HOLY INTERVIEW, BATMAN! You’ve heard it being promoted for several months on the show, and now you’ll get the full story. In another special bonus episode for all of you in quarantine because of coronavirus, Nathan and his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, are joined by Eric Elliott, the mastermind behind the Batman Meets Godzilla fan comic. As in the Adam West Batman and the Showa Godzilla! Hear Eric talk about the secret origins of this project that’s based on as an unmade film from the mid-1960s with story treatments written by Batman ’66 producer William Dozier and possibly even Shinichi Sekizawa. Then the Dynamic Duo discuss the art of sequential storytelling in comics, the mystery of the Sekizawa treatment, adapting the treatment for a three-issue comic, and who would win a dance-off between Batman and Godzilla.
Tune in next week for a regular episode—same kaiju time, same kaiju channel!
In Nathan’s continuing
series of mini-sodes on films covered by Bran Scherschel on Kaijuvision Radio
after Nathan left the show, he examines Ishiro Honda’s overlooked 1958 kaiju
film Varan the Unbelievable (or Daikaiju Baran). While Honda didn’t
think much of it (especially after its tumultuous production when the American
TV network co-producing it pulled out), it was the first kaiju film written for
Toho by the fabled Shinichi Sekizawa. The second half is a by-the-numbers
monster movie, but the first half is intriguing because it touches on then contemporary
issues with the burakumin, a
discriminated social class in Japan. Their name means “village people” (no, not
the disco band!), and they were essentially the “untouchables” of Japanese
culture for centuries. When seen through that lens, this film offers more than
a cool kaiju.
After that, Nathan reads
some listener feedback, including a letter from someone who offers some
clarification on the (in)famous Batman
Meets Godzilla script.
Speaking of which, Batman Meets Godzilla,
one of the craziest yet most intriguing lost projects made famous by John
LeMay’s book, The Big Book of Japanese
Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (which now has a new “mutated”
edition), is being adapted into a fan-made comic book miniseries!
T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY:
Everyone who shares the Facebook and Twitter posts for this episode (or tags
the show when they share it themselves) will be entered for a drawing for a Batman Meets Godzilla T-shirt. (One
entry per person per social media). Entries will be taken from February 26 to March
4 at 11:59pm (EST). The winner must then send Nathan his/her shirt size, shirt
color, and mailing address to be forwarded to the team at Batman Meets Godzilla. Here’s a link to the Tee Public site with this
epic shirt.
(FYI: This was recorded before the news that 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong would be delayed).
Hello, kaiju lovers!
In this special “side
Kong Quest” ( 😛 ), Nathan is joined by author John LeMay (who is a gentleman
and a scholar) to talk about two unmade King Kong films with connections to King Kong vs. Godzilla. The first was “King
Kong vs. Frankenstein,” a project that special effects legend Willis O’Brien
tried to get made in the late 1950s before it ended up at Toho. Then Godzilla
and Kong almost had their rematch in the 1960s with Shinichi Sekizawa’s “Continuation:
King Kong vs. Godzilla,” where the Eighth Wonder becomes a surrogate parent to
a Japanese baby! Hear all about them in this episode! These and many other lost
Kong films are covered in great detail in John’s book Kong
Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island, which is part of Monster Island’s
library and one of Nathan’s go-to resources for the podcast.
Jimmy From NASA is absent
for most of this episode because Kong and Godzilla were upset that Nathan
skipped their 1962 monster mash movie, so Jimmy left to calm them down with the
ORCA. The thing is, Nathan
covered that film on his previous podcast, Kaijuvision Radio. Here’s a link if
you want to listen to it before the next episode:
I’m delighted to say that
G-Fest XXVI was the best one I’ve attended yet. While I’m still a bit of a noob
to this convention (this was my third year), I was once again impressed with
the con-goers’ friendliness and family-like atmosphere. The best part was the
sheer amount of support and recognition I received. A few people recognized me
from my time on Kaijuvision
Radio (which, contrary to some reports, I am the co-creator of that show).
I seem to have made an impression on this fan community. I never expected that
to happen. I like a lot of things besides Godzilla and kaiju, but it’s here
that I’ve made some of my biggest strides of late.
But you didn’t come here
to hear me gush. You want to know what happened that weekend.
My brother Jarod and I
left early Thursday morning and drove three hours from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to
Rosemont, Illinois. We listened to the audiobook of Jurassic Park (a long overdue read for both of us, and an appropriate
one for this con) on YouTube as we went. Sadly, we were at a slight disadvantage
because we had to stay in the Comfort Inn and not the Crowne Plaza (where the
con was held), but there was a shuttle service to G-Fest, and we got a free
breakfast every morning. Can’t go wrong there.
Our first order of business
after unpacking my 2003 Subaru Legacy (which I named Tatsumaki) was the
film screenings at the Pickwick Theatre. It was there we met up with my
friend/fellow writer/co-panelist Danny DiManna, author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization
Project, and his entourage of family and friends and went to the first of
two double features at 1pm: Godzilla’s
Revenge and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed
Monster. We were a bit late to the first one, but our RiffTrax-style
commentary entertained everyone around us. Ghidrah
was fantastic on the big screen. Every time I see an older film—even those from
as recent as the 1980s—I see how much better their old-fashioned special
effects look because this was how they were meant to be seen. It was the dubbed
version, but the print was gorgeous.
