Space Rangers to the Rescue!

Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, was one of the first half-hour sci-fi television series about outer space and rocket ship travel. The pilot episode aired in September of 1952, but the show was not picked up until a year later, and 26 episodes were filmed between October 1953 and April 1954.

Scotty Beckett, a child actor best remembered for his appearances in the ‘Our Gang’ comedy shorts, played the part of Winky, Rocky Jones’ side-kick. Unfortunately, Scotty got into so much trouble that his character was removed from the show after the first episodes were filmed. He was arrested for robbing a Hollywood hotel at gunpoint. After posting bail he fled to Mexico, but he managed to destroy what was left of his career very quickly. When Mexican policemen tried to arrest him for passing bad checks he started a gun battle with the cops, but was quickly subdued and arrested. While he was spending time in a Mexican jail, the show went on without him.

The first thirty episodes were three part stories, taking three half hour episodes to complete. When the show was later cancelled, producer Roland Reed packaged the three half hour episodes of each story into a full length motion picture, and this movie was created from the first three episodes of the television series.

In this outer space adventure Space Ranger Rocky Jones flies to a rogue planet where a famous scientist and a young boy are being held hostage. Along with side-kick Winky and beautiful navigator Vena Ray, they will battle the evil Queen Cleolanta and her henchmen. And yes, Leonard 'Leo' Penn is the father of actor Sean Penn. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.

Leonard Penn and Charles Meredith	Charles Meredith
Charles Meredith and Leonard Penn	Charles Meredith and Richard Crane
Charles Meredith	Enemy space rocket
	Guy Prescott and Patsy Parsons
Guy Prescott and Rus Conklin	Guy Prescott and Maurice Cass
Leonard Penn	Leonard Penn and Charles Meredith
Leonard Penn	Patsy Parsons and Mort Mills
Patsy Parsons	Patsy Parsons
Richard Crane and Sally Mansfield
Richard Crane and Scotty Beckett	Richard Crane
Richard Crane	Richard Crane
Robert Lyden	Robert Lyden and Maurice Cass
Robert Lyden and Sally Mansfield	Robert Lyden
Sally Mansfield	Sally Mansfield and Scotty Beckett
Sally Mansfield	Sally Mansfield and Charles Meredith
Sally Mansfield	Scotty Beckett, Richard Crane and Sally Mansfield
Scotty Beckett and Richard Crane	Scotty Beckett and Sally Mansfield
Rocky Jones' Space Rocket	William Hudson