Nate survived another harrowing year on Monster Island, and now it’s time to renegotiate his contract. But he’s shocked to learn that, while he was sleeping, the Island’s security systems failed, allowing multiple kaiju to escape back to their home countries. Even with the Legal Action Team on his case, Nate and Jimmy can’t avoid having the Board mandate that they spend a year chasing down these monsters in Uber-Moguera and return them to the Island. Indignant and obsessive, Nate goes to confront the Island’s “zookeeper,” whom he suspects is on the Board’s payroll—and things don’t go how he expected.
We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); executive producer Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, Ted Williams, Wynja the Ninja, Brad “Batman” Eddleman, Christopher Riner, The Indiscrite One, Eli Harris, Bex from Redeemed Otaku; Jake Hambrick, Edwin Gonzalez, Matt Walsh (but not that Matt Walsh), and Jonathan Courtright! Thanks for your support!
“Sixty-nine, dudes!” That’s the first thing that comes to my mind reflecting back on this episode. I thought Nate’s personality was huge. Having the Jaconetti brothers on overwhelming. I was amused watching poor Nate try to keep up. That might explain why my notes are short for episode 69: I was too entertained to write as much. Regardless, let’s see what I have.
Nate was thinking of a Blue Hawaii, not a Blue Mountain. He doesn’t drink coffee. (This was pointed out by Luke).
Venus does trigger me…but I can’t complain about Wakabayashi. What (straight) man would? But obviously, I’m more partial to Kumi Mizuno…because reasons.
I used to watch Everyone Loves Mechani-Kong every week as a kid. His “brother,” Mechagodzilla, was always jealous of him because his father, Dr. Who, liked the robo-ape more. 😛
I knew I’d need the dump button (aka Jet) for this episode with them Jaconetti boys. Sometimes the muzzle slips off their mouths.
MY BROTHER IS DEAD!!! (I was PTSD-ing a bit at the time).
I’m definitely playing “Fazers” in the Monster Zero episode. (Except I didn’t. Oops).
My off-air language? SLANDER! No, it’s true. People think sailors are foul-mouthed. You should hear space sailors (that’s what “astronaut” literally means) like me. We’d make seamen blush.
Here’s Nate’s research. As you’ll see, the Jaconetti brothers dominated the conversation so much, he didn’t get to a lot of it.
Hello, kaiju lovers! Today them Jaconetti boys, Luke and Jason, join Nate for the latest entry in “Godzilla Redux”: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. This was Toho’s third kaiju film in the momentous year of 1964 and their second Godzilla film that year. As Luke puts it, it’s The Avengers (2012) of Toho kaiju, where several monsters who debuted in solo films come together to face a common alien enemy. It’s a momentous turning point for the franchise: Godzilla and Rodan have their “face turns,” and it’s the first appearance of Godzilla’s archnemesis, the three-headed golden space dragon himself, King Ghidorah. Get ready for a lively, nostalgic discussion riddled with pro-wrestling references!
Before the broadcast, Nate is met by Jessica at his new mega-office. During their argument (what’d you expect?), Gary comes in along with a beautiful mystery woman, whom Jessica immediately hates. Later, Nate returns to his office where he argues with Jessica again, only for Gary to come begging for help—just as the mystery woman reveals herself to be a Bug Lady from the Church of Mothrianity!
Barr, Jason. The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema’s Biggest Monsters.
Brothers, Peter H. Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda.
Commentary by David Kalat (Classic Media DVD)
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.
Kaijuvision Radio, Episode 10: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) (Nuclear China, Japan during the Vietnam War) (https://youtu.be/ScVd3XzKoZg).
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.
Ryfle, Steve, and Ed Godziszewski. Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa.
