Skip to content

Tag: Gamera

Episode 51 – Dallas Mora vs. ‘Gamera 2: Attack of Legion‘

Published November 5, 2021

Hello, kaiju lovers! After a harrowing and riff-tastic adventure in space, Nate and Jimmy return to Monster Island to find the podcast in chaos. Not only did their nemesis WHG3 try to replace MIFV with his own podcast, he canceled all of their guest invitations. Thankfully, Jimmy was able to get Geek Devotions co-founder Dallas Mora to come on to continue the “Year of Gamera” with Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (or “Attack of the Legion” or the much-cooler-title-that-should’ve-been-kept “Advent of Legion”). Nate and Dallas discuss its amazing traditional tokusatsu effects and Christian symbology, among other things. Did you know Gamera is a Christ-figure? Find out how in today’s episode! Along those lines, the Toku Topic is the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, the Bible story that gave Legion her name.

After the broadcast, Nate goes to the Monster Island Chapel, where he’s greeted by Rev. Mifune. The chaplain tells Nate that Karone—the former “Miss Perkins”—had been hiding in the chapel since before Nate was shot into space. Nate then has a heart-to-heart talk with the former supervillainess and Power Ranger.

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

This episode’s prologue and epilogue, “Moving Forward,” was written by Nathan Marchand.

Guest stars:

  • Daniel DiManna as Dr. Dourif
  • Nate Chen as Rev. Mifune
  • Celeste Mora as Karone

Additional music:

  • “A Maiden’s Prayer” by RebeccaETripp

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

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, and Elijah Thomas! 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 NOT approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.

Timestamps:

  • Prologue, “Moving Forward, Part 1”: 0:00-3:21
  • Intro: 3:21-13:06
  • Entertaining Info Dump: 13:06-21:49
  • Toku Talk: 21:49-1:37:55
  • (Dr. Dourif’s Call: 24:04-30:41)
  • Extra Life 2021 Charity Stream Promo: 1:37:55-1:39:13
  • Toku Topic: 1:39:13-2:02:47
  • Listener Feedback, Housekeeping, & Outro: 2:02:47-2:18:20
  • Epilogue, Moving Forward, Part 2”: 2:18:20-end

Podcast Social Media:

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments closed

Jimmy’s Notes on Episode 48: The Tourists vs. ‘Gamera: Guardian of the Universe’

Published September 15, 2021

So, the Board made me sit out an episode. Again. They apparently thought it was great hardly hearing me in episode 46. Just ignore the fact that there have been other episodes where I didn’t say much, and it wasn’t because of a bet with some overworked Godzilla author. Oh well. It’s done. I listened to episode 48 (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe) while helping Raymund Martin with paperwork. Actually, I did all of it while he hid in his office. He’s still reeling from losing Gary. I was happy to hear Jet Jaguar stick up for me when Nate and his guests let the riffs fly against me.

Regardless, I took some notes while listening:

  • I appreciate the shout-out…IN SPACE! Also, I do know those pigs Tim mentioned. They’re crazy. I’m amazed they haven’t crashed their ship into the moon.
  • John LeMay compared Heisei Gamera to the Dark Knight Trilogy, Nate, not Batman ’89. I know this, and John and I don’t get along!
  • Gyaos is female, Joe…most of the time? Maybe? It’s weird. We’ve gotten into the habit of using “they/them” to refer to that kaiju for obvious reasons.
  • We all need hazard pay. Except Jet. He doesn’t need money. I’ll take his cut. 😛
  • The name of the author of “The Last Hope” is Josh B’Gosh. And yes, he also shared your crazy theory about me, Nate.
  • It’s probably best Joy and I didn’t meet on the air again. We did bump into each other on the Island, though. … I don’t want to talk about it.
  • It was episode 32 on the first Gamera movie that you talked about environmentalism, with Nick, Nate.
  • According to several sources, the Japanese title for this film was Gamera: Daikaijū Kūchū Kessen, which translates literally to “Gamera: Giant Monster Midair Battle.” So, Nate was a little off. (But so was Matt Frank, who said “Dogfight” in his commentary on the Arrow blu-ray set).
  • The explanation for the Atlantis-destroying comet that became Venus is simple: it’s bull@#$%.
  • Nate was a little off about the U.K. dub. It was released by Manga Entertainment, but they commissioned Arrival Films to make it.

Here are Nate’s leftover notes (my contractual obligations are fulfilled). For once, he got through all his notes on the Toku Topic, which saves me some time and space (pun intended).

