Cloverfield is a film that is gaining more of my interested because of the theories that Clover is a space monster. Or at the very least extraterrestrial. (Contrary to popular belief, those aren’t quite the same things). As for the episode itself, Nick needs to be on the show more often; he’s a pleasant guy. All that to say, I didn’t have many notes on this episode, and none of them pertained to Nick. But correcting the guests is secondary to me keeping Nate honest. Ha! So, here are my additions to episode 68.
Yes, Rob Hawkins was offered a job by Monster Island in 2008. The Island was in the early stages of rebuilding and reopening at the time, and Rob was hired as its first director of public relations. Obviously, that didn’t work out. (By the way, I got this directly from the Board, so take that with a kaiju-sized grain of salt).
I had a MySpace page once. And don’t let Nate fool you—so did he! (Believe it or not, the site still exists!)
Nate, you’re worrying me with that “Yes, quite.” I remember an old…adversary of ours saying it a lot.
“Blue Harvest” was actually a fake working title for Return of the Jedi. And the title of a Family GuyStar Wars parody.
From what I can tell, the tie-in manga, Cloverfield/KISHIN, wasn’t officially translated and published outside Japan, but there is a fan translation available here (ch. 1-3) and here (ch. 4).
Oh, the senseless things Nate does every day. Don’t get me started on the infamous “cockroach” incident involving Elijah Thomas and Daniel DiManna. That audio will stay buried.
Sometimes I don’t want to be Nate’s “people.” Especially at this time with him climbing higher in the Monster Island corporate hierarchy. Just saying.
Speaking of Nate, here are his notes for the episode so you can see what he didn’t get to:
Nate’s not the only one who needs catch up on his content. No MIFV episode is complete without the intrepid Jimmy’s trademark blogs. With Winter and Board keeping us busy, and my personal projects in my garage eating up my time (top secret hush-hush stuff, you understand), I haven’t been able to keep up. Now your wait is over! Let’s start dropping some fact (check) bombs on Nate and company, starting with episode 58 on Mighty Joe Young.
Me and Nick’s e-mails are top secret. Although, not as top secret as my garage projects.
I hate to tell you this, Joy, but…
Little did I know this episode would become Memento by working through the film backwards. Reminds me of the time I got caught in a time loop. That may or may not explain how I’ve aged gracefully. But let me tell you, I can only punch M11 so many times to restart and/or break the loop so many times before it gets older than some of the scientists around here.
This whole episode came off the rails—until the Toku Topic. Then it all came to a crashing halt because it was the most boring Toku Topic yet. I don’t know if it was Nate’s presentation, the topic of gorillas in captivity, or the exhaustion of the caffeine. All of the above, probably.
Ah, yes, Adam Smith. Author of The Wealth of Nations and philosopher who advocated for laissez-faire economics. It’s only the best bedtime reading for any kid.
I may have to talk with Mr. Gold about booking Mighty Joe and the Burning Orphans, especially after their album, “Rampage at the Nightclub.”
It wasn’t an interviewer but another special effects artist on the blu-ray commentary with Harryhausen and Moore: Ken Ralston.
Not the singing, Joy! See the above meme!
I could go for spaghetti and a western. Sounds like a great stay-at-home date night.
We’re getting canceled in Africa.
“Mighty Jimmy Young.” I like the sound of that.
Sacrificed orphans? That IS fake news! The textbook definition of slander! I could sue you for libel! (But I don’t want to talk about it).
Here are Nate’s leftover notes. (Am I still contractually obligated to share these? I better check the fine print).
This is what happens when the Three Stooges get drunk. (Was WHG3 one of them? -Jimmy)
He’s gonna realize he knows drunken monkey kung fu. Also, Mighty Joe can’t hold his liquor. Okay, there’s a line that they gave him more. (Actually, I think he does know drunken monkey kung-fu…mostly because he’s a drunken ape. -Jimmy)
I think he killed some lions. But not people.
“No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture.” You sure?
From “pull” to “push.” You suck at pushing. Stick to pulling. (Words to live by. -Jimmy)
What in blazes started this fire?! (Haha, Marchand. -Jimmy)
Commentary by Terry Moore, Ray Harryhausen, and Ken Ralston
Terry Moore didn’t have any storyboards in her script and acted to lots of nothing alone on set not knowing what Mighty Joe looked like.
She got the role when she came to the lot and Schoedsack asked, “Can you run?” so she took off her high heels, ran, and came back. He said, “You run like a deer. You got the role!” (I think that’s what David Perin was told when he played me in my favorite movie. -Jimmy)
Everyone called Schoedsack, “Monty.”
Harryhausen grew up loving King Kong, so it was an honor to work with that team.
Cooper once complained that the $25/day extras weren’t good enough, so instead of replacing them, they paid them $250/day.
Moore said Cooper promised one of the Mighty Joe puppets to her when he died, but the maid stole it when he died. There’s another one in London at the Museum of Moving Images.
Armstrong modeled his character after Cooper like he did in Kong. Ruth Rose, the screenwriter and Cooper’s wife, put much of him into the character.
The flying tackle was cut out for a while for some reason.
Harryhausen “was” Mighty Joe. He would eat vegetables on breaks to get into character.
Marcel Delgado also built the armatures for this.
This was Ben Johnson’s first movie. He acted in many John Ford westerns.
They shot for 3 months.
O’Brien developed the scenes with sketches while Harryhausen did most of the animation.
Terry Moore could whistle “Beautiful Dreamer.” She was surprised it didn’t make a comeback.
Moore became friends with the wrestlers. The Italian wrestler would put his foot next to hers and say, “Teeny-weeny.” He didn’t speak much English. He’d carry her on his shoulders, and she would go to the wrestling matches.
