Check your brackets for a massive match-up tonight on MeTV- when a hidden planet plans to recruit two of the Earth's mightiest players to team up against a deadly beast that's destroying their world! Toho Studios presents the final four- minus one- it’s Rodan and - "Godzilla VS Monster Zero"!
We begin watching two experienced astronauts heading out on a mission to observe a newly detected planet-labelled Planet X. This planet was undetected, since it has been hidden from Earth's view behind the huge planet Jupiter. The two spacemen, Glenn and Fuji, venture out on the planet surface- and find human-like footprints ! Suddenly, a strange voice instructs them to descend below the planet’s surface, where they meet a race of human-like aliens! Due to above ground attacks from a horrific monster known as "Monster Zero" (on this planet "everything is numbers"- which explains the numerical name)- the planet’s inhabitants have taken refuge below the surface! Although their technology is far advanced over Earth’s, they still have failed to stop the creature- whom our earthmen immediately recognize as the powerful "King Ghidorrah", who had attacked their own planet previously.
The alien in charge, known as the Controller, proposes a deal-allow the Planet X folks to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan from Earth, to be used as a tandem force to defeat Ghidorrah, and,in return, they will provide a formula which can cure any earthly disease! The two astronauts agree to head home and present this offer to the Earth’s authorities.
Back home on earth, we witness a family feud-Fuji's pretty sister has a boyfriend of whom her brother doesn't approve! He’s a sort of goofy young inventor named Tetsuo Teri, with a new invention- a small alarm that emits a truly annoying sound- which is thought to be of questionable usefulness! In spite of that,he meets with a representative from a large corporation- Miss Namikawa, a gorgeous woman who promises him big money for his invention. The deal is made-yet even after he signs the contract, she still doesn’t actually provided him with any payment for it. Fuji gets wind of this, and it’s just more ammunition for him to tell his sis that she’s making a bad decision, getting involved with a goofball with seemingly little business sense! And- in a surprising turn of events regarding relationships- we see that astronaut pal Glenn’s new girlfriend is actually that same beautiful businesswoman who made the deal with Teri- Miss Namikawa!
The earth council is presented with the offer from Planet X, and feels the exchange of creatures for a cure that will save countless lives is a dream come true. Meanwhile, Glen and Fuji have made some observations that give them new suspicions about these alien benefactors. Their concern proves to be correct when three Planet X's saucer crafts appear on earth- BEFORE they have even received official permission from the council to do so. The alien Controller makes his apologies for this, and then has his alien forces begin to procure Godzilla and Rodan in huge "force bubbles" that can be used to transport the monsters to Planet X. They are willing to take the two astronauts and one of Earth’s top scientists along with them in their spacecraft -to witness how they transport the two giant monsters to their planet, and observe how they are used against Ghidorrah.
Arriving back on Planet X, while in the underground alien headquarters, Glenn and Fuji sneak away from the control center to find any evidence that might support their suspicions. They stumble upon some shocking discoveries- which do not please the aliens- but they still will hold up their part of the bargain by handing over a tape that reportedly holds the secret of “disease cure”. However- when the astronauts are back on Earth- treachery is discovered-and soon, Earth as we know it is in danger of total annihilation, when the giant monsters are returned- as part of a plan to conquer the world!
This 1965 film was originally titled "Invasion of the Astro-Monster", and is the sixth film in the original Godzilla series from Toho. It has more of a science-fiction/space alien plot than any previous films have had, and the giant monster destruction is actually somewhat secondary in most of the film. However, don’t worry- there's still a lot of Godzilla kaiju action! We'll tell you about the production and its cast, featuring an actor familiar to fans of MeTV’s westerns- Nick Adams- "Johnny Yuma" of "The Rebel"- as astronaut Glenn! And, of course, there’ll be Sven shtick- including a weight loss idea, more mayhem from our Sven Squad, a song, and some previously unseen highlights from our first visit to the New York Comic Con with some insights on the “Svengoolie Meets the DC Universe” comic book.
“Godzilla VS Monster Zero" will be on MeTV tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or check your local listings (or at www.metv.com ) for time and channel in your viewing area. As always, viewers will be posting live comments/ Tweets on both Bluesky and Twitter/X during the show, and you are invited to join in. In Chicago this morning, viewers get am encore of the Gill Ma’s original discovery in “Creature from the Black Lagoon" on WCIU, the U, at 11 am.
Don’t forget- next Sunday, Rich Koz will be part of an ensemble of noted actors recreating scripts from the golden age of radio shows in the “ Those Were The Days” live anniversary event at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn- and the weekend after that, we hit the big C2E2 comics and entertainment convention in Chicago, where I’ll be signing autographs Friday and Saturday, plus doing professionally shot photo ops- and on Saturday- we’ll do a special “Svengoolie Spotlight” panel in the late afternoon! You can find further information about both events under our “appearances” tab on this website.
Please remember that you have until April 20th to vote for your favorite horror host and in many more categories in the national Rondo awards- rules and ballot can be found at www.rondoaward.com . Thanks for showing your great fan support of the many aspects of the horror/sci fi genre!!
Also, thanks for your votes in the “Me Madness” brackets- our “Berwyn?!” phrase was eliminated from the competition by Dr. Bones McCoy’s famous “Star Trek” mantra- ‘I’m a doctor, not a…”- in this case he could have finished the statement with “horror movie host”!
Regardless , join us tonight for the aliens, monsters, and more on MeTV ( who said that I’M the “moron”?)!
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🩷 Bella Luna *_*
If the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be tied to any single individual, then that person could quite possibly be actor Robert Downey Jr. He inhabited the lead, millionaire 'Tony Stark,' with the same manic intensity and corporate narcissism of the graphic novels, and it translated very well to the big screen. And Marvel even gave the character a fitting, respectful death. Kudos to perfect casting! Downey Jr. was born on this day in 1965.
I know most folks say that they can't think of The Matrix films without thinking of Keanu Reeves, but -- so far as this fan is concerned -- I can't think of any of the films and not think of character actor Hugo Weaving. I mean ... come on! Neo would be nothing without a villain the likes of Agent Smith to face-off against! Weaving was born on this day in 1960.
Anthony Perkins made a name for himself -- heck, he made a career for himself! -- by appearing as the psychologically confused 'Norman Bates' in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960); but SciFi fans know him best as 'Dr. Alex Durant' in Walt Disney's The Black Hole (1979). His character met a rather grisly fate, nonetheless, one that probably could even have been imagined by Norman Bates! Though he's no longer with us, Perkins was born on this day in 1932.
