When I was a kid, my main source for monster action in Albuquerque was a late-night movie show called Creepy Creature Feature (later, we had the short-lived Captain Space, which actually featured an on-air host and made my little-kid life complete). Creature Feature is where I first saw the flicks on Retromedia's Gamera Double Feature DVD, and I can assure you, the nostalgia-factor kicked in hard while I was watching these again.

The hijinks begin with DESTROY ALL PLANETS (1968; a.k.a. Gamera vs. Viras). This one opens as a spaceship constructed of bumblebee-striped beach balls glued to a hula hoop nears the Earth. An ominous alien voiceover tells us some exciting things about our home planet before ordering someone we never see to "prepare the ship for immediate attack!" Fortunately for us, the friendly, flame-belching giant turtle Gamera appears, smashing his head through the spaceship's plaster-and-cardboard hull. The aliens throw in the towel, but not before phoning the home planet and insisting that a second ship be sent to attack the Earth.

We then meet our heroes, boy scouts Masao and Jim, as they playfully sabotage an experimental mini-sub. After making fools of the sub's inventor and their scoutmaster, Masao and Jim take a stab at piloting the craft. Of course, as is the case with the numerous children in short pants roaming Japan, they show the grown-ups how it's done. As the little bastards probe the ocean's depths, they meet up with Gamera, who patiently tolerates the kids' shenanigans.

Meanwhile, that second spacecraft arrives and unleashes its "Super Catch-Ray" on Gamera, causing him to fall into a drunken stupor. The aliens take the opportunity to rifle through Gamera's memories looking for his weaknesses, which takes us into a pad-the-running-time assortment of scenes from previous Gamera movies (Gamera vs. Barugon and Gamera vs. Gyaos, specifically). Realizing that the big turtle has a soft spot for children, the aliens capture Masao and Jim, holding them hostage and demanding that the people of Earth surrender immediately. Waking up aboard the ship, the kids watch as a bunch of Japanese art students - er, aliens -- install a control device on Gamera and use him to do their dirty work.

In an amazingly prescient bit of business, the leaders of Earth decide to let the United Nations Security Council vote on whether or not to surrender all of mankind to the alien overlords, or sacrifice the two boy scouts and blow up the alien ship. While the kids themselves insist on being sacrificed, the UNSC votes to surrender and allow humanity to be enslaved. The plucky lads have other ideas, however. Tricking the art students - er, aliens, they escape from the flying saucer and help Gamera overcome his alien programming. Shedding their human skin, the aliens join with their tentacled leader, which grows to giant-monster size and dukes it out with Gamera in a rubber-suit slugfest to decide the fate of the world. I doubt I have to tell you who wins.

Next up is Attack of the Monsters (1969; a.k.a. Gamera vs. Guiron), my favorite of the two. This time around, our heroes are young fellows Akio and Tom, another pair of overly-clever kids. During a sleepover at Akio's house, the boys see a flying saucer land in the woods nearby. They want to investigate, but Akio's mom calls a stop to their nocturnal expedition. Akio argues that it's important to meet the alien visitors and learn of their superior ways: "Just think, no more wars on their planet - and no more traffic accidents!" Mom is resolute, however, and the kids have to wait until morning to check out the spaceship.

Setting out on their bikes (with Akio's dorky little sister in tow), the boys soon find the spaceship. Leaving sis behind, they climb aboard and start screwing around with the controls, accidentally launching themselves into outer space. Gamera shows up and tries to intervene, but can't stop the saucer, which eventually lands on its home planet. The kids watch as Space Gyaos fights Guiron, whose head looks like a big knife blade. Figuring they'd better get out of harm's way, they enter the (really cool-looking) alien control compound. There they meet two supercute space chicks, Barbella and Flo-Nase (or something like that).

The girls explain that their planet is called Terra, which is situated on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth. This pleases Akio, who knew there had to be "a star - highly intelligent - that had no wars or accidents." Space Gyaos reappears and the cuties send their watch dog Guiron into battle. Flo-Nase tells a sad story about a "mixed-up computer" that brought calamity to their society. She and Barbella are the only survivors. Akio invites the gals to come live on Earth, not suspecting that these interplanetary honeys are actually scheming to devour the boys' brains. Putting Akio into a trance, the girls grill him about Gamera and we see - once again - footage from other Gamera movies. Barbella and Flo-Nase feed the kids drugged donuts, then shave Akio's head in preparation for chowing down (I have to admit, if these babes fed me donuts, I'd happily allow them to dine on my brain).

Before they can saw the top of Akio's skull off, Gamera arrives on Terra. Barbella and Flo-Nase send Guiron out and the two monsters fight. Gamera is injured and left for dead at the bottom of a lake. Akio and Tom wake up and holler for Gamera until they manage to annoy him enough to come to their aid. The space sweeties get their comeuppance and Gamera delivers a whole lot of whoop-ass on Guiron before chauffeuring the boys back to Earth, where Akio once again displays his obsession with preventing accidents as he delivers a heartfelt speech: "...stop wars, and no more accidents - I guess that's all I can ask." This kid must fall and hit his head on the toilet every morning or something, the way he preaches on and on.

Both movies on this disc were transferred from full-frame TV prints, and while it would've been nice to have widescreen versions (and perhaps the option to view them with the original Japanese dialogue and English subtitles), this is the way I saw the flicks as a kid, and it still works for me today. Destroy all Planets is the rougher-looking of the two, with a fair amount of speckling and crud on the somewhat-faded print, but it's nice enough overall to keep me happy. Attack of the Monsters, while still showing some fading and dirt, is nevertheless taken from a cleaner print. The Dolby Mono soundtracks are on a par with the prints themselves; a little popping here and there but otherwise acceptable. Each movie contains 6 chapters. The only extras are a couple of Gamera photo galleries, which include some cool poster art and monster designs.

Once again, Retromedia delivers terrific fodder for nostalgia-monkeys like myself. This DVD is gonna be in heavy late-night rotation around these parts.