Alien Monsters Invade!!!
The End of Civilization as We Know It???
by Christopher Key
A long time ago in a theater far, far away, a nerdy little kid sat enthralled by some of the worst acting and cheesiest special effects ever inflicted on an innocent planet. Those magical Saturday afternoons were made even more special because the kid got into the matinees by collecting six RC Cola bottle caps. The kid cut a deal with the Mom and Pop grocery store up the street and didn’t even have to drink the stuff. He usually scored enough bottle caps to get most of his nerdy friends into the theater, as well.
It was the beginning of a life-long love affair with science fiction. The little kid is now 60-something and has just seen the magic recreated. Theatrical Renaissance Man Riley Penaluna is far too young to have seen these stinkers on the first go-around, but the brain-mutating radiations emitted by 1950s B-movies managed to infect him anyway. The result is Science Fiction Triple Feature Live! opening this week at the iDiOM.
This production is a meticulously researched send-up of some films that were so unremittingly bad that they relegated science fiction to some celluloid toxic waste dump on the seventh planet of the star Barfatron. Even if you’ve never seen these movies, you’ll recognize the genre since it transcends science fiction. You’ll also laugh yourself into a possible medical emergency.
Riley Penaluna boldly goes where everyone has gone before in the iDiOM Theatre production of Science Fiction Triple Feature Live! Photo credit - Christopher Key
Writer/director Penaluna provides the narration that ties the three segments together. In doing so, he jump started some long-dead synapses in my aging brain. When I accused him of channeling Percy Dovetonsils, a bizarre creation of legendary comic Ernie Kovacs from the same era, he gave me a blank stare worthy of a Vulcan. Oh, well. Some of you aging Boomers will grok it.
The first segment thoroughly roasts a turkey called Cat-Women of the Moon. Intellectually-challenged astronauts from planet Earth discover that there is a breathable atmosphere in caves on the far side of Luna. That’s because a bunch of hotties in black tights have preserved their man-free civilization through some unfathomable technology. One of them predictably falls in love with the most Australopithecine of the spaceship crew and I don’t remember what happens after that because I was laughing too hard.
The wonderfully cheesy props are created by Eric Bute. Photo credit - Christopher Key
Penaluna demonstrates his true affection for the genre in the second segment, It Conquered the World. The plot is equally ridiculous, but Penaluna doesn’t play this one for laughs. Instead, he shows us what could happen to a lousy script if some seriously fine actors were cast. It’s a riveting demonstration, if not as uproariously funny.
That’s just as well, because the final segment, Robot Monster, will make you wish you had brought along a change of Depends. Having done his homework very well, Penaluna costumes his Ro-Man with the same low-budget sleaziness as the original. This beauty has consistently made the all-time worst lists and Penaluna transmogrifies it into an all-time best.
Ro-Man pronounces doom on the few remaining Hu-Mans of Planet Earth. Photo credit - Christopher Key
Since my eyes are still blurred by tears of laughter and nostalgia, I won’t try to see the fine print in my thesaurus and will simply say that the cast brings Penaluna’s vision to life with total commitment and terrific enthusiasm. In no particular order, they are Pete Crandall, Kari Severns, Rosie Guarino, Emily Lester, Josh Mcrae, Tim Greger, Oliver Ross and Wes Davis.
Science Fiction Triple Feature Live! plays August 5 – 7 and 12 – 14 at the iDiOM Theatre, 1418 Cornwall Street in Bellingham. Tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling (360) 201-5464. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m.
Please do yourself a favor and reserve your tickets right now because this is a sure sell-out. If you don’t, the cast has threatened to feed me (and other drama critics) to the beastly Blarg on the planet Nyaarrh. We may be a despicable race, but no one deserves a fate like that.
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