The Film

  • Distributed by Toho, ironically. (I’m sure they relished the irony. –Jimmy)
  • Nuclear weapons, radiation, and “another country’s submarine” are all mentioned in the beginning.
  • Already the score by Kow Otani is incredible. Is it any wonder I used a remix of one of his tracks as the show’s theme? Kaneko didn’t give him much direction, and he composed it quickly (within a day or two). (It’s a crime you didn’t mention this, Nate, especially since we use a remix of one of his music tracks for the show! –Jimmy)
  • Asagi’s dad doesn’t like Scotch. That would disappoint WHG3. (I wish you’d mentioned this just to annoy him. –Jimmy)
  • “Right here—on this M&M.”
  • I like the old-school frame shifts (fades).
  • Gyaos appears about 14 minutes in.
  • The government and the JSDF act without consulting the scientists about the Gyaos. They simply make demands for the Gyaos to be captured.
  • There are a few underwater shots that are obviously in a pool, sadly.
  • “Harry Hawk” and “Hercules One.” Those sound like movie titles. Hudson Hawk. (Let’s not talk about those. –Jimmy)
  • Japanese ibis. (What about them? –Jimmy)
  • They keep calling Gyaos a bird, but I’m not sure she is. Reptile and bat, too. (It’s confusing for all of us, including the scientists. –Jimmy)
  • Anyone get flashbacks to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on the bridge? (Yes, and I wish I hadn’t. –Jimmy)
  • Gamera is clearly the hero since he takes a shot from Gyaos to save the characters.
  • Gamera crashes on Mt. Fuji, which is where he fought Gyaos in 1967.
  • How hard is it to hit a giant turtle, guys? Freaking Stormtroopers. (Accurate. –Jimmy)
  • The cab driver worries me. He must be with Uber. Crashing through a barricade and laughing.
  • The powers that be want to capture Gyaos despite it eating people but want to kill Gamera? Compared to a T-Rex.
  • Asagi and Mayumi are the big stars, but they don’t outshine or demean the men. This is how you do “strong female characters.”
  • Asago loves Mary Poppins, apparently. Japanese poster on door.
  • “She says Gamera is coming.” “He’s here.”
  • Gamera is a second-round fighter: he loses the first time and comes back later to win.
  • The miniature playground is incredibly detailed.
  • The buildings have small details like tiny furniture.
  • Gyaos shoots his own foot off just like in 1967.

Ragone Intro

  • Originally conceived as a 60-minute children’s film.
  • One-third of the budget of a Toho Godzilla film? (Some sources say one-half. –Jimmy)

England

  • Kaneko did go independent in 1987 and made several dramas. He also contributed to Necronomicon, a horror anthology film. He says horror is the lower form of entertainment in Japan—even lower than roman porno. Japan doesn’t have the same horror tradition as America.
  • Ayako Fujitani was quite shy. Kaneko had the actors audition by looking up and shouting, “Gamera!” Fujitani was red-faced before doing it. He gave her the role based on her dark personality (he says).
  • The crew felt like they had to compete with Godzilla.
  • When he got the project, Kaneko’s wife told him, “You know, you may as well kiss Godzilla goodbye.” #irony

Frank Commentary

  • The dismembered Gyaos were made by eating fried chicken bones and then bleached.
  • The mantra on set was, “What would Honda do?” Kaneko admired the director. The bridge scene is similar to one in Mothra.
  • The filmmakers thought exploding monsters were more viscerally satisfying. That was more of a TV thing than a movie thing.
  • Kaneko didn’t like the critical accolades the film got because he’d never had those before.

Arrow Special features

  • Kaneko: “Monster movies are an expression of man’s need to destroy something.”

LeMay – Big Book

  • Kaneko went on to direct the Japanese live-action Death Note films.
  • Didn’t make as much money as Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. (Tragic. It must’ve been the name recognition.  –Jimmy)

LeMay – Lost Films

  • Ito’s first draft was more similar to classic Gamera, complete with a child protagonist, and while some elements from this made it into Guardian and later The Brave, it was reworked when Kaneko came on.

LeMay – Writing

  • Ito didn’t like the children in the old Gamera movies because they acted like adults and bossed the grown-ups around.

That was some brisk reading compared to some of my recent blogs, right?

Next week, I’m back in the producer booth for another Patreon-sponsored episode. This one is brought to you by MIFV MAX member Damon Noyes, who had us discuss Toei’s crazy 1966 fantasy film The Magic Serpent. I normally don’t get excited for films like this, but this one was eerily similar to one of my favorite films. What was it? Listen to find out! Then we get to episode 50 and the show’s second anniversary. We have big plans for that one, but we’re keeping them top secret to surprise all of you, listeners. Stay tuned!

Social media:

#JimmyFromNASALives       #WeShallOvercome

Comments closed

Episode 48 – The Tourists vs. ‘Gamera: Guardian of the Universe’

Published September 8, 2021

Hello, kaiju lovers! Though still grieving the loss of Gary, Nate soldiers on—without his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, as mandated by the Board—because he’s finally made it to the good part of “The Year of Gamera”! He’s joined by three of the original MIFV Tourists, Nick Hayden, Timothy Deal, and Joe Metter, to discuss Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, the first of the famed Heisei Trilogy directed by Shusuke Kaneko. While the Tourists have never seen it, they have a deep appreciation of storytelling, drama, and anime, so Nate was certain they would enjoy it. Did they? Listen to find out! The Toku Topic is the legend of Atlantis since it factors heavily into this film and the rest of the trilogy.

During the broadcast, Nate finally conducts his overdue interview with Spacewoman Kilara, who is much nicer about the whole thing than Nate expects. Unlike Miss Perkins, about whom Nate and Jimmy were messaged about by Jessica before the show with a bombshell revelation. Then after the broadcast, he visits the Board’s executive assistant at her office to confront her—with electrifying results.

Listen to Nate and Travis’s spinoff podcast, The Henshin Men Podcast, on Redcircle.

This episode’s prologue and epilogue, “Revelation of Power,” was written by Nathan Marchand. “An Interview with Spacewoman Kilara” was written by Nathan Marchand.

Guest stars:

  • Amy Summers as Spacewoman Kilara
  • Celeste Mora as Miss Perkins

Additional music:

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

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, and Elijah Thomas! Thanks for your support!

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

Check out MIFV MAX #4 to learn how you can help make Episode 50—MIFV’s second anniversary special—possible!

Buy official MIFV merch on TeePublic!