After that, Jarod and I
partook of my G-Fest tradition: Thursday dinner at Giodano’s, a chain of pizzerias
that serves true Chicago-style pizza. We split a small deep-dish, which I
finished first because Jarod was still learning how to attack such thick pizza.
This was followed by the
second double-feature: The X from Outer
Space and Godzilla, Mothra, and King
Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. I’d never seen the former, so I
was unprepared for how (unintentionally?) hilarious it was. For one thing, it
had the worst dub I’ve ever heard. Me and another guy riffed it the entire
time. He had one joke that made me double over in my chair. In one of the worst
hull breach in space scenes I’ve ever seen, a character gets sucked butt-first
into the hole and gets stuck. In defiance of physics, his comrades pull him out
and patch the hole. My fellow riffer said, “‘You saved the ship!’ ‘You bet your
@$$!’” GMK was, thankfully, subtitled, but the subtitles weren’t entirely
accurate.
Friday started bright and early. Jarod and I rode the shuttle there and collected our badges and programs. I met with Danny, and we wandered down to the Kennedy Room to prep for our panel, Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters, at noon. I took Jarod to the orientation at 11am and went back down at 11:30am. People kept pouring in, especially after the orientation. I don’t know if it was because of it being one of the first panels of the con, the subject matter, or the pre-con hype leading up to it (it was mentioned by at least two podcasts beforehand), but the room was packed. Danny’s girlfriend, Tori, had to be our usher to find seats for people. I’ve never seen that room get that full in all my time at G-Fest. It was thrilling. We weren’t able to go through all of our material, and I wasn’t able to play my podcast trailer for everyone, but it was a resounding success. We want to host another one next year.
If you missed our panel
or want to watch it again, here’s the video:
I spent the rest of the
day attending a few more panels, including G-pardy tryouts (didn’t make it
again), a paleontologist panel on Godzilla, and Kevin Derendorf presenting on
kaiju fans in media. That evening we attended the opening ceremony, where the
guests gave emotional, heartfelt speeches to the fans (especially Sonoe
Nakajima, the daughter of Haruo Nakajima); Akira Takarada picked a kid from the
audience to get an expensive Gigan toy; and the kids’ costume parade was held.
I then made a brief appearance at what I expect will be the final listener
party for Kaijucast, the premiere
Godzilla/kaiju podcast, where I collected my prize from their
#MemeoftheMonsters contest and educated one fella on the politics of Shin Godzilla.
At 10:30pm, Jarod and I
returned to the Pickwick to see Godzilla:
King of the Monsters with a theatre full of fans. It was my third time
seeing it and his first. G-Fest crowds are famously rowdy, but I’ve never heard
them like this. It was glorious! I even squeezed in a joke that got a groan.
When a bunch of dead fish floated up after the detonation of the Oxygen Destroyer,
I yelled, “That’s a lot
of fish!” (My apologies to everyone who was present). The best part was
when we all sang along with the new
cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” during the credits. A video of that
was shared on Twitter, and both director Michael Dougherty and composer Bear
McCreary teared up, it seemed.
Saturday was a whirlwind.
As usual, G-Fest is remarkably busy for a con of its size. I never feel like I
partake in everything. Panels tend to eat up most of my time. A few highlights:
the Akira Takarada interview, where he talked about growing up in China and
being wounded by Soviet soldiers as a child; the Shusuke Kaneko interview; the
Dawn of the Monsters video game panel (wherein I suggested they add
Indianapolis as a location); the Heisei Gamera panel; and the panel on the
unmade film Nessie.
I participated in two
more panels that day. The first was the Godzilla:
King of the Monsters panel with the guys from the YouTube channel
DangerVille, among others. Here’s the video of that:
After that was The Art of
Kaiju Writing, which I’ve been on every year I’ve gone to G-Fest. (What’s crazy
is I got on it in 2017 five minutes before it started—but that’s a story for
another day). It was four writers doing a Q&A on the craft of writing and
the publishing process. I recorded that panel, too, but it hasn’t been edited
or posted yet. Stay tuned! It has a tremendous amount of info for beginning
writers.
The traditional evening
events followed: awards and the adult costume parade. A guy in an inflatable Godzilla
costume, which are a dime a dozen usually, surprised everyone when he turned on
some red lights inside the suit, making him Burning Godzilla from KOTM.
Well-played, sir!
The Kaiju
Crescendo concert was held that night. I wanted very much to go, but I
ended up not attending because I wanted to save money (my budget has been tight
this summer). I kinda regret it, honestly. But Jarod didn’t want to go and
wanted to see Monster Zero at the
Pickwick, and since I didn’t want to abandon him, so we went there. A good time
was had by all. I heard, though, that attendance was split so much, it was
somewhat low for all events that night.
I went to a few panels
the next day, but I tried to hit up the places I didn’t get to the rest of the con,
like the Mecha-G Arcade, artist room, and dealer hall. I also got autographs
from both Akira Takarada and Shusuke Kaneko. Much to my surprise, Takarada-san
gave me two signatures! I gave him the booklet to my Criterion copy of Godzilla (1954), which he signed, and
then he grabbed the box and signed that, too! What a wonderful man!
The day ended with Kaiju
Confessions, a hilarious sing-along to kaiju film songs.
