A podcast seeking entertainment and enlightenment through tokusatsu. Origin Story: After vacationing on the Monsterland Resort, professional writer/raging nerd Nathan Marchand got a job as the curator of the Vault containing the films about Monster Island’s many kaiju residents. Now he and his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA (who miraculously survived the infamous War in Space), record a bi-weekly podcast critically and academically examining each of the films in the prestigious Vault with one to four guest hosts chosen from Monster Island’s many tourists. Philosophy: Kaiju and/or tokusatsu fans will tell you these genres are undeniably fun. What’s often missed, though, are the deeper meanings below the sensational surface. Meanings entrenched in the story’s original historical and cultural context. That’s why this podcast believes in film appreciation. What’s that? It’s studying a movie’s script, direction, cinematography, and other aspects of filmmaking. It’s learning how and why it was created since movies aren’t made in a vacuum. This is especially true with foreign films. Non-native audiences are separated by both time and culture with them...
https://monsterislandfilmvault.podbean.com
Episode 5: John LeMay Presents ‘King Kong vs. Frankenstein’ & ‘Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla’
(FYI: This was recorded before the news that 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong would be delayed).
Hello, kaiju lovers!
In this special “side Kong Quest” ( ), Nathan is joined by author John LeMay (who is a gentleman and a scholar) to talk about two unmade King Kong films with connections to King Kong vs. Godzilla. The first was “King Kong vs. Frankenstein,” a project that special effects legend Willis O’Brien tried to get made in the late 1950s before it ended up at Toho. Then Godzilla and Kong almost had their rematch in the 1960s with Shinichi Sekizawa’s “Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla,” where the Eighth Wonder becomes a surrogate parent to a Japanese baby! Hear all about them in this episode! These and many other lost Kong films are covered in great detail in John’s book Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island, which is part of Monster Island’s library and one of Nathan’s go-to resources for the podcast.
Jimmy From NASA is absent for most of this episode because Kong and Godzilla were upset that Nathan skipped their 1962 monster mash movie, so Jimmy left to calm them down with the ORCA. The thing is, Nathan covered that film on his previous podcast, Kaijuvision Radio. Here’s a link if you want to listen to it before the next episode:
Episode 8: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) (The Japanese Economic Miracle (The Golden 60s))
Also, Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here on Monster Island!
Read Jimmy’s Notes for corrections, riffs, and more info on this episode!
© 2019 Moonlighting Ninjas Media
#JimmyFromNASALives
Bibliography/Further Reading:
- Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island by John LeMay
- A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, 2nd Edition by David Kalat
- Kaijuvision Radio, Episode 12: Ebirah – Horror of the Deep! (1966) (The Changing Kaiju Film Audience)
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