Product Details

• Actors: Richard Crane, Sally Mansfield, Scotty Beckett, Robert Lyden, Charles Meredith
• Directors: Hollingsworth Morse
• Writers: Carl K. Hittleman, Marianne Mosner
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Passport
• DVD Release Date: April 4, 2006
• Run Time: 542 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000E3L7MS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,287 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Rocky Jones Space Ranger Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Five-disc multi-pack of half-hour episodes from the 1950s science-fiction TV show which was in the same vein as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Starring Richard Crane as Rocky Jones who cruises the galaxy in his spaceship The Orbit Jet. System Requirements:Running Time 600 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025493544091 Manufacturer No: PIPDV5440

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Infernals Of Space, June 21, 2006

By 

R.O. - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rocky Jones Space Ranger Collection (DVD)

The Rocky Jones Space Ranger series may have been the last of 1950's "space opera" sci-fi shows, but it definitely was the best. All those sci-fi shows had short comings of limited budgets, frantic production schedules, and convenient creative license in place of hard science. But Rocky Jones was the only series to be shot on film (alas, B&W) by movie industry professionals and it showed. Each episode looked more like a mini-movie rather than a live video shoe-string production of the 50's.

Rocky Jones had the best of the stories (most were 3 part, half-hour episodes that allowed in-depth story-telling), classic sci-fi characters, imaginative 50's-futuristic design, and impressive special effects for a television series. The icing on this space cake was Alexander Laszlo's mood-setting, electronic-punctuated music score. (Of course, they had their clunkers, too, but let's be a little forgiving.) The like was not to be seen again until nearly 15 years later in the form of Star Trek. A federation of planets? Automatic slide-open doors? A stalwart captain and his trusty lieutenant on space patrol? Boots & mini-skirts crew-women? Strange cultures on alien worlds? It was all there first in Rocky Jones Space Ranger.

Until recently, the only way to watch the space adventures of Rocky Jones was through 3rd parties selling their "collector's copies" of this now "in the public domain" show. Quality varied wildly, being copies from copies of video tape or noticeably worn 16mm film.

A few years ago, Alpha Video began publishing the edited-together versions of Rocky Jones's 3-part story-arc episodes as "full movies" on DVD. No "clean up" is obvious for the only fair video & audio quality of these releases. While fair quality at low prices is a draw for some consumers, purists will miss the individual episodes, each with it's own titles and credits.

Now Passport has released a 5 DVD disc set of "The Rocky Jones Space Ranger Collection" ... an incomplete collection. Only 4 discs contain Rocky Jones material. The 5th disc contains unrelated "sci-fi" filler that, by rights, shouldn't be in this set. Next, the discs are packaged in a double-thick case that holds the DVD's on the inside front and back covers, and on a center flap. The trouble with some case designs (like this one) is they don't have gentle push-to-release mechanisms and it is a struggle to remove the discs without flexing them (which can cause disc damage). Another problem is that only DISC 1 attempts to fill up the 2 hours of DVD. The remaining discs waste space (pardon the pun) using only half of each DVD's projected capacity. With all the Rocky Jones episodes available one way or another, and with over 10 hours capacity on 5 DVD's, why was this not a complete series release?

Unlike the Alpha Video's edited-together movie versions, Passport has the original, individual episodes of Rocky Jones. Also unlike Alpha Video's static picture menus, each Passport DVD contains artistically impressive "motion menus" that show previews of the episodes specific to it's DVD ... and those clips look quite good. Unfortunately, that is where the quality begins and ends. Each episode is "presented" with scratches and dust, film grain, skips and chops (neither the opening titles nor the closing credits are shown complete), over-blown contrast, and light-dark outlining from multi-generation copying.

It would have been better if Passport put their efforts into higher quality source material and better transfers. Not making this a "complete collection" is puzzling and filling it with empty space and unrelated filler is inexcusable. As it stands, this is a "cheap set" in cost, quality, and execution.

