Weirdhouse Cinema: Tobor the Great

parental leave for I don't even know how long. At this point, it just seems like, you know, a lifetime in the blink of an eye at once. Uh. And yeah, so so our our daughter is uh a wonderful little creature. She's she's chirping and she's making goblin noises. It's beautiful. But duty calls after my hiatus. Here I am back on Mike. Well again, congrats, was so glad? Uh? Everything is that working out so well? And uh And certainly we've heard from a number of listeners who were in

very much cheering you on. But also we're excited for you coming back. And and one thing that Seth and I talked about too while you were out. We're like, well, some people might have started listening to the show just uh five weeks ago, and if that is the case, uh, they have just been told about the coming of Joe, that the Joe is coming, Joe shall return to us, and lo and behold, Joe has returned here. On an episode of Weird House Cinema, I come covered and spit

up and bearing really boring stories. If you, I don't know if you noticed this about becoming a parent that uh, you know, you spend all your day taking care of this child and it's incredibly meaningful to you, but it really does not amount too much that you can tell anyone else. There aren't There aren't really especially notable anecdotes

or occurrences. It's just like, well she looked at me or like you know, oh yeah, I was holding her and then she spit up, and then I don't know, I mean, it's it's it's the most wonderful thing ever, but it just doesn't really make for a good story. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff like that, but but uh yeah,

I mean, but in a way. It's it's amazing you have such self awareness about it, because I certainly remember just being amazed by all these little things and then talking about them, but also being sort of a crazy person, uh in the new days of parenthood, and therefore not really being able to tell or read the room about how much anyone wants to hear about all of this.

Oh no, I've already done that. I think now I've sort of reached a point of clarity of like, Okay, I'm gonna stop boring people telling stories about how she looked at me. But I am excited to see where this takes future episodes of especially stuff to blow your mind core episodes, because it does bring new insights. It makes you rethink things about human nature, about certainly about

learning and development of the human being. It really turns a lot of our preconceived notions and expectations of humanity on its head in a in an often delightful way. Absolutely, listeners, you may expect years to come of Baby Looked at You themed episodes. Well, I don't know how sleep deprived you are at the moment, Joe, but are are you ready to discuss a cinematic classic from nineteen fifty four titled Tobor the Great. Oh am I Boy, Tobor is

just running through my veins right now. To Boor the Great nineteen fifty four science fiction thrill ride, a film about an emotionally volatile, psychic robot and the boy who became his friend. Uh So, this movie got me thinking about how a lot of science fiction movies have a robot in them, but tob Or the Great comes from an era when the fact that there is a robot

is plot enough in itself. And by the way, if you have any concerns that the characters in this movie will not say Tobor enough, let us put your fears to rest. You will hear talk of Tobor, you will see Tobor with your eyes, and by the end, you will believe in Tobor. One of the interesting things about this is, uh when you think about classic nineteen fifties robots, you often think about Robbie the Robot from nineteen fifty six is Forbidden Planet, which we were actually talking about

covering on Weird House at some point. But this this predates Robbie the Robot. Um so, or, at least it predates Robbie the Robot's appearance and Forbidden Planet. We have to remember that Robbie the Robot is essentially a robot actor. On Internet movie database, Robbie the Robot has his own profile as if he is like a dog actor or a human actor. I gotta say, as much as I love Tobor, if I'm being serious, Toboar does not really achieve the heights of Robbie the Robot in terms of

feeling and dramatic intensity. At the same time, I feel like Tobar is a pretty good robot design. He has an interesting face that that that reads a little differently compared to some of the cheaper, big robot costumes of this time period in the decade to follow. I watched it with Rachel and she kept reading Tobar's eyes as a light up nineteen fifties bullet bra It does kind of look like, um, like the front of a buick or something in ways. But Yeah, there's a lot of

a lot of interesting chrome in this film. There's a lot of gadgetry. I was really admiring the the use of of of clear plastic or acrylic panels. There's a lot of custom metal work in this film, so um, I'd say, in general, when we were first looking into this film, I'm noticing some people talking about it kind of kind of putting it down as if this this is just kind of a cheap affair, And yeah, this

is this is not a huge budget film. This is this is not a classic of fifty sci fi perhaps, but I feel like it's really well and I feel like it holds up pretty well. And uh, more thought went into it, and more work went into it than you might think would be required for a film of this caliber. Yes, it is by no mean it's not Forbidden Planet. But it is a rolic and good time. Yeah,

and it's essentially a kids movie. So Rob, were you saying we I didn't even realize this was the case, But were you saying, we have a tradition of doing robot movies around the holidays? It is December now, I guess essentially, I mean, this is only the third Christmas of Weird House Cinema. But yeah, we've done We did robot Jocks around Christmas. Yeah, we did the Super informn around Christmas one year. And I would say that sort

accounts because any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from inframan. Yes, great point, and we also kind of steer towards doing films that feel like something you'd find under the Christmas tree. Yes, and you know, Rob, when I pitched this movie to you for my return episode of Weird House, I promised that there would be a very subtle holiday tie in, seeing as we have in December now. And while I'm sad to report that to Boar the Great is not

in itself a Christmas robot. Before I found out about this movie, I already had an association with the word Toboor, which was this is Tobar Toborg the telesonic robot. Batteries not included. He's under your control with a click from the tele usonic commander two circle to proceed forward two circles, or to pick up the support module and return all on your command to Boars robot spelled backwards. Tobar the telesonic robot from Shopper, Rob, did you know this commercial before?

I love the eerie music and it it sounds almost like it's a little bit h it's a little bit menacing. Yeah, yeah, this is this is really cool. I I certainly didn't watch this one as a kid. I would have It's a little too old for me to have any genuine nostalgia for well, the original place I encountered this commercial was within one of the breaks in the copy I

saw of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Uh gotta love the commercials in whatever tape you've seen of the holiday special, you know, alongside the classics like the Ladies Garment Workers Union, and they're awesome theme song, which I every time I watched the holiday special, I'm singing the Garment Workers song for days afterwards. Um like it's even catchier than the Starship song. But as far as I can tell, Tobor the tell usnic Robot is unrelated to Tobor the Great.

It's just evidence that, uh, you know, spectacular minds think alike, and at least two different creative geniuses across the past century noticed that Tobars Robots spelled backwards. That's gold. Now I have another question before we start talking about castor plot or anything, which is, why do you think it was called Tobe Or the Great. It's a name that it invites comparisons, like I've been walking around calling him

tobor Magnus or tobor Augustus. The Great is an epithet often describing a military conqueror or a supposedly beloved autocratic despot. But at least within the run time of the film, Tobor neither conquers territory nor become becomes a king or emperor. So in what sense is he the Great? I mean, he's a great friend, and I guess, but to Boor the Great Friend, that doesn't That makes it sound like it's a movie about a dog. Um And maybe Tobor itself kind of sounds like a movie about a dog.

Maybe Tobor the Great, I don't know. That could be a movie about a dog too, could be like a uh some sort of a great breed of dog. Right. Well, yeah, maybe it's recasting the idea of greatness, like it's better to be a good friend than it is to be a military conqueror, I think. But yeah, I don't know. Strange choice because Tobar's range of action in this movie is actually rather limited. He mostly hangs out in one house and then goes to a different building at the end. Yeah,

his movements are difficult to watch. I kept expecting there's a terrifying scene where Tobar the Great climbs a spiral wrought iron staircase, and um, I was legitimately on the edge of my seat because of all this poor actor is gonna fall. I like, this just looks very dangerous. They are close ups on his feet. Yeah, the feet of this costumer also like weird stilts of some sort,

so it looks extra extra shaky. It's like it's like a movie with a close up where somebody's like eating off of a knife and they're showing you close ups of their mouth. Yes, I I can't wait to discuss some of the action scenes with Tobar that occurred later in the film. So I guess we should do an elevator pitch, which is a doddering old professor creates an emotional,

telepathic robot in order to violt dangerous space missions. This robot is named Tobor and he's a friend to all children, But nefarious Soviet spies want to steal the secret of Tobor in order to unleash evil and destruction upon the human race. Will the Red Menace seize control of Tobar's mind? Or will the love of a child keep Tobor on the path of righteousness? All right, let's hear that audio from the trailer Tobar the most amazing, the most fantastic

creation of man's mind. Oh he looks alone, or Tobor can live where no human can breathe, and the airless atmosphere of outer space and the nation first to Cocker space controls the world. Electronic scientists have designed a practical

space ship. Atomic power makes space travel possible, needing only the most valuable of all secret scientific achievements, space conquering giants that man can control to war is alive or even though much work remains before he's completed, he has already a sentient being, a necessary adjunct to the recording of all experiences human space crews made later encounter. Since we cannot get into see Nordstrom's secrets for ourselves, we must induce him to come out and tell them to us.