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

Timestamps:

  • Prologue: 0:00-3:01
  • Intro: 3:01-17:15
  • (Kilara Interview: 4:37-9:29)
  • Entertaining Info Dump: 17:15-26:07
  • Toku Talk: 26:07-1:27:53
  • Promo: 1:27:53-1:28:31
  • Toku Topic: 1:28:31-1:49:29
  • Listener Feedback, Housekeeping & Outro: 1:49:29-1:59:29
  • Epilogue: 1:59:29-end

Podcast Social Media:

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault       #Godzilla        #GodzillaKingoftheMonsters

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments closed

Episode 46: Daniel DiManna vs. ‘Gamera: Super Monster’

Published August 11, 2021

Hello…kaiju…lovers…. The only reason this episode is long as it is because Nate’s guest, Daniel DiManna (creator/author of the Godzilla Novelization Project) is the most talkative introvert ever of all time. But even if “Danny Boy” was Superman with a Beta Capsule, he couldn’t save this week’s Year of Gamera movie, the infamous Gamera: Super Monster. This 1980 cash-grab from a barely-alive Daiei Film is easily the Guardian of the Universe’s lowest point. On paper, Nate should love this movie because it has three of his favorite things—spaceships, superheroes, and kaiju—but he doesn’t. From public access channel special effects to a nonsensical plot with everything but the kitchen sink to the truckloads of stock footage—this must’ve been a plot by the Board of Directors to break Nate. Meanwhile, Danny keeps MIFV’s intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, quiet by getting him to bet his Pteranodon-bot that he can’t interrupt them during the broadcast. The Toku Topic, fittingly, is the rise and fall of Daiei Film, the studio that introduced the world to Akira Kurosawa and Gamera but dug itself into a financial hole it couldn’t escape. It’s a crazy story, to say the least.

Before the broadcast, Nate and Jimmy are visited by the Board’s executive assistant, Ms. Perkins. She tells Nate that she made arrangements for him to interview Spacewoman Kilara from Gamera: Super Monster on MIFV, much to his chagrin, and then fangirls over her. But the more Nate asks Ms. Perkins questions about her past, the stranger she acts.

Listen to Nate and Travis’s spinoff podcast, The Henshin Men Podcast, on Redcircle.

This episode’s epilogue, “Interviewing a Superheroine,” was written by Nathan Marchand. 

Guest stars:

Additional music:

Sound effects, including some by InspectorJ and klankbeeld, sourced from Freesound.org.

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, and TofuFury! 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.

Timestamps:

  • Prologue: 0:00-7:47
  • Intro: 7:47-19:26
  • Entertaining Info Dump: 19:26-26:43
  • Toku Talk: 26:43-1:37:52
  • Henshin Men Promo: 1:37:52-1:41:08
  • Toku Topic: 1:41:08-2:13:12
  • Listener Feedback, Housekeeping & Outro: 2:13:12-end

Podcast Social Media:

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault       #GameravsZigra          #YearofGamera

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments closed

Jimmy’s Notes on Episode 44: The MSTies vs. ‘Gamera vs. Zigra’

Published July 21, 2021

Zigra. Proof positive that Sharknado needs to go into space. Need I say more?

Actually, yes. It’s part of my contractual obligations. But I wouldn’t mind being shot into space. I could easily pilot my way back to Earth, unlike Nate.

As for my notes on episode 44, I took a surprising amount for a movie about a giant flying turtle battling a huge space shark. Let’s get into them:

  • Neil mispronounces “bathysphere” as “bathosphere.”
  • And you’re complaining about this, why, Nate?

  • The name of the actress playing Woman X/Chikako is Eiko Yanami.
  • Nate, did you forget the lady scientist in Final Wars?

  • Tom Servo does say, “We all die in a yellow bathysphere,” during the MST3K episode, Nate. But sadly, the Board mandated you not watch those. I’m genuinely sorry.
  • Appropriately, Nezura and the Baby Gameras have a xylophone player.
  • There are several theories related to the effect of sonic waves on the brain, but testing these theories has yielded inconclusive results.
  • It’s “Rhodes and McCorkle,” Nate, not “Brooke and McCorkle.” Brooke is one of their first names, so it’s understandable you’d get them mixed up.
  • The name of the baseball team with the “curse of the colonel” is the Honshin Tigers.
  • From what I can tell, the “FRP” from your Kamogawa Sea World research was fiber-reinforced plastic.
  • Doc Brown’s theories on time travel…don’t get me started! It creates way too many paradoxes and begs too many questions. I’ll spare you all the rant.
  • Travis and I had a great discussion about time travel in Star Wars after the broadcast. Or rather, he listened to me rant.
  • The Skull Island episode was 14, Nate.

Here are Nate’s leftover notes from his episode 44 research, included as per my contractual obligations:

  • Japan does have a space agency. Episode 15.
  • The audio quality on the theme song is subpar. What happened? (Budget cuts. Duh. –Jimmy)
  • The first scenes have parallelism: Ken starts his day and we see the animals at SeaWorld.
  • A seal named Nick?! (He’s not your friend, Mr. Hayden. –Jimmy)
  • Was Gamera just there or was his Turtle Sense tingling? (Turtle Sense. How else does he know where there are children in trouble? –Jimmy)
  • There’s an insignia is Star Trek that looks like the iris on the Zigra ship. (It’s the Vulcan insignia, I think. –Jimmy)
  • Wow. Woman X actually says kids are smarter.
  • Planet Zigra. Zigrans. Monster is named Zigra. (Confusing, I know. It’d be like a human naming his child “Earth” or “Human” or “Terran.” Although, there is a Tera Strong. –Jimmy)
  • She references both the Kanto and Sanriku earthquakes (episode 33).
  • Lots of scientific info for the kids. Educational.
  • She (Woman X) runs like molasses. And conveniently freezes. The heck?!
  • And the kids somehow know how to use the spaceship controls. Ken even says he can use a motorboat easily. (I taught him now. 😛 –Jimmy)
  • Gamera always has bloodshot eyes. Is he on drugs? Not sleeping? Both? (Perhaps he should be drug tested. –Jimmy)
  • Man, the dads missed a ride with Gamera because they got hypnotized.
  • Helen says at tech end of the scene, “Boys are no use at all.” The littlest feminist.
  • “Earth Defense Army,” huh? (They didn’t last long, unfortunately, in large part because of their weakness during the Zigra Invasion of 1971. –Jimmy)
  • Of course the fisherman stops for Woman X. (What guy wouldn’t? 😛  –Jimmy)
  • And Tokyo Tower will be destroyed again later in a better Gamera film.
  • Oh, now Gamera’s underbelly can take shots. And yet he still needs a rock.
  • And his fire breath is so hot, it still works underwater. Sure. (It defies science, so I don’t get it, either. –Jimmy)
  • Inexplicable bipedal-ness!
  • These Showa Gamera movies liked not have normal bipedal monsters aside from Gamera.
  • So, the different water pressure made him bigger. And he’s going to wipe everyone out because of this. Also, he should rule the oceans because he’s “beautiful.” (He’s quite the narcissist. –Jimmy)
  • Good grief, these kids can sneak into anything, including bathyspheres. Why? (Ninjas. Duh! 😛 –Jimmy)
  • Gamera foes love to sleep. Zigra, Jiger, Barugon. Others?
  • Gamera threw a rock at Zigra and then snuck up to grab the bathysphere. What the heck?!
  • Chikako the geologist knows a lot about biology. (All scientists know everything about science. Trist me, I know. 😛 –Jimmy)
  • What happens if cell activity stops? (Is this a trick question? –Jimmy)
  • They’re dead but not dead? They say to use electroshock—and we don’t see it.

The Commentary by Sean Rhoads and Brooke McCorkle

  • Opens with a moon exploration scene, which was a product of the time. Apollo program going on in 1971. Moon landing in 1969.
  • Yellow caps and blue shirts were the uniforms for preschoolers.
  • The actress who plays the older sister was Flobella two years earlier.
  • Interestingly, the EPA was established this year.
  • Japan relies on the sea more than any other country, and twice as much as second-place Scandinavia.
  • There’s disagreement over the “Gamera Song” lyrics because the words can be used, in one form or another, for elements (gold, wood, fire, etc.), the days of the week, or the names of planets.
  • (Rhoades says “Gamera vs. Gigan”). (I’d have interrupted and corrected them, but I wasn’t there. –Jimmy)
  • Tokyo Tower is a national symbol, particularly of technological advancement because it’s a radio tower.
  • McCorkle sees Zigra as the embodiment of planetary wrath because he has the same blame as his planet. Similar to Battra.
  • The environmental moral is about personal and not corporate pollution.

Arrow Booklet

  • Daiei was removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange Dec. 28, 1971.
  • Yuasa blamed the studio’s failure on Masaichi’s son, Hidemasa, being “too much of an artist to run a movie studio.”

Ragone Intro

  • He says this was the first Gamera movie to tackle environmentalism. Others have argued against this.
  • The old man is bad attempt at a joke referring to a Japanese folk tale about a woman travels into the ocean and returns as an old man.

Big Book by John LeMay

  • Yuasa says Zigra was inspired by a shark attack in Japan that made national news.
  • Gamera gets off easy—hypnotized into a coma—compared to previous movies.

Galbraith

  • Describes Zigra as “part shark, part bird, with a touch of the Nautilus.” (He’s not wrong. –Jimmy)
  • Calls this “a cheap, depressing little film.” (Okay, even I think this is a bit mean. –Jimmy)

Unsurprisingly, Nate got through all his notes on Kamogawa Sea World. But then again, it’s not like it was a particularly scholarly topic.

Next week is our first ever Patreon-sponsored episode. In fact, MIFV MAX member Eli Harris pledged at the level where he could come on the show as a guest! He and Nate will discussed three episodes of Godzilla: The Series, specifically the two-part premiere “New Family” and Eli’s favorite episode, “DeadLoch.” Then, unfortunately for Nate, the “Year of Gamera” continues with the infamous Gamera: Super Monster. It has some of his favorite things—kaiju, superheroes, and spaceships—but I’m not sure he’ll survive. Hang in there, man! Remember what I always say:

#WeShallOvercome

Follow me on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
Follow MIBOD on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD
Follow Raymund Martin (The Monster Island Legal Team) on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CrystalLadyJes1

#JimmyFromNASALives

Comments closed

Episode 44: The MSTies vs. ‘Gamera vs. Zigra’ (feat. Travis Alexander and Neil Riebe)

Published July 14, 2021

Hello, kaiju lovers! After calling in a favor at the last second to get a replacement guest, Nate sits down with Kaiju Weekly’s Travis Alexander and kaiju author Neil Riebe to discuss one of Gamera’s lowest points: Gamera vs. Zigra. Yes, before Jaws, the Friend to All Children battled a giant alien shark who couldn’t decide if he wanted to enslave humanity or eat them. Ziggy also has a bad habit of recruiting beautiful ladies as hench-people (your new PC term of the day), but they forget everything they knew before being mind-controlled—like that parading around in nothing but a bikini might not be the most inconspicuous disguise unless you’re in an exploitation film for kids. Let’s just say, Nate almost loses his mind in this episode. The Toku Topic is Kamogawa Sea World, because this movie is a terrible, overgrown commercial for the resort.

