ATTACK FROM SPACE / Japan - 1965

Finally, here's our last installment of Starman, in this feature edited down from the Japanese TV series. One of the best ones, ATTACK FROM SPACE!

Dungeon Master, Michiaki Watanabe, did the great sci-fi music today. Some other interesting titles he worked on are THE GHOSTS OF KASANE SWAMP, BLACK CAT MANSION, FEMALE SLAVE SHIP, SINNERS OF HELL, QUEEN BEE AND THE SCHOOL FOR DRAGONS, INVASION OF THE NEPTUNE MEN, ATOMIC RULERS, INVADERS OF SPACE and YOKAI MONSTERS!

Lil Piffles the Gnat, Tabonga' smallest pet say he all ready to be pushing that big red 'GO' button for today' show! An'a one, an'a two, an'a way we GOOOO!!!.. ATTACK FROM SPACE!

Starts at the Emerald Planet, Starman is called on by the bla bla bla bla, bla bla bla... bla bla, bla bla bla!.. Super smart way to kill 10 minute at beginning of every Starman feature!!

Back at Earth, dudes prepare for space invasion they see coming their way in telescope by making spaceship!

Then, hoodlums on Earth start kidnapping certain important peoples!

Simple, yet, effective!

Starman pays the invaders' space station a surprise visit.

HAI-YEEEEE!!!..

Naziesque dudes from Earth also aid the invaders with their take-over plans.

Tabonga sez!.. Hubba, hubba!!

The Earth ship is forced to land on the invaders' space station.

Believe it or not, this is a firing squad line-up on the space station!! Now, that's creative.

But, Starman shows up in the nick of time!..

Poetry in motion! Ken Utsui is Starman...

The rocket takes off without the girl! What the Hell!! So, Starman flies her to the ship using his uncanny powers to travel through the universe, unscathed even!

Ken steers the rocket into position, ready to push a red missile launch button...

And, it's a direct freakin' hit!! The bad guys can say goo'night to everbloody, now!!

Goodbye, Starman, call when you get back to the Emerald Planet, so's we know you made it okay!! Love you!

DRACULA A.D. 1972 - Sal Valentino/Tim Barnes - "Alligator Hot Pants" (1972)

"Dracula A.D. 1972" might not be the best Dracula movie ever made, but it is right up there at the top with "Blood Of Dracula" as having some of rock's finer moments in vampiric film history, because how can you go wrong when the music is being supplied by a San Francisco band like Stoneground, that has such a rich and varied history? Oddly enough, English movie, California band!!

Stoneground was a fairly progressive hippie band that is probably better known for the individuals than it is for the band itself. Founding member Tim Barnes has toughed it out for years in various incarnations of Stoneground, and still performs today with drummer Steve Price and a whole new cast of old characters! Bassist Brian Godula, holding down the bottom, appears to still play to this day, as always, in the background!!

Steve Price and Keyboardist Cory Lerios left the band, when Stoneground was in one of it's various states of disintegration, and formed the popular 70's sunshine band Pablo Cruise with David Jenkins and my pal, the amazing Bud Cockrell!

Cory Lerios went on to have an amazing career in 1990's TV music! He wrote the theme to "Baywatch" and his music kept Pam pumping for something like 96 episodes, and he also wrote the music for "The Land Before Time" series in 2007 among other accomplishments! I read on IMDB that in the film "Medicine Ball Caravan" they have Cory listed as playing "herself!" I think that's probably when he started pondering cutting his hair!

Guitarist John Blakeley was in Surf band "The Sandals" and wrote the music for the surf classic, "The Endless Summer."

Of the female singers Annie Sampson, Lynne Hughes, Deirdre La Porte and Lydia Moreno, seems like only Annie and Lynne kept performing to any degree.

Lead singer Sal Valentino was in the legendary 60's band the Beau Brummels, who had performed in "Village Of The Giants" and also has the notoriety of being animated on "The Flintstones!"

I give Stoneground a lot of credit for having the balls to do a decent cover of Swamp Dog's "Total Destruction To Your Mind," the title cut from one of the greatest LP's of all time!

I don't know why all these freaks are here Mum, I only invited the Stoneground! Just WTF is going on here anyway? What kind of a party is this? We might as well invite Jimmy Weldon and Soupy Sales too!! (Bless their souls!)

Introducing worthless bastard Johnny Alucard, a man going in a backwards direction, beginning in Hell!!

This just might be Christopher Neame's last role in the movies before going on to do a buttload of TV! Chris has got some evil Jack going on for him, don't you think??

This scene just does not look like the kind of place I want to get really stoned and go hang out at!

Things go in the crapper real fast when Johnny breaks out the "Dust Of Dracula!" How bout that, I just came up with a new title, the tale of a poor vampire from Oklahoma!

Are we having fun yet?? I told you not to take that Black Drac Crack!!!

It's always 10 times worse when innocent kids discover the body!

The time and space continuum gets kind of thrown for a loop in this film, but it's psychedelic, so it's all right, you dig? It's crazy to think that there are actually people looking at this image right now that don't know what it is a picture of!

Here's a good shot of Stephanie Beacham as Jessica Van Helsing. She is dressed like that because she is a hippie!!! Stephanie has also had an incredible run of TV shows, and is still quite active today!!

Don't touch that dial! Was it really the crucifix, or just the fact that Stephanie is so smokin' hot?

It's the big standoff between Van Helsing and Dracula! You know Chris is extra-pissed when his hair is just even a little messed up, that's just not cool or dignifying!!

Hippies and vampires just don't mix well, it's like oil and water, very colourful, but somebody still has got to clean up the mess!!!

Peter Cushing has his hands full defeating Dracula one more time, and it'd be just two years later that he had to go after those "7 Brothers!" That Van Helsing was one busy cat!