They have no news of Professor Oster motor Boy, not as they Lost Angeles Police Department or the FBI. I take as you want the formy life of my extra century transmission method. Green, Don't you do you do it? Please? Talking to Green stalk alright, you win to bar, bringing you chills you've never known before. Tobor, the lost human houter space man ever seen on Earth be sure to

see tow boar. Alright, sounds exciting, sounds pretty great. Uh. Now, if you're wanting to watch this film as well, and you're wondering where you can get it, uh, basically the main place to find it is is if you want to physical media. There's a seen Keno Lorbert Studio Classics Blu ray released to the film. This is remastered. You

can also find various uh versions of it online. Is an older film, Um, there's one in particular we're looking at that had some some unofficial remastering and colorization of the film, which is normally not the sort of thing I'd go for, But I don't know, with a film like this, I feel like it kind of benefits from that sort of treatment. I agree. I I don't know who did this colorization, and I'm not gonna say that

it looks amazing, but it's the right way to watch it. Yeah, it's it's weird, it's uncanny at times, which I like an uncanny sheen and a film like this. All right, Well, let's start talking about who was involved in the creation of this picture. So let's start at the top. The director was Lee Sholom, also known as Lee Rolem Sholm for cranking him out, and he did. He did really

crank him out. He directed various adventures shows and series in the nineteen fifties, including episodes of The of Tarzan and Superman Adventures. He actually did fourteen episodes of the early nineteen fifties Adventures of Superman. He's credited as a

director on the TV series chriswell Predicts. Oh yeah, from that connecting to Plan nine from Outer Space, you may recall the opening of that film is a Criswell Predicts segment where they had this TV psychic on talking about how future events such as these will affect you in the future. Yeah, so uh shole them seems to have been involved in that. He did a lot of TV late in his career. Two other films of note include the nineteen seven movie Pharaoh's Curse, which is gonna imagine

is some sort of an Egyptian curse film. But he also did nineteen sixty seven's Catalina Caper, which was an MST three K selection. Oh I remember that One Man to Board the Great would have made a fantastic Mystery Science Theater episode. I wish that had happened. Oh yeah, there's a there's a lot, a lot of riff on in this one. So and yeah, if anyone out there connected with MST or riff tracks is listening, by any chance, put this one on your radar if it's not already

all right. The screenplay for this one, uh. Screenplay credit goes to Philip McDonald, who lived nineteen o one through eight, Scottish screenwriter and detective novelists, probably best known for adapting the novel Rebecca for Alfred Hitchcock's film adaptation int He also was one of multiple uncredited adaptation writers on James Whales The Bride of Frankenstein from thirty five. So I'm not really sure. I'm not not I'm not super clear on exactly like what the the chain of custody happens

to be with that particular screenplay. Huh. He was also one of the screenwriters on The Body Snatcher starring Boris Karloff and Bella Lagosi, and he also wrote for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Thriller. I have mixed feelings about the screenplay in this movie. I mean, on one hand, I would say it's uh. I mean, it's very of its time and it doesn't really like wow you in terms of character depth or anything, but it has a certain kind of, uh, kind of I don't know, sparky efficiency

to it. Yeah. I mean if especially if I'm thinking about this film and comparing it to some of those various serials that came out back in the day in the nineteen fifties action of inter cereals, some of those are really dreadful and it's a real bore to watch, even if they have fascinating elements to it. I feel like this movie it moves along and it has its techno babble as you might expect, but for the most

part it's techno babble that you can and your head too. Yeah, Like it didn't feel as us as much of a skull scratcher as some technobabble tends to be. And I don't know, I had had kind of a sense of humor at times. So I feel like the script is um is better than you might expect and better than would be required. Yeah, I agree, it is. I mean, it does have lots of unintentionally funny stuff in it,

but it also it works, It works on its own terms. Also, A story credit goes to Carl Dudley, who was also the executive producer who lived nineteen ten through ye producer and director of a lot of documentary shorts mostly so maybe this is where we get the title. Maybe Dudley was like, Hey, I've got an idea for a film. You spell Robot backwards, you got to bar Let's call it Tobar the Great, give me a script. I mean, I think this was also the era of people blowing

your mind with a vampire named Alucard and stuff like that. Yep, yep, alright, let's get into the human cast here. Our star is the actor Charles Drake playing Dr Ralph Harrison, one of one of our classic fifties rectangles just just love him. Yeah, this is Dr Harrison. Is tall, he's loud, he smokes, and he can land a punch. So pretty much just your standard hero stuff for a picture like this. This is all that was required of of of a male

hero during this time period. So Charles Drake was active from the late nineteen thirties through the early nineteen eighties. His biggest films were probably Conflict starring Humphrey Bogart, nineteen fifties Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart, in Night the Swimmers starring Burt Lancaster. Oh in also N seven The Valley of the Dolls. Oh okay. He also popped up in an episode of the original Star Trek. I haven't seen the episode in question, I don't think, but you can find

images of him in like a Star Trek captain's uniform. Uh, you know, slouched shot style in the captain's chair and uh. And he was also in nineteen fifty threes that Came from Outer Space. Now, this one is weird because the main two characters I would say that two adult characters are Harrison here played by Drake, and uh, this other guy, Dr. Nordstrom or Professor Nordstrom, who will get to in a second.

And I would think the normal dynamic you would do in this movie is you'd have Nordstrom as the egghead professor, and then you'd have a sort of square military man to be his his younger man of action counterpart. But instead of making a military man, they make him another scientist. And I don't know if he really reads as a scientist. His scientific credentials almost seem like an afterthought here. Yeah, yeah, he reads far more like a military man. Again, he's

he's tall, loud, smokes in again Lanta punch. That's and that those are his main skill sets. We don't see him really doing much in the way of research. Okay, but we should get to the real egg head of the movie, Professor Nordstrom, played by Taylor Holmes, who lived eighteen seventy eight to nineteen fifty nine. Taylor home Was was was an actor of stage and screen who appeared in a ton of Broadway plays. Had a film career that began in the silent era and in the realm of talkies.

Uh it looks like he did a bunch of crime and war films, but also some romantic and screwball comedies. The main titles that jumped out at me from his sound era list were Let's See. He was in Gentleman Prefer Blonds in nineteen fifty three, which is a classic Howard Hawks comedy starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. He also did some small voice roles in a couple of Disney animated films of the fifties, including Lady in the

Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. He was also in a film noir I've never seen called Quicksand, but it caught my eye because of the synopsis. It apparently stars Mickey Rooney as an innocent auto mechanic who falls for a film fatale played by Gene Cagney, and as a result, he must turn to a life of crime and he ends up embroiled in a blackmail scheme with Peter Laurie who plays a penny arcade proprietor named Drama Shag, and Taylor Holmes is in there somewhere. I think he plays a lawyer.

