1
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob Lamb.

2
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,520
Speaker 1: We have a new episode of Weird House Cinema coming

3
00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: out this week that is going to feature Godzilla, So

4
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: we are going to explore one of our past episodes today.

5
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,560
Speaker 1: This is an episode that originally published seven sixteen, twenty

6
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 1: twenty one. It is on the a really great Godzilla picture,

7
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,159
Speaker 1: Godzilla Versus Hetera from nineteen seventy one.

8
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:38,560
Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

9
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,080
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

10
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,400
Speaker 3: And I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Godzilla time on the podcast.

11
00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:50,800
Speaker 3: But maybe at Godzilla you're a little bit less familiar

12
00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,200
Speaker 3: with one that was new to me as of this week.

13
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,600
Speaker 3: Today we are doing the Godzilla picture that was too

14
00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 3: hot for Toho, the Godzilla film that is too rat

15
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,920
Speaker 3: it's too dangerous, it must be stopped. It's Godzilla versus Hetera.

16
00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,679
Speaker 1: Yes, Godzilla versus Hetera, one I had never seen before.

17
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 1: And I think you know, I've seen a fair number

18
00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,880
Speaker 1: of Godzilla films over time, and I think I tend

19
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,560
Speaker 1: to have watched the ones that were either on TBS,

20
00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:20,280
Speaker 1: back in the day they would show me in like

21
00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,120
Speaker 1: the Afternoon when I was a kid, or ones that

22
00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,800
Speaker 1: were featured on Mystery Science Theater three thousand later on.

23
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,119
Speaker 1: But there, of course have been tons of Godzilla films

24
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:31,240
Speaker 1: over the years, and this is one that simply fell

25
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 1: through the cracks for me. I did not I did

26
00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,280
Speaker 1: not know it existed until this week when you said, hey,

27
00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,399
Speaker 1: why don't we do a Kaiju movie? Why don't we

28
00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,080
Speaker 1: do either this one or that one? And I looked

29
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,440
Speaker 1: and I saw, well, it looks like Godzilla versus Hetera

30
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,679
Speaker 1: is available on HBO Max as part of the Turner

31
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: Classic Films selection.

32
00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 3: There.

33
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,480
Speaker 1: Well, let's do that one. It's the easiest one for

34
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,760
Speaker 1: me to see. And I'm so glad I did.

35
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 3: The other option we were looking at. It's funny because

36
00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:57,840
Speaker 3: the two movies have a kind of similar premise. The

37
00:01:57,880 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 3: other one we were looking at was The Space of Me,

38
00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,240
Speaker 3: which does not have Godzilla in it. It's a Kaiju

39
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,160
Speaker 3: movie about an alien microbe that lands on an island

40
00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,880
Speaker 3: in the South Pacific and there it transforms some examples

41
00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,720
Speaker 3: of local wildlife into giant monsters. I think it makes

42
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,720
Speaker 3: a big squid and a big crab and one other

43
00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,680
Speaker 3: thing I don't recall, but in this movie we also

44
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,760
Speaker 3: have an alien microbe I think, coming from a gaseous

45
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,880
Speaker 3: nebula or a speculated by one character later on, from

46
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,120
Speaker 3: a planet covered in sludge, a sledgelike planet, dark sledgie planet,

47
00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,280
Speaker 3: dark sluedgy planet that has come to Earth. And whereas

48
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,480
Speaker 3: many aliens would say, take me to your leader, this

49
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,079
Speaker 3: one says, take me to your smokestacks. I need to

50
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:39,760
Speaker 3: get high.

51
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,560
Speaker 1: Take me to your pollution. Yes. And the one character

52
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,880
Speaker 1: even says, wasn't this good? It can eat up our pollution?

53
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 1: Like no, it's just too destructive, that's right.

54
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, So this is a pollution monster that huffs airborne

55
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,440
Speaker 3: particulates straight out of smoke stacks. He is a broomstone

56
00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,920
Speaker 3: beast from space that exudes sulfurous gas and acid and

57
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,920
Speaker 3: poison and is bad news all around.

58
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. So one thing about this film is this, First

59
00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,919
Speaker 1: of all, this film is very much a Kaiju versus film,

60
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,359
Speaker 1: So it is going to largely hit the same plot

61
00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,280
Speaker 1: points you're familiar with. Some new creature presents a threat

62
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,160
Speaker 1: to humanity. An established veteran, in this case, Godzilla, shows

63
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,800
Speaker 1: up to battle it. Human characters watch on as battle proceeds.

64
00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:29,920
Speaker 1: You know, your good guy Monster is going to be

65
00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:31,320
Speaker 1: on the ropes for a little bit, but it's going

66
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,239
Speaker 1: to have a big comeback and eventually win the day.

67
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,360
Speaker 1: So Godzilla versus Heter is going to give you all

68
00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,080
Speaker 1: of those points. But there's so much additional weirdness here.

69
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,120
Speaker 1: There's so much visual flare in this film. I feel

70
00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 1: like it really stands apart from pretty much all the

71
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,400
Speaker 1: other Kaiju films that I've seen. I'm actually I seriously

72
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,360
Speaker 1: entertained putting it above Shin Godzilla is my favorite Godzilla movie.

73
00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,760
Speaker 3: I was thinking about the same thing. This is a

74
00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 3: new favorite for me, definitely my top three now, and

75
00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,520
Speaker 3: much like you, I also have Shin Godzilla near the

76
00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,720
Speaker 3: top of the heap. But mainly it's the reason I

77
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,720
Speaker 3: was so enthralled by this movie was its novelty. Having

78
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,160
Speaker 3: seen many Kaiju movies, it has a lot of the

79
00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 3: familiar elements, and in fact, I would say the familiar

80
00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,320
Speaker 3: elements are actually the weakest part of this movie as

81
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,080
Speaker 3: far as the big monster meet slam goes. I mean,

82
00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,120
Speaker 3: there is a you know, extended thirty minute beat down

83
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,800
Speaker 3: at the end of the movie that is Okay, it's

84
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,880
Speaker 3: not one of the best, but it's also not one

85
00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,560
Speaker 3: of the worst. But it is the other elements of

86
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,120
Speaker 3: this movie that really make it an absolute standout, without

87
00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,039
Speaker 3: a doubt, the most bizarre Godzilla movie I've ever seen

88
00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:44,880
Speaker 3: in that this movie believes it is art. Yes, absolutely, no, yeah,

89
00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 3: no question about this. It thinks it's art and it's

90
00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,120
Speaker 3: making a statement and maybe it's going to change the world.

91
00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,760
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's probably the best example of an avant garde

92
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,720
Speaker 1: Godzilla film, and that's one of the reasons why it's

93
00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,160
Speaker 1: so watchable. It's also one of the reasons that that

94
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,400
Speaker 1: its director was criticized back in the day and indeed

95
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,200
Speaker 1: never directed another Godzilla film. You'll see his directorial credit

96
00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,840
Speaker 1: IMDb for some other Godzilla films, but that's because they

97
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 1: utilized footage from previous films in those pictures.

98
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,720
Speaker 3: That's right. So the director was Yoshimitsubeno, and you will

99
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,799
Speaker 3: frequently see references to this as the movie that ended

100
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,360
Speaker 3: his Godzilla career. You know, he could have gone on

101
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 3: to do all kinds of Godzilla stuff, but like I

102
00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,120
Speaker 3: said at the beginning, this was just too hot for Toho.

