Earth vs The Flying Saucers | Episode 473

·44 min·4 clips

Jim Adams revisits Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, the 1956 Ray Harryhausen film that set the bar for alien invasion movies.

The episode opens with Jim Adams introducing Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, a 1956 sci-fi film featuring Ray Harryhausen's special effects. He notes it's one of his childhood favorites that set the tone for later alien invasion movies. Adams reveals Harryhausen disliked his own work on this film, but fans consider the flying saucer effects incredible. The host explains the film was directed by Fred F. Sears and produced by Charles H. Schneer, based on Major Donald Kehoe's nonfiction book Flying Saucers from Outer Space. Adams then shares a personal anecdote: after seeing the movie in second grade, he looked up 'flying saucers' in an encyclopedia and was shocked to find real reports like the Kenneth Arnold case and Roswell, sparking a lifelong interest in UFOs. He describes the film's plot, where scientist Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife Carol (Joan Taylor) encounter aliens threatening Earth with invasion unless humanity surrenders within 56 days. The movie includes a battle where aliens destroy Washington D.C. landmarks, later homaged in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks. Adams highlights supporting actors like Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum, and Thomas Brown Henry, who delivers the iconic line about not meeting invaders with 'tea and cookies.' He praises the film's pacing and effects, noting it's available on Tubi and Blu-ray. The episode concludes with a promo for the Monsterama convention in Atlanta, featuring guests like Marriott Hartley and Jack Hill, and a reminder that Monster Attack is part of the ESO Network.

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