still, GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI

A Quick Look at TV: LAND OF THE LOST

   Though UFO may have an ever-so-slight edge with me, it remains true that the coolest boss neato keen TV series of all time may well have to be Land of the Lost. This early 70's offering from Sid and Marty Krofft was basically a space-age redo of the old Turok comic books. The Marshall family (father Rick, son Will, and daughter Holly) run across a warp in time and space and awake to find themselves trapped in a contained universe where dwells living dinosaurs, monstrous lizard-men called Sleestak, and futuristic technologies scattered about ancient ruins. Existing outside of time and space, the Land of the Lost seems to be a sort of depository for everything that has no other place to be. Enik, a scientist from a futuristic race known as the Altrusians, has found himself trapped as well. Believing the Sleestak to be an ancestor race, Enik discovers them to actually be the descendants of his people, mutated and made savage over countless centuries. Thus, Enik too is trying to escape the Land of the Lost in order to warn his people, and he becomes an occasionally-antagonistic ally. Spencer Milligan starred in the first two seasons, but decided to split and was replaced by Ron Harper as Uncle Jack -himself fallen into the Land of the Lost when an earthquake causes an accident that returns Rick to the real world. The third season episodes changed up a lot of elements, but it remained a fine series. It was cancelled before a fourth season could come about. I dream of making a movie that follows up on the series. A newer version of the property was brought to television in 1991, but it's the original version that people remember.

A Quick Look at TV: JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT

   In the mid-to-late 60's, Japan saw a boom of giant monster movies. Near every studio with the size to attempt it released their own giant monster epic to cash in on Toho's massive success in the science fiction adventure genre. The small screen was subject to this as well, as special effects icon Eiji Tsuburya branched into television with Ultra Q, and then the wildly successful Ultraman. Ultraman created a template that could be copied and other sci-fi superhero programs were short in coming. A handful of these even made it to the States, including Ultraman and The Space Giants. Possibly the most visible on our shores was Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot. Basically presented as a live-action version of Gigantor pressed through the Ultraman mold, the series told of a small boy who becomes the controller of a giant robot. "Robot" was built to destroy mankind, but when our young Johnny became the first to address the machine through a control-box/microphone, a special and unbreakable bond was established. Robot and Johnny were recruited into the spy organization UNICORN, where they had all sorts of adventures while confronting the evil Emperor Guillotine from outer space! Guillotine would whip up a new giant monster each week, UNICORN would swing into action, and ultimately Robot would have to be called in to tussle with the monster. As these shows go, this one was fairly crude. It featured some of the most toy-like effects and props (with scale changing frequently, such as when Robot carried in his hand a single-man jet fighter being about the same size as a 200-crew submarine held in the other hand), but it did fire the imagination. Few shows so perfectly captured the aesthetic of a small boy playing with his toys. AIP-TV imported the series to good response. AIP-TV also edited the series into a feature film, VOYAGE INTO SPACE. This was further edited down into a popular 200' 8mm digest!

George Barrows, gorilla!

A Quick Look: TOBOR THE GREAT (1954)

   Robots were popular in the science-happy 50's, and a few of the cinematic ones even became stars. The most obvious was Robby from FORBIDDEN PLANET and THE INVISIBLE BOY. Pictured here is the titular star of TOBOR THE GREAT, from Republic Pictures early in the decade. In the film, Tobor is the invention of a scientist looking to create an artificial astronaut. Tobor has the ability to mentally link with human beings, nobody so strongly as Gadget, the scientist's grandson. When the kid and his Grandfather are snatched by enemy spies, Tobor charges to the rescue! Quite a bit of work obviously went into the Tobor suit, and I can only imagine it was a very expensive prop to a small studio like Republic. A potential series was built around the cumbersome costume, to be called Here Comes Tobor. It failed to go to series, however, and the pilot film was never aired (to my knowledge). It has recently surfaced on DVD with a handful of other unsold pilots. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to Tobor, and why he didn't pop up on The Twilight Zone and other shows as Robby did. I always found him rather impressive.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, a pictorial

When dinosaurs were cool...

A Quick Look: INVASION FROM INNER EARTH (1974 - color)

   Don't get excited by the promising image of a flying saucer, it's barely seen in Bill Rebane's INVASION FROM INNER EARTH (sometimes seen on video as THEY). I liken this movie to a child's soap box derby car. It's rough around the edges, but it holds together and carries you along. Then it starts to swerve and rattle before going off a cliff and flying apart into a million shards. The story is interesting, following a group of people isolated in a woodland cabin and therefore safe from a mass invasion which is exterminating all humanity. It's only a matter of time, though, until the invaders find them. You can do a lot with that plot, and the first half is actually quite intriguing, but the film features the most stupefying and unexplained ending you've ever seen. I doubt the most dedicated student of metaphysics could unravel it to a point where it made a lick of sense. Rebane was often earlier than others in exploiting the latest scientific theory or craze (THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION is one of the first -maybe the first- movies to involve black hole theory, for example). Here, he capitalizes on the revived inner earth theory, though it has absolutely no bearing on the film itself. The invaders could've come from anywhere. Some rustic natural locations add some production value to what looks and plays like a student film. The most starling aspect of INVASION FROM INNER EARTH is that it was recently (unofficially) remade as one of those shot-on-video movies you find buried in discount multi-packs! I can't even remember the title of it, but it had many of the same problems as Rebane's film. The movie was so similar, I have to wonder if any legal action was taken against it.