(FYI: THIS EPISODE IS BEST EXPERIENCED WHILE WATCHING THE WAR IN SPACE. See the link below for a website to stream it). With the KIJU studio in Earth orbit, Nate is awakened by WHGIII via video chat. But the “union jackwagon” defers to his bosses, the president and vice president of the Monster Island Board of Directors—who are none other than Commander Hell and the Kilaak Queen! After they and the rest of the Board gloat over shooting Nate into space, they unveil their plan to finally break MIFV’s noble host—make him watch Toho’s Star Wars knockoff, The War in Space! In a desperate attempt to get himself home, Nate makes a bet with the Board: if he survives the movie, they bring him back to Earth. He then invokes his contract and requests two guest hosts: Joe Metter—and MIFV’s intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA! What follows is a riff track of Mystery Science Theater 3000 proportions! Can Nate survive bootleg Star Wars with two of his best friends? Find out in MIFV’s second anniversary riff track spectacular!
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.
We’ve reached the point where the “Year of Gamera” gets even goofier—and where Nate begins to miss seeing the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes even more. He’s joined by returning guest, Earth Destruction Directive host Luke Jaconetti, and newcomer/MSTie Greg Meyer to discuss Gamera vs. Guiron. The “Kennys” get more precocious and useless (Tom is dead inside). The monsters get more outlandish (Guiron is Knifehead, anyone?). And the villains get … shapely jumpsuits? Listen as Nate, Luke, and Greg connect this movie to Chronicles of Narnia and Barbarella, among other things, and muse about their favorite riffs from the MST3K episode. Nate’s descent into madness continues.
The Toku Topic is the First Traffic War in Japan. It may sound like a forgotten Transformers storyline, but it’s actually a time period when car accidents increased dramatically in the Land of the Rising Sun. Hence why Akio is obsessed with making a world “without wars or traffic accidents” in this movie.
Beforehand, Nate is visited by Jessica Shaw, his pseudo-sister clone, and she tells him she’s bringing Luke and Greg with her first tour group, who will then watch their live broadcast. Then afterward, the infamous Terran spacewomen, Flobella and Barbella, come to Earth to kidnap Gamera—but not if Monster Island’s own magical girl superheroine, Crystal Lady (aka Jessica), has anything to say about it!
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
Flower, James. “A Guide to English Language Gamera” (Arrow Video Gamera: The Complete Collection).
Galbraith IV, Stuart. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of 103 Features Released in the United States 1950-1992.
Gamera: The Complete Collection, Disc Three Special Features.
Gamera vs. Guiron Commentary by David Kalat (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
Hayahawa, Hiroshi; Fischbeck, Paul S.; Fischhoff. “Traffic accident statistics and risk perceptions in Japan and the United States.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, no. 32 2000, p. 827–835
LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982.
Macias, Patrick. “A History of Gamera: Gamera vs. Guiron” (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
Milner, David. “Interview with Noriaki Yuasa” (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
Oguchi, Takashi. “Achieving safe road traffic — the experience in Japan.” IATSS Research, no. 39, 2016, p. 110–116.
After spending last week helping Nathan fight a PR war that makes my flame wars look like playground scuffles, I’ve finally finished my Jimmy’s Notes blog. Thankfully, we did have some content last week with a third bonus episode.
As you’d expect, being a former NASA engineer, I had a lot to say about Nathan and Luke’s discussion of Battle in Outer Space. Some of this I wish I’d brought up on the air. (I’ve been slacking off on that lately. This should be remedied). Anyway, that’s because Battle is the middle entry in Toho’s “pseudo-trilogy” (the first being The Mysterians), and is one of my favorite Toho tokusatsu films. Although, some of these bullet points were assignments given to me on the air by Nathan, so I’m contractually obligated to research them (something else I should try to do on the air more).
Ambrose Bierce is the author of the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
The Japanese title for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep actually translates as “Big Duel in the South Sea,” not, “north sea,” Luke.
Okay. Ignore the third entry in the “pseudo-trilogy.” It’s only subtitled “The Jimmy From NASA Story.” 😛
Just to clarify: Nathan wasn’t saying The Mysterians took place in 1965. He was saying Battle in Outer Space took place in 1965. There seemed to be a little confusion.
Nathan and Nick (Hayden) talk about gaishan, which seems to be somewhat similar to nimowashi, in episode 6. (I hope I spelled those right).
The Sears Tower is now called the Willis Tower.
Did Luke make a Freudian slip and say, “Nude Japan Wrestling,” and not, “New Japan Wrestling”?! That’d be, well, a whole other promotion. That hopefully is just about getting back to how the Romans wrestled back in the day….
