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Hey everybody, welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We are your hosts, Vincent

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Hannum, Matt Levine, and we are talking about all our favorite monster movies, The Good,

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The Bad, and The Downright Campy, and asking if they stand the test of time. Traditional

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Kaiju creature features, space invaders, the supernatural, and everything in between. All

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strange beasts are welcome here. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zack Linder and the Zack Pack,

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powered by Coldwell banker Realty, your source for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping

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for investor clients and residential buyers. Reach out to the Zack Pack today for real

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estate services. Go ahead and follow the Zack Pack on social media, and contact the Zack

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Pack for investment opportunities. Links in our bio.

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Within the uncharted depths of waters surrounding a group of islands off the 50th parallel lies

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man's most formidable challenge. The awesome awakening of prehistoric monsters long before

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extinct. Savage and deadly, their one hope is to rule our planet as they once had thousands

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of years back. Giant against giant, the ultimate battle, Godzilla versus Megalon. Science was

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battled and powerless. A terror stricken humanity knew that it was on the brink of total destruction.

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A once proud civilization now had to place its trust and hope in Godzilla and his powerful

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ally, robot man. In concert they would fight this evil in a duel to the death. Battling

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by day, battling by night, it was more than a race against time. This war was an all out

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effort, whose ultimate purpose was to save our planet from total destruction. Now came

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the moment of truth, the ultimate battle. Titan against Titan, giant against giant in

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the most spectacular battle yet. You'll see it all in Godzilla versus Megalon.

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Well everybody, we have a very special episode today, very special guest. We are discussing

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Godzilla versus Megalon with Max Hannum, who is kind enough to pinch hit here for Matt,

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who is still taking a bit of personal time. Again, he's great, he's doing alright, but

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we look forward to his return as soon as he is ready. Hey Max, how you doing?

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Oh, I'm doing great, how about you?

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Not too shabby. This is a daytime recording. Usually Matt and I record at night, but I

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happen to have the day off. You do as well. So we're doing this at 12 o'clock high noon.

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It's noon for you, you know.

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Right. Where are you calling in from today?

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Oh, I'm in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

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Ooh, how beautiful is it this summer?

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It's pretty hot. Still beautiful. I was up at four o'clock this morning just because

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the house was hot. So I woke up to get a glass of water from the kitchen and I was just looking

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out the window. The sun was rising, beautiful pink sky, mountains in the background. Absolutely

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beautiful.

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Okay, well, I'm jealous. The view from my backyard beyond the fence is an alley with

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some trash cans and squirrels doing God knows what in the trees. I don't know, they're like

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really chatty this morning just chasing each other around.

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That's so and sort of fun.

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Who knows? For those of you listening, we are dropping this episode on August 10th.

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So if this is August 10th, I don't know, I just thought the date would be helpful because

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me and Max are going to talk about upcoming releases and and other bits of news. So if

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you're listening to this far in the future, just know timing is important here. Max, I

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want to share with you some some interesting feedback we got from your last episode with

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Camp Kaiju, which was the cold skin episode.

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Oh, I'd love some feedback.

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Yeah, well, we posted a poll through the podcast. So listeners, wherever you're listening to

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your podcast, if it's on Spotify, especially look for a poll that will accompany each new

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episode. And this poll was let me pull it up. Which franchise should Max cover on Camp

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Kaiju? Because if you recall, Max, we talked about a potential new series where you deep

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dive into a to a franchise. Right, right. Yeah. So to the listeners, I threw out some

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options. We have Hellraiser, Hellraiser and Bergman, the Scorpion King. Tremors or the

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Howling. Hmm. So we had two voters. Thank you for voting. We appreciate the the participation

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there. But it was a tie. So we had one vote for Hellraiser and Bergman and one vote for

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the Howling franchise. Hmm. Well, how many movies are in the Howling franchise? Let me

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look that one up. But since it is a tie, I don't think you're committed to either one

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right now. I think it's dealer's choice. You know, I'm going to go out on a limb and say

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that the Howling franchise pales in comparison to 40 something Bergman films and then the

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what 10 or 11 Hellraiser movies. So that one is a little bit more manageable to start.

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Hey, I I'm OK with that. Let's do it. I've only seen the first Howling, but there are

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12345678 entries in the franchise. It's more than I thought there would be. Yeah, same

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from 1981 to 2011. Oh, there's going to be some bad ones, aren't there? Yeah, we have

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titles like Howling to your sister is a werewolf, Howling three, the marsupials, Howling six,

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the freaks. And then the last one is the Howling reborn. It's like the same time period as

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Hellraiser. And I know the depths that Hellraiser went through is Clive Turner related to Clive

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Barker. No, that's not how names work. Never know. No, it's not. OK, well, I haven't seen

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any of them, so that would be interesting. Get a fresh take. You should watch the first

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one, not the third one. The marsupials. Yeah, I've been to Australia. Yeah, I don't know,

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man. Yeah, it does take place in Australia. OK, it's not a max episode without mentioning

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Hellraiser at least. Yeah, it seems to be a theme. OK, but what we're here today to

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discuss is Godzilla versus Megalon. And before I get to that, I just got to say thank you

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to all of our listeners for hanging out. Please rate and review this podcast wherever you

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listen. That is the best way to spread the word of this show. Our numbers are really

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good. They've always been tracking up in the three years we've been recording Camp Kaiju.

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But hey, we're looking we're ambitious here. We want to expand our reach, pull in new listeners,

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new friends, and your help goes a long way with that. You can send us listener comments

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at Camp Kaiju at gmail dot com, our Facebook page or our Instagram, and we'll feature those

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on the show. Or if you'd like your voice, your actual voice featured on the show, like

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you're one of the hosts, you can leave us a voicemail at 612-470-2612. Just tell us

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about your favorite monster movies and we'll feature that on the show. You can check out

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our website, CampKaijuPodcast.com for more reviews and special content. You can get sweet

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merch at CampKaiju.Threadless.com. And if all that isn't enough, go ahead and become

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a Patreon at Patreon.com slash Camp Kaiju for discounts, priority comments and access

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to any live events. And we want to thank our patrons, Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous

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patron and Peggy for your support. All right. Since last time, our last episode was King

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Kong versus Godzilla and our trivia with Naomi. But since then, we have some news in the Kaiju

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verse. So the next Monsterverse film is now slated for a 2027 release. Max, are you in

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hot anticipation for the next installment of the Godzilla and Kong adventures? I need

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to see the latest installment because I saw the one from a couple of years ago. That was

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great. I enjoyed it. Fun time. But I haven't seen the latest one. Well, I think it is.

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So I want to see how the quality is. Is it still fun or is it just, I don't know, cashing

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in on the success of the previous ones? Totally. I think both. I think and I think that's okay.

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It could be a bit of a cash grab, but still be fun. I think it's marginally better than

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Godzilla versus Kong. Okay. Well, that's good then. Because I had a fun time with the last

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one. So I know I saw the posters all like 4th of July themed and whatnot. And that was,

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I don't know, kind of reminded me of the promotional material for Godzilla versus Megalon. Well,

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yeah. So the new, which is keeping in line with the overall vibes of the Monsterverse

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movies, which really lean into the Showa era camp and just big dumb fun. Yeah. I think

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that's why ultimately, yes, I am excited, but I'm holding my excitement in check because

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I don't want to overhype something in my mind. And then it'd be a letdown. Yes, I agree with

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that. Although I feel like even the worst Godzilla movie is still great. Like I still

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want to watch that. Because there's so many bad, I mean, bad is a strong word. There are

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so many less than entries in the franchise. Yeah. I mean, I think you can say bad. But

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bad doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Yeah, some people think Godzilla versus Megalon

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is one of the worst movies in the franchise. Well, I mean, if you want to get into it,

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we can get into it now. No, no, no, we'll hold off. We'll hold on. All right. All right.

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We'll get back to that. I'll hold my thoughts. Okay, hold your thoughts. So Max, if you want

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to watch Godzilla Kong, the New Empire, it is streaming on Max at this time. So have

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at it. And then this week in Monster Movie history, the first two weeks of August, we

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have some movies celebrating some anniversaries. Any titles there jump out at you? The blob.

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Yeah, the 1988 blob was released in August of that year. I watched that for the first

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time about six months ago. Oh, absolutely loved it. Yeah, right. It was way better than

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I thought it would be. And love the effects. Like I love that era in film history, where

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it was like pretty much the peak of practical effects. Only a few years before all the digital

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effects started coming into play. So I don't know, it's just so visceral. Couldn't agree

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more. Yeah, it is a movie that I have touched on briefly in on Kamkaiju, but it deserves

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its own full length episode. Sure. Yeah, I'd love to do that. We talked about the 58 blob

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last season, which is great in its own way. But like you say, the 80s were peak practical

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effects. Yes. Yeah. Other films released in August in history, Kaiju films, we have Space

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Amoeba from 1970 directed by a Shiro Honda. We have Frankenstein Conquers the World from

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1965, another Honda film. Those movies, Max Space Amoeba and Frankenstein Conquers the

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World compare and contrast. Space Amoeba is one of those movies I would say is a quote

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unquote bad Kaiju film. But Frankenstein Conquers the World, I hold in high regard. It is one

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of the best Kaiju films I've ever seen. So check those ones out. Yeah, I haven't seen

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Frankenstein Conquers the World. Yeah, let's check that out. A rocket ship to unexplored

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planets captured by unknown powers. Yawg, monster from space. You are powerless against

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me. Irresistible terrorizing monster. We have merged ourselves into the giant crab of the

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jungle turtle. The unconquerable, the unbelievable. Yawg, monster from space. In the ocean's unfathomable

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depths, a gigantic manlike creature appears. From the fiery depths of the earth comes a

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prehistoric mastodon of destruction. Never before has the screen known such heart stopping

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terror. Starring Nick Adams. I feel he's very important from a scientific point of view.