(By the way, I don't recall the saucers in the movie looking that good. I had to screen it again to confirm that this is, in fact, an image from the film. It is, but I can see now why I wasn't sure. There are no less than three distinctly different flying saucers spread through out the movie!)

A Quick Look at TV: SPACE:1999

   The late Martin Landau was noted for a number of works, though I'm sure many kids came to him through his Gerry Anderson science fiction adventure series SPACE: 1999. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the futuristic espionage series UFO, SPACE:1999 instead became the saga of the men and women of Moonbase Alpha and their adventures after an explosion in a lunar nuclear waste disposal area pushes the moon out of orbit and into deep space. As the moon hurtles through unexplored systems, the Alphans must contend with strange and often hostile forces and mysterious phenomenon. The show lasted two seasons, and the two seasons are night and day. Season one strained for grandeur and often couldn't decide if it was trying to be cerebral or just surreal. It was a somber affair, to say the least. The second season, aided by some doctoring by Star Trek veterans, was much more exciting. Based more in adventure and character-based drama, the show took on a feel very similar to Star Trek. Though this was a vast improvement with viewers, the show was cancelled and syndicated for the remainder of the 70's (State-side, it was probably Anderson's most visible series). As was so often the case during this period, Landau was supported by his bride Barbara Bain. Landau played Alpha's CO, John Koenig, while Bain was chief medical officer Dr. Helena Russell. In the first season, pseudo-scientific musing was offered by Barry Morse as the enigmatic Professor Bergman. The second season brought in the lovely Catherine Schell as Maya, a shape-shifting alien woman who joined the Alphans after becoming the last of her kind. The differences between the two seasons can best be summed up by their openings. Season one shows it's cast looking stoically upon blank backgrounds as 'important' music plays, while the second season shows them running down hallways and spinning around to fire ray guns while aggressively action-oriented music blares away. The second season was certainly a better show, but the first is favored by "intellectuals" because it was so much more 'British' and the second season just too 'American' in flavor. While not the best space adventure show on television, SPACE: 1999 delivered the goods. Special effects fans will also notice some of the greatest in-camera effects in all of television history. And of course, the show had a dynamic leading man. Rest In Peace, Martin, and thanks for all the great memories.

A Quick Look: THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (1956 - color)

   Although a star in her own right, Jayne Mansfield was always considered a second-string Marilyn Monroe (of course, Mansfield had her own second-string challenger in the form of Mamie Van Doren). Somewhat showier than Marilyn, Jayne burst onto the scene as a full-fledged star in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT, an early rock and roll big-budget musical. In the film, Jayne plays the moll of gangster Edmond O'Brien, who delivers to Tom Ewell the ultimatum to make Mansfield a singing star -despite her lack of musical ability. Some major musical acts contribute, including Little Richard, who provides the title tune. Directed by Frank Tashlin, the film is an absolute scream, a live-action cartoon. This was followed up by the even more berserk WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? the very next year. This time around, Mansfield was teamed with Tony Randall -who, in my favorite bit, interrupts the movie to provide a commercial break for fans of television! Jayne even got to bring along Mickey Hargitay to play a TV Tarzan. Although Mansfield was a star until her tragic end in a car crash, she never quite topped this early period of her career.

GODZILLA VS MEGALON pressbook cover

THE BLOB 8mm box

A Quick Look at TV: FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES

   Hanna-Barbera in the 60's employed a double-feature technique for it's animated adventure programs, combining two more or less unrelated cartoons into a joint program. This resulted in such favorites as Space Ghost And Dino Boy, Birdman And The Galaxy Trio, and Moby Dick And Mighty Mightor. HB offered a bit of self-parody with Frankenstein Jr. And The Impossibles, as both cartoons made use of the same sense of over-the-top pop camp humor of the Adam West Batman series. Frankenstein Jr. was in essence America's answer to Gigantor, as boy genius Buzz Conroy was frequently sought by the authorities to handle monstrous emergencies with his giant living robot Frankenstein Jr. The design sense for this feature was very comic booky, presenting exaggerated science fiction episodes in a relatively straight-forward manner that wouldn't strike kids as comedy until several viewings later. The Impossibles, which was more blatantly humorous, was a bit of a spoof on Beatle-mania and the spy/superhero scene. The Impossibles was a rock group which regularly entertained screaming young girls. But, when danger struck and their boss Big D gave them a call, the group transformed into The Impossibles: super-powered agents who fought for law and order. This usually meant going after some colorfully costumed mad man with an outlandish scheme to take over the world -or who just wanted to steal art treasures. The crime-fighting trio included Fluid Man, Multi-man, and Coil Man. This was a cartoon I would watch just because I enjoyed the background music so much, being a sort of spy/surf/adventure/jazz sound with lots of blaring horns and electric guitars. As was so often the case with these things, despite HB recording song numbers for the civilian Impossibles to sing, we rarely heard more than a few seconds of them. Too bad, as they were usually kinda catchy.

The magic of monster movies...