the Hairy Men of Mars

plot
When Galasphere 347’s meeson unit malfunctions, Dart and his crew are forced to land in the unexplored Tuhera Jungle on Mars.  After fixing the problem, Husky disobeys his captain’s orders and goes to explore the jungle.  Dart follows and both are captured by a giant, primitive man, who takes them to a cave.  Husky recognizes the giant’s language as being similar to ancient Martian and is able to speak with him.  He persuades the giant to set them free.  As a gift, the giant gives them some Martian fruit, which makes hair grow.  Returning to Earth, Dart gives the fruit to Haggerty, who is thrilled at the thought of a having a full head of hair again.  The next morning, however, Dart comes to visit the Professor, whose hair has now grown much longer the he had wished for.  He has tried cutting it, but it simply grows back again even more quickly.  Gabbler tells Dart and Husky that when he lived in the Dictum forest on Mars, he used to fly over the Tuhera jungle and when he saw the hair of the giants grow too long, they would eat the eggs of the Aba birds there.  Gabbler flies with Dart and his crew in the Galasphere to where the Abas live, and using one of Professor Zeffer’s inventions to make himself invisible, is able to take an egg from one of the Abas, which is brought back to Earth for Haggerty.

notes
One shot, which shows the exterior of the cave where Dart and Husky are held by the giant was previously used to establish scenes in the Duos’ cave in the Jitter Waves and the Invisible Invasion.  Unfortunately, as these scenes took place on Uranus, several Duos can be seen standing outside the giant’s cave!
Professor Zeffer’s machine, which makes matter invisible, had previously appeared in Husky Becomes Invisible.  In that episode, in order for Husky to be made visible again, he needed to be placed in a portable freezer unit.  However, this problem appears to have been solved by now.

credits
a National Interest Picture production
Wonderama Productions Ltd. © 1962
produced by Roberta Leigh and Arthur Provis
directed by Frank Goulding
created & written by Roberta Leigh
voices by Libby Morris, Dick Vosburgh, Ronnie Stevens, Murray Cash, Ysanne Churchman
puppetry by Martin & Heather Granger, Joan Garrick
electronics by F.C. Judd
editor: Len Walter
sound editor: John Beaton
recordist: Cyril Brown
RCA sound recording
processed at Kay’s
cameraman: Arthur Provis
art director: Roland Whiteside
models: Derek Freeborn
script assistant: Denise Kaye
space consultant: Colin Ronan
special effects & animation: Brian Stevens, Bert Walker
2nd unit cameraman: Jimmy Hopewell