Afterward, Nate has to pull some Board-mandated overtime and is contacted in secret by Gary, Raymund Martin’s paralegal. Nate thinks he’s found a new friend in Gary in his quest to out the Board.

Listen to Nate and Travis’s spinoff podcast, The Henshin Men Podcast, on Redcircle.

Check out Neil’s books, I Shall Not Mate and Vistakill.

This episode’s epilogue, “A Secret Ally,” was written by Nathan Marchand with Michael Hamilton. 

Guest stars:

  • Damon Noyes as Gary

Additional music:

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

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, and The Cel Cast! 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.

Timestamps:

  • Intro: 0:00-12:40
  • Entertaining Info Dump: 12:40-19:22
  • Toku Talk: 19:22-57:45
  • Advertisement: 57:45-58:24
  • Toku Topic: 58:24-1:15:05
  • Listener Feedback, Housekeeping & Outro: 1:15:05-1:32:26
  • Epilogue: 1:32:26-end

Podcast Social Media:

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault       #GameravsZigra          #YearofGamera

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments closed

Jimmy’s Notes on Episode 42: Ben Avery vs. ‘Gamera vs. Jiger’

Published June 16, 2021

As good as episode 42 was (because “life, the universe, and everything”), I took plenty of notes on it. Nate has some explaining to do! 😛

Let’s get started:

  • Nate mispronounced “syndrome.” Shame, shame. 😛
  • I asked Mr. Martin for his thoughts on pen theft, and this is what he told me on Twitter:
    • “Per the Standards and Practices memorandum issued by the (Monster Island Board of Directors): Any and all items located on Monster Island, its wharf and docking bay, and all nearby archipelagos, whether explicitly or implicitly stated, belong to the Monster Island Entertainment Corporation, LLC, and its subsidiaries and stockholders. Any willful destruction and/or unauthorized removal of MIEC ‘meek’) property is a crime under Oceanic Law; dismissal, fines, and jail time are all possible dependent upon the severity of the crime. Judgement will be handled by the Monster Island Judicial System (‘midges’) and justice will be swift and fair. The Monster Island Legal Action Team will oversee all prosecutions, with the current Attorney General presiding as Lead Counsel against any defendants.”
    • I then said, “Thank you. I now fear for (Ben Avery’s) life.” To which Mr. Martin said, “I believe the Board has discontinued the use of genetically-engineered Hunter-Tracker Meganula larvae, but don’t quote me on that until I get Gary to do the archive research.”
  • How did Ben watch both versions of the movie? I suspect he watched it with his kids before leaving for the Island and then again when he arrived.
  • The Exorcist film was released December 26, 1973. The novel was published June 1971. In other words, Gamera vs. Jiger predates both.
  • Yes, Shunsuke Kikuchi worked on both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.
  • “You and Jimmy”? You mean me and Masao? Be specific, Marchand!
  • The name of the Keisuke actor is Sanshiro Honoo.
  • It’s Lemuria, Nate. That was the other “lost continent” you couldn’t think of.
  • It annoys me that I forgot what I was going to say toward the end of the Toku Talk.
  • Nate was right. The Irwin Allen-produced submarine TV series was Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
  • According to this inflation calculator, $500 million in 1970 would be $3,469,007,731.96 in 2021(!).
  • Here are the authors the International Symposium of Science Fiction that Nate didn’t mention (all of them hailed from the Soviet Union):
    • Vasilii Pavlovich Berezhnoi
    • Yulii Iosifovich Kagarlitskii (aka Julius Kagarlitsky)
    • Ieremei Iudovich Parnov
    • Vasilii Dmitrievich Zackharchenko
  • Personally, I loved Expo ’70! Seeing Gamera there was exciting. He even remembered me and gave me a wave. But sadly, all my photos from the event were destroyed when the Messiah 13 Aliens attacked New York. L
  • Your Dad guarded a moon rock, eh, Nate? That’s impressive, but I have Venus rocks. I’ll show them to you next time you come over to my quarters, Nate.
  • This is the human washing machine, and I do like this model. 😉
  • This was the best info I could find quickly on Tiger Child. And it’s not a nature documentary. It’s loftier than that, it seems.
  • Here’s an article on maglev technology. It’s mostly used for trains. If you’ve been to Disneyworld in Florida, you’ve ridden a train that uses it.
  • Nice catch at the end with Patreon, Ben. In order to donate $3 a day, someone would have to become my intern—which would be nice, actually.

Now for the contractually-obligated leftover notes from Nate’s episode prep:

The Film (Main Notes)

  • Hiroshi has the bushiest eyebrows. (He practically has to comb them. –Jimmy)
  • There’s a nice matting of a long distance live action shot with some toku footage of Gamera.
  • Jiger is female. Jiger has a giant head. Big head code? She drinks water after awakening. Rarely seen. Jiger doesn’t crawl, unlike other quadrupeds. (“Big head code”? That was a thing in ‘90s video games, right? I know, “Okay, boomer.” 😛 –Jimmy)
  • How did Gamera go from flying to swimming in one cut? (Bad editing. –Jimmy)
  • You know, Jiger, Mothra did that ship-destroying move first. Must be a female kaiju thing. (I’ll pass that observation along to the scientists. –Jimmy)
  • Jiger means “terrible as a demon,” apparently.
  • Now the “Gamera song” has gone from listing planet names to the days of the week. Because. (The original was better. Because it was in my movie, of course. –Jimmy)
  • Gamera has a cheerleading squad. (Lucky bastard! –Jimmy)
  • Gamera stole the “tail smash” move from Godzilla.
  • Those x-rays are on display on the Island and used for reference.
  • These kids just know how to operate the sub. (Well, Masao and I did, too. But, you know, we’re smart. –Jimmy)
  • Unsurprisingly, the English-speaking actors aren’t great.
  • What does people from Africa getting weak going north and Eskimos getting weak going south have to do with Jiger being weak to sound?
  • 80 metric tons? Gamera’s a lot lighter than basically every Toho kaiju. By a lot. Godzilla is at least a 1,000 times heavier. (Talk about completely different weight classes! –Jimmy)
  • The kids yell at Gamera as if he can hear them. Which it seems he can. (Because…psychic? –Jimmy)

Intro by Ragone

  • In Shoben Jump Magzaine, Jiger was called “Monster X.”

