a5c7b9f00b CHAP. 1 SINGING COWBOY: Professor Beetson and his associates arrive at Gene's Radio Ranch looking for a buried city and a fortune in radium. When Gene helps them look for the secret entrance to Murania located 25,000 feet below Radio Ranch, the Muranian Queen sends her men to kill Gene. CHAP. 2 THUNDER RIDERS: Wanting everyone off Radio Ranch so they can investigate in private, Beetson frames Gene for murder. CHAP. 3 LIGHTNING CHAMBER: In Murania Lord Argo is planning a revolution while on the surface Gene flees from the Sheriff in a car without brakes. CHAP. 4 PHANTOM BROADCAST: Still fleeing from the Sheriff Gene must make his radio broadcast or lose his contract and the ranch. CHAP. 5 BENEATH THE EARTH: Switching clothes with a Muranian, Gene is taken to the underground empire where the Queen sentences him to die. CHAP. 6 DISASTER FROM THE SKY: Gene tries to stop the radium bomb the Queen has sent to kill the riders on the surface. CHAP. 7 FROM DEATH TO LIFE: Declared dead the Queen sends Gene to the revival chamber so she can learn the name of the traitor that previously released him. CHAP. 8 JAWS OF JEOPARDY: Reaching the surface Gene takes Beetson's airplane but the Queen sends a ray that kills the engine and the plane crashes. CHAP. 9: PRISONERS OF THE RAY: Frankie and Betsy are taken to Murania. Escaping their captors they throw the switch that will enable Gene to find the secret surface entrance only to be apparently electrocuted. CHAP. 10 REBELLION: Gene tells the Queen that Argo is the traitor and learning of this, Argo starts the revolution. CHAP. 11 QUEEN IN CHAINS: Argo takes over control Murania and sentences the Queen to death. CHAP. 12 END OF MURANIA: Gene saves the Queen and locks Argo and his men in the room with the death ray which gets out of control. With the end of Murania imminent the Queen refuses to leave. Gene and the others reach the surface where Gene must still face the murder charge. When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show. For somebody who wasn't about six when he first saw this serial, it's really pretty clunky and corny. For somebody who was (they reshowed it once on early TV, on one of those shows that had a local Uncle Bob type playing old westerns and cartoons, and promoting the station's shows in between. Even now, when I think of the juxtaposition of the aboveground world of the singing cowboy, the "Thunder Riders" and their bizarre, futuristic city under the mountain, I get goosebumps. The best occasion I had to see this was one summer, when I went to the local Y every Saturday morning to see a bunch of old movies with 3-400 other kids my age; the title would roll up, and the kids would scream. <br/><br/>Also, I think I could prove that Freud was right about infantile sexuality when I think of the way I felt about the underground queen, clad in silvery, clinging clothes. This is one of my top ten DVDs (there are 2 separate DVDs to complete all episodes if you plan to purchase this serial work). Yes, I have to hold my nose as Gene Autry sings his ridiculous and twangy songs, but WOW, what a great idea for a movie serial… underground pseudo-space men (and women), evil gangsters, great B&W western cinematography and cowboys (and cowkids) to the rescue.<br/><br/>I have watched various versions of this serial (e.g., the movie RADIO RANCH) over the years but there's nothing like watching the whole thing. It takes hours to do so but you can go get a sandwich, let the video run, and come back to still figure out pretty much what happened. The beauty of any of the old serials is the level of action – back in the 40s and 50s, they originally only showed these serials at the theaters at a rate of 1/2 hour per week so they had to cram in a lot of fights and narrow escapes. So, when you sit down for this complete cliffhanger marathon, there's never a dull moment. Yes, the plot is ridiculous but it's nostalgic escapism at its very best.<br/><br/>If you were born in the late 40s or early 50s and loved Roy Rogers' TV episodes, you'll savor this mad masterpiece of a cult serial 'till your dying day.
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