Godzilla (Gojira)

If any single movie typifies 50s sci-fi, it would be Godzilla. Unfortunately, many of the later variations and copies were of such low quality that it sullies the original. For most people, Godzilla is synonymous with a cheesy rubber-suit monster stomping on model cities. This is unfortunate. Gojira has a dark and sober quality that the copies never matched.

The original, Gojira in Japan, was inspired by the American films, King Kong and Beast from 20,000 fathoms the year before, but went much further. Gojira was not simply a monster-in-the-city flick. It was a product of troubled times with some serious messages. Gojira is all about the fear of mass destruction.

Gojira isn't the movie Americans first saw Godzilla. The American release came in 1956, but it was not simply a dubbed version. New footage was included starring Raymond Burr. Much of the original footage is still there, but edited and shuffled somewhat. The heavy anti-A-bomb tone was edited out. The result was adequate, but weaker. The original Gojira is a much more powerful movie.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Ships are being lost, mysteriously, in the waters around Ohto island. A village on Ohto is destroyed by a freak "hurricane." A team of scientists are dispatched to investigate. A surviving fisherman tells of a monster. An old fisherman tells a legendary monster which occasionally punishes them. Dr. Yamane finds huge footprints which are radioactive. In a footprint, he finds a fresh trilobite. They catch a glimpse of Godzilla too. Back in Tokyo, Yamane says that nuclear testing had wrecked Godzilla's deep sea habitat, and the radiation made him both huge and indestructible.The government plan is to evacuate the coast and build a huge electric fence to contain him. This fails, as does the army's artillery. The angry Godzilla causes much destruction in Tokyo. The only hope lies in a recluse scientist's invention -- the Oxygen Destroyer -- which removes all oxygen from the water (asphyxiating all life) and turns the oxygen into two corrosive fluids which dissolve flesh. They use the Oxygen Destroyer and it works. Godzilla dies, as does the scientist who invented it. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Gojira wasn't the first atom-awakened beast, but he was the best. This movie has many layers of allegory. It goes far beyond the stereotype of monster-stomping-models. See the Notes for particular points of interest.

Cold War Angle
Gojira is the grand poobah of the nuclear cautionary tale sub-genre. The original Japanese film is jam-packed with anti-nuclear messages, both blatant and allegorical. It's not the usual film about America worrying over communist invasion, but the cost, and danger, of nuclear weapons is the heart of the movie.

Notes
Taken from Headlines -- On March 1, 1954, the fishing boat Lucky Dragon had strayed too close to Bikini Atoll. The "Bravo" test blast was twice as powerful as scientists expected. Men aboard the Lucky Dragon were accidentally exposed to radiation from the nuclear test. All became sick. One died. There was much outrage in Japan over the "secret" tests. The Japanese avoided fish (for fear of radiation), which hurt the local fishing industry and was felt throughout the Japanese economy. This became a crisis in relations between the United States and Japan. This event is alluded to in the movie's opening scene. Japanese audiences in 1954 would not have failed to make the connection. It flavors all that follows. Even though there is no overt anti-Americanism on the screen, making nuclear testing the demon leaves no other conclusion. Japan wasn't conducting bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. America was.

Godzilla, the Symbol -- The beast is not simply a raging monster. Godzilla is the personification of atomic power -- at least it's dark side. The writer and director, Ishiro Honda, himself said that Godzilla was, "the A-bomb made flesh." It destroys cities, ravages the country, kills men women and children. It is utterly unstoppable. Scenes of Godzilla-ravaged Tokyo are intentionally very similar to images of A-bomb ravaged Hiroshima. Godzilla's fiery hot breath is the most obvious example of radiation personified. Godzillia is no mere dinosaur (as in Beast from 20,000 fathoms) or a humble animal made large, as so many of the giant bug films would later portray.