The Commentary by Edward L. Holland

  • Yuasa sought out the child actors in this film.
  • There was a second monster boom in Japan in 1971.
  • Jiger’s roar is a variation of Guiron’s.
  • Yuasa was fond of beer.
  • Says the film plays out a bit like an Ultraman episode.
  • Sithantaku, the “Eifel Tower of Osaka.”
  • Story has it that Tsuburyaya sent a letter to Yuasa telling him to tone down the gore in the Gamera films.
  • Gamera looks like a vinyl toy after being impregnated by Jiger.
  • They use an “opaque projector on steroids” to discuss Gamera’s anatomy.

Galbraith

  • People either think it’s outrageous or “routine.”

Toku Topic: Expo ‘70

  • Many science fiction writers and artists were involved with the Expo, including:
    • A farcical multi-screen science fiction film created by writer Abe Kõbõ and filmmaker Teshigahara Hiroshi for the Auto Pavilion.
  • “With its characteristic rhetoric of multi-polar humanism, the text goes on to assert that wisdom to avoid such a dire fate and unlock the ‘prosperity of mankind’ can be found not in one place but ‘wherever human beings can be found.’ ‘If the diverse wisdoms of mankind can be effectively exchanged and [allowed to] mutually stimulate each other,’ the text continues, ‘a higher level of knowledge can appear, and from the understanding and tolerance between different traditions, we can achieve the harmonious development of a better life for all of mankind.’”
  • The corporate pavilions, which were dominated by domestic Japanese pavilions, also featured various visions of the future. “The Mitsubishi Future Pavilion, which was divided into a display of the untamed elemental power of ‘Japan’s Nature’ followed by ‘Japan’s Sky,’ ‘Japan’s Sea,’ and ‘Japan’s Earth’ as they would be developed in the twenty-first century: space stations and a weather monitoring and control center in the sky; an underwater city, ‘marine pasture,’ and power plant in the sea; and a twenty-first century city on land.
  • The biggest reason Expo ’70 was seen as a “city of the future” (mirai no toshi) was the “juxtaposition of innovative architectural forms, including Tange’ s Grand Roof, the low inflated dome of the American Pavilion and aggressively pitched roof of the Soviet Pavilion, and most especially, the contributions of the young Japanese architects associated with the Metabolist movement, including Kikutake Kiyonori’s Expo Tower and Kurokawa Kishô’s Toshiba IHI Pavilion and Takara Beautilion, all interpenetrated by the futuristic transportation infrastructure of monorails and moving sidewalks.” (By the way, the Metabolist movement was a postwar architectural movement in Japan that sought to fuse architectural megastructures with organic growth).

Writing this made me nostalgic for Expo ’70. I was barely 11 and was very impressionable. I’ve little doubt attending it pushed me toward a career in space and NASA.

Anyway, next week’s episode marks the beginning of a new chapter for MIFV: “Godzilla Redux.” Nate will be covering the Godzilla films he discussed on…his previous podcast with…someone else. He starts with the beginning, naturally, with Godzilla (1954). He’s bringing back the original Tourist crew of Nick Hayden, Timothy Deal, Joe Metter, and Joy Metter. Then we have a special crossover episode with Kaiju Weekly for the soon-to-be-internationally-released anime Godzilla: Singular Point. We’re working out the details, but it should be BIG. Then the “Year of Gamera” continues with Gamera vs. Zigra, which will feature Kaiju Weekly co-host/MIFV MAX member Travis Alexander and Atomic Turtle host Matt Noponen. I know Nate dislikes it, but come on! A beautiful woman parades around in a bikini for 15-20 minutes! What’s not to like?

Until then, remember: #WeShallOvercome

Follow me on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
Follow MIBOD on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD
Follow Raymund Martin (The Monster Island Legal Team) on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CrystalLadyJes1

#JimmyFromNASALives

Comments closed

Episode 42: Ben Avery vs. ‘Gamera vs. Jiger’

Published June 9, 2021

Hello, kaiju lovers!

The “Year of Gamera” reaches its midpoint in an episode that’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Well, not really. But you will hear Nate and returning guest/multi-podcaster Ben Avery discuss 1970’s Gamera vs. Jiger. This movie, which shockingly opened the year the Japanese film industry crashed, serves as a (sorta) big budget travelogue/commercial for Expo ’70, the first world’s fair held in Asia. Both “Cornjob” and a yellow submarine return, but outer space is replaced with “innerspace” as the Kennys travel inside Gamera to cure him of his “impregnation” by Jiger, an ancient female demon beast. I’m not making this up. It’s a movie that may have anticipated The Exorcist and Alien. The Toku Topic, naturally, is Expo ’70. I mean, what else would it be?