103
00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,279
Speaker 3: It was too weird. It was too radical. It was

104
00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,040
Speaker 3: rocking the boat. You can't make movies like this.

105
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,800
Speaker 1: Man, Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of stories about

106
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:45,600
Speaker 1: how producer Tomoyuki Tanaka responded to this. There's at least

107
00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,960
Speaker 1: one story in which he said, you've ruined Godzilla and

108
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: there was a lot of anger and I was read.

109
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,240
Speaker 1: There's a lot of There's a great blog post about

110
00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,919
Speaker 1: this from Patrick Galvin at Toho Kingdom dot com. You

111
00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,880
Speaker 1: can look it up. He has a She Meets Subano

112
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,039
Speaker 1: in memoriam posts that goes through a lot of this

113
00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,039
Speaker 1: and talks about his achievements, his you know what he

114
00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,640
Speaker 1: gave the Godzilla franchise, but then also how it was

115
00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,760
Speaker 1: received at the time. So, yeah, this is a movie

116
00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,440
Speaker 1: that was maybe ahead of its time, and I think

117
00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,719
Speaker 1: stands the test of time because it is doing things differently.

118
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,280
Speaker 3: So what is it doing differently? I could list a

119
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:23,640
Speaker 3: number of things. One thing I will say is the

120
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,920
Speaker 3: esthetic differences. It's much more free form than any other

121
00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:32,560
Speaker 3: Godzilla movie I've ever seen in that it inserts things

122
00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,120
Speaker 3: that are outside the normal stream of plot development. So

123
00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:41,039
Speaker 3: it has musical numbers, it has animated segments. They're short,

124
00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,040
Speaker 3: but there's several of them throughout the movie, and they

125
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,440
Speaker 3: were some of my favorite parts because they're beautiful animation.

126
00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,880
Speaker 3: It's almost like a Godzilla movie with elements of like

127
00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,920
Speaker 3: the Yellow Submarine movie and another sort of late sixties

128
00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,880
Speaker 3: psychedelic films that involved a lot of exciting visuals with

129
00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,279
Speaker 3: abstract colors and dancing in a club.

130
00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,279
Speaker 1: Yeah. And also yeah, there's also a huge cultural element

131
00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,159
Speaker 1: to this as well. There's a there's a sense of

132
00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,840
Speaker 1: the youth movement and the youth culture and and the

133
00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,440
Speaker 1: and and their rise and their importance and and their

134
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,360
Speaker 1: part in the fight. Generally, in a kaiju movie, who

135
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,720
Speaker 1: do you see fighting the kaiju? Who's raising arms against

136
00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:21,800
Speaker 1: the kaiju? It is the military, right.

137
00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:22,360
Speaker 3: The authorities?

138
00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, and in this we see the authorities playing

139
00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,280
Speaker 1: a part but also failing in ways, and it's it's

140
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,720
Speaker 1: the youth who are who are leading the charge at

141
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:32,200
Speaker 1: one point.

142
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,200
Speaker 3: Yes, in this movie. Ultimately, I think the authorities are

143
00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:39,120
Speaker 3: portrayed as almost entirely incompetent, that like, they are not

144
00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,560
Speaker 3: the ones preserving order. Ultimately, it's Godzilla who's the one

145
00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,440
Speaker 3: who is preserving order? And Godzilla I was trying to

146
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,440
Speaker 3: think about what Godzilla represents in this movie, because I

147
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,200
Speaker 3: think you can make a case that a lot of

148
00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:56,920
Speaker 3: the Godzilla films have a I mean, you know, it's

149
00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,200
Speaker 3: it's hard to say they have a very clear message.

150
00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 3: But to the extent that there is a message in them,

151
00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,880
Speaker 3: it's a kind of vague environmental one. It's you know,

152
00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 3: that we have done things to the earth, and in

153
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,960
Speaker 3: doing things to the earth, through maybe weapons testing or industry,

154
00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 3: we have upset the natural order and we have unleashed

155
00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,480
Speaker 3: forces that are beyond our control. But like I said,

156
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,000
Speaker 3: I think that that critique is in most Godzilla movies

157
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,840
Speaker 3: very buried under the surface, very vague. In this movie,

158
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,960
Speaker 3: it's the opposite. It's not only overt, it's extremely overt.

159
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,120
Speaker 3: They are screaming in your face with an environmental message. Yeah.

160
00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:40,679
Speaker 1: Yeah, they definitely lean into the idea that Godzilla is

161
00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,800
Speaker 1: is not only it's not just a big monster for kids,

162
00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,640
Speaker 1: so they acknowledge that, but he is also something of

163
00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,920
Speaker 1: unembodiment of the nations of or a culture's will, you know,

164
00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:57,360
Speaker 1: Like like Godzilla represents in a sense humanity struggle against pollution,

165
00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:01,240
Speaker 1: against destructive elements of the world, and the question of

166
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,400
Speaker 1: can Godzilla defeat this enemy is ultimately a question of

167
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 1: whether we can, whether we have the public will to

168
00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:07,439
Speaker 1: confront it.

169
00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,320
Speaker 3: That's another transition I would say. Originally, Godzilla is sort

170
00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:16,439
Speaker 3: of the manifestation of us having unleashed forces beyond our

171
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,920
Speaker 3: control by our upsetting of the natural order. In this movie,

172
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,720
Speaker 3: he is the thing that fights back against the monster

173
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,480
Speaker 3: created by industrial pollution. Yeah, now I have a question.

174
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:28,040
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know the answer to this.

175
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,679
Speaker 3: One of the fun things we see with the Godzilla

176
00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,480
Speaker 3: arc is that in the very first Toho Godzilla movie,

177
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,720
Speaker 3: Godzilla is the antagonist of the film, like, you know,

178
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:42,560
Speaker 3: this is a dangerous, scary, dark monster that brings great destruction.

179
00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 3: But by the later films, Godzilla is often sort of

180
00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,120
Speaker 3: the hero of the film, is portrayed as a force

181
00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,600
Speaker 3: who is inherently dangerous, but which ultimately fights against a

182
00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,280
Speaker 3: force that is even more threatening or even more malevolent.

183
00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:58,760
Speaker 3: And that's the case in this movie. So I wonder,

184
00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,360
Speaker 3: like how exactly that arc develop and is that the

185
00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,600
Speaker 3: case for other movies, Like I've watched some of the

186
00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,280
Speaker 3: Gamera movies, where you know, Gamera is doing the same

187
00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,400
Speaker 3: thing Godzilla is doing in the In the later movies,

188
00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,800
Speaker 3: Gamera is good and he's fighting against the bad monsters.

189
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:15,520
Speaker 3: Was that always the case with Gamera or did Gamera

190
00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:17,680
Speaker 3: start as bad like Godzilla did?

