King Kong Escapes (キングコングの逆襲 Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū, lit. King Kong's Counterattack) is a 1967 tokusatsu kaiju film co-produced by Toho and Rankin/Bass Productions. It is a loose adaptation of episodes of Rankin/Bass and Toei Animation's cartoon series The King Kong Show. The film was released to Japanese theaters on July 22, 1967 and to American theaters on June 19, 1968. During a research expedition in their submarine the Explorer, a United Nations crew led by Commander Carl Nelson encounters the legendary giant ape King Kong living on the remote Mondo Island. Meanwhile, the evil scientist Dr. Who has completed his own mechanical duplicate of Kong: Mechani-Kong. Who intends to use the electronic robot to mine the deadly Element X for his benefactor Madame Piranha, but when Mechani-Kong fails he decides to kidnap the real Kong to do the job himself. It is up to Nelson, Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura, and Lieutenant Susan Watson to foil Who's plan and help Kong escape, which leads to a final confrontation in Tokyo between Kong and his robot doppelganger.