Line #9 Series/RockyJonesSpaceRanger


1	A 1954 ScienceFiction TV series, following the adventures of the titular hero and his group of friends. The program was a TelevisionSerial, its episodes arranged into definitive story arcs (commonly three episodes each, though there were a few stand-alone episodes scattered in as well), a number of which have been edited together into movie format. Two such {{Compilation Movie}}s, "Manhunt In Space" and "Crash Of The Moons", were featured on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''; several others are available on DVD.
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3	The show starred Richard Crane as [[TheHero square-jawed]] Rocky Jones; Scotty Beckett as PluckyComicRelief "Winky"; Sally Mansfield as Vena Rey; Robert Lyden as TagalongKid Bobby; and Maurice Cass as [[TheProfessor Professor Newton]]. Other regulars and semi-regulars included Rocky's boss, Secretary Drake, and [[BigBad frequent villain]] Queen Cleolanta (she prefers the title "Suzerain"), along with her primary henchman Atlasan; Atlasan's wife Trinka also plays an important role in one arc.
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5	Story arcs available on DVD include:
6	* "Beyond The Moon" (aka "Beyond The Curtain Of Space")
7	* "Crash Of The Moons"
8	* "Gypsy Moon" (aka "Rocky's Odyssey")
9	* "Manhunt In Space" (aka "The Pirates Of Prah")
10	* "Menace From Outer Space" (aka "Bobby's Comet")
11	* "Silver Needle In The Sky" (aka "Duel In Space")
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13	This series has a [[Recap/RockyJonesSpaceRanger recap index]].
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15	Other DVD collections featuring various episodes are also available.
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17	----
18	!!This show provides examples of:
19	* AsYouKnow: In the "Manhunt In Space" arc, a pirate traps Vena's spaceship in orbit. He then has to explain to Vena (who is, mind you, an astronavigator) what an "orbit" is.
20	* BedsheetGhost: A FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit InSpace is trying to steal the land rights to some sort of space gold-mine, and is thwarted not by the Space Rangers, but by a couple of kids throwing a sheet over their remote-control airplane so he thinks it's a ghost.
21	* BigBad: Cleolanta
22	** FemmeFatale: Cleolanta's not quite evil enough to qualify as TheVamp.
23	* BrownNote: The Nagato Siren in "Rocky's Odyssey" induces violent urges and aggressiveness in anyone who hears it.
24	* CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth: Oh goodness yes. It would be hard to find a truer example than Rocky.
25	* TheCastShowOff: Scotty Beckett wrote the lullaby that he sings to Bobby in "The Pirates Of Prah".
26	* ColonyDrop: "Crash Of The Moons"
27	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Winky is nominally the PluckyComicRelief; but when the chips are down, he mops the floor with guys twice his size.
28	* ComicBookAdaptation: Space Adventures, Issues 15, 16, 17, and 18. This seems to be a Type 2 or 3 adaptation.
29	* DefeatMeansFriendship: Atlasan; later on, [[spoiler:Cleolanta]].
30	-->'''Servo:''' [sarcastically] Oh, suddenly we're ''friends'' now?
31	* DullSurprise: Rocky, as the MST guys say, what he lacks in expressions he makes up for with hat tips.
32	* FutureSlang: "Sparkling stardust!" "Roaring rockets!" "Jumping satellites!" "Super cosmic!" "Mighty meteor!" "Rattle my rocket reflexes!" and the like. Now with AddedAlliterativeAppeal for extra annoying!
33	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Queen Cleolanta has absolutely no interest in ending the SpaceColdWar between her world and the [[TheFederation United Worlds]], preferring to pick fights and spark international incidents seemingly out of petty spite.
34	* GravitySucks: Surprisingly averted in "Crash of the Moons" and "The Pirates Of Prah" in which spaceships get trapped in planetary orbit.
35	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Trinka easily slips past the inattentive guard to reach Rocky and Winky. However, it's also subverted later in the episode, when this self-same guard checks in on Winky and Rocky; Winky pretends to be asleep, but the guard can't help but notice that Rocky is missing.
36	* HaveAGayOldTime:
37	-->'''Winky:''' Now for me, let me relax with a little black book and the gay nightlife.
38	-->'''Joel:''' Uh... insert joke here.
39	* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Winky will not shut up about his sexual conquests. Gains bonus points for being a RunningGag throughout the "Pirates Of Prah" arc, right after Winky mentioned his [[HaveAGayOldTime "gay" nightlife]].