Oh well, this sounds great. I don't know if I'm a Mickey Rooney lover, but I am a Peter Laurie lover, and seeing Mickey Rooney at turned to a life of crime does sound hilarious. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I'm on board. I would. I was looking into this actor a little bit. I think this maybe his only performance in a sci fi or horror film. It's possibly I'm I'm missing something there, but yeah, it seems like he's he's more of the

comedy comedy noir sort of a area. But yeah, he plays uh Grandpa Nordstrom in this uh Grandpa the Scientist, and he's pretty delightful. It's that kind of kind of role that I think could otherwise be very dry and uninteresting, but he gives a little peppt old Grandpa here. Well, he brings a very stagy energy to the role. You like you can tell this is a guy who did not begin on screen, but begin on stage, So he like rejects and he does a very uh, he does

a very stagy kind of voice. And this relates actually to a second unexpected holiday tie in for me personally with Toebor the Great. So the whole time I was watching this movie, I kept thinking that the actor playing Professor Nordstrom seemed oddly familiar, particularly his voice, which is strange in a way that I associate with some actors who began on stage or in silent film and made

the transition to talkies later in their career. And I was thinking, where did I recognize him from, and beyond that, why am I weirdly associating Taylor Holmes voice with Vincent Price, even though he sounds nothing like Vincent Price. Well, the answer came to me when echoing through my mind, I began to hear Professor Nordstrom saying chrish mash bam bag and bingo, I give you the nineteen forty nine, made

for TV Charles Dickens adaptation The Christmas Carol. Yes you heard me right, not a Christmas Carol like the novel is called, but the Christmas Carol for some reason. Sponsored by the Magnavox company, it stars Taylor Holmes in a

world historically hammy performance as Ebeneezer Scrooge. They also spell Ebeneezer wrong in this version with two ease, unlike the novel, and it has Vincent Price as the narrator, so it like opens on Vincent Price sitting on a couch reading a book, and he's like everyone loves Chiles Dickens and then starts to tell the story. And uh, I don't know if we maybe we can get a little sample of what Taylor Holmes as Scrooge sounds like. Humbug watch Chrishmas to you, but a time for finding yourself a

year older, but not an hour richer. Every idiot that goes about with Merry Christmas should be boiled in Jon pudding. That's pretty great. And you're you're you're missing the visual here of him and some of these things like you know, squirming on his his his lounge chair as he witnesses Marley's ghost before him. Yeah, it's good. This adaptation, by the way, is less than thirty minutes long, so they've really packed the story and it does not take a look.

Maybe we should feature this for like a holiday special on Weird House or something that's great. I mean that may be beating out Disney Christmas Carroll, which I've long admired for nicely compressing a Christmas Carroll into a short show that can be watched in one setting. I mean, I i gotta say, I'm a sucker for a Christmas Carol. I love it. It's a classic. It it still gets me. I love hmupp at Christmas Carroll. You know, I don't care if you judge me for that. I'm I'm I'm

all on board. But this version is uh, it's not the best, but it is worth seeing for its own charms. But anyway, this Ebeneezer Scrooge here is also our professor for the film. He is the creator of Tobor all right. Now, we also have the character of Janice Roberts played by Karen Booth, who of nineteen sixteen through two thousand and three an American actor who also appeared in the Unfinished Dance, as well as various action western and our films of

the day. How would you describe this character? She's she's there, she asked questions. Yes. With a lot of nineteen fifties sci fi movies, the female characters kind of get a raw deal and uh. Janice Roberts plays Professor Nordstrom's daughter, who is the beautiful mother of our annoying child character Gade, who will get two in a minute. But she I don't know. I mean she she gets introduced and she she mostly kind of asks questions. She's she's like, oh,

you know, could Tobor hurt someone? Or she's like, you know, why would anyone want to steal the secret of Tobor? Or At one point, uh, the child gets invited to a show at a science museum, I think, and he can bring anybody with him, and it's and he's like, well, I would take you, mom, but you probably wouldn't understand it. And she's like, oh yeah, there's a lot of stuff like that, or or she's asking like, well, how do

the security systems at Grandpa's housework? Or something that. Like, she asked a lot of questions where you would have think this would have come up at some point in the past. Um. So, yeah, she doesn't have a tremendous amount of agency in this film. She does have a tremendous scene of shaking hands with toe Boar, which is especially funny when you see what toe bars hands look like. Oh yeah, I'm glad she wasn't mangled by this. All right,

Well you meant we mentioned that she was. She's the mother of Gadge Gadges, the nickname Gadgetes and gadget right right, yes, yeah, the nickname for the character Brian Roberts. Brian Roberts is played by Billy Chapin, who lived nine through child actor, probably best known for his role as young John Harper in the nine thriller than Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum. Oh man, what a classic A love Knight of the Hunter? That is that is a like the

pinnacle of cinematic menace. Robert Mitcham in that movie is evil incarnate love it. Yeah. Yeah, Even if you haven't seen the film in full, there's a very good chance you've seen stills or clips with Robert Mitchum's a villainous character, kind of stalking and intimidating this that these two children as this young boy and this younger girl. And yeah, that's that's Billy. That's our that's our actor. He's most well known for that. But then we also have to borh.

I think I recall Billy Chapin being good in Night of the Hunter, so I I think, uh he, I'm gonna say, I think he's very annoying and tobor, but I think it's not his fault. I mean, that's that's how the character has written. He's just saying he's thrown out ge willakers all all over the place. Yeah. He was one of three child actors. His siblings were child actors as well, Michael and also Lauren Lauren of Father

Knows Best. Um, Yeah, they they all were actors. Billy did a lot of TV works and film work and stage work up into the late nineteen fifties, including Dragnet and Leave It to Beaver, and he apparently started acting as a toddler and appeared on Broadway as a toddler. So pretty impressive. Wow, all right, we we do have our villains in this film, and our villains are of course, Uh do they ever actually say their soviets or Russians, or it's just so. I don't think they ever say

Russian or Soviet, but it's that's obviously implied. It's clearly what they're going. It's the fifties, and they have Russian sounding accents, or at least Eastern European sounding accents, and they they're implied to represent a quote different form of government and so forth. When you look at films room from this time period, especially if you have an actor who either is of Eastern European origins or can can can can use the such an accent, inevitably they're going

to be playing villains. They're playing uh uh some sort of a menace or a threat. Uh. With some rare exceptions here and there, but yes, our villain here is the man with rimless glasses. I don't think he has any other name. That's how he's credited, played by the actor Stephen Gary, who of nineteen o four through nineteen seventy three. Uh. This is our our lead enemy agent who's trying to get his hands on some towbar technology. UM I thought, I thought this was a very fun performance.

Gary was born in Austria, Hungary, though his birth city um z Hoorld is now part of Ukraine um but he was a prolific actor who played a lot of European villains, though sometimes he played more of a comic role. He did they did a number of comic roles as well. He appeared in All About a Eve, Gentleman, Preferred Bonds, Spellbound, as well as nineteen forty three's Phantom of the Opera, just to name a few you and to a much lesser extent, he also appears in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's

Daughter from nineteen sixty six. He also starred in the noir film So Dark the Night, from which I haven't seen, but apparently he's the lead in that. So, like I said, there are some exceptions here and there um of for fractors of like gear Ay, So I'm kind of interested. After seeing him in this, which is surely not the ultimate showcase of his skills, I'm very interested to see

his some of his other work. I mean, his performance in this is for most of the film is limited to like sneaking around in the background, kind of looking sketchy and and peering over things at people. But then at the end when he when he has to be truly menacing, like he he captures some hostages. He's good. Yeah, yeah, I was a little afraid of him, he reminded. I mean, this is I'm being reminded in the wrong direction here.

But while the villainous uh s S agent in rages the Lost Arc played by Ronald Lacey, for the most part, we tend to associate that character as being a Peter laure S character. But I was reminded of of of ron Lacey's performance watching Stephen Gary in this film. Absolutely

me too, same thing. It's similar glasses and similar mannerisms. Yeah. Now, um, there's another actor worth mentioning here, and that's Peter Brocko who lived three through and he plays this is uncredited, but he plays Dr Gustaff, who is the the doctor that's hanging out with the enemy agents. So he's like a foreign scientist who can't wait to get his hands on this advanced American robot technology. Yeah, he's there too,

I think do due diligence on the ground. They're there to try to steal the secrets of Tobor, and he is there to check and make sure that they're getting the secrets of Tobor. Correct. Yeah, and uh Broco here is interesting because he's he has a very distinctive look um character actor, very gaunt looking face, so you can easily imagine he's the sort of guy that maybe got picked out of the lineup uh to get thrown into films and bit parts here and there, but ultimately ends

up popping up in quite a few films. He was very active from the early nineteen thirties through the early nineteen nineties, did a lot of smaller roles in TV work, including spots in the original Twilight Zone, the original Outer Limits, Thriller, Star trek Night, Gallery, and more, but he also pops

up in some pretty well known films. He plays character in nineteen sixties Spartacus, He's in seventy ones Johnny Got His Gun, He's in seventy threes Papion, and he has a fairly memorable performance in ninety one Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Is he a guy who like never talked or like only said one thing or something? Yeah, I

believe so. I think he may be in a wheelch He's an older guy by that at that point, as a as a beard, but you can still see that the gaunt face he always had this kind of gaunt, kind of skeletal appearance. That again, uh, a great touch for a character actor to have, because whether it's a bigger part or a smaller part, your labat to wind

up on screen. Finally, the music on this one. There's not much to say about the music here, but it is by Howard Jackson, who lived nine hundred through nineteen sixty six, a composer credited with some four hundred and seventy seven works on IMDb, including nineteen thirty six is Mr. Deeds Goes to Town? Okay, all right, well let's get into the plot of tob Or. The Great begins with some nice flash Gordon style titles. You know, it's like, uh, I don't know what you call this thing where it

looks like paintbrush strokes. It's got the little jagged edges. Yeah, like it's painted on the side of a circus tent. Yes, yes, roadside attraction, that's what I would call it. But then when you go into a movie, Okay, it's nineteen fifty four, how are you going to start this thrill ride? We gotta get lectured while being shown a bunch of stock footage. Oh yeah, robust stock footage intro in this one, lots

of shots of science and war going on. Uh. So it begins it says, this is a story of the future, but not the very distant future. And then it shows a nuclear explosion. They were really always really quick to bust out on an atomic explosion in films like this. Yeah. Um, so it is a story that might have taken place the day after tomorrow, like all stories of the future. However, it's beginnings lie far back in the past. Uh. And then it shows some clouds that look like they are

ready to start speaking to Moses. It's just shafts of light punching through the cloud tops. And then the narration goes on as far back as the first man on Earth to gaze at the stars and wonder someday how he might travel to them, travel through space. And then of course we see space. They love that, just some stars on a black background. So it would seem immediately like this is gonna be a movie that's taking place in space. But no. Back to a shot of the

earth ball. You see like Earth suspended in the voy aid, and then the narration goes on in the years after the Second World War. Two basic patterns began to influence the growing science of space travel. Rockets or guided missiles grew larger and larger, and then we see a rocket takeoff. And then atomic power plants grew smaller and smaller. And here we are treated to some obvious stock footage of

a of a submarine being launched. I guess this isn't supposed to be a nuclear submarine being launched, like down a jetty into the water. You can see in the foreground there's a there's a general dynamics plaque. But I wonder what this what event this is actually from? Yeah? This? Um, I feel like you shouldn't You shouldn't depend on this film even in the nineteen fifties to learn about like

the history of technology in the twentieth century. But you might accidentally learn something if you were watching this, I don't know, at the theater back in the day as a child. Uh, none of this feels completely off the ball. Sure, so they're saying, yeah, atomic power plants are getting smaller, smaller, compact enough to be contained in a submarine and finally in a rocket ship. Immediately, by special order of the President, a new agency was formed, the c I f C

Civil Interplanetary Flight Commission. So with almost unlimited funds voted by Congress, and then what are you going to get? Of course a shot of the Capitol Building? And why not? This commission began its task research in new fissionable materials, more research and non fissionable metallic alloys to make rocket tubes that would not be melted like wax by their own atomic blasts. Sometimes mishaps occurred, men paid for them with their lives, and then we see a rocket crash.

But the work went on, experiments in celestial navigation, astrophysics, aerodynamics, until finally only one obstacle remained that, it turned out, was the oldest obstacle in the history of mankind, the human factor. The human factor. Uh so we begin the action of the film concentrating on the human factor. What's

so bad about the human factor? Well, we're observing a bunch of scientists performing a centerfuge test on a guy in a flight suit, subjecting him to t G forces that make his face into a profound deputy droopy, while various cold hearted pipe smoking scientists look on. And this this experiment continues in its cruelty until our hero Dr. Ralph Harrison this is Charles Drake. He barges into the room and he orders the experiment halted at once. And

by the way, I thought this was interesting choice. The guy they have picked out to be the astronaut in the the G forces test here is not like a young test pilot in peak physical condition. I'd say he looks like a roughly fifty eight year old Maleman. Yeah, he reminds me very strongly of my grandfather, my childhood

memories of my grandfather. Does not look like this guy needs to be in a centrifuge, and also is probably not best the best candidate for making rash decisions about whether humans should be involved in space travel at all. At the same time, though, this whole thing about the human factor, I mean, this is kind of insightful, and this is something we've come Yeah, we come back to on the show, but on it's unsuffable in your mind

before discussing space travel, is that. Yeah, in a lot of cases you wind up with the question is this worth trying to send a human being uh out into the void with the You know, our bodies are have evolved to thrive not only on Earth, but within a very specific layer of the Earth's uh surface, within a very specific layer of the Earth's atmosphere, and um, sometimes it just makes more sense to send something that is not human out there to do our work amid the stars.

And this is sort of one of the discoveries of the movie, like we haven't gotten there yet. At the at the outset, it's basically like, well, you're either going to have humans going into space or you're not going to explore space at all. Yeah, now, Harrison, uh come. So after he stops the experiment, he gets up in the face of these these white lab coats uh, and he says, under other forms of government, men are killed or crippled every day in experiments like this. Well, I

won't stand by and see men slaughter become policy. Here and then this guy with a pipe hanging out his mouth says, I resent that these men are volunteers. They know what they signed up for. Uh. So begins the philosophical conflict. And it seems the situation of this film is that the consensus of scientists is that we must liquefy all astronauts in the name of progress, and Dr Harrison challenges the status quo with a bold new agenda

proclaiming that astronauts should not be slaughtered. But in so doing he he fiercely butts heads with a bunch of sadistic pipe guys. And and that's where we are when the movie begins. So Dr Harrison tries to run his gripe up the chain. He tries to go to the commissioner of the agency, and he's like, I won't stay and by while we do these cruel experiments and and and punish men's bodies in this way. Uh So he's

going to tender his resignation. But while he is doing that, he is overheard by a shadowy figure behind a frosted glass doorway. And later this guy who's listening in comes to find Harrison at his home, and when he does, he is dressed like the judge from who framed Roger Rabbit. I was really this was a scene too, very early in the film where I was kind of taken aback by just how old most of the actors I was

saying on screen. Where because not only the the test pilot guy, but yeah, the uh the guy he goes to the boss is pretty old looking. And then here comes Grandpa, who of course is has rather aged himself, but it's true. Yeah, but I guess you know, the fifties we were we're hard on the body. Um, so some of these people may look older than they actually were.

