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Teenagers from Outer Space (a.k.a. The Gargon Terror (UK title), The Boy from Outer Space, and originally titled The Ray Gun Terror) is a 1959 American independent black-and-white science fiction cult film released by Warner Bros. The film was produced, written and directed by Tom Graeff and stars David Love, Dawn Bender, Bryan Grant, Harvey B. Dunn, Tom Graeff and King Moody. Teenagers from Outer Space was distributed theatrically by Warner Bros. on a double feature with Gigantis the Fire Monster, the English-dubbed version of the 1955 Japanese giant monster film Godzilla Raids Again. In the film, a young alien named Derek abandons his crew to search for a new life on Earth, while one of his crewmates is sent to find him as they attempt to eradicate human life in order to farm Earth with giant lobster-like livestock they call Gargons. In 1987, the film entered the public domain in the United States because Warner Bros. did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. Plot A flying saucer arrives on Earth while searching for planets suitable to raise "Gargons", a lobster-like but air-breathing monster that is a reserve food supply on their home planet. Crewman Thor shows his alien contempt for Earth's creatures by needlessly vaporizing a dog named Sparky with a disintegrator raygun. Another crew member, named Derek, discovers an inscription on Sparky's dog tag and fears the Gargons might destroy Earth's native inhabitants. This makes the other aliens scoff at the thought. Being members of the "supreme race", they disdain "foreign beings", no matter how intelligent; they pride themselves that "families" and "friendships" are forbidden on their world. Derek reveals an ancient book and turns out to be a member of an underground rebellion, which commemorates the more humane periods of their world's history, before they became mechanized slaves. Asking for the book, the Captain and Thor disarms Derek. Taking him as prisoner, they plan to put Derek on trial and have him executed by the high court. The Gargon they brought with them suddenly falls sick to Earth's atmosphere. While his crew members are distracted, Derek escapes on foot. Eventually, the Gargon regains consciousness. When the Captain gives his report, it is revealed that Derek is the son of the Leader of their race, although he is unaware of this. Thor is sent to hunt down Derek, with orders to bring him back alive or kill him and any other intelligent beings to protect their mission to Earth. The rest of the crew return to their home world, leaving the Gargon behind in a nearby cave. Meanwhile, Derek arrives at the address he found on the dog's tag, where he meets Betty Morgan and her Grandpa. They have a room to rent, and Derek inadvertently becomes a boarder. When Betty's friend, reporter Joe Rogers, cannot make it to their afternoon swim at Alice Woodward's place, Derek tags along with Betty. He shows the tag to Betty, who recognizes it immediately. Derek takes her to the place where the spacecraft landed and shows her Sparky's remains. She does not believe him, so he describes Thor's weapon that can also vaporize humans. Betty takes this surprisingly well and vows to help Derek stop his crew mate. For the rest of the day, Betty and Derek have several run-ins with Thor, who vaporizes several humans (including Alice and Professor Simpson from earlier), and Joe follows up on stories of skeletons popping up all over town. Eventually, Thor is wounded in a shootout with the police and then kidnaps both Derek and Betty to help him receive medical attention, in the process revealing Derek's true parentage to them. Two car chases and a gunfight follow, and Thor is finally captured by Earth authorities after plummeting off a cliff in a stolen car. Shortly after, the Gargon grows immensely large after devouring a policeman investigating the alien's landing site and attacking numerous people. Derek and Betty go to the car wreck site to look for Thor's raygun. They kiss and Derek vows to stay on Earth. The Gargon suddenly appears and ruins their romantic moment but Derek finds the raygun under a rock just in time for them to escape; unfortunately, it is damaged and out of power. The giant Gargon begins heading towards the town so they follow and confront it, having used the electricity from the overhead power lines to fuel the raygun's components. Derek eventually kills the monster, but it's too late: the invading fleet appears in Earth's orbit. Derek retrieves Thor from the police and everyone, including Joe and Grandpa, hurry to the landing site. He then reunites with the Captain and meets his father for the first time. Derek pretends to feel regret for his insubordination and offers to help guide the spaceships to land. Derek then goes into the spacecraft alone and makes the ultimate sacrifice: leading the invasion fleet at full speed directly towards his ground location, which causes a massive explosion. Derek's father, the Captain and Thor are killed in the process. Derek is then remembered by Betty for declaring, "I shall make the Earth my home. And I shall never, never leave it." Cast Production Teenagers from Outer Space was filmed on location in and around Hollywood, California, in the fall of 1956 and winter of 1957. With a number of tell-tale landmarks like Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park and Hollywood High School, which gives away the film's otherwise generic location. One notable aspect of the film is that it was largely the work of a single person, Tom Graeff, who, in addition to playing the role of reporter Joe Rogers, wrote, directed, edited and produced the film, on which he also provided cinematography, special effects and music coordination. Producers Bryan and Ursula Pearson ("Thor" and "Hilda") and Gene Sterling ("The Leader") provided the film's $14,000 budget, which was less than shoestring even by the standards of the day. Cost-effective measures According to Bryan Pearson, the crew employed many guerrilla tactics in order to cut costs: Director Tom Graeff secured, for free, the location used for Betty Morgan's house by posing as a UCLA student (which he had attended and graduated from 5 years earlier). The older woman who owned the house even let the crew use her electricity to power their equipment. Graeff shot in many nearby locations, mostly in the vicinity of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, that doubled as more important city landmarks. Graeff's steady hand and framing kept most of the real locations subdued, creating a convincing low-budget illusion of a small town. Other cost-cutting measures did not work as well; the aliens' costumes were simple flight suits clearly decorated with masking tape, dress shoes covered in socks and surplus Air Force flight helmets. The use of stock footage in lieu of real special effects, and pre-Spielbergian "looking" shots that replaced actual visuals of the invading alien spaceships, seriously undercut the film's e.... Discover the Ursula Pearson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ursula Pearson books.