Nyoka and the Tigermen

Howdy you Truly Adventurous Souls! 

Today I'm going to talk about a serial.  Back in the day (before my time), you could go to the movies for, like, a nickel, and get to see a movie and two or three short features.  Short features included cartoons, news reels, various short movies, and chapter plays.

See, there was no TV yet, so people went to the movies every week.  And every week there was a new episode of the newest serial.  These were various adventure stories, sometimes based on comic strip characters like Flash Gordon or Dick Tracy.  Sometimes they were based on pulp heroes like the Shadow or the Spider.  And sometimes they were based on adventure stories.

Republic Pictures was famous for its serials.  In 1941 they made a serial called "Jungle Girl" and it was based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the same one who created Tarzan, John Carter, and Pellucidar.  Well, the serial took several "artistic" changes from the original story, and centered on a Jungle Girl in Africa named Nyoka, who did not appear in the original story.

Apparently this serial proved popular in the theaters, a comic book spin-off was made by Fawcett Comics and in 1942 Republic decided to make a sequel.  However, since they didn't want to pay any royalties to Burroughs, they could not use the term "Jungle Girl" anywhere in the production.  So they used the name Nyoka, which they had created for the first production, changed the character's last name, moved the story to the "deserts of Africa" (which mostly consisted of Southern California woods and scrubland), and came up with their own story, which they called "The Perils of Nyoka", and later re-released as "Nyoka and the Tiger-Men".  ...You know, I'm really not sure why they renamed it that.  The "Jungle Girl" serial actually had natives who worshipped a Lion Goddess.  The best suggestion I've heard about this name is that some of the bad guys where striped robes.

Kay Aldridge plays Nyoka, who wants to find her father, who disappeared on an expedition into the African Jungle.  She joins up with a new expedition, which hopes to find the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates, since they hold the secret to curing cancer (and presumably other diseases).  Part of this expedition is our male lead, Dr. Larry Grayson played by Clayton Moore, who would later be best remembered as the Lone Ranger.

However, the Golden Tablets are also coveted by the wicked Vultura, evil ruler of the Arabs.  You see, the Tablets also reveal the location of a long-lost treasure, and Vulura wants it for herself.  To this end, she enlists the aid of Cassib, a tribal chief loyal to her, and played by Charles Middleton--who is probably best remembered as Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon serials.  

It's an action-packed production full of fistfights, gunfire, running, riding, climbing up rocks and cliff-faces, being thrown off cliffs to the water below, killer gorillas, avalanches, explosions, cave-ins, bubbling geysers, and mechanical sacrificial pendulums!  Primal caverns!  Ancient temples!  Deadly booby-traps!  And tons and tons of exterior locations!

It's good stuff, and I totally recommend it.  You can watch it for free on YouTube if you're interested, but it's also available on DVD and Blue Ray from Amazon and assortment of specialty sites.

Have you ever seen it?  What did you think about it, leave a comment to let me know!  Have you seen any other serials?  Again, tell me below in the comments!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Balzan of the Cat People 1: The Blood Stones

Howdy-do to all you Travelling Astro Sword-wielders! 

Well, I'm proud to report that my Mother is doing better.  She's had two operations now, and seems to be recovering quite well.  There was a lot of post-op healthcare that monopolized my time, but following one more appointment with her doctor, I expect things to get back to normal, which means that I should be able to devote more time to writing.  At least, that's the plan.

But all is not lost!  I did read another book this weekend, and I'd like to tell you about it.

This one was call "Balzan of the Cat People #1:  The Blood Stones".  This is book one of a three-book series written under the name of Wallace Moore.  According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, this is apparently a pen name for Gerry Conway, a comic book writer and editor of legendary reknown who has worked for both Marvel and DC.

This is a sword-and-planet story, which means it is high-action, high-cheese adventure about a human having barbaric adventures on some alien planet.  In the case of Balzan, sometime in the future, he and his parents were en route to Mars to begin a colony but some mysterious disaster happened.  The ship inexplicably accelerated, perhaps through a wormhole, into a different solar system and crashed upon an alien world.  His parents died in the accident, but Balzan survived, as an infant encased in some sort of suspended animation cube.  He was found by a humanoid cat-person who took him home and raised him.

The cover claims that Balzan is the Tarzan of outer space, so instead of being raised by apes, he's raised by cat people.  I am not very familiar with Tarzan stories, but this was the only real connection that I could see.  Otherwise, Balzan seemed closer to heroes like John Carter, or Thongor, or the hero from Goddess of Ganymede.

But I'm OK with that, in fact, that's pretty much why I got the books in the first place!  So let's go!

There Are Spoilers ahead!

The story begins and Balzan is grown...about twenty-ish I guess.  he is hunting for some wild animal that has been terrorizing his cat-people village.  He is armed with a knife and a "therb", which is a whip that delivers a potent poison through the barb on the tip.

He finds it and kills it, and then hears the sounds of fighting coming from the village itself.  He rushes back and finds the village is under attack by some lizard men.  He finds his adoptive father, dying, who tells him that the lizard people took many prisoners--including his daughter, Balzan's adoptive sister.

So Balzan goes after them, and finds out they were working for this warlord-guy named Lord Sha, who took the prisoners away in a sky ship to the city-state of Kharn.

So Balzan goes to Kharn.  He notices how everyone their seems stoned, and gets into trouble with the local authorities.  Running from the guards, he falls in with a group of thieves who like to stick it to the man.  They join forces, and Balzan finds out that the Red Lord and his Queen Myrane host these gladiatorial-style games here in the city, and his pacifist tribesmen are going to get thrown to the wild animals for the enjoyment of the people!

So Balzan and his thiefy friends get captured by the guards so they can be taken into the palace.  They are sentenced to be gladiators.  Balzan deduces that his fellows are being drugged, via their food, and realizes that the entire city is also being drugged!

Lord Sha made Balzan's sister, Kitta, one of his personal slaves; but really lusts for Queen Myrane.  Queen Myrane lusts for Balzan, who turns her down flat.  It's plenty convoluted, but there's TONS of action through out the story.  

Balzan eventually learns that the games weed out the weak, leaving strong specimens whose blood feeds the Blood Stones (remember them?  They're, like, THE title of the book!).  The Blood Stones, once powered, perpetuate the lifespan of the bad guy...but I won't spoil that for you, in case you want to read it for yourself.  But if you're wondering if Balzan lives, I only want to remind you that there are two more books!

I don't understand the front cover.  He is NEVER dressed like that throughout the entire story.  I think they told the artist he's the "Tarzan of outer space" and they came up with this guy that looks kinda like Zandor from The Herculoids.  In the background you can plainly see Cat People, you know, the sort of people that raised him, and they're wearing a LOT more clothes than he is!  Oh well...

My Theoretically Assessed Speculation:

I liked it!  Is it High Literature?  NO! ...That's probably why I liked it!  it's plenty cheesy, and some of the plot points didn't get a lot of build up...but the action moved right along, and the plot kept a sort of internal logic.  I guess it's the sort of thing you expect from this type of stuff...and that's exactly what I wanted!  It was cheesy escapist adventure, and that's what I look for in my sword-n-planet stuff, so I liked it!

I found my copy on eBay, and I've seen it available through Amazon.  You might be able to find it in a second-hand book shop.

Have you ever read this book?  If so, what did you think of it?  Feel free to leave a comment below!  Otherwise, I'll see ya next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell