THE MIND BENDERS / Michael Relph Productions - 1963

It's Friday The 13th with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a little story from Britain about a scientist that's discovered passing top secret information to Communist agents, he then kills himself. Another scientist on the project thinks the man may have been brainwashed by a sensory deprivation experiment they're working on, to make a person act against their strongest feelings, the same stuff our own CIA was working on at the same time... So, Happy Friday The 13th, Everbloody!!

Eegah!! sent over a nice little soundclip of the theme and a scream for our enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there next to the atomic powered heavy water tank, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of... THE MIND BENDERS!

This group of scientists travelling by train are unprepared for the old dude, third from the left, to crash through the window to his death! The train stops and they recover the body. The old guy also knew he was being followed by authorities for passing secrets to the Soviets.

Back at the lab, they review footage of actual victims of sensory deprivation, trying to understand why the scientist changed after he agreed to be a guinea pig in the project.

Dr. Longman also agreed to the same deal, now, he's depressed and distant to his pregnant wife. His wife's name is Oonagh, no wonder he's freakin' depressed! Dirk Bogarde plays the flipped out doctor, he also starred in AGENT 8-3/4 and THE DAMNED.

Dr. Longman agrees to continue the experiments in search for solutions to his problems.

In the control room, the heads of the project get in some heavy discussion and forget about the doctor, who's starting to have vivid nightmares!

The boys are now arguing in the control room, and, the doc flips his lid and no one's aware of it until it's toooooo late, his mind has been basically, erased!

Here's an odd celebration somewhere in England, with riverside fireworks and a pub!

It then comes out that one of the scientists is in love with the doc's wife!

At the end, an accident forces the doc to deliver his own child and his memory is fully restored! Go figure...

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON - Stanley Wilson - "Atomic Action" (1952)

Welcome to another edition of  the Wednesday Night Classic Serial down in The Dungeon!! Tonight's feature is "Radar Men From The Moon" starring the iconic Commando Cody! The music was composed by the prolific Stanley Wilson who somehow managed to have some 143 composing credits, and another 240 music department credits in a mere 27 years! Stanley was no slouch when it came to serials, he composed the music for many, many of them over the years, including "Federal Agents Vs.Underworld, Inc," "King Of The Rocket Men," "Radar Patrol Vs. Sky King," "Flying Disc Man From Mars," "Government Agents Vs. Phantom Legion," and "Zombies Of The Stratosphere!!!"

By 1952, the serials were starting to peter out, and it would be no time at all before they would only be seen on TV or maybe at your local theater's Saturday matinee that featured such entertainment as Zippy the Clown, Mitch Mitchell and "Unlock A Lock," along with a handful of cartoons, a couple of silent shorts, maybe some "Three Stooges" or "Laurel and Hardy" featurettes, and some minor feature film! Mom would drop off the kids to do some shopping, and come back three hours later to take them out for a burger and some ice cream sundaes!

But Republic was hanging in there, and still desperately introducing new characters like Commando Cody!

Serials were one of the greatest marketing scams of all times, tease the kids with 15 minutes, and leave them hanging! How could you possibly miss the next episode? Back then, they showed them once, and if you missed it, you were left out in the cold for God only knows how long!

It's 1952 for Christ's sake! What's going to possibly me more exciting than a Moon Rocket? Nothing, that's what! Space was still a good old fashioned mystery!!

Oh, No!!! It's the end of the world!!

Pretty cool looking ray gun, but those guys don't look much like Martians or Moon people, because they are rat turncoats, hired by the Moon guys to do their dirty work!

Time for George Wallace to go into action as Commando Cody! George Wallace ended up acting on TV for 6 decades, and was quite possibly on every TV show ever made, but his finest hour was as crew member Bosun in one of our ultra favourite films, "Forbidden Planet!" This George Wallace should no way be mixed up with the segregationist Governor of Alabama, nor the awesome black comedian George Wallace!

"Which way did he go George, Which way did he go?"

Really, not all that bad of flying effects for 1952!

Pretty damn good fight scene too! I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if somebody actually got hurt during this scene!

Okay, time to go to the Moon! The cop escort is driving an extra cool black and white shoebox!

Wow, those rocket seats look an awful lot like office chairs!!

Back in 1952, this is how you figured out how to get to the moon!!

The Moon's a pretty cool place, kinda reminds me of Iraq!

Commando Cody decides to check it out!

Even Moon elevators are cool, like they had some 1940's avant-garde art deco artiste designing all their shit!

Can't say much about the Moon's fashion designer though, scaly hoodie and vaporizing ray gun were already kind of passe' by 1952!

So this went on for 12 episodes, that's three months of forking out a quarter each and every week, and that's a lot of lawns to mow, but it was worth every penny of it, beyond a shadow of a doubt!!

THEY LIVE / Alive Films - 1988

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature stars my personal wrestling hero, Roddy Piper. I remember when we first got cable TV in 1980, Vince McMahon and the WWF hit the scene with the coolest junk ever, and, the Iron Sheik was champion! There was Bobby Heenan and his antics, announcer Mean Gene Okerlund, Hulk Hogan, Jesse The Body, Andre The Giant, Junkyard Dog and many more, but, my favorite maniac was definitely Roddy...

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip depicting a bleak future in LA as Roddy wanders the streets, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button next to the special X-Ray Specs, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... THEY LIVE!

Roddy plays Nada, an out of work construction worker, he's forced to stay at a homeless shelter in east LA. He hooks up with Frank, played by the very talented, Keith David. At this very moment, Keith has 13 projects either in post or pre-production!! That's amazing. He also played Childs in Carpenter's THE THING.

Nada gets his hands on some special dark glasses a resistance group has created to actually be able to see through the aliens' electronic veil.

Nada cannot believe what he's freakin' seeing! I dig these monsters the most, Eegah!! should like the bottom pic.

In a satisfying moment, Nada calls out this old bat at the market!

Meg Foster plays Holly. She seems to have a genuine visceral dislike for Roddy in this scene where she pushes him through her bay window.

In one of the longest fight scenes in film history, Nada does everything he can to convince Frank to put the glasses on.

The boys get new hi-tech contact lenses and invade an alien event that will send Earthling to the alien planet to be farmed. Even though Roddy dies at the end, he takes out a main broadcasting component that creates the electronic veil! Now the aliens can be seen for what they really are!!

Fox News is immediately exposed!

This rich alien cat at the bar seems a little confused.

And, this horny Earth girl gets quite a surprise!