191
00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,520
Speaker 1: If memory serves, Gamera followed the exact same track. Guy

192
00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:23,400
Speaker 1: Gamera in the first film is a threat that has

193
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,560
Speaker 1: to be overcome and launched into space, I think ultimately,

194
00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,040
Speaker 1: and this would be This would be for a more

195
00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,200
Speaker 1: in depth discussion later, perhaps drawing on the work of

196
00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:34,520
Speaker 1: people who've maybe thought longer and harder about this than

197
00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:36,719
Speaker 1: we have. But I imagine there is there are a

198
00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,000
Speaker 1: lot of comparisons to be made with the way deities

199
00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: change over time, and you know, we can I don't

200
00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,040
Speaker 1: know if it would be the exact same trajectory or

201
00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,480
Speaker 1: would be kind of an inverse trajectory in some cases,

202
00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:54,559
Speaker 1: But I wonder how you know, in a loose sense anyway,

203
00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:59,600
Speaker 1: Godzilla is a deity. He exists not in the the

204
00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 1: the myth realm of you know of say, like the

205
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,320
Speaker 1: ancient world or even modern religion. But he's in the

206
00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,760
Speaker 1: film myth world and is therefore not quite the same

207
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,240
Speaker 1: as our traditional ideas of deity, but perhaps subject to

208
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,600
Speaker 1: some of the same changes in the way we perceive him.

209
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:18,679
Speaker 3: Well, maybe Before we go on any further, we should

210
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,000
Speaker 3: hit some trailer audio.

211
00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,040
Speaker 1: All right, let's have it. This, I believe is from

212
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,240
Speaker 1: the English trailer for Godzilla Versta.

213
00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,439
Speaker 4: Out of the Polis of Waters. It came to become

214
00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:36,319
Speaker 4: the most fearful menace that ever threatens manki growing ever

215
00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,480
Speaker 4: more deadly on smug Only one course there stand up

216
00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 4: towards over powering evil. Nothing man can do can stop

217
00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:54,880
Speaker 4: the smug Monster and Godzilla save the earth from this

218
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:56,200
Speaker 4: mastodon of destruction.

219
00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,160
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good to me, and we should, of

220
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,680
Speaker 1: course note that in the US, this I think was

221
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,680
Speaker 1: originally released as Godzilla versus the Smog Monster.

222
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, though, from what I understand in the movie,

223
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 3: the monster is not made of smog. The monster is

224
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:31,680
Speaker 3: made mostly of waterborne pollutants and then comes out onto

225
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:33,120
Speaker 3: land to huff the smog.

226
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's made out of like sludge and minerals and all.

227
00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 1: A quick quick bit of trivia. In Germany, this film

228
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,160
Speaker 1: was released as Frankenstein's Battle against the Devil's Monster.

229
00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:46,079
Speaker 3: That doesn't make any sense.

230
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,200
Speaker 1: This was new to me, but apparently in the German

231
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,000
Speaker 1: release of Godzilla films, it was often explained that doctor

232
00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:59,240
Speaker 1: Victor Frankenstein created the monsters that Godzilla fights, and it

233
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,680
Speaker 1: just had to do with with how they were releasing

234
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:04,600
Speaker 1: them at the time, so you had multiple toh films.

235
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,520
Speaker 1: Toho did some Frankenstein films about drink Giant Frankenstein's and

236
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:11,760
Speaker 1: I checked. It's okay if I called them Frankenstein's. I

237
00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,880
Speaker 1: checked with the Frankenstein's monster on this. But this sort

238
00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,520
Speaker 1: of set the precedent for how you would release a

239
00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:20,720
Speaker 1: big monster movie in Germany.

240
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,760
Speaker 3: I remember reading a few weeks ago about a movie

241
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,360
Speaker 3: I'd never heard of before, that is it is directly

242
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:31,360
Speaker 3: a Frankenstein kaishuvy, not just called Frankenstein. It's like about

243
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,880
Speaker 3: now that I'm about to say this, this really sounds wrong,

244
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,760
Speaker 3: but I think what it is is a Nazi scientist

245
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:44,240
Speaker 3: takes Frankenstein's brain to Japan for study and there it

246
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,920
Speaker 3: gets it somehow gets turned into a giant monster.

247
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:49,480
Speaker 1: Yep, I believe that's right.

248
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,440
Speaker 3: Okay, strange, yeah, right, Maybe.

249
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:53,880
Speaker 1: We'll come back to it. We were talking about doing

250
00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:55,760
Speaker 1: some Frankenstein films eventually.

251
00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:56,840
Speaker 3: All right, I guess we should come back to talk

252
00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,960
Speaker 3: about the director of Godzilla versus Hetera, who was again

253
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,560
Speaker 3: and Yoshimtsubano.

254
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,559
Speaker 1: Yes, director, also co writer. He lived nineteen thirty one

255
00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:11,240
Speaker 1: through twenty seventeen. This was his first and only Godzilla movie. Again,

256
00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,560
Speaker 1: you'll see him credited on the Gigan and the Megalon movies,

257
00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,560
Speaker 1: but that's just because they utilize older footage. He previously

258
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,480
Speaker 1: served as assistant director and second assistant director on some

259
00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 1: really notable Akira Kurosawa pictures, including Throne of Blood in

260
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:29,080
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven that's that wonderful Samurai Macbeth movie, and

261
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,000
Speaker 1: also The Hidden Fortress in nineteen fifty eight, which I

262
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,880
Speaker 1: think is often cited as one of George Lucas's influences

263
00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,680
Speaker 1: in the creation of the original Star Wars picture.

264
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:39,880
Speaker 3: Both great films.

265
00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,840
Speaker 1: Yes, I've also read that Bano was was very much

266
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,200
Speaker 1: a part of the Toho film system. So he came

267
00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:49,280
Speaker 1: up in Toho and he stood under several notable Toho directors.

268
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,120
Speaker 3: I believe his grip on this film is strong, because

269
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,280
Speaker 3: unlike some other Kaiju films, this is one in which

270
00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,560
Speaker 3: I detect not just a Toho house style, but I

271
00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:05,480
Speaker 3: feel a really strong, bold, individual director's vision guiding the

272
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 3: whole thing.

273
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,280
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, and I think It's why at the time

274
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,360
Speaker 1: there seems to have been tension with producer Tanaka over this.

275
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,640
Speaker 1: It seems like he he fell out of good graces

276
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,440
Speaker 1: with Toho and ultimately went on to be more of

277
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,760
Speaker 1: a producer. He was, but was EP on the twenty

278
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,280
Speaker 1: fourteen American Godzilla movie, and I believe he's credited even

279
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,760
Speaker 1: though he's occurred after his death. I think he's credited

280
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,880
Speaker 1: on Godzilla King of the Monsters from twenty nineteen and

281
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,120
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one's Godzilla versus calng But yeah, I think

282
00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,160
Speaker 1: this is the reason why he was controversial at the

283
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 1: time but is memorable today. You know, there have been

284
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,600
Speaker 1: so many Godzilla films, how many of them are really

285
00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,720
Speaker 1: worth looking up and seeing if you're not a completist,

286
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,200
Speaker 1: I would say this is one that's worth going back

287
00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:49,680
Speaker 1: and seeing.

288
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally. And it's different than a lot of the

289
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:54,280
Speaker 3: other best ones, because I would say a lot of

290
00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,640
Speaker 3: the other best Godzilla movies, apart from the first one,

291
00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,360
Speaker 3: the first one is very dark and gloomy. A lot

292
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 3: of the other best ones are very bright and lively

293
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,320
Speaker 3: and sort of fast moving and fun. This one is

294
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,120
Speaker 3: also overall dark and gloomy, but it's excellently dark and gloomy.

295
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right. So there was another writer on this,

296
00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,080
Speaker 1: Takeishi Kimura, who lived nineteen twelve through nineteen eighty eight.

297
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,080
Speaker 1: A studio writer for Toho, he was involved in more

298
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,600
Speaker 1: than thirty films, including some really notable ones including Rodin

299
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,800
Speaker 1: the Mysterians. Oh, he was the writer of Matango.

