Michael, Michael, Michael. Now you’ve gone and done it. You have supplanted John LeMay as my new nemesis. You haven’t surpassed Commander Hell—the self-proclaimed “emperor of the universe” during the War in Space—but that’s hard to do since he’s an evil overlord. But, well, I may wait a little a little longer to retrieve you next time you take a tour of Monster Island’s jungle. You need a bit more excitement in your life, anyway.
Besides that, here are my other notes from last week’s episode on Gamera vs. Gyaos:
- You should know better than to eat food in a cockpit around sensitive equipment, Michael! Serpentera Mk. 3 is a delicate machine!
- Can’t tell, Michael? Nate, are we sure about his loyalty? #justsaying
- I regret not reminding Nate to let Damon talk at the beginning about how he got to the Island, especially when it involved Giant Robo and Johnny Socko (he’s a friend of mine). Of course, Michael kept butting in.
- The full name of Eiichi’s little actor is Naoyuki Abe.
- In 1967, $1,000 was 360,000 yen, and the film’s budget was 60 million yen. Now I, too, want to know how many times Gyaos used that ray!
- Haneda airport is nice. Japanese customs sucks, though. They never let me keep my laser pistol. I have a permit, damnit!
- Good grief, did Damon and Michael go on and on and on at the end of the episode. Nate wisely chopped 20 minutes out. I feel sorry for the listeners here on the Island who had to hear it all.
Now for Nate’s leftover notes. He actually used all his Toku Topic notes again. Good work.
- We’re quickly introduced to Gamera and his “Kenny,” Eiichi. Gamera eats some fire from the erupting Mt. Fuji. Reporter asks if he’s storing flames for energy or burnt to a crisp. Of course he’s still alive! He’s in the title!
- Kojiro Hongo returns from the previous film.
- Of course there are bats in the vampiric Gyaos’s cave!
- Gamera is supposed to be holding Eiichi, but his hands are clearly open in the next shot. Also, he either stretches his arm like Mr. Fantastic or is crazy flexible because he’s able to place Eiichi on his back at an impossible angle. (Well, he was in space for a while, so maybe he found some cosmic rays? –Jimmy)
- “Gyaos” is how he sounds? Okay. (Sounds like me when I cough. –Jimmy)
- I see why Gyaos was brought back in the Heisei trilogy. He’s the easiest one to reboot.
- There are gags like the car slicing in this. And Gyaos having a rock fall on his newly grown toe.
- HEADSHOT on Gamera. Gyaos shoots off his own toes—but Gamera shoots off his own hand.
- Gyaos looks constipated while re-growing his toes. (We’ve all made that face at some point, Nate. –Jimmy)
- I want Gyaos to speak like Bela Lugosi.
- “Exactly like our blood!” Because it’s pink? Cotton candy?
- There’s a bit character named Toku. Okay. (Does that mean we talk about him in every episode? –Jimmy)
- It never occurs to Gamera the THREE TIMES Gyaos drops him from midair to start flying?
- “Put a rock in it!” (I’ll remember this the next time I want you to shut up, Marchand! –Jimmy)
- Gyaos is barely in the volcano before the village leader says the road construction can continue.
From my books:
- The rivalry between Godzilla and Gamera at this time was likened to The Beatles and the Rolling Stones by Patrick Macias.
- Kichijiro Ueda, who plays the village mayor, told Yuasa, “I will defeat Gamera in performance!”
- The humans’ efforts against Gyaos were inspired by Mission: Impossible, according to the producers.
The Commentary by Stuart Galbraith IV
- It was decided by all to make this a children’s film. The kids would play on the floor or go buy popcorn during scenes in first two films with adults. This was made like a children’s storybook. Everything moves briskly.
- They used a lot of real locations/offices instead of sets. One scene was Daiei’s dubbing studio.
- This is the same Gamera suit from the previous film, but the eyes were made bigger and friendlier.
- Daiei liked having expressive eyes on their kaiju. Detailed and brightly lit.
- Yuasa said kaiju should all be night creatures to hide the defects of the special effects and because it’s dramatic. (Take that, day battlers!) 😛
- The fat villagers, that actor committed suicide a few months after this movie released at age 31 because his career wasn’t going anywhere after some big success in TV.
- Yuasa saw giant monsters and illogical, so scientists have much less screen time and no solutions. He wanted the kid audience to join Eiichi in coming up with solutions. (And yet we have an entire science lab dedicated to the kaiju here on the Island…. –Jimmy)
- This year saw more foreign films out-grossing Japanese films.
- Gyaos gave a press conference to promote the film, which angered some reporters. (Maybe he should be the next president’s press secretary. –Jimmy)
There you go.
The “Year of Gamera” takes a brief hiatus as we prepare for the long-awaited release of Godzilla vs. Kong, which will have a special premiere on Monster Island. Next week you’ll hear when Nate was joined by the biggest guests to be on the show (so far): Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins and Brandon Jacobs, the host of Up From the Depths on YouTube. Ryan’s sidekick, Snazzy, hung out with me and Jet Jaguar in the producer booth. And pushed random buttons. Before I put him in a headlock.
Until then, remember: #WeShallOvercome
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