As I mentioned on Twitter today in my latest “tweet duel” with Marchand, I’m blaming this blog’s tardiness on tryptophan. Thanksgiving was a week ago, but whoever cooked that turkey must’ve added more of that stuff to it. (I can neither confirm nor deny that it may have been a kaiju turkey). Suffice it to say, the American personnel on Monster Island had a good time.
Strangely, I only wrote a few notes while listening to the live broadcast of the episode on War of the Gargantuas:
- I think Marchand is on crack. I can’t find a different version of “The Words Get Stuck in My Throat” from the dubbed version of the movie. I did find out that DEVO covered it in 1979. They make it bearable.
- Speaking of the song…why, Marchand, why?! Why did you say the Board would play that song in the elevators?! You know they’ll do it!
- Kipp Hamilton died in 1981, so she won’t be able to sing for us on the Island. But like I said, DEVO cover.
Here are Nathan’s leftover notes with my annotations:
- Starts with the Oodako (giant octopus). Tsuburaya had a thing for them. They show up in his movies and TV series often. It gets a beating from Kong and Gaira.
- Gaira appears in four minutes.
- These subtitles are a bit confused. First they say, “Frankenstein” (which the actor does say), but then they say, “Gargantua,” like the dub. And it comes out of nowhere.
- Again, G98 parallels with the wrecked boats on shore with skin on it.
- “Call 110!” (I’m guessing this is the Japanese version of 911. –Jimmy)
- “Operation L,” huh? (Operation Luigi? Lorax? Lumpy? Oh, no! Not the Holiday Special! –Jimmy)
- Gaira sorta goes after pigs in a barn like Baragon does a horse.
- The protagonists hardly do anything. There’s a lot of military procedurals with nondescript soldiers.
- Suddenly Gaira can handle sunlight better after Sanda saves him. And Sanda isn’t bothered by light.
- Thankfully, the Gargantua suits look much better when wet than Kong.
- Tamblyn and Mizuno talk about how the young people go out during times of trouble, which the same in evert country. They go hiking when kaiju are around. Youth filled cafes and theatres when Nazis occupied Paris. It’s a bit of thematic weight, anyway.
- You’d think the whole plotline with any bits of flesh growing into other Gargnatuas would be a bigger deal in this. (The scientists here monitor them and Frankie closely because of this. –Jimmy)
- Several clips from this film are used as part of the closing ceremonies at G-Fest. (One of these days I should attend. –Jimmy)
- There is brief conflict between the scientists and soldiers over if the Gargantauas—or at least Sanda—should be kept alive for study. (This debate happens daily here on the Island. Just kidding. S.C.A.L.E. would sue us into oblivion if we hurt any of the kaiju. –Jimmy)
- The fights have choreography more like wrestling matches because the monsters are humanoid. Brutal. (I may have been in a few Japanese wrestling matches…. –Jimmy)
- Using a sweet-smelling flower to revive a woman? Clever. (I’ve tried it a few times. It works very well, if you know what I mean. –Jimmy)
- It isn’t explained, but the helicopter’s bombing is what causes the volcanic eruption that swallows the Gargantuas.
- It ends abruptly and on a bit of a dour note.
Honda Biography:
- Since the monsters were smaller, the miniatures were larger and more detailed. This pleased Honda because the Toho art department had been cut from 32 to 14.
- The Americanized script required nine scenes to be filmed two different ways.
Peter H. Brothers
- Kimura’s script based on treatment by Reuben Bercovitch.
- Nick Adams was unavailable because he was filming The Killing Bottle. Also, due to him trying to propose to Kumi Mizuno, there may have been tension between the two of them. (No excuse. –Jimmy)
- He argues Tamblyn’s poor performance is can be blamed partially on Honda because he was easygoing and didn’t usually micro-manage actors.
- This could be the saddest ending of any Honda film not because of character or monster death but the death of Akemi’s optimism in the final scenes.
Again, it’s short and sweet today.
You’ll be happy to know I made a glorious return to the producer booth for next week’s episode, which had Nathan going solo for a mini-analysis of Latitude Zero, which stars the Joker himself, Caesar Romero. We were also joined by Ms. Perkins, who had…important things to tell us. I am not at liberty to say more. After that is our season finale with Matt and Gratton from the Giant Monster BS podcast to discuss Space Amoeba. It’s hard to believe one chapter about to end and another one begin. “Poor Marchand,” is all I can say. For those who didn’t hear the live broadcast, you’ll understand next week.
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