I bid thee welcome to the dungeon of Castle Deval.
I am the Count Gord of Deval and this is creature feature, the weekly web program, where I ask
the question, what is a phantom?
Well, by the dictionary definition of phantom is a ghost.
Now when it's attributed to movies, the most famous phantom, of course, is one who inhabited
an opera house in Paris.
And the first person that I know that played that role on the screen is Lon Cheney, Sr.
and he set a very high bar for everyone else.
But there were others that followed, Claude Rains, Herbert Lohm, Gerard Butler, believe
it or not, Julian Sands, and Freddie himself, Robert England.
And if you want to really include one of my favorite spoofs of the phantom, William Finley,
who played the phantom of the paradise.
Well tonight I'm going to bring you a different phantom, a phantom from a different time and
space.
The time, 1953, the space, well, how about their space?
And in this one, the phantom doesn't need a mask.
And actually I think they did this just to save money because they just made him invisible,
which is of course why there's no actor attributed to as the phantom.
Anyway, all that aside, we do get to see the phantom from space eventually.
And I think you'll be surprised what you find out.
And also during this presentation I will share with you one of my deep, dark fantasies, phantom
fantasies, okay?
Let's get to our movie, phantom from space and creature feature of the weekly web program.
This is Washington, D.C.
And in the files of the central bureau, there is a story so strange in its implications
that it defies ordinary classification.
It began after sundown, time 715, as flight A coast patrol from Travis Field was returning
to base.
When the nightly air force transport pointed north toward Japan via the Great Circle route,
while at sea, the Navy and Coast Guard maintained their usual round the clock vigil.
And from the equator to the Arctic, the radar network swept the skies with eyes that never
sleep.
Time 719, an unidentified object was picked up 200 miles southwest of Point Barrow, Alaska.
727, unidentified object confirmed at Fairbanks, Alaska.
Heading south-southeast, 170 degrees, height 75,000 feet, estimated speed 5,000 miles per
hour.
White warning, 739, unidentified object 200 miles due west of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Of course, 170 degrees, height 60,000 feet, estimated speed down to 3,600 miles per hour.
Yellow warning, 755, unidentified object past Point of Interception.
Red warning, 811, Morro Bay, California, height 50,000 feet, estimated speed 2,000 miles per
hour.
815, Santa Monica, California, height 10,000 feet, speed 1,200 miles per hour.
818, all traces of unidentified object gone.
Red warning lifted by 825 at the Los Angeles branch of the Communications Commission.
Reports of strong interference with radio and television reception began to pour in from
the beach area.
The monitors went to work immediately.
Radio units were ordered to converge on the vicinity of the disturbance.
Yes, what is it?
Take me to a phone quick.
I need an ambulance.
What's the matter?
My husband and Pete out there in the picnic grounds, just above the beach, they've been
hurt.
Well, this is a communications car.
I'll phone it in from here.
I'm over one, the central over.
Can you make that out, Charlie?
Not a word.
A mobile one to central, I can't reach you.
Repeat.
We must be getting us all right.
A mobile one to central, have an ambulance set to beach at surf.
Emergency, two men hurt.
Acknowledge.
Roger, now.
I'm sure they'll be here soon now.
Tell us what happened.
This man, he just kept coming at us.
It was awful.
Boo.
I don't know, he was wearing a suit like a diver.
Hurry, please, they're hurt.
Charlie, you better wait here.
I'll go down and take a look.
The young woman's hysteria became obvious as they reached the picnic grounds at the
beach.
There was no sign of the mysterious intruder, and little could be done for her husband and
their friends until the ambulance arrived.
Hi, fellas.
How are you doing?
Oh, we're just taking another reading now.
What happened down there?
Police took the girl and one of the guys to the station.
What about the other one?
He's on the way to the morgue.
That was her husband.
You're right on the button, Charlie.
44.7.
Report back to Central if you find anything else.
Charlie, grab that portable check to the beach, will you?
Got it right here.
I'll pick you up right here in about an hour.
Where are you going?
Police asked me to drop by the station and sign a report.
I'll see you later.
If you don't, you know where to look for the body.
Like I said, we were just starting to eat when we heard something tracking through the
sand toward us.
I looked up and couldn't see anything.
Then Betty screamed.
At what?
I thought you couldn't see anything.
At first we couldn't.
Then this guy started toward us.
What kind of a guy?
How should I know?
He was wearing some kind of a helmet over his head.
It could have been a deep sea dive or anything.
All right.
After you saw this dive, what happened?
Well, we jumped up.
Ed, that was Betty's husband.
