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Tag: Abominable Snowman

Jimmy’s Notes on Episode 55: ‘Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century’ (feat. Travis Alexander and Daniel DiManna)

Published January 10, 2022

So, you might be wondering what I was doing after that Scottish scallywag George Three tased me during Episode 55 (Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century). It’s actually quite simple, you see. I was conscious the entire time, of course, just biding my time. I would’ve probably “Kirk chopped” him sooner, but I got a little distracted playing Candy Crush on my phone. Then my battery died, and I thought, “Well, I should probably kill this bastard.” So, there I was, sitting in the room, fearing for my life. And then I rose up behind him, you see. It’s a good thing I’m a Star Trek fan or else I wouldn’t have thought of this, but I snuck up behind him and raised my arm to exact right degree (I spent a lot of time staring at William Shatner—I realize that might’ve sounded strange), and brought it right down in the perfect spot on his trapezius muscle to temporarily stop the blood flow to his booze-addled brain and knock him out. (If you, too, would like to learn to fight like Captain James T. Kirk and yours truly, check out the Kirk Fu Manual. I got it for Nate as a Christmas gift, and he’s working toward his blackbelt).

But I was still doing my due diligence as MIFV’s intrepid producer. I took some notes right under WHG3’s drunk nose. So, without further ado, here’s my final Jimmy’s Notes of season two.

  • For the record, gentlemen, this…movie was 118 minutes long when released in Italy, 105 minutes when released in the U.S., and is 101 minutes on blu-ray (and, I assume, on streaming). Not sure why.
  • The Night of the Lepus episode, Travis. That was the Kaiju Weekly episode you were thinking of when discussing how you don’t like intentionally bad movies.
  • I’m not 100% sure what “moose kaiju” movie that drunk was talking about, but I think it might be Moose: The Movie.
  • Here’s a gif of “disco yeti.” Read more about him here.
  • Travis was kind enough to provide me with the “Georgia Bigfoot” story he brought up.
  • If you think WHG3’s drunk profanities are bad, you should hear me after I pound down a few bottles of Jack Daniels. I make sailors blush.

Now, for the last time in season two, Nate’s leftover notes. (Actually, they’re the notes provided by that Scottish booze hound, but who’s keeping track?)

Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century Notes

THE MOVIE

  • Opening shot: the polar icecaps are melting. What does this have to do with anything? (Answer: everything. Don’t you pay attention to Greta Thunberg? –Jimmy)
  • Title’s in two completely different fonts. (So? –Jimmy)
  • Is the opening music a classic opera theme we hear in everything?
  • Why are they thawing this thing in the wild? (Best not to ask this movie questions. It might strangle you with its toes. –Jimmy)
  • The crowd can be seen through some objects in the effects.
  • I’M AN ELEPHANT! And King Kong! That roar gets reused.
  • Watch it! He’s got a tree! (He stole that move from Kong –Jimmy)
  • They’re not in a well, Lassie!
  • What do you know about cannibals?! (That they are what they eat. 😛 –Jimmy)
  • Did he catch a mama fish with a baby fish?!
  • Freaking yeti is horny after sleeping for a million years.
  • Those little tufts of “fur” reminded the yeti of his mate and family?
  • How? Just…how could he mistake the tiny humans for his “family”? At least with Kong the implication is he’s lonely.
  • Did this thing inspire the Yeti brand tumblers? (No. –Jimmy)
  • “Slavery”? That’s for people! Not yetis! (You species-ist bastard! 😛  –Jimmy)
  • Niagara Falls, you say? I’ve been there. Insert stock footage?
  • Remind me what those shady dealings have to do with anything?
  • Good grief, this wants SO MUCH to be King Kong. (We all have dreams –Jimmy)
  • The windows are TV screens! (Sounds like my apartment. –Jimmy)
  • Oh yeah, he’s totally hiding. In plain daylight when he’s 50-feet tall!
  • Oh yeah, a lamb who smashes builds, rips up elevators like weeds, and nearly kills a 100 people! (A sheep kaiju? –Jimmy)
  • Hulk van to the rescue?
  • How’d they get a breathing apparatus that big? (Again, don’t ask questions. It’s dangerous. –Jimmy)
  • How did Yeti know which one didn’t have Herbie?
  • The matte lines are very prominent at points on Yeti.
  • Why are you rolling and not running? (The questions! –Jimmy)
  • It’s a yeti miracle, I guess.

Other Sources

LeMay – Kong Unmade (1st and 2nd editions)

  • Yeti takes a paternal interest in Jane’s brother. He’s angered by flashbulbs (very Kong-esque).
  • A healthy number of extras in some scenes.
  • Says it’d make for a great double feature with The Mighty Peking Man.

