ULTRAMAN / "The Forbidden World" - 1967

In today's Ultraman episode, Hayata (Ultraman), Fuji and a kid are trapped by the malevolent invader Mafilas. He turns Fuji into a giant, building destroying creature before resurrecting three of Ultraman's previous monster enemies. This is one crazy adventure!! 

It all starts when two Science Patrol members and a kid are at an air show. The Japanese version of The Thunderbirds are doing aerial tricks when a giant freighter comes floating by, only to have it explode over the crowd!

Two members of the Science Patrol go into space following a signal from an unknown source only to find a spaceship graveyard. They report in and then head back to Earth.

In the meantime, Fuji shows up as a giant and seems to be hypnotized.

Then the kid ends up captured in a strange place.

It turns out that he's in the spaceship of Mefilas, now operating on Earth. The monster explains to the kid that his race wants to take over Earth and find an alternative planet for earthlings to move to! He says that they are a peaceful race, but, they intend on getting their way!!

I'll tell you, the Mefilas creature doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but after Japan has just about made every conceivable creation, well, you gotta come up with something!

The kid is left hanging after he refuses to agree with the invader on his plan.

So, the monster commands giant Fuji to start tearing the crap out of  the city...

Fuji disappears and is replaced by three monsters that Ultraman fought in previous episodes, their names are the Baltan Alien, the Kemurian and the Zarab Alien. That second guy gave me some ideas for new monster sculpture heads!

Then, the military locates the flying saucer of Mefilas and hit it with everything they gots. I like the bottom photo with the explosions going off behind the trees.

The invader fights back with rays shooting from that weapon on top. It hits one of The Science Patrol's plane right on its nose!

In the meantime, no one can locate Hayata until they find him in the saucer. He's been frozen by Mefilas and cannot be moved, so, they grab Fuji and the kid and get out of the ship.

In a freak event, Hayata, who's holding his transformer in his hand, falls down face first and that activates his transformation into Ultraman! That's freaking lucky!

Our hero clashes with Mefilas (now a giant) and they are very evenly matched, their attempts to harm one another results in mutual nullification!

Even after taking to the sky, no one can dominate the other...

So, believe it or not, they declare a draw. And as one alien to another, Mafilas says... You get your way this time, but in the future, I will get my way!! And he disappears into the nowhere, just like this post.

THE THREE STOOGES - "Outer Space Jitters" (1957)

I'm not a big fan of the later Three Stooges episodes, but this one titled "Outer Space Jitters" ain't half bad, and makes for a perfect Weird Ass Wednesday down in The Dungeon!

The Planet of Sunev is a planet they feel they need to explain is Venus spelled backwards!

Okay, you gotta admit, fedoras on top of space helmets is pretty funny! This is a good ensemble shot of the main cast. Besides The Stooges, you've got left to right, Philip (Citizen Kane) Van Zandt as The High Mucky Muck, Gene (She Demons, The Spider) Roth as The Grand Zilch, and Emil (Two Nuts In A Rut, Jitter Bughouse) Sitka as Professor Jones. Gene Roth was also The Judge in "The Twilight Zone" episode "Shadow Play," and Emil Sitka was in multiple Stooges episodes.

 

The High Mucky Muck explains to The Professor that the citizens of Sunev have electricity flowing through their veins instead of blood, and they are capable of creating eternal life, and then he proceeds to bring this primitive man back to life

Then he tells the Professor that they have millions of these guys ready to take over the earth!

If the primitive man looks familiar, it's because it's none other than Hoss from 415 episodes of "Bonanza!" For some reason as you can see in the title card, he's credited as Don Blocker instead of Dan Blocker.

The Stooges then get to meet three hot Sunev chicks as played by Arline (The Angry Red Planet) Hunter, Diana (The Amazing Colossal Man) Darrin, and Harriette (Multiple Stooges shorts) Tarler.

These gals are so hot, they even have spark plugs in their crowns!

And when they kiss The Stooges, the sparks more than fly!!

This was the first Three Stooges short I saw in a long time where Larry had his hair slicked back.

Despite all the electricity, the boys are in Sunev heaven.

The gals invite the guys to share a meal, and it's not until later that they are told it's their last supper!

By far, the tastiest thing on the menu is the clams, and the girls sure enjoy them!

It does become a bit of a comical problem for the Stooges, since the girls eat the shells too!