War in Review -- Another interesting sub-current is the movie as metaphor for WWII, from the Japanese point of view. It opens with peace, but trouble brewing beyond their shores. Ships are lost. Families clamor for news and demand answers from officials. Once the symbol of war arrives (Godzilla), the armed forces are mobilized to keep it (war) away. Destructive war comes anyway, unstopped by defensive forces. Scenes of over-full hospitals, children losing mothers. A whole city is reduced to a smoldering ruin. The young men suit up (diving suits) to battle (the beast) complete with the white warrior headband. All this is cast with a tone of helplessness, as a civilian might view a war. Gojira gives some expression of what WWII felt like to the Japanese.

To Nuke or Not to Nuke -- With the plot of Gojira as metaphor for WWII, it's interesting that the writers (who are Japanese) put forth the need to use the horrible super-weapon as the only hope to stop the war (Godzilla). The tragic hero, Dr. Serizawa refuses, at first, the use of his terrible Oxygen Destroyer even though Godzilla is ravaging his country. Eventually, he is persuaded that, horrible as it is, the super-weapon must be used. It works. The personification of war is stopped. Given that Japan was on the receiving end of two atom bombs, it's fascinating that a Japanese film, just 9 years later, would suggest that the bombing was actually an inevitable course. Given Japan's traditional anti-nuclear stance, this is an interesting decision.

Background Romance -- Something which gets cut out of the Americanized version is the cultural sub-plot with Emiko at the center. She represents modern post-war Japan, torn between tradition and modernism. She is founded in formality and tradition, symbolized by her arranged marriage to Serizawa, yet wants to go her own way. She found love on her own, represented by Ogata. The Emiko triangle is a commentary on the post-war Japanese psyche. This gives reason for the several extended close-ups of Emiko emoting inner conflict.

Bottom line? Gojira is well worth watching. It has much more "meat" to it than so many if its later imitators.

The Snow Creature

Here is another low-budget B movie from the father and son Wilder team. They brought us the Dragnet-style Phantom from Space in '53 and serial-esque Killers from Space in early '54. Snow Creature (SC) doesn't really fit into the sci-fi family very well. No "science" (other than a really big refrigerator) is involved. Not exactly cutting edge science. There's no science offered to either explain the monster's existence or to deal with him. SC is more of a traditional nature-monster movie. This survey of 50s sci-fi movies typically avoids inclusion of movies outside of the genre (such as simple horror, crime, drama, westerns, etc.) but since it's the product of the Wilder team, there's at least a "family" connection.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A scientific expedition into the Himalayas is interrupted when a Yeti steals the wife of the lead sherpa. The two westerners don't care and want to press on with their "science". The head sherpa, however, hijacks the expedition to search for the Yeti and his missing wife. Seeking shelter in a cave to avoid a storm, the group come across a Yeti, his mate and child, living in that cave. Mr. Yeti tries to cause a cave-in to protect his family, but manages only to kill his female and child, and get himself knocked out. The westerners then decide to take him back to America. Back in America (LA), the Yeti escapes while folks argue about whether he's an immigration or cargo issue. Yeti disappears into the city and kills a woman on the streets. The police search, but Yeti eludes them. He's using the miles of storm drain tunnels to get around (they're cooler too). The police finally catch the Yeti and shoot him dead. Everyone goes home happy. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Not to sound grim, but one of the "fun" things about SC is that it is so blatant about the They're-After-Our-Women sub-theme. On a less serious note, it's fun to see the repeats of stock footage and even repeats of SC's own "fresh" footage. The Japanese actors (speaking japanese) as psuedo-tibetans is amusing too. Something from the all-asians-look-alike, perhaps.

Cold War Angle?
SC is more of a traditional nature-monster flick. If one were to read anything between the lines, it would be about the danger in "wild" nature. This seems too deep for SC, however.

Notes
They're After Our Women! -- If SC has any long term significance, it's as an unmitigated example of the abducted women undercurrent which pervades sci-fi. The movie's posters themselves couldn't be more blatant. "Half-Man, Half-Monster...Abducts Women." A huge Yeti carries the usual swooning babe in his arm. (In the movie, Mr. Yeti is only 7' tall or so) Many posters promise the abduction theme but the movie itself fails to deliver. SC isn't one of those. Fairly early in the film, a Yeti steals a young "sherpa" wife as she gathered firewood. The husband relates that such abduction was common. "Yeti come low country when want steal woman. Always want to steal woman." There ya go. They're after our women!