He allowed him to stop, but he just kept coming.
I never saw anything like it.
He didn't say anything.
He just kept moving in.
Then you say he attacked you?
Well, we didn't give him a chance.
Ed grabbed a piece of wood and took a swing at him.
That didn't stop him.
He caught the end.
That's all I remember.
Because a man's taken a walk, there's no reason to slug him.
Besides, you don't look like a guy who frightened so easy.
How would you feel if somebody with a crazy helmet
with pipe sticking out of it came at you in the dark?
And look, I know this sounds crazy,
but there wasn't any head in that helmet.
No head.
No head at all.
It's the truth.
I think you need some coffee.
I don't want anything.
It's all the same to you, Lieutenant.
I've got to pick up one of my men at the beach.
OK, thanks for coming down, Hazen.
Hope I didn't put you out.
No trouble so long.
You, too.
All right, let's start at the beginning.
How old did you know of a dead man and his wife?
Betty and I went to school together.
And you had a year.
How long were they married?
About a year.
Wasn't her husband a little older than she?
I don't know.
But you said you were with Mrs. Evans with the school together.
And you never discussed anything personal with her?
She did mention he was older, yes.
How much?
15, 20 years.
What difference does that make?
I wasn't too hard, and I wasn't.
Where do you live?
629 and a half, East Palm Court.
Why?
That's where the Evans live, isn't it?
Yeah, I board with them.
You do, huh?
Now, Mrs. Evans is a good-looking woman.
What are you trying to say?
The town powers.
Where?
Yeah, I got it.
I'll leave right away.
Keep it a little murder.
Another beach.
And I on this guy until I get back.
Where are you?
You'll stay right where you are.
At least until Mrs. Evans feels well enough to talk.
Where do you want from her?
Oh, I just want to see if your story checks with hers.
After all, you went to school together, remember?
Sorry I'm late.
What kept you so long?
The lieutenant asked me to hang around a while.
Well, what's the score?
And it looks like one of those things.
Pretty girl, older husband, young porter.
Kid claims some guy without a head knocked the old man off.
Yeah, don't say anything else.
Yeah, he had a diver's outfit with horns.
No, he's going to have to do better than that.
How are we doing?
I took a reading about ten minutes ago.
The radiation has gone out with a tide.
What about the radio phone?
It's working fine again.
I just got a call from Central.
You said Mobile 7 picked up some new trouble northeast of you.
Here we go again.
Hop in.
This is so long.
I'm Lieutenant Bowis, homicide.
You found this buddy?
That's right.
He must have just locked up for the night when this happened.
How do you know that?
Well, he usually does around this time.
What were you doing here?
I was sitting home watching the fights on TV
and all of a sudden, the thing started acting up.
What has that got to do with it?
Well, you don't know this set.
You know, it wouldn't work at all when I came home to supper.
Then all of a sudden, it cleared up fine.
So I thought, well, I'll get set to look at the fights again
and all of a sudden, out it goes again.
So I thought maybe the battery station down here
was overcharged in a second
until I get back to take a look.
That's all.
Hey, don't you ever quit work?
What's up this time?
Another murder?
What are you doing here, Hazen?
Same as before, still trying to track down that signal in a second.
Say, does that stuff work on TV, too?
It has been for hours.
What did I tell you?
What's the matter?
Seems there's someone on the blank.
Well, at least we know we're on the right track.
How'd you make out with that boarder?
He's still sticking to his story.
The guy had no head.
Well, I'll be seeing you in so long.
Right.
Hey.
At 10.34, Mobile Center had pinpointed the disturbance
at the edge of the Huntington oil fields.
Units 1 and 7 were instructed to close in.
Hey, Charlie, do you see what I see?
Yeah, the oil field.
Let's hope our trouble's burning up.
Now there's only one way to find out.
Look, Sarge, two murders and an explosion in one precinct is big news.
Now come on, you can't pin it all on the young boarder.
How can you?
Very funny.
Yeah?
I'm Hazen at the Communication Commission.
Oh, the lieutenant's waiting for you.
Thank you.
There's a wheel.
You heard the man, Communications Commission.
I thought we just kind of, uh, if the interference happened very often.
Never anything like this.
It's on the move all the time.
It means I'm having a transmitter in the car.
It's not a transmitter.
We don't get a definite disturbance just since there's no interference.
Didn't have no idea what it is, huh?
Not yet.
How are you making up?
Not so good.
You were here when I questioned that boy about the murder at the beach.
Just get a thing more out of him?
Yeah.
Come on with me, you might want to see this.
Ah, I see you're just about done.