Afterward, Nate and Jimmy get a surprise visit from Monster Island’s resident mad scientist and mushroom enthusiast, Dr. Dante Dourif, who’s been sent on a mission to “stabby-stabby” Nate with a syringe filled with his mushroom-enhanced COVID-19 vaccine. Oh my….

Check out all of Ben’s podcasts:
–Strangers and Aliens
–Welcome to Level 7
–The Comic Book Time Machine
–Supersonic Pod Comics

Guest stars:

  • Daniel DiManna as Dr. Dourif

Additional music:

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

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, and The Cel Cast! 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.

Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00-6:02
Entertaining Info Dump: 6:02-13:07
Toku Talk: 13:07-55:48
Advertisement: 55:48-56:25
Toku Topic: 56:25-1:30:29
Housekeeping & Outro: 1:30:29-1:40:35
Epilogue: 1:40:35-end

Podcast Social Media:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
Follow the Monster Island Board of Directors on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD
Follow the Raymund Martin and the MIFV Legal Team on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CystalLadyJes1

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault

© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Comments closed

Jimmy’s Notes on Episode 40: The MSTies vs. ‘Gamera vs. Guiron’

Published May 18, 2021

Strap in, folks. I have a lot of notes for last week’s episode. And Marchand took way too many notes and didn’t use them all. Of course.

First, here are my notes:

  • Correction, Nate: “Joel and the Bots.” I know you love Mike, but the Gamera episodes were Joel’s.
  • It’s “Gaos” (“gows”) not “Gyros,” Greg.
  • The “Dull surprise!” skit was from the Alien from L.A. episode of MST3K.
  • The ridiculously long title of LeMay’s film cuts book is The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Cuts: Editing Japanese Monsters Volume 1: U.S. Edits (1956-2000). You’re welcome.
  • The name of Kondo’s/Cornjob’s’s actor is Kon Ohmura.
  • Did you say, “Mao,” Nate? Like the Chinese communist leader? How have you not been fired? Does the Board secretly admire the tyrant?
  • It was snow, not a block of ice, Luke.
  • Those alien women’s eyes … they haunt my nightmares! It’s why I’m glad I wasn’t around when they tried to kidnap Gamera after the broadcast. It’s a good thing Crystal Lady was around to save the day.
  • “Flobella” not “Florbella,” Luke. Although, there is some confusion over this.
  • Come on, Nate, have you seen the Xilien women? Hot damn!

  • Yes, I am a proud “Plutoist.” I’ve only visited that rock once, but I assure it is still a planet!
  • “Ideal”? You meant, “idea,” Luke.
  • I know what you mean, Luke, when it comes to navigating city traffic. I grew up in New York City and Japan. I saw the madness of both.
  • What’s a “kig,” Nate? (it’s “kids”).
  • Gamera vs. Jiger not on MST3K, Nate says. Hahaha! (Click here to see how wrong he is).

Now to fulfill my contractual obligations by posting Marchand’s leftover notes:

The Movie

  • Starts with an astronomy lesson. This made Jimmy happy. (Yes, it did, even though some of that info is wrong. –Jimmy)
  • Jimmy also felt right at home in the observatory. He’s been there. (Yes, and it is a wonderful place. I would live at an observatory, if I could. –Jimmy)
  • Of course the kids see the spaceship before everyone else! It’s Gamera! (I usually see spaceships before everyone else. But I’m also a Gamera kid. –Jimmy)
  • Why was the ship sent to earth? (To get to the other side? I don’t know. It’s Gamera. –Jimmy)
  • You could cynically say that the monsters and aliens and stuff only exist in the kids’ imaginations.
  •  “It’s just a rabbit.” Tell that to Night of the Lepus! (Hear Nate’s appearance on Kaiju Weekly for that here. –Jimmy)
  • “They flew here. They’re civilized!” Hahaha! Did you forget the Virasians? (I didn’t. Yeesh! –Jimmy)
  • Gamera must have a spider-sense for children in peril.
  • Do we need color commentary from the kids? (Is this a rhetorical question? –Jimmy)
  • Ah, they have short range transporters. Someone saw Star Trek. We’re leery of teleporters now, though. That’s why your tour guide (Jessica) is out there. (At least you have a sister …. –Jimmy)
  • These sets want to compete with the color of Oz.
  • Jimmy’s annoyed that this sliding floor is nicer to kids than the anti-grav hallways on the Virasian ship. (So unfair! 😛 –Jimmy)
  • Maybe the bad dubs are malfunctioning translator chokers?
  • There is some nice subtle acting from the spacewomen.
  •  “My son”? Trying to be his mother?
  • Jimmy says the American Aerospace Bureau are a bunch of hacks. You can’t believe them when they say flying saucers aren’t real. (Damn straight! –Jimmy)
  • Do they really think these kids are that smart? According to Ragone, the actor playing the white kid couldn’t be in the next movie because his grades dropped.
  • Their razor looks like a ray gun! And the buzzsaw does, too.
  • “Let the monsters fight.” That’s where Ishiro Serizawa got the line.
  • Tom calls the Terrans “big sisters”? It’ a Japanese thing that’s weird in translation. (Probably, given what we’ve researched before. –Jimmy)
  • The “reverse button.” How these two are smart makes no sense, unlike the last one.
  • This is a slow teleporter suddenly.
  • Flobella shoots Barbella because a chair fell on her? There’s a word for someone like that. Also, Terrans just disappear when they die? Did they die? (Apparently not. –Jimmy)
  • The foam blocks don’t hurt the kids. 😛 But it’s a nice subversion that they don’t escape by shooting the button.
  • Gamera has his kid cheerleaders again. They do pretty much nothing aside from accidentally unleash Guiron, who attacks the Terrans, and pushing random buttons that somehow make Guiron go to his room. And even then, Gamera had already retreated underwater! And then they launch a missile that accidentally kills Flobella. At least Masao and Jim did stuff. (Thank you! –Jimmy)
  • Gamera can’t touch his legs. I think that’s a problem.
  • The kids only launched one missile. Where’d the other one come from? Probably the same place as the second Ghidorah skull in GvK.
  • I didn’t realize Gamera was a certified welder. Or that it was magic welding that could make a spaceship airtight again.
  • In the end, the adults learn to believe their kids. Is that a good lesson?
  • The little girl jokes that Kon (Cornjob) is an alien. (I think he is. –Jimmy)
  • Gamera nods at Akio makes his speech. It is Gamera approved.