For the piano scene, Moore was lifted up using what she described as a “huge carjack.”
The long shots of Mighty Joe in the wrestler scene was a smaller armature. 8 inches tall.
Each of the coins was hand-drawn in the coin throwing scene.
Harryhausen covered the puppet’s lips with clay so he could hold the bottle. The liquor was glycerin.
Moore spent a lot of time acting toward a back projection screen. White screen.
Cooper was known for throwing a hat on the ground and stomping it. (Sounds like a certain radio host I know… -Jimmy)
Moore says Howard Hughes saw her in Return of October and told his projectionist, “I’m gonna marry that girl! Find out what she’s done!” He said she’d just made a film for RKO that hadn’t been released. He said, “Buy RKO.”
“Mama Walton” makes a cameo during orphanage scene.
The orphanage miniature was 5-6 feet high.
Marcel Delgado animated the shot of Mighty Joe climbing the tree.
Harryhausen says the Jill doll used for the piano was remade into a caveman.
Moore’s mother makes a cameo saving the little girl.
Mighty Joe peels the banana at the end when he ate it whole before. He was “civilized.”
Special Features
He got no direction from Schoedsack. He only worked with O’Brien during the planning stage. The script only had broad strokes for Mighty Joe’s scenes. He used O’Brien’s continuity stages.
Harryahusen gets mail from people saying they prefer his old films because they have more soul.
One of the armatures was made by Henry Cunningham.
The 4 armatures cost $1,500-$2,000 each!
The fur on Mighty Joe moved less because it was substituted with rubber.
Mighty Joe was brown.
The debris was animated with wires.
LeMay – Kong Unmade 2nd Edition
“The genesis of the story was inspired by a true event, recorded in the book Toto and I: A Gorilla in the Family (1941). The book, by Augusta Maria Daurer Hoyt, told of the author rescuing an orphaned gorilla in 1931 Equatorial Africa and making it part of her family. That is where the similarities ended, though. Using that as a jumping-off point, the rest of the story was essentially a light, happier retelling of King Kong. (The script was even written by Ruth Rose again, who had done one of the Kong drafts.)”
“Though it shares no continuity ties with King Kong, the resultant Mighty Joe Young is what could be called a spiritual sequel to Kong. As previously established, it was made by the same overall team and has the same themes of beauty and the beast, the beast brought to civilization, etc. Even the same trio of main character archetypes reappear. You have the girl that controls the beast in the form of Jill, then her rough-and-tumble cowboy love interest, Gregg, and the showman, Max O’Hara, out to exploit them—the latter even played again by Robert Armstrong. One could even say Mighty Joe Young presented a ‘road not taken’ with King Kong. What if Ann had tamed Kong? What if Denham’s show had been a success rather than a tragic failure? In the years that followed the release and rereleases of King Kong, audiences had grown fonder and more sympathetic for Kong, so it was only natural Joe would be treated as nothing but sympathetic, and in the end, even heroic. The climax, where Joe is on the run from the authorities out to kill him, is quite the nail-biter due to the audience’s sympathy for Joe. But of course, we’re not here to discuss what the film is, but what it could have been.”
Morton – King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson
Other Kong alumni included Linwood Dunn, Ted Cheesman, and Walter Elliot.
He says it took six months to shoot. (No one can agree on a timeline, it seems. Because time travel is dangerous. -Jimmy)
A big torso only armature was made but never used.
The models were covered with the fur of unborn lambs and rubberized by taxidermist George Lofgren.
He says the animation took 14 months.
O’Brien was unable to use his miniature projection process due to time constraints, so the composite work was done with an optical printer.
The Ray Harryhausen Podcast, Episode 24: Mighty Joe Young, 70th Anniversary Special
Colorized test footage was made, but it’s been lost.
It’s popular with animators because of Harryhausen’s work, especially with how much is in it.
This was essentially the end of O’Brien’s career and big-budget special effects pictures.
Tarzan would’ve been played by Lex Barker, who’d just played the character.
Soundtrack has never been released because it was “married” into the mix. It was re-recorded later and released, with Harryhausen playing cymbals on “Beautiful Dreamer.”
Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life
Peterson’s trademark was broad humor, most of which was cut. Harryhausen didn’t like it. Example: Mighty Joe slapping his knee during the chase.
Harryhausen was 29 when he worked on this.
Harryhausen is most proud of the lion cage sequence.
I’m pretty sure Nate read most of his notes on that boring interesting Toku Topic, so I cut the rest.
As for upcoming episodes, this moth we have two regular episodes and two bonuses! These include a Damon Noyes double-header with The Giant Claw (yep, antimatter-powered alien Beaky Buzzard) and his Patreon-sponsored episode on Little Shop of Horrors (1986). Then Nate invites his “co-host in kamen” (ba-dum-tsh!) on so he can finally “see the goo” with a bonus episode on Beware! The Blob (aka Son of Blob). Then Nate and his friend Elijah Thomas have their first annual crossover on Ray Harryhausen since the two of them share a birthday with him. They’re being weird and going in reverse order of his filmography, starting with Clash of the Titans (1981).
Despite everything that has happened to all of us at MIFV, as I always say, “We shall overcome!”
Is it Saturday? Damn, what was in that beer I had last night at the Monster Island Tavern? That’s the last time I go drinking with Dr. Dourif. No wonder I didn’t finish my promised “Jimmy’s Notes” blog on episode 51 (Gamera 2: Attack of Legion). Nate isn’t the only one trying to get back on schedule. Thankfully, with this, I’ll be caught up after all of the Board’s shenanigans. Surprisingly, I didn’t take many notes during that broadcast. They were:
Yes, the beginning of this film was nostalgic for me. I miss NASA. I thought about getting a job there again during Nate’s time in orbit. I may still need to if business dries up for the Island. Good thing I still have connections there.