It’s hard to say if gravity and absolute zero are connected. Absolute zero, from what I can gather, is more of a mathematical concept than a scientific one. It’s never been achieved and probably can’t. Some say gravity isn’t affected by temperature while others say gravity would cause some release of energy, which creates heat as a byproduct and prevents absolute zero from being reached. It’s all theory, and this film was based on now outdated science (as Nathan pointed out). You can read more about gravity here.
One day, I will have the P-1 in my garage. It’s second only to the Gohten for me, and I can’t get that one, either. You’d think one of the people who helped build it and now has a huge garage to house it would have enough clout to acquire it. Oh well.
It’s “Takarada” not “Hakarada,” and “Kubo” and not “Kube,” Luke. 😛
Wow, Nathan was way off with Yoshio Tsuchiya’s filmography. He was in 1954’s The Invisible Man (Toho), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Varan the Unbelievable (1958), and The H-Man (1958). Mind you, he played minor roles, but still, he did have tokusatsu credits between The Mysterians and Battle in Outer Space.
Yes. NASA has the memory of a goldfish when it comes to the Gohten. Or have I fallen into a bizarre parallel universe? 😛
Why don’t I work at JAXA? It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you over a few drinks. Or after a few drinks. Maybe.
Luke and I had a good time in Malaysia. We stopped at this little “hole in the wall” restaurant in Kuala Lumpur where he tried some teh tarik and nasi lemak. We had to hightail it out of there because of…local trouble. (There are reasons I said during Nathan’s stream Friday that I’m not allowed some countries…).
Nathan’s Leftover Notes
It’s interesting hearing the foreign news reports “dubbed” in Japanese.
The stuff with Dr. Achmed is very X-Files-ish.
We see reps from India, F.R. Germany, Canada, and the Philippines. All dubbed in Japanese. The Canadian was played by actor frequently seen in Toho films. Terrible actors. (Japanese rep is Ryo Ikebe from Varan).
S250 = adamantium?
You know, these aliens blew up a space station, and you’re wondering if they’re peaceful. Just saying.
It’s a Walther PPK!
Give him the gun. Surrender. Then take it back and take a hostage? What?!
Did the ship just fly away after zapping Dr. Achmed? Was he teleported or vaporized? (Teleporters are dicey technology, let me tell you. -Jimmy)
How’d they figure out all this stuff about the Natal between scenes? (They read the script. -Jimmy)
Jimmy built a model of the SPIP as a kid. (Yes, that is true. –Jimmy)
Somehow, the g-forces are more intense than that. Is one guy stretching his face with his hands to simulate it? Their grimacing faces, says Galbraith, were a clichéd prediction that proved groundless. (G-force is something to scoff at, man! I should know. That’s why the Gohten was designed to resist it. -Jimmy)
Cool transition from shot of Earth to the moon.
Iwamura just magically breaks free, huh?
Ifukube’s music helps make these long sequences of exploring the moon go by faster.
The Natal base looks like siren.
The music when the SPIP crew attacks the base would be reused later in Godzilla films and become synonymous with it.
Dude has a rifle that can take out a Natal fighter! (I want this gun. For scientific purposes. -Jimmy)
Like Shiraishi, who served the Mysterians, Iwamura finds redemption in heroic sacrifice.
“Scientists lead the way.”
When the SPIP returns, the characters vanish.
The world comes together to pool its resources to build a combat rocket. Houses in Space Center in Texas. Houston? (That’s a nice place. I liked hanging out there. No problem. 😛 -Jimmy)
There is a little regret expressed over putting humans in rockets built for war. Very Japanese and Honda.
A Natal ship was in the office of the UFO Club president in Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. (That guy is nuts! 😛 -Jimmy)
I could see this getting remade. Perhaps with better character work.
The futuristic space center was actually the recently built Japan National Sports Center.
Tsuburaya reused the Mysterian ship models for the Natal.
His Notes from the Ishiro Honda Biography
This marked Honda’s abrupt transition from a two-track film career to exclusively genre films.