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I'd have to cut off a leg or an arm. Doctors, I won't let you conduct this test. Frankenstein

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with the strength of a thousand men and every man's need for affection that makes him a

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willing captive. The chain hurts you. The new scoop of the century. The horrifying touch

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of a severed hand with a life of its own. The terrifying force of a monster that dwarfs

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man's tallest structures.

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Bring us up to speed in the year 2024. We have some upcoming releases. Alien Romulus

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comes out next week on August 16th. We have a trailer for Nosferatu, Robert Eggers, and

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Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, the sequel to Tim Burton's really beloved film coming out next

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month.

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So you know how I was reserved for the new like monster verse movie that's like for 2027?

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I'm the exact opposite for Nosferatu and Alien.

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You're on board 100%.

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Yes. I'm not saying all the alien movies are great, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the newer

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ones that have been released, mostly because it almost like pared down and simplified things.

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Because by the time you got to like the fourth alien film, it was just getting really bloated,

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I felt like. And I'm glad they've gotten away from Ripley as a character.

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Oh, okay.

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I mean, I enjoyed that character and her journey, but I just felt like we were retreading ground.

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Yeah, right.

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So with this newer stuff, they're going different direction. Quality is hit or miss for people,

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but I just enjoy some nice, simple, like slasher-esque alien action.

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Yeah, like a return to basics. This is a horror movie. It's like the original is a horror

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movie. You said the word slasher. I think that's apt. The film is directed by, or sorry,

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Romulus is directed by Fetty Alvarez, who did the Evil Dead remake in the past decade.

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Oh, I love that one.

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Right. So I think Alvarez has an eye for the genre and like how to.

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Yeah. I mean, what I loved about that Evil Dead remake was it was a serious horror movie,

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if that makes sense, but it still felt like it was connected to the franchise. So if he

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could do anything remotely as good as that Evil Dead remake, then it should be a home

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run.

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I think people are hyped for it. Okay, coming up on Camp Kaiju, we have The Mummy. That

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will be our next episode, the 1999 version, and we're going to have Naomi Osborne back

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with some trivia for you all. Later on this episode, we will reveal the trivia winners

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for King Kong versus Godzilla. So thank you all for participating in that. Max, you will

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be back for The Mummy.

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I almost watched The Mummy's hand like two days ago. Oh, we switched and watched Bram

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Stoker's Dracula.

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I do love The Mummy's hand, but I was really just kind of I don't know. I was just really

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impressed by Bram Stoker's Dracula. I think Coppola does like some really interesting

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things.

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There's a lot of a lot of great stuff in that movie. A lot of not so great stuff. Overall,

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good movie.

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Yeah, it's like, oh, wow, cool. It's like, this is great. Oh, this is bad. Right. And

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then in September, we're going to talk about the film Possession, which Matt said had said

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in our season in our season preview is a quote, hard our film. So watch what the lights on,

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I'm sure. But then we're going to bring Planet of the Apes, the 2001 version, which is not

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scary and kind of dumb. But I think it's worth looking into. Is it though? No. But I can't

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hide you got to talk about the good, the bad and the campy.

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Well, you know, I was pleasantly surprised. I did a similar thing with AVP. Oh, yeah.

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I was pleasantly surprised at my reaction to rewatching that movie. Yeah. So you never

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know. Exactly. Yeah. Mm hmm. Let's talk about Godzilla versus Megalon, which a lot of people

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do call a bad movie, but we're here to see it in maybe different light, maybe talk about

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it a little bit more critically. Maybe there are things going on beneath the surface that,

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you know, when you look past all the all the mess, you can see some glimmers of talent

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and choices and you're like, oh, OK, I see what you're doing here. Max, what's your personal

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history with this film? Well, this is the Godzilla film that we both grew up on. Indeed.

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We had a tape of it, watched it over and over. Mm hmm. So I was having flashbacks to those

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younger years while watching it from the very first image of the the boy in that ridiculous

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boat thing at the very beginning. It's so yeah. Like, what is that thing he's on? It's

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so inefficient. Like, I don't know if it was an actual product or they just made it for

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the film, but it wasn't doing anything. Like, how do you even get out there on that lake?

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Did they just drop him and say good luck? Right. Did they just push him off and he just

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floated out there? Or was it an actual product that works? But they for filming purposes,

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just I don't know, anchored him. I don't know. Very weird. But I've got a lot of nostalgia

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for this movie that I mean, I'm sure a lot of people do. Right. Which we'll get into

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the availability of this film was widespread in the States. Right. How do you see it since

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you were a kid? No, I've watched clips of the final fight since I was a kid. But I haven't

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seen the whole movie. So in reality, I was kind of watching it for the first time, as

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far as like, I don't know, paying attention to the story or characters or anything. That's

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awesome. Did you watch the sub or the dub version? Oh, see, I watched the Criterion

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Blu-ray. Same, same. And I thought I set it to the Japanese audio with English subtitles.

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But I think what I did was I turned it to the English audio and no subtitles because

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that's what played. And once it started, I was like, well, I'm here now. And since that,

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that's the version I grew up watching, I decided to just let it ride. I think that's okay.

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I did some research. There are no discernible differences. The well, the minor differences.

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Well, I don't know. So there's the US release, which cut three minutes. But on this Blu-ray

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on the Criterion, I actually I watched the Japanese language version. And then I kind

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of like watched bits and pieces of the English language version just to see if there were

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any difference in the cuts and the editing. There were no differences that I could tell

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on the Criterion DVD. Now, if I watch this old VHS that I have, that might be where you

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see the cuts. Yeah, I did watch that version of it because I found it online. And it was

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well, that website claimed it was in the public domain, which it's not. Right. Which is why

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it was on there. But I did watch it just to see how they cut things out. It's all mostly

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with that truck scene where you can see some some like nude pinups. Yeah, which I do not

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ever remember. So I think right. The VHS we grew up watching cut the nude pinups and there

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was some mild swearing that was cut from the US release as well. Yeah. So I did watch that

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edited version just to see how they changed it because I didn't really remember. And that

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whole scene is just cut and it's just the last line. Oh, interesting. Of well, I guess

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it's none of our business what we are doing with this crate and why we're dumping it in

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the lake. That's it. That's so indicative of like the entire script though, where it's

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just like, oh, well, we're we have this giant robot, or we have jet Jaguar. But like, we

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don't know why they built jet Jaguar. We don't know where this funding comes from. Like,

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we know nothing about anything really, any characters. It's all very surface level. Right.

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Like you read the synopsis or the character descriptions. And none of that's in the actual

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movie. That's true. All right. So the two main characters are three main characters.

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You've got these two adult men and a small boy. And in my mind, it was like, okay, they're

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friends. And I don't I couldn't remember where the kid fell into it. But the description

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of the characters are Yeah, they're two friends. And the boy is the younger brother of one

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of them. Right. It's not even in the movie, unless I missed it. But it's a it's halfway

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through the movie. It's mentioned that Rokuro, the little boy is the young is the kid brother

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of Goro. Oh, yeah, I must have missed it. But like, I wrote a note, like, what is their

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relationship? And then a halfway through, it was revealed to me, I was like, Oh, okay,

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that would have been nice to know at the start of the film. Yeah. I mean, the whole script

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is like that, where there's just details missing or vague, but you kind of get what's going

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on. But it leaves a lot to the viewer to just make a decision on what's going on. Which

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that's a really interesting point. Let's put a pin in that. Let's talk about the cast and

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crew, which we're already kind of doing a little bit. But then I want to read the brief

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synopsis of this film from the VHS that we had. It's from what's this called? Burbank

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video. It's the edition where Godzilla and Megalon are fighting atop the Twin Towers,

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which totally makes sense. So on the back of this, it says the most enjoyable of this

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now classic series Godzilla and a robot are the superheroes, while Megalon and his companion

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Gigan are the supervillains. This film is also notable for the sea topians and underwater

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race who do battle with the monsters. Angered by recent nuclear tests, the ruler of an underwater

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world sends a monster to destroy Tokyo. Godzilla once again proves that evil cannot prevail

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in this clash with supervillain Megalon. Okay, that took a little liberties with the with

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the story. But basically what happens, I mean, that's pretty much the entire written script

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right there. Yep, the Kuda gave his cast that synopsis and said, just improvise everything.