I did some digging, as Dallas requested, and I couldn’t find any staff members who worked on both Gamera 2 and Parasite Eve. However, the 1997 movie adaptation of the original Japanese novel was distributed by Kadokawa Shoten, which is owned by the same parent company that bought Daiei (and Gamera) in 2002.
It was a girl who was crying over Gamera, not a boy, Nate! Use the right pronoun!
The Maccabean Revolt was in the second century B.C. and was against the Seleucid Empire, which was Greek
Dallas is bothered by my tight T-shirts? It’s not my fault I need to change my wardrobe after hitting the Kaiju Gym as hard as I have. 😛
Now for the overabundance of leftover notes Marchand has on this movie. I don’t think I’m contractually obligated to share these anymore (it’s all in flux after recent events), but being that he’s my friend, here you go.
The detective is back! But now he’s a security beer warehouse. And he still can’t get away from kaiju! His interview by the cops on video made me think of The Terminator. I wonder if Kirin Beer sponsored the movie? (Maybe. I should have some Kirin beer delivered to the Island. So we can ask them to sponsor us, of course! -Jimmy)
This movie likes horizontal wipes. (Kinda like one of my favorite space movies…. –Jimmy)
Interesting that the evacuees run through a torii gate (see Daimajin episode of MIFV). It marked the entrance to a sacred place. Shelter?
I love the effects when Gamera inhales to shoot a plasma ball. You see gas go in his mouth and his throat light up.
Again, there are real consequences. Legion corpses on the beach after Gamera swims away.
Netscape and the old internet. Quaint.
Asagi shows up 40 or so minutes in.
A second flower as a set piece does seem a bit repetitive.
All those hats on that long rack!
Asagi’s hat says, “Invisible,” in English. It describes her because she goes unheeded by most people. (You freaking English major. 😛 –Jimmy)
Breaking Legion’s horn actually makes things worse. Pacing and escalation. Legion goes red-eyed and angry.
SHINKU…HADOKEN! This is crazy, anime-esque, and doesn’t get explained until the next film. Otherwise, it’s totally left field. “If his chest had been a cannon, he’d have shot his heart upon it.” (Again, FREAKING ENGLISH MAJOR! –Jimmy)
COMMENTARY BY KYLE YOUNT
Opened between Godzilla vs. Destoroyah and Rebirth of Mothra, so the kaiju scene was a bit stale.
First act is set in Hokkaido, which is a bit unique for a kaiju film. Northernmost island.
The scientists and military actually get along.
The crew had to pull the beer bottles by hand because their rig didn’t work. Had to paint their fingers black so they wouldn’t show up on camera.
The doctor who dissects the Legion soldier was an actual professor.
INTRO BY RAGONE (ARROW VIDEO)
Mahiro Miyeda, who helped design Legion, also did concepts for Mad Max: Fury Road.
A TESTIMONY OF 15 YEARS (DOCUMENTARY)
One of the producers on the trilogy, Morio Akawa, didn’t even like monster movies and preferred movies for older audiences as a kid. He credits the trilogy with stretching him.
(Ito wouldn’t show his face in his interview. Instead, we saw his dog. Why?) (Because you writers are weird? 😛 –Jimmy)
Ito calls the trilogy his “coming-of-age” as a screenwriter. He says there’s a clear difference between his writing before and after the trilogy. He used to be associated Mamori Oshii, and now he’s associated with this trilogy.
Otani says Masaru Sato saw the first film and said, “There’s no one in Japan who writes like this, at full throttle!” Otani says that’s how he works.
MACIAS (ARROW BOOKLET)
Guiron and Barugon were discussed to return, but the filmmakers decided to go with a new monster—Gamera’s first original foe since 1971—Legion. (I think Barugon wants to know…why was he replaced? –Jimmy)
Gamera was redesigned slightly by Tomo Haraguchi, an effects wizard and film director).
This time, the JSDF supports Gamera.
“BRINGING UP GAMERA” BY ENGLAND (ARROW BOOKLET)
As a teen, he (Higuchi) got a part-time job with Toho and worked with Koichi Kawakita on Sayonara Jupiter (see MIFV episode 41) and Return of Godzilla.
He storyboarded for many productions, including anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anno named the series’ main character after him).
He wanted a project at the time that fit into what he envisioned—that is until screenwriter Ito got him the job on Guardian of the Universe. He’d never done it before, so Daiei was taking a risk.
He wasn’t able to redesign Gamera as much as he wanted, which brought him into conflict with the studio. He wished he could’ve gotten away with what the filmmakers did on Godzilla (1998). However, in Gamera 2, he got to do it by making Gamera more like a sea turtle with flippers.
With designing Legion, he said he wanted to make something memorable like old school kaiju, because he felt modern kaiju had “muddled characteristics.” He started with an idea of having the skeleton on the outside, which led to having two men in the suit since human joints are fixed and he wanted to avoid the human shape.
The suit was heavy, and it took the actors ten minutes just to get in it, and they could only wear it for ten minutes at a time. The principle actor, Mizuho Yoshida, went on to play Godzilla in GMK (and previously played Zeiram in those films). He’s biased, but Higuchi thinks Legion is one of the five best kaiju designs ever.
FLOWER – ENGLISH LANGUAGE GAMERA
It was released on DVD by ADV in 2003 with a dub written and directed by Kyle Jones. The also produced the infamous “Lake Texarkana” dub where the actors read their lines as southern hillbillies.
