Blast Off with “It! Terror from Beyond Space”-Tonight!

"Svengoolie’s Halloween BOO-nanza" continues tonight on MeTV-as we go from last week’s Karen Black attack to some 1950s science fiction! You might get a similar claustrophobic feeling like that of Karen trapped with the deadly warrior doll- when members of a recovery mission to Mars find they are trapped abroad their spaceship with an unexpected stowaway- that can only be called “It! The Terror from Beyond Space”!

We find that a spaceship from Earth has arrived on Mars with a somber task- picking up the only surviving member of the previous mission that crash-landed on the red planet. All the other crewmen are dead- but NOT due to the crash! The lone survivor, Col. Edward Carruthers, is suspected of having murdered them all! Carruthers, however, claims that some sort of creature is responsible, but the crew of the recovery ship seems to doubt that and has, for the most part, pronounced him guilty. As they prepare to take off to return to Earth, a storage bay door is accidentally left open (uh-oh)-and once this is rectified, the ship blasts off.

Carruthers is treated like an outcast by the crew, especially the man in charge, Commander Van Heusen, who thinks Carruthers killed his fellow astronauts in order to hoard the limited food supply for himself, since not knowing if or when a rescue ship might arrive, it would stretch the nourishment for a longer time. Carruthers sticks by his story that some sort of humanoid life form is responsible- but Van Heusen refuses to believe it. He gives the order that a crew member must always have the suspect within sight, as they begin the journey back home. The only somewhat sympathetic person on board is Ann Anderson, who also happens to be Van Heusen’s girlfriend. (By the way, she is part of the crew, not just a honey along for the ride.)

The first hint that something is amiss occurs when a crew member, Kienholz, suddenly appears to have vanished without explanation. The crew begins to search for him- including brothers Gino and Bob Finelli, and even Carruthers is allowed to join the search. Kienholz still can’t be found- and then- Bob realizes that Gino, who was with them searching, is also missing!

They return to the last area where Gino was, only to find Kienholz -dead! Shortly after that, in some ductwork, Gino is found, barely alive- but a savage creature is also in the ductwork, and it attacks one of the rescuers, who barely escapes! This leads to the first attempts to kill the creature- but the various conventional weapons at their disposal have little effect on their sinister stowaway! (We can all question the use of conventional firearms as a weapon aboard a space ship-since a bullet could pass through the ship’s hull and endanger the crew’s oxygen supply).

The crew battles for survival against this lifeform which is determined to use the humans as food- and the danger increases as the crew is forced to flee higher and higher in the multi-level ship- as the monster follows, trapping the crew in tighter and tighter premises. Can they discover a way to stop the deadly creature that can even claw through metal hatches- or will they meet the same fate as Carruthers’ original crew?

This film makes the most of the feeling of being trapped in the finite space of the rocket ship by the savage power of the Martian beast. We can all get a bit of a laugh from the fact that this 1958 film is set in the far-flung future year of- 1973! It’s a fact that this film was a huge part in suggesting the plot of the 1979 science fiction/horror classic “Alien”…but certainly at a much smaller budget. You’ll see us go over the cast list, which includes familiar faces like Marshall Thompson and Dabs Greer, as well as the man who plays the creature, Ray “Crash Corrigan”. Plus, we’ll give Boddy Sorrell the chance to play our drawing game “Too Drawn Out”- provide a song featuring a rather popular soloist- and have a couple vintage segments, including a look at some fascinating and realistic props-and the excitement of the previous time I received the key to a city, before Berwyn!!

“It! The Terror From Beyond Space” blasts off tonight back at our normal start time- 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. Once again last Saturday, our show was trending on Twitter, as viewers joined in the live Tweeting during the show- and MeTV encourages you to join in, using the hashtag #svengoolie. Our Chicago area viewers will have a second look at the three-part made-for-TV movie “Trilogy of Terror” this morning at 11 on our local station, CW 26.

“Svengoolie’s Halloween BOO-nanza” has gotten off to a spooktacular start! We are honored that so many of you tuned in last week and told us how much you enjoyed our special “Svengoolie: Uncrypted”. Special thanks are due to the crew from Anomaly Productions who put the special together.

If you have dropped into the Sven/MeTV store, then you know there are new products in the Sven merchandise line- including a very Hawaiian-like Sven button-up shirt, and the first ever double bobblehead featuring myself and Kerwyn! Knowing how our last bobblehead sold- you may want to order yours NOW- before they sell out!

We also have gotten a lot of press lately- in magazines like “Scary Monsters” and “The Saturday Evening Post”- and in newspaper articles from the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal. We are really flattered by the attention- and it’s great to find out that so many of the writers and reporters are big Sven fans!

Speaking of fans- we know many of you have an interest in seeing if you could be a “Spawn of Svengoolie”- you’ll find all the details on how you apply here on our website. Speaking of which- no sooner did we mention the “spawn” than we were inundated with messages and social media postings worrying that this idea is due to yours truly retiring. Read this carefully and spread the word- I AM NOT RETIRING! You will be stuck with me for a good long time to come. Do NOT believe the rumors some “geniuses” are posting!

With that said, be with us tonight-for a Martian monster stalking a crew trapped in their spaceship- with no escape!