Beast in the City -- SC follows a very familiar pattern. Westerners find a beast and bring it back to the big city. Big beast escapes and causes mayhem. Big beast eventually gets killed by people defending the city. The classic of this plot-line is King Kong of course, but showed up before Kong in Lost World (1925). We saw it more recently as the plot-line in Beast from 20,000 fathoms ('53). While already getting a bit tired, this plot-line will show up again in later movies too. The Wilders were playing it pretty safe with the Urbanized Beast scenario.

Civilization Triumphant -- If there was it message lurking within the screenplay of SC, it might be that civilized man will subdue and triumph over wild nature. The Yeti symbolized the wild -- powerful, brutish, primal. The City symbolized civilization -- organized, technological, the superior power of the collective. When the wild nature thing was loose in civilization's turf, Civilization would crush nature. There is clearly no New Age nature worship in this.

Anti-Climax Ending -- SC used the Urbanized Beast formula but completely dropped the ball when it came to the ending. Viewers are given no reason to identify or feel anything for the beast. He's just a stiff, hulking thing. As such, when he's killed in the end, there's none of the usual conflict. Glad he's dead / sorry he's dead. The Wilders (writer and director) don't seem to care much either. The Yeti is just netted, shot dead and dropped. The sappy "joke" at the end throws away whatever pathos there might have been.

At the bottom line, SC is a movie that will find some affection among sci-fi collectors, but the average movie viewer will probably not be happy.

Target Earth

Target Earth (TE) is not an innovative B-movie, but retains a little freshness in how it mixes a little of this and a touch of that from previous works. The final result is not too bad, despite its very evident small budget. The poster promises "Raw Panic," but doesn't quite deliver. There is, however, a generous helping of post-apocalyptic gloom, a big dose of pulp crime drama and some attempted dashes of robot alien sci-fi. Sprinkle in some non-wooden actors and you get a fairly watchable movie about a small group of people who find themselves alone in a big city, evacuated in advance of an alien invasion.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A woman (Nora) awakens from a failed suicide attempt (sleeping pills) to find the large city completely empty. All power and water off. Eventually she finds Frank (Richard Denning). The two of them explore the empty city together, eventually finding another couple, Jim and Vicki, living it up in the lounge of a luxury hotel. No one has any idea what happened. They were all asleep (or drunk or knocked out) when whatever happened happened. While making their way towards the edge of town, they're joined by a nervous little man named Otis. A robot appears, frightening them all into another hotel's lobby. A discarded newspaper tells of invasion by a mystery army. Otis gets spooked and runs outside. The robot zaps him dead. The others decide to hide in rooms upstairs to formulate a plan (if possible) for escape. Meanwhile, the army has captured a broken robot. (They've only taken the city, not the whole world) The army scientists experiment on it to see how stop them. The tests seem futile. The army will have to use nukes on the evacuated city if the robots can't be stopped.
That night, a shifty stranger intrudes and holds Frank, Nora, Jim and Vicki hostage, at gunpoint. His plan is to force the others out into the streets as a decoy so he can escape via the sewers under the aliens' lines. He's a wanted murderer, so his only hope to escape the authorities is to go under the aliens. Vicki challenges him, but he shoots her dead. In a rage, Jim fights with, then strangles the killer. The gunshots attract one of the robots, which pursues the three survivors up the stairs and onto the roof. It zaps Jim dead, but before it can get Frank and Nora, the army's loud-speaker jeeps come up the street. They're playing a special sound frequency which the scientists found out breaks the robots' "eye", incapacitating them. The robot falls over on its back. The world is safe. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The first half of TE is intriguing. What happens if you wake up to find everyone else gone? Later movies would pick up on this eerie theme too. The second half morphs into a more pedestrian pulp drama, but the robot is actually amusing to watch, even though he's not supposed to be amusing. It's interesting to know that people who saw the film as children report "nightmares for years" because of the deadly relentless robot. He must have touched a nerve in young 50s folk.

