So, it is 1:00 am and I am up watching "The Wild, Wild Planet"(1965) - Off the hook, certified wacky goodness! If you like movies like "The Green Slime", this is a must see! Almost beyond description, but here goes... A deranged scientist is using his employer's top-secret bio-laboratory to engage in clandestine eugenics experiments. When he starts kidnapping leading citizens for use in his twisted tests, it's up to rogue cop Mike Halstead to come to the rescue of all and sundry, including his lady friend Connie, who is also being held captive by the madman. This entry is part of the Gamma I Quadrilogy space adventures (Yes, there are 4 of these!), directed by Antonio Marghereti (aka Anthony Dawson). Also starring a very young Franco Nero! This was a staple on WPIX channel 11 when I was a kid and some of my "Older" Facebook friends may remember watching it with me back then! What can I say, dumb, 60's mod sci-fi fun all the way. Sexy babes, cheesy effects, 4 armed assassins, 60's style martial arts, shrinking people to the size of dolls, turning people into half men/half women (Just like Denny's on a Saturday night in Hollywood!). God help me, I love this sh*t! Just go find it and watch it!

I saw this when I was 14, at the theater in 1967. Back then, it wasn't bad. Now? Not so much. I compare it to the B movies that came out in the 1950s. They weren't bad when they were released but I guess tastes change when you get older. I would compare this one to the Green Slime, which came out in 1968 I believe. Robert Horton is a good actor but that movie did nothing for his career. But Italian movies can be unpredictable. Clint Eastwood and Sophia Loren as examples of actors and actresses becoming famous due to their association with Italian films. I do have Wild, Wild Planet in my old movie collection, along with Attack of the 50ft Woman, Tarantula, X the Unknown, and Brain from the Planet Arous for nostalgia purposes.

The plot gets a bit muddled, but I'll give it a go. A mad scientist is trying to create a superior race. To do this, he has his henchmen kidnap and shrink his victims to the size of a Barbie doll. The "dolls" are then transported to his research facility for . . . I'm not sure what. Anyway, the scientists picks the wrong woman when he kidnaps the girlfriend of a space commander. He and his buddies go looking for the mad doctor's lair.Antonio Margheriti made several of films I really enjoy - The Virgin of Nuremberg and Castle of Blood immediately come to mind. I cannot, however, include Wild, Wild Planet on the list of my favorite Margheriti films. If I had any inkling of an idea why the mad doctor was kidnapping and shrinking people then I might have enjoyed it more. I'm not asking for the movie to come out and spoon-feed me all of the plot points, just have a plot that's coherent.The mad doctor's henchmen are about as un-threatening as a basket of puppies. The henchmen work in pairs - one is a beautiful woman with a beehive hairdo while the other is a bald, black trench coat wearing guy. The henchmen look more like 60s European models than evil kidnappers.The sets are obviously made of miniatures. A couple of the scenes are unintentionally hilarious. The first involves a small flying craft that maneuvers around the city. Ed Wood's hubcap on a string doesn't look to bad in comparison. The second is a shot of a futuristic land vehicle that runs of the road and catches fire. The tiny fire looks like someone lit a couple of matches. It's really bizarre to see.

Like Plan Nine From Outer Space (which is only slightly worse), Wild Wild Planet is an absolute must-see if only for the unintentional laughs and the I-Can't-Believe-This-Got-Released reaction. The "City of the Future" set is so obviously a model that it took me a while to realize they were trying to fool me into thinking it was a city. The star troopers patrol the city in a flying saucer dangling from a string. Instead of "nit-wit", the insult of choice is "helium head." And the scene that actually made me laugh out loud...when the star troopers get to the planet Doofus...er, Delphus, they are given a tour of the facility, which includes a "space conditioning" room. In it, there are these rotating "steam boxes" with men in them, only their heads are visible, and they slowly go around and around like some goofy little carnival ride. I split a gut! And then there's the Proteo Theatre, which features a gay production of Madame Butterfly or something, set to music by the Ventures...oh, yes, friends, this is a hoot. Grab some popcorn and a glass of Saurian Brandy, and drink a toast to the way we thought things were going to be now, back in the 60's.