Thanks, you can go now.
Are you sure this is what the man looks like?
What do you say, Betty?
Well, just about.
I mean, I think the tubes were a little lower down.
And you still insist there was no head inside the helmet?
I'm positive there wasn't.
What about you?
Well, it was dark.
I couldn't swear to it.
Thanks, that'll be all.
You mean we can go now?
Yeah, between being.
Just stick close to home.
Maybe we'll want to see you again tomorrow.
We'll be there.
Come on, Betty.
You've got to change your mind about those two, haven't you?
Yeah, I guess I have.
A little bring in the old man, will you?
Don't tell me you believe this story about this, this whatever it is.
I know it sounds as phony as it ever did.
But sit down, will you, please?
You're the, uh, watching at the Huntington oil fields?
Oh, yes, sir.
I've been with the company for over 22 years, sir.
Will you tell Mr. Hayeson here exactly what happened?
Well, sir, like I said before, I was just closing the gate for the night.
When I saw this fella coming up, I was never so scared of my life.
Yes, go on.
Well, it wasn't the man so much as the suit he was wearing.
Well, he wouldn't stop when I hollered at him.
He just pushed his way right in through the gate and walked right up the tank.
Did you carry a gun? Did you try to stop him?
Oh, well, it was much too close to the tank. I was afraid to shoot.
So I thought I might call for help.
And just to cut the shack, the tank blew up.
Oh, you should see this sight.
Sir, can you give us a description of this man?
How would you say he was dressed?
Well, sir, like I said before, he wore a sort of plier's knot outfit with a helmet attached to it.
How tall was he?
Oh, he was a giant of a man.
And he had tubes sticking out of that thing, that helmet he wore.
Can you tell us what his face looked like?
Well, sir, though you got pretty close to me, I could swear the man had no face.
Now, if you saw this man again, would you recognize him?
I mean by his outfit.
Oh, I'll never forget that sight if I lived to be a hundred, sir.
Would you say this is the man?
Wait, sure, that's him.
Thank you very much. You may go now.
All right, sir.
Thank you.
Well, Azen, what do you say now?
Beats me. The scripts is check all right.
This could be some kind of flying suit. High altitude equipment.
Yeah, that's what I've been thinking.
Well, how do you explain that stuff about the missing head?
No, we can just count that.
These people were frightened.
Tonight, nobody really took a close look at it.
I guess you're right.
But whoever he is, that outfit doesn't look like one of ours.
Of course.
He could have been dropped by a parachute.
You sabotage it?
I think we'd better report to Washington and see what they say.
All right, you can use our teletype.
I'll tip off the only place to be on the lookout for something unusual.
Hey, wait a minute. What about the press?
Well, I don't think they know too much now.
You'd better keep it that way for a while, at least,
till we find out whether a friend is still around here.
Well, if he is, I think we can find him for you.
My hunch is that he's carrying something around
that's causing all this disturbance, whether he knows it or not.
Yeah, kill that page one lead.
Hey, let the border and the girl go.
Hmm?
How do I know?
Maybe the lieutenant thinks that the guy in a flying suit knocked out the husband.
Mm-hmm.
And that?
No, no, not a chance.
Not a chance of an exclusive on that picture.
They're making a blanket release in the morning.
Hmm?
Oh, there's a guy from the communications commission in there now.
And I'll call you back later if there's anything new.
Okay.
Well, that's the story up till now.
We got in touch with Washington.
They told us to contact you here.
Hmm?
Very interesting.
What do you think, Doctor?
When I see something like this, I understand why your gentlemen might have thought sabotage was involved.
Lieutenant, are you sure there were no traces of this saboteur, this X-man,
found after the explosion in the oilfield?
If I had a problem, it went over every inch of the area.
It didn't come up with a thing.
Well, then there's a strong possibility that he might have perished in the explosion itself.
I doubt that.
We're pretty well convinced this man is carrying something that's responsible for all the signal interference.
According to the last report I got, there was a definite disturbance about three miles east of the oilfields.
Sometime after the explosion.
Well, then if he's alive, you should be able to keep an accurate check of his whereabouts.
Not that easy.
As a matter of fact, we lost contact about three-quarters of an hour ago.
Maybe you realized you were trailing him and got rid of whatever he had that was causing the disturbance.
In that case, there's nothing much my department can do to help you.
I guess it's up to us.
Unless you have some suggestions.
I don't know whether you know it or not, but somewhere around 7.30 this evening,
our radar networks picked up an unidentified object off Point Barrow, Alaska.
They traced it clear down to Santa Monica before they lost it.