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We got this. All right, this is the scene where you send Megalon out. Okay. Not far

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from the truth. But who is for Kuda and who are some of the talent behind the screen behind

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the camera on this movie. So this is his fourth Godzilla film. He's directed five total in

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the Showa era, including the previous Godzilla versus Gigan and the subsequent Godzilla versus

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Mechagodzilla. He was a contract director who helmed a number of crime films for Toho

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in the 60s. Yeah, the film was produced by Tomiuki Tanaka, of course, who did every film

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in the franchise, essentially. Well, up until the 90s. And then this is where we get into

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some of the some of that difference between story and script. So the story is by Shinichi

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Sekizawa. He how he penned a number of Godzilla films and kaiju films in the 60s. He had a

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reputation for lighter scripts. But the production, the prep for this movie was really rushed.

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So Sekizawa only had the story. And he said to Fukuda, you take the screenplay because

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I am out of time. I can't write this. So Fukuda hastily wrote wrote the screenplay for this

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movie. You could tell this was a very pared down production. Things are shot very flatly,

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it seems. Just a stand over there. We're just gonna have the camera here. There's a few

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scenes where it's much more dynamic. But you can tell what it is like. I just stand on

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top of the hill over there. Okay. Right, right. One of the more fun scenes in the movie is

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the car chase. And it's fun because it starts getting really ridiculous towards the end.

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Yeah, like they're going down an impossibly steep hill. It's like, is there someone actually

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driving that car down that hill? Because kudos to whoever that driver was. Yeah, I have notes

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about that car chase. screeching tires on dirt. Yep. Like what? That's what I mean.

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Like there's you see the cars go down that hill or do some stuff. And then after all

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that, you see the motorcycle pop up again, because they weren't gonna have the motorcycle.

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Right. Do that same thing. That car chase is an example of what I think. Ultimately,

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this movie to me is not a bad movie so much as it is a purely campy movie. Because those

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kinds of choices, you could say are bad, but they actually, I think, enhance the enjoyment

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of the film. They don't distract really. Right. And to me, it's a lot of the problems I have

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are from it being constrained with the production realities of it. Exactly. Right. And we'll

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get into the production history in a little bit. Right. Music by Rishiro Manabe, who also

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did the music for Godzilla versus Hedera. We have special effects by a man named Turu

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Yoshi Nakano, who took over the special effects department at Toho after Subaru died in 1970.

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So all this to say is we have the Showa era, but we have two eras within the Showa era.

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We have the 50s and 60s, which was Honda, Fukube, Tsuburaya. And then in the 70s, those

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guys are out of the picture more or less. And we have a new director. We have a new

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visual effects director. We have a new composer. And I think when we talk about the 70s Godzilla

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movies, the general consensus is that these movies are lesser than that. They are very

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cheap and rough around the edges. So I don't know what that says about the talent behind

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the camera, but it's probably more to do with the studio politics of it and less to do with

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the abilities of all of those involved. Because you can only do so much if you're not getting

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the support you need. Because if you only have three weeks to shoot, yeah, obviously

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they're going to rely on all that stock footage that they had accrued.

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Yeah. So this is directly related to where we're at in Japanese cinema in the 1970s.

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It was not the preferred media for adult filmgoers. TV was. And especially with the tokusatsu

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genre, you look at Gamera, you look at Godzilla on the big screen, but then you had TV shows

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like Ultraman and Zone Fighter. This kaiju cinema was definitely a kids genre at this

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point.

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Right. And this, I mean, with the very prominent child protagonist. Exactly. You can see where

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their minds were at. Kid orientated productions. You know, it might be like hand waved of,

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oh, that doesn't matter. Kids don't care about that.

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Which that's a really interesting point about movies made for children. I think you can

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do that really well and smartly. And you know, there's lots of examples of smart kid movies

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with emotional depth and heart and quality and quality. And then you have movies that

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just completely talk down to their their audience. And I don't know. I first of all, as an adult,

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I hate those movies. And then if I was a kid, I'm like, oh, give me give the kids more credit.

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Those simpler movies that, you know, quality suffers because it's for kids. Children age

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out of that really quickly. So if you have a movie that is quality, that is also for

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kids, then I don't know, a person can enjoy that movie longer. Right. They grow up with

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it. It changes as they grow older. Right. Because I mean, we were watching movies when

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we were kids. Yeah, we watch kids movies. Sure. But then we were watching just adult

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movies by the time we were 10. Right. And that just shows that, you know, kids are interested

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in more than just stuff for kids. Exactly. You know, our favorite one of our favorite

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movies is Jaws. We were watching that. That's not a kids movie. But Spielberg, he does focus

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on children in that movie, which I think is he does in all of his movies. But like, that's

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an example. That's a good. That's a good example of, you know, as a child, there are still

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characters you might be able to relate to. And a father figure and right. I mean, yeah,

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there's stuff that kids can attach to. But it also I don't know. I mean, we were probably

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excited to be like, Oh, we get to watch a real movie now. Yeah. So yeah, I just feel

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like it's very short sighted to just think of something as a product for kids and not

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give it the attention that it deserves. Totally agree. We'll talk about kids more in a little

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bit. In real life, children were kind of central to a large part of this movie. But our quick

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cast and it is a quick cast. There are nine speaking roles. And I'm only going to give

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you like four or five of them. But there are no extras in this movie, which I didn't realize

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until after I watched it. I was like, Oh, yeah, like, your cars are on barren streets.

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There are no cityscapes really. And that's just, again, indicative of this threadbare

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budget. And I assume all the crowd scenes were reused footage. I think so in hindsight.

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Yeah. Yeah. So we have Katsuhiko Sasaki. He plays Goro, who is an inventor. He invents

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the and builds the Jaguar character. Sasaki later appeared in Terror of Mechagodzilla

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by Alante King Ghidorah. He is a veteran of the franchise. He's also got a just a long

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career. Oh, yeah. I mean, in general. Yeah, like he's one of the actors in this that I

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think his career still going. I think he he does the voice dubbing in for for Japanese

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releases of a lot of American films. Right. He does a lot of voice acting, anime, video

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games, and then yeah, a lot of dubbing for Japanese audiences. His kid brother is played

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by Hiroyuki Kawasa. The character's name is Rokuro. Kawasa was actually the kid protagonist

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in Godzilla versus Hedera from a couple of years prior. Yutaka Hayashi plays Goro's friend

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and an ace race car driver named Jinkawa Hiroshi Jinkawa. And then I think the star, the true

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star of Godzilla versus Megalon American actor Robert Dunham, he plays Emperor Antonio of

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Seytopia. This guy, I don't know, go read his Wikipedia page. That's a life. Yeah, that's

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where I pulled off this information. He had lived in Japan for 22 years. He was a he was

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a Marine, but he was in other Toho films, kaiju films, Dogura, the space monster and

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the green slime. But he's looking fabulous in this movie. In his toga. Yeah, tights,

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body hair, his tattoos. He's just a 70s man. Emperor Antonio. What a name that is. We Yeah,

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for Antonio. What? And then another notable cast member is Shinji Takaji. He plays Godzilla.

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And he this is the first film without Harter Oh Nakajima in the suit, which is notable.

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Okay, production backstory, we've already talked a lot about where Japanese cinema where

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it was at this time. You could see this in the overall budget of Megalon. We have worn

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out rubber suits at this time, we have a reliance on stock footage, a minimal use of cityscapes.

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Megalon like the final kaiju battle takes place in an open field. Other films of this

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at this time played from the same rulebook. But then the children, this is really interesting

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component. So in 1971, Toho and Super Eye Productions sponsored a contest for children

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to design a new monster to be featured in the next Godzilla movie. And this kid Masaaki

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Sano, he came up with the idea for Jet Jaguar. So there you go. If it looks like a children

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made him up, it's because one did. You know, I like Jet Jaguar. Who doesn't fight me on

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that? He's great. He does kind of stand out. I don't know when looking at all of the kaiju

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in Godzilla, he does have his own unique aesthetic, it seems like almost like a different franchise,

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like wormed its way in. But it's not it's not like a pre existing thing, even though

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it kind of feels that way. Well, it's because it is Toho also jumping on the Ultraman bandwagon.

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Right. But that's what I mean. And I think it is a nice character to have and to just

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like, yeah, let's just let's let's pull them out. But I don't know, it probably speaks

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to the threadbare aspect of the script. But when he's introduced, it's almost like he

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is a pre existing character. Right. There's no backstory. That's what I'm saying. There's

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no backstory. Like, oh, yeah, you know, Jet Jaguar. Who doesn't? Right. I don't know.

