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Tag: Japanese Economic Miracle

Episode 63: ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ | Godzilla Redux | Ft. AlyssaGojiGeek

Hello, kaiju lovers! Godzilla Redux continues! Nate is joined by YouTuber/author/musician/Navy sailor Alyssa Charpentier (aka AlyssaGojiGeek) for a film from his previous podcast life: King Kong vs. Godzilla. While, yes, Nate discussed a pair of related unmade films with John LeMay, today he and Alyssa compare and contrast the original Japanese version and the re-edited U.S. cut. The latter softens the satirical tone of the original and adds pointless scenes with two boring white guys who use a children’s dinosaur book to prove Godzilla is a dumb brute and Kong “is a thinking animal.” This leads to some talk about the subpar Criterion Collection box set—the only way to legally watch the Japanese cut in America—and how the Japanese economic miracle influenced the film. Even Alyssa never learned this stuff in school!

Before the broadcast, Nate meets with Mr. Gold and his assistant, Ms. Kawaii. They try to sweet talk him with the gift of hot chocolate and promises of advancement. Nate feigns gratitude and endures accusations of brown-nosing from Jimmy. Afterward, Nate researches late into the night at the Sekizawa Library, where he tries—and fails—to accost the AWOL EDF Mutant Ozaki. Ozaki tells Nate about the shady operations he’s been investigating the last few weeks.

The prologue, “Secret Business, Part 1” was written by Michael Hamilton and Nathan Marchand. The epilogue, “Secret Business, Part 2,” was written by Nathan Marchand.

Check out Alyssa’s YouTube channels: AlyssaGojiGeek (https://www.youtube.com/c/AlyssaGojiGeek101) and Alyssa Charpentier (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDiBPlvC3ruGkrrjUvbSKmg).

Special thanks to J.P. Gant for helping to edit this episode! Follow him on Twitter: @Homebrewed_SD (https://tinyurl.com/2jpc36r5).

Guest stars:

Additional music:

  • “This Cowboy’s Hat” (instrumental) by Chris LeDoux
  • “Godzilla Vs. King Kong – The Island Natives (FANMADE COVER)” by AlyssaGojiGeek
  • “Chant My Name!” by Masaaki Endo
  • “Final Wars Ending Theme | Piano Tutorial” by Patrick Ledwig

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

Check out Nathan’s spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip.

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, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, and Ted Williams! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month! (https://www.patreon.com/monsterislandfilmvault)

Buy official MIFV merch on TeePublic! (https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-monster-island-gift-shop)

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

Timestamps:

  • Prologue: 0:00-3:49
  • Intro: 3:49-9:31
  • Main Discussion: 9:31-1:44:18
  • Housekeeping & Outro: 1:44:18-1:54:07
  • Epilogue: 1:54:07-end

Podcast Social Media:

  • Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheMonsterIsla1)
  • Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MonsterIslandFilmVault/)
  • Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/monsterislandfilmvault/)
  • Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @NasaJimmy (https://twitter.com/nasajimmy?lang=en)
  • Follow the Monster Island Board of Directors on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD (https://twitter.com/MonsterIslaBOD)
  • Follow the Raymund Martin and the MIFV Legal Team on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
  • Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CystalLadyJes1 (https://twitter.com/CrystalLadyJes1)
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www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault      #GodzillaRedux            #KingKong     #Godzilla

© 2022 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

  • Barr, Jason. The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema’s Biggest Monsters.
  • Bogue, Mike. Apocalypse Then: American and Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967. McFarland & Company. 2017.
  • Brothers, Peter H. Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda.
  • Galbraith, Stuart IV. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of 103 Features Released in the United States 1950-1992.
  • “Japanese economic miracle.” Wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle)
  • Kaijuvision Radio – Episode 8: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) (The Japanese Economic Miracle (The Golden 60s), MITI) (https://youtu.be/BtOw8CkO0jU)
  • Kalat, David. A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, 2nd Edition.
  • LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982.
  • LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (Mutated Edition).
  • LeMay, John. Writing Giant Monsters.
  • Monster Island Film Vault, The. “Episode 5: John LeMay Presents ‘King Kong vs. Frankenstein’ & ‘Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla’.” (https://tinyurl.com/MIFV-S1E5)
  • Morton, Ray. King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. New York. 2005.
  • Ryfle, Steve, and Ed Godziszewski. Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa.
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Episode 21: ‘Matango’ (Mini-Analysis)

Hello, kaiju lovers!

An artsy Japanese horror film about mushrooms based on a British short story?

That’s sounds insane enough to work!

Despite getting slapped with the schlocky English title, “Attack of the Mushroom People,” Matango ranks as one of director Ishiro Honda’s greatest achievements in tokustasu filmmaking. Screenwriter Takeshi Kimura considered it to be his magnum opus. It’s a story replete with subtlety and symbolism, an indictment of Japan’s newfound opulence and decadence in the early 1960s, and it’s as relevant now for any audience as it was back then. It’s such an important film, Nathan and his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, interview the only scientist on Monster Island’s who’s brave and/or crazy enough to study the Matango—with frightening results! 

Featuring Daniel DiManna as the voice of Dr. Dante Dourif.

Episode image created by Michael Hamilton. Check out his podcast, The Kaiju Groupie.

This is meant to supplement this episode of Kaijuvision Radio: Episode 45: Matango (Attack of the Mushroom People) (1963) (Westernization and Globalization)

We’d like to give a shout-out to our Patreon patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (cohosts of Kaiju Weekly); Danny DiManna (Godzilla Novelization Project); elizilla13; and Chris Cooke (host of One Cross Radio)! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can support us on Patreon!

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

Podcast Social Media:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
Follow the Monster Island Board of Directors on Twitter: @MonsterIslaBOD

www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives       #MonsterIslandFilmVault

© 2020 Nathan Marchand & Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

  • “Attack of the Mushroom People: Ishiro Honda’s Matango William Hope Hodgson’s ‘The Voice in the Night’” by Anthony Camara (Monsters and Monstrosity from the Fin de Siécle to the Millennium, edited by Sharla Hutchinson and Rebecca A. Brown)
  • “The history and current state of drug abuse in Japan” by Kiyoshi Wada (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Jan 2011, vol. 1216, no. 1, p 62-72)
  • Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godzisewski
  • “Ishiro Honda-thon Ep. 5: Matango (1963) Review” by Adam Noyes (AN Productions) (YouTube)
  • Kaijuvision Radio, “Episode 8: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)”
  • “Methamphetamine Solution: Drugs and the Reconstruction of Nation in Postwar Japan” by Miriam Kingsburg (The Journal of Asian Studies, Feb. 2013, vol. 72, no. 1, p. 141-162)
  • Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda by Peter H. Brothers
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