The Commentary by David Kalat

  • He defends the child actors by saying they are part of a sliver of the population of people who want to be an actor, are good at acting, and are children.
  • Yuasa focused less on the dialogue with the kids and let them “play act” the scene.
  •  (Kalat can’t pronounce half of the Japanese names right).
  • (Says he knows only one sentence in Japanese: “My whole family loves baseball.” He says one day he will go to japan, say this, and presumably starve).
  • Argues that the gory death of Space Gyaos wasn’t intended to be taken seriously. Compared it to Loony Tunes.
  • A kid once said a kid told him that Tsuburaya told him he shouldn’t have such gruesome violence in the Gamera movies. He wasn’t sure the kid was telling the truth because he thought they’d be kindred and introduced more silliness to the Godzilla films. They never met.
  • Compares the effects in this film to a Mickie Mouse cartoon and Kermit the Frog. It looks pleasing, not believable.
  • Yuasa actually asked Toho to let him watch prints of Godzilla films to make Gamera, which they said no. Tsuburaya Productions (I think) let me watch them. He didn’t see Toho as competition but as an older brother he could learn from.
  • Daiei owed Nisan Takahashi more money than anyone else in 1971. Supposedly, he was given the rights to Gamera as payment. He was confused when the heisei trilogy was made, but he did publish a novel titled, Gamera vs. Phoenix.
  • Yuasa: “Watch many movies. Praise what you like about them.” (Words to live by. You hear that, internet? –Jimmy)

Intro by Ragone

  • The composer, Shunsuke Kikuchi, went on to make music for many anime, including Dragon Ball Z.
  • Kids didn’t like the Space Gyaos death, and Yuasa regretted it.

Arrow Booklet

  • Films were churned out annually. Drama scenes filmed in four weeks and the special effects done in two months.
  • Guiron is art director Akira Inoue’s personal favorite monster.

LeMay

  • Yuasa was given another tine budget (20 million yen). They decided to set it on an alien planet to save money and tap into children’s fears of being lost from home.
  • Reiko Kasahara, who played the kind older sister in Gyaos, is one of the alien villainesses.
  • Guiron was considered for Gamera 2, and is rumored to have inspired Legion’s pointy head.

Galbraith

  • Says the dub is so bad, the lines could’ve been read by a cocktail waitress or gas station attendant.

Toku Topic: The First “Traffic War” in Japan

  • Due to all of this growth, key traffic problems included overloading and speeding by dump trucks and gravel trucks and reckless driving by taxi drivers, which were frequently criticized by newspapers and other media. “Most media accounts built a consensus that the main victims of accidents were children, the aged, pedestrians, and cyclists, while the main offenders were professional drivers.”
    • “The situation is very different in Japan. More young (less than 16 years old) and old (more than 54 years old) non-car users are killed in traffic accidents than are car users.”
    • 75% of Japan is mountainous, so population density is high. Since most roads go through highly populated urban areas, it’s difficult to isolate pedestrians and cyclists, who are constitute 60% of auto accidents in Japan.
  •  “…collisions with other vehicles in the US constitute a higher proportion of fatal accidents, whereas collisions with pedestrians play a larger role in Japan. The percentage of fatal vehicle accidents involving collisions with pedestrians is larger in Japan than in the US (28.5 vs. 18.2%). The percentages of traffic accident deaths among non car-users are also larger in Japan than in the US (motorcyclists: 18.6 vs. 6%, bicyclists: 12.3 vs. 2%, pedestrians: 27.7 vs. 14.1%). This results in nearly 60% of Japanese traffic-accident deaths being among non-car users, compared 20% in the US (ITARDA, 1997).”
  •  “In Japan, accident death rates for 16–24 years old increased during the late 1970s and 1980s (MCA, 1997b), even though most high school students were prohibited from having drivers’ licenses by internal school rules (Koshi, 1988).”
  • A few of the aforementioned policies:
    • Japan solutions are focused more on law enforcement and education that engineering (i.e. airbags). It seemed to work as traffic deaths dropped by half from 1970-1980.

Marchand talks about this movie more than Akio talks about traffic accidents. The Stockholm Syndrome really is settling in!

Next week Nate finishes his series of mini-sodes on Toho classics with one of my favorite Toho films, Sayonara Jupiter. It’s a film by the author of Submersion of Japan and the director of Return of Godzilla. It should be … interesting, to say the least. What Nate’s doing after that, I don’t know. Then his friend Ben Avery, the ruler of a mighty podcast empire, returns for the next chapter in the “Year of Gamera” with Gamera vs. Jiger. She got the moves.

Until then, remember: #WeShallOvercome

Follow me on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
Follow MIBOD on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD
Follow Raymund Martin (The MIFV Legal Team) on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CrystalLadyJes1

#JimmyFromNASALives

Comments closed