Tag: tokusatsu

As good as episode 42 was (because “life, the universe, and everything”), I took plenty of notes on it. Nate has some explaining to do! 😛

Let’s get started:

• Nate mispronounced “syndrome.” Shame, shame. 😛
• I asked Mr. Martin for his thoughts on pen theft, and this is what he told me on Twitter:
  • “Per the Standards and Practices memorandum issued by the (Monster Island Board of Directors): Any and all items located on Monster Island, its wharf and docking bay, and all nearby archipelagos, whether explicitly or implicitly stated, belong to the Monster Island Entertainment Corporation, LLC, and its subsidiaries and stockholders. Any willful destruction and/or unauthorized removal of MIEC ‘meek’) property is a crime under Oceanic Law; dismissal, fines, and jail time are all possible dependent upon the severity of the crime. Judgement will be handled by the Monster Island Judicial System (‘midges’) and justice will be swift and fair. The Monster Island Legal Action Team will oversee all prosecutions, with the current Attorney General presiding as Lead Counsel against any defendants.”
  • I then said, “Thank you. I now fear for (Ben Avery’s) life.” To which Mr. Martin said, “I believe the Board has discontinued the use of genetically-engineered Hunter-Tracker Meganula larvae, but don’t quote me on that until I get Gary to do the archive research.”
• How did Ben watch both versions of the movie? I suspect he watched it with his kids before leaving for the Island and then again when he arrived.
• The Exorcist film was released December 26, 1973. The novel was published June 1971. In other words, Gamera vs. Jiger predates both.
• Yes, Shunsuke Kikuchi worked on both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.
• “You and Jimmy”? You mean me and Masao? Be specific, Marchand!
• The name of the Keisuke actor is Sanshiro Honoo.
• It’s Lemuria, Nate. That was the other “lost continent” you couldn’t think of.
• It annoys me that I forgot what I was going to say toward the end of the Toku Talk.
• Nate was right. The Irwin Allen-produced submarine TV series was Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
• According to this inflation calculator, $500 million in 1970 would be $3,469,007,731.96 in 2021(!).
• Here are the authors the International Symposium of Science Fiction that Nate didn’t mention (all of them hailed from the Soviet Union):
  • Vasilii Pavlovich Berezhnoi
  • Yulii Iosifovich Kagarlitskii (aka Julius Kagarlitsky)
  • Ieremei Iudovich Parnov
  • Vasilii Dmitrievich Zackharchenko
• Personally, I loved Expo ’70! Seeing Gamera there was exciting. He even remembered me and gave me a wave. But sadly, all my photos from the event were destroyed when the Messiah 13 Aliens attacked New York. L
• Your Dad guarded a moon rock, eh, Nate? That’s impressive, but I have Venus rocks. I’ll show them to you next time you come over to my quarters, Nate.
• This is the human washing machine, and I do like this model. 😉
• This was the best info I could find quickly on Tiger Child. And it’s not a nature documentary. It’s loftier than that, it seems.
• Here’s an article on maglev technology. It’s mostly used for trains. If you’ve been to Disneyworld in Florida, you’ve ridden a train that uses it.
• Nice catch at the end with Patreon, Ben. In order to donate $3 a day, someone would have to become my intern—which would be nice, actually.

Now for the contractually-obligated leftover notes from Nate’s episode prep:

The Film (Main Notes)

• Hiroshi has the bushiest eyebrows. (He practically has to comb them. –Jimmy)
• There’s a nice matting of a long distance live action shot with some toku footage of Gamera.
• Jiger is female. Jiger has a giant head. Big head code? She drinks water after awakening. Rarely seen. Jiger doesn’t crawl, unlike other quadrupeds. (“Big head code”? That was a thing in ‘90s video games, right? I know, “Okay, boomer.” 😛 –Jimmy)
• How did Gamera go from flying to swimming in one cut? (Bad editing. –Jimmy)
• You know, Jiger, Mothra did that ship-destroying move first. Must be a female kaiju thing. (I’ll pass that observation along to the scientists. –Jimmy)
• Jiger means “terrible as a demon,” apparently.
• Now the “Gamera song” has gone from listing planet names to the days of the week. Because. (The original was better. Because it was in my movie, of course. –Jimmy)
• Gamera has a cheerleading squad. (Lucky bastard! –Jimmy)
• Gamera stole the “tail smash” move from Godzilla.
• Those x-rays are on display on the Island and used for reference.
• These kids just know how to operate the sub. (Well, Masao and I did, too. But, you know, we’re smart. –Jimmy)
• Unsurprisingly, the English-speaking actors aren’t great.
• What does people from Africa getting weak going north and Eskimos getting weak going south have to do with Jiger being weak to sound?
• 80 metric tons? Gamera’s a lot lighter than basically every Toho kaiju. By a lot. Godzilla is at least a 1,000 times heavier. (Talk about completely different weight classes! –Jimmy)
• The kids yell at Gamera as if he can hear them. Which it seems he can. (Because…psychic? –Jimmy)