300
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,720
Speaker 3: Allegedly he believed this was his finest work.

301
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:34,840
Speaker 1: It is a fine work. We may have to come

302
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,320
Speaker 1: back to Matango. This is about an island where where

303
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:45,520
Speaker 1: a fungal infection turns humans into my connid mutations. It's

304
00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,360
Speaker 1: pretty fabulous, So yes, Mattango's worth checking out. Kimura also

305
00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,320
Speaker 1: worked on Frankenstein Versus Beragon. This was a giant Frankenstein

306
00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,880
Speaker 1: movie from Toho, The War of the Gargantuans, King Kong

307
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:01,920
Speaker 1: Escapes Destroy All Monsters, and and of course this wonderful

308
00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:02,720
Speaker 1: Godzilla film.

309
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,400
Speaker 3: Takeshi Kimura is interesting because I was finding a lot

310
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:10,159
Speaker 3: of very tantalizing biographical details about him online, but not

311
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,880
Speaker 3: in very solid looking sources, and I couldn't find them

312
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,639
Speaker 3: backed up anywhere that looked more solid, So frustratingly, I

313
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,160
Speaker 3: can't report a lot about him with confidence, but if,

314
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,880
Speaker 3: for example, some of the like user submitted biographies I've

315
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,440
Speaker 3: found of him on various sites have any truth to them.

316
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,040
Speaker 3: He was a strange and interesting figure. He was allegedly

317
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,680
Speaker 3: known for writing Toho monster movies with a more gloomy

318
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,760
Speaker 3: outlook and serious political themes, as opposed to the happy,

319
00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,040
Speaker 3: go lucky beatdowns of other you know, repeat Kaiju screenwriters.

320
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 1: Well, as we turned to the cast here, let's go

321
00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:45,760
Speaker 1: right to the beat down. We're going to talk about

322
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,840
Speaker 1: the human characters played by human actors, but let's start

323
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:49,840
Speaker 1: with the monsters.

324
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,560
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, So here's something about this movie. Despite the

325
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,000
Speaker 3: fact that it has a much darker tone, the Godzilla

326
00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,480
Speaker 3: in this movie is kind of sassy. I really detect

327
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,439
Speaker 3: a sense of humor in Godzilla's gestures and expressions in

328
00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,760
Speaker 3: this film. There's even a really funny moment later on

329
00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,600
Speaker 3: where the military is trying to do something to defeat

330
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,800
Speaker 3: the opposing monster and fails, and Godzilla does almost kind

331
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,199
Speaker 3: of a shrug, like, oh boy, do I have to

332
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:17,359
Speaker 3: do everything myself?

333
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,080
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, there is a little bit of sas. He's

334
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:21,479
Speaker 1: a bit of a show boat at times. I mean,

335
00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,639
Speaker 1: he's on the ropes a lot in this, but he

336
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,720
Speaker 1: shows he's a little bit of a showboat in a

337
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 1: few scenes, and he also takes some really inventive bumps,

338
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 1: like he'll get shot with a laser and do a

339
00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,400
Speaker 1: complete front flip. So there are times like that where

340
00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,760
Speaker 1: I was really admiring the performance. And indeed the performer

341
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,919
Speaker 1: here is Haruo Nakajima, who lived nineteen twenty nine through

342
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,359
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. He is kind of an all star of

343
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,640
Speaker 1: the Godzilla franchise. He played Godzilla in twelve consecutive films.

344
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 1: He was also in Mathra in the War of the

345
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:59,040
Speaker 1: Gargantua's as well as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Most people

346
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,879
Speaker 1: forget that in original cut of that the Seven Samurai

347
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,560
Speaker 1: battled a giant monster. No, not really, but he played

348
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,520
Speaker 1: a non monster in that. But generally he's considered a

349
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,679
Speaker 1: legend of the rubber monster suit, the rubber suit actor

350
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:13,760
Speaker 1: par excellence.

351
00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:15,920
Speaker 3: I haven't seen Mosra in a long time, but I

352
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,439
Speaker 3: remember that one is known for being one of the

353
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,399
Speaker 3: best of the meat slams. It's like a really great

354
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:22,480
Speaker 3: monster throwdown.

355
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,880
Speaker 1: Now, the enemy in this is played by Kimpachiro Satsuma,

356
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,080
Speaker 1: who was born in nineteen forty seven, and as of

357
00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,960
Speaker 1: this recording is still alive. And while he plays Godzilla's

358
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,840
Speaker 1: enemy in this picture, Satsuma would go on to play

359
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,320
Speaker 1: the King of Monsters himself after Nakajima retired, So Satsuma

360
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,520
Speaker 1: served as Godzilla from nineteen eighty four through nineteen ninety five.

361
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,120
Speaker 3: Seeing those dates though, did make me a little bit

362
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:55,000
Speaker 3: sag with sadness as I imagine the transition from Godzilla

363
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,119
Speaker 3: and his monster enemies being a person in a suit

364
00:19:58,160 --> 00:19:59,600
Speaker 3: to being a CGI creation.

365
00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you got to love love the suit,

366
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: and you know there there. I think there have been

367
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: a whole documentaries about about what was required of these gentlemen

368
00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:13,639
Speaker 1: because these were very physical performances. They involve suits that

369
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,119
Speaker 1: were often not very well ventilated and you're, you know,

370
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,760
Speaker 1: you're you're sweating profusely inside them. And as we mentioned,

371
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,320
Speaker 1: like with Godzilla, there's a certain it's not just a

372
00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,800
Speaker 1: stammer around and smash a building. There's a certain physicality

373
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 1: to the performance that really shines through. You have to

374
00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 1: portray more than just brute lizard strength or anything like that.

375
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,840
Speaker 1: There is a character there that the actor is portraying.

376
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,200
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get into the human characters. Now,

377
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 1: most most of these characters are going to be members

378
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,280
Speaker 1: of the Yano family, Theyano family being the key family

379
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,680
Speaker 1: of humans. And let's start with the child. The boy.

380
00:20:58,200 --> 00:20:58,400
Speaker 3: Uh.

381
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:03,159
Speaker 1: This is here Yuki Kawasi playing Kenyano and he was

382
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,840
Speaker 1: This actor was born in nineteen sixty four. Child actor

383
00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 1: was also I think he showed up in nineteen seventy

384
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,879
Speaker 1: three's Godzilla versus Megalon as well, and he wasn't in much,

385
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:18,960
Speaker 1: but he was in a TV series called Sorrow Sorrow

386
00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,280
Speaker 1: Nu Gundan, which I believe is Army of the Apes

387
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,119
Speaker 1: if you translated. This was eventually cut and released as

388
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,600
Speaker 1: a film in the US by Sandy Frank as Time

389
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 1: of the Apes Science Theater three thousand. Viewers will be

390
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: familiar with this film, which is a lot of fun.

391
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,159
Speaker 1: But I have never had the chance to watch the

392
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 1: original TV series, but there's a lot of it and

393
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,760
Speaker 1: it has huge fans in Japan. People still follow it,

394
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:48,439
Speaker 1: and it seems like there's a lot more like what

395
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: you see in Time of the Apes is very much

396
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: a compressed plot line. There's apparently a lot more going on.

397
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,360
Speaker 1: There's a robot in it, I would love to know more,

398
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:59,159
Speaker 1: and I'd love to hear from anyone who's watched it

399
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 1: in full. I don't think it's been really widely available

400
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,359
Speaker 1: on DVD or Blu Ray or even like you know,

401
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:07,879
Speaker 1: streaming services outside of Japan.