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It's Yeah, it creates an interesting vibe that I don't know. Was intended. But it kind

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of works. And I think Jet Jaguar and the character Megalon have both grown in popularity since

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this movie's release. They haven't been featured in a whole. Well, they haven't been featured

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in a feature length film since this movie. But they are very popular in the comics in

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little short films. Godzilla singular point. The anime on Netflix, Jet Jaguar is a main

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character. So yeah, yeah, much love for JJ there. All right. Now the release and legacy

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of this film is wild. It was mostly the US marketing and release

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and popularity where I don't know why but toe decided that this was going to be the

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movie that like the Godzilla movie they were going to heavily promote in the US and they

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did and it made a lot of money and became popular, very popular. And it also had a huge

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popularity with in the home video market. Why? Why? Why did it have such popularity

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in the home video market? I don't know. Tell me. Because it was thought to be in the public

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domain. Oh, right. Yeah, I did come across that. Yeah. I did mention that earlier, where

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it was posted on a website for public domain works. And then there's a bunch of people

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in the comments of that. This isn't actually in the public domain. But it wasn't until

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the 2000s when toe got their act together and reign that in. Because yeah, it was never

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in the public domain. It was always a derivative of the toe of the toes copyright. But in the

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American release, that little word copyright was not on the print, right, which therefore

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is actually important. Right. But in this case, not needed since it is a derivative

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of a copywritten work. Yes, it was pre existing. Right. But what also gained a bunch of popularity

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was it appearing on Mystery Science Theater. Exactly. Yeah, consequently. Yeah, I'm sure

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a lot of people are in the same situation of us having a lot of nostalgia for this movie.

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And it probably being a prominent Godzilla film in their memory. Mm hmm. Yeah. So like

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there is a silver lining to blatant disregard for creative laws and copyright. Yeah, one

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could argue. Yeah, it was just Oh, what we were mentioning about the the cover with Godzilla

384
00:43:50,700 --> 00:44:00,060
Megalon, the US poster for it had them on the Twin Towers in New York purely for promotional

385
00:44:00,060 --> 00:44:08,740
marketing. It's a great, great piece of art. It is it calls to mind the poster for the

386
00:44:08,740 --> 00:44:17,020
1976 King Kong, which I definitely believe the Megalon distributors were capitalizing

387
00:44:17,020 --> 00:44:21,620
on there. Mm hmm. There was also this is so fascinating. This is going to be the only

388
00:44:21,620 --> 00:44:28,580
time John Belushi and Saturday Night Live is ever mentioned on this podcast. But NBC

389
00:44:28,580 --> 00:44:35,260
aired the film in prime time in 1977. And get this. They only had an hour time slot.

390
00:44:35,260 --> 00:44:41,260
So they cut the film down and already 80 minute film. They cut it down to 48 minutes to accommodate

391
00:44:41,260 --> 00:44:48,500
commercials. But John Belushi hosted the program in a Godzilla suit. Man, I would love to

392
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:56,380
see that cut totally because it might be better with John Belushi in the in the program. I

393
00:44:56,380 --> 00:45:04,340
mean, it's not going to hurt. Well, I mean, there's barely anything in this script. So

394
00:45:04,340 --> 00:45:09,780
there's probably a lot that can be cut out that doesn't matter as far as the story goes.

395
00:45:09,780 --> 00:45:19,220
So I don't think it's a travesty of an edit, probably. No, not at all. I have looked into

396
00:45:19,220 --> 00:45:27,080
this NBC airing and I don't think it exists. Like on message boards and things. People

397
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:33,560
are sad that this this the copy of this program doesn't exist anymore because I would love

398
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:39,220
to see John Belushi in this thing. And that's a little bit before, you know, people had

399
00:45:39,220 --> 00:45:45,980
VCRs and could tape it. Right. Exactly. Just before to. Yeah. Well, yeah. So big legacy

400
00:45:45,980 --> 00:45:52,540
in the West. However, in Japan, it was a total box office bust. And it was actually the first

401
00:45:52,540 --> 00:45:59,260
Godzilla movie to sell less than one million tickets. So not popular, at least at the time.

402
00:45:59,260 --> 00:46:03,460
I don't know what it's what it's like now. I know Jet Jaguar is very popular. So maybe

403
00:46:03,460 --> 00:46:09,380
maybe there's some more love for this film in Japan. Well, it could. And this is pure

404
00:46:09,380 --> 00:46:15,460
speculation. So let me know if I'm wrong. It could be anybody going back to watch it

405
00:46:15,460 --> 00:46:21,420
now might not recognize that there's a lot of reused footage or they're watching it,

406
00:46:21,420 --> 00:46:29,980
knowing that it's way more campy than, let's say, quality. Yeah. Like the frame of mind

407
00:46:29,980 --> 00:46:34,860
is so important to when you watch it. You have to know what you're getting into. Exactly.

408
00:46:34,860 --> 00:46:43,020
Like you're not going to go to show era Godzilla movies and expect something from the 80s,

409
00:46:43,020 --> 00:46:50,500
you know. Yep. Like hey, say Godzilla. Yep. They pretty much all turned very campy. Very

410
00:46:50,500 --> 00:46:56,780
quickly. Yes. Which is what the monster versus now doing started off very serious. And now

411
00:46:56,780 --> 00:47:06,380
it's yeah, it's that's a much better change. Godzilla 2014. It was 2014. Right. Yeah. That

412
00:47:06,380 --> 00:47:12,940
movie's hard to watch. Well, I actually disagree. But let's save that conversation for another

413
00:47:12,940 --> 00:47:21,340
time. Well, fair enough. Okay. All right. This is our favorite part of the show. We're

414
00:47:21,340 --> 00:47:25,900
going to get to our sponsor break. And with it, Menia's mailbox. We're going to send a

415
00:47:25,900 --> 00:47:30,220
note down to Mr. Peter Laurie before you get started. Oh, Pierre run this down to him.

416
00:47:30,220 --> 00:47:35,500
Will you thanks and you're going to hear from Peter Laurie talk about the unknown by director

417
00:47:35,500 --> 00:47:41,540
Todd Browning. So enjoy this break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about Godzilla

418
00:47:41,540 --> 00:47:48,100
and Megalons themes, the form and the aesthetic. All right. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach

419
00:47:48,100 --> 00:47:52,660
Linder in the Zach pack powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate

420
00:47:52,660 --> 00:47:57,860
home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers. Reach out

421
00:47:57,860 --> 00:48:03,660
to the Zach pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach pack on social media and contact

422
00:48:03,660 --> 00:48:10,500
the Zach pack for investment opportunities. Links in the bio. And Menia's mailbox is

423
00:48:10,500 --> 00:48:17,180
brought to you by Patreon. Become a patron and your comments are tops. Max, we have a

424
00:48:17,180 --> 00:48:27,540
comment here from Abogado John, Abogado John on our YouTube page. This is from our cat

425
00:48:27,540 --> 00:48:37,380
people episode, which was released back in June. And Abogado John says, damn it, not

426
00:48:37,380 --> 00:48:46,740
a movie, just chatter. He was looking for free movies on YouTube, which is fair. But

427
00:48:46,740 --> 00:48:51,060
if you see Camp Kaiju, if you see an episode of ours on YouTube, it's just going to be

428
00:48:51,060 --> 00:48:58,460
audio. It's just going to be this podcast. But the episode for cat people ran one minute

429
00:48:58,460 --> 00:49:03,580
and sorry, one hour and 10 minutes. So if I'm looking for cat people from the 40s and

430
00:49:03,580 --> 00:49:09,740
I see that runtime, I'm also going to think, yeah, that's probably the movie. That's true.

431
00:49:09,740 --> 00:49:15,980
Yeah. I see your games trying to trick people. Yeah. So, you know, we're not trying to trick

432
00:49:15,980 --> 00:49:25,540
anybody. It's just a podcast. So Abogado John, I hope you enjoyed the podcast. But I don't

433
00:49:25,540 --> 00:49:32,540
get that impression. Well, we will read more next time. Please send us your own thoughts,

434
00:49:32,540 --> 00:49:39,420
questions, comments, any grievances you have with Camp Kaiju. Let us know. And we'll feature

435
00:49:39,420 --> 00:49:46,420
those comments on the show.

436
00:49:46,420 --> 00:49:53,380
Before Karloff and Lugosi stalked the screens, the movies were no less monstrous. These frightful

437
00:49:53,380 --> 00:50:00,980
figures lurked in the expressionistic shadows and danced in the macabre moonlight. They

438
00:50:00,980 --> 00:50:08,820
laughed and they cried. They fooled the sensibilities of honest, decent folk in the age of silent

439
00:50:08,820 --> 00:50:16,180
pictures. These gruesome fools nonetheless cried out with a savage humanity that took

440
00:50:16,180 --> 00:50:23,940
the breath from all those who witnessed the devilish delights. For in the silence, no

441
00:50:23,940 --> 00:50:38,460
one can hear you scream. Or if you are me and this infernal podcast, I am Peter Laurie

442
00:50:38,460 --> 00:50:46,300
and you may know me from such movies as The Raven and Osnick and Old Lace. You may be

443
00:50:46,300 --> 00:50:52,580
wondering how on God's green earth you are hearing my handsome voice when I have been

444
00:50:52,580 --> 00:51:01,060
dead these 60 years. Well, well, well, well, let me tell you about a couple of rat bastards

445
00:51:01,060 --> 00:51:07,780
named Matthew and Vincent who have unilaterally decided I would be the perfect host for this

446
00:51:07,780 --> 00:51:15,900
segment. I'm flattered but outraged. The sooner I fulfill my audio obligations, the sooner

447
00:51:15,900 --> 00:51:24,940
I may return to the afterlife. So welcome to Silent But Deadly. This week we discuss

448
00:51:24,940 --> 00:51:35,380
oh, what is this? Oh, how thoughtful. Thank you, Pierre. Ladies and gentlemen, I have

449
00:51:35,380 --> 00:51:41,940
just been visited by my only friend I have in this insufferable recording booth in which

450
00:51:41,940 --> 00:51:49,180
I live out the pangs of my resurrection. He has given me a note from my tormentors that

451
00:51:49,180 --> 00:51:58,020
reads Silent But Deadly is brought to you by the mysterious old radio listening society,

452
00:51:58,020 --> 00:52:07,300
a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the Golden Age of radio.

