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.
Until then, remember: #WeShallOvercome
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