402
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,360
Speaker 3: Now, Rob, I have a Kaiju question. Maybe you can

403
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 3: shed some light on this for me. Okay, In Godzilla

404
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,919
Speaker 3: versus heter this young boy Ken has a kind of

405
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 3: psychic connection with the monsters. He has apocalyptic visions of

406
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 3: the smog creature Hetera, and he has and he sort

407
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 3: of has omens about when Godzilla will appear to save

408
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 3: the day. So and this is not the only film

409
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,160
Speaker 3: where there is some kind of psychic or at least

410
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:39,600
Speaker 3: an emotional bond between the Kaiju monster and a young child.

411
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,679
Speaker 3: That's often true in like the Gamera movies. And do

412
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,919
Speaker 3: you know is there a reason for this recurring theme.

413
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's one of those things that is

414
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 1: often with gammers, like Gamma is a friend of children,

415
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 1: you know, there is this innate connection. I don't think

416
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,399
Speaker 1: I have personally seen a Kaiju film other than this

417
00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: one where it's described as an over psychic link, a

418
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,160
Speaker 1: telepathic link between monster and child. Like there is some

419
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,679
Speaker 1: sort of sacred bond there. I feel like it's something,

420
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong on this because I'm not

421
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 1: a Kaiju movie expert or a Godzilla expert or anything,

422
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:18,640
Speaker 1: but I feel like this. In this case, our screenwriters said, well,

423
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: obviously this link is here, let's actually explain what it

424
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: is a bit to a certain extent while still retaining

425
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: its mystery.

426
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, I mean, maybe it could just be that

427
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 3: you need to have some kind of demonstration of an

428
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 3: emotional connection between the monster and the human characters, and

429
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 3: maybe it's just natural to assume that only a child

430
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,760
Speaker 3: has the moral purity to have that connection with the

431
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:40,399
Speaker 3: big beast.

432
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,439
Speaker 1: Now, if we do go back to that idea of

433
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: Godzilla as an actual deity, it is interesting the use

434
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,639
Speaker 1: of in this film. I don't know if you notice

435
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 1: some of these details, but first of all, the boy

436
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,439
Speaker 1: Ken he has toy Godzilla's and he has something like

437
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: a Godzilla shrine set up, and this is kind of

438
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 1: lightly juxtaposed with the casual use of tiny amulets, and

439
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 1: you know, visions of I think like the like the

440
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,440
Speaker 1: Buddha that are arranged around the television sets and other

441
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,119
Speaker 1: scenes yes, yes, So I don't know how much what

442
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 1: they're how much they're really trying to say with that,

443
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: but I feel like if one wants to really chew

444
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: on the matter, you can definitely start making those connections.

445
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 3: I love the fact that Ken is playing with Godzilla

446
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 3: dolls in this movie because it's like that scene in

447
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 3: Halloween three where Tom Atkins is sitting at the bar

448
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 3: and he's watching the first Halloween movie on a TV.

449
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 1: That's pretty good. All right, Let's move on to some

450
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 1: of these other human characters. So the matriarch of the

451
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: Yano family is is Toshi Yano, played by Toshi Kimura.

452
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,679
Speaker 1: She acted in such pictures as sort of The Beast

453
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:52,360
Speaker 1: Revenge and The Three Outlass Samurai. And then Akira Yamauchi

454
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 1: plays doctor Toru Yano, the patriarch of the family. He

455
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,080
Speaker 1: lived nineteen twenty one through nineteen ninety three. This seems

456
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 1: to be his biggest role, but was He also had

457
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 1: had a part in Lone Wolf and Cub Baby cart

458
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 1: in the Land of Demons from nineteen seventy one. This

459
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 1: is of course a classic of the genre and was

460
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,439
Speaker 1: also a major inspiration on the Mandalorian TV series.

461
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 3: So he plays the scientist character. Usually in these movies

462
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 3: you need at least one scientist character who's there to

463
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 3: figure out the nature of the new threat. And so

464
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 3: he's some kind of biologist who has an early encounter

465
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 3: with the hetero beast in the water and ends up

466
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 3: like with a big sulfuric acid burn on his face.

467
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 3: And there's a very funny scene later on where he's,

468
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 3: you know, he's trying to solve the problem and he's

469
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 3: lying awake and his wife comes in and says something

470
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 3: like she's like, stop thinking about hetero and go to bed.

471
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, he spends a lot of the picture of kind

472
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: of bed ridden and recovering from his injuries.

473
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right there.

474
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:53,360
Speaker 1: Well, I also have a couple of characters who are

475
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:57,359
Speaker 1: not members of the Yano family but are very close

476
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 1: with them. The first of all is the care director

477
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: Yukio Kuchi, played by Toshio Shiba, and this is the Karen,

478
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,679
Speaker 1: the youth with the really captivating eyes.

479
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 3: I think Yukio is supposed to be Toshi's brother, the

480
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 3: kin's mother's brother, so ken Ken's uncle.

481
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, that was kind of lost on me,

482
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:20,120
Speaker 1: I guess.

483
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 3: But yeah, But otherwise He's just like a young guy

484
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 3: who hangs out with the family and then later goes

485
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,200
Speaker 3: to a psychedelic nightclub.

486
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Shiba had a long TV and film career,

487
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,199
Speaker 1: including the nineteen seventy one Kaiju movie Mirror Man, and

488
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 1: I think he's still active. He was born in nineteen

489
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: forty seven.

490
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 3: He has amazingly distinctive eyes. He's one of those people

491
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 3: who you've probably had this experience before where I saw

492
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 3: him and I was like, oh, he looks so familiar.

493
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 3: What have I seen him in before? And I looked

494
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 3: and I couldn't find anything. So I think maybe I've

495
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 3: never seen him in anything before. He just has such

496
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 3: a distinctive look that he seemed familiar.

497
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, same, all right. And then we also have a

498
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 1: character by the name of Miki Fuji Nomiya. This played

499
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: by the singer Kiki O Maari. This is I think

500
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 1: her only film role, but she does seem to have

501
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,720
Speaker 1: had a much richer career as a singer, and it

502
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,240
Speaker 1: looks like she's still active, at least on Japanese language

503
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: social media. She seems to have a following as being

504
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of like, I guess cinematically it's

505
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: kind of like having been a Bond girl if you

506
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: were a Godzilla girl. I think there's actually a documentary

507
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,200
Speaker 1: about like Godzilla Girls, and she's featured in it.

508
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 3: She has a fabulous musical number in this There are

509
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 3: multiple musical numbers in this movie.

510
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,479
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, But she has a lot of style. She

511
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 1: brings a style and hypnis to the film that certainly

512
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 1: stands the test of time. And finally, I'm gonna mention

513
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,160
Speaker 1: the composer is Richiro Manabi who lived nineteen twenty four

514
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: through twenty fifteen. He has one hundred and fourteen score

515
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,640
Speaker 1: credits on IMDb. I'm not sure if he's responsible though

516
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,280
Speaker 1: for the opening music. I guess he is. We'll get

517
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,720
Speaker 1: to that in a minute. But has really really nice

518
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: opening music, a really nice theme song they keep really

519
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,120
Speaker 1: turning to. It's really nice. It's just great. I did

520
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: read that Guy Hemric did the lyrics for the English version.

