Search - SciFi Classics: 50 Movie Pack on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Movie Release: 2004 DVD Release: 03/23/2004 Format: DVD - Letterbox for TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 12 Number of Discs: 12 Studio: Digital 1 Stop Total Copies: 11 Genres: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi Action See Also: Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: Menace From Outer Space

When an alien rocket descends to Earth, an expedition into space to find the origins of the strange device results in a clash between two worlds in this science fiction film that was compiled from three episodes of the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger television series. Upon studying the alien rocket and determining that it must have come from the planet Fornax, Professor Newton sends a team led by space ranger Rocky Jones to investigate. Arriving on Fornax to discover an alien race that has been brainwashed by the nefarious Professor Kardos into thinking that the population of Earth is about to invade, Rocky attempts to persuade the alien leader that this is not the case. His efforts are complicated when his arch enemy Griff arrives and attempts to use the alien's advanced technology against the population of Earth. Now Rocky and the aliens must join forces to overcome Griff if they hold out any hope of diffusing tensions between Earth and Fornax and saving the planet that Rocky calls home. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Richard Crane - Rocky Jones
Sally Mansfield - Vena Ray

This is a lot of sci-fi to bite off in one gulp (and not all of it is actually sci-fi), but the prospect of 50 movies in one budget-priced 12-CD package that's smaller than a cigar box isn't easy to pass up. Needless to say, quality control is not a long-suit with a package like this -- the 12 discs were all present, but there were additional copies of two of the discs (which leads one to suspect that somewhere out there is a copy missing those two discs) Also, some of the annotation on the thin individual sleeves is comically wrong, most notably the 1961 horror-sci-fi chiller The Atomic Brain being listed with Bradford Dillman as its star -- in point of fact, one of its producers was Dean Dillman. That said, the presentations of the movies are not bad or, at least, not terrible; they're about on par with what Alpha Video delivers at five- to eight-dollars a title. The prints are intact and clean, the '60s vintage color movies are washed out to varying degrees (Hercules and the Captive Women, which is actually sort of Greco-Roman sci-fi, is not much more pale than it looked on local TV in 1964 or on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in the '90s; Battle of the Worlds looks bleached quite a bit and tinted toward green in some shots but just fine in other places). The framing is off on some of the older films such as Unknown World, that were certainly shot 1.33:1, indicating that at some point in mastering their images were blown up slightly -- the latter is also one of the relative handful of films here in which the sound is a bit muddy and the image whited out, as though too much light was being pumped through it; and even on recent movies such as The Astral Factor (sort of Scanners meets Manhunter done way too early), with Robert Foxworth and Stefanie Powers, has minor blemishes in its source print. Some of the movies are just bad, such as Galaxy Invader, and others have a camp value that makes them enjoyable on that level, and several few are interesting and entertaining; others, such as Planet Outlaws, are recut episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Each disc opens with the same simple menu offering the films and a chapter selection for each (and every movie gets four chapters). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide