Hello, kaiju lovers!
This week’s episode is a “traditional” mini-analysis of Latitude Zero, an almost obscure 1969 Toho science fiction film directed by Ishiro Honda, who probably had to take a dip in the “Bath of Immunity” to endure the stress of making it. To say it was harrowing would be an understatement. This strange American/Japanese co-production has a troubled history full of clashing sensibilities and creative differences (which you can hear more about in MIFV episode six). However, the main topic of the episode is the concept of utopia because Latitude Zero seems to be a rare example in fiction of a successful one. Spoiler warning: Nathan doesn’t buy it.
Afterward, Nathan and Jimmy are visited by the Monster Island Board of Directors’ executive assistant, Ms. Perkins, who is the Island’s head of PR. She wanted to discuss recent “fake news” being spread by Jimmy From NASA and also announce the Board’s decision on Nathan’s proposals for season two of MIFV. All this plus listener feedback!
This episode features Celeste Mora as Ms. Perkins (Twitter: @VOCelesteMora).
The song heard in the episode is “Opening the Way” by Pablo Coma, which is a remix from the video game Shadow of the Colossus. It is from the OCRemix album, BadAss Boss Themes: Volume III.
The episode thumbnail was created by Michael Hamilton.
We’d like to give a shout-out to our Patreon 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), and Bex from Redeemed Otaku! Thanks for your support!
You, too, can support us on Patreon and get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month!
This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.
Read Jimmy’s Notes on this episode.
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Bibliography/Further Reading:
- “The Ambiguous Necessity of Utopia: Post-Colonial Literatures and the Persistence of Hope” by Bill Ashcroft (Social Alternatives, Vol. 28 No.3, 2009)
- The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982 by John LeMay
- The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (Mutated Edition) by John LeMay
- “Dystopia: Who Needs It?” by Adrian Mourby (History Today; Dec 2003; 53, 12; ProQuest Research Library, pg. 16)
- Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godzisewski
- Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of 103 Features Released in the United States 1950-1992 by Stuart Galbraith IV
- Kaijuvision Radio – Episode 52: Latitude Zero (1969) (The South China Sea Disputes)
- Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda by Peter H. Brothers
- “News from Somewhere: Enhanced Sociability and the Composite Definition of Utopia and Dystopia” by Gregory Claeys (The Journal of the Historical Association)
- “Pragmatism, Utopia and Anti-Utopia” by Ruth Levitas (Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory 9.1, May 2008, 42–59)
- “The problem with utopia” by Michael Shermer (This Week and Aeon)
- Utopia by Thomas More
- “Utopia isn’t just idealistic fantasy – it inspires people to change the world” by Heather Alberro (The Conversation)
- “Utopian Fiction as Moral Philosophy; Imagination and Critique” by Roger J. H. King (Utopian Studies, No. 3 (1991), pp. 72-78)
- Writing Giant Monsters by John LeMay
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