Double Feature...Let's Play Two!

So, aside from the aforementioned TOHO goodness, I also caught a true American classic in 'This Island Earth'. Being one of the first major sci-fi flicks produced in color and featuring FX considered groundbreaking at the time, its really kind of considered the grandaddy of big-budget space-themed epics. Released in 1955, it still has moments of retro-goofiness, but I can see how the film really opened the door for a lot of films of similar ilk.

The story centers around a bunch of aliens w/ really bad pompadour haircuts from the planet Metaluna, who come to Earth seeking scientists to help them defend their planet in the war against the evil Zagons. After shit starts getting worse back home, the aliens end up taking two of them back to their war-torn planet through a Zagon created meteor storm, in the hope that they can do something to set stuff straight.

Suffice to say that things are already to bleak by the time they get there and, long story short, the couple bust ass back home after fighting off a creepy AWOL mutant. There are plenty of flying saucers, tractor beams, guided meteors, deadly ray guns, snappy jumpsuits and what may have been a moral about the dangers of war's affects on a planet's resources as well...a lesson, even 50+ years later, we still don't seem to understand.

That said, in an act considered near-blasphemy by sci-fi purists, 'This Island Earth' was used in 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie' released back in 1996. I never actually saw it, but I may have to remedy that sometime in the near future (just released on DVD). I really do recommend watching it first as it was intended, it really is a cool little slice of history...