Cold War Angle
The premise of an invading army in a major American city pushes many Cold War buttons. For those born after the Cold War, TE provides a little opportunity to get into the heads of people at that time. There's the almost paralyzing fear of an unstoppable army. There are people trying to integrate the prospect of immanent death with daily life. The citizens in TE are a microcosm of Cold War citizenry. And don't overlook the ubiquitous moral -- Rest easy, the military will save us. Very Cold War.

Notes
Based on the Book -- The screenplay of TE follows the story line of Paul Fairman's short novel, "Deadly City," rather closely. Many of the movie's plot elements parallel the book. In some ways, though, the movie is better. The book differs in that, there are no robots. The book's aliens get little attention beyond other-worldly calls in the distance, so fear of them begins to seem unwarranted. The characters are more seedy. Jim's "girlfriend" (named Minna) is a milk-toast doormat, not the spunky "dame" of the movie. In the book, the army doesn't figure out how to stop the aliens. Borrowing from Wells, Fairman just has his feeble aliens expire in the streets from something in our atmosphere. A final difference is that Frank and Nora do not get together at the end. They just go back to being solitary seedy losers like they started out.

Essence of Humanity -- TE is like Five ('51) in following a small group of survivors in an empty land. It's a bit like Quiet Earth ('85) that way too. There's also a similarity to Invasion USA ('52) which follows a small group while America is invaded. It's inevitable that the few characters begin to represent segments of present society. Bill Raynor's screenplay is more optimistic than Fairman's rather misanthropic pulp novel.

An Army of One -- An obvious symptom of the low budget is that there is only one robot costume. Even though the dialog describes there being more, as many as hundreds, we see only the one at a time. The director used none of the usual low-budget tricks to imply lots of robots. (multiple shadows, mutli-shot quick cuts. Not even split screen) As such, the robot comes across as what he is -- the only one.

Leapin' Ludwigs! -- The background music is pretty well done, generally. It's atmospheric, enhancing, but not intruding. At one point, however, the music stands out. This comes when the robot crashes through the hotel lobby window after Davis shot Vicki. The robot busts through with a slightly discordant version of the theme from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This is the very recognizable, da da da DUMMM theme.

Any City Will Do -- The evacuated city in Fairman's novel is clearly noted as Chicago. There's no significance to it. It just is. Other than naming a few streets, the location is very neutral. It could be anywhere. In TE, the screenwriters intentionally played up the "any city" angle. Even though TE was shot in Los Angeles (on Sunday mornings when no one was around), there is a noticeable avoidance of saying what city it is. No street names, no landmarks referred to. This helps TE be an everyman tale, relevant to whatever city the audience lives in.

Venus, the New Mars -- Unlike the writers' consensus, which saw Mars as the source of invaders, TE tags Venus as the source. The science is appallingly thin. Venus has clouds, therefore Venus has water, therefore Venus has life, therefore they came from Venus. The Venusians are never seen, nor even conjectured about. All we see is their robot, sent to do the invading by remote control. No theories are offered as to why the Venusians are trying to invade. They just are.

Stock Footage Spotting -- As a B-movie, it's almost mandatory to have several minutes of stock military footage. TE complies, but with nuggets of interest. There are some clips that are obviously from World War II, showing A-20 and B-25 bomber formations. There are even some squadron ready-room clips of pilots preparing for missions, but there are clearly maps of Germany on the walls. We'll save Los Angeles by bombing Germany! Bet the aliens weren't expecting that! Mixed within these war clips are the usual snippets of 50s jets. There are the customary P-80 Shooting Stars, and the usual B-47 taking off. There are some less common F9F Panthers and a fairly rare stock-footage star, a B-45 Tornado with an escort of P-80s. Watch for it. The B-45 was America's first operational jet bomber, but almost totally eclipsed a few years after its introduction by the more modern B-47.