Research on Yeti Cryptid

  • Radford:
    • “In March 1986, Anthony Wooldridge, a hiker in the Himalayas, saw what he thought was a Yeti standing in the snow near a ridge about 500 feet (152 meters) away. It didn’t move or make noise, but Wooldridge saw odd tracks in the snow that seemed to lead toward the figure. He took two photographs of the creature, which were later analyzed and proven genuine.”
    • “Many in the Bigfoot community seized upon the photos as clear evidence of a Yeti, including John Napier, an anatomist and anthropologist who had served as the Smithsonian Institution’s director of primate biology. Many considered it unlikely Wooldridge could have made a mistake because of his extensive hiking experience in the region. The following year, researchers returned to where Wooldridge had taken the photos and discovered that he had simply seen a dark rock outcropping that looked vertical from his position. It was all a mistake — much to the embarrassment of some Yeti believers.”
  • Cryptid Wiki
    • “The Yeti was even mentioned in pre-Buddhist cultures, such as the Lecha people, who worshiped a “Glacier Giant.” Tibetan and Nepalese monasteries have collected several skulls and bones of the yetis, some which preside in the Smithsonian Museum today. Although one of their specimens was proven to be a human bone, others contained the museum are still in question.”
    • “In 1832, James Prinsep’s Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal published an account by B.H. Hodgson, a trekker in Northern Nepal, in which he describes spotting a large bipedal creature covered in long dark hair. Hodgson believed it was an orangutan.”
  • Wikipedia
    • Reports of footprints started in 1899.
    • The famous Eric Shipton footprint photos of 1950 and the 1972 Cronin-McNeely footprint photo were deemed to be bear tracks by Daniel C. Taylor in 2017.

With this, my long-overdue final Jimmy’s Notes for season two of the show is complete. It’s just as surreal for me to write that as it is for Nate to say it on the air. 2021 was a crazy year, and while I’m not completely sold on the new boss, it can only go up from here. Right?

Did I ever tell you about the one time I infiltrated Solstice Technologies HQ with Monique Dupre? No, because that story is reserved for my autobiography.

On to season three! We launch “Ameri-kaiju” with what’s sure to be a deep literary discussion between Nate and YouTube personality Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins and his sidekick, Snazzy, on The Lost World (1925). That…whatever-he-is keeps trying to compete with me for best sidekick. He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with, obviously. Then “Godzilla Redux” continues with a small diversion: Rodan (1956). We’ll be joined by another YouTuber and returning guest: Kaiju Kim.

AMERICA…@#$% YEAH!

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#JimmyFromNASALives       #WeShallOvercome

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Episode 55 – ‘Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century’ (feat. Travis Alexander and Daniel DiManna)

Published December 23, 2021

Welcome to MIFV’s season finale, kaiju lovers—it wasn’t what it was supposed to be! No, after the Board’s envoy, William H. George III, stunguns the ever-intrepid Jimmy From NASA, he takes over as producer and forces Nate, Travis Alexander (co-host of Kaiju Weekly and Henshin Men), and Daniel DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project) to watch the infamous 1977 Canadian-but-actually-Italian kaiju movie, Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century. Though Nate survived watching it during Kaiju Quarantine, he’s still unprepared for inflatable abominable snowman nipples and deadly “toe-fu.” The riffs and jokes abound amidst actual research as WHG3 gets drunker—and more Scottish?!—as the episode progresses. God(zilla) help Nate!

This episode’s prologue, “The Board’s Revenge,” was written by Nathan Marchand with Travis Alexander, Michael Hamilton, and Daniel DiManna.

Guest stars:

  • Michael Hamilton as William H. George III

Additional music:

  • “Opening the Way” by Pablo Coma

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org and Toho foley.

Listen to Nathan Marchand and Travis Alexander’s spinoff podcast, The Henshin Men, on Redcircle.

We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (co-hosts of Kaiju Weekly); Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Eli Harris (elizilla13); Chris Cooke (host of One Cross Radio); Bex from Redeemed Otaku; Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Elijah Thomas, and Eric Anderson! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month!

Buy official MIFV merch on TeePublic!

This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors…maybe.

Timestamps:

  • Prologue: 0:00-5:15
  • Intro: 5:15-11:28
  • Main Discussion: 11:28-1:39:36
  • Housekeeping & Outro: 1:39:36-1:52:25
  • Epilogue: 1:52:25-end

Podcast Social Media:

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

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Jimmy’s Notes on ‘Episode 7: Half Human (Mini-Analysis)’

Published January 1, 2020

Happy New Year!

Now that we have passed Blade Runner in the timeline, I will greet 2020 with my first Jimmy’s Notes of the decade. This one is on Nathan’s mini-analysis of 1955’s Half Human. Admittedly, these bullet points are all from his independent study on director Ishiro Honda back in his grad school days. They are more akin to an actual review of the film. I do not have much to add for this one.