LEMAY (BIG BOOK)
Also considered having Viras (Jimmy wanted to be in that one). (YES! And I’d still kick his @$$! –Jimmy)
Legion’s head was supposedly inspired by Guiron.
In an homage to the Showa series, Gamera bleeds more and is initially taken out by the Legion seed pod.
It grossed about the same amount of money as the first and won Best Special Effects from the Japanese Academy.
There’s a manga sequel that may or may not be canon, which is a Heisei retelling of Barugon.
There was a short-lived rumor that Disney might distribute the film.
TOKU TOPIC: THE EXORCISM OF THE GERASENE DEMONIAC
The demon’s name refers to a Roman legion, which could comprise up to over 5,000 soldiers. Some also connect it to Isaiah 65:4, which has God referring to obstinate Israel defying Him: “who sit in tombs, / and spend the night in secret places; / who eat pig’s flesh, / and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;”
And there you have it.
As of this writing, our next two episodes will feature my former nemesis Michael Hamilton as the guest for the next “Godzilla Redux” episode, which covers the first sequel to Godzilla (1954), Godzilla Raids Again. Then the “Year of Gamera” comes to an end with Gamera the Brave, which will have Bex from the Redeemed Otaku podcast as the co-host. I confess I might miss the big turtle.
I can neither confirm nor deny that I spent a sizable portion of my latest paycheck on aloe vera cream after getting burned in episode 45 by Eli Harris. He’s lucky he’s a paying Patron, or I would’ve tongue-lashed him right back. (Nate’s editorial: Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jimmy).
Now for what you actually came here to read: my notes on the episode. In between enduring some zingers, I managed to take a few. They were mostly responses to what Nate and Eli said as opposed to corrections. Kudos there, guys. But you won’t always be able to escape that. So, here’s what I jotted down:
That’s your best recommendation for a drink, Marchand? These are better: The Happy Moment, the Megalon Bomb, and the Plasma Spark. Although, my personal favorite is the Nick Adams Apple Cider.
Digimon is clearly superior to Pokémon—yes, because technology. I might even still have one (or three) of those virtual pet toys in my quarters. (Don’t judge me!)
I want an ejection button and seat for the guests’ chairs. I might even install one in the host chair, Marchand. I know George 3 has suggested I do that. After the episode 45 broadcast, it got more tempting. 😛
Don’t make me pull that EES lever, Marchand! I’ll shoot you into space myself! 😛
Or the show inspired the unmade Godzilla (1998) sequel? I’m sure they were in development relatively close together. This video from the Kaiju Masterclass online convention sheds some great light on it. It’s an interview with screenwriter Tab Murphy.
I could take Monique. Can she claim to have survived the (in)famous War in Space? I don’t think so! Next time I see her at the gym, I’ll challenge her to a sparring match. I’ll let you know how it goes. (Nate’s editorial: Badly).
I offered to have the H.E.A.T.-Seeker treated for rust, but Tatapoulos won’t do it. He says the boat would lose its charm if it was treated. Maybe this is my inner “car guy” talking here, but I have to disagree. Especially since you don’t want rust weakening your hull when you’re being attacked by a kaiju.
Randy Hernandez isn’t ready for my quips. You know firsthand, Nate.
Nate, that was the Titan Truth Podcast logo! How did you miss that?!
As required by my contact, here are Nate’s leftover notes from the episode:
“New Family, Part 1”
The Twin Towers are in the theme and some establishing shots. Awkward? (No. –Jimmy)
Pays very close attention continuity despite minor changes. Jamaica being Zilla’s first stop.
Nick’s attitude shifts even in this episode: from killing Zilla Jr. to studying it. More Toho-esque.
Zilla Jr. holds Nick like Kong does Anne. Almost eats him. Not because of fish smell? Acts like a dog—scratches door and walks in circle before lying down.
Animal didn’t know Nick was Audrey’s boyfriend?! (Can you blame him for forgetting? Remember the movie, man! –Jimmy)
“New Family, Part 2”
There are some scaling issues. Sometimes Zilla Jr. is HUGE. (They went for drama and not realism, obviously. –Jimmy)
Zilla Jr. throws rocks like Showa Godzilla. He’s also clever and strategic. Thankfully, Zilla Jr. breathes atomic fire and is more durable. Survives landslide.
Establishes tension between HEAT and military.
“Deadloch”
Hugh Trevor. Pisces.
Funny how Monique yells, “Randy!” and Elsie yells, “Nick!” when they dive in to save them. (Two words: sexual tension. –Jimmy)
Notes on the Series
Godzilla is animalistic but smart enough to solve problems. He’s loyal to HEAT, but he has his own agency.
They had access to other Toho monsters outside of the “big three,” but they kept coming up with ideas for cool new monsters, so there was no room for them.
Nate shared all his Loch Ness Monster research. Hot damn!
Sadly, I don’t know if Nate will survive the next episode, even with guest Daniel DiManna in the guest chair. He calls it “the nadir of the Year of Gamera.” That would be Gamera Super Monster. Even with a pseudo-Star Destroyer and hot women in spandex, it’s a hard sell for me. Assuming Nate survives, we get back to Godzilla Redux with 1956’s Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which will feature “the littlest gatekeeper,” Elijah Thomas of the Kaiju Conversation podcast. That’ll be interesting.
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.
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:
The intro in the first episode begins like a fairy tale. It even has “once upon a time…”
Jet Jaguar is a company mascot for Otaki Factory. Ha! (Now he’s my garage’s mascot. –Jimmy)
This first episode throws A LOT at you.