Bottom line? TE is worth the watch for its apocalypse theme. The first half, especially, does quite a good job, even if the second half gets a bit pulpy. The robot is too lame to evoke anything beyond a chuckle from 21st century viewers. But, people who said they remember seeing TE as a youth (in the late 50s) report being quite spooked by them. That's worth watching, if only to try and understand the times.

Tobor the Great

Niche market movies were not a new concept in the 50s. Tobor was designed for pre-teen matinee audiences. Knowing this, the film needs to be cut some slack for not grappling with deep concepts or dramatic action. It's a kids' movie. As such, Tobor amounts to a sort of sci-fi "lite." Nonetheless, it's worthwhile viewing for its expansion on the robot archetype.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Harrison quits his job at a (pre-NASA) space agency because he doesn't believe humans should go into space. He joins an older scientist, Dr. Nordstrom, who agrees and is working on a super robot to do that task instead. They work together in Nordstrom's basement lab, eventually unveiling their creation to a select group of fellow scientists. Tobor (robot spelled backwards) has the strength and durability to withstand the harshness of space. He can be controlled remotely, but also has enough onboard intelligence to operate independently. He's also been given some fuzzy abilities to "sense" emotions and read thoughts.
A communist spy had infiltrated the group of scientists. The spies decide they must steal Tobor before he's handed over to the American government. Meanwhile, Nordstrom's grandson, nicknamed "Gadge" has become fascinated with Tobor. Since Tobor has reasoning and emotions, he and Gadge develop a friendship bond. Nordstrom's home security thwarts the spies' attempt to steal Tobor. They then arrange a kidnapping of Nordstrom and Gadge to at least learn his secrets. Nordstrom has Tobor's remote controls with him (an ear piece and special pen), so instructs Tobor to rescue them. The spies figure out that Nordstrom is stalling, get angry and destroy the pen. Tobor stops cold. Harrison switches Tobor to telepathic mode. Tobor resumes, following Gadge's thoughts. Tobor breaks into the spies hideout and fights them. Harrison and the military arrive and all is well. Tobor has proven his abilities and given a deep space mission. Nordstrom and Gadge watch the liftoff. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Tobor is a Disney-esque variety of sci-fi, which has a certain charm. It has the same simpler ethos as the old serials, Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. Tobor himself is totally the star and reasonably well done for a low-budget film. Given the evolution of the robot archetype within sci-fi, Tobor adds some qualities which are somewhat ahead of the curve. The movie's wide-eyed adoration of science and technology is interesting, especially given the decades of technophobia movies which will crop up later. In Tobor, technology is our steadfast friend -- and savior.

Cold War Angle
This, while shallow, is very clear. The communist spies want to steal Tobor. Dr. Nordstrom worries that Tobor's advanced programming to be subverted into destructive uses.

Notes
Robot Power! -- Prior to Tobor, robots had been by typified as strong, silent brutes -- usually with destructive powers. Tobor is endowed with the ability for independent thought AND to sense emotions. This moves Tobor out of the typical realm of mindless mechanical minion and closer to the role of artificial human. For decades, writers and audiences would remain fascinated with the idea of a robot which is almost human (Star Trek TNG's "Data" character, Robin Williams in Millennium Man, and the little boy in Spielberg's A.I., etc.). This is aided by Tobor have a sort of face too. Compare Tobor to Gog and Magog in Gog released earlier in 1954. Gog's design was intentionally NOT humanoid.

Kid Power! -- Tobor panders to its audience, in this case 8 to 12 year olds. Pandering movies are interesting for how the protagonist(s) tend to be superlative and their antagonists are bumbling fools. This will be a frequent undercurrent in teen pandering movies to come. The teens are the smart ones who save the world, while the adults are all idiots who should never be trusted with the world. Tobor isn't quite that flagrant, but is clearly geared towards a point of view from a 12-year-old in the 50s.

