The Final Sven Show of 2020- "Valley of the Dragons"- Tonight!

Tonight on MeTV- we close out the strange year of 2020 with a strange tale, very loosely based  on a Jules Verne novel- with two rivals preparing for a pistol duel-only for the confrontation to conclude with- not the demise of one of them- but with themselves unexplainably whisked away to an unknown place ( to be named later ) found to be populated by cave people and prehistoric beasts! The two enemies find they must work together in order to survive in the “Valley of the Dragons”!

The year:1881- the place: the outskirts of Algiers, and the combatants: Hector ,a Frenchman, and Michael, an Irish Amercian. The source of conflict : predictably, a woman ! These two Romeos are ready to fire at each other -when a super-powerful wind hits, caused by a comet sweeping dangerously close to the earth   ( it could happen)- with its gravitational pull carrying away the two men before they can even fire a single shot !

They regain consciousness, finding themselves in a jungle, not at all resembling the terrain of the Algiers area. The two must declare a truce, just long enough for them to return to the city- but- there is no city in sight! They begin to speculate about what could have happened- was there a natural disaster that wiped out civilization? Could the earth have shifted in its axis? The answer comes as they look skyward into the heavens- and see a familiar sight above them in the night sky! But the question remains- where exactly ARE they?

They theorize that the comet has actually torn off a chunk of the earth, and deposited it in space ( actually-on a familiar satellite never clearly named in the movie). They find the area is overrun by the “dragons” of the title, which are actually dinosaurs ( of the cinematic variety- not stop-motion models, but lizards shot close up with a few fins attached in some cases) ! Using  evidence from other astral phenomenon, they presume the comet is in an orbit that makes occasional passes at the earth, and that it was on a very early previous visit that it had torn off part of what was the prehistoric world –which has been sustained here without evolving much !

Giant reptiles are not the only danger here- they soon encounter some savage Neanderthals ( never mind the fact that dinosaurs and cavemen were in NOT in existence at the same time, no matter what you see in a typical “Flintstones” episode). Hector and Michael escape them, end up separated, and each discovers a different tribe of cave dwellers, with an injured Hector actually the one discovered by- in true Hollywood fashion- an incredibly hot blonde cave woman! She brings him into village of her tribe, jealously guarding him from the other cave ladies. On the other hand, Michael goes to the aid of an older caveman from a different tribe, and becomes a part of that group- which just so happens to include a pretty brunette cave woman who takes a shine to him!

Adding to the mix of Neanderthals, warring cave tribes, and dinosaurs, the whole situation is endangered by the eruption of a nearby volcano- driving giant lizards, displaced by the natural disaster, right to the cave dwellers! Will Hector and Michael find a way to keep themselves and their new tribes safe- and help this new world survive?

To be honest- the Jules Verne story that this 1961 epic is based on did NOT include dinosaurs or cave folks! Please note- we have actually done some editing to lessen the cruelty of the early film-makers, who actually had lizards in real deadly battle with each other ( mostly in stock footage from the 1940s version of “One Million B.C.”). Cesare Danova and Sean McClory are the two earthmen who end up in space, and, the blonde cave cutie is none other than beautiful Joan Staley – who was also Don Knotts’ brunette girlfriend in “Ghost and Mr. Chicken”. We’ll go over the cast list, explain where some of the stock footage came from (including some famous stars included in the footage), and provide the usual Sven fun. Plus, we get a visit with the stars of MeTV’s upcoming weekday morning cartoon showcase- “Toon In to Me"- my old friend cartoon curator Bill and Toony the Tuna! And- look for another friend as the hand at the door at the end of the show!

Valley of the Dragons" airs tonight on MeTV at 8pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or, if you are not sure where and when to find the show in your area, please go to your local listings, or to www.metv.com .So many Sven fans on Twitter continue live-Tweeting during the show and keeping us trending nationally every week, so MeTV invites you to join them and do the same, using the hashtag  #svengoolie . In the Chicago area, viewers get to enjoy one more light-hearted look at “Invisible Woman” this morning at 11 am on our main local station,CW26.

We hope Sventa- I mean, Santa Claus- has been good to you- if you got monetary gifts burning a hole in your stocking,, feel free to use them in our store for your favorite Sven merchandise- the popular mugs, phone covers, Sven studio sets ( while they last) and more- just click on the “store” tab here on our site.

Join us tonight for the final Sven show of 2020-prehistoric perils, with a sci fi smorgasbord of curvy cavewomen, nasty Neanderthals, volcanic violence, and lethal lizards; let’s face it- it couldn’t be any more dangerous than the year we’ve just made it through!