I never do anything half-hearted. It’s the strength and weakness of being an extroverted, Type-A, nerdy guy. MIFV (and my other podcasts, for that matter) are closer to a hobby than a “job,” but I treat them with the same level of professionalism I would as a teacher or a writer, which are my typical vocations. I’m huge on sticking to deadlines and giving my listeners consistent, high-quality content. I take that seriously.
Unfortunately, life, uh, found a way to make that consistency difficult the last few months. There are several reasons for that: my day job requiring more time than I expected and co-hosting two other shows, among other things. Through it all, I refused to ask for help. As Queen sang, “I want it all!” It was only as MIFV fell more and more behind and I got offers for assistance from friends that I started accepting it. By then, it was piling up. As it stands, I’ve hired a friend to edit the main portions of several episodes while I work on the next one–episode 62 on The Blob–and cut together the drama segments.
But after more than a month and a bit of money, I keep running into setbacks and moving the goalpost for my release schedule. I hate it. I hate it because I feel like I’m letting you, my listeners, down. I hate it because I don’t want to, as they say, “pod-fade” like I’ve seen others do. If I can get myself back on track and on schedule, I can ride the momentum that comes with that routine. Otherwise, I’m beyond frustrated. I’m sitting on some great material that is almost finished, and I desperately want to share it with all of you. MIFV has a reputation for scholarship, entertainment value, and high-quality audio. While I’ve never released an episode I would call “perfect,” I strive to maintain the standards I and my listeners have come to expect.
All of this to say, while the last few weeks have been more frustrating than fun in MIFV production, I’m not giving up. I’m too stubborn and determined to do that. You’ll be getting a steady deluge of backlogged episodes soon. Then we can get back to our regularly, well, scheduled exploits. I only ask that you be patient.
Also, if you’re the praying type, I could really use some of those as well. Thank you!
Welcome to MIFV’s season finale, kaiju lovers—it wasn’t what it was supposed to be! No, after the Board’s envoy, William H. George III, stunguns the ever-intrepid Jimmy From NASA, he takes over as producer and forces Nate, Travis Alexander (co-host of Kaiju Weekly and Henshin Men), and Daniel DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project) to watch the infamous 1977 Canadian-but-actually-Italian kaiju movie, Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century. Though Nate survived watching it during Kaiju Quarantine, he’s still unprepared for inflatable abominable snowman nipples and deadly “toe-fu.” The riffs and jokes abound amidst actual research as WHG3 gets drunker—and more Scottish?!—as the episode progresses. God(zilla) help Nate!
This episode’s prologue, “The Board’s Revenge,” was written by Nathan Marchand with Travis Alexander, Michael Hamilton, and Daniel DiManna.
Guest stars:
Michael Hamilton as William H. George III
Additional music:
“Opening the Way” by Pablo Coma
Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org and Toho foley.
We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (co-hosts of Kaiju Weekly); Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Eli Harris (elizilla13); Chris Cooke (host of One Cross Radio); Bex from Redeemed Otaku; Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Elijah Thomas, and Eric Anderson! Thanks for your support!
You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month!
I (Nathan) am the “kaiju guy” now, but I used to be the “superhero guy.” Now thanks to Travis from Kaiju Weekly, I’ve combined both! This is a promo for our new spinoff podcast, The Henshin Men, a tokusatsu superhero appreciation podcast dedicated to high-flying and high-kicking adventures of Japan’s transforming, kaiju-fighting heroes!
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.
Listen as Nathan Marchand, co-creator and season one co-host of the Kaijuvision Radio, regales you with the origin story of his new podcast. It includes a vacation to a resort on the fabled Monster Island (formerly Monsterland), where he met his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA (who miraculously survived the infamous War in Space), and got a new job as the curator of the Island’s film vault. Between bantering sessions with his detail-obsessed, fact-checking interrupter of a producer, Nathan explains the podcast’s philosophy of film appreciation and lays the groundwork for the upcoming episodes.
And what will Nathan,
Jimmy, and their many guests be discussing first? The filmography of Monster
Island’s other most famous resident: KING KONG!
Hold onto your butts!
The Monster Island Film Vault: A podcast seeking entertainment and enlightenment through tokusatsu.