Technophilia -- While the sub-genre of technophobia would be gearing up in the years to come, Tobor stands out as one of the technology-through-rose-colored glasses movies. Unlike the rather customary robot rampage scene, Tobor remains under control of his human masters -- he only looks like he's rampaging. With his artificial intelligence and emotional programming, Tobor is a technological expression of Nietzsche's übermensch -- the "superman" which mere man was supposed to "evolve" into.

No Babes -- A minor point. Tobor does not carry off a swooned shapely babe as shown in the poster. This abducting-our-women trope gets a lot of exposure in 50s sci-fi -- especially the posters. Sometimes the poster fits, such as the ones for Creature from the Black Lagoon ('54). There, the gill-man does abduct the beautiful woman. Or Robot Monster ('53) in which Ro-Man does carry off young Alice with the intent of "having" her. All too often, however, the only babe abducted is the one on the poster. The movie has no such scene. Given Tobor's target audience, it's a bit odd that the promoters thought it fitting to depict Tobor carrying off a hot woman in high heels. An appeal to early pre-adolescent hormones?

Bottom line: As a movie, Tobor is too juvenile for most non-juvenile viewers to like. It's value lies in what Tobor adds to the archetype of "robot." He's a stark contrast to the evil, heartless (or berserk) robots to come.

Crash of Moons

Released as a feature film, Crash of the Moons (CoM) was actually three episodes of the TV series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger which aired in July of 1954. Since it was made for television (with incredibly small budgets) and a continuing plot line, CoM has a kinship with the movie serials like Flash Gordon and Captain Video. In that context, CoM is actually a step up, the next generation of space serials. Rocky Jones has a place in the historical sci-fi timeline as the stepping stone between Flash Gordon and Captain James T. Kirk. He's a little of both.

The costumes aren't much different from the serials. People of other worlds still seem to wear lightening bolts or other logos on all their clothing. The sets, however, have lost their Industrial Baroque look. Instead, there's a sort of spartan simplicity which reflected the 50s' sense of "modern" -- very different from the 30s' sense of what was modern. The characterizations are fairly two-dimensional, but since it was written for a "youth" audience, this was a feature, not a flaw.

Watch CoM as a sort of early experiment in TV space drama. It established several elements which the 60s version -- "Star Trek" -- would run with. More on that in the Notes section.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Two "gypsy" moons are traveling into a solar system. Their course will cause one of them to destroy the United Worlds space station OW9. No other rockets are near enough to evacuate the station's personnel, but Rocky Jones, in his rocket, the "Orbit Jet," arrive just in time to push the station out of harm's way.
The next danger is that the one of the gypsy moons is on a collision course with another small planet called Ophecius. Rocky is dispatched to warn both populations of the danger and need to evacuate. The leader of Ophecius is the evil queen Cleolantra, who refuses. She suspects everything the United Worlds does, so assumes this is just a plot to scatter her people and sabotage her reign. The rule of the moon Posita is much more affable, but lacks the resources to evacuate his whole population. In the meantime, Cleolantra decides the way to solve her problem is to blow up Posita. She and her aide, Atlasan, take a rocket to Posita and start bombing it with missiles.
Rocky disables Cleolantra's ship and assists in the orderly evacuation of Posita with a fleet of ships. He then travels in Cleolantra's repaired ship back to Ophecius in attempt to convince them to evacuate too. Panic ensues as the mob rushes the rocket in attempt to escape. Atlasan's wife urges calm and the evacuation is completed just in time. While in space on their way to new homes, the ruler of Posita waxes optimistic about the future of his people. This softens the cold heart of Cleolantra, who is then assumed to be much less thorny to the United Worlds. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing Rocky Jones: Space Ranger as the forerunner of Star Trek (the original series), is in itself an interesting study. The plot is actually fairly good for an early TV series. Considering how early TV series had budgets comparable to a high school play production, the crew did a fairly good job. The special effects don't carry the show (as they're expected to in feature films nowadays), but the lack of them doesn't ruin the story's flow either. It's also fun to see John Banner in an early role (Bavarro), knowing that he would become famous a decade later for his Sergeant Schultz role in the TV series Hogan's Heros. And speaking of Bavarro and his planet, Posita, it's quite a hoot to see how almost everything on Posita is emblazoned with a lightening bolt. Doors, windows, walls, clothing. Posita was an enormously "branded" planet. Nike's marketeers may have watched TV in the mid 50s and been inspired.

