ALL SCI-FI

[Krel]

After Pegasus Hobbies came out with model kits of the Luna, and the Cosmostrator, I had hoped that they would continue the line of rockets with models of the Orbit Jet/Silver Moon, and the rocket from Flight to Mars and other movies. But no word so far, maybe they didn't sell well.

David.

[Rocky Jones]

There seems to be a version by a company called MasterPiece Models that looks a bit closer to accurate than the others. I found it on eBay, but I'm not in the mood to spend $81 at the moment.


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[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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Wow, guys, I hit pay dirt!

YouTube has all 16 of the episodes from the second half of the 39 episode series, the ones not included on this box set (what I thought was season 2 in my earlier post)

These are the episodes that include Ann Robinson as Queen Juliandra in 5 episodes, the benevolent queen who really liked Rocky.


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Blast-Off - chapters 1, 2, and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_XDifVwiPI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_lvn9B62Lw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdl3CczvH9s
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The Cold Sun - chapters 1, 2, and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAE3gugWp7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icA3h4-qTrk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfMSrHr1uO8
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Inferno in Space - chapter 1, 2, and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJLhbnDjpnA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trMh7GeHr8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mulTbnWhfwo
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Vena and the Darnamo - (a one-chapter story)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbVYZ31tpoQ
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Out of this World - chapters 1, 2, and 3 (with Ann Robinson in a very slinky black dress!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTLltZfaz_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKy63KrHXpI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvN6HpWqFk
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The Trial of Rocky Jones chapter 1, 2, and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwpnuQXxlg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tcJK0RaJSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJYY5sZLqRA
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I also found versions of a few earlier episodes that seem to look better than the DVDs I have.
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Escape into Space - (a one-chapter story from the first 23 episodes.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCE7vMkWvA8
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Menace from Space - (movie version of three chapters from the first 23 episodes.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsv6UGYQOM
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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Two seasons is what I had thought for several years. However IMDB lists it as having only one season, starting in April of 1954 and ending in November of the same year, with 39 episodes total.

So, it had an uninterrupted run of eight months, all in the same year — 1954. A brief but glorious life span, ending all too soon.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046639/episodes?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1

As for your terrific screen grab and the dialog that identifies it, great research! I think you've proven that Brent's model is bang on target in every detail. The undersides of the wings appear a bit more curved than Brent's, but that only because of the black "shadow" the video places under the white object.

But trim away the shadow and you get a clearer picture of the wing's shape.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rocky Jones]

It looks like the special effects guys were not quite up on the show continuity and the Orbit Jet model turned up in that shot. It looks like we've established there were two wing designs, all right-- an earlier one with more curved wings and a later one with more straight sided wings as on Brent's excellent model.

I'd almost keep my model (with the huge overly curved wings) and just change out the wings, but the main fuselage doesn't seem to taper right, either. Oh, well, I just do what Brent did.

[Bud Brewster]

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Actually, Rocky, I think the curved wings came after the straight ones — but to be fair, we haven't seen evidence yet that the wings were ever curved more than on Brent's model.

And this lovely shot below is from episode 31, Inferno in Space chapter 2, at the 10:10 mark. That episode has a better picture than any Rocky Jones episode I've ever seen, and the screen shot below required no adjustments by me whatsoever.



From this jpeg we clearly see that the wings on this model are straight until near the tips, where they then curve back on both the forward and trailing edges.

I'll reserve judgement on whether or not there really was a version with differently shaped wings until we can get a screen shot of a model in the series that clearly has wings which are more curved than we've seen in all the shots shown here so far.

According to the model rocket enthusiast at this site —

http://www.silverrockets.com/silvermo.html

— there actually is a slight difference between the Orbit Jet and the Silver Moon . . . in the tail fins! Note in the drawings below, the wings are identical but the tail fins are different. Bear in mind these plans are for actual rockets these guys have built and flown, not schematics from the series.



The model maker who drew up the plans below had this to say on the subject, although we should remember that he formed his opinion by watching the same poor quality videos we've been studying. Frankly I don't recall seeing a version of the rocket with the tail-fin shape he describes, or that he portrays in his drawing.

There seems to be two slightly differing tail fins used. One had a seemingly concave leading edge the other a convex leading edge.


Orbit Jet




Silver Moon


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Krel]

Film Fax magazine did an article on Rocky Jones some years back. The article said that RJ was a popular show, what killed it was the budget. It was an expensive show for a kid's show, more expensive than some network shows. There were the special effects, the costumes and a large number of sets. Most, but not all of the special effects were animated photos of the models.

David.

[Rocky Jones]

Who would have thought determining the correct shapes of Rocky Jones' ships could be this complicated. I have a feeling the subject has never been explored to this degree of depth before. I'm confident we'll have something worked out by the time I'm ready to build the model in a few years, though. We should probably publish our results somewhere for posterity.

Then again, in 50 years will anybody care about a one season sci-fi series made in the 1950s for kids? Well, I hope so, anyway. You guys have motivated me to start watching it again with a sharp eye.

[orzel-w]

All we need is one screen grab showing unambiguously a different wing or fin shape... and no hand drawn artwork.
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Another aspect of the show I still enjoy is the sound effect for the ship landing. It sounds like the whoosh of a jet overlaid with the drone of a multi-engine propeller driven aircraft, growing more intense until the ship touches down.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Just to demonstrate how the picture quality of this show should be much better than what we see in these videos, here's a screen shot I made myself of a blast-off from one of the episodes with a better picture than most —





— and here's a screen shot I found on line that will just break you hearts, guys. I mean . . . damn.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

As you say... damn!
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...or not...

WayneO
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