#GHWP Midnight Spectreman Live Tweet July 10, 2015

      After a strong showing last week and some new faces, it felt like a good idea to go back and see how it all began for Spectreman and Dr. Gori. Only a few people were around for the first couple of Spectreman live tweets that happened shortly before this blog was created to catalog it, so the first few episodes perhaps did not get the attention they so rightfully deserved (not to mention those live tweets were plagued with bad links and miscommunication as I tried to get the hang of gathering people for a live tweet in the first place).

Episode 1 - Gori Targets The Earth
Episode 2 - Destroy the Pollution Monster Hedoron

     I also decided to revisit the origins of Spectreman and Dr. Gori because the first giant monster Spectreman ever fought, Hedoron, will return in a story I have picked out for the next Spectreman live tweet with episodes 13 and 14. So far, almost every live tweet selection has been free of continuity, but Hedoron was giant monster adversary numero uno, joining the pantheon of creatures like Bemular and Angilas.

No, no no. I said HedoRON. Different guy.

Yeah, that's the guy. The one with the dreads.

       This, of course, details the story of Dr. Gori and his arrival on Earth. In Japan, it was Dr. Gori who was the title character of the series and not Spectreman, an unusual step to take for a superhero series. The cyborg alien construct Spectreman himself is given very little background at all. He simply appears on Earth out of nowhere in the guise of a man named George, a man with no past and no job history, and he walks into a Daily Planet-esque job with a pollution research bureau that never really hired him and for which he never applied, somehow managing to prevent his Perry White-esque boss from coming to his senses and calling security.

King Caesar's ghost! Who is this clown?

     For the first 40 episodes, the series was known as Space Apeman Gori and Space Apeman Gori vs. Spectreman, and it would not be known simply as Spectreman until episode 41. Following the same plot as the original but wildly visually different pilot Space Apeman Gori (AKA Elementman), we learn that more than one race of super intelligent beings inhabit the stars. One such planet is known as Planet E, a world of humanoid apes. It is there that we learn of the mad Dr. Gori, a megalomaniac mutant ape whose scientific theories made him an outcast. There was no death or exile on Planet E, however, and Gori's fate was to have his personality mechanically altered to make him a peaceful and productive member of society (those advanced alien races sure love to wipe out freedom of thought). But, before his sentencing, Gori discovered he had an ally and an admirer in Karas, a military officer, and the two escape Planet E in a space ship that finds its way to Earth.

Even Hitler had Goebbels.

Someone call Nimoy and #search76. We found a UFO.

     Despite his lust to conquer, Dr. Gori has an admiration for Earth and a desire to call it home, and he and Spectreman seem to have the same idea about ridding the planet of pollution. It's method and motive that set them apart the most. Spectreman is tasked with protecting the Earth and researching how its pollution can be curbed. Gori creates monsters genetically from the creatures of Earth itself to exploit and feed off pollution in the ape genius' plot to wipe out pollution's greatest creator: the human race.

     When Hedoron appears, George's true identity is revealed (to the audience, that is... didn't you hear the theme song?) as his superior, the Overlord of Nebula Star, appears in orbit above the planet and orders George to take on his true form and stop the monster. Overlord sets it all on the table up front: Spectreman is to obey orders to the letter, and he will be deactivated and destroyed if he shows any insubordination (though that threat never is quite enforced in the series).

     Can Spectreman stop Dr. Gori's assault of giant monsters? Can George keep his job? Will the people of Earth ever listen to Spectreman and prevent the need for Captain Planet? Will the host of Gaping Head Wound Playhouse be able to think of any more rhetorical and already-answered questions before reaching the end of this promo? Find out when we take it all back to the beginning for the first two episodes of Spectreman on #GHWP. The kaiju mayhem kicks off Friday night after #Bmoviemaniacs wraps up the final episode of Agon, The Atomic Dragon. Stay tuned to the hashtags for showtime details.