Cold War Angle
While the characterizations are mostly stereotypes, it is notable that the evil ruler oppresses her people by denying them information from "outside." This is a classic Iron Curtain reference. The men of Ophecius are all dressed in ostentatious military uniforms. These things, as well as the selfishness of their autocratic ruler, are what amount to a juvenile casting of the Cold War. Good vs evil. Freedom and caring vs oppression and selfishness.

Notes
One Giant Leap for Woman-kind? -- Much was made over Gene Rodenberry including female crew members in his original Star Trek cast, as if it was such a ground-breaking move. A trip through 50s sci-fi takes some wind out of those sails. Sci-fi (even in the early 50s) often had its single woman crew member. Rocketship X-M of 1950 had Dr. Lisa. Flight to Mars ('51) had Carol Stafford. Commando Cody ('52) had his Sue Davis. Catwomen of the Moon ('53) had Helen aboard as the rocketship's navigator. Etc. etc. It was actually pretty routine to have a pretty woman among the crew. As such, having Vena part of Rocky's crew was not particularly ground-breaking. By that token, Ohura would not be either.
On another note, Cleolantra as the villain was not particularly novel either. It had been a long tradition at Disney studios to have the villain of a story be a woman. (the Queen in Snow White, Cuella de Ville in 101 Dalmations, Step Mother in Cinderella, etc.) 50s audiences would not have been shocked at a female villain.

World of Stereotypes -- The whole Rocky Jones world is stocked with stereotypes. Rocky is the brave and determined hero. Cleolantra is the shifty nemesis. Professor Newton is the typical scientist type (scatter-brained genius). Little Bobby is the token boy for the audience (of young boys) to identify with. It is interesting that the 50s notion of heros expected them to be squeaky clean and idealistically "good." Perhaps it was post-Vietnam disillusionment that sparked interest in heroes with a dark side (ala later Batman roles, etc.) But in the 50s, heroes were the idealized good-guy.
Even the two rulers are an exercise in manichean contrasts. Bavarro is the affable, caring and cooperative ruler of Posita. Cleolantra is the ruthless and oppressive despot of Ophecius.
50s sci-fi followed in the footsteps of the westerns for being morality plays. It's not hard to see them as simply westerns set in space.

Minimal Special -- One thing that stands out in CoM is how minimal the special effects are. Modern audiences have grown accustomed to on-screen action. This is a legacy of Star Trek which brought action and effects into primetime. In the mid 50s, however, these were far too expensive. In CoM, the actors talk about taking off in a rocket and walk out of the room. A few long moments of a re-used model rocket take-off are played. The next scene cut is of them inside the rocket's cockpit. This was early television. The model footage gave the actors time to exit one set, and take up positions in the other set.

Space Wiener -- Things rockety were hot in the mid 50s, especially to the youth. To promote the Rocky Jones: Space Ranger TV series, the producers had made up several (six?) "rocket" trailers with which they toured from town to town. These Rockets are a nearly-forgotten kin to Oscar Meyer's more famous Wienermobile (1936 to Present). They would get into parades and make appearances outside of grocery stores. "Rocky Jones' Space Ship Mars," was one of the better done of several rocket-trailer promotions of the mid-50s. It featured a big picture of Rocky on the side, as well as the sponsor, "Silvercup Bread". By the later 50s, the rocket trailer attractions faded in popularity. A few rusting hulks still remain. Note the photo at left with Rocky's picture barely visible yet. Such relics are a glimpse at a glorious rocket-fixated yesterday. Hot dogs, though, are forever.

Bottom line? CoM is a worthwhile look at 50s television. You can see the transition from the 40s serial style to the 60s' Star Trek. You can appreciate how much could be done with a low budget and see where the effects on Star Trek which look so laughably minimal now, were actually hot stuff at the time.