WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Atragon 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:15.280 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.960 Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're going 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.400 to be talking about the nineteen sixty three Toho special 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:28.840 effects Bonanza Atragon, directed by Ishiro Honda, who was probably 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.720 most famous for making the original nineteen fifty four Godzilla, 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.279 but who did a bunch of other things. I mean, 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.320 made dramatic movies as well, but made some of the 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.920 Kaiju classics like Mothra and things like that, but also 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:43.880 some of the weirder ones I was seeing in the 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.960 film list. Looks like Honda did, like Matango, the movie 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:52.680 about the mushroom Island. Yeah, the mushroom people in it. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.320 Yeah yeah. I mean we'll get into him a little 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.400 bit more in a bit, but he he's he is, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:02.560 without a doubt, Kaiju Royalty. It's not to say that 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.480 that Kaiju movies would not have existed without Issu Rojanda. 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.800 They might have, but they wouldn't have been the same 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.920 with a trigaon here. I would say, I went in 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.200 thinking I was going to get a straight Kaiju movie, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:19.720 but actually this turned out to be something very different 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.400 than what I expected. It's, uh, I would say, primarily 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:29.000 a morality tale about the dangers of nationalism and the 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.280 virtues of cooperation in the face of great obstacles. And 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.720 there is a there is a strange beast in it. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.240 There is a dragon monster featured towards the end of 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:42.360 the film. But I'd say the real special effects spectacle 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.000 centerpiece here is the submarine. This is also a movie 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.960 about how submarines can fly. Yes, yes, this is more 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.080 of a model submarine movie than a rubber monster movie 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.960 in the end. And and yeah, I too was was 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.760 It was surprised because the trailers and the emotional images 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.640 for this film, they really sell the fantasy elements of it, 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.200 and you think you're going to get more of a 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.400 you know, sort of a you know, a Pulp era 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:14.000 Flash Gordon sque clashing of human civilization and some sort 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.400 of fantastic hidden civilization that just also happens to be 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.240 humans and you know, different outfits. But yeah, there's this 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.639 this deeper message they were going for here. Yeah, this 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.120 was interesting. So I was reading a write up about 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:32.880 this in a book called American International Pictures, A Comprehensive filmography. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.120 Now This was a Toho Studios movie, uh when it 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.280 was made in Japan, but it was released by a 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.280 I P internationally or at least in the United States. Uh. 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.280 This is a book by Rob Craig, and one of 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.920 the things he points out about the film that the 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.840 villainous entity in the film, the MoU Empire, is that 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.799 it's an example of an anachronistic motif that was common 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.240 during the golden age of pulp fiction, the so called 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.440 lost Empire. Would you know, there's like a nation of 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.760 people which secretly still exists, unknown to anyone outside of it. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.640 And usually this empire combines the esthetics of some kind 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:15.800 of pre industrial society with futuristic technological superiority. So they've 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.959 you know, they're like ancient Egypt with ray guns or something. Yeah, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.920 this is um. This is a whole idea of like 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.080 lost continents and so forth, and that you see. Of course, 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.000 it's part of a whole occult movement back in the 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.720 day and and sort of you know, sudo like not pseudo, 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.320 but I guess a pre conspiracy theory. We would call 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.640 it conspiracy theory thinking today, I guess, uh, turn in 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.040 in the culture. But but also of course it leaked 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.080 into various fictions. So you see it, you see it 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.000 in uh, in both pulp science fiction and pulp fantasy 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.960 of the old days, you know, like various like Roberty 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.920 Howard and Clark Ashton Smith tails. They often concern things 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.440 that happened on some continent it doesn't exist anymore, so 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.280 sort of you know, I've forgotten iron age or have 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.480 forgotten um, you know, history in which these fantastic tales 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.520 could happen. And then also, uh, you know you can 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.640 you can cast about and find numerous examples of undersea 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.760 Kingdom style uh and adventure shows from back in the day. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.000 But coming back to the idea of this movie as 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.560 a moral melodrama, I would say a lot of Kaiju 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:35.520 movies have a clearly identifiable moral. It's usually not super complex, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.919 you know, It's something kind of simple, like war is 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.960 bad and should be avoided, or you know, we should 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.200 not pollute and damage the planet Earth. But despite the 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.159 simplicity of of these themes, I'd say, for me, somehow, 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.760 the moral of a Kaiju movie usually comes through with 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.599 a kind of weird sense of integrity, despite the fact 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.760 that it is writing into your brain on the vehicle 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:01.400 of two radioactive lizards suplexing each other. So the central 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.120 conflict in this movie is that the Earth is threatened 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.719 by a force called the MoU Empire. It is a 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.600 sort of evil atlantis at the bottom of the Pacific. 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.279 It's ruled by an empress with red hair who wants 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.200 to subjugate and destroy everyone and the the The Empress 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.039 will not be satisfied until all of the land lovers 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.560 on the planet are either killed or kneeling before her, 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.440 and over the course of the film we find out 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.159 that there's really only one weapon capable of standing against 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:35.120 the superior technology and the and arguably the magic of 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.720 the MoU Empire, and it is a giant submarine which 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.320 can fly in the air, drill through rock, and shoot 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:46.719 freeze raise. But that submarine belongs to a Japanese naval 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.320 commander for whom World War two basically never ended, so 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.039 the war is over, but he goes into hiding after 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.640 the war and continues to work on this super weapon, 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.840 which he wants to use to restore the Japanese in 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.240 Pire to its place of glory and in when he's 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.240 presented with the situation in the movie, he refuses to 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.480 join in common cause with the other nations of the 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.080 world against the MoU Empire, because he's only interested in 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.600 fighting for the glory of the Japanese Empire specifically, or 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.600 in the I'm sure it wasn't saying this in the original. 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.880 In the dub that I watched, one line called it 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:27.240 the imperial Empire of Japan. But anyway, the moral ark 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.360 of the film is his discovery that he must put 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:34.800 aside his his sense of nationalistic honor and superiority and 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.320 and stand up with a good of humankind as a whole. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.520 And I think this was a common theme in Japanese 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.479 films at the time that would sort of promote the 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.039 idea of international cooperation and and be critical of the 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:50.120 idea of nationalism or imperialism. But it uh, it seems 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:54.880 to fit also very well with issue ro Honda's particular sensibilities. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:56.600 it's a you know, it's a it's a monster movie. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.239 It's a more like I said, more of a submarine movie. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.040 But it is a it is a fantasy adventure. But 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.400 you gotta fill up. The rest of the film was 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.320 something and it's not just um, just popcorn in the area. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.680 It's a film that's that's trying to say something uh, 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.320 while also entertaining us with toy submarines and rubber monsters. Now, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.400 a note on the title. The Japanese title for the 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:25.920 film literally translates to the Undersea Warship, but Toho went 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.400 with the Atragon for the international title, presumably because it 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.960 combines the English words atomic and dragon. I guess the 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.560 worship is the titular atomic dragon here, though, I guess 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.280 you could also make a case for maybe maybe the 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:41.960 actual dragon is an atomic dragon. I don't know. It's 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.360 supposed to be pretty powerful. I love these Toho portmanteaus. 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:47.960 You remember the story about the origin of the word 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:53.280 godzilla That was from combining the words for guerrilla and whale. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.960 Oh yeah, that's right, it's the guerrilla whale. He's not 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:03.400 really either of those things. No, no, now the Yeah. 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.400 The trailer for this is uh is pretty flashy and impressive. 