I don't know. But anyway, Yeah, So he's visited by Professor Nordstrom here, who introduces himself, and it turned is out they share a common dissident belief that astronauts should not be killed. And Nordstrom says, you know, before we prepare the men for the conditions in extraterrestrial space, we've got to know what those conditions are. No, not guess, and Harrison agrees, but unfortunately, there's just no way to

do it right. In order to find out what the conditions in space are, you've got to send human pilots up there in spacecraft to check. And Nordstrom is like, nope, I have a better solution. Join me and we can work on this together. So it seems like they're gonna team up there, they're going to figure out how to do it. And after this, we see a scene in what appears to be an airport restaurant, but it is incredibly swanky and spacious. I've never seen an airport restaurant

like this. Yeah, not like this. This is a different age of air travel. Um, this is where but this looks yeah, that's kind of place where you'd go to get your your steak dinner. You're half a dozen oysters and a few martinis before boarding your rickety flight. But but already, this whole, this whole business with the explaining why we need to have humanoid robots, I feel like I've got to I've got to go back to the

screenwriter on this one. I gotta go back to uh uh, to Philip McDonald, because this really feels like the producer Dudley coming and say it, all right, I need a picture in which we have a robot befriending a child. Um, and he comes up with a rather entertaining and almost really thought provoking way of getting there, instead of just having something like traditionally stupid and action serial happening like oh Grandpa's just Grandpa's a scientist and oh he happens

to have a robot. Well, no, why does he have a robot? Uh? This film bothers to answer those questions. Yeah, he could have invented him as a robot butler. Yeah, like a lot that would be more in keeping with with certainly the action serial motif like in The Phantom Creeps for example, starring Belle's Leghosie, the mad scientist, and that has an evil humanoid robot. But just because it seems like just because like that's just what you do. If you're a sci fi man scientists, you're gonna have

a various gadgets laying around the house, including the humanoid robot. Yeah, why not? But instead this addresses a real issue. And of course, you know, almost all of our space missions now are in fact uncrewed. They are performed by robots,

though in a different way than this movie imagines. This movie imagines uh spacecraft with like cockpits that are piloted by humans and have steering wheels basically, and you would get a humanoid robot to sit in the cockpit and and guide the spacecraft instead of just the spacecraft itself

being a robot. Yeah, though, you could imagine an update of this where if you had something that was I guess less like a metallic human and more like essentially more like some sort of a cloned bio androids, sort of a situation where you could have something that could be in the place of a human space traveler not only to handle the equipment, but also to test like how dangerous the environment is to the human body or something. Yeah, and in a way, I think that's sort of what

they're getting at. I mean it sounds like the purpose of TOBAR. I mean, we haven't even gotten to this reveal in the plot yet. We're getting ahead of the plot. But the purpose of TOBAR, I think is supposed to be to fly missions to test what space is like and figure out what the hazards are so that we can know that in advance of sending humans. But okay, we gotta get back into the do things more in order here? Okay, So Nord s Truman Harrison. They're sitting

in the swanky airport restaurant. They're discussing their plans, and the big thing is that this project is top secret. Nobody can know about it until it is perfected. Uh. Meanwhile, we've got a sketchy looking guy in a fedora and rimless glasses watching on from the table behind them. And then they are joined at their table by Gilligan, the science editor of Transglobal News Services. And I appreciate that this film takes a firm and consistent stand against the

free press. The journalists in this movie are represented as nasty, opportunistic, and disloyal to their country, just just rats to the core. And Harrison, when Gillian sits down to talk to them, you know, he wants the scoop. Of course, He's like, what have you been working on? And Harrison just reems Gilligan because journalists reported publicly on secret atomic tests and things like that. Uh, and so I think it's supposed to be a great relief. Later when we see a

journalist gets smacked by Tobor during a demonstration. But but Giligan, he's just like, hey, you're in the business of smashing Adams. I'm in the business of selling newspapers. If Uncle Sam doesn't know how to keep his secrets, that's his own

tough luck. And Harrison to be to be clear, uncle Sam here in there and the form of these two characters are discussing top secret materials at just a random airport restaurant within earshot of enemy agents and and the press, which uh you know is is is one of the more realistic things about this film. I guess, oh yeah, so. But Harrison of course doesn't like him at all. He's like, uh, He's like, I guess it doesn't matter how much aid and comfort you give our enemies or how many of

our side get killed. Uh. So I think we get some pretty firmly conservative politics going on in in this film. It is not happy about journalists reporting on on on top secret research. But anyway, so Gilligan gets invited to a demonstration of nord Nordstrom's new project, of course, along with all the other science journalists, which he's not happy about. He's like, I wanted an exclusive and Nordstrom's like, nope,

we're gonna show you all at the same time. Uh. And meanwhile, the man in rimless glasses is looking on with keen interest. Oh yeah, yeah, Stephen Gary here so good. This is This is the first scene where I'm like, oh man, this is is totally though. This is totally the bad guy from Raiders. Give me that intrigue, all right. So then we move on to the Nordstrom estate, where frankly most of the rest of the movie will take place.

It's like a compound that's surrounded by an electric fence. Uh. And it's got all these gadgets for defense that we see in action later. But when everybody's coming in there. Harrison arrives and Professor Grandpa here introduces Dr. Harrison to his daughter Janice, who he says runs this household with a rod of iron. But it doesn't seem like it. When do we see her running anything with a rod

of iron? Yeah, she's very polite, very very pleasant. It's almost like and then we see them, you know, Harrison and Janis standing together in a frame. And while it's basically like Grandpa is like, all right, now you two go fall in love? Uh, that never happens, as I recall in the film, but it seems like it's it's almost like you have to at least imply it, right, Like, how else would you shoot this scene unless you're going to imply that they were falling in love with each other?

Why would you have a have a male character and a female character on the screen at the same time otherwise Yeah? Uh. But then we also meet the grandson, Brian, a gadge who is a sort of Wesley Crusher esque boy genius who knows everything about everything. He's just a

g whiz g wilkers with science and machines. Oh and they also have I think a German butler named Carl, and Carl is a real Debbie downer when when Carl meets Harrison, he's talking about Gadget and he goes, the boy is an imp of Satan, but what a brain. He'll be greater than his grandfather. But inside we see

gadgets genius. He he shows off by demonstrating that he has figured out how to open Professor Nordstrom's bat cave, which is a very involved process that goes on way too long, involving a bookcase and like touching different parts of it. Yeah. Yeah, though that they did put in a lot of work to create something that was a little different than the standard uh tip a book open a secret chamber sort of scenario. Yeah yeah. Instead it's like you've got three different things and you got to

do them in different orders and all that. Uh. And so Gadge is congratulated on his his cleverness for opening up the laboratory, but he is not allowed to come down and see it, and he's he's honors that he's a good boy and that he will not just go down the strange spiral staircase to Grandpa's dungeon. But as we find out, he's not above spying on Grandpa's dungeon right with a listening device that he like ropes through

the floor. Uh. And then for some reason, there's a scene where Gedge talks to a grandfather clock like they've got an Alexa basically, Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, it's basically an alexis sort of situation. He like the clock still has a clock face, so he could look at it and it would tell him what time it is, but instead he says, like, clock, tell me what time it is, and it replies with an automated voice which sounds like Taylor Homes, by the way. So it's like,

you know, there's one thar day. This is great, I mean, this is this is prophetic. This is exactly where we are now. So anyway, we're heading up to the big demonstration, the big reveal what is it Professor Nordstrom has been working on, by the way, So we've been talking about Tobar, but the movie has given no hint of Tobar or robots at all so far. Uh. So cars start arriving, the journalists are showing up to see this demonstration at Nordstrom's compound, and Carl stands guard at the gate with

a shotgun. Uh. Seems kind of extreme, and he does it kind of papers please routine for all the approaching vehicles, and then we see one of the vehicles. Hey, wait a second, that's not a journalist. That's that creepy guy from the airport with the roomless glasses, and he's smoking a pipe. And now here I wanted to do a brief pipe digression. I think it's interesting that several characters in this movie smoke pipes, and they are all villains

of one sort or another. Got the creepy communist spy, and then you've got the cold hearted scientists from earlier who wanted to murder the mailman with g forces. So is there a reason for this? Was pipe smoking associated with cold hearted treachery in nineteen fifty four? I don't know. I mean, nowadays I think of pipe smoking, I think of like Sherlock Holmes or something yum. But at the time, Yeah, you think back on our various heroes. A lot of