453
00:52:07,300 --> 00:52:17,580
How nice. Another sponsor. Will no one save me? This week we discuss another Todd Browning

454
00:52:17,580 --> 00:52:26,620
picture called The Unknown from 1927. This movie stars the man of a thousand faces, Lon

455
00:52:26,620 --> 00:52:36,220
Chaney in a trademark story of physical deformity. Chaney plays Alonzo the armless, a circus

456
00:52:36,220 --> 00:52:44,300
performer without arms who falls in love with Ninon played by Joan Crawford who has an aversion

457
00:52:44,300 --> 00:52:52,300
to the physical touch of men. The plot thickens when it is revealed that Alonzo does indeed

458
00:52:52,300 --> 00:52:58,420
have his arms and is a murderer on the limb and if that weren't enough, he has killed

459
00:52:58,420 --> 00:53:04,860
Ninon's father. The only clue tying Alonzo to the murder is his double thumb which has

460
00:53:04,860 --> 00:53:12,580
left its telltale print on the dead man's neck. In effect, Alonzo has his limbs actually

461
00:53:12,580 --> 00:53:18,700
amputated before Ninon can learn the truth and hoping she may love a man who cannot hold

462
00:53:18,700 --> 00:53:27,580
her. Does it work out for Alonzo? Oh, positively not. Ninon overcomes her fear of masculine

463
00:53:27,580 --> 00:53:33,820
embracing and falls for the strong man of the troupe. Devastated and now without arms,

464
00:53:33,820 --> 00:53:41,940
Alonzo meets his tragic end. The Unknown was a weaning collaboration between Browning

465
00:53:41,940 --> 00:53:48,940
and Chaney with both men playing to their strengths. The Unknown foreshadows themes

466
00:53:48,940 --> 00:53:57,100
of the outcast scene in Browning's 1932 film Freaks and Chaney delivers another memorable

467
00:53:57,100 --> 00:54:04,200
portrayal of a sympathetic villain. Perhaps, however, it is Joan Crawford who delivers

468
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:11,740
the most poignant performance. We are only left with our own perceptions as to the nature

469
00:54:11,740 --> 00:54:21,260
of a dramatic relationship with men. Overall, The Unknown is a far less famous movie than

470
00:54:21,260 --> 00:54:28,100
other Browning and Chaney pictures but it is indeed worthy of our attention. Next time

471
00:54:28,100 --> 00:54:37,380
on Silent But Deadly we will discuss another long Chaney movie called He Who Gets Slapped.

472
00:54:37,380 --> 00:54:45,740
I'm about to slap a baby if this segment goes on much longer. Oh, Pierre, you know,

473
00:54:45,740 --> 00:55:09,700
perhaps you might send a note to... to... the outside world! If it had a mind, you could

474
00:55:09,700 --> 00:55:22,340
reason with it. If it had a body, you could shoot it. If it had a heart, you could kill

475
00:55:22,340 --> 00:55:37,420
it. Now, man is no longer the supreme being on this planet. The organism is growing at

476
00:55:37,420 --> 00:55:44,300
a geometric rate. By all accounts, it's at least a thousand times its original mass.

477
00:55:44,300 --> 00:55:50,620
Nobody believes me about what happened tonight. What did happen? You were there, you saw.

478
00:55:50,620 --> 00:56:04,580
The last life form that hunts its prey. Predator. I want that organism alive. I think you ticked

479
00:56:04,580 --> 00:56:31,980
it off. The blob. Terror has no shape. Now, let's talk about the themes. This is what

480
00:56:31,980 --> 00:56:39,900
the movie is known for. It's deep thematic analysis. But, you know, go for it. What do

481
00:56:39,900 --> 00:56:48,980
we got? The big thing that every Godzilla movie has is its anti-nuclear messaging. Does

482
00:56:48,980 --> 00:56:53,900
it work for you in this movie? It starts... it's pretty strong actually with it. At the

483
00:56:53,900 --> 00:57:03,940
very beginning. I mean, the whole premise is that this underwater underground civilization

484
00:57:03,940 --> 00:57:14,300
sea topia became unearthed by nuclear testing in the Aleutian Islands. And then the characters

485
00:57:14,300 --> 00:57:19,620
have a little bit back and forth of how could the Americans do this? Kind of like, what's

486
00:57:19,620 --> 00:57:27,220
the world coming to sort of talk? And then it's just forgotten about. It's a little...

487
00:57:27,220 --> 00:57:32,580
it seems a little obligatory. Yeah, like it was just, all right, we have these five things

488
00:57:32,580 --> 00:57:38,860
we have to include in every Godzilla movie. Where do we fit it in? Exactly. Yeah. But

489
00:57:38,860 --> 00:57:44,420
what's interesting is the sea topians, you know, they actually after I finished the movie

490
00:57:44,420 --> 00:57:52,180
realized they're not a conquering force like a lot of like alien beings in Godzilla movies.

491
00:57:52,180 --> 00:57:57,020
They're just simply defending their homeland, which I found really interesting. Again, the

492
00:57:57,020 --> 00:58:03,980
movie doesn't actually care about exploring that. But you could imagine a version of this

493
00:58:03,980 --> 00:58:12,400
movie takes itself maybe a little more seriously. And it explores Antonio and like what sea

494
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:19,020
topia actually all about and why, right, why they might be justified in sending Megalon

495
00:58:19,020 --> 00:58:30,380
to the surface world. Well, I mean, Emperor Antonio in one of his speeches, he goes into

496
00:58:30,380 --> 00:58:36,740
how these humans are doing this for the last time. Like, I'm not going to stand here and

497
00:58:36,740 --> 00:58:46,060
let them destroy the planet. So it's almost like the trend of... it's like, you know,

498
00:58:46,060 --> 00:58:51,420
diehard the terrorists or environmentalists. Yeah, well, I think that was also big in the

499
00:58:51,420 --> 00:58:59,700
70s. Right. So when you read the back of like the synopsis from the back of the VHS, it's

500
00:58:59,700 --> 00:59:09,140
like, oh, you got these supervillains. Are they supervillains? Not really. They're just

501
00:59:09,140 --> 00:59:16,800
a differing perspective. They're not destroying out of necessarily malice. They're just trying

502
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:24,800
to probably save the earth. But again, much like the nuclear messaging, it kind of only

503
00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:31,780
appears in that one bit of dialogue and then doesn't really come up again. Right. And I'm

504
00:59:31,780 --> 00:59:37,900
like, oh, kind of a missed opportunity. Right. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could actually

505
00:59:37,900 --> 00:59:44,340
connect with Emperor Antonio? It would be. I mean, I think the most interesting and compelling

506
00:59:44,340 --> 00:59:52,820
villains are those you can sympathize with. It's the Magneto effect. Right. So, you know,

507
00:59:52,820 --> 00:59:59,540
if they had like a full production cycle for this movie and it was maybe the 80s where

508
00:59:59,540 --> 01:00:06,460
they're putting more of a budget towards Godzilla movies, this could have probably been like

509
01:00:06,460 --> 01:00:15,660
one of the better Godzilla films with its initial concept. Yeah. It's due for a remake.

510
01:00:15,660 --> 01:00:24,460
Well, maybe not a remake, but a sequel. Sure. Yeah. Or a return to Cetopia. The Cetopians

511
01:00:24,460 --> 01:00:31,220
are still there. Like nobody. Everyone survived. Yeah, they were destroyed. So great. Yeah.

512
01:00:31,220 --> 01:00:40,740
Let's bring back Emperor Antonio. Well, speaking of Antonio, what do you think? So in this

513
01:00:40,740 --> 01:00:47,740
is very this is a very now interpretation of the film, maybe tongue in cheek, but also

514
01:00:47,740 --> 01:00:54,500
not. I do want to give reverence to, you know, the LGBT community in what I have read in

515
01:00:54,500 --> 01:01:04,020
various blogs have latched onto this film for a queer reading that I think is there.

516
01:01:04,020 --> 01:01:08,700
I don't think it's not there with some of the characters. Oh, for sure. Come across

517
01:01:08,700 --> 01:01:14,420
any of that, like in even in even while watching the movie, did any of that cross your mind?

518
01:01:14,420 --> 01:01:24,900
So the opening scene is Goro and Junkawa just having a lakeside picnic. Totally innocent.

519
01:01:24,900 --> 01:01:32,380
Nothing going on there. Nothing going on. But immediately my wife was like, are they

520
01:01:32,380 --> 01:01:38,660
a couple? Oh, Emily watched it with you. Yeah. OK. OK. Well, I love this. Keep going. Keep

521
01:01:38,660 --> 01:01:43,980
going. It was it was like an immediate interpretation of what's going on, because again, the movie

522
01:01:43,980 --> 01:01:53,180
doesn't explore this, like what their relationship is. Right. And even then, oh, they're friends.