The boys manage to escape that scene, but then unwittingly throw the switch that brings the primitive man back to life again, which is going to cause some real problems!

They thought they ditched him, so Moe doesn't even see the big guy standing behind him!

But Joe and Larry sure see him!

It's pretty interesting that before "Bonanza" started shooting in 1959, both Dan Blocker and Michael (Little Joe) Landon had been monsters in 1957. Dan as this primitive man, and Michael as a teenage werewolf!

Moe Howard was five foot, three and one half inches tall and Dan Blocker was six foot, and four inches tall! No wonder he couldn't feel him breathing down his neck!

I had to show this shot of Moe using a sanding plane on Larry's cranium! Ouch!

The boys get back from Sunev just in time to tell the tale to their freaky ass kids as a night time story!

Everything's cool until the primitive looking babysitter shows up!

THE INVISIBLE RAY / Beware The Luminous Man! - 1936

This is a favorite movie I used to watch in the fifties on Friday nights on channel 47 out of Fresno. In this tale, visionary scientist Dr. Janos Rukh has proof that an ancient meteorite of great significance landed in Africa, and wants to put together an expedition of associates to go there and find the cosmic prize...

The stars are Boris (THE BLACK CAT) Karloff, Bela (THE RAVEN) Lugosi, Frances (MAD LOVE) Drake, Frank (THE DEVIL DOLL -1936) Lawton, Violet Kemble (THE INVISIBLE MAN) Cooper, Walter (GHOST CATCHERS) Kingsford and Beulah (THE SNAKE PIT) Bondi.

It all starts here, at the observatory of  Dr. Janos Rukh, he's asked a few of his associates to come and behold his uncanny discovery.

He has captured light emanating from the Andromeda Galaxy, and with it, he can explore space, travelling faster that the speed of light! 

And here's the kicker, he can see into the past.. He shows the spectators where a special meteorite fell to Earth in Africa eons ago, and the location for the expedition he proposes to them. They all agree to participate.

The doctor locates the meteorite (shades of Lovecraft) and is busy mining for the unnatural elements to further his experiments.

But, he's starting to change and his sadistic side rears its ugly head. He shows the natives working with him what his ray can do, melt rocks!! Then he tells them that if they try and leave, well, that is what will happen to them!

That night, the horrible truth becomes clear, he has been poisoned by his handling of the unpredictable elements he's mining. And, anyone he touches, dies!

Rakh goes to see Dr. Benet, who also came on the expedition. Benet comes up with a serum to make Janos normal, but he has to use it on a daily basis, for the rest of his life! Benet gives him the formula for the serum and an injection kit.

So, everyone comes back from Africa, Janos tries to cure his mother's blindness with a special ray he's developed. And, it works!

Janos is losing his mind. He now thinks that he must murder all the people that were on the expedition, including his wife Diana! So, he finds this guy and fools him into thinking he has a job, but becomes the mutilated corpse of Dr. Rukh. He has faked his death so that he couldn't be tied to the killings he's about to commit.

This expedition member is the first to go. But Dr. Benet is suspicious and takes some photos of the face of the deceased man...

Upon inspection of a close up of the man's eye, he sees that Dr. Rukh was responsible!

And after a few more deaths, this weird article appears in The Paris Herald.

So, knowing that Dr. Rukh is alive (but not well), Dr. Benet and others plan a mock get together with invited science community members. The plan is to lure the doctor to the house and at a certain moment, turn the lights out to reveal the luminous maniac who's touch can kill. And if they have to, gun him down!

Dr. Rukh has just killed a scientist to get his admittance card required to enter the premises. He goes to the back door and surprises Dr. Benet inside, and after a few words, Janos reaches out and kills his old friend with a touch. Now here's the part that really makes me angry, Dr. Benet is the Best Guy in the whole world, why in the Hell did he have to die!! F U!

He goes to his ex and threatens to kill her (she remarried after Janos supposedly died). But, he just can't do it...

Whoa boy!.. The glowing Janos is surprised when his mother shows up and puts him in his place. She takes her cane and knocks his medical kit out of his hands and it lies broken on the floor! She tells him, my son, you have broken the first law of science! He starts smoldering and replies, yes mother, I have!..

He runs to a window and jumps through it, and before he hits the ground he's just a ball of flames!! What a waste.

So, here's another great poster from this wild movie, from us to you!