Tonight on MeTV, for the first time, we bring you the final dinosaur film from the great master of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen- that combines early 20th century Mexico with- dinosaurs?! It’s the amazing tale of a forgotten valley where prehistoric creatures dwell- which is invaded by rodeo people looking for a new main attraction- and end up finding much more in the “Valley of Gwangi”!

This 1969 film introduces us to T.J. Breckenridge, the lovely owner of her family’s rodeo- which seems to be lacking in attracting an audience. Suddenly, her ex, Tuck Kirby, who has worked as a stunt man in a wild west show, re-enters her life- with the proposition that she sell him her rodeo! T.J., who is NOT happy to see Truck again, refuses because she has a top secret new attraction that she feels will turn around her show’s fortunes. That secret is – a miniature horse named El Diablo!

When Tuck, who has been “adopted” by a scheming local boy Lupe, happens upon Horace Bromley, a paleontologist, who is working out in the desert. When he shows Tuck some fossilized horse tracks, it occurs to Tuck that they are similar to those of El Diablo. When Bromley gets to see the creature, he is amazed to find that it is the now-extinct prehistoric horse known as Eohippus.

There is a shady side to Bromley- he learns from a local Romana group that the horse came from an uncharted locale known as the Forbidden Valley. The clan leader, Tia Zorina, states that the horse must be returned to its home, or a terrible curse will befall all involved, and Bromley helps her and her tribe to steal the horse and bring it to the valley- where the paleontologist hopes to see more prehistoric creatures. In spite of a employee of the rodeo, a former Romani Carlos, trying to stop the theft, they manage to get away with El Diablo.

As Tuck takes off in pursuit of the horsenappers, Carlos immediately believes that Tuck, whom he sees as a rival for T.J.’s affections, is the guilty party- and he leads a posse to follow him. This leads to discovery of the truth- and the actual Forbidden Valley- where various prehistoric beats still exist- and where they come face-to-face with the incredible allosaurus known as Gwangi!

After a deadly battle, the dinosaur is captured and brought back to the rodeo- but Tia Zorina, still sure that removing any creature from the valley will bring on a curse, plots to take Gwangi back- resulting in it escaping and going on a savage rampage!

This film, that was originally a project from decades before of the animator Willis O’Brien, who did the original “King Kong”, was almost an inherited project for Harryhausen, whose incredible work is again impressive. We’ll have lots of information about the production, and its cast, including James Franciscus and Gila Golan (not to be confused with Gal Gadot!), and get yet another visit from Nostalgiaferatoo, claiming again to be some sort of expert on something related to this film. Add a new musical number and our vintage explanation of how stop motion animation works, and you have a full show that is prehistoric and somewhat hysteric!

“Valley of Gwangi” begins tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. You can join the huge assemblage of viewers who are commenting live during the show on both Twitter/X and Bluesky- please make sure to add the hashtag #svengoolie to your posts. Our local Chicago area viewers get yet another chance to watch the beloved “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankesntein” at 11 am on our main local station WCIU the U.

Thanks to all of you for the amazing support of this year’s “BOO-nanza”, both on air and at our appearances! We wound up the season with an extra day last Saturday with our yearly appearance at the Volo Auto Museum, which was a huge success as always! And now- we move into the holiday season- as you might notice in our store, where the terrific new Svengoolie and Squad Christmas ornament set is now available- and is already proving to be a big hit. Those and more items to come are the perfect gifts for all the Sven fans in your life!

Please tune in tonight for an amazing array down Mexico way of prehistoric reptiles and possible rodeo ruination!