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Tag: Japan-US relations

Episode 6: Nick Hayden vs. ‘King Kong Escapes’

Hello, kaiju lovers!

In the latest episode of the “Kong Quest” (which is finally mentioned by name on the air!), Nathan is joined once again by author and “Golden Ticket Tourist” Nick Hayden of the Derailed Trains of Thought podcast to discuss the wacky but fun King Kong Escapes. Like with the 1933 film, this is Nick’s first time seeing this 1967 Toho classic, which was the second (and sadly last) of Toho’s Kong films, as it was made in the last year they held the rights to the Eighth Wonder. This is a first for the show as it’s the first tokusatsu film directed by the great Ishiro Honda covered on the podcast. It’s a crazy nexus of ideas borrowed from other productions and some that seemed to anticipate others. For one thing, its villain, Dr. Who, is both a derivation and a precursor to the famous British TV series! Nathan and Nick also note some funny connections to Rankin-Bass’ classic holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer given that they collaborated with Toho on this live-action cartoon.

The Toku Topic is how Toho’s Japanese-American co-productions paralleled Japan-America relations.

Stay tuned after the credits for a Marvel-style stinger and an important announcement.

Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00-3:25
Entertaining Info Dump: 3:25-11:25
Toku Talk: 11:25-52:57
Toku Topic: 52:57-1:19:25
Outro: 1:19:25-1:24:50
Stinger:  1:24:50-end

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