Customer Reviews

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) / Moon Zero Two (1969)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a retailer-exclusive DVD, single-sided, (both films are on same side of disc) with no extras. Films are presented letter-boxed and hilariously, "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" includes English subtitles even though all the dialogue in the film is nonsense caveman talk!

Rear disc sleeve states films are rated G, however, "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" includes brief shots of nudity in sexual situations that would clearly disqualify it for a G-rating. It is possible the foreign (UK) cut of the film was mistakenly placed on this disc rather than the G-rated American cut.

The picture quality, color, sharpness is quite good.

This review is for; When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) / Moon Zero Two (1969)

The film "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" is an enjoyable film to watch, but at times difficult to watch because you have to guess on your own interpretations of the exclusive language spoken by the primitive tribe. The DVD has subtitles, but the subtitles don't translate what the primitive tribe is saying. The subtitles just show exactly what they are saying. "Undala! Neecro! N'ato! Wandi?" are just a few of the phrases. You can make out the names such as the beautiful blonde, Sanna, but the rest of the dialogue is a quest in itself to find out what they mean. Thankfully, the strangely-worded dialogue is repetitive enough and the film actions are very visual so that you can make your own interpretations.

The woman in this film are very beautiful and sexy. They look like lingerie models dressed in fur bikinis which is a good thing! The blonde actress playing the role of Sanna is Victoria Vetri who was the 1968 Playboy Playmate of the year (good choice Hef!). The men are slender, but not very muscular. The special effects are very good considering the vintage age of this film. The dinosaurs are stop-motion models and there are a couple of scenes where real, live lizards are used to look like giants.

This double feature DVD was released earlier this year. However, controversy came with this DVD as it was released with rated G packaging, but the film "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" was clearly the unrated British version complete with a couple of topless cavewoman scenes (the two nude scenes add only about two to four minutes). Some people would call "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" the unrated version of "One Million BC", the classic film with Racquel Welch. Unfortunately the DVD became discontinued by the manufacturer and the limited copies released that are currently available are very expensive copies on Amazon or Ebay (currently $35 or more instead of the original $16.99 retail price). Hopefully for future purchasers, this title can be re-released in the appropriate packaging at a more reasonable price by simply changing the DVD's slip-cover print to "unrated" instead of rated G!

This is a halfway cool double feature from Warner - I wont give it 5 stars because the other feature Moon Zero Two is just a tedious dull science fiction space odyssey which is why it wound up as an MST3K experiment from Season 1. This was a Hammer production on top of everything else. The movie really is bad.
On the flip side, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is a very good follow up to One Million Years BC. You have your monsters (Jim Danforth effects are superb here) and your cavemen and cave women with makeup and nice hairdos. This is the international cut of the movie meaning you see some nudity - Victoria Vetri's ( & other cavegirls' breasts basically). I know that the G rating was a HUGE mistake. I doubt it will be replaced. I for one am happy to have the uncut version of the movie(and it is letterboxed), the way it was intended to be seen. It is the complete version. I never felt this movie was really a children's movie per se even though it has dinosaurs and stuff. This was pulled off shelves just like Swamp Thing from years ago, now Out of Print & will cost $$ to get. Still its worth it for the dinosaur movie.

Two lacklustre Hammer adventures set at either end of time: 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth' a stop-motion, prehistoric opus which turns soft porn about two-thirds in, and 'Moon Zero Two' an incredibly naïve 'space-western' kicked into touch by both the real-life moon landings, and the release and consequent interstellar orbiting of Kubrick's '2001'.
I toyed with the idea of pitting 'MZT' positively against '2001' and coming up with a highly controversial comparison, but even in the perverse world I inhabit and absorb culture in - it would've been laughably unfeasible.

'MZT' is worth a view for several reasons - but combined, they're still not enough to make it a good film. It has a butt-kicking theme song from dreamy Julie Driscoll, part of a great overall score from Don Ellis (Though jazz..? space..? Why?).
Catherine von Schell is quite fit; Adrienne Corri - a woman with a long cv in genre films - is comely in thigh-high police boots; Benard Bresslaw is a most unthreatening heavy, and there's a great performance from Dudley Foster - the most shifty-faced character actor in cinema history.
The rest of it's fluff: plot's weak, leading man James Olsen....well, just isn't a leading man, and the sets and special effects are daft.

Luvvie old Val Guest writes and directs 'WDRTE' but the title is misleading - there are nowhere near enough dinosaurs to rule a bit of shrub never mind the planet. There's a pretty good pterodactyl, but the rest are mundane. No vicious T-Rex or Allosaur, and shots of the jazzed-up caymans and komodo dragons from Irwin Allen's 'The Lost World' are cheaply squeezed in to bolster the action when it flags.
Two major problems here: the script is really bad; some of the plot mechanics and situation resolves are toe-curling, and the continued use of the most unconvincing language ever devised is deeply irritating after a while.

Again, a couple things stop 'WDRTE' being an outright disaster: the magnificent camerawork from Dick Bush, who despite having a dodgy name, is rightly regarded as one of the great cinematographers; and the Canary Island locations are stunning. Some of the dusk and dawn-breaking sequences defy description, and it's not surprising cave-women hotties Victoria Vetri and Imogen Hassall look so dynamic when they're lit by Bush.

But ultimately 'MZT' and 'WDRTE' offer disappointingly mediocre entertainment. Where Hammer were usually and instinctively first out the blocks, here they're left trailing behind more ambitious efforts elsewhere - accelerating away into the distance. The exploit-naked-ladies attempt to rescue 'WDRTE' is lamentably crass, and it's all well and good being a cult, but 'MZT' never inherits the character-from-badness mantle handed down by far more uninhibited and unstable predecessors.
Go see 'Barbarella' instead...