I already love Pero 2. (I’m hoping to work on a project with Mei and Pero 2 at some point—making Nate green as a Messiah 13 Alien with jealousy. 😛 –Jimmy)
They say “Ja-gwar.” 😛 (As any good English speaker would. –Jimmy)
How dare those kids mock JJ! (Indeed! Be glad he likes kids, or else he’d be the first robot arrested for murder. –Jimmy)
Ep1 ends with Godzilla march and Godzilla skeleton. Lots of intrigue. (The scientists on the Island want to study that skeleton quite badly, but it’s been a chore to get it moved here. Raymund Martin is waist-deep in litigation over it. –Jimmy)
We don’t get the proper theme song until ep2.
The old man’s speech when he launches JJ is very Darkwing Duck. JJ’s stubby legs are so funny! In this, he starts out as a small mech with a pilot. Then he has a mind of his own after a reboot. (Piloting Jet sounds kinda fun. Hmm…. –Jimmy)
JJ vs. Rodan!
Rodan crawls! (Like a certain Ghidorah…. –Jimmy)
I love this crazy, cranky old man.
I love Mei’s kawai kaiju phone cover.
What the–?! Who the heck is Hot Topic lady here? (Your new girlfriend, Nate? 😛 –Jimmy)
Oh my gosh! They’re merchandizing Rodan REALLY fast! (And those dolls are being sold at the Island’s gift shop. –Jimmy)
These early episodes feature a lot of researching. Reminds me of grad school and my job here on the Island.
Ep3 starts with narration again.
Mei never has the same outfit from one episode to the next.
Otaki Factory’s company car is a Cadillac?! (I approve. –Jimmy)
Mei has clothes on a clothesline? People still do that? (Apparently. –Jimmy)
“I’m afraid your laundry is no longer with us.” Ha!
Why are Rodans dropping dead?
Mei’s major is biologica fantastica. Interesting. (But does she go for English majors, Nate? 😛 –Jimmy)
Mei and Yun would’ve been natural fits at my alma mater. (We get it, Nate. You’re in love. 😛 –Jimmy)
“Godzilla” appears at the end of ep3. You know because of the music.
EE: Godzooki sticker?!
How can Mei afford to fly to Dubai? (Student loans. Lots of them. –Jimmy)
Yun just guessed there were bones in the basement?
Anguirus! He has the ability to defelct bullets. Named by a child who couldn’t say “ankylosaurs.” And is a fortune teller?
This show likes to end episodes with kaiju appearances.
Ep5 has Not-Gabara (Salunga).
The 3D and 2D animation actually integrate pretty well.
There are a lot of news reports.
Manda appears. (Mammoth snake).
JJ’s lower body was built in a hurry.
So, we have not-Titanosaurus replicating a scene from Reigo by jumping over the ship.
Godzilla’s arrival in ep7 reminds me of Shin Godzilla. (Varan?)
Asks the obvious question of whether future means anything if the future is set.
We have title drop in ep7!
The gelatin illustration is very Star Trek.
Does Revelation say 1/3 of the waters turn red? (It is one of the Ten Plagues, though).
“That puts the “oo” in “Cool.’”
Gojira or Godzilla?
Jet Jaguar can talk now—and he sounds like a kid. (I removed that feature from him. It was a bit creepy. –Jimmy)
Godzilla’s breath attack and “death” in ep8 is very Shin Godzilla.
Now the kids think JJ is cool. (#Irony. –Jimmy)
The story in this very much like Shin Godzilla: characters are trying to unravel and decipher a puzzle left by a scientist.
Not-Gabara isn’t dead?!
Lena must be adopted. She looks nothing like her dad.
Godzilla Ultima appears in ep10.
The Red Dust around Godzilla is basically radiation. He’s a walking disaster.
JJ rode a Rodan. I’ve seen everything. (It’s the most metal thing I’ve seen in a while. –Jimmy)
Shiva fits with the Stoic story about the gods covering up the inadequacies of man and starting over. (God and the Flood?)
I love that most of the creatures in this series are the more obscure kaiju in the Toho pantheon.
The Octagonal Diagonalizer is the Oxygen Destroyer.
INN News? Did Fox and CNN merge? (That’d be a confusing disaster. –Jimmy)
I get it. Jet’s AI reverted because everything is working backward.
The old man quotes Jurassic Park in the dub: “Hold on to your butts!” (I’m sure our competition loved it. –Jimmy)
Where’s the JJ with propellers toy?
Godzilla has fleas?! (He did in 1984. –Jimmy)
Jet Jaguar vs. Godzilla?! (Madness, I tell you! –Jimmy)
Atsushi Takahashi (director), Toh Enjoe (sci-fi writer and ex-physicist)
ENJOE: The first thing we were aiming for was to formulate a Godzilla story that is shown in animation through 13 weekly episodes. I originally joined not as the screenwriter but as a consultant for the science fiction aspects, so I mainly thought about how Godzilla could be actualized as a living creature. People are right when they say that Godzilla is symbolic of something, but I wanted to try reexamining what could be reexamined through the perspective of modern biology.
ENJOE: I suppose it might be the attitude of attempting an internally consistent work of fiction based on a hypothesis. In physics, you first start with a hypothesis, and if the results you end up with don’t match reality, the hypothesis is discarded. In fiction, you start with a concept, and if the story you end up with doesn’t match it, the concept is discarded.
ENJOE: I suppose it might be the attitude of attempting an internally consistent work of fiction based on a hypothesis. In physics, you first start with a hypothesis, and if the results you end up with don’t match reality, the hypothesis is discarded. In fiction, you start with a concept, and if the story you end up with doesn’t match it, the concept is discarded.
