| Director | Bert Ira Gordon |
|---|---|
| Budget | $15,000 |
| Box office | $55,000 |
Five years in the future (1960), four scientists (zoologist Dr. Richard Gordon, geologist Dr. Nora Pierce, medical specialist Dr. Ralph Martin, and chemist Dr. Patricia Bennett) are selected as astronauts to travel to an ancient planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's Solar System. The crew begins studying the planet to see if it is suitable for a possible Earth colony. After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a kinkajou which they refer to as a lemur, crows which they call vultures, and an alligator (the prehistoric species Diplocynodon), they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake (Gigantophis), and prehistoric mammals such as a cave bear, a mastodon, and a glyptodont.
Richard and Nora paddle a raft out to an island and are trapped in a cave by prehistoric reptiles, even a Tyrannosaurus rex (portrayed by a green iguana). They fire off a signal flare. Back on the mainland near their spaceship, Ralph and Patricia see the distress signal, grab the auxiliary nuclear power supply and paddle their raft out to the island to rescue Richard and Nora. Before they leave the island, they set the power supply to "unharness" in 30 minutes and leave it on the island. After encountering more prehistoric creatures, they reach their spaceship. The power supply blows up the island in a nuclear mushroom cloud, rendering the "King Dinosaur" and the other dinosaurs of Nova extinct.