521
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: I have not heard that because the version we watched

522
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: is the one on HBO Max that's up there with

523
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:25,400
Speaker 1: the TCM collection and it is in the original Japanese

524
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: with subtitles. But I guess there was an English language

525
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 1: version of it, like they dubbed it for release in

526
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: the States, and Himrick is the guy who did a

527
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,719
Speaker 1: lot of lyrics for beach movies back in the day,

528
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: stuff like Beach Blanket Bingo and muscle beach parties. So

529
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna guess here, but I'm I'm guessing that

530
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: his lyrics did not retain the strong and dire environmental

531
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: message that we find in the actual Japanese lyrics.

532
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 3: Maybe not the beach movies, the bikini movie the peak

533
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 3: of human artistic achievement.

534
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's get in the plot a bit here.

535
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 3: All right, Well, one thing this movie really does is

536
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 3: it sticks to its themes. It hits you right with

537
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 3: them at the outset, and then it does not give up.

538
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 3: So you start with, of course, as always, the classic

539
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 3: glorious Toho logo. And then very first thing you see smokestacks, Yeah,

540
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 3: billowing clouds of soot, rushing water slicked with oil and

541
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 3: green foam. The message is clear, the earth is disgusting,

542
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 3: The earth is just ruined. And then and then you

543
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 3: see water and what's this what's coming out of the water?

544
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 3: Is it a slimy, cancerous garbage bag with red crocodile eyes?

545
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 3: Boiling up to the surface. That's right, you see Hetera

546
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 3: poking up out of the water right at the top.

547
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 3: Just no waiting at all.

548
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: Now you don't see all of them though it's sneaking

549
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: at you.

550
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 3: No, no, much like a crocodile like looking up over

551
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:54,719
Speaker 3: the top of the water. You just see a kind

552
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,280
Speaker 3: of the pebbled surface of the top of his head

553
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 3: and the eyes looking out there. And he has these

554
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 3: vertically oriented red eyes that are very very prominently featured

555
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 3: throughout this movie in fact, and eyes somehow seem to

556
00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 3: be a theme of the film because remember, like his

557
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 3: eyes or his power, Godzilla partially defeats him by pulling

558
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 3: his eyes out and electrocuting them. Yeah, but as soon

559
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 3: as you see Hetera title card Godzilla versus Hetera, and

560
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 3: then bam straight to a James Bond style musical introduction. Amazing.

561
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 3: And when I say James Bond style, I really mean it,

562
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 3: as in, there's like a glamorous singer doing a theme

563
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 3: song for the movie over over colorful abstract backgrounds, just

564
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 3: like in a in a James Bond title sequence.

565
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, this track, by the way, is called give Back

566
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 1: the Sun exclamation point, and you can find this on

567
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: whatever your streaming music side of choice happens to be.

568
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 1: I'll also try to include this embedded on the blog

569
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 1: post for this episode at Summuta music dot com.

570
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 3: I had one of those moments where I was watching

571
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 3: this by myself, but I just wanted to be looking

572
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 3: around to find somebody else in the room, like are

573
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 3: you seeing this? Are you seeing the same thing I'm seeing?

574
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 3: The song is tremendous.

575
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: I loved it, Yeah, but I mean because the lyrics

576
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: are so solid and gloomy, and it's an interesting juxtaposition

577
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: between the tone of the lyrics and the style of

578
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: the song. But then yeah, we have this you know,

579
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: this fabulous you know splash of color behind her as

580
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 1: she's singing. You know, this is this bond sense of

581
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 1: of of wonder and it's kind of I guess the

582
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 1: stuff behind her too, with the kind of like oil lights.

583
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: It's like the the Joshua Light Show, that stuff you

584
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: see in a lot of like psychedelic performances. Uh So

585
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: it's we have a strong opening with with psychedelia and

586
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 1: in music and fashion, but then also scenes of sludge

587
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: and pollution and and I have to say, we in

588
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: the movie fraug When we talked about frogs in a

589
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 1: previous episode of Weird House, we talked about the problem

590
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 1: of eating fake looking garbage, fake looking pollution. And I

591
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,280
Speaker 1: feel like this movie nails its pollution. The pollution looks

592
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: real and yet has a surreal quality to it that

593
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: feels like it is it is art.

594
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 3: It's disgusting. Yeah, yeah, And oh the lyrics of the song,

595
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 3: it's all like the birds and the fish they are

596
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 3: all dead. It's the you know, the Goldfinger song, but

597
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 3: it's about pollution. And there's a great part where in

598
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 3: the verse she's just listing off names of chemicals. She's

599
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,560
Speaker 3: singing mercury, cobalt, cadmium, All life is gone. The fields

600
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 3: in the mountains are silent, and there's like green bubbles

601
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 3: in the background, and then and then when she gets

602
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 3: to the line, there's no one left on earth. This

603
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 3: also ties back to our discussion from frogs, because what

604
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 3: is the single piece of garbage or litter that conveys

605
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 3: squalor better than anything else. It is a discarded doll.

606
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 3: And what do you see here floating in the oil

607
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 3: in the trash? It is a filthy, discarded doll. Or

608
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 3: maybe it's a mannequin, but it's a dull manquin humanoid shape.

609
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pir the plastic likeness of the human form

610
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: discarded in the plastic strewn, polluted mess, this patina that

611
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 1: encompasses our culture.

612
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 3: Oh and there's a Grandfather clock floating in the imak.

613
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 1: That's pretty great too.

614
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 3: It's so good.

615
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 1: So this movie really comes out strong. A lot of

616
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 1: Kaiju movies are just about like it doesn't even like

617
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 1: you just want to skip to the big battle at

618
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: the end, like the big battle in the destruction and

619
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 1: the monster beat down, that's all that matters. Usually in

620
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 1: this film, everything else is done to such a high level.

621
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 1: I feel like you'd be hard pressed to find a

622
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: Godzilla movie or any Kaiju movie that is more interesting

623
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 1: in its scenes that are not about monsters battling.

624
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 3: I totally agree. In fact, it was inverted for me.

625
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 3: The only time in this movie that I did start

626
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,560
Speaker 3: to get a little bored was during the big monster

627
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 3: fight toward the.

628
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,600
Speaker 1: End, which which does go on a bit long. But

629
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure that's an appropriate criticism for me

630
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: to make of a giant monster movie.

631
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 3: But I do just want to reiterate one more time,

632
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,959
Speaker 3: you are correct, this movie passes the fake garbage test.

633
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 3: It's not like in Frogs, like where you're seeing discarded

634
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 3: beer cans that look like somebody just drank them.

635
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:21,320
Speaker 1: Yeah.

636
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 3: But from here we go straight into the action, and

637
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,280
Speaker 3: it is what we mentioned before, a young boy playing

638
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 3: with Godzilla dolls. There's actually pretty interesting framing in this scene.

639
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 3: As we've said many times, this is a visually interesting movie.

640
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 3: It's got a well, you know, it's got a good

641
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 3: sense of mees on sen to be pretentious about it.