Intro by Ragone

• In Shoben Jump Magzaine, Jiger was called “Monster X.”

The Commentary by Edward L. Holland

• Yuasa sought out the child actors in this film.
• There was a second monster boom in Japan in 1971.
• Jiger’s roar is a variation of Guiron’s.
• Yuasa was fond of beer.
• Says the film plays out a bit like an Ultraman episode.
• Sithantaku, the “Eifel Tower of Osaka.”
• Story has it that Tsuburyaya sent a letter to Yuasa telling him to tone down the gore in the Gamera films.
• Gamera looks like a vinyl toy after being impregnated by Jiger.
• They use an “opaque projector on steroids” to discuss Gamera’s anatomy.

Galbraith

• People either think it’s outrageous or “routine.”

Toku Topic: Expo ‘70

• Many science fiction writers and artists were involved with the Expo, including:
  • A farcical multi-screen science fiction film created by writer Abe Kõbõ and filmmaker Teshigahara Hiroshi for the Auto Pavilion.
• “With its characteristic rhetoric of multi-polar humanism, the text goes on to assert that wisdom to avoid such a dire fate and unlock the ‘prosperity of mankind’ can be found not in one place but ‘wherever human beings can be found.’ ‘If the diverse wisdoms of mankind can be effectively exchanged and [allowed to] mutually stimulate each other,’ the text continues, ‘a higher level of knowledge can appear, and from the understanding and tolerance between different traditions, we can achieve the harmonious development of a better life for all of mankind.’”
• The corporate pavilions, which were dominated by domestic Japanese pavilions, also featured various visions of the future. “The Mitsubishi Future Pavilion, which was divided into a display of the untamed elemental power of ‘Japan’s Nature’ followed by ‘Japan’s Sky,’ ‘Japan’s Sea,’ and ‘Japan’s Earth’ as they would be developed in the twenty-first century: space stations and a weather monitoring and control center in the sky; an underwater city, ‘marine pasture,’ and power plant in the sea; and a twenty-first century city on land.
• The biggest reason Expo ’70 was seen as a “city of the future” (mirai no toshi) was the “juxtaposition of innovative architectural forms, including Tange’ s Grand Roof, the low inflated dome of the American Pavilion and aggressively pitched roof of the Soviet Pavilion, and most especially, the contributions of the young Japanese architects associated with the Metabolist movement, including Kikutake Kiyonori’s Expo Tower and Kurokawa Kishô’s Toshiba IHI Pavilion and Takara Beautilion, all interpenetrated by the futuristic transportation infrastructure of monorails and moving sidewalks.” (By the way, the Metabolist movement was a postwar architectural movement in Japan that sought to fuse architectural megastructures with organic growth).

Writing this made me nostalgic for Expo ’70. I was barely 11 and was very impressionable. I’ve little doubt attending it pushed me toward a career in space and NASA.

Anyway, next week’s episode marks the beginning of a new chapter for MIFV: “Godzilla Redux.” Nate will be covering the Godzilla films he discussed on…his previous podcast with…someone else. He starts with the beginning, naturally, with Godzilla (1954). He’s bringing back the original Tourist crew of Nick Hayden, Timothy Deal, Joe Metter, and Joy Metter. Then we have a special crossover episode with Kaiju Weekly for the soon-to-be-internationally-released anime Godzilla: Singular Point. We’re working out the details, but it should be BIG. Then the “Year of Gamera” continues with Gamera vs. Zigra, which will feature Kaiju Weekly co-host/MIFV MAX member Travis Alexander and Atomic Turtle host Matt Noponen. I know Nate dislikes it, but come on! A beautiful woman parades around in a bikini for 15-20 minutes! What’s not to like?

Until then, remember: #WeShallOvercome

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