The Cold Inferno Experiment

Four new weekly adventures of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger air during September, 1954. Due to cast changes, the show doesn't get renewed past this year. I am so happy to see them get rid of Winky, but the actor went out hardcore on a shooting spree with Mexican police, so he went to jail. I won't be making fun of him anymore. Also in theaters at the time was another kid-oriented Sci-Fi movie, Tobor the Great. Sadly I didn't get my hands on it in time for review here, but maybe one day. All classic Sci-Fi should just be available for streaming on NetFlix. Many are in the public domain to make it easier.

The Cold Sun, part III- This is one of the lowest points of science in the series yet. Dr. Reno helps Pinto Vertando escape Space Ranger jail and the steal the XV9, with Bobby aboard, headed for Herculon. To prevent an immediate pursuit he puts a bomb in on the Silver Moon, which starts a fire in the Trotanic Missile room (i.e. Engineering). Rocky puts the fire out but the ship is delayed a while for more repairs. During the trip, Bobby calls Vertando a coward which for some reason hurts him deeply. Pinto Vertando, who was once a minor warlord in the series, is reduced to this Mongolian arch-typical over-acting bad guy that is meant for kids. He is wasted and really annoying. On Herculon, the wedding is about to proceed but Vertando decides to tell Suzerain Juliandra that her future husband and Olympian Rudy DiMarco is in league with Reno to take over Herculon and continue the fight against the United Worlds. Reno was DiMarco's trainer and wanted him to win the Olympics just to offer him up to Herculon if the need ever arose. And it did. Way to contrive for the story but it gets worse. It turns out before launch the Trotanic Missles weren't armed and only he knows how to set it. There was only time to put one on each rocket, he has one and Rocky has one. Everyone assumes that the Silver Moon is destroyed, and Reno holds the only key to saving the sun. He trades this knowledge for freedom now that his plot is exposed, and they take Bobby back in XV9 for Torita, Mercury's totally made-up moon. On the way, Rocky comes across Reno in space, also heading for Torita (there must be only one flight path). Rocky disables the ship, rescues Bobby, captures Reno and DiMarco, and accidentally sets off a fully armed Trotanic Missile. I want to point out this is meant to have an explosive affect on the sun, but it explodes in space and does little harm to the Silver Moon. They finally land on Torita and see a "crust" covering the sun. Reno has a wrist gun, but Rocky throws a space helmet over his arm (which I think was blown-off), and proceeds to beat up DiMarco. Rocky is in a space suit and still manages to clobber the Olympian, proving he was cheating in their last fight. The Trotanic Missile is fired and it completely breaks up the sun crust. The planets of the United Worlds are saved. THE END. Why is there a crust on the sun? You can see sunlight on Earth. Unless they upped the yield of a Trotanic Missile, which is not in evidence when one blows up while the Silver Moon is in docking range of it, there is frellingly bad science on display. I do like the part where Reno grabs Bobby by the head, knocks him out and throws him in a corner.

Inferno in Space, part I- The Silver Moon comes across a region of space with some kind of atmosphere. It turns all forms of wood on the ship to ash, even going so far as wrecking most of the control console on the bridge. Rocky orders the ship out of the area and heads for Earth. Professor Mayberry explains that there is a moon, Cyrko, out there surrounded by a Planetary Nebula (wrong use of the phrase) of radiation and energy. Some of those cosmic rays had penetrated the ship and effected all the wood-based products on board. The Silver Moon is immediately ordered to have radiation shielding installed (really? this wasn't already in the ship's design?) and all wood-based products removed. A new sensor suite is also installed. Rocky, Biff, Vena and Mayberry head back out to the phenomenon while some nefarious goings on begin to happen involving Agar, last seen in The Forbidden Moon story arc, and played by a new actor. He plans an escape from captivity with an undercover agent, Dorton, posing as a Space Ranger at Space Affairs. Bobby, by the way, is thankfully left behind to watch Mayberry's observatory and lab, which look suspiciously like Griffith Observatory. In space the Silver Moon encounters the energy cloud and dives right in. They find Cyrko which is naturally erupting with nuclear mushroom clouds, spreading all sorts of radioactive material into space. Mayberry claims that not only will this cloud spread farther and farther out but it's on a collision course with Earth. TO BE CONTINUED. This is a similar set up to Crash of Moons, but this moon is super-radioactive, like in The Forbidden Moon. I am displeased with the science again, but that's nothing new. There is a case in the real world for naturally occurring nuclear reactions, involving deposits of Uranium under high pressure for millions of years, but not for over 1.5 billion years. Something to do with the radioactive decay of Uranium 235.

