'THIS ISLAND EARTH'.......METALUNA-CY

This Island Earth (1955)   Although we do love us some Mystery Science Theatre 3000, we thought (along with a host of other fanboys and critics) they went off the beam when they picked this movie to lampoon for their one and only feature film version.........

                   Why?  Cause unlike all the other woeful atrocities the MSTK3 gang, eviscerated ("Eeegah!", "Teenager From Outer Space" etc, etc), this movie's a good 'un........fondly remembered as one of the best, most imaginative of Hollywood's 1950's sci-fi output.......

                    In scope, it's way more ambitious than some other films of the era.......stretching its narrative from Earth to the war-blasted landscapes of the Planet Metaluna........and yet with all the state-of-the-50's-art special effects it could muster, it steadfastly remains a human story, never losing sight of its actors and their characters........(later used to best effect by Gene Roddenberry in his creation of "Star Trek"...)

                    Earthbound at first, our standard stalwart hero Dr. Meachem (Rex Reason) renowned jet pilot and nuclear scientist, encounters all sorts of alien intervention......(probably because he's working on new sources of nuke power.....and he can fly)

                    Invisible alien forces throw his jet out of control then make the plane glow bright green as they gently, forcibly land it by remote control......(one hell of a ride for Dr. Cal...and a thrilling promise of even more weirder stuff to come....)

                     Then back in his lab, Meacham and his sidekick assistant Joe Wilson (Robert Nichols, one the male-bonders from the original "The Thing") receive all sorts of unidentified electronic equipment in crates........like an Amazon order gone awry.

                       Plucky science guys that they are, they follow the manual provided (which looks more complicated than hooking up a Blu-Ray) and build an alien 'Interociter',......basically a huge alien interactive TV, conveniently equipped with a death ray......

                      After a transmission by a genial, well spoken alien named Exeter (Jeff Morrow, sporting white hair and ultra high forehead) ends in a death-ray demonstration, Cal and Joe wisely decide to cut the cord......literally, by unplugging the damned thing.

                      But Cal later throws caution to the wind and decides to accept Exeter's invitation to hobnob with some fellow scientists at a mysterious Virginia retreat.......in a trip made via an unmanned plane. Once there, he runs into fellow scientist and old g.f. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) who claims not to know him......but only from a suspicion that she and the other scientists have stumbled into a nest of aliens.....

                      Which they have, of course.......and they quickly figure out that Exeter's nuclear power think tank is for something other than heating office buildings. Dodging death ray blasts as they attempt an escape, Cal and Ruth find themselves abducted into Exeter's conveniently parked flying saucer........and well on their way to his home planet of Metaluna, where perpetual warfare wages with neighboring planet Zagon.

                     (Regarding his sumptuous Virginia mansion, Exeter pursues a scorched-Earth policy, leading us to believe he may not be such a nice alien after all......Morrow excels in this performance, playing Exeter as a basically compassionate alien forced to turn ruthless to save his civilization...)

                     Aha.....so that's why Exeter needed some Earth brains to come up with some serious nuke power....... to fend off the Zagon-istas, who regularly hurl flaming spaceships at the already decimated Metaluna infrastructure........

                      It's here where the movie gains its beloved reputation among sci-fi lovers.......which its beautifully rendered matte paintings of an under-siege Metaluna.......images that resemble front covers torn off of old Science Fiction pulp magazines......

                       And speaking of sci-fi pulp, shambling around the planet comes the movie's most unforgettable denizen, the Metaluna Mutant, a bug-eyed, bulbous-brained insectoid creature wielding lobster-claw hands. And in the great tradition of primal sci-fi imagery, the Mutant's first instinct is to chase a screaming Faith Domergue around the spaceship........how could you not love this.....

                     "This Island Earth" still stands as a wonderful touchstone for those of us who grew up in the era when sci-fi/fantasy filmmakers never let their enforced low budgets impede their boundless imaginations.  And as Exeter's spaceship speeds through the stars, the film remains, for BQ,  a
4 star (****) experience.  Blast off with it real soon.