Know Your Monster: 23
THE MYSTERIANS
Besides gigantic monsters or Kaiju, one other recurring element exists in vintage Japanese sci-fi thrillers — mutant alien races that use the Kaiju as weapons in a quest to conquer the Earth. The Mysterians served as the prototypes. In a 1957 film called The Mysterians, this scientifically advanced race descends upon the planet in a dome they erect near Mt. Fuji. They issue two demands they want Earthlings to satisfy: Build them a small landing strip and give them the right to marry Earth women.
The Mysterians needs Earth women so they can dilute their own tainted genetics. Some 100,000 years earlier, they inhabited the fifth planet from the sun, but were forced to abandon it following a nuclear war. They reassembled on Mars, only the surviving Mysterians proved to be deformed and crippled, contaminated by Stronium-90. If they can mate with Earth women, they hope to reverse that trend, and keep their race alive.
In 1959, Toho Studios released a sequel to The Mysterians, a new film called Battle in Outer Space, presenting an even more sinister and threatening race from Outer Space — the Natal. Many new races have emerged since, from beyond our solar system as well as beneath the oceans. All can trace their origins to the Mysterians, who inspired rock musician Rudy Martinez, aka Question Mark, to name his new band “? and the Mysterians.”
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Tomorrow’s featured monster: Reptilicus
