SPACEX LT-10 AND THE GREEN SLIME

I finally have an example of a Rovex/Tri-ang  Spacex LT-10. It’s not perfect, as it has a couple of passable, but less than accurate reproduction parts, and on top of that, a loose spaceman in the cockpit, but as these toys aren’t that common I’m more than happy to have it.

The LT – 10 (aka The Lunar Transporter) is based on the Asteroid Landing Craft, seen briefly in the 1968 film ‘The Green Slime’.

For anyone unfamiliar with ‘The Green Slime’, it’s an American/Japanese co-production between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who supplied the funding, and Toei, who supplied the film crew.

It stars Robert Horton, as Commander Jack Rankin, Richard Jaeckel as Commander Vince Elliot, and Luciana Paluzzi as Doctor Lisa Benson.

 It was directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and, although shot in Japan, the film features no Asian actors.

Apart from the three leads, all the other cast are played by amateur or semi-professional Caucasian actors living in Japan at the time.

The story opens with the discovery of a wayward Asteroid called Flora heading directly to Earth. Commander Rankin heads to the Gamma 3 space station to lead a team and land on the Asteroid. The idea is to plant a bomb and blow Flora to smithereens before it’s too late.

Sound familiar? The 1998 film ‘Armageddon’ had a much bigger budget and the asteroid  Bruce Willis had to vaporise did look convincing  as a  menacing  world killer , rather than the giant meatball that Commander Rankin had to sort out, but once the meatball asteroid has gone, the problems are just beginning for Rankin and his Caucasian crew . Some mysterious green jelly from Flora is brought back aboard the Asteroid Landing Ship, and finds its way onto the Gamma 3 space station. Within hours the station is over- run by one-eyed electrified - tentacle waving humanoid creatures, all created from the tiny piece of alien goo.

Sounds good, eh! Wait till you hear the psychedelic theme song written by composer, Charles Fox, and sung by Richard Delvy.

In spite of its low budget, clichéd dialogue and what appears to be Japanese children dressed in monster outfits , the film has quite a cult following.

Japanese kit manufacture Midori produced three kits featuring models from The Green Slime, including the Asteroid Lander.

Why Rovex/Tri-ang chose to base one of their later Spacex   range on a spacecraft  from a Japanese  B- movie is a mystery to me, but I’m sure glad they did.

The LT-10 prepares to leave Gamma 3 space station

Tomorrow: Exclusive photos of the LT-10 on asteroid  Flora.