40	* HeelFaceTurn: Atlasan. He'll decry his wife as a traitor to her country, but he won't stand for genocide.
41	* HeelRealization: Torvac in "Rocky's Odyssey" comes to see how horrible the [[BrownNote Nagato Siren Song]] is. In his defense, he himself was also under its influence.
42	* TheHero: Well, whose name is it in the title again?
43	* HumanAliens: The FX were notoriously expensive, and they apparently didn't have enough money left over for {{Rubber Forehead Alien}}s.
44	** AliensSpeakingEnglish: Lampshaded at one point with alien ruler Bovarro and his wife who occasionally lapse into their own (German/Russian-esque) language. Partially averted in "Menace From Outer Space" in which differing alien societies are shown to have their own languages, though they also speak English.
45	** TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: Averted; apparently, planet Ophecius uses the same Gregorian calendar as [[strike:the U.S.]] [[strike:Earth]] the United Worlds.
46	* InvisibilityCloak: Professor Newton's "Cold Light" device from the "Manhunt in Space" arc.
47	* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum:
48	** The aforementioned Cold Light device works by reversing the principle that mirages are caused by the desert's intense heat ''distorting the light itself''.
49	** The [=VisioGraph=] works by reflecting "positive rays". But even its magic is limited by some unspecified range and some shielding in walls, basically [[NewRulesAsThePlotDemands as the plot demands]].
50	* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Rocky expresses once that he much prefers fisticuffs over using diplomacy tactics. He also never fires a gun, but that could be due to it being [[MoralGuardians a children's show]] in TheFifties.
51	* MinimalistCast:
52	** How many people work at the Office of Space Affairs? As far as we see, its Secretary Drake and his assistant. Other worlds' [=HQs=] fare little better.
53	** In "Manhunt In Space", there's only ONE guy who runs the control room. Though, to be fair, there seem to be only three landing pads for ships, as Joel and the Bots are keen to point out.
54	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Ken the Casa 7 controller]] in "The Pirates Of Prah" secretly works for said pirates.
55	* NegativeContinuity: Shades of this.
56	** In the first story arc, Newton Observatory is a place on Ophecius, but in the second story arc, it is on Earth. Either there are two identical observatories, one on each planet, or the location inexplicably moved ''between planets''.
57	** Griff is exploded while driving away in a car on Earth by a magic DeusExMachina button. By the next episode, he has his own spaceship and is a space pirate.
58	* {{Neutral Female}}s: Hey, it ''is'' TheFifties!
59	** Particularly notable example: When Rocky and Winky get into a brawl with guards during a prison break, collaborator Trinka does not grab a vase or some such to klonk the guards with; rather, she runs off to hide in a corner. To be kinda fair, after the fight she does help lock the guards in a room full of sleeping gas.
60	** Also poor Cleolanta's henchmen are pretty much all contemptuous of the idea of a woman in charge; they condescend to her constantly. No wonder she's evil.
61	* OneWorldOrder: Ophecius; the two Gypsy Moons; Fornax.
62	* TheProfessor: aptly named "Prof. Newton".
63	* ReadingAheadInTheScript: A non-comedic example in "Rocky's Odyssey," a WholePlotReference to [[Literature/TheOdyssey the Greek epic]]. Bobby figures out early on that [[GenreSavvy their adventure is suspiciously similar to the adventure he's reading for homework]], and by act three he's outright looking up in his book what they should do next.
64	* RedOniBlueOni: the Gypsy Moons Pozita and Negato, and their respective world governments. Appropriate since they are metaphors of the positive and negative poles of electricity and magnetism.
65	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: It's implied, if not outright stated, that most of the series takes place in -- and thus that the United Worlds are confined to -- our solar system. Let's see: in addition to our nine planets (one of which got DemotedToExtra), we also have Fornax, Casa 7, Prah, and Ophecius, not to mention the Gypsy Moons; and Ophecius is stated to have a number of allies as well. To be fair, some of these are stated to be moons (Fornax) and some are called "planetoids", possibly large asteroids (Casa 7, Prah).
66	* SeriesContinuityError: Manages to get a lot of little things with their science wrong from story arc to story arc. Things like how the spaceships work, where and how the [=VizeoGraph=] functions, locations/functions of instruments, and duties of personnel. Then again, most of these [[NewRulesAsThePlotDemands are dictated by the plot]].
67	* ShownTheirWork: The series seems to have had writers who knew something about space as multiple scientific theories come into play. For example, there's the previously mentioned [[AvertedTrope aversion]] of GravitySucks, as well as in one episode it is pointed out that two moons orbit around each other, which is a theory as to how Pluto has its moon, Charon.
68	* SpaceClothes
69	** FashionDissonance: Cleolanta's guards. "So why are you dressed as Liberace's chauffeur?"
70	* SpaceColdWar: the United Worlds vs Ophecius.
71	* SpaceIsNoisy
72	* SpaceOpera
73	* SpiderSense: In "Crash Of The Moons". Attributed to the ''baby'', of all people.
74	-->'''Mrs. Bovarro:''' You know, somehow our baby knew about the Crash of the Moons!"\
75	'''Servo:''' Yeah, everyone's baby is ''so'' smart!
76	* StarTrekShake
77	* StupidScientist: Professor Newton says in the beginning that the moons will not collide. When he learns that he's wrong, he changes his mind very, very quickly.
78	* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: the so-called "[=VisioGraph=]". Also crosses over with MagicalSecurityCam, but more the former than the latter.
79	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Two examples for the show's second season. Winky was replaced by a new sidekick, Biffen "Biff" Cardoza (Jimmy Lydon), as actor Scotty Beckett was serving a jail sentence at the time. Professor Newton was replaced by Professor Mayberry (Reginald Sheffield) following the passing of Maurice Cass.
80	* [[LockedInARoom Trapped In A Bomb Shelter]]: "Oh, this is like that ''Series/PerfectStrangers''/''Series/FamilyTies''/''Series/FullHouse'' episode where they get locked in the basement!"
81	* TagalongKid: Bobby
82	* ThirdPersonPerson: Pinto Vortando in "Kip's Private War".
83	* TranslatorMicrobes: The [[{{Zeerust}} ticker tape machine]] used in "Rocky's Odyssey" to communicate with Bovarro the Positan.
84	* UnexplainedRecovery: The space pirate Griff, in the first storyline of the series, is a spy for the evil Ophecians entrenched in the Space Rangers ranks. Rocky finds out about the traitor Griff and disposes of him via magical DeusExMachina button, [[{{Recap/RockyJonesBeyondTheMoon}} which causes him to explode]]! But by [[Recap/RockyJonesMenaceFromOuterSpace the next episode]], Griff is all better and being a villain.
85	* [[TheFederation The United Worlds]]: But Cleolanta's having no part of that, thank you.
86	* XtremeKoolLetterz: The comic adaptions of the show spells it "[=VizeoGraph=]". The TV show, admittedly, never tells you how these things are spelled.
87	* WalkInChimeIn: In "The Pirates Of Prah", Vena is holding a couple of pirates at gunpoint...
88	-->'''Vena:''' Get over there. Move! I'll use this [gun] if I have to.\
89	[as the pirates scuttle into the corner, the airlock opens behind Vena and disgorges the pirate leader]\
90	'''Pirate Leader:''' No, Vena, you'll drop it!
91	* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: [=VisioGraph=], [=AstroPhone=]
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93	!!The [=MST3k=] presentations of "Manhunt In Space" and "Crash Of The Moons" provide examples of:
94	* HypocriticalHumor: While pointing out some of the problems with the film.
95	--> '''Servo:''' And did you get a load of those really cheap props made to look like bona fide space equipment? Haha...
96	--> (Joel and the bots look around)
97	--> '''Crow:''' ...Yeah...
98	* NoodleImplements: From the opening segment with the Mads
99	--> '''TV's Frank:''' For years now Dr. Forrester has been trying to get me to ''not'' brush after eating! He's tried everything: pleading; scolding; electroshock therapy; attaching a clothespin to my -
100	--> '''Dr. Forrester:''' That's enough, Frank.
101	* TechnoBabble: Crow's latest spec script, inspired by ''Rocky Jones'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek'', takes this to extremes, prompting Servo to flip out.
102	-->'''Servo:''' Why don't you light a match to this stinkburger and never put pen to paper until the mountains crumble into the sea!\
103	'''Joel:''' ...Servo, c'mon; we've got "blankacrukensnorken" sign.\
104	'''Crow (offscreen):''' ''I heard that!''
105	** Ironic, in that the movie itself contains precious little TechnoBabble.
106	*** Well, except for the explanation of Cold Light. Just as a mirage is caused by hot light, "cold" light makes things invisible! (Mary Jo Pehl: "Well, I can see how tha-''HUH''?!?")

Context Series / RockyJonesSpaceRanger