IRON KING / Nihon Gendai Kikaku Productions - 1972

It's Mega Monday as we head to Japan for more giant robots from this TV series about two good guys (one has a magic whip and the other can change into Iron King) who roam the countryside searching out bad guys to kick their sorry high tech asses! The series consisted of 26 episodes and had three sets of villains for our heroes to fight through. The complete series on 3 DVDs is available on Amazon for as little as $1.23 plus shipping!

Eegah!! sent over a fun little sound clip for our earjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our old broken down robot, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a taste of... IRON KING!

Here's the leader of the Shiranui Clan planning more mayhem for the lowly Earthlings...

He calls on their giant wheeled robot, Silver Rider, to roll over the buildings in Japan!

But, our hero Gorô changes into Iron King to combat the out of control, insane machine!

Iron King shows up just in time to slow down the freakin' thing! Let's get ready to rumble!!

Then, Gentarô tries to get in on the action with his magic whip but gets tangled up on a wheel hub and has to hang on for dear life as Silver Rider tries to shake him off!

Thing is, Gorô has to drink a lot of water to keep Iron King's energy cells at maximum charge!

Wait!.. Oh crap, I didn't mean to show this still... Oops, sorry about that!

Anyway, back to the show! Iron King didn't appreciate that last move and is really pissed now!

Silver Rider can command these flying wheels that have an electric charge between them!

Gentarô uses his whip to get atop the wild robot menace and is able to toss a device into its head causing it to go crazy and then explode!.. To be continued.

Soooo, tune in next week (not really) when the Flame Demon calls on his Giant Rat Robot Patrol with their cool radar dishes for ears!! And, tune in Wednesday (for real) when Eegah!! will bring us another great post!

THE SORCERER"S APPRENTICE - Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962)

Good Evening, and get ready to "Hold Your Breath," because tonight I've got another great installment of  "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" for you! This tale was written by one of the master's of the short story, the great Robert Bloch, so you know it's going to be a little bit more than twisted!

It's the year 1962, and Season 7, Episode 39 was titled........

............"The Sorcerer's Apprentice!" The only thing it has in common with the Mickey Mouse version in Disney's "Fantasia," is the name, and.......failure!

David J. (Carnival Rock) Stewart is "Sadini the Great", a cheap two bit magician!

A dim-witted young man is found passed out near the great Sadini's trailer! In real life, this young man had quite a story to tell! His name was Brandon De Wilde, and he was nominated for an Oscar in his second film appearance at the age of 11, for the movie "Shane!" He had his own TV series that ran for a year in the 50's called "Jamie!" He was in "Hud" and "The Trip," and he died at the age of thirty in 1972 while on the way to the hospital to see his wife, he ran his camper into a parked truck!

Sadini is a good hearted chap, and he brings the kid into his trailer to see if he can revive him!

The "Siren of Swindon" Diana Dors is Sadini's wife Irene! The decor in the Sadini's home is fairly bizarre to say the least! Diana Mary Fluck, aka Diana Dors was often called the Marilyn Monroe of England! Strangely enough, this show was released the same year Marilyn Monroe died!

The kid's name is Hugo, and when he comes to, he is a bit startled by what he think he sees!

Hugo is completely convinced that the faces that are staring down at him are the face of an Angel and the face of The Devil!

Sadini lets Hugo hang around and help him out with odds and ends, and in the meantime, Irene is busy messing around with George as played by Larry Kert. Larry was really more of a singer and a dancer, and didn't work much in film or TV but, it should be noted that he had the original role as Tony in the Broadway version of "West Side Story!"

The finale to Sadini's act includes the cutting in half of his wife with a huge saw blade, a great trick that's been around for years!

I love this shot of the crowd of mesmerized audience members!

I told you Hugo is a little slow, and he starts to freak out watching this, but George explains to him that it's just a trick!

"Tah - Dah!!"

This shot cracks me up, the camera angle makes George look like he's the "Amazing Colossal Man!"

George figures out how they can use the kid to get rid of Sadini for good, but of course it ends up backfiring on him!

With the might of the magic wand comes great power!

After he stabs Sadini, Hugo decides to do the 'cut the woman in half' trick, but there's one slight problem!

He doesn't know how the trick works, so it's Good Night Irene!!!

No doubt the world would be a much less sane place without the likes of people like Alfred Hitchcock! His first film was made in 1922, but was never finished, and was called what else but? "Number 13," and his last production was made in 1976, some 54 years later! Another thing I dig about Alfred Hitchcock is all the cool one word titles he had in many of his films, like PSYCHO (another classic Robert Bloch novel), and the rest is going to come on like cool Beat Poetry: BLACKMAIL, MURDER!, SUSPICION, SABOTEUR, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS, ROPE, VERTIGO, TOPAZ, and FRENZY!!!

SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE / ZIV TV - Hour Of Nightmare - 1955

It's Flying Saucer Friday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's an episode from this early science based TV series, ZIV TV produced 2,153 programs during it's inception in the early fifties to 1965 and includes THE CISCO KID, BOSTON BLACKIE, THE UNEXPECTED, I LED 3 LIVES, HIGHWAY PATROL, A MAN CALLED X, SEA HUNT, DIAL 999, MEN INTO SPACE, THE AQUANAUTS, RIPCORD and more!

This episode of SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE holds a special place in my brain because I saw it in 1955 at age 7 and it scared the Hell out of me! Although the first two seasons (of three) were filmed in color, we only had a lowly black and white TV set. I recently bought the complete series on DVD, looking mainly for this standout episode. I totally enjoyed watching all 78 episodes with stars like Warren Stevens, Marshall Thompson, Arthur Franz and Kenneth Toby!

Eegah!! sent over a sound clip from this episode for our approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our lil' atomic UFO, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a little taste of... HOUR OF NIGHTMARE!

Here's our host Truman Bradley setting up the story for us, as heard in the sound clip.

The story's about a married couple who are photographers working for a magazine, the boss wants them to go to Mexico to investigate sightings of flying saucers! It's also rumored that some of the natives may have disappeared. William (DEVIL SHIP) Bishop and Lynn (THE AMAZING MISTER X) Bari play Mel and Verda Wingate.

Bronson Canyon got a lot of action from ZIV during the filming of this series. I showed this photo of Mel and Verda in their classic 1955 Dodge convertible traversing the terrain, supposedly in Mexico.

They seek out Ramon to guide them through the mountains. After a little coaxing, he agrees.

It's not long before they catch a glimpse of a real UFO! Unfortunately, they didn't have their cameras ready and were unable to get a shot of it...

That evening, the dang flying disc shows up again! It buzzes them and they snap a few shots.

Ramon finds the damaged rifle of his brother and wants to go back, but...

Mel talks him into continuing on as they also take photos of the wildlife for their magazine.

Later, the UFO returns and shines a bright light on them in the dark!

Then, Mel finds this glowing clocklike object, another thing I vividly remember from the show!

In trying to protect Mel and Verda from harm, Ramon takes the object at gunpoint and goes over to his horse, then, BOOM!!! The light from the UFO causes the object to explode!

Back at their hotel, Mel tells his boss that if he ever sees a spaceship, don't try to photograph it because the radiation will ruin the film!

Eegah!! is back tomorrow with more from The Dungeon, be there!