523
01:01:53,180 --> 01:01:59,660
I mean, yeah, a lot of gay characters are just friends. Right. And because the movie

524
01:01:59,660 --> 01:02:06,380
doesn't give us any details, it's completely left her own interpretation. But when you

525
01:02:06,380 --> 01:02:16,580
think about like I I'll post the link to this really great blog from an LGBTQ reviewer.

526
01:02:16,580 --> 01:02:22,140
But she she she points out Junkawa doesn't go anywhere. Like he doesn't have a family,

527
01:02:22,140 --> 01:02:27,540
doesn't have a home. He's always there. He's always with Goro. He supposedly lives in this

528
01:02:27,540 --> 01:02:34,980
place, too. So and then it's I think it's a totally valid interpretation of this movie.

529
01:02:34,980 --> 01:02:42,580
Now, whether it's intentional or, you know, there's no budget for the movie, so. There's

530
01:02:42,580 --> 01:02:50,140
just no other people at all. No women to cast in this film. Nobody out that no women auditioned,

531
01:02:50,140 --> 01:02:57,340
apparently. That's not true. That's not true. I'm sure I'm sure women audition. I there

532
01:02:57,340 --> 01:03:03,000
probably wasn't an audition process. It was like, who do we got? For this three weeks,

533
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:10,460
we have all these women. You know, we'll just we'll just cast you a setopian dancers. But

534
01:03:10,460 --> 01:03:15,420
I still think it's a valid interpretation because so, yeah, you said there are no women

535
01:03:15,420 --> 01:03:23,180
in the film, but there are. So they could have had some actresses in there. Yeah, like

536
01:03:23,180 --> 01:03:29,980
any other Godzilla movie. So it it could have been an intentional choice. Either way, that

537
01:03:29,980 --> 01:03:38,820
reading of the film is there. It's valid. Can't deny it. You can't deny it. And because

538
01:03:38,820 --> 01:03:44,380
that you don't know that Rokuro is Goro's younger brother until halfway through, I'm

539
01:03:44,380 --> 01:03:50,820
left thinking like, what are they? Parent figures? Is this an adopted boy? Like, I don't know.

540
01:03:50,820 --> 01:03:56,260
Yeah. I mean, well, even if it is a younger brother, it doesn't mean they can't be parental

541
01:03:56,260 --> 01:04:03,860
figures. Oh, I agree. They still are. Right. And I mean, what further goes into that is

542
01:04:03,860 --> 01:04:10,700
like Jin Kawa, as you said, doesn't have a life in this movie outside of the two brothers.

543
01:04:10,700 --> 01:04:16,000
Oh, and this was he doesn't have a home for all intents and purposes. They're all just

544
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:22,100
living together. Right. And this is a another bit of evidence in support of this reading

545
01:04:22,100 --> 01:04:32,980
too, that I realized Goro and Jin Kawa create life through Jet Jaguar, which is the same

546
01:04:32,980 --> 01:04:40,020
template as Bride of Frankenstein, where you have Henry and Ernest Thessager's character,

547
01:04:40,020 --> 01:04:50,500
Dr. Pretorius. And and the queer reading of that film is there. Like, that's not a debate.

548
01:04:50,500 --> 01:04:56,820
So I don't know, is Godzilla versus Megalon, the poor man's Bride of Frankenstein? Maybe.

549
01:04:56,820 --> 01:05:04,900
Maybe. I think if you just watch this without knowing how limited production resources were,

550
01:05:04,900 --> 01:05:11,660
100 percent. If you knew the production backstory, then you could probably think of some other

551
01:05:11,660 --> 01:05:18,000
reasons. But again, they still made choices to make the movie the way it is and could

552
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:27,180
have easily not made those choices. Right. So. Yeah, I'm sold. Totally. Yeah, I agree

553
01:05:27,180 --> 01:05:32,460
with that reading. And I think it's I don't know. It's a it's a really interesting fold

554
01:05:32,460 --> 01:05:38,340
to this movie and where it stands within the history of Godzilla. Yeah, makes it worth

555
01:05:38,340 --> 01:05:43,380
talking about a little bit. All right. Some form and aesthetics. I will say one thing

556
01:05:43,380 --> 01:05:49,620
I latched on to was the music. Now, is the is the music the same in the Japanese audio?

557
01:05:49,620 --> 01:05:56,780
Oh, I don't know. OK, I know sometimes it can be different. Yeah. But it was a lot of

558
01:05:56,780 --> 01:06:04,600
jazz flute, which I am not saying is a bad thing. It added energy and life to scenes

559
01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:10,100
that didn't really have a whole lot going on visually. Well, see, that's interesting,

560
01:06:10,100 --> 01:06:15,780
because in my viewing, I liked the score, but I didn't I didn't get enough score. I

561
01:06:15,780 --> 01:06:22,500
didn't get it to enhance any of the storytelling or like really. At all. I don't know. I just

562
01:06:22,500 --> 01:06:29,540
kind of fell and faded to the background. I mean, it really added a lot to that car

563
01:06:29,540 --> 01:06:35,220
chase. Right. Like in moments, I think it's effective. The Jaguar theme is great. That's

564
01:06:35,220 --> 01:06:41,700
a classic. And again, it feels like this was already a pre-established character that's

565
01:06:41,700 --> 01:06:47,900
like making a guest appearance. Right. Right. It's like this is a Godzilla movie, right?

566
01:06:47,900 --> 01:06:54,040
Why is Jaguar's theme so prominent throughout? Well, so it's a it's a longstanding rumor

567
01:06:54,040 --> 01:06:59,860
that's not actually true in terms of evidence. But the rumor is that this was actually a

568
01:06:59,860 --> 01:07:05,300
Jet Jaguar movie and they tacked Godzilla on at the end. And it does feel that way.

569
01:07:05,300 --> 01:07:10,700
It does. It does. Yeah. Godzilla doesn't have as much screen time as Jet Jaguar. And Godzilla

570
01:07:10,700 --> 01:07:15,580
is really only saved for the final third of the movie, I would say. But but there's no

571
01:07:15,580 --> 01:07:22,620
evidence in the production notes that. Yeah, I was originally the case. I will say I just

572
01:07:22,620 --> 01:07:28,660
assumed every special effects shot that didn't have one of the characters in the movie in

573
01:07:28,660 --> 01:07:37,300
it was reused footage. Yes. Like with Megalon destroying the city. Yes. That was intercut

574
01:07:37,300 --> 01:07:44,980
with King Ghidorah's destruction of the city in from Ghidorah, the three headed monster.

575
01:07:44,980 --> 01:07:52,540
So I don't want to talk too much about that stuff, but the damn sequence was fun. Oh,

576
01:07:52,540 --> 01:08:01,020
yeah, that is a noted standout in this film. Although there is a moment where Megalon kind

577
01:08:01,020 --> 01:08:09,140
of gets like rushed through the dam. Yes. With the water. And it's just like, oh, yeah,

578
01:08:09,140 --> 01:08:14,860
yeah. It kind of breaks the illusion where it's like. That's just a guy flopping around

579
01:08:14,860 --> 01:08:23,620
in a suit. And I got that thought a whole lot during the final fight as well, where

580
01:08:23,620 --> 01:08:30,900
they're just kind of rolling around on the ground fighting. It's like the fight choreography

581
01:08:30,900 --> 01:08:36,860
could have been a little better. Oh, all right. I mean, I'm not saying that you're that it

582
01:08:36,860 --> 01:08:40,940
couldn't have been. But I have a lot to say about that fight. Well, they just kept cutting

583
01:08:40,940 --> 01:08:47,420
back to that. Yeah. And it's like, OK, we could probably cut five minutes out of this

584
01:08:47,420 --> 01:08:54,900
fight. We just cut out the rolling around on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, and that

585
01:08:54,900 --> 01:09:05,780
just enhances that camp factor in my mind of, yeah, just that total who? Yeah, very campy.

586
01:09:05,780 --> 01:09:10,820
So we can go ahead to our breakdowns, because I think what I'm going to talk about with

587
01:09:10,820 --> 01:09:15,620
the direction stuff are just some some notes that I can I can just talk about within my

588
01:09:15,620 --> 01:09:22,340
own breakdown. So we have the good, the bad and the campy. Now, my good for this film,

589
01:09:22,340 --> 01:09:30,980
I do like Fukuda's direction. My main thing with this film is that it is super low budget.

590
01:09:30,980 --> 01:09:38,260
And yet I can see Fukuda doing things, doing as much as he can to overcome those limits

591
01:09:38,260 --> 01:09:49,380
along with his cinematographer. So, for example, the kaiju are are standing in an open field.

592
01:09:49,380 --> 01:09:55,180
That's very difficult in terms of conveying high do scale, because if you have a building,

593
01:09:55,180 --> 01:09:59,420
you could see how tall that monster is. But if it's just three monsters standing in a

594
01:09:59,420 --> 01:10:07,580
field, you don't really you lose that weight. However, Fukuda is shooting these moments.

595
01:10:07,580 --> 01:10:13,820
He uses a lot of wide angle lenses. Is that it? Just wide frame. He shoots wide shots.