the times they're they're smoking, certainly, but they're smoking cigarettes. Um, I guess, And maybe I guess you have characters smoking cigars as well. But yeah, it would be interesting to read like a breakdown of like the cinematic language of tobacco choices in nineteen fifties cinema, like, because there does seem to be a division here. You got your pipe smokers, your your your cigarette smokers, and I guess that's all we really see. We don't see anybody trooping around with

cigars or a hookah or anything. Yeah, it almost seems like, you know, the the cigarettes are I got this cigarette habit when I was in the war, and you know, that's like a that's like an honorable, manly kind of way to smoke. But the pipe smokers are these kind of untrustworthy intellectuals, and I think that maybe there's an intellectual air to it, which despite our our hero being a scientist, uh, he has more of that that Machies mo to him, more of that soldier mentality. So it

makes sense that he's just he's smokingting cigarettes. Yeah. Well, anyway, so we move on to the demonstration where we're down in Nordstrom's secret layer and all the journalists are gathered in attendance. Again, just a dreadful flock of rectangular men in gray suits, including Gilligan, the unpatriotic journalists from earlier

uh and the suspicious man in glasses. They're all down here, and Nordstrom explains that they are in a wine cellar, but it looks more like one of the sets from Prince Prospero's Castle and The Mask of the Red Death. It's like a giant room with stonework walls and twenty ft high ceilings. Yeah, like it was maybe once an actual dungeon and then was repurposed into a wine cellar and then repurposed into a secret laboratory. It was not secret anymore because you just invited the Free Press and

some in the agents there. But I guess, I guess Gadge already kind of spoiled it for everyone, so why not. Yeah, So anyway, they say it's chosen because it is ideal for security and to protect our delicate equipment from surface vibrations. Uh. And it's also got a stage and a bunch of light up gizmos. And Nordstrom's presentation restates the problem we've become acquainted with already, So we need to send spaceships

into space. But space may well kill the pilots. But in order for us to find out how space will kill the pilots, we've got to send pilots up there in spaceships. So it's a catch twenty two. So is there any way we can beat this? Well, Nordstrom says he's going to prove all the critics wrong, and in order to do so, he unveils a large electronic device with a pistol grip, and he presses a button on the on this device to unveil his creation, and out of a gigantic tube comes what is this? Why? Why?

It's like a man with arms and legs and a head, but it's made of metal. It's a mechanical man, a mechanical man with an ornate head so large that he will surely topple over. Yeah. Yeah, Tobor is top heavy. I gotta say, yeah, way too top heavy for a bipedal machine. It seems like he should be. It should have played it more like a gorilla suit. But then again they would just the actor would fall over. The spy by the way, the creep and the glasses is

positively drooling while he watches. He's like biting his pipe. And again, this guy should have been played by Peter Laurie. I mean, I like the guy they have, but that would have pushed it over the edge. Well, it would have pushed the budget over the edge. I bet they couldn't get Laurie at this time. So anyway, Nordstrom says, well, gentlemen, meet Tobor. Then he explains that Tobor is robot spelt backwards. Yeah, but it's but it is the cheeky way of doing it.

He's he's not. He's a little like, yeah, I know this is lame, but hey, it's it's robot spelled backage. Which, again, it really feels like the screenwriter making his his EPs idea work in the film. Yeah, the boss said it's got to be called Tobar, so this is it's he like lamp shades the idea that he named it Tobar.

By the way, the remote control we get to, I just I love this is the film that loves its gadgets, and I love how the the cool little like gun remote control for Tobor itself is contained within like a clear like acrylic or plastic bread box. And then that bread box on a pedestal has its own specifically tailored dust cover that goes over it when it's not They

spared no expense. Yeah, so Gil again, the journalist is like, hey, is this just another movie Frankenstein, That's what he says, and Nordstrom says no. And in fact, Tobor is not even a robot. He's an quote electronic simulacrum of a man. And I was thinking, how does that make it not

a robot? Doesn't that just describe a particular type of robot? Again, this feels maybe like the screenwriter rebelling a little go By the way, if we go by Baudriard's definition of of simulachrome, it would be a copy or imitation of a thing that no longer exists or never existed in the first place. So too on that. Maybe Tobor is designed to stand in for man once man no longer exists. I like it. I like it, okay, But here's the

rundown on Tobor. So he's an electronic simulacrum of a man who will be able to safely pilot ships into outer space to document the spine tingling cosmic hazards that dwell there without putting a human being at risk. And he is currently controlled by this little ray gun device with the pistol grip, but that's only a temporary measure. The range will not be good enough with this thing to control him once he goes to space. Eventually, Tobor is going to be controlled entirely by means of a

system with longer range, which is eat SP. That's right, You narrow minded journalists might not even believe in psychic powers to lepid the extrasensory perception. But not only are they real, they are the protocol for interfacing with my new mechanical superman. Take that I did not know. I was not prepared for the psychic robot part. No, especially

after they had initially whipped out the control mechanism. You're just imagining this sort of your typical kind of clunky commanding the robot with buttons and maybe some vocal commands. But no, this machine will be powered. We're not powered, but controlled by the human brain. You think it, and Tobar does it. In fact, they say that Tobor is already a sentient being, and they say he can feel emotions and he will react by psychically sensing the emotions

of others. Uh. And there's a hilarious couple of demonstrations they do of this. The first one is they called Janison to demonstrate to War's powers. Basically, the Professor is like, I come end you to love Tobar, and you know she's they're like approached Tobar and feel friendliness to him, feel it in your heart. And she says, I'll try,

but what do you know? She does seem to start falling for Tobar, Like she comes up, she feels the friendliness, and she says, why he does seem almost kind, doesn't he? And we get a close up of Tobor's face lighting up with his his like conical bright light you know, high beam eyes, and then he's kind of mouth is his mouth is supposed to look kind of smiley. It's like a V shaped and in an upturned way. Um, I don't know. I got more of a skull out of looking at his face, but there there is an

abstraction to it, for sure. Yum. Speaking of of which, the eyes glow and I forget that the quote, but there's even a little bit of techno babble in there where the screenwriter basically off handedly explains why the eyes glow, which I thought was a nice touch, Like he really did everything he could to make this work, even though

the the mate intended audience seems to be children. Yeah yeah, um, so Toboor telepathically senses Janesis feelings, the feelings of fake friendship that she has just conjured up and reacts by shaking hands with her. Except Toboar does not have a hand so much as a plate with three wiggling steel tipped meat spikes on it, So he shakes her hand with his meat spikes, and luckily she was not crushed. Yes, uh, then we let's do another experiment. So the journalists are

still skeptical. I think Gilligan's like, hey, could you do that with somebody who's not, you know, a member of your family. This could be a pre arranged trick. Uh. So Professor Grandpa is like, hey, Gilligan, do you suppose

you could contrive to feel enmity towards Tobor? And Gilligan can absolutely contrive this, He's an expert at contriving, so so for good measure, the Professor has the journalist grab a fire axe and walk around behind in Tobar's back, and then he tells him, you know, really get those enmity juices flowing feel hatred for Tobar, and I guess he's just He gets so into the part that the journalist starts to like Rear back with the acts almost

like he's gonna hit to a war. But Tobar Ah, he lays the SmackDown, lays down the law with a righteous backhand and knocks the journalist on his Uh, I was gonna say, on his butt, you know. He kind of knocks him over forward. Yeah, and he he seems more like his ego is bruised by this. He's not hurt.