TAKAHASHI: I think there are many people who are aware of Godzilla, but there are surprisingly few who have sat down and watched a Japanese Godzilla film, much less all of them. I do wonder how many people have seen them all. If you’re one of the people who says you have, you’re a nerd in the minority. I hope that watching Godzilla SP gives you the motivation to sit down and watch the older Godzilla films. (In other words, you’re all a bunch of uber-nerds. –Jimmy)
ENJOE: I’m sure that there will be many people who say they can’t understand the sci-fi elements, but we’ve made it so that even if you don’t understand, you’ll be fine. Actually, the characters are smarter than me, so there are plenty of times when the logic they espouse is lost on me.
As I wrote in my previous blog:
The “Year of Gamera” continues next week with Gamera vs. Zigra, which will feature Kaiju Weekly co-host/MIFV MAX member Travis Alexander and now (because our previous guest vanished off the internet), kaiju author Neil Riebe. Nate isn’t a fan of this movie, but again I remind you a beautiful woman parades around in a bikini for a while! How can you complain? Then we have another first on the show: a Patreon-sponsored episode. Not only that, but that generous MIFV MAX member is joining us on the air: Eli Harris. The topic will be three episodes of Godzilla: The Series, specifically “New Family” parts one and two and his favorite episode, “Deadloch.”
The special crossover broadcast between MIFV and Kaiju Weekly on Godzilla: Singular Point went long. So long, in fact, Nate wasn’t able to share his research on quantum mechanics. Their “Amalgam Universe” fusion wasn’t quite absolute. Well, I should say he wasn’t able to share our research. I did 97% of it since, you know, I worked at NASA. But as Nate said during the broadcast, he’s “the best three-percenter” we know. (I kid, by the way. Nate spent several hours researching, and he consulted with me and the other scientists on Monster Island).
So, as a supplement to this special episode (which will be out Wednesday on both the Kaiju Weekly and Monster Island Film Vault feeds), I’m presenting that research. I think it explains quantum mechanics pretty well for a layman and sheds a little light on Singular Point. It’ll hopefully make the series a bit easier to understand and increase your appreciation for it. Toh Enjoe, the screenwriter, is a former physicist, and that background is definitely apparent in this wonderful series.
Anyway, like I said, the episode drops Wednesday. Enjoy!
NOTE: All bullets in quotes are lifted directly from the listed sources. All others are paraphrases.
Richard Feynmann, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics, said, “If you think you understand quantum physics, you don’t understand quantum physics.”
However, has helped us develop technologies like computers, digital cameras, LED screens, lasers, and nuclear power plants.
Basically, everything works with quantum physics.
“It’s right there in the name– the word “quantum” comes from the Latin for “how much” and reflects the fact that quantum models always involve something coming in discrete amounts.”
“Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.[2]:1.1 It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.”
“Classical physics, the description of physics that existed before the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, while quantum mechanics explains the aspects of nature at small (atomic and subatomic) scales, for which classical mechanics is insufficient. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.[3]”
“In classical mechanics, objects exist in a specific place at a specific time. However, in quantum mechanics, objects instead exist in a haze of probability; they have a certain chance of being at point A, another chance of being at point B and so on.”
“Quantum mechanics (QM) developed over many decades, beginning as a set of controversial mathematical explanations of experiments that the math of classical mechanics could not explain. It began at the turn of the 20th century, around the same time that Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity, a separate mathematical revolution in physics that describes the motion of things at high speeds. Unlike relativity, however, the origins of QM cannot be attributed to any one scientist.”
The three principles of quantum mechanics, which gained acceptance between 1900 and 1930:
“Quantized properties: Certain properties, such as position, speed and color, can sometimes only occur in specific, set amounts, much like a dial that “clicks” from number to number. This challenged a fundamental assumption of classical mechanics, which said that such properties should exist on a smooth, continuous spectrum. To describe the idea that some properties “clicked” like a dial with specific settings, scientists coined the word ‘quantized.’”
“In 1900, German physicist Max Planck sought to explain the distribution of colors emitted over the spectrum in the glow of red-hot and white-hot objects, such as light-bulb filaments. When making physical sense of the equation he had derived to describe this distribution, Planck realized it implied that combinations of only certain colors (albeit a great number of them) were emitted, specifically those that were whole-number multiples of some base value. Somehow, colors were quantized! This was unexpected because light was understood to act as a wave, meaning that values of color should be a continuous spectrum. What could be forbidding atoms from producing the colors between these whole-number multiples? This seemed so strange that Planck regarded quantization as nothing more than a mathematical trick.”
“Planck’s equation also contained a number that would later become very important to future development of QM; today, it’s known as ‘Planck’s Constant.’”
“Particles of light: Light can sometimes behave as a particle. This was initially met with harsh criticism, as it ran contrary to 200 years of experiments showing that light behaved as a wave; much like ripples on the surface of a calm lake. Light behaves similarly in that it bounces off walls and bends around corners, and that the crests and troughs of the wave can add up or cancel out. Added wave crests result in brighter light, while waves that cancel out produce darkness. A light source can be thought of as a ball on a stick being rhythmically dipped in the center of a lake. The color emitted corresponds to the distance between the crests, which is determined by the speed of the ball’s rhythm.”
“In 1905, Einstein published a paper, “Concerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light,” in which he envisioned light traveling not as a wave, but as some manner of “energy quanta.” This packet of energy, Einstein suggested, could “be absorbed or generated only as a whole,” specifically when an atom “jumps” between quantized vibration rates. This would also apply, as would be shown a few years later, when an electron “jumps” between quantized orbits. Under this model, Einstein’s “energy quanta” contained the energy difference of the jump; when divided by Planck’s constant, that energy difference determined the color of light carried by those quanta.”