596
01:10:13,820 --> 01:10:21,620
Yeah, wide shots. Thank you. And he's shooting a lot of them from below, which is like those

597
01:10:21,620 --> 01:10:29,020
two ways. Are like his. I see those as his attempt to still convey some sort of scale.

598
01:10:29,020 --> 01:10:33,540
Yes, he does the same for the human character standing on the what we're supposed to take

599
01:10:33,540 --> 01:10:38,700
as the top of a mountain. Yeah, he's shooting them from below just to try to add some sort

600
01:10:38,700 --> 01:10:48,140
of scale that isn't really there. My second example of that is the stock footage. These

601
01:10:48,140 --> 01:10:54,260
this Ghidorah footage of the lightning bolts hitting the building. I think they're intercut

602
01:10:54,260 --> 01:11:02,420
well because well, Megalon has the ability to shoot a beam very much like Ghidorah's.

603
01:11:02,420 --> 01:11:06,820
Okay, so there was a choice there to say, you know, we're going to use Ghidorah's footage.

604
01:11:06,820 --> 01:11:13,700
How can we make Megalon as like Ghidorah as possible? So I'm like, okay, well, I think

605
01:11:13,700 --> 01:11:19,780
you pulled it off then. Oh, yeah, it was never a situation while watching the movie of that's

606
01:11:19,780 --> 01:11:25,820
definitely older footage. If I watch this again with no knowledge of the production

607
01:11:25,820 --> 01:11:31,300
history, I wouldn't even think of it. Exactly. And I didn't either until well, I've just

608
01:11:31,300 --> 01:11:36,260
seen every Godzilla movie now. So now I can recognize footage from other movies. But if

609
01:11:36,260 --> 01:11:40,580
you don't know, you don't know, you don't know, and you don't notice it. And I think

610
01:11:40,580 --> 01:11:46,820
that's, that's a strength. Yes, the stock footage. So what'd you like about this movie?

611
01:11:46,820 --> 01:11:54,660
Well, I mentioned the music. I really liked that. The final fight was a tag team match,

612
01:11:54,660 --> 01:12:03,540
like a professional wrestling sort of vibe. Yeah, there's camaraderie on both sides. And

613
01:12:03,540 --> 01:12:09,500
I like the intentional choice of, I don't know, making them much more human in their

614
01:12:09,500 --> 01:12:19,980
responses. I mean, Judge Jaguar is humanoid robot. So his thumbs up. Godzilla, when he

615
01:12:19,980 --> 01:12:26,820
enters the fight arena, his like arms are up. Oh my gosh. He's got a grand entrance

616
01:12:26,820 --> 01:12:31,260
like he's walking into the ring. Yep. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It tells

617
01:12:31,260 --> 01:12:37,820
a story. Yes. There's moments where the heroes are you think they're down and out. They got

618
01:12:37,820 --> 01:12:44,180
the fire ring around them. They're really struggling. But then the tables turn. And

619
01:12:44,180 --> 01:12:49,900
yeah, it's done really well. They start working together. Like getting comfortable, you know,

620
01:12:49,900 --> 01:12:57,420
communicating better. And so that's to counter the criticism I gave of the fight choreography.

621
01:12:57,420 --> 01:13:04,500
And then just rolling around on the ground. Because there is more of the good that I just

622
01:13:04,500 --> 01:13:10,220
mentioned than the rolling around on the ground. And again, you cut like a little bit of the

623
01:13:10,220 --> 01:13:18,420
rolling around out. And I think it'd be a much tighter, more fun fight sequence. Yeah.

624
01:13:18,420 --> 01:13:24,420
Rather than bad. This is funny for me because the I don't again, I don't think this of this

625
01:13:24,420 --> 01:13:31,100
movie as a bad movie, but just like a really campy movie. I think it's its weaknesses in

626
01:13:31,100 --> 01:13:43,300
a weird way enhance the enjoyment of the film. But I will say that the script is like there's

627
01:13:43,300 --> 01:13:47,860
there. It's again, very surface level that you don't know any backstory. You don't know

628
01:13:47,860 --> 01:13:53,700
anything, which could enhance the, you know, your enjoyment of the film, depending on what

629
01:13:53,700 --> 01:14:01,540
you're looking for in a Godzilla movie. I think I more importantly, for me, I do miss

630
01:14:01,540 --> 01:14:08,380
city scapes, cities being destroyed model cities in these later Godzilla movies from

631
01:14:08,380 --> 01:14:16,860
the Shoah era. And I do find the visual palette of this film rather bland and right, visually

632
01:14:16,860 --> 01:14:26,660
uninteresting. Well, the lack of backstory that is not there for the characters and everything.

633
01:14:26,660 --> 01:14:31,780
I mean, yeah, I could have come up with a whole bunch of stuff myself, but in reality,

634
01:14:31,780 --> 01:14:37,260
mixed in with what you were saying, like the blandness, it was just boring in some parts.

635
01:14:37,260 --> 01:14:44,460
Yeah. I just wasn't invested, which, you know, there's a lot of Godzilla movies that are

636
01:14:44,460 --> 01:14:50,500
told that same trajectory, but I'm not gonna lie, I did those for like a minute at some

637
01:14:50,500 --> 01:14:58,060
point. Yeah. But and this is a this is an hour and a half film less than and the fact

638
01:14:58,060 --> 01:15:07,700
that it has some slow moments is unfortunate. Yeah, it's unfortunate. But it did. You know,

639
01:15:07,700 --> 01:15:13,100
I dozed for about a minute, woke up just in time for the final fight. So I was all rested

640
01:15:13,100 --> 01:15:22,500
and perfectly back in. So that's kind of a bad that turns into a good at least has a

641
01:15:22,500 --> 01:15:28,100
silver lining. Yeah, yeah. So what are the things didn't work for you at this movie?

642
01:15:28,100 --> 01:15:36,460
Well, oh, one big thing that I guess you can call it bad, but maybe this falls more into

643
01:15:36,460 --> 01:15:39,980
the campy because I've given a fair amount of criticism. So I don't want to like retread

644
01:15:39,980 --> 01:15:46,220
all that. So I'll just go straight to the campy. Okay, great. Which is all the very

645
01:15:46,220 --> 01:15:56,100
obvious wire holding things up. Yeah. And I sorry, go on. And then I'll add to that.

646
01:15:56,100 --> 01:16:04,940
And this also like the stiffness in flying, which this isn't a criticism of only this

647
01:16:04,940 --> 01:16:17,380
movie or really a criticism. It's just a style of a lot of the Japanese media in this genre.

648
01:16:17,380 --> 01:16:24,100
They were all doing similar stuff. So it has now become a trope and therefore is fully

649
01:16:24,100 --> 01:16:30,220
camp at this point. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I didn't look at it and be like,

650
01:16:30,220 --> 01:16:41,060
I can see that wire. Why isn't Megalon moving while he's drilling through the earth or flying?

651
01:16:41,060 --> 01:16:48,420
It was more just Oh, that's fun. Yeah. Oh, one other thing that is not necessarily campy.

652
01:16:48,420 --> 01:16:55,620
It was just really fun to watch. I forgot that Megalon moves around on land by hopping. Oh,

653
01:16:55,620 --> 01:17:02,260
my god. I was like, what is he doing? I don't. Maybe it was because he's very bug like, and

654
01:17:02,260 --> 01:17:07,500
they're like, well, you know, bugs hop. Yeah. But it was it was fun. And he's got three

655
01:17:07,500 --> 01:17:13,580
different modes of transportation. He like flies, he hops, he drills. I love the character

656
01:17:13,580 --> 01:17:19,540
design of Megalon. Yeah, we didn't even get into all that. And that much kudos to the

657
01:17:19,540 --> 01:17:25,380
design team, because it was fun. I like his design. I wish he was in more things. Agreed.

658
01:17:25,380 --> 01:17:32,260
So along those lines. So what I wanted to say was I want because we watch this criterion

659
01:17:32,260 --> 01:17:43,220
blu ray high death. And I wonder if we don't see the wires as much in an old beat up tape

660
01:17:43,220 --> 01:17:50,740
version of this film. You know what I mean? Maybe. But you also have to remember, this

661
01:17:50,740 --> 01:17:57,380
wasn't shown in theaters on a VHS copy. But it also wasn't shown in the kind of high death

662
01:17:57,380 --> 01:18:09,340
that we have today. Correct. But from my experience, when criterion does their like blu ray copies,

663
01:18:09,340 --> 01:18:17,300
they're not bringing in over quality that diminishes the work. Okay. One notable terrible

664
01:18:17,300 --> 01:18:22,740
example is, you know, the back to the future blu ray. Yeah, you can see all the like old

665
01:18:22,740 --> 01:18:28,700
makeup and things. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't noticed anything like that watching criterion blu

666
01:18:28,700 --> 01:18:38,920
rays. So I don't know if that's just me giving them too much credit, or if they're intentionally

667
01:18:38,920 --> 01:18:46,220
keeping it lower or what have you. But I don't think it's because it's a blu ray that we're

668
01:18:46,220 --> 01:18:54,580
seeing all this stuff. Okay. Like I would imagine seeing the zippers in costumes. Right.