“We tried making this film different in several ways. The Mysterians was a bit more fantastic in concept, so rather than filming with attention to realism, we made a lot of bright colors…In [Battle], our big point was to realistically portray how people would respond to an alien invasion. We simulated a real invasion.” –Assistant Director Koji Kajita
Given that The Mysterians was high on plot and this is high on action and thin characters, does this make it a prototype Heisei film? 😛
The film was released three weeks before the controversial Security Treaty (AMPO) was updated. This is reflected with American and Japanese astronaut crews. It’s also seen in this idealized world where the whole anti-Natal project is centered in Tokyo, showing Japan as an international player.
Real world science is in the film. The gravity beam was based on an article in a science journal that said an object’s gravitational pull could be negated at absolute zero. The spacesuits were modeled after cosmonaut suits. The rocket fighters were inspired by X-15’s, which had been unveiled by the U.S. in June 1959 (six months before the film’s release).
Honda and Tsuburaya cut some corners because of budget constraints. The attacks on Venice and the Panama Canal were illustrated unconvincingly instead of being depicted. On the other hand, the flying saucer attack on the moon was a less ambitious scene in the script. I guess they just allocated funds from one thing to another.
Toho’s founder died in 1957, and the studio was controlled more by the massive Hankyu Corporation, which had a stronger focus on the bottom line. This led to tighter budgets (as seen during the filming of Battle in Outer Space), and a greater focus on genre pictures due to their popularity. Honda would leave behind the dramas and light comedies he’d been making.
His Notes from Stuart Galbraith IV’s Book
Astronaut hats look like shower caps.
American editors removed the crowd’s line of “Banzai!” (Probably because of Japanese suicide soldiers).
Says the film exceeds American invasion films in showmanship and visual excitement.
His Leftover Space Race Notes:
“Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for “traveler”), the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile–seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space–made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.” (History.com)
Japan:
“Japanese space development was started by Tokyo University professor Hideo Itokawa. Many aeronautical engineers lost their jobs after World War II as aircraft development was banned under the US Occupation of Japan. This changed after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, which once again allowed the development of aviation technology. The seven-year stagnation of Japan’s aerospace industry had seriously harmed Japanese technical abilities.[1][2] To address this, Itokawa established an aviation research group at the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo. This institution succeeded in a horizontal launch of the Pencil Rocket on 12 April 1955 in Kokubunji, Tokyo. The dimensions of the rocket were 23 cm (9.1 in) in length by 1.8 cm (0.71 in) in diameter.[3] [4]” (Wikipedia)
“Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)…was formed on 1 October 2003. … Before the merger, ISAS was responsible for space and planetary research, while NAL was focused on aviation research. NASDA, which was founded on 1 October 1969, had developed rockets, satellites, and also built the Japanese Experiment Module. The old NASDA headquarters were located at the current site of the Tanegashima Space Center, on Tanegashima Island, 115 kilometers south of Kyūshū. NASDA also trained the Japanese astronauts who flew with the US Space Shuttles.[6]” (Wikipedia).
This was fun. But then again, I’m a sucker for space movies.
Join us next week when Bex from Redeemed Otaku discusses Rebirth of Mothra with Nathan in the first of a sub-series of episodes we’re calling “The Summer of Mothra.”
Today’s episode is a little different. Think of it as an extended “mini-analysis.” It’s also the first film MIFV has covered that features no kaiju. Luke Jaconetti, the host of the Earth Destruction Directive podcast (and owner of an impossible-to-spell surname), joins Nathan to discuss the film featuring everyone not working on The Three Treasures in 1959: Battle in Outer Space. The podcast’s producer, Jimmy From NASA, loves this film because it’s the second entry in what he calls a “pseudo-trilogy.” After Luke recounts his globetrotting adventure getting to Monster Island despite worldwide travel bans, he and Nathan discuss how what this film lacks in character it more than makes up for with showmanship and spectacle. It was a snapshot of the world at the beginning of the Space Race and the Cold War. They connect it to films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Star Wars, and even Toy Story 2! They also discuss whether or not the invading aliens, the Natal, could be interpreted as an anti-American commentary.
Are you stuck in quarantine? Enjoy some quality entertainment and enlightenment through this tokusatsu epic!
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
