Harryhausen Horror Hatches in "20 Million Miles to Earth" -Tonight!

Tonight on MeTV- we go from last week’s huge scaly creature to another- whose origin is even more far out-created by the artistry of Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion magic! A spaceship returns from a mission to Venus, holding injured astronauts and a strange menace that gets bigger and more destructive after travelling “20 Million Miles to Earth”!

Things start pretty much as they do every day with fishermen doing their daily trawling for a big catch off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily. However, they are astounded when a sleek silver spacecraft splashes down in the water near them! As the craft appears sink, the fishermen head out and board it in hopes of rescuing anyone inside it. They find two spacemen and just manage to get them out of the ship before it sinks below the surface.

Of the two astronauts, one of the men rescued, afflicted with a mysterious disease, passes away. The lone survivor- Col. Robert Calder- reveals that this same deadly malady had already claimed the rest of the ship’s crew. Calder, distraught over the loss of all his crew, sadly begins to rehab after the accident, under the care of medical student Marisa, whose grandfather is an eminent zoologist, Dr. Leonardo, doing research nearby. Upon news of the return of their spacecraft, authorities from Washington DC head to Italy to learn more about the ship’s crew and fate.

Meanwhile, Pepe, a boy who helps out the fishermen, discovers a metal cylinder that must have washed ashore from the sunken ship. Inside, he finds a blob of some gelatinous substance he cannot identify- but, knowing that zoologist Dr. Leonardo might find it intriguing enough to purchase it from him, brings the odd specimen to the doctor. Pepe has called this one right, because the doc is amazed and confounded by whatever this thing is- enough to contribute to Pepe’s fund to buy American cowboy gear!

When granddaughter Marisa arrives at her grandfather’s trailer – both are astounded to find that something has actually hatched from the odd mass of jelly- a small, reptilian-looking creature! Dr. Leonardo, unable to identify it, cages the specimen with the intention of taking it to Rome for further study.

At the same time, the US military party has finally arrived in Italy, and, after a reunion with the recovered Calder, head to a briefing of the Italian authorities. They reveal to the skeptical signors the startling fact that the spaceship had returned from Venus- and had on board a vital piece of scientific cargo- a metal capsule with an unborn specimen of a Venusian creature! Divers are sent to locate the capsule, with no success- leaving Calder to approach the local fishermen, offering a reward for information about the capsule. The fishermen have no such information, but eavesdropping entrepreneur Pepe, now the proud owner of some cowboy gear from his previous score, springs into action upon hearing the word “reward”! He leads the group to the empty container and reveals that the contents have been sold to Dr. Leonardo.

Calder and the authorities set out to find the doctor and retrieve the specimen, unaware that the creature has indeed hatched. Soon they discover not only that, but that the creature has continued to grow and get stronger- and is now human-sized! Having escaped the doctor’s cage, it is now terrorizing the countryside!

The fearful Italians want the rampaging creature destroyed, but Calder convinces them that they should attempt to capture it for scientific study. They manage to do so, but the Venusian monster creature continues to grow and escapes, going on a rampage of destruction through Rome- where the famed landmark of the Coliseum becoming the site of a raging battle between mankind and this giant alien gladiator!

This 1957 Harryhausen classic was the last of his films shot in black and white (though he had hoped to do it in color but was thwarted by a tight budget). The monster - known to genre fans as the Ymir (but never referred to by that name in the film) is a favorite among Harryhausen’s creations- with its movements and expressions showing his amazing talents. We’ll have lots of cast and background info, as well as a rough demonstration of how stop-motion animation is done, and more of the usual mayhem from the Imp and Gwengoolie, along with some never-before-seen costume contest contestants-an amazing display of familiar movie “Aliens”- plus- footage of some very special guests- including Lance Henricksen, star of “Alien”, “Pumpkinhead”, “Millenium” and more, and the man who is the voice of Spongebob Squarepants ( and many other animated characters) –the great Tom Kenny!

“20 Million Miles to Earth” starts tonight on MeTV at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central- and, you can check for time and/or channel in your area in your local listings, or at www.metv.com. Of course, live-commenting will commence during the show on both Bluesky and Twitter/X- please add the hashtag #svengoolie to your posts! Our Chicago viewers can get one more look at the 1950s classic that introduced “Godzilla- King of the Monsters” at 11 am on WCIU, The U.

But-tonight- join us for the stop-motion Harryhausen magic that brings an extraterrestrial creature to life!