Nathan’s Notes on Half Human

  • Begins like a film noir in an alleyway in the rain
  • Ashes in a box. Cremation. Foreshadowing.
  • New Year’s holiday (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year); told in two flashbacks. First by youth and then by professor. It’s weird.
  • Masaru Sato’s score is quite good. Perhaps better than Godzilla Raids Again. It switches between whimsical and foreboding.
  • The skiing sequence does feel like padding.
  • Filmed on location, and it shows. The scenery is beautiful.
  • “Burning Hell Valley freezes over.” (A joke from my brother Jarod)
  • The clock in an early scene looks like Mom and Dad’s cuckoo clock back home.
  • The phone call with the gunshots and screams is eerie.
  • Footprints. Echoes the real-life events around “discovery” of abominable snowman at the time.
  • It is strange that the Snowman murders everyone in the cabin (it seems) but is kind later. The scene seems to point to him (fur, bent bar). Unless it was the tribe and he was just present?
  • “Wait for the spring thaw.” As in find the body of Takeno.
  • Akira Takarada and Momoko Kochi, the star-crossed lovers of Godzilla, appear in this film together as a couple.
  • Takarada tells Kochi, “You have to be strong,” because of her brother’s death.
  • Snowman’s roar is a bit unnerving. Like an elephant.
  • Oba Incorporated: biggest animal dealer in Japan. Villains. They get more over-the-top as the film progresses.
  • The Snowman appears about 39 minutes in. His face is a combination of a mask and make-up. The costume is covered in goat fur. Even appears to be balding.
  • Is the Snowman smitten with Kochi? I don’t know. Possibly. He is lonely. The last of his kind. Adam Noyes proposes that the Snowman, in his rage, takes Kochi because she’s important to everyone like his son was to him. Planned to kill her in front of everyone.
  • 50 minutes in we learn that the Snowman has a son (Snowboy?). Is he his biological son? Adam Noyes theorizes he’s adopted.
  • Peter H. Brothers argues that Chika clings to a knife, a phallic symbol.
  • The scene of Takarada dangling from the cliff has a great matte painting. It’s an homage to King Kong when the Snowman pulls him up. The birds do look a little fake, though. The Snowman shocks Takarada by helping him. Unexpected and atypical.
  • Chika is the best character in the film (aside from the Snowman). She’s multidimensional, and the actress gives a great performance. She’s curious but fearful.
  • The Snowboy sounds like a screeching monkey.
  • Chika reveals Snowman’s location after Oba gives her a ring. Throws rock to mark location of his cave. I thought she was throwing the ring away. She is essentially cursed by the elder when he’s shot for doing this.
  • Snowboy saves Snowman from truck.
  • These villains are cartoonish. “I’ll teach you to balance a ball!” Are they evil because they like French girls?
  • The dummy thrown over the cliff looks terrible.
  • Like Godzilla (and Kong), the Snowman is tragic and sympathetic monster.
  • Chika tries to save the abusive elder when the Snowman destroys the village (like Kong does), but he says not to. Nuance?
  • Chika blames herself for what happened even though she was deceived by Oba.
  • Shinsuke is told to be strong when he cries over his dead brother.
  • Snowman’s kind died from eating poison mushrooms (Matango? :P) How could they? Animals are good about realizing something is poisonous. Bad science.
  • The Snowman is lonely because he’s the last of his kind. Chika is lonely because her tribe is isolated and savage. Kinship.
  • The one stop-motion shot of Snowman climbing is awkward.
  • Chika confronts the Snowman to save Kochi as redemption. Dies with the Snowman.
  • Tragic ending like Godzilla. Monster and hero(ine) both die.
  • Tacked on “happy” ending to soften tragedy.

There you have it.

Come back next week when Nathan is joined by Ben Avery to discuss the 1976 remake of King Kong!

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Episode 7: ‘Half Human’ (Mini-Analysis)

Published December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas, kaiju lovers!

As part of Nathan’s continuing series on films covered in his absence on Kaijuvision Radio, this mini-sode examines Ishiro Honda’s 1955 film Half Human, which is infamous for being banned by Toho. Heck, it was stashed so far back in the Island’s film vault, it took Goji-kun and Bro Kong (the podcast mascots and possibly Godzilla and Kong’s “little” brothers) a long time to find it for Nathan to watch. Strange as it may sound, it’s serendipitous that this episode was released on Christmas Day because the film takes place partly on New Year’s Day. It follows a group of scientists and students investigating the appearance of the Abominable Snowman in the Japanese Alps, where they encounter a savage tribe who worships the Snowman. Nathan’s analysis focuses on the natives, their parallels to the Ainu (Japan’s indigenous people), and how this portrayal got the film banned. He argues that, despite possible insensitivities, Half Human is unfairly censored and deserves to be viewed by a wider audience.

All this plus our first listener feedback letters and the Monster Island Christmas party—wherein Nathan learns that kaiju can sing Christmas carols (or so his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, tells him even though he hasn’t fixed the ORCA yet).

Here’s the Kaijuvision Radio episode on the film: Episode 38: Half Human (1955) (Genetic Origin of the Ainu People).

Here’s the blog with the rules for the Destroyer novella giveaway.

This episode featured “We Three Kings” by Jay Man (OurMusicBox on YouTube).

See you in 2020, listeners!

#JimmyFromNASALives

© 2019 Nathan Marchand & Moonlighting Ninjas Media

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