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 34: The MSTies vs. ‘Gamera vs. Barugon’ (feat. Joe and Joy Metter)
Hello, kaiju lovers!
The Year of Gamera continues. (Yay?) Nate is joined by his friends Joe and Joy Metter to discuss the outlier of the Showa Gamera series, Gamera vs. Barugon. It’s the one that was actually aimed at an adult audience—and it flopped. As usual, the Tourists get to see the MST3K episode—which has Nate’s favorite line of those episodes—while Nate has to watch the original Japanese version. Even with Joel and the Bots’ riffs, Joe and Joy say they would’ve preferred to watch it subtitled! Thanks to a combination of a “monster mic” and the ORCA, Jimmy was able to get Barugon himself to interrupt a few times, but Nate thinks the ORCA’s translations were dubious, at best. The Toku Topic is the New Guinea Campaign because several characters in the film fought during that and the film takes place partly on that island.
Beforehand, Nate, Jimmy, and Jet Jaguar are visited by William H. George III, Esquire, the special envoy to the Monster Island Board of Directors (MIBOD). It is he, and not Ms. Perkins, who brings the Board’s latest press release for Nate to read on the air. He also makes it abundantly clear the Board didn’t appreciate Nate’s “shenanigans” at the Gamera: King of the Monsters Banquet a few weeks ago.
Read Jimmy’s Notes on this episode.
Featuring Michael Hamilton as the voice of William H. George III.
Prologue written by Nathan Marchand and Michael Hamilton.
Music:
-“Rondeau” by Jean-Joseph Mouret
-“Opening the Way” by Pablo Coma
Sound effects were sourced from Freesound.org.
We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (co-hosts of Kaiju Weekly); Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Eli Harris (elizilla13); Chris Cooke (host of One Cross Radio); Bex from Redeemed Otaku; and Damon Noyes! Thanks for your support!
You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month!
This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.
Timestamps:
Prologue: 0:00-5:26
Intro: 5:26-10:10
Entertaining Info Dump: 10:10-19:10
Toku Talk: 19:10-1:07:27
Ad: 1:07:27-1:08:47
Toku Topic: 1:08:47-1:36:50
Outro: 1:36:50-end
Podcast Social Media:
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Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @NasaJimmy
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Follow the Raymund Martin and the MIFV Legal Team on Twitter: @MIFV_LegalTeam
Follow Crystal Lady Jessica on Twitter: @CystalLadyJes1
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© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media
Bibliography/Further Reading:
- Duffy, James P. “No One Returns Alive” (American Heritage)
- Flower, James. “A Guide to English Language Gamera.” (Arrow Video Gamera: The Complete Collection)
- Galbraith IV, Stuart. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of 103 Features Released in the United States 1950-1992.
- Gamera: The Complete Collection, Disc Two Special Features.
- Gamera vs. Barugon Commentary by August Ragone and Jason Varney (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection)
- LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982.
- LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (Mutated Edition).
- LeMay, John. Writing Giant Monsters.
- Macias, Patrick. “A History of Gamera: Gamera vs. Barugon” (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
- Milner, David. “Interview with Noriaki Yuasa” (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
- “New Guinea campaign (January 1942-September 1945)” (History of War)
- “New Guinea: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II” (brochure)