The Shadow

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"  "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.  Crime does not pay... The Shadow knows!"  Click on the widget below to hear the exciting adventures of "The Shadow".  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

The Phantom Empire

In this edition of Klaatu Barada Nikto, I am featuring "The Phantom Empire".  It was first released in 1935, and stars Gene Autry (The Singing Cowboy), Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross.  It is interesting to note that "The Phantom Empire" is an eclectic mix of science fiction, movie musical, and the traditional western.  I find it to be completely charming and irresistible.  Please click on the video widget below to watch all twelve installments of this cool serial.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

Celestial Visitors

A moment of celestial peace.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

Watch the skies.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

Chandu The Magician │ Classic Radio Shows

Click on the widget below to listen to classic "Chandu The Magician" radio shows.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

Children Of The Damned

 Clive Powell

In this edition of Klaatu Barada Nikto I am featuring the 1963 classic film "Children Of The Damned".  This movie is actually the sequel to the "Village Of The Damned" that was released in 1960.  Both of these films were loosely based on the novel "The Midwich Cuckoos", written by British author John Wyndham.  Clive Powell plays the part of Paul Looran, the leader of the children.  I have to say that "Children Of The Damned" is one of the most frightening and intense movies that I have ever seen.  Much of this is due to Clive's enigmatic and extremely otherworldly persona.  Needless to say, this is Clive's movie.  It is interesting to note that the children in the movie are clearly implied to be Christ-like advanced human beings, complete with virgin births, and the raising of the dead.  Unfortunately though, the children are destroyed because society is not able to accept them.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Gort

Bobby and Klaatu

Bobby

"The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)", is probably the greatest Sci-Fi movie ever made, but somehow, it has been lost from our collective consciousness.  But even fewer people know, that it was actually a thinly disguised story of the life of Jesus Christ, or you might say, a parable of the life of Christ.  The name that Klaatu takes when he assumes the identity of a civilian is Major Carpenter.  Jesus was a carpenter.  There is a boy who stars in the movie Bobby (played by Billy Gray), who gets close to Klaatu.  In the New Testament, it is John the Apostle, who was a teenager at the time that Christ lived, who also was a close companion to him.  At the end of the movie, Klaatu rises from the dead and ascends into the heavens, much as Christ did on the Mount Of Olives.  These are just a few examples of the parallels between Klaatu and Jesus Christ.  There are many more subliminal clues in the film.  Much has been made of the cryptic phrase  "Klaatu Barada Nikto".  That is the command that Klaatu gives to Bobby's mother Helen, to say to Gort (who is St. Michael the Archangel, the avenging angel), in the event that he dies.  The phrase will stop Gort from destroying the earth.  By-the-way, it is Billy Gray's excellent performance as Bobby that makes the movie so believable.  Michael Rennie, the late British actor, gave an outstanding performance as the other-worldly Klaatu.  Robert Wise was the director of "The Day The Earth Stood Still", and  he later went on to direct such cinematic blockbusters as "West Side Story" and "The Sound Of Music".  In 2008, a remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" was released, but it certainly did not have the emotional and mystical impact of the original.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

 

The War Of The Worlds │ Orson Welles

Orson Welles

 Few people remember now-a-days the panic that struck the United States on the evening of  October 30, 1938, seventy-five years ago.  Orson Welles was the director of "The Mercury Theater On The Air" which was broadcast live by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS today).  It is hard to imagine how a radio broadcast could cause so much havoc, but Welles' adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War Of The Worlds" was disguised as a program of dance music, inter-spaced with news bulletins of a Martian invasion.  Like today's channel surfers, radio listeners of the day would spin the radio dial looking for other programs when they got bored with what they were listening to.  It was no wonder that most of them missed the introduction of the broadcast, and took the news-bulletins to be real, and many of them fled to the hills for protection.  Keep in mind that the program was transmitted live from coast-to-coast.  Well, the rest as they say is history.  At the close of the program, Orson Welles said these words although it did not lessen any of the fears and the panic caused by the broadcast: "This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that  'The War Of The Worlds' has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be.  The Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying 'Boo!'"  In this edition of Gort Klaatu Barada Nikto I am featuring the complete radio broadcast of 1938 just as America heard it on that faithful evening.  Please click on the widget below to hear Orson Welles' "The War Of The Worlds".  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.

Klaatu Barada Nikto

On Friday, November 6, 2015, I made a pilgrimage to the actual landing site of Klaatu's flying saucer in the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still".  In reality, it landed on the Ellipse that is located at the back of the White House, in Washington D. C.  Not too many people know this fact.  The video below shows me, in the ellipse, with the precious artifacts of Klaatu and Gort in my hands.  In the video, the White House is just visible over my left shoulder.  Notice that I am wearing my "Klaatu Barada Nikto" t-shirt, in homage to the extraterrestrials Klaatu and Gort.  Remember to watch the skies, and  call out to all of the Occupants of Interplanetary Space Craft.  Safe journeys to all the fans of Klaatu Barada Nikto, wherever you may be.