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.480 It's it's hard to once you start seeing the looking 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.640 at the posters for this film, once you start looking 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.120 at the trailer footage, it's hard to not be pulled 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.640 into it. It's like a whirlpool. That's how we wound 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.120 up here, looking around for some sort of Kaiju or 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:26.320 Kaiju adjacent film to watch and the uh uh for 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.880 the elevator pitch. You can't get much better than than 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.840 what is actually featured on at least some of the 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.800 English language posters. It is see the Juggernaut of Destruction 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:41.959 challenge the Incredible Empire beneath the Sea, which is accurate. 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.120 That's that's kind of what That's basically what you see 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.240 in the film, but with a little more padding than that. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:48.880 Well yeah, well, one thing I will also say about 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.880 this movie is it takes a long time to get 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.199 to the Moon Empire. There is a lot of this 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.360 movie has a surprising amount of plot, Like there's a 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.360 ton of intrigue people sort of chasing each other around. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.520 There's a lot of characters that it spends the first 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:09.640 twenty minutes introducing all these different characters and essentially just 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.640 positioning them all on the chessboard to eventually move them 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.520 to the island where the the Japanese naval commander Jing 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:22.199 Gucci is working on his his super weapons submarine. Yeah, 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.280 it's it's an interestingly kind of complex plot in a way. 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.320 The way it's constructed here and the way it differs 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.000 from from your pure Kaiju film, it does make me 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:33.760 wonder if something like you could have, like a Shin 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.680 a Trogon movie take place to you know, be produced 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:41.959 today where they take this this basic concept just ultra seriously. Yeah, 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.840 so we see all the meetings and the rescheduling of 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.560 the meetings and the moving the meetings to a different location, 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.679 and yeah, yeah, my mind turns back to to Shin Godzilla. 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.880 I guess anytime I watch a film that involves you know, Kaiju, 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.079 and even in the slightest and I guess one of 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.040 the great things about Shin Godzilla is it's kind of 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.440 a um, you know, the fantasy there is is both 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.719 the monsters, but also it kind of presents this optimistic 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.240 view in which modern governments work, in which they they 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.439 like all the things they are doing, or a can 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.400 can actually be pushed in a beneficial direction and solve 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:22.679 big problems like monsters attacking the you know, the country, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.640 or other things like, um, you know, some of the 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.280 wicked problems in the world or climate change, etcetera. It's funny. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.080 Just the other day I was rewatching one of the 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.800 original trailers for Shin Godzilla that I think is just 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.360 a great trailer doesn't reveal too much about the movie. 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.520 It's just a very well chosen edit of of short 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:45.120 sort of scenes of characters again going to meetings and stuff. 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.480 But it's got this soundtrack set to it, this uh 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.240 escalating sort of uh string riff that's recorded on almost 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.840 what sounds like an old timey telephone line or something. Uh, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.400 and it it creates this wonderful sense of impending doom. 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.839 It's really all right. Well, on that note, let's go 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.079 ahead and hear the trailer audio for the English trailer 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:11.240 for Arica. Atrigon the most devastating device the mind of 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.320 man has yet created. It travels on land and in 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:21.640 the sea. It tunnels through the earth. It's cruel. All 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:31.880 superman with superweapons can freeze their enemies and enslave them. 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:36.120 Fire and fear are the gods of terror. On the 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:50.000 hidden content, no thing, no man, no adventure can match 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:55.679 the nine amazing wonders of Atrigon, nor the massive powers 0:11:55.720 --> 0:12:09.480 of its allegoric destroyer. You will see wonders that challenge 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:18.440 the imagination. You will see flying saucers. You will know 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:28.920 terror that panics the world. At moroccos On me I 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.800 am Agent number twenty three of the Mule Empire. This 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:45.240 earthquake is not accidental. Sounds pretty exciting, right, Dragon, submarines, freeze, 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.960 raise everything you could possibly ask for an emotion picture. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.079 So let's talk about some of the people involved. Certainly 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.240 at the top we already mentioned is Shiro Honda, who 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:01.600 lived in nineteen eleven through legendary tote film director of 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.000 course Hill nineteen Godzilla, the movie that started at all. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.800 He directed forty four pictures in total. Eight of those 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:13.319 were Godzilla films, culminating in ninety Terror of Mecca Godzilla. 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.480 But yeah, he also directed Rodan, The Mysteriens, The Human 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:23.079 Vapor Matango, Frankenstein Versus Beragon, The War of the Gargantuans. 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.560 Those are both films that deal with giant Frankenstein's I 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.040 was that I think has grown from a Nazi brain 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.320 or something. Um. I think I was reading the Michael 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:38.520 Weldon summary of Frankenstein Versus Bearragon and invited memory serves 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:44.000 the heart of Frankenstein's monster is like sustained or resurrected 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.240 by Nazi scientists to get shipped off to Japan, where 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.160 a young boy eats it and then transforms into a 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.680 gigantic Frankenstein. That's basically the plot of Jason goes to Hell. Yeah, yeah, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.160 and and and Honestly, it's pretty true to Mary Shelley's vision. 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.319 I don't think she would disagree with this film at all. Uh. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.480 Was just there a part where the giant Frankenstein reads 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.800 Paradise Lost. Yeah, probably it's they have. That's how they 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.520 try and um and defeat it. I'm guessing is they 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.599 have to build a gigantic copy of Paradise Lost it 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.520 out there with Banks and try and trick him into 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:23.520 reading it, make it realize that it is satan. Yeah. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.720 Let's see other movies. There's a Space Amba and others. 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.360 He was a friend of legendary Japanese director at Cua Kasawa, 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.560 and you see him popping up on some of his 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.760 projects as well. For instance, he served, as I've seen it, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:42.120 listed as director counselor but also chief assistant director on 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:47.280 Kurassow epic Ron. This is the one that is basically 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:52.160 like a samurai uh, sort of riff on king Lear. Yeah, 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:58.640 it's a great one. Yeah, has unbelievably staged battle scenes. Yeah. Honda. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.080 His name continues to a year in the credits on 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.200 Godzilla movies moving forward, of course, but also you see 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.640 there are also other homages to him in various Godzilla 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.680 and Godzilla adjacent pictures. Alright. The screenplay was by Shinichi 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.040 uh secon Zawa, who lived nineteen twenty through nineteen ninety two, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.040 a frequent collaborator with Honda. Inscribe of many Godzilla movies, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.120 beginning with nineteen sixty two's King Kong Versus Godzilla, and 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.320 then this is interesting, This is not a The screenplay 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.200 was not based on one novel, but kind of took 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.760 ideas from two different books and sort of mashed them 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.560 together and then use that as a space, uh to 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:42.400 to to comment on the things. I guess that that 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.720 Honda and the secon Zawa wanted to comment on. That 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.040 makes sense. Yeah, I can see this being a mash up. Yeah, 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.640 and I think that's something that ultimately works in its favor. 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.760 So the first novel would be this, UM. This novel 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:02.640 UM The Undersea Warship by shoonro O Chicawa who lived 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.400 eighteen seventy six through nineteen fourteen, Japanese author and journalist 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.480 who was also a pioneer in Japanese science fiction. UM, 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.239 I don't think His influence was was was felt outside 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.080 of Japan, but was it was very influential within Japanese 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.520 um uh you know, pulp writing of the time, science 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.840 fiction of the time. He was inspired in large part 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.680 by the works of Jules Verne uh So, of course 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.320 he wrote about sci fi submarines, but in his book 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.600 apparently the villains are themselves Japanese imperialist who build a 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:43.560 great drill headed submarine. Now, the second book is won 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:50.160 by Shigeru Kamatsuzaki uh the novel being The Undersea Kingdom. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:54.320 So Kamatsuzaki worked in the in the art departments on 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:58.240 this film as well as Honda's fungal horror film A Tango. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.440 And he was a prolific artist in Japanese science fiction, 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.639 specializing in futuristic vehicles. He did in a lot of 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:09.000 covered illustrations for model kits, particularly model kits that had 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.679 some sort of like sci fi TV show or movie 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.000 tie in, And it's a definite style that I think 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.359 many people will recognized, Like even if you're not familiar 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.280 with his work, if you look up his name and 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.320 look at some of these galleries of particularly of these 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.480 uh these plastic model kit boxes you'll you'll recognize the 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.159 style and it's you know, it's it's very like like 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.480 you know, you know, classic sci fi, a lot of 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.800 fantastic vehicles with unnecessary drills on them, that sort of thing, 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:42.199 polished shiny metal on the surfaces, things that look like 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:46.439 flying toasters. Yeah. Yeah, flying toasters is a good a 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.080 good description. But yeah. He also wrote this novel, Undersea Kingdom, 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.399 which serves this partial basis for this film, and it 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:56.840 concerns an undersea kingdom threat. Okay, so smashing these together, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.320 you take what's originally the idea of a sort of 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:06.959 remnant Japanese imperialist who who builds a dangerous super weapons submarine, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.280 and that's originally the villain of one novel, but in 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.040 this it's do you take that same character and turn 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.520 them into a reluctant hero or somebody who starts as 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.000 uncooperative with the heroes but then comes around. Yeah, and 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.080 then you combine this with the actual villain being this 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.000 golden arrow of pulp fiction kind of idea of a 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.760 lost empire, except it's under the sea and they have 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.480 a dragon at their command and they have all kinds 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:44.040 of technology. Yes. Now, normally we talk mostly about some 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.360 human actors in this film, but like I said, most 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.760 of them were Kaiju movie regulators, and we'll mention a 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.520 few of them when we get into the plot. But 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.439 really the real stars of this film are are the 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:00.160 submarine and then also the dragon of the submarine battles. 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:05.280 Um So, I guess starting with the submarine. The submarine 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.840 is called the Go Tingu um or Go Tango, which 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.119 apparently literally means roaring heavens, which a nice name for submarine. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.919 Like you said, it is the ultimate submarine warship, and 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.280 it is so ultimate that it not only travels beneath 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.600 the sea, it can also tunnel through solid stone, it 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.840 can fly through the air, and it is a spectacular 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:27.840 model in a movie that's filled with a lot of 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.280 really solid model work. Um And, I think it shouldn't 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.119 be a surprise at all that this apparently sold a 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:39.080 number of Gotango model kits over the years, um So. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.720 I included a picture from from one of these model 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.359 kit boxes. I do very much love the look of 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.560 the design, though I have some practical concerns about this 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:53.600 submarine I can raise later now. The Gotango here it 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.000 was simply just too good to remain in one motion picture, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:01.520 so it would ultimately ultimately return you and Godzilla Island, 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:05.720 a TV show that ran through Godzilla Final Wars in 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.359 two thousand and four, super Fleet Caesar X the movie 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.959 in two thousand five, and god Zaban, which has been 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.600 is a web show that at least started in twenty 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.399 nine and is perhaps still going based on what I 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:24.560 could tell on the on the wiki zilla dot com website. 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:29.439 I don't think I know any of these except Final Wars. Yeah, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:32.720 and then I should also mention that there was there was. 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.480 There was also an Intragon two part anime series that 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.600 came much later, which of course features the submarine You 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.679 can't You can't do a movie about the Atomic Dragon, 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.960 about having the Atomic Dragon itself in it uh And 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.760 speaking of dragons, that brings us to Manda Uh. This 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.160 is the god bio weapon of them of the move 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:56.480 a great serpentine sea dragon that strongly resembles traditional Japanese 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.680 depictions of dragons, which is one of the things that's 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.119 into instantly interesting about this this monster design, because you know, 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.560 you see things like Godzilla. Godzilla just looks kind of 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.280 like a well, I guess a whale and a gorilla, 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.679 but more more or less like a big dinosaur and 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:16.159 other creatures that Godzilla battles or Gammera battles. You know, 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.120 they don't they don't really look