Captain's Theatre THE GREEN HORNET "Invasion from Outer Space"

If you're going out, go out with a BANG...

...and there's no bang bigger than an atomic explosion!

Mad scientist Dr Mabuse has created a citywide panic by faking a flying saucer crash and appearance by "stranded aliens".

Invading Britt Reid's townhouse (and zapping Kato), the spacesuited fiend demands the publisher help him and his fellow "aliens" get out of town without police interference so their mothership can send a rescue craft to pick them up in a remote area...the same "remote area" a secret military convoy transporting atomic weapons is due to pass through!

Though skeptical, Reid complies and Mabuse leaves, taking Lenore Case as a hostage.

Mabuse intercepts the convoy and hijacks an atomic bomb!

Rescue Casey from a leering lunatic and save the city from atomic Armageddon!
It's a far cry from the gangsters and thieves the Hornet and Kato usually handle!

With a new producer and a totally-different approach, this ep seems like a last-gasp attempt to boost the ratings by going with a much more sci-fi/fantasy-oriented storyline.

Thankfully, they didn't go to the campy level of Batman.
It's still played straight.

Every last cent in the series budget was thrown in for location shooting and optical fx, including lots of highway stunt driving along with the show's best stunt-piece; The Green Hornet leaping from the back of Black Beauty to Mabuse's truck while both are barreling down a curving highway at 60+ mph.

Side notes:

The villain's last name, Mabuse, is taken from a famous German pulp supervillain.
The GH character is not related to the German character, except in his revenge-crazed desire to blow things up.
Larry D Mann plays him with all the scenery-chewing panache of a James Bond foe.
Curiously, Mabuse knows Kato's name, even though every other criminal in the series referred to him as The Hornet's "chauffeur" or "aide" or "man"!

Linda Gaye Scott who played the villain's "shocking" sidekick Vama, appeared on numerous '60s genre shows including Batman, Lost in Space, and Man from U.N.C.L.E., usually in a skintight ensemble!

These are the only episodes without an appearance by reporter and (Hornet's nemesis) Mike Axford, but another red-headed reporter named "Bill" does appear!

And, it's the only episode where Kato is actually knocked unconscious (albeit by electric shock)!

Here's the finale of The Green Hornet (and hint of how the show might have proceeded if they had done a second season) which aired on March 10th, 1967 (Part 1) & March 17, 1967 (Part 2).

Part 1

Preview & Synopsis for the Two Episodes

Part 2

We hope you've enjoyed our re-presentation of The Green Hornet on the 50th Anniversaries of their original airings!

Captain's Library & Theatre KING KONG "meets P T Bunkum"

With a new King Kong movie hitting screens tomorrow...

...we're going to have a look at the only comic based on the first King Kong animated series from 1966...

An animated series that also lead to another King Kong film...

...using elements from the animated series including the villain, Doctor Who!

the animated version

the live action version
No, not the BBC's Time Lord...

...but a decidedly-hammy human villain!

Two interesting American-Japanese links to the tv series and movie.

1) The series, though produced by Rankin-Bass was animated by Toei Animation, making it the first anime specifically-produced for America!

2) The movie was a co-production of Rankin-Bass and Toho Studios., using characters and plot elements from the cartoon series including Doctor Who and MechaniKong!

Though it uses King Kong, it is not a sequel to King Kong vs Godzilla, and no reference is made to events of the earlier film.

Now, back to the comic...

While the writer is unknown (and the story may be adapted from one of the episodes), the art is believed to be penciled by Sol Brodsky and John Verpoorten and inked by Frank Giacoia.

If those names seem familiar, it's because the one-shot comic this tale appeared in, America's Best TV Comics (1967), was packaged by Marvel for ABC!

Besides abridged reprints of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Casper tales, the 68-page comic featured the first (and only) strips based on the animated Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Kong, as well as George of the Jungle's first comic book appearance!

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King Kong
Vol 1
and

King Kong
Vol 2

Captain's Theatre THE GREEN HORNET "Hornet, Save Thyself"

Happy Birthday, Britt Reid!

Here's Your Present: a Prison Cell!

A joyous surprise birthday party for Britt Reid turns tragic when the publisher guns down an ex-employee in front of two dozen witnesses...or does he?

Reid was holding the gun when it went off, but did he fire it?

And if he didn't...who did? 
How did they do it?
And why?

Even old friend Frank Scanlon, who was at the party, is skeptical...and he's the District Attorney!

Reid knows he's innocent...and he needs his masked alter ego to help him prove it!

Trivia:
Despite the fact he knows Britt Reid is The Green Hornet, Scanlon doesn't use that knowledge to capture the fugitive publisher!
When Reid ducks out the disguised fireplace entrance Scanlon usually uses, the DA doesn't reveal it's existence to the police.
Nor does he show them where the Black Beauty is, fully knowing Britt will use it shortly.
It's only the third time we see an unmasked Reid in a fight.
The Hornet and Kato actually invade a police station where the case evidence is being stored, trashing several officers in the process!
The same huge soundstage interior used for two different warehouses in "Bad Bet on a 459-Silent" is used here as a dry-cleaning plant Reid hides in.
Van Williams does the same "almost-fall" from scaffolding in this episode he did in that one!
There's no "Produced by" credit on the episode!
The two remaining episodes ("Invasion from Outer Space" Parts 1 and 2) are produced by a new producer.

From March 3, 1967, here's the 24th filmed and aired episode..."Hornet Save Thyself".

Next: the 2-Part Series Finale as the Show Goes Full-On Sci-Fi!

Captain's Theatre THE GREEN HORNET "Alias the Scarf"

It's an Episode Better Suited for Halloween than the Middle of Winter...

...as a local wax museum updates it's displays to include The Green Hornet and Kato, the statue of the previous "spotlight" exhibit, The Scarf, apparently comes to life and resumes his murderous ways!
One of the weirder shows in the series, heavy on mood, no fight scenes, and no appearance of The Black Beauty!
Legendary horror film star John Carradine as museum researcher (with an ominous secret) James Rancourt was the only famous guest-star on the series. Unlike Batman, where celebrities from Tallulah Bankhead to Liberace were given villain roles written especially for them, Green Hornet used dependable, but little-known, character actors as baddies.

Side Notes:

John Carradine had been considered for the role of The Joker on Batman, but his poor health precluded his doing the role.

SPOILER (sorta): The Scarf's statue really should have shown a younger version of Carradine.
Since it looks just like the elderly James Rancourt (albeit with a Van Dyke beard) played by Carradine, it's obvious who The Scarf really is from the very beginning!

The music score written specifically for this episode was never reused! (Most of the music on the series was reedited and reused in at several other episodes besides the ones they were originally written for.)

Background info on a number of the unnamed city's villains from the early 1900s up to the late 1940s, when The Scarf disappeared, is presented during a tour of the museum, but there's no mention of an earlier Green Hornet.
So, gangster Glen Connors framing Britt Reid's father decades earlier in "Frog is a Deadly Weapon" doesn't refer to Reid Sr being the 1940s Hornet.
What the elder Reid had been blamed for is never explained.

From February 24, 1967, here's the 23rd filmed and aired episode..."Alias the Scarf".

Next Week: It's a Surprise Birthday Party for Britt Reid...but the Present is Death!