If this were RoboCop, things would have gone at a little bit differently, but but now he's he's mostly just put in his place, and everyone kind of snickers at the at the journalist who who now has to to sit down and kind of maybe rub his his back a little bit. Oh my god, I did not realize it, but you're right. This is the precedent for the ED two oh nine scene in the boardroom. It's like point the gun at tobar. It's just a glitch. I'm very disappoin inted Tonu dick y. No one has to run

out in the scene and yell for them to behave yourselves. Yeah. Uh So, Anyway, Nordstrom explains that Tobor feels all human emotions, so he's got friendliness. But then they specify he also feels fear and anger and will act out of self preservation instinct. So good design. That exactly what you want in a robot. Yeah, I hope this is what they're working on in those you know, the Google labs right

now or whatever, making robots feel genuine anger. Well, you know, coming back to the basic principle behind Tobor is if you if you are sending a similacrum of a human being into space to test what humans can to see

what humans can actually take. I mean, a part of the risks are going to be certainly physical, but there's also going to be the emotional ramifications of long term space travel, especially, so it makes sense that you would want your tobar capable of feeling uh these emotions as well,

I suppose. So who am I to question um? And by the way, I think I should mention this happens a couple of times throughout the movie when people are like, so this robot of yours, the professor will cut them off and insist that they call him Tobor, for if they do not, Tobor may become resentful. But so okay, everybody's impressed, obviously, but his Toebo are ready for action. Will not quite yet because they're there are a couple

of last things they need to finish. One of them is the long range transmitting device to control him with your psychic powers. Oh and then Gilligan he's like, hey, can we look inside Tobar and see his innards? And the professor says, I don't mind if Tobar doesn't. And then there's actually, I thought a rather good shot where they like flip open the shutters on Tobor's chest and

you can see the machinery inside him. And then you're peering through Tobor seeing between the slats and you see the man in rimless glass us is on the other side of Tobar peering inside. Oh yeah, this is a great, great scene and again just shows the love and attention that went into creating all the various gadgets and gizmos

in this film. Yeah. Oh, and we mentioned so Gadge has been by the way, the kid Gadge has been listening in this whole time with a some kind of spying device that he dropped through a vent in the floor. And he's he's like, I gotta see Tobar. I just gotta so all the all the journalists leave. Oh and

keeping with the theme. While the reporters are leaving, Harrison corners gill again and he's he's basically like, hey, when you publish your article about this, I want to ask that you report only the facts, not a bunch of lies and wild speculation. And Gilligan says, he's like, no, can do uh. You know, I don't tell you how to do your job. It's such just such a stark contrast to various pictures where the journalists are portrayed as as if not the heroes, at least in a more

neutral line. Yeah. Yeah, uh So. Meanwhile, of course we get Gadge. He's going to he's got a sea Tobar, So he goes down to the lab, gets up to some lab mischief, and he ends up activating and controlling Tobar and whoops, he doesn't exactly know how to do it at first, because he accidentally drives Tobor up the stairs out of the lab into the house. That's not good to boy is not supposed to be up on

the furniture, but Tobar is. He's rolling all around, he's knocking over lamps, he punches a harp at one point and causes a whole ruckus but then I think eventually Gadge sort of gets the hang of the control device and then walks Tobar back downstairs and puts him back in his tube. And at the end of this, after all the destruction, Janice is like, my son, Gadge, he is bad, bad, bad. But the professor says, no, no, don't you see he has an intuitive grasp of Tobor.

Look how quickly he mastered Tobar. So we already see the seeds beginning of of a of a deep connection between Tobar and his friend, this child, Gadge. But anyway, Harrison and Nordstrom figure out, wait a minute, there was somebody extra here. There was a spy because there were too many chairs in the room. And they get upset about this obviously, And but then Janice is like, what's

the big deal? Who were regarding against? And Harrison says, well, we built the basic emotional patterns for a constructive mission into Tobor. Just think what would happen if someone else, a potential enemy, built destructive patterns into a few thousand like him. I mean, in a way, this is rather brilliant. It's like Tobor is a machine and his disposition is a reflection of the disposition of those around him. Uh.

So it's kind of like technology itself. Um, he's as much of a weapon as the as the wills of those in his presence. And perhaps this kind of comes back to why a small boy has the strongest connection with Tobor, because his connection is pure. He's not this complex array of false emotions and false pretenses pretending to be angry or pretending to love like this is a young boy. He feels all of these things with a with an absolute purity. Uh, and that that impulse goes

right into the brain of of of the robot here. Yes, his innocence is a benediction on the soul of Tobor. Yeah. But anyway, so we got these spies, and so we're

gonna follow the creepy man in rimless glasses. He drives off, he switches out his license plate just like James Bond uh, and he goes to rendezvous with his co conspirators, which include a couple of kind of Doughey guys like this Doughey auto mechanic who uh looks sort of like a cross between the Skipper from Gilligan's Island and Buddy Hackett

and uh. They they hang out at a place called the Last Chance Garage, so it is an auto garage that is the headquarters of the communist infiltration unit in the United States. Meanwhile, Harrison and Nordstrom keep working on Toboor. They're trying to perfect things like his manual dexterity and his long range transmitter. Uh oh. And one of the items on our list is quote reaction to space hazard.

But in one scene I thought was very funny was the scene where they get Tobor to improve his manual dexterity by typing on a typewriter and they like it's impossible. They show his hands doing it, and his hands, they're like, he could not press an individual key. They're way too big. But somehow he's managing to type anyway. Uh And and he produces a kind of all work and no play makes Toboor dull boy type sheet. It's just a repeated line over and over in all caps that says Tobor

is robot spelled backwards. They also tried to train Tobor to fly a spaceship, so he's doing a pilot simulator program dodging white hot meteorites, and this test proves too much for Tobor. It's it's too stressful and the and it makes Tobor go berserk and he starts roaming around trying to hurt everyone until Harrison disarms him by lowering his antenna. And you can tell Gadge feel is very betrayed. But uh, they assure him. They say, easy, Gadge, Tobar

can't hurt us now. Uh. And the professor concludes that Tobar suffered what in humans we would call a nervous breakdown, but they say now that his circuits have cooled off. When Tobor wakes back up, he feels terrible remorse for his actions and he goes to give Gadge a big hug and we can see the bonds of friendship forming already from this. The adults deduced that Tobor has concerned for the young, and they say that he has mastered

quote human love. Oh and at some point in here, they also create a miniature controller for Tobar, designed to look like a pen. I don't recall why they do this, but it proves pivotal in the in the climax, Yeah, it does become important later. All the no gadget introduced in the film uh, fails to have payoff later on. But then later this night the communist saboteurs attack the Grandpa compound. How would you describe the sequence? This is

a strange action sequence in the middle of the movie. Yeah, this is another sequence where a lesser film would have just had them like cut through the fence or do something like that, even though it's an electrified fence. But no, they basically come with siege equipment that they've customed built out of a what it looks like it maybe a tow truck and and some some ladders and so forth. Like it looks it doesn't look cheap. It looks like

they really thought this out. And whoever the loving minds behind all the the gadgets in this film happened to be they came up with something believable, something that uh, no, petty criminals were putting together. No, this is a crew with international expertise and international funding. They've got growne to the wolf's head. It's like, uh, you know, they're they're coming up with like a truck and that's got a

whole thing. Yeah, but of course they are thwarted by all kinds of high tech traps and guns like I think Gadge runs out with a gadget is armed. By the way, this is a child with a gun, uh, And he goes out with a gun and other people get guns. But also I think they scare them off with sound effects from a movie. They say, like this from the Sands of Ebo Jima. They're playing like gunfire sound effects, and the spies get spooked and they run

away back over the fence. By the way, the main heavy on the bad guy side is played by an actor by the name of Henry Kolke who lived nineteen eleven through uh. Apparently a former professional wrestler, which totally makes sense when you see him. He's a real like stocky plug of a guy, and I think it becomes very obvious later on when the fight scenes start happening. Yeah, totally. And he has a great fight scene with Tobor Yeah because I'll describe it when we get to it. But