like monsters that one 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:25.160 is instantly going to necessarily identify with Um with pre 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:31.120 Kaiju Japanese culture. But here's Manda, and Manda basically looks like, 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.399 you know, a traditional depiction of some sort of a 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:38.119 serpentine Japanese dragon. Um And I think that that ultimately 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.879 works in its favor um And I imagine it was 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.040 quite intentional. Apparently it was. Originally some of the early 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.760 UH pre production art showed Manda is like a big snake, 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.960 but then they made him a dragon instead, And you 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.080 think about, like what he's supposed to be. He's kind 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.800 of a manifestation of war and imperialism, certainly for the 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:00.800 people of MoU. But MoU is all so again presented 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.639 is this dark reflection a kind of underwater world to 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.800 mirror this this you know, the remnants of warlike sentiments 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.920 in Japanese culture of the nineteen sixties. So it makes 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.560 sense that the horrors of the past might be symbolized 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.040 by a monster that is also draped in history. Yeah, 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:19.879 that that makes sense to me. Now he's brought to 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:22.000 life via or I can say he it could be 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:24.680 a sheet or we don't know. Manda has brought to 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.480 life via puppetry. But it's not you know, so it's 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:31.840 not a rubber suit Kaiju. Uh. So it's uh, it's 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.000 a slightly different beast than say Godzilla and so forth. 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.440 But that doesn't stop Manda from coming back in other 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:42.440 films and so again. This list is via wiki zilla 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.119 dot com. Manda returns at least as in a cameo 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:50.119 in Destroy All Monsters in sixty eight, All Monsters Attack 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.960 in sixty nine. That's stock footage. Also comes back at 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.920 stock footage in Terror of Mecca, Godzilla in seventy five, 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.919 and then also Godzilla Final Wars in two thousand and four, uh, 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:04.960 god Zaban uh in nineteen, and then Godzilla Singular Point 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.880 a TV series in one so a, Manda still very 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:13.040 much part of the Kaiju Toho Pampion. Now, as I mentioned, 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:18.199 though Manda is not a major figure throughout most of 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.040 the film's runtime, Manda pops up basically right at the 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:24.000 end um And one of the things that I think 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:27.520 makes Manda interesting is that it uh some of it's 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:32.680 like big confrontation and fight scene involves underwater puppetry, which 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:35.439 I don't know what the challenges were in shooting that, 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.840 but I found that interesting. Yeah, the underwater scenes, I 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:43.160 think are are brought to life rather well in this film, 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:47.000 you know, through the use of models and puppetry. Uh. 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:49.360 And then I mean there are scenes also with some 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:54.360 aquatic humanoids or frog band uh, swimming their way through 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:56.760 the water, and it's you know, it's clear that they're 0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:59.920 they're not actually filmed underwater. They're just they're like hang 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:02.840 by wires or something, but it still works. I gotta say, 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:07.560 any movie that has long underwater sequences is where where 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:09.840 you're actually like out swimming around in the water. I 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:11.840 don't mean like in the interior of a submarine or 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:14.760 something that's got to fight uphill to hold my attention. 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:16.879 I'm not quite sure why, but I think about a 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.439 lot of movies that have diving scenes, and I just 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:22.560 think a lot of those scenes I I tend to 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:26.560 want to doze off, Like Thunderball. You know, the James 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.359 Bond movie Thunderball has got like twenty minutes of just 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:34.080 diving underwater, fighting between divers with masks, and stuff and 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:37.160 uh and it's it's nearly impossible for me to pay 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:40.880 attention throughout that entire sequence. Yeah, and you often have 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:45.000 like a prolonged sequence on deck, putting the swim the 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:48.840 swim gear on, putting on the wet suit, so that 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:51.040 kind of drags it out as well. Weirdly, I would 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:53.800 say the same is true for underwater levels and video games. 0:24:53.840 --> 0:24:57.240 People almost even like those. You ever heard people complain 0:24:57.280 --> 0:24:59.760 about this. I feel like that's a common sentiment. It's like, oh, 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:04.040 it's a water level. Huh, Well I never really thought 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:05.879 about that. I mean sometimes it's great. I mean, like 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.840