669
01:18:54,580 --> 01:19:02,380
But you I mean, you can kind of see some of the seams with Guy Gantz costume. But I think

670
01:19:02,380 --> 01:19:09,660
that's more of the costume design that they went with and not the quality we're watching

671
01:19:09,660 --> 01:19:16,020
it in. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. Well, the only way to know is to watch my VHS copy.

672
01:19:16,020 --> 01:19:23,900
And I'll let you know. It's true. So my campy is related to this fight. This is like the

673
01:19:23,900 --> 01:19:30,500
fight has such great moments of storytelling little moments. Godzilla's knocked down.

674
01:19:30,500 --> 01:19:37,660
He's on the ground. Megalon shoots one of his napalm bombs out of his mouth. And this

675
01:19:37,660 --> 01:19:42,980
little ball you can think of it as a grenade. I love that it rolls towards Godzilla's face.

676
01:19:42,980 --> 01:19:49,100
And before it can explode. Jet Jaguar like essentially dives on the grenade, picks it

677
01:19:49,100 --> 01:19:54,340
up and chucks it back at Megalon. And I was like, this is awesome. This is like, this

678
01:19:54,340 --> 01:20:01,540
is what I want. I did note that moment as well. And another thing I thought about it

679
01:20:01,540 --> 01:20:09,220
was why is this suddenly like a rolling grenade and not just immediately exploding on impact

680
01:20:09,220 --> 01:20:15,660
like every other time in the movie? But I'm glad it did that because it is a fun little

681
01:20:15,660 --> 01:20:22,740
scene. You can picture Jet Jaguar yelling grenade. Right. It's it does add to their

682
01:20:22,740 --> 01:20:29,620
camaraderie and like you feel like they're a team, a real team by the end. Right. So

683
01:20:29,620 --> 01:20:36,580
another another wonderful moment is Jet Jaguar is now down for the count and he's he's kind

684
01:20:36,580 --> 01:20:43,540
of buried up to his neck and Gigan goes up behind him and like threatens to cut his throat

685
01:20:43,540 --> 01:20:49,340
if Godzilla comes any closer. And it's just that just a little moment. It's adding to

686
01:20:49,340 --> 01:20:57,540
character. It's adding to the tag team wrestling, you know, melodrama of it all. You're just

687
01:20:57,540 --> 01:21:04,060
like, what? Yep. Yep. Gigan and Megalon are a good pair. Yeah, you could. They're they

688
01:21:04,060 --> 01:21:10,220
feel like they're cartoon bad guys. Yeah. And they act all conniving and mean like,

689
01:21:10,220 --> 01:21:15,460
right. Like schoolyard bullies. Yeah. It's like a combination of schoolyard bully and

690
01:21:15,460 --> 01:21:21,980
mustache twirling villain. Yep. Great. And I love it. Visually. They work well together.

691
01:21:21,980 --> 01:21:27,060
Yeah. Yeah. I think that was a good choice to bring Gigan back for this. Yeah. This team

692
01:21:27,060 --> 01:21:33,820
up. Yeah. All right. That's all, folks. The last bit we have, we've got to give it a rating.

693
01:21:33,820 --> 01:21:39,020
Does this movie stand the test of time? We have four ratings on Camp Kaiju. We'll start

694
01:21:39,020 --> 01:21:43,980
from the bottom and go to the top. So we have it's not worth revisiting. It definitely does

695
01:21:43,980 --> 01:21:49,460
not stand the test of time. It may be historically significant or just fun, but it does not stand

696
01:21:49,460 --> 01:21:54,980
the test of time. We have there may be some antiquated moments, but overall it's great

697
01:21:54,980 --> 01:22:01,120
and it stands the test of time. Or our final rating, it is a timeless classic. It definitely

698
01:22:01,120 --> 01:22:08,420
stands the test of time. Max, where do you fall with Godzilla versus Megalon? I'm going

699
01:22:08,420 --> 01:22:14,460
to say it's a timeless classic. It really stands the test of time. And that's because

700
01:22:14,460 --> 01:22:21,100
you're laughing. I mean, I don't mean to be surprised, shocked and odd. Well, I say this

701
01:22:21,100 --> 01:22:28,020
because watching the movie now is completely different from watching it when it was first

702
01:22:28,020 --> 01:22:35,540
released. It has been given a new life the longer we are from its original release and

703
01:22:35,540 --> 01:22:42,260
what original criticisms of the movie were. Because if you watch this movie in a vacuum,

704
01:22:42,260 --> 01:22:48,420
it's just a fun campy movie. You put it on, yeah, you might like, it might lose your attention

705
01:22:48,420 --> 01:22:53,860
for a little bit, but there's always something that brings you back after a few minutes,

706
01:22:53,860 --> 01:22:59,300
whether it's Megalon destroying the dam or the city, or just you look up and suddenly

707
01:22:59,300 --> 01:23:05,340
you're in sea topia and you're like, what is going on right now? Or that final fight.

708
01:23:05,340 --> 01:23:12,740
So I think it, there was probably a time period where this was like at the very bottom and

709
01:23:12,740 --> 01:23:18,980
not worth revisiting. But now looking back, if someone were to watch it, let's say they're

710
01:23:18,980 --> 01:23:25,900
watching all the Godzilla movies or, and this just happened to be the first one they watch,

711
01:23:25,900 --> 01:23:28,660
they're gonna enjoy it.

712
01:23:28,660 --> 01:23:37,300
That's awesome. I love all that. I think all you have said is very legitimate. However,

713
01:23:37,300 --> 01:23:46,100
I will say there are some antiquated moments in terms of character, human characters, and

714
01:23:46,100 --> 01:23:51,500
the budget being so bare bones, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more effort

715
01:23:51,500 --> 01:23:59,660
put into having some extras around having some more sea topia more. I don't need more

716
01:23:59,660 --> 01:24:04,940
Robert. Well, see, this is this is the point can't be fun, because I would, some people

717
01:24:04,940 --> 01:24:11,440
would say more Robert Dunham would be a terrible choice. I say more Robert Dunham would be

718
01:24:11,440 --> 01:24:13,500
an excellent choice.

719
01:24:13,500 --> 01:24:20,540
I would love to see him like riding Megalon. Yes, something there's did you notice his

720
01:24:20,540 --> 01:24:27,540
tiara has Megalons head on it? I did. That was great. It was a nice little touch. Thank

721
01:24:27,540 --> 01:24:33,220
you, costume department for coming up with that choice. I didn't have to do that. No,

722
01:24:33,220 --> 01:24:43,260
but it's so good. I'm saying timeless classic. Well, I agree. It is a classic. And it does

723
01:24:43,260 --> 01:24:52,780
stand the test of time. It is an overall rate. Example of the kind of camp Godzilla can represent.

724
01:24:52,780 --> 01:24:58,060
Yes, I would definitely watch this first though, before any other ones. So you don't recognize

725
01:24:58,060 --> 01:25:04,780
the stock footage. Right. That's a good point. Yeah. Okay. Well, next time on Camp Kaiju,

726
01:25:04,780 --> 01:25:10,300
we will welcome Matt back to the show for arachnophobia. So that'll be coming at you

727
01:25:10,300 --> 01:25:17,300
next Saturday. Quick turnaround there. And then we will see Max back here for the mummy

728
01:25:17,300 --> 01:25:25,500
1999s the mummy and more trivia Naomi will be joining us as well. Matt Levine, gangs

729
01:25:25,500 --> 01:25:30,260
all back, we're gonna get the band back together here. So stay tuned for your chance to win

730
01:25:30,260 --> 01:25:35,220
some Camp Kaiju merchandise. And let us know what you thought about this episode, what

731
01:25:35,220 --> 01:25:44,140
you think about Emperor Antonio and anything else we talked about. So thank you, Max. Appreciate

732
01:25:44,140 --> 01:25:49,340
having you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So thanks for hanging out friends. Please rate

733
01:25:49,340 --> 01:25:53,460
and review wherever you listen. You can also share this podcast with a friend. Send us

734
01:25:53,460 --> 01:25:59,380
listener comments at campkaiju.gmail.com our Facebook page or on Instagram links in the

735
01:25:59,380 --> 01:26:04,340
bio or Hey, if you'd like to be a featured voice on the show, leave a voicemail at 612

736
01:26:04,340 --> 01:26:12,140
4470 2612. And please check out our website, Camp Kaiju podcast.com for more information.

737
01:26:12,140 --> 01:26:16,620
Camp Kaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with meanies mailbox music by Ben Cook

738
01:26:16,620 --> 01:26:22,980
Belts. Thanks friends and until next time, stay campy. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach

739
01:26:22,980 --> 01:26:28,340
Linder the Zach pack powered by Coldwell banker Realty your source for real estate home rehab

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742
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the Zach pack for investment opportunities. Links in the bio.

743
01:26:43,380 --> 01:27:09,740
Oh. The hot dog. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey what?

744
01:27:09,740 --> 01:27:11,740
Punch! Punch! Punch!

745
01:27:11,740 --> 01:27:13,740
Punch! Punch! Punch!

746
01:27:13,740 --> 01:27:34,740
Don't cry, let's do our best!