed to be uninhabitable, has launched a missile at the earth and forensic evidence concerning the missile suggests that the moon has a tremendous wealth of mineral resources never before suspected. Of course, Rocky is immediately dispatched to attempt to establish peaceful trade relations.The special effects are not bad for their time, but the average viewer today will probably find them laughable. The cinematography and directing are quite good for early TV, and the editing creates a fine pace for this family sci-fi space adventure.The script is predictably silly, but the characters are very consistently developed from show to show, and they are all quite likable. The acting is serviceable for its intent - family TV viewing.Recommended for those interested in Sci-Fi TV history and pulp sci-fi film addicts. Keep what this is intended to be in mind and keep your expectations low, and you just might have a good time with it!