If you finished binge-listening to my first podcast, Kaijuvision Radio, which I wrote about last week, here some more kaiju content from me!
I’ve appeared on several other podcasts as a guest before, during, and after my time on KVR. I discussed multiple topics, but a frequent one was, of course, kaiju. An almost complete list can be found here on my author website, but below are links to all the episodes I was on to discuss kaiju. Enjoy!
Derailed Trains of Thought A show on storytelling and creativity hosted by my friends Nick Hayden and Tim Deal.
–Episode 17: Magic, Muggles, and Morals – I read an excerpt from my kaiju novella, Destroyer. –Episode 50: Guest Starring…Everybody! – In this anniversary episode, I’m one of several returning guests who “audition” in multiple segments to be a third co-host. One of those segments was a discussion of GMK with my future co-host, Brian Scherschel, which ended with Tim joking that we should start our own podcast. –Episode 100: Journey to Tanner Mountain – Believe it or not, this features both me and Jimmy From NASA! In this huge milestone episode, we cameo as an eccentric Innkeeper and his assistant, respectively. I try really hard to get Nick and Tim to read kaiju novels.
Strangers and Aliens A show about faith, fantasy, and science fiction co-hosted by my buddy Ben Avery, who’s a comic writer.
Forever Classic Podcast This is a show that “seeks enlightenment through video games” started by my former colleague Alex McCumbers (from my GigaGeek Magazine days). Here’s their main website.
–Episode 11: Kaiju Games With Nathan Marchand – Remember what I said about being the kaiju guy? Anyway, Alex invited me on to talk about two of my favorite things: giant monsters and video games. We discuss existing kaiju games—past and present—and what we think would make for a great kaiju game. (Little did we know that there would be a G-Fest XXVI presentation on this very subject!)
Redeemed Otaku A podcast created and hosted by Bex Smith that seeks to “redeem your love for anime by turning to the truth found only in God’s Word.” Follow the show on Facebook and Twitter.
–Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters – Bex has me on to discuss/review part one of the Godzilla anime trilogy. Being that its kaiju and anime, it was the perfect crossover. –Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle – I return to Redeemed Otaku—this time joined by my friend and fellow Godzilla fan Eric Anderson—to discuss/review part two of the Godzilla anime trilogy (that has a title weirdly similar to a classic Star Trek episode). –Godzilla: The Planet Eater – In one of the best English-language analyses of the entire Godzilla anime trilogy, Bex, Eric, and I breakdown part three and put the other films into perspective. It truly is the best episode of Redeemed Otaku yet! (Don’t take my word for it—that’s what Bex said!)
Many of the voices you hear in these episodes will be visiting Monster Island as Tourists to discuss more giant monsters. Not only that, but these analyses will serve as the backbone of what you’ll hear us discuss on MIFV.
The Monster Island Film Vault is set to premiere next month (release date coming soon!), but you can still hear me talk about film appreciation and kaiju in the meantime!
For those who don’t know, I was the season one co-host on Kaijuvision Radio, a podcast I created and developed with Brian Scherschel. There I cut my podcasting teeth and opened my mind to seeing kaiju films, among other media, in a new light. Since the Monster Island Film Vault is picking up where I left off with that show, I recommend listening to these episodes in anticipation of the new podcast. Here’s a YouTube playlist with all the episodes plus a few bonus interviews. Enjoy!
Episodes 1-37 of my first podcast, Kiajuvision Radio, plus an interview on Geek Devotions and interviews with John LeMay and Daniel DiManna. Enjoy!
A podcast seeking entertainment and enlightenment through tokusatsu.
Join host/curator Nathan Marchand and his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA (who miraculously survived the infamous War in Space), as they and a rotating roster of Monster Island’s best and brightest Tourists dive deep into the films starring the Island’s most famous kaiju residents!
This is a film appreciation podcast that chronologically and critically examines films from the kaiju and tokusatsu genres. Episodes rotate between round table discussions that feature the film’s production info and an explanation of its historical and cultural contexts; and “mini-sodes” that will include interviews, comedy sketches, and audio essays, among other things. Episodes will drop the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, starting in September 2019. Listeners have a fun and fascinating journey ahead of them.