Inferno in Space, part II- Agar is on the loose with Dorton and they steal rocket ship NX7. During this time Mayberry is briefing everyone about a plan to protect Earth. It's not that Cyrko will hit Earth now, it's just that the radioactive halo around the moon will destroy all wood and paper on the Earth. He and Rocky recommend alerting everyone in the world and start using the world's industry to produce giant mirrors as part of Stage 1. These will be mounted around the world to reflect the energy or radiation or whatever it is. Stage 2 will be to send the Silver Moon to Cyrko again and drop off a magnetic liquid which will spread across the planet and attract all the energy in the cloud back to the surface, to prevent it from exploding near Earth. Supposedly Earth should already be feeling these effects but the moon is blocking it for now. Hurculon has become the forward base for Stage 2 because their moon, Alpha 3, permanently shields them. But Herculon is in another Solar System so Cyrko must be moving fast and/or have a big energy cloud. But first, Rocky grabs Biff to chase Agar and Dorton. Agar finds out that his stolen ship has Cold Light installed (from Pirates of Prah). He beats the bejeezus out of Dorton, puts him in a space suit, dumps him out the airlock, and cloaks the ship. Rocky spends valuable time saving Dorton and gets called back to Earth for a new emergency before he can grab Agar. On Earth Dorton spills everything he knows about Agar and his plans. Meanwhile, Agar has been listening to radio chatter and learns about the importance of Herculon during ths crisis. He arrives there and claims to be a Venusian scientist. On Earth, some regions are already experiencing devastation before Rocky's plan can be set in motion. TO BE CONTINUED. The logic of it all doesn't make any sense, but at this point I'm just going with the story. They claim to have a liquid that needs to be mixed to form a metallic skin over Cyrko. It sounds like one liquid is positive and one is negative, which I'm pretty sure can't be done. When you pour them together they form a giant magnet. I give the story a lot of credit for referring to the back catalog of characters and planets, including New Ophiuchus.

Inferno in Space, part III- Hurray, Rocky finally used a brilliant plan to save everyone aboard the Silver Moon. But first, Agar secretly meets with Juliandra's right-hand woman, Shima, to set her up as Suzerain, if she only helps him. Rocky and Biff blast off Earth to Herculon. On arrival Herculonians load up missiles and magnetic liquid and stuff. Shima introduces Agar to Naboro (played by the massive Tor Johnson, who makes many appearances in bad Sci-Fi movies, and by default Mystery Science Theater 3000), his new muscle. The three organize a coup and kidnap Juliandra to the stolen NX7. They learn that Rocky's journey is likely to be a one way trip. Rocky and Biff blast off Herculon of Cyrko. They get a distress call from Juliandra. Thinking they have time to save her and Earth, the Silver Moon diverts to NX7's location. When they dock Agar, Shima, Tor and Juliandra emerge and a big fist fight ensues. Rocky, Biff and Juliandra are knocked out and Agar once again gets away, with Shima and Naboro. When everyone recovers on the Silver Moon they realize Agar set their course for Cyrko and shattered all the controls. Now it is a one-way trip. They proceed as normal, dropping all the liquid while Earth moves all its mirrors into location. Rocky runs to the engine room and straps a rocket to the airlock, thus providing thrust to turn the ship around. Biff fixed the engine on/off button and turns on the engine when the new heading is correct, back to Earth. On NX7 Agar sets course for Medina, but Shima sicks Naboro on him for insolence. Naboro turns into the (incredible) Hulk and smashes all their controls. The ship drifts into the reflected energy from Earth and explodes. THE END. I know Rocky's thrust solution isn't perfect, he would need to correct the flat spin movement he initiated. But it was so cool to see him actually come up with a nearly plausible idea, I gotta give him credit.