642
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 3: Interesting photography, interesting framing. So this boy is playing with

643
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 3: Godzilla dolls on an idyllic grassy hillside that overlooks a

644
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,759
Speaker 3: vast urban landscape that's just covered with smokestacks, like a

645
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 3: valley of thorns. Yeah, but he's got this Godzilla shrine

646
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,239
Speaker 3: and this surrounded flowers and it's beautiful. Uh. And and

647
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 3: here we get to meet the main human characters, the

648
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 3: members of the boys family. The boy, of course is Ken,

649
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 3: and we meet his father, doctor torru Yano, who's a

650
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:16,760
Speaker 3: marine biologist, his mother Toshi, his uncle or friend Yuki

651
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:20,560
Speaker 3: oh I think his uncle and h and Ken and

652
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 3: Yukio are talking at the beginning of Yukio is like, hey,

653
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 3: is Godzilla your favorite? And Ken says, yes, he's a superman.

654
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 3: Is he a man?

655
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 1: I don't know.

656
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess you could certainly say he is

657
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 3: super compared to man. Yeah. But anyway, they're hanging around

658
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 3: when their unusual fish guy shows up. There's this guy

659
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 3: named mister Gohey, and as soon as he arrives, they're

660
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, hello, have you brought us another unusual fish?

661
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,240
Speaker 3: So I think it's because the father is a marine

662
00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 3: biologist that they've got a go to guy for unusual fish.

663
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 1: Yeah. And uh. And indeed the father what he has

664
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,400
Speaker 1: various jars of strange specimens that he's collected lining the

665
00:35:58,440 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 1: wall great set.

666
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so mister Gohey brings in the specimen, which

667
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 3: looks like a gigantic tadpole. It's like a fist sized tadpole.

668
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 3: But they conclude that it cannot be a tadpole because

669
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 3: mister Gohey caught it at the prime spot for shrimp

670
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,720
Speaker 3: fishing in Saruga Bay. And do tadpoles live in the ocean.

671
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 3: The father says no, they do not, and mister Gohy notes,

672
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 3: you know, Seruga Bay is getting really really bad, Like

673
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 3: he didn't catch a single shrimp there this time, and

674
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,760
Speaker 3: it's almost as if the world is sort of is failing,

675
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 3: is giving out on them. And then meanwhile, once again

676
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 3: this movie does not make you wait on developing things.

677
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 3: The family starts watching reports on TV about a giant

678
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 3: creature that's breaking up ships in Seruga Bay, Like oil

679
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,640
Speaker 3: tankers are coming into the bay and they're crashing into

680
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 3: each other and then getting snapped in half, almost as

681
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 3: if something is wanting to like drink the oil out

682
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 3: of the boats.

683
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, the pacing in the film is excellent leading up

684
00:36:57,400 --> 00:36:58,760
Speaker 1: to full monster reveal.

685
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so of course it's investigation time. The scientist

686
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 3: and the scientist father and Ken have to go into

687
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:08,680
Speaker 3: the bay and see what's going on. So Ken hangs

688
00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:11,280
Speaker 3: out on the rocks by the shore while doctor Yano

689
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,920
Speaker 3: goes into the water to see what's up, and we

690
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 3: get to see some underwater sequences. One of the things

691
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 3: I loved. I didn't know what to make of this.

692
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 3: There's a piece of trash sunk to the bottom of

693
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 3: Suruga Bay that looks like an artificial swan. Okay, it

694
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,560
Speaker 3: is just there. Meanwhile, Ken up on the Rocks is

695
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 3: like prying up muscles and he discovers that they're empty

696
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 3: and the crabs are bleached and dead. So it's just

697
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,360
Speaker 3: this place has been ruined by pollution. Everything's dead. It

698
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:42,879
Speaker 3: almost reminded me of the recent episodes we did about

699
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 3: marine mucilage. Yeah, but here I think we get our

700
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 3: first vision of Hetera. In fact, well it's a combination

701
00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:54,440
Speaker 3: scene because Hetera actually does appear in one form, but

702
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 3: also Ken is having visions of Hetera that seem to

703
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 3: go beyond what he is actually doing in this scene.

704
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 3: Did you understand it the same way?

705
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,560
Speaker 1: Well, there was a lot coming at me at this point.

706
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,320
Speaker 1: I think I was just like generally geeking out at

707
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:14,240
Speaker 1: how terrific this was visually. But yeah, like the father,

708
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 1: the doctor is having his own encounter under underwater, and

709
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:22,759
Speaker 1: then Ken is encountering all this stuff above the water. Yeah,

710
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 1: it's it's and is this when we start getting the cartoons?

711
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 3: No, that's not yet, not yet. This scene finishes with

712
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,280
Speaker 3: like Ken being confronted by Hetera and Hetero like flies

713
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,279
Speaker 3: over him and he reaches up with a knife and like, yes,

714
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:37,000
Speaker 3: part of it.

715
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:38,759
Speaker 1: Yes, this is the free Willy moment. It's like the

716
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 1: moment in Free Willy, except imagine that instead of it

717
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 1: being an orca, it was a sledge monster, and instead

718
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: of touching the creature, you were driving a knife up

719
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: into its sledge belly. That's literally what happens, and it's terrific.

720
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,600
Speaker 3: Ken does a really great sledge belly slicing, and meanwhile,

721
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 3: doctor Yeno down in the water is severely burned, and

722
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 3: so we go back to the house and he's got

723
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,840
Speaker 3: bandages all over his face. He has been attacked, and

724
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 3: we learned a number of things. We learned that Hetera,

725
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 3: he's already got a name. Now, he's named after a

726
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 3: type of sludge called hetero. I don't know what hetero means,

727
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 3: but yeah, soon after this, we get our first cartoon sequence,

728
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,760
Speaker 3: which these cartoons are absolutely wonderful. This one was labeled

729
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,279
Speaker 3: Happy Hetera and it very much reminds me of the

730
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,200
Speaker 3: animation style of The Blue Meanies and the Yellow Submarine movie.

731
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:32,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a real sense of weirdness and whimsy to them,

732
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,400
Speaker 1: and it's just just fat. I wish there were actually

733
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,279
Speaker 1: more animated sequences in this film, because they just do

734
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,080
Speaker 1: a great job of breaking up the pay thing and

735
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 1: just you know, upping the visual pizazz of the whole feature.

736
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 3: Now, like the last episode, I don't think from here

737
00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 3: I'm going to do a complete, like scene by scene

738
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 3: breakdown of the whole movie, but just maybe wanted to

739
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 3: focus on some things that caught our attention as we

740
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:07,480
Speaker 3: as we went through. Because you know, this is a

741
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,840
Speaker 3: kaiju movie. You can probably guess basically the structure it takes.

742
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 3: The hetero monster becomes increasingly menacing, attacks the city until

743
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:19,120
Speaker 3: eventually Godzilla appears to fight it off, and then it

744
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 3: comes back even stronger, and now it looks like Godzilla

745
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,359
Speaker 3: and the people are in trouble. But then Godzilla and

746
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 3: the people come up with ways of fighting back, and

747
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 3: you know, it's pretty standard.

748
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's going to be some buildings screwed up, there's

749
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,320
Speaker 1: going to be some sort of large scale technological approach

750
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,240
Speaker 1: to fighting the monster with mixed results. All that stuff

751
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,800
Speaker 1: is in play. You will not be surprised by anything

752
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 1: that actually happens from a plot standpoint for the most part,

753
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 1: but some of the specific choices they make are still amazing.

754
00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 3: One of the main ones I would say is in

755
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 3: the first big hetera attack scene where he comes out

756
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 3: of the water and he attacks the lane. He comes

757
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 3: out of the water to huff smoke stacks. But the

758
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 3: way they set that scene up is that we see

759
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:06,920
Speaker 3: I think yukioh is there at the nightclub scene, isn't he?

