“No government ever spent one dollar, till they lost five.”
By May of 2021(last month) the Moon has been colonized and, like the old west, is being settled by a hardy group of individuals. The major town is called Moon City. Other smaller settlements are scattered over the surface. Many people go there to try their luck at prospecting. Some, like Bill Kemp (James Olson), are space explorers. Kemp was the first man on Mars. Currently he is operating a Moon Ferry. His dream is to explore Mercury.
It is said that you need money to make money. Millionaire J. J. Hubbard (Warren Mitchell) is a prospector in a big way. Hubbard has learned about an asteroid that was never investigated until Hubbard’s people photographed it. The asteroid is made out of a substance called ceramic sapphire. It’s worth millions. Hubbard wants to “land” the asteroid on the moon. It other words crash it. In a remote area of course. Hubbard wants Kemp to pilot his ship to the asteroid so that Hubbard’s men can set a charge on it to move its trajectory. Three days later they need to set another charge to send it crashing into the moon. What Hubbard wants to do is not exactly legal but Kemp is about to be grounded and lose his space license, and this job would bring him a lot of money. Enough to get him a new space ferry. He agrees to do the job.
In the meantime a woman named Clementine Taplin (Catherine Schell) arrives on the Moon. She is there to meet her brother. He is a miner who has staked a claim on the far side of the moon. When he doesn’t show up and there is no message from him she begins to get worried. The communications area tells her that Kemp runs his ferry to the town of Farside and perhaps he can help. She tracks down Kemp but he doesn’t know her brother. Kemp has a little time before he needs to head back to the asteroid so he agrees to take her to Farside and her brother’s mining site to find out why he hasn’t been in contact.
At her brother’s camp site Clem finds her brother dead. They are then attacked by three men. Kemp manages to kill the men and they head back to Farside only to find that Clem’s brother was killed for his claim and that the people responsible are closer to Kemp than he realizes.
“Moon Zero Two” was released in 1969 and was directed by Roy Ward Baker. It is a British science fiction movie produced by Hammer Films. The movie is a sort of western on the moon. It is the only film Hammer did that takes place in the future. The movie is why Hammer is known for their gothic horror films. Actually if you can get past the sixties view of what fashion will look like in the year 2021, and the weird pop music you’ll find a rather entertaining little film. OK so the space suits look like repurposed plastic canister vacuum cleaners and the sets are reminiscent of the television programs “UFO” 1970 and “Space 1999” 1975. You’re also not sure if the movie is meant to be taken seriously or if it’s camp in disguise. I looked at it as both but either way it’s kinda fun.
The dancers at “The Lazy B Saloon” are a British TV dance group called the Go-Jos. The dance troupe was created in 1964 for the BBC1 Television show “Top of the Pops”.
On July 20, 1969 the Apollo 11 Lunar Module landed on the moon. Aboard were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. The film was released three months later. The filmmakers added in production a reference to the landing and constructed the lunar monument shown in the film to enhance the reference.