Why is this fantastic serial given such poor notices ? Its got so much going for it : a big story, a new character, a flying suit, plenty going on (including two trips to the moon), no tinny robots, exciting flying sequences, great music and a nice touch (on Cody's rocketship, a captured moon man has a meal at a table with a tablecloth ! - Apollo astronauts eat your heart out)
I first saw this serial in 1963 on TV (here in Australia, 4 eps per week) then about 1967 as Retik the Moon Menace on Deadly Earnest's Friday Night Late Movie in which humorous (to others, not me) captions were written on the bottom of the screen.
Perhaps one of the reasons that this serial gets a bad rap is that people began to see that footage was being re-used from the first serial... it only got worse with the next two serials based on the character.
But the flying effects as perfected by the Lydeckers in Captain Marvel were great. I loved the simplistic knobs on the flying jacket....up/down etc. This serial has lapsed into public domain and everybody and his brother has their version of it out. The definitive release is from Roan Archival Video. It looks super.
One of the cheaper companies released it in four hour mode and even left out a chapter in their haste.
CC
After some 35 years of waiting I finally ordered Radar Men from the Moon from the newly established Amazon (several years ago). My wife minded it for three months until my birthday came around - imagine my horror when I finally sit down and find that this, the Passport Video version contains only every second episode !!! I contacted Amazon who agreed it wasn't any good - they let me keep this one and sent out another - still Passport Video, still every second episode. I then had two copies of Radar Men each with every second episode. Colin Duff (www.classictv.cjb.net) helped me out with a copy of all episodes a few years later. Now I've ordered the Apollo DVD - lets hope all eps are enclosed ! (and the pictures good)
Crimson Collector (3/9/03 5:55 am)There are piece of junk out there in quantity as this is a PD title. The best release was from Republic Home Video (now owned by Artisan) and may never be released in DVD. The best version out that, and it is very clean and crisp, is Roan's version out now and being sold very cheaply in what appears to be a closeout at the Tromaville site.... but oh those shipping charges.
SQ4 (3/9/03 11:40 am)Again, sorry I meant Alpha Video
El Shaitan (3/10/03 8:51 am)Avoiding costly shipping charges Go to half.com. You can find quite a few Roan DVDs there. Straight from Troma. The postage there is about $2.50. And it drops if you make a multiple purchase
Bruce
Just received Radar Men (from DeepDiscountDVD) and its the Alpha Video version. It looks great : 6 episode per disk at $5.95 each. A big tick for Alpha