it's great. Okay, Okay. So back at the hideout, the spies are are not happy the main guy, the guy in the rimless glasses. Our employers will not tolerate any more failures on your part or mine, so they come up with a plan. They're gonna kidnap Professor Nordstrman Gadge. And the way they do this is by tricking them into attending a fake event at a science museum, like send out invitations like come to come to this science thing, and when they show up, it's just spies there to

kidnap them. I felt personally threatened by this as someone who has responded to invites from science museums before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then the and it's weird how mostly this movie

is very tame. It's you know, it's not getting really gritty, except in the weird part where they when they've got the professor and Gadge held hostage and they start threatening the professor by saying they're gonna burn Gadge with a blowtorch, and we see the blowtorch and yes, and you totally buy the threat, uh that is of these individuals like this is it gets a little little creepy and scary and you're like, yeah, Grandpa, I think you just need

to tell them how the robot works, because these guys are not playing around. Got to divulge the secret of Gadge. Meanwhile, back at the house, they've got all these Oh at first, I thought they had. They're like all these generals at the house. Uh, And I thought what they called in the Joint chiefs of Staff to like find Gadge after he was kidnapped. But no, they're here for a demonstration

of Tobar, not because of the kidnapping. But it just so happens now that they're here and h. Harrison and everybody finds out about the kidnapping, now they and their military police escorts can help out with the rescue efforts. They initiate a search. Meanwhile, the professor pulls a smart trick to summon help. So so what's his trick? Well, he claims that in order to divulge the secrets of Tobar,

he needs both his hearing aid and his pencil. The pencil, as we established, this is a pen or pencil shaped device that allows him to somehow control Tobar. I was a little um fogging exactly how this is working. Yeah, they're not super clear on that. But also his quote hearing aid is like a headset that is able to transmit his psy kick, his his esp to Toebar. I think, yeah, it's like a psychic amplifier so that he can beam

his thoughts directly into Tobar and control him. And I guess nobody on this crew of villains has seen a hearing aid or hearing apparatus before, so they're just like, yeah, this magneto looking X man gadget is totally the sort of thing you put on your head to h to hear better. Okay, Cerebro, Yes, so this works. It's Summon's towboard. Toeboar breaks free in front of all the generals. He walks right through a window. Everybody is extremely alarmed by this.

Tobar clatters out through the front lawn. He walks through the gate. I think he like electrifies the gate with his hands and then it falls over. He smacks a military police guard. Nice and man, things really start popping off here because Tobar gets into an army jeep and drives it. Yes, I can't tell you how many times we rewound the toboard riving scenes. This This is the highlight of the film. Oh yeah, yeah, Tobar is on on full rampage at this point, and it's a delight

to watch. Oh, it's so good. So Toebar is nearly there, you know, he's he's going for the rescue. But then oh, at the last minute, the spy figures out the game. He realizes what's going on, and he takes the Professor's pencil and he breaks it, and then we see Tobar. He's walking towards the place where where he's walking toward the garage, but then he just stops and he falls

limp because the control device is broken. And then they're threatening Gadge with the blowtorch and it's like, what's gonna happen now? Maybe only the power of love can revive Tobar. And then there's a scene where I don't know how to explain it other than the Gadge praised to Tobor. Yes, he praised the Tobar. Like again, he has this connection with the robot. His purity of thought, his his mind is unclouded like all the grown up brains around him.

So he alone, none but the pure of heart can actually connect mind to mind with Tobor and reanimate him and bring him the rest of the way in for the the victory and the rescue. And he does it. It works. A child's love brings Tobar back to back to life. It reanimates tobar circuits even without the amplification devices. Just pure love, energy, straight from the child's skull. And so then Tobor arrives on scene and he is ready

to fight. Fight. Fight. Now the fight scene is interesting because now um O, our main hero, human hero shows up as well. Right for the Harrison shows up and throws some punches too. Yeah, and you this is where you begin to see why, because again, this robot costume looks amazing, and they did so much more with it than you would expect them to be able to do. But asking for a scene of fisticuffs with this thing, it really you can tell they were asking too much.

So they're like, Okay, we gotta bring our hero in for just some normal human on human combat. And then when it comes to making it look like Tobar can actually fight, well, they have to turn to Henry Kolki, a k a. Bomber Kolkovich, the former pro wrestler who's playing the main heavy. He gets the main fight scene with Tobar, and it's very very evident that Tobor, the actor in the Tobar suit, is barely able to move, barely able to sort of throw his limbs around. But Kolki,

with his wrestling background, he knows how to bump. So he now he knows how to make every little like bare movement of Tobar look like it's really connecting and connecting with him and knocking him on his rump. So great job here by Kolki making making the robot looks strong, fantastic. There's one part with a really brutal crotch two head

strike on the Soviet buddy Hackett. And then they go outside and it's Toboar versus the spy in a car and oh it's fantastic, and Toboard defeats the Red Menace. Now is this the wonderful strongman cliche scene where he's picking up part of the car and keeping the bad guy from driving off? I love that? Yeah? Yeah? Or I think he like lifts the hood off the car, I think, and he's carrying up the engine too. Yes, yeah, Tobor rips the hood off and he pulls out the

spark plugs or something. And then so after all the all the bad guys have been defeated, we see Tobar. He picks up Gadge and he like carries him off into the sunset. They're going to be friends forever. It's it's very touching, uh, but it's also an interesting contrast to the movie posters, or many of the movie posters for Toeboar are the great which show Tobar carrying a beautiful woman, which of course is the standard monster or

monster costume guerrilla costume trope of the day. They just that that's how you sold pictures, is you want to make people think that a woman will be carried by your monster or robot at some point, and so that's what they do on the poster. Yes, monster must always have an unconscious woman in his arms, but no, that's a complete lie. Never happens in the movie, not even close. Yeah. Uh So, with the enemies defeated, to board can now resume his function of being shot up in a rocket

to die in space. That's right. He apparently boards a V two and uh and via stock footage, takes off, goes right up into space and we see we see Professor Grandpa and Gadge standing there looking up as the rocket ascends through the atmosphere. And then we we zoom in on Gadget's face and Gadge says goodbye Tobar and good luck, And that's a it's a solid ending to what I thought was a really solid adventure film. I was again thinking of this is kind of a film

version of an action cereal from the day. I was prepared for any level of tedium here, but it moves right along the The acting is pretty solid though, the writing is is far better than it needs to be, and all the gadgets look great. Yeah. And you know, every time they're talking about Tobar, I just I couldn't get enough. Yeah, Tobor is great in this well done, Tobar. I take back what I said earlier. Now Toeboard the

Great makes complete sense now that we've talked it through. Yeah, Tobar the Great, Toboor the the Savior, Toboar the Ascendant, Tobor Magnus, Tobar Augustus, Toboor the Magnificent. All right, well, Joe, it's been great to have you back back in the weird House again. Uh so glad you're able to uh to talk about Toboar the Great with me here and wonderful pick. Yeah, man, it's fun to be back. All right. Well, we'll go ahead and close this one out, but we'd

love to hear from everyone out there. Were you familiar with Tobor the Great previously? Do you have a history with Toboor the Great, well, right in, we would love to hear from you, or if you're exploring this movie for the first time, like like we did. Uh we we would also love to hear from you, like again, there's a lot to discuss in this picture. Uh far far better than I think some have have given it credit for. So yeah, right in, we'd love to hear

from you. Reminder that Weird House Cinema is our Friday episode and the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed were primarily a science podcast with core episodes that published on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Friday's we set aside most serious concerns and just talk about a weird film. If you want to see all the films we've discussed on the show thus far and sometimes got a peek ahead into the future, go on over to letterbox dot com. That's l E T T E R B o x

D dot com. That's a fun movie website where folks chronicle the films they're they're viewed or planned to view, and create various lists. But we have an account there called weird House, and we have a list of all the films we've discussed, so you can check them out. Huge things as always to our excellent audio producer Seth

Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, or just to say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind. It's production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for My heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.