“Roughly two decades after Einstein’s paper, the term “photon” was popularized for describing energy quanta, thanks to the 1923 work of Arthur Compton, who showed that light scattered by an electron beam changed in color. This showed that particles of light (photons) were indeed colliding with particles of matter (electrons), thus confirming Einstein’s hypothesis. By now, it was clear that light could behave both as a wave and a particle, placing light’s “wave-particle duality” into the foundation of QM.”
“Waves of matter: Matter can also behave as a wave. This ran counter to the roughly 30 years of experiments showing that matter (such as electrons) exists as particles.”
These aren’t physical waves, though. It’s an abstract mathematical description. In other words, no one knows if it’s real because no one has seen a quantum wave. All we see is an electron particle. This barrier in knowledge between the quantum realm and our world is called a measurement barrier.
The Double Slit experiment: Think of firing a paintball gun at a wall with two slits. You expect to see two lines on the back wall thanks to the slits. Quantum wavelengths enter those slits and then split off into new waves, creating multiple lines.
“Also in 1927, Heisenberg made another major contribution to quantum physics. He reasoned that since matter acts as waves, some properties, such as an electron’s position and speed, are “complementary,” meaning there’s a limit (related to Planck’s constant) to how well the precision of each property can be known. Under what would come to be called “Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle,” it was reasoned that the more precisely an electron’s position is known, the less precisely its speed can be known, and vice versa. This uncertainty principle applies to everyday-size objects as well, but is not noticeable because the lack of precision is extraordinarily tiny. According to Dave Slaven of Morningside College (Sioux City, IA), if a baseball’s speed is known to within a precision of 0.1 mph, the maximum precision to which it is possible to know the ball’s position is 0.000000000000000000000000000008 millimeters.”
“In 1927, Paul Dirac applied a quantum understanding of electric and magnetic fields to give rise to the study of “quantum field theory” (QFT), which treated particles (such as photons and electrons) as excited states of an underlying physical field.”
“Since the breakthrough of renormalization, QFT has served as the foundation for developing quantum theories about the four fundamental forces of nature: 1) electromagnetism, 2) the weak nuclear force, 3) the strong nuclear force and 4) gravity. The first insight provided by QFT was a quantum description of electromagnetism through “quantum electrodynamics” (QED), which made strides in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Next was a quantum description of the weak nuclear force, which was unified with electromagnetism to build “electroweak theory” (EWT) throughout the 1960s. Finally came a quantum treatment of the strong nuclear force using “quantum chromodynamics” (QCD) in the 1960s and 1970s. The theories of QED, EWT and QCD together form the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics. Unfortunately, QFT has yet to produce a quantum theory of gravity. That quest continues today in the studies of string theory and loop quantum gravity.”
“There’s lots of places to start this sort of discussion, and this is as good as any: everything in the universe has both particle and wave nature, at the same time. There’s a line in Greg Bear’s fantasy duology (The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage), where a character describing the basics of magic says “All is waves, with nothing waving, over no distance at all.”
“One of the most surprising and (historically, at least) controversial aspects of quantum physics is that it’s impossible to predict with certainty the outcome of a single experiment on a quantum system. When physicists predict the outcome of some experiment, the prediction always takes the form of a probability for finding each of the particular possible outcomes, and comparisons between theory and experiment always involve inferring probability distributions from many repeated experiments.”
“The mathematical description of a quantum system typically takes the form of a “wavefunction,” generally represented in equations by the Greek letter psi: Ψ.”
“In either class of foundational model, the probability of finding an outcome is not given directly by the wavefunction, but by the square of the wavefunction … This is known as the “Born Rule” after German physicist Max Born who first suggested this (in a footnote to a paper in 1926), and strikes some people as an ugly ad hoc addition.”
Einstein’s EPR paper and “entanglement”:
“The EPR paper argued that quantum physics allowed the existence of systems where measurements made at widely separated locations could be correlated in ways that suggested the outcome of one was determined by the other. They argued that this meant the measurement outcomes must be determined in advance, by some common factor, because the alternative would require transmitting the result of one measurement to the location of the other at speeds faster than the speed of light. Thus, quantum mechanics must be incomplete, a mere approximation to some deeper theory (a “local hidden variable” theory, one where the results of a particular measurement do not depend on anything farther away from the measurement location than a signal could travel at the speed of light (“local”), but are determined by some factor common to both systems in an entangled pair (the “hidden variable”)).”
“This was regarded as an odd footnote for about thirty years, as there seemed to be no way to test it, but in the mid-1960’s the Irish physicist John Bell worked out the consequences of the EPR paper in greater detail. Bell showed that you can find circumstances in which quantum mechanics predicts correlations between distant measurements that are stronger than any possible theory of the type preferred by E, P, and R. This was tested experimentally in the mid-1970’s by John Clauser, and a series of experiments by Alain Aspect in the early 1980’s is widely considered to have definitively shown that these entangled systems cannot possibly be explained by any local hidden variable theory.”
Quantum tunneling: when a wavelength passes through a barrier, is degrades. If the barrier is narrow enough, it may still exist on the other side. Protons have a chance of existing on the other side. We’re alive because of it. This is what makes the sun shine. Protons normally repel each other, but they have a small chance of tunneling, which turns hydrogen into helium and releases fusion energy.
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.
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?
I’m amazed we weren’t bombarded with e-mails and DM’s calling me crazy. Why? Sayonara Jupiter isn’t exactly a classic for tokusatsu fans, but I love the damn film. Marchand can joke all he wants about it only being because of the infamous zero gravity sex scene or because it was dedicated everyone from my former employer—which means it was dedicated to me. And let me tell you, I wasn’t the only one at NASA who tried zero G lovemaking. However, I will tell you that, as John Varley showed in his novel Titan, it takes great care and every move must be planned. Otherwise, you risk a concussion, and that would kill the mood. I speak from experience.