760
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,920
Speaker 1: Yes, he is, He's he's seems to be having I

761
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 1: don't know, he is. The scene where he's drinking, like

762
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:13,920
Speaker 1: he's just down some sort of cocktail or some sort

763
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 1: of alcohol in the rocks and then he kind of

764
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 1: looks at the glass like he's he's having mixed thoughts

765
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,839
Speaker 1: about what he just drank. He has a love hate

766
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: relationship with this cocktail, and he's he's dressed in this

767
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,960
Speaker 1: really cool outfit. He's got this wonderful colorful shirt on

768
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 1: and this weird tie that absolutely love. And meanwhile, the

769
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: nightclub itself is just amazing. You've got more Joshua light

770
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:40,600
Speaker 1: show stuff going on behind them, You've got this, You've

771
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:43,239
Speaker 1: got Kikio Omari doing some sort of a performance and

772
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 1: she's wearing this weird Naiad costume with like nautical details

773
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: on it. It's it's very psychedelic. It's just a really

774
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,600
Speaker 1: cool nightclub sequence. You watch it and you want to

775
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 1: be there.

776
00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:00,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, love love Love the sequence. It's it's so strange

777
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 3: and it's so good and and I think they're in

778
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,160
Speaker 3: a way reprising the song from the opening, or at

779
00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 3: least playing on variations of it, because both of them

780
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 3: have that phrase they keep saying, give it back. I

781
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,440
Speaker 3: think means like give give the natural resources back to

782
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,319
Speaker 3: the earth. But it's so strange because from there we

783
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:23,320
Speaker 3: go from the song and the nightclub to first of all,

784
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 3: a heatera prank call to the police station. Did you

785
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 3: understand this?

786
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 1: I don't think I quite got to say. This was

787
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,600
Speaker 1: a section with film where I started watching it with

788
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: my son too, so I might have been slightly distracted

789
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 1: as we talked about what was going on on screen.

790
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 3: And then so you see a police officer answer the

791
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:43,799
Speaker 3: phone and say like, hello, who is it? And then

792
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 3: he's like, that's ridiculous. Hetero is a sea monster. So

793
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 3: somebody's calling and saying they're hetero maybe oh, or.

794
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:53,760
Speaker 1: Maybe they're just reporting. They're like, hey, heterroa is attacking

795
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:55,360
Speaker 1: the city and they're like, no, no, no, I can't be.

796
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,600
Speaker 1: That could be in the sea. Because one of the

797
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:00,879
Speaker 1: themes here is that heater is going through a transformation

798
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:06,240
Speaker 1: he's going from an aquatic form to a quadrupedal form.

799
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 1: Ultimately he goes through a flying phase and then into

800
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: a bipedal form for the final fight that he also

801
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,080
Speaker 1: backtracks to a flying form a little bit at will.

802
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 3: I think you're right, that must be how to understand it,

803
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:20,480
Speaker 3: because my version didn't make any sense. I was like,

804
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:23,160
Speaker 3: what's with this prank call? But yeah, no, I think

805
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,080
Speaker 3: he's saying, somebody reports Hetera being on land and he's like, no, no,

806
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:29,840
Speaker 3: that can't be because Hetero is in the water. But

807
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,839
Speaker 3: what does Hetera do once Hetera comes on land? Just

808
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 3: slips its mouth right over the top of a smoke

809
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:37,920
Speaker 3: stack and starts huffing the gas.

810
00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:43,040
Speaker 1: Yeah. And of course in all of this, Hetera is

811
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 1: also emitting like sulphuric acid clouds, And either at this

812
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:51,200
Speaker 1: point or very shortly afterwards, we start seeing scenes of

813
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 1: it just like obliterating crowds, like turning people to skeletons

814
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 1: in the street.

815
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, like people literally just turn into piles of

816
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:04,120
Speaker 3: bone ones. Yeah, but we also watch Hetera like Hetera

817
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 3: has these tumor looking things, these bumps all over its body.

818
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 3: Should we describe can we describe? Hetero. I don't even

819
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,439
Speaker 3: know how to say what Hetero looks like. Hetero looks

820
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 3: like a big ball of garbage with like trailing slime

821
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,440
Speaker 3: tentacles that has these vertically oriented red eyes.

822
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:27,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's kind of glistening, kind of sparkling. It's

823
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:31,520
Speaker 1: really quite an ambitious and effective monster costume, because if

824
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 1: you see enough Kaiju film, do you realize there are

825
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: only so many things you can really do with a

826
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,759
Speaker 1: human in a suit for or and or the use

827
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:44,120
Speaker 1: of puppetry, and there are limitations in both areas. And

828
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: I feel like they did a great job with this

829
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:50,120
Speaker 1: costume and that it's clearly built around a bipedal human performer,

830
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 1: and yet it does have that feel of some sort

831
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:54,280
Speaker 1: of a morphous sledge monster.

832
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:57,399
Speaker 3: Yeah. So this horrible thing is attacking the city. What's

833
00:44:57,440 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 3: going to happen? Is Godzilla going to come and save

834
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 3: the day. Well, we had a hint earlier that he would,

835
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 3: because I think that Ken was writing an essay for

836
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:10,319
Speaker 3: school when he said, like, I think this is what

837
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 3: it is. Ken is writing an essay for the second

838
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,480
Speaker 3: grade for a second grade class, and it says something like,

839
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:18,800
Speaker 3: you know, the water is polluted with cadmium and mercury

840
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:20,719
Speaker 3: and all this, and then it ends with saying, I

841
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,080
Speaker 3: bet Godzilla would be mad if he saw.

842
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: This, Yes, and then eventually he has like a visual hallucination,

843
00:45:27,719 --> 00:45:31,120
Speaker 1: like a vision a prophecy, and he's like, Godzilla is coming,

844
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:32,560
Speaker 1: Godzilla is coming to clear this up.

845
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:36,719
Speaker 3: That's right, And then what's that? It is? Godzilla? Godzilla

846
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 3: coming over the horizon and Godzilla and Hetero throwdown. They

847
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 3: have a great fight, a great fight with very weird energy,

848
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 3: unlike any other fight I can think of from a

849
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 3: Godzilla movie that I recall because it's a fight with

850
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 3: basically no music and very little sound effects. The fight

851
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 3: later in the movie has a lot more the Godzilla

852
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:04,799
Speaker 3: squealing sound this one. There are long stretches where it's

853
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 3: very quiet, this kind of low anticipatory rumble as the

854
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,240
Speaker 3: two monsters just kind of regard one another and stand

855
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 3: there swaying in the darkness. It's it's very unusual, very effective.

856
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 1: Yeah. I also like how some of these fight maybe

857
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:21,399
Speaker 1: all of the fight scenes, but some of the key

858
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 1: fight scenes take place in like a great field, like

859
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 1: it feels like a like a battlefield instead of it

860
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:30,240
Speaker 1: being I don't know, a lot a lot of Kaiju

861
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:32,760
Speaker 1: movies they end up taking place on a model city

862
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:34,840
Speaker 1: or around a model city, and I don't know, this

863
00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:36,600
Speaker 1: one just just had a different feel to it.

864
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:41,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, two monsters, they're like like engines idling almost. Yeah,

865
00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 3: and I should say, all this is going on, the

866
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 3: fight is sizing up between them while they're while Yukioh

867
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,480
Speaker 3: is still in the nightclub, and he's starting to have

868
00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