Warner Home Video Sci Fi Double Feature Moon Zero Two/When Dinosaurs Wal ked the Earth

Yes, I gave it 5 out of 5. First, Moon Zero Two is very likely one of the few hard science fiction films you may ever find from the 60's. And I love hard sci-fi. Second, I am a MST3K fan, and Moon Zero Two was done by them. Also, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, while never given the treatment by MST3K, should have been. First, Moon Zero Two, is Hammer's try at hard sci-fi, at the right time, right when we were landing on the Moon. They tried to give it the feel of being in the future, with much of the science right, and even gave it a solid, interesting plot. True, some things seem silly, like the fact the switches that control gravity are open, out in public spaces, available for anybody to turn off or on. But the feel, even if very much a product of the 60's, is still something I can enjoy watching. When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth seems to be the third film in a four film run of dinosaurs and half-naked bikini clad cave girls. In this film the Moon appears, or slowly forms, causing great confusion and mayhem among sun worshipping tribal people. Add dinosaurs who imprint on humans, the giant crab that seems to appear in a LOT of films, a Playboy Playmate as the main female character, Oscar-nominated effects, and of course Hammer film's rule that all women in their films are always sexy while dangerously jealous - well, you get something to watch on a late night with lots of buttered pop corn and salty chips. Maybe some mints also? I would suggest getting Moon Zero Two (Signet P4165) but that's because the book is somewhat cheaper than trying to get the DVD.

This DVD is only crazy expensive because of it's rarity. Mon Zero Two is completely insane. I can't imagine paying attention enough to figure out what the heck is going on. Doughy men acting like they're sexy wear unbecoming grey space jump suits. Beautiful chicks have requisite giant hair pieces and wildly impractical clothes. The station on the moon seems to exist largely as a venue for lounge scale production numbers, much, much choreography When the artificial gravity gets turned off nothing levitates but everyone moves in slo-mo. much too stupid and dull to be even camp fun. When I was about 13 a friend of mine had an 8mm ten minute version of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and I was super envious. I've been kind of fixated on this one ever since. Thus the splurge. My principal misgiving is that Dinosaurs do not rule the Earth to a great enough extent. The animated monsters by Jim Danforth, who's work is always wonderful (He was responsible for the Pegasus animation in Ray Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans) are by far the best part of the picture. Nothing else lives up to them. This is plainly intended to piggy back onto the popularity of One Million Years BC from two years earlier and it suffers the same terminal fate. Watching actors covered in dirt and fur and talking gibberish is torture. These cave people haven't created a working language but they've engeniered a strapless bra that stays put in a hurricane. The actors show a lot of skin but never seem hot enough to really keep you hooked that way. Dinosaurs = Good. Cave people = Bad

"Moon Zero Two" is a 1969 Sci-Fi film (G) that runs an hour and forty minutes. Catherine Schell, Adrienne Corri, and Carol Cleveland star (& some guys too I suppose) in a story about a colony on the moon, human nature, and the future. This is as good or better than 78% of the stuff that has been released by Hollywood since 2010. Some call this a space western for the shootouts, claim jumping, hired gunslinger, and dancing saloon girls (there's no nudity). Catherine Schell is seen in a dimly lit setting in undergarments (nothing showing), but blink and you'll miss that. "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" is a 1970/1971 Adventure Fantasy Sci-Fi film about prehistoric men & women. No dialogue, so-so FX for 1970, but at least there are dinosaurs in this. I wish I could sort out who is who among the cast, but I only speak Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal, which I think were both partially borrowed from along with Troglodyte and made into as unintelligible as the writers could get for a language to use. Victoria Vetri, Robin Hawdon, Magda Konopka, Imogen Hassall, Jan Rossini, Carol Hawkins and others appear in this effort to make us believe that the biggest reason stone age people didn't get along was primarily based upon the color of their hair, blonde or brunette. There is a scene of simulated rape, but it looks like special FX photo-shopped an old woman's face on a man's body for a quick glance, and then there is a short, from a substantial distance sideways, at best a silhouette shot of a pretty woman topless. Otherwise this film that runs an hour and forty minutes could be shown in church. Comparing WDRTE to "Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C." is like saying a skinless weenie is as good as a filet at a steakhouse (the filet being OMYBC) other than the fact that blondes were presented as inferior in both stone age films (as does 1967's "Prehistoric Women"). If you want female exploitation, this DVD is NOT worth over $18, even with BOTH films, MZT & WDRTE. I've definitely been had paying more far than that, and deeply regret it. If you're under 13 years of age - buy this, you'll love it.

This DVD goes for top dollar since it was pulled off the shelves and never reissued. I've waited decades to see this film, and the animation is very enjoyable. While Danforth is not as good an animator as Harryhausen, he manages to stage the scenes well, with atmospheric lighting. The movie itself is pretty abysmal, like any caveman film made prior to Quest For Fire, but the nude scene with Victoria Vetri is a nice bonus. With 2 movies crammed onto a single disc, I expected poor picture quality, but it's not bad. Do we dare hope for a Blu-ray someday?

Pour le prix d'un film, vous en avez deux et pas des moindres : des inédits en France de la célèbre firme de la Hammer : Alerte Satellite 02 (Moon Zero Two) et quand les dinosaures dominaient le monde (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth), deux productions signées Roy Ward Baker et Val Guest. Ce ne sont pas des chef-d'oeuvres mais deux longs métrages divertissants avec des effets visuels de qualité. Pas de suppléments en bonus mais des copies au bon ratio (1.85:1 panoramique 16:9) avec uniquement la version originale. Je précise quand même qu'il y a des sous-titres en français. Il s'agit d'une édition Zone 1, donc prière de se munir d'un lecteur multizones pour les visionner !