(Poor Maggie. She dumped me the next day at the infirmary for that. Served me right).
Anyway, as usual with Nate’s scripted episodes, I don’t have many notes since he consults with me before going on the air, especially with a space film like this. I do have the leftover notes from his research, though. Here they are:
Solar System Weekly magazine. They still thought paper mags would be a thing in 150 years. (I still have a subscription. –Jimmy)
There’s a lot of English being spoken in this. (It’s a very international film. Also, English is already the trade language on Earth, so it makes sense it would be in space. –Jimmy)
Blatant product placement for Coke in zero G! (And I still prefer Pepsi. –Jimmy)
Loves long sequences of the spaceships. And odd cinematography at weird angles. (Beautiful. –Jimmy)
Also, Zoids! (You mean “droids”? 😛 –Jimmy)
The woman knows a little Japanese. And she speaks it perfectly.
Characters switch between English and Japanese and still understand each other. Proto-Final Wars. Star Wars. (Two words: universal translator. –Jimmy)
Ha! American watches Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. Honda watched a samurai movie. (That’s a popular film in NASA. –Jimmy)
Hmm. That’s a clever logo. Many meanings.
Why do the old ladies dress like they’re from ‘50s? (Because they’re old? 😛 –Jimmy)
There’s some strange parallelism between the protester attack and GT3HM. (Which is weird. –Jimmy)
Hirata appears. He has a mustache.
Of course Honda grabs the cute terrorist and takes her away. In a slo-mo hall scene. Well, they know each other, at least.
Space Arrow. (I love this ship. Not as much as other ships, but it’s still excellent engineering. –Jimmy)
The ship’s AI is named Navajo. Okay…. (The combat AI was named “Tom A. Hawk. 😛 –Jimmy)
Oh no. A photo of his family. He’s dead.
The scale of these miniatures aren’t quite as convincing as American sci-fi films.
Is the Jupiter Ghost ship the dark spot? It’s 120 KM long—3/4 of a mile!
There are several interracial romances between Japanese and westerners in this. (You can thank Nick Adams and Glen for that. J -Jimmy)
What’s happening with this red wormhole thing? Where’d it come from? (Amusing that computer screams “Wake up”). Later established to be a black hole. (Shouldn’t it be a “red hole”? –Jimmy)
The Japanese actors speak surprisingly good English.
Einstein City? Where’s that? (The moon. –Jimmy)
‘80s-style retro-future. (Reminds me of my youth. –Jimmy)
Hippy Jesus gets a music video?
These people hardly seem like terrorists. (That’s what terrorists want you to think! –Jimmy)
Some of the acting is subpar. Mostly the westerners.
Pills that give you courage without side effects? That’s an interesting drug. Placebo? (The pill is a lie. –Jimmy)
“Neo-retro.” (Good one, Nate. –Jimmy)
What’s with the graffiti on the walls of the control room? (Freedom of expression is encouraged in NASA. Sometimes. –Jimmy)
I don’t get Carlos’s weird love for Jupiter. He wants to give it a “perfect death.”
Crewman named Tanaka. Another homage?
They have a warp core?
I get the feeling the conflicting theme here is whether humanity has the right to destroy a planet to save themselves. Destroy part of nature to save themselves.
Eiji says he’ll “turn to gas” to protect the solar system. (All matter can become gas at the right temperatures. That sounded unintentionally frightening. –Jimmy)
One guy—a westerner—gets excited at the end, but everyone else is somber. Probably for the deaths and other sacrifices.
Eiji and his lover get graves on an asteroid. Carlos asks for one next to him. Millie says she’s tired of making graves for those she loves. A statement celebrating life.
First scene based on images from Voyager 1 and 2 of Mars.
The Jupiter Church scenes were filmed in Okinawa.
Says the Jupiter Ghost was a lifeform?! So, it’s a kaiju?! It was a massive model.
Found the theory about solarizing a planet to be “romantic.”
Komtasu wrote the novel and created the studio Io to make the film.
Hashimoto whispered to Komatsu just before starting filming: “Komatsu-san, I hope we stay in the planning stages forever.” (That would drive me crazy! I like results and enjoying the fruits of my labor. –Jimmy)
The same special effects system used for Star Wars, Motion Control System (MCS) was requested, but the staff was inexperienced with it and had to learn it. They even had a “top secret” robot cameraman called “Abbot” that required the operator to spend a day at lecture and training to learn its computer system.
First Japanese film to use computer graphics.
The miniature designers also worked on Macross and Gundam.
Several sources say Gorath eventually led to this film. (That damn rogue star still gives me nightmares! –Jimmy)
Considered making this into an anime first.
Director Tezuka modeled all his scientist characters after Komatsu.
Yuko Weisser says a theater group he was in called Forest of Muses (Muse No Mori) made their own stage version of the film subtitled End of Miyazu. It featured yakuza clan trying to explode Jupiter. The clan’s ladies were the main characters.
And now my Jimmy’s Notes on Toho classics comes to end. But now I get to write them as part of MIFV’s “Godzilla Redux.” Which means we eventually get to discuss my “man crush,” as Marchand puts it, Nick Adams again!
Next week Nate continues the “Year of Gamera” with Gamera vs. Jiger, an episode that will feature podcaster and writer Ben Avery. Then the aforementioned “Godzilla Redux” begins with the original 1954 classic, Godzilla, directed by Ishiro Honda.
