Zigra. Proof positive that Sharknado needs to go into space. Need I say more?
Actually, yes. It’s part of my contractual obligations. But I wouldn’t mind being shot into space. I could easily pilot my way back to Earth, unlike Nate.
As for my notes on episode 44, I took a surprising amount for a movie about a giant flying turtle battling a huge space shark. Let’s get into them:
- Neil mispronounces “bathysphere” as “bathosphere.”
- And you’re complaining about this, why, Nate?
- The name of the actress playing Woman X/Chikako is Eiko Yanami.
- Nate, did you forget the lady scientist in Final Wars?
- Tom Servo does say, “We all die in a yellow bathysphere,” during the MST3K episode, Nate. But sadly, the Board mandated you not watch those. I’m genuinely sorry.
- Appropriately, Nezura and the Baby Gameras have a xylophone player.
- There are several theories related to the effect of sonic waves on the brain, but testing these theories has yielded inconclusive results.
- It’s “Rhodes and McCorkle,” Nate, not “Brooke and McCorkle.” Brooke is one of their first names, so it’s understandable you’d get them mixed up.
- The name of the baseball team with the “curse of the colonel” is the Honshin Tigers.
- From what I can tell, the “FRP” from your Kamogawa Sea World research was fiber-reinforced plastic.
- Doc Brown’s theories on time travel…don’t get me started! It creates way too many paradoxes and begs too many questions. I’ll spare you all the rant.
- Travis and I had a great discussion about time travel in Star Wars after the broadcast. Or rather, he listened to me rant.
- The Skull Island episode was 14, Nate.
Here are Nate’s leftover notes from his episode 44 research, included as per my contractual obligations:
- Japan does have a space agency. Episode 15.
- The audio quality on the theme song is subpar. What happened? (Budget cuts. Duh. –Jimmy)
- The first scenes have parallelism: Ken starts his day and we see the animals at SeaWorld.
- A seal named Nick?! (He’s not your friend, Mr. Hayden. –Jimmy)
- Was Gamera just there or was his Turtle Sense tingling? (Turtle Sense. How else does he know where there are children in trouble? –Jimmy)
- There’s an insignia is Star Trek that looks like the iris on the Zigra ship. (It’s the Vulcan insignia, I think. –Jimmy)
- Wow. Woman X actually says kids are smarter.
- Planet Zigra. Zigrans. Monster is named Zigra. (Confusing, I know. It’d be like a human naming his child “Earth” or “Human” or “Terran.” Although, there is a Tera Strong. –Jimmy)
- She references both the Kanto and Sanriku earthquakes (episode 33).
- Lots of scientific info for the kids. Educational.
- She (Woman X) runs like molasses. And conveniently freezes. The heck?!
- And the kids somehow know how to use the spaceship controls. Ken even says he can use a motorboat easily. (I taught him now. 😛 –Jimmy)
- Gamera always has bloodshot eyes. Is he on drugs? Not sleeping? Both? (Perhaps he should be drug tested. –Jimmy)
- Man, the dads missed a ride with Gamera because they got hypnotized.
- Helen says at tech end of the scene, “Boys are no use at all.” The littlest feminist.
- “Earth Defense Army,” huh? (They didn’t last long, unfortunately, in large part because of their weakness during the Zigra Invasion of 1971. –Jimmy)
- Of course the fisherman stops for Woman X. (What guy wouldn’t? 😛 –Jimmy)
- And Tokyo Tower will be destroyed again later in a better Gamera film.
- Oh, now Gamera’s underbelly can take shots. And yet he still needs a rock.
- And his fire breath is so hot, it still works underwater. Sure. (It defies science, so I don’t get it, either. –Jimmy)
- Inexplicable bipedal-ness!
- These Showa Gamera movies liked not have normal bipedal monsters aside from Gamera.
- So, the different water pressure made him bigger. And he’s going to wipe everyone out because of this. Also, he should rule the oceans because he’s “beautiful.” (He’s quite the narcissist. –Jimmy)
- Good grief, these kids can sneak into anything, including bathyspheres. Why? (Ninjas. Duh! 😛 –Jimmy)
- Gamera foes love to sleep. Zigra, Jiger, Barugon. Others?
- Gamera threw a rock at Zigra and then snuck up to grab the bathysphere. What the heck?!
- Chikako the geologist knows a lot about biology. (All scientists know everything about science. Trist me, I know. 😛 –Jimmy)
- What happens if cell activity stops? (Is this a trick question? –Jimmy)
- They’re dead but not dead? They say to use electroshock—and we don’t see it.
The Commentary by Sean Rhoads and Brooke McCorkle
- Opens with a moon exploration scene, which was a product of the time. Apollo program going on in 1971. Moon landing in 1969.
- Yellow caps and blue shirts were the uniforms for preschoolers.
- The actress who plays the older sister was Flobella two years earlier.
- Interestingly, the EPA was established this year.
- Japan relies on the sea more than any other country, and twice as much as second-place Scandinavia.
- There’s disagreement over the “Gamera Song” lyrics because the words can be used, in one form or another, for elements (gold, wood, fire, etc.), the days of the week, or the names of planets.
- (Rhoades says “Gamera vs. Gigan”). (I’d have interrupted and corrected them, but I wasn’t there. –Jimmy)
- Tokyo Tower is a national symbol, particularly of technological advancement because it’s a radio tower.
- McCorkle sees Zigra as the embodiment of planetary wrath because he has the same blame as his planet. Similar to Battra.
- The environmental moral is about personal and not corporate pollution.
Arrow Booklet
- Daiei was removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange Dec. 28, 1971.
- Yuasa blamed the studio’s failure on Masaichi’s son, Hidemasa, being “too much of an artist to run a movie studio.”
Ragone Intro
- He says this was the first Gamera movie to tackle environmentalism. Others have argued against this.
- The old man is bad attempt at a joke referring to a Japanese folk tale about a woman travels into the ocean and returns as an old man.
Big Book by John LeMay
- Yuasa says Zigra was inspired by a shark attack in Japan that made national news.
- Gamera gets off easy—hypnotized into a coma—compared to previous movies.
Galbraith
- Describes Zigra as “part shark, part bird, with a touch of the Nautilus.” (He’s not wrong. –Jimmy)
- Calls this “a cheap, depressing little film.” (Okay, even I think this is a bit mean. –Jimmy)
Unsurprisingly, Nate got through all his notes on Kamogawa Sea World. But then again, it’s not like it was a particularly scholarly topic.
Next week is our first ever Patreon-sponsored episode. In fact, MIFV MAX member Eli Harris pledged at the level where he could come on the show as a guest! He and Nate will discussed three episodes of Godzilla: The Series, specifically the two-part premiere “New Family” and Eli’s favorite episode, “DeadLoch.” Then, unfortunately for Nate, the “Year of Gamera” continues with the infamous Gamera: Super Monster. It has some of his favorite things—kaiju, superheroes, and spaceships—but I’m not sure he’ll survive. Hang in there, man! Remember what I always say:
#WeShallOvercome
Follow me on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
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Follow Raymund Martin (The Monster Island Legal Team) on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
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