The content of Passport's Rocky Jones collection is:

DISC 1
. Silver Needle in the Sky (3 episodes)
. Bobby's Comet (3 episodes)
DISC 2
. The Forbidden Moon (3 episodes)
DISC 3
. Crash Of The Moons (3 episodes) (misprinted on case as "Blast Off!")
. Kip's Private War (single episode)
DISC 4
. Rocky's Odyssey (3 episodes)
DISC 5
. generic sci-fi media
.. "Missile To The Moon"
.. "A Century of Sci-Fi: Sci-Fi Heroes"
.. "Flash Gordon: The Subworld Revenge" (not Buster Crabbe)

Here is the complete episode list of the entire Rocky Jones Space Ranger series:
(edited-episodes released by Alpha Video as of 6/2006 are marked "A")
(individual episodes in Passport's Rocky Jones collection are marked "P")

A . Beyond The Curtain Of Space - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Beyond The Moon" movie]
AP Bobby's Comet - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Menace From Outer Space" movie]
A . Pirates Of Prah - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Manhunt In Space" movie]
. P Forbidden Moon - Chapters 1,2,3
. . Escape Into Space
AP Rocky's Odyssey - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Gypsy Moon" movie]
AP Kip's Private War
AP Silver Needle In The Sky - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Duel In Space" movie]
AP Crash Of Moons - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Crash Of The Moons" movie]
. . Blast Off! - Chapters 1,2,3
. . The Cold Sun - Chapters 1,2,3
. . Inferno In Space - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "The Magnetic Moon" movie]
. . Vena And The Darnano
. . Out Of This World - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Robot Of Regalio" movie]
. . The Trial Of Rocky Jones - Chapters 1,2,3 [AKA "Renegade Satellite" movie]

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rocky Rides Again, June 30, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Rocky Jones Space Ranger Collection (DVD)

Someone wrote a book I read called 1954: Television's Best Year (or something like that). That title would immediately bother viewers who think that '50s TV couldn't possibly have been any good since it was in black and white, and that everything newer is naturally better. By that reckoning of course, we should all stop reading Shakespeare, since he wrote pre-TV when nobody knew anything, and for that same reason many people have.

But being curious I started watching Rocky Jones Space Ranger on one of those $5 DVDs and was immediately taken in. What it lacked in technological prowess it more than made up in style, passion, wit and personality. When my DVD proved to be defective I searched for another copy to watch the rest of "Crash of the Moons".

Then I came on this bonanza from Passport Video which is practically a Rocky Jones telethon with sixteen episodes. Also on the five disc set are a film, "Missle to the Moon,", one teaser episode of Flash Gordon (maybe to make you want the whole series) and a sci-fi documentary.

I realize that some reviewers have a low opinion of these budget sets of old TV shows, but I think they give you a lot of viewing at a low price. For history buffs it's a chance to check out some early shows. With almost 600 minutes of viewing on five one sided discs, Rocky Jones Space Ranger makes a strong case for 1954 as television's best year.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early TV space opera is loads of campy fun!, February 27, 2006

By 

Valnastar "Man With No Name" (Deep 13, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Rocky Jones Space Ranger Collection (DVD)

Rocky Jones Space Ranger is back in print and fairly inexpensive too. This classic TV early 1950's space opera is filled with cheap sets, poor special effects, annoying sidekicks, and a hero who in one episode actually tells his female crewmate to "go knit a sweater" (and she actually does!) when they have a disagreement! It's hilarious early TV "sci-fi" suitable for all ages, so you can treat yourself and your kids to a bit of TV history and have a good laugh together. I saw three episodes of this show a few years ago (2 of them on Mystery Science Theater 3000) and they were all loads of fun. This 5-disc 600-minute set is a real bargain for the price.

If you've never seen the show, it's really something. Rocky Jones is a square-jawed fisticuffs wielding spaceship pilot with REALLY goofy sidekicks, including Winky, a young man who acts like a kid, and Bobby, a little kid that acts all grown-up. Then there's VERY short-skirted Vena, his bright female crewmate that gets treated like, well, like women were mostly treated in the US in 1950's TV. Then there's elderly and brilliant Professor Newton, who in spite of being a genius, makes just enough miscalculations to get them into real trouble.

Rocky Jones is a vision of the far future firmly rooted in the early 1950's. They don't make them like this anymore! If you liked Lost In Space, this is sort of an earlier version of that, possibly even goofier, so you might well like this too.