We’ve Got a Gorilla Who’ll Bail – “King Kong Escapes” Tonight!

Okay, first of all- who knows what cartoon theme  the above title is spoofing?

Now, on to tonight's feature- we start out our January theme of "ROCK in the New Year" with a mad scientist trying to dig up the elusive - and deadly- Element X -  and, after facing the failure of his robot ape, he decides that only the genuine article can do his evil bidding- in "King Kong Escapes"!

This 1967  Toho terrorfest has the evil Dr. Hu ( not the Tardis guy) seeking  the element in his assignment for a mysterious government seeking world domination, represented by a sultry spy- but-  his robotic simian, built to the specifications of the real Kong, can't tolerate the radiation- and breaks down when it gets too close to the element!

Meanwhile, sub Commander Nelson (what is this, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"?) and his lt. commander, along with his medic girlfriend, find their sub in need of repairs, and dock near the island of Kong, who becomes quite enamored of the young lady (he has a thing about blondes)- and, when they return to tell the world about the giant ape, and how they plan to return to study him-the  evil spy gal, disguised as a reporter, contacts Dr. Hu- who decides to use their information to capture Kong, and force him to dig up the radioactive rock! But- when Kong is- shall we say- less than cooperative- Hu decides he needs the blonde to help get the big ape to do what he wants. Our sub team ends up in danger- and the stage is set for a battle between Kong and his mechanical doppleganger!

We'll tell you about who (not Hu) was involved in the production of this film- who (not Hu) one of the actors has mistakenly been sited as being related to- and where you may have seen Hu (not who) before- along with lots of other info and Sven fun.

"King Kong Escapes" will be seen on Me-TV tonight at 10 pm eastern/pacific, 9 pm central, and please check your local listings for the time in your area- unless you live in Hawaii, where Universal will NOT let us air this movie- and you'll be seeing "Magic Sword" instead! In Chicago, we give you another look at the Lugosi/Karloff classic "the Black Cat" at 11 am on WCIU- the U!

And- if you like seeing THIS Toho Kong... you just might want to come back next month...

Join us as we "ROCK in the New Year"- with a radioactive rock and a robot trying to take the Kong role. "Rock and role"...I wonder if that'll catch on...

(Oh- and by the way- this blog's title? Based on a line from the theme song of the old Hanna-Barbera "Magilla Gorilla" show! -"We've got a gorilla for sale...")