This was getting a non-exclusive release which is listed here:
Moon Zero Two/When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth...
but it was cancelled/recalled apparently because the version of "When Dinosaurs..." is the "R" rated version while the box indicated PG.

Thanks to another amazon reviewer (nothingt5) I can report that this *may* be available (It was on 3/4/10) from Best Buy. It's listed on their site as "Sci-Fi 70'S #1 (Dbfe)" SKU: 8879813. You can easily find it by searching with the SKU as it's still being listed although not currently available (9/4/10).

There had been a visual special effects "fraternity" for many decades--beginning probably around the era of Willis O'Brien who was responsible for KING KONG. The visual effects world for a long time comprised building models, stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear screen projection, traveling mattes, and the art of blending all these elements together to make the impossible happen before your eyes. Ray Harryhausen took the baton from "O'Bie" and created more than a dozen fantasy movies over thirty years--during the course of which he created and animated many dinosaurs. Naturally, there was a dedicated group of fans who emulated their heroes, O'Bie and Harryhausen. People like Dennis Muren, Phil Tippet, Jim Danforth, David Allen, Jim Aupperle, and many more, made their own special effects movies. It wouldn't be wrong to say that their admiration for Harryhausen was immense. One of Harryhausen's dinosaur films was ONE MILLION YEARS BC, which he made for Hammer Films in the 60s. All the special effects community simply loved the dinosaurs in that movie (and also in the subsequent THE VALLEY OF GWANGI). Some thought that Harryhausen had "perfected" movie dinosaurs. ONE MILLION YEARS BC made a lot of money and Hammer wanted to do a similar movie. Harryhausen wasn't available at that point in time, so Hammer hired Jim Danforth to animate the dinosaurs and do some other visual effects work. Well, the fact of the matter is that Danforth's dinosaurs in WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH were better than Harryhausen's--smoother animation, more character development, more evocative angles, better and more creative interaction with people. (He and his team did so well in fact that they were nominated for an Oscar.) That was in 1969, and the effects community held Danforth's dinosaurs in the highest esteem. Nobody had ever done it better, not even the sainted Harryhausen. For 24 years, WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH held the crown in this very, very narrow field. Then in 1993 along came JURASSIC PARK with its combination of "practical" and digital dinos. It was a whole new ball game, and the effects masters at ILM did a wonderful thing. They did something to honor and symbolize the transition. As you know, the lobby of Hammond's administration building contained a T-Rex skeleton, much as you would find in a museum with a great banner hung above it: WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. At the end of JURASSIC PARK, the live T- Rex roared and crashed into the building, smashed the skeleton, and that banner went fluttering to the ground. The accomplishment of WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH had been surpassed! What I'm trying to say is that this is an historical movie in terms of film stop-motion animation. Believe me, it's NOT just some dopey dinosaur movie! It's a true classic. I'm very happy it finally has come to DVD. The LONG WAIT is over.

1969 to be exact with MOON ZERO TWO and in 1970 with WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. You have no doubt noticed the outrageous asking price for this single no frills DVD. This is because of the scarcity of the item. Originally issued as part of Warner Brothers' Sci-Fi Double Feature series, it was almost immediately withdrawn due to the fact that someone put the British version of DINOSAURS, which contains brief nudity and a suggestive scene, onto a G rated release. Oops! Even at the original price of $17.99 for two movies it was hardly a bargain since it represents Hammer far from their best. By the time the 1960s were over, Hammer had lost their important American distributors and were struggling to keep up with competitors that had passed them by filling their movies with much stronger stuff.

In the wake of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and the success of the Spaghetti Westerns, the idea of a space Western must have seemed like a good idea. MOON ZERO TWO (dubbed HIGH MOON by some critics) has everything a classic Western should have from a hero and his sidekick to a claim jumping villain, a damsel in distress, a saloon brawl, and a ride off into the sunset ending. It just happens to take place on the Moon with a spaceship in place of a horse. The special effects, patterned after 2001 but at a fraction of the cost, are quite impressive and the costumes and sets are equally imaginative but very dated. The performances by the unknown principals are fine for what is required of them but it is the character parts that truly shine. All in all an enjoyable way to pass an hour and a half.

The same cannot be said of WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. Although it's meant to be preposterous with people and dinosaurs living together (just like ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.) and no Moon yet in the sky (that's the crux of the plot), there's just too much of the nonsense caveman dialogue to endure and the performers have zero chemistry and charisma although the principal female participants do fill their fur bikinis well (just not as well as Raquel Welch). Any Hammer film is worth seeing once just to see how they do things on their tight budgets but DINOSAURS is an experience that I don't care to repeat. Rent it (if you can find it like I did) for MOON ZERO TWO but, aside from the feminine pulchritude on display and Jim Danforth's creatures, I found DINOSAURS pretty hard to sit through.

Been searching for this DVD for a long time. I was estatic when I found it and throughly satisfied in the condition of the product. Thanks

"Hammer" films were a signpost of British popular culture in the swinging sixties. I was much too young to see "X" certificate chillers like "The Reptile" or "Quatermass and the Pit" but I caught "Moon Zero 2" at the local ABC cinema! Having previously seen a promo-spot on TV's "Tomorrow's World" which featured special effects sequences that were ultimately cut from the release print, I was somewhat disappointed that this DVD release has no special features at all -or even a chapter search!
However,this is a DVD double feature with the wildly fanciful "When Dinosaurs ruled the Earth" -complete with extra nanoseconds of cavegirl skin that caused a stir when this edition was released with a child-friendly rating!

Neither of these films are high art, but they formed a part of my early adolescence and it's great to see them again after all these years. Let's face it, if you're going all the way to the moon (aka Pinewood Studios) then you might as well make it a return journey via the Prehistoricene!