epic Archives - The Monster Island Film Vault

Release the crossover! Nate and his friend Elijah “The Littlest Gatekeeper” Thomas start a new annual tradition for their podcasts, The Monster Island Film Vault and Kaiju Conversation, respectively, by discussing a Ray Harryhausen film every year. Why? Because they both share a birthday with the special effects legend. Also, since these two are weird, they’re going in reverse filmography order, starting with the original Clash of the Titans. This epic adventure was a relic when it came out, but given Harryhausen’s romantic love of the past and love of the classics, it’s not surprising. Your hosts dive deep into this film’s production—Arnold Schwarzenegger was nearly the lead?!—and discuss the many incredible mythological creatures that appear in it. As Harryhausen’s best friend, the author Ray Bradbury, said, Medusa in this film is Harryhausen’s “crowning glory.” Just forgive Elijah for being a bit snobby about it. Happy birthday, Ray!

(This episode is also being released on the Kaiju Conversation feed).

Check out Kaiju Conversation: https://redcircle.com/shows/kaiju-conversation. Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaiju_convers.

Music:

“Legends of Warcraft” by PSK
“The Dark Ages” by Phil Rey

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

Check out Nathan’s spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip.

We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander (co-host 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, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, and Ted Williams! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month! (https://www.patreon.com/monsterislandfilmvault)

Buy official MIFV merch on TeePublic! (https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-monster-island-gift-shop)

This episode is approved by Cameron Winter and the Monster Island Board of Directors.

MIFV Podcast Social Media:

Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheMonsterIsla1)
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MonsterIslandFilmVault/)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/monsterislandfilmvault/)
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www.MonsterIslandFilmVault.com

#JimmyFromNASALives #MonsterIslandFilmVault #RayHarryhausen #ClashoftheTitans

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Carr, Kevin. “How Accurate Were the Myths in ‘Clash of the Titans’?” Film School Rejects, 9 June 2014, https://filmschoolrejects.com/how-accurate-were-the-myths-in-clash-of-the-titans-59a99ecd0032/.
Clash of the Titans (1981) blu-ray special features:
- “Behind the Story: A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen”
- “Myths and Monsters”
“Clash of the Titans” (IMDB) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082186/)
Ray Harryhausen Podcast
- Episode 7- Clash of the Titans 35th Anniversary Special (https://soundcloud.com/rayharryhausenfoundation/clash-40th-anniversary)
- Episode 37- Clash of the Titans 40th Anniversary Special (https://soundcloud.com/rayharryhausenfoundation/clash-40th-anniversary)
Wikipedia articles:
- “Clash of the Titans (1981 film)” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Titans_(1981_film))
- “Kraken” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken)
- “Medusa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa)
- “Perseus” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus)

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Hello, kaiju lovers!

The unintentional “epic films month” continues with 1959’s The Three Treasures (aka The Birth of Japan), but thankfully this episode doesn’t cross the “Kurosawa threshold.” This is a religious epic in the vein of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments except it’s about Shinto. It tells the tale of Prince Yamato Takeru (played by the always awesome Toshiro Mifune), the legendary 13^th emperor of Japan (who’s being covered in our 13^th episode…oh boy…). Interspersed throughout the film are vignettes depicting stories from Japanese mythology that parallel the prince’s life. Nathan zeroes in on several of the film’s story elements, including the Japanese creation myth, the Imperial Regalia of Japan, and Yamata no Orochi the eight-headed dragon. There’s so much that could be said about this film, Nathan may have to do a follow-up with Rev. Mifune (no relation to Toshiro Mifune) or the guys at The Kaiju Apostle.

Nathan then reads yet more feedback clarifying the Batman Meets Godzilla story treatment—or rather, the Twitter war that almost broke out over it.

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/or 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 March 25 to March 31 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.

Here’s the KVR episode: Episode 41: The Three Treasures a.k.a. Nippon tanjo (The Birth of Japan) (1959) (Shinto)

This episode featured the songs “‘BATMAN’ [OG Theme Song Remix!]” by Remix Maniacs & “ULTRAMAN” by Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi.

Tag: epic

Monster Conversation: Harryhausen Annual #1 – ‘Clash of the Titans’ (1981)

Episode 13: ‘The Three Treasures’ (Mini-Analysis)