Santa Monica?
That's where we first picked up our radio interference.
Yeah, right at the scene of the murder.
Well, then if all these things tally up, we've got some idea of how our man got here.
You mean that he came in some plane?
In that case, somebody would have seen it land and take off again.
Or did it crash?
No. No, we don't think it was a plane.
No rocket or jet that has been built so far can attain the speeds of 5,000 miles an hour,
particularly for such a great distance.
How do you figure this fathom tithing?
We're not sure that he does.
I don't care what you say, but it doesn't make sense to me.
Anybody trained in sabotage or say on the cover, this guy's walking around in a monkey suit,
killing people.
Excuse me, Dr. White. Is there Lieutenant Bowers in here?
Oh, yes. What is it, Miss?
There's a Mr. Wakeman from the Chronicle here to see you.
Wakeman here? What does he want?
Well, there's only one way to find out.
Before you go, Lieutenant, I don't believe you've met my assistant, Barbara Randall.
Oh, hello.
Hello.
It's Mrs. Randall, Lieutenant.
I'll be right back.
Barbara?
All right, Lieutenant. Don't tell me.
I'll get my story set now.
Oh, if you want to know how things turn out, read the Chronicle in the morning.
See you.
By 12.30 a.m., the dragnet was in operation.
Mobile units patrolled the streets and countryside.
They covered an area 35 miles square.
Special and sensitive equipment was prepared for action.
Everyone on the job was ready to move on the first signal from the communications commission.
Units 1 and 7 are from Mobile Center.
Strength 4, interference at 160th in the oil field.
Moving to east. Close in.
Repeating, strength 4, interference at 160th in the oil field. Close in.
See you here, Joe. Just got here trying to set this up.
What gives, Jason? It's in this area, all right.
I thought it was a Geiger counter.
Thank you, Doctor.
Quite a walk over those oil fields.
Well, it doesn't register as far as the oil fields.
I think we'll do better if we split up, man.
Right, Lieutenant. You two go that way. Lieutenant, out here.
Vince, Joe, you follow him. Come on, Doctor.
And you? Oh, forget it.
Come on.
There he goes. Come on.
Come on, Vince.
Come on.
We'll give you 10 seconds to come out of there starting now.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
We're going to help you guys cover the door.
All right, there's nobody in here.
It's impossible. We saw him come in.
Maybe he went out of the window.
We won't get very far.
Don't touch anything until we check the fingerprints.
All right, Doctor. Over here.
He left his suit in his helmet.
Hey, let's spread that thing out so I can get a good shot of it.
Give away your phone.
What's the matter?
For your information, that's a Geiger counter, and it says hands off.
I think you'd better wait outside.
There's no job to do.
So do we.
And I'm afraid I'll have to come first.
And there's no radiation from the helmet.
But look at this.
So that's what's been causing all this trouble.
Charlie, you know where we can pick up a lead line box in the hurry?
Well, mobile seven should have one.
They're right outside.
I'll take a look.
Hurry it up, will you?
Unbelievable.
Now, we all thought that this phantom might be carrying some devices
causing all the signal interference,
but you'll learn that it's due to the very clothes on his body.
That's not the only thing that bothers me.
Did any of you get a good look at his face?
Not me.
He's too far away.
Well, I did.
Unless I'm mistaken, that helmet was empty.
Hey, where am I going to put this stuff?
Oh, put it to Dr. White Station.
We only take it back to the Institute.
Right.
I hope you're enjoying the first part of Phantom from Space.
I'm the Count Gordieval and I am living out my phantom in space, fantasy.
You see, I always wanted to have my very own starship.
And of course, this is the starship blood vessel.
And this is my fantasy.
I'm going to share it with you.
I've never shared this with anyone.
There is a planet that I come from.
And the, right there at the top of the food chain are the vampires.
We are the intellectuals of the planet, you see.
And everything is food stock below us, including the humans.
We've developed space travel.
We have warped drive.
We're going all over creation and we run into the Federation.
Of Kirk Picard and the whole thing.
And I always fantasize as to what it would be like if suddenly, say Picard,
then his diplomatic best came across a race that viewed him as nothing more than food stock.
And he couldn't do anything about it because of the Prime Director.
That's my fantasy.
Okay.
Deal with it.
And I just think it's cool to be a starship captain anyway, don't you?
And it's better than being an invisible guy running around kind of a stupid helmet on and, you know, all that kind.
But speaking of all that, while I get ready to fire up the phasers and go to Red Alert,
let's go back to our movie, Phantom from Space on creature feature, the weekly web program.
In the...
