We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Playing Chekov in “Star Trek” was far from Walter Koenig’s only contribution to the science fiction genre. Sadly, Koenig, the original Chekov on “Star Trek,” has died at the age of 90. While we’ll always remember him for what he did within the landscape of that franchise, he certainly touched the genre elsewhere. “Babylon 5” is a prime example. But in the late ’80s, he starred alongside another genre icon in a forgotten sci-fi movie.
Directed by Robert Dyke, 1989’s “Mooncrash” starred Koenig as an astronaut with none other than “Evil Dead” franchise star Bruce Campbell playing his counterpart. One sci-fi icon and one horror icon came together for one oft-forgotten relic of genre filmmaking.
The movie centers on astronauts (Koenig and Campbell) who are sent to the moon to investigate what appears to be signs of life. They reanimate the body of a woman (Leigh Lombardi) who warns them that the moon is under the control of a race of alien cyborgs, who are waiting for the opportunity to invade Earth. They realize that desperate measures must be taken to prevent the cyborgs from leaving the moon
The premise is intriguing and its stars seem like they would make for a fun match. However, while there are plenty of ’80s sci-fi movies that deserved more attention, the consensus seems to be that this isn’t one of them.
Moontrap is a forgotten relic of low-budget ’80s sci-fi
“Moontrap” was a relatively low-budget affair and went direct-to-video. It also came at a unique time for both of its main stars.
Walter Koenig was in the midst of his later era as Chekov, with this movie released right between “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.” This was as the OG crew of the Enterprise was starting to run out of steam. William Shater has apologized for “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” as it’s not terribly well-regarded. The larger point is that, for as much as Trekkies love “The Voyage Home,” it could be viewed as the last hoorah of the franchise’s original cinematic era.
As for Bruce Campbell, he was firmly a B-movie actor at this time. Not yet a legend and still a working man’s actor, he wasn’t exactly in a position to be picky about the roles he was taking. The “Maniac Cop” trilogy was ahead of its time and Campbell was in those movies around this time as well, but they weren’t exactly mainstream hits. He also starred in the underrated slasher “Intruder” in ’89 which, again, wasn’t a blockbuster by any stretch.
There’s very little by way of critical opinion available online when it comes to “Moontrap,” but it holds a not-so-good 27% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. More than anything, it’s a forgotten relic of ’80s sci-fi that was largely allowed to exist thanks to the advent of VHS and the home video market. In there here and now, it would probably be a direct-to-streaming release on Shudder or something along those lines.
You can grab “Moontrap” on DVD from Amazon, if you’re interested.
Leave a Reply