This GAMERA film was apparently so bad, and so thoroughly padded with stock footage from previous GAMERA films, that even Sandy Frank wanted nothing to do with it! The brave souls at American International Pictures (AIP) released this film directly to TV under the name DESTROY ALL PLANETS, a title which has confounded viewers for years due to the fact that not only are “all planets” NOT “destroyed”, but not even ONE planet is destroyed in the entire film!
Evil aliens from the planet Viras come to Earth to conquer the planet (NOT to “destroy” it) in their bumblebee spaceship. When Gamera gets in their way, they gain control of his mind by forcing him to watch stock footage until his will is completely broken. The aliens also capture two boy scouts in order to force the world into surrendering to their demands—as if EVERY country in the world would actually agree on anything, let alone surrendering to aliens just to save two kids! (Oh, wait—they DO agree to surrender to the aliens? Never mind, then.) Fortunately, years of playing practical jokes have prepared the young scouts on how to deal with evil alien invaders, so they manage to release Gamera from the aliens’ control, freeing the titanic turtle to battle Viras’ giant squid monster…Viras! Yes, the monster has the same name as the planet he comes from. Convenient, isn’t it?
