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Derek,a teenaged alien guy, among a small crew of extraterrestrials in a little silver flying saucer, has come to Earth on a "seeding" expedition where "Gargons" (the alien world's foodsource animal) are to be exposed to the atmosphere in order to note their reaction to the new world's air. If they are able to thrive, millions more of the creatures will be brought to the planet to grow, and eventually be harvested for their flesh. (The cheap special effects department thought that 1959 audiences for this flick probably had no idea what a lobster looked like, and used a black painted one as the "monster" Gargon). The crew are from a totalitarian world where children are raised without parents by the state, where freedom of thought is supressed, and empathy mocked. The killer instinct is paramount. A wandering pet dog ("Sparky" as we later discover) hears the landing saucer and, as the crew disembarks, a stern associate of Derek, is startled by the barking critter, and draws his silver ray gun and disintegrates the flesh from the dog, leaving a falling mass of bones. The rest of the crew exit the ship and test the small "seed" Gargon for its reaction to Earth's air. Derek, meanwhile, examines the bones of "Sparky", and notices a metal tag with his name and address stamped on it. He brings this detail to the attention of the ship commander, saying that it signals intelligent life on this world. Meanwhile, the Gargon first seems to fail the test, having a negative response to Earth's atmosphere, but the creature then revives, and its cells divide even faster than expected. Earth will be a perfect place to breed these fast-growing, flesh-eating monsters. Derek, who has turned against the authoritarian beliefs of his home world through contact with a forbidden book (which he brandishes at the crew to explain his baffling change of heart), rebels against unleashing the killer Gargons on Earth, since they will attack higher beings, but the crew members all scoff at his weakness. Derek escapes to try to warn Earth, and the adventure begins, and he is hunted by a killer crewmember left behind.
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