is a 1968 tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Kinji Fukasaku and produced by Walter Manley and Ivan Reiner. It was written by William Finger, Tom Rowe and Charles Sinclair from a story by Reiner. The film was shot in Japan with a Japanese director and film crew, but with the non-Japanese starring cast of Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel and Luciana Paluzzi.
After destroying a huge asteroid that was on a rapid collision course with Earth, a group of astronauts discover they have accidentally returned to their space station with an alien slime creature that feeds on radiation and can reproduce rapidly from its own blood.
Plot
A group of scientists discover that an asteroid, named Flora (which may or may not be the real asteroid 8 Flora, although the mass of 6,000,000 tons or tonnes given for Flora is orders of magnitude less than the mass of 8 Flora), is on a collision course with Earth. The space program summons Commander Jack Rankin to take command of space station Gamma 3 and destroy the asteroid, stating that if he should fail to not bother coming back because the asteroid collision would cause an extinction event.
Rankin goes to Gamma 3 where he runs into an old comrade Commander Vince Elliot, with whom he has a history. Nevertheless, Rankin carries out the mission commanding a shuttle onto the surface of Flora to set bombs to destroy it. While on the surface, they discover a strange amoeba like creature attaching to their vehicles and sucking the energy out. The science officer Dr Halversen tries to bring a sample of the green substance aboard the shuttle in a sealed container, but Rankin angrily throws the container to the ground causing it to shatter and some of the green slime to attach to Halversen's space suit.
The detonation is a success and Flora is destroyed. The crew returns to Gamma 3 to celebrate while their suits go through decontamination. The energy from decontamination causes the green slime to evolve and grow and in the middle of the celebration an alarm goes off indicating trouble in the decontamination chamber. An officer opening the door is quickly killed by an unknown assailant.
When the senior officers arrive to investigate, they find the crew member electrocuted to death and a strange one-eyed tentacled creature that discharges lethal amounts of electricity. When they attempt to kill it with their laser weapons, they find that the creature's electricity causes its blood to grow into identical creatures, rapidly multiplying their numbers. Despite the attempts to contain the creatures, they quickly multiply even more to the point where they will soon overrun the station. Dr. Halversen is killed trying to contain the creatures.
Rankin, refusing to leave until the mission is completed, stays in command and decides to evacuate the station on shuttles and set the station to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Elliott returns to help his friend and is killed trying to save him. Rankin manages to set up the crash landing and escapes with Elliott's body onto the shuttle as the station burns up and destroys all of the green slime creatures. Rankin logs the mission success and recommends the highest citation for Vince Elliott posthumously.
Cast
Robert Horton as Commander Jack Rankin
Richard Jaeckel as Commander Vince Elliott
Luciana Paluzzi as Dr. Lisa Benson
Bud Widom as General Jonathan B. Thompson
Ted Gunther as Dr. Hans Halversen
Robert Dunham as Captain Martin
David Yorston as Lieutenant Curtis
William Ross as Ferguson
Gary Randolf as Cordier
Japanese dub
Gorō Naya as Jack Rankin
Ichirō Murakoshi as Vince Elliott
Haruko Kitahama as Lisa Benson
Kōsei Tomita as Johnathon B. Thompson
Production
The Green Slime was a co-production between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Ram Films, and Toei. MGM provided the funding and script while Toei provided the film crew and location to shoot the film. It was the second ever film co-produced by Ram Films and Toei after the 1966 film Terror Beneath the Sea.