The Purple Monster Strikes - 1945 Ep. 04 The Lethal Pit

The Purple Monster Strikes is a 1945 Republic Movie serial. It was also released as a Century 66 television film under the title D-Day on Mars (1966). The original production title for the serial was The Purple Shadow Strikes. The sequel to this serial was the 1950 Flying Disc Man from Mars, which used much of the footage from the original.
The Purple Monster Strikes was budgeted at $160,057 although the final negative cost was $183,803 (a $23,746, or 14.8%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1945. It was filmed between 17 April and 19 May 1945 under the working title The Purple Shadow Strikes. The serial's production number was 416. This was the first post-war science fiction serial