Hollingsworth Morse went from the casting department at Paramount Pictures to serving under director George Stevens in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He saw plenty of Europe and helped capture footage of the Battle of Normandy and other significant events of World War II. When he came back to the U.S., he directed plenty of TV, starting with Sky King and ending with The Fall Guy. Along the way, he also made fifty episodes of The Lone Ranger, seventeen of The Dukes of Hazzard, forty six of McHale’s Navy, seventeen of H. R. Pufnstuf and the movie, the “Mystery Island” parts of Skatebirds and Daughters of Satan.
Unlike so many shows of early television, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger was filmed instead of being aired live. That’s why the series has survived and could be edited into movies such as Beyond the Moon, Duel in Space, Forbidden Moon, Gypsy Moon, The Magnetic Moon, Manhunt in Space, Menace from Outer Space, Renegade Satellite and Robot of Regalio.
This is the last time that Rocky (Richard Crane) would be up against his enemy Queen Cleolanta (Patsy Parsons). She stands in the path of him evacuating the planet of Ophecius before a moon destroys everything. She even tries to stay before her assistant makes her leave. Then, she watches as her home is destroyed before apologizing to Rocky and his crew, which includes Venna Ray (Sally Mansfield), Winky (Scotty Beckett), Prof. Newton (Maurice Cass), Bobby (Robert Lyden) and their leader Secretary Drake (Charles Meredith).
After this chapter ended, Cass died of a heart attack and Professor Newton was replaced by Professor Mayberry (Reginald Sheffield). Winky was also changed, as Beckett was arrested after a gunfight with the police and Juliandra, Suzerain of Herculon (Ann Robinson) was picked as the new villainess for the last set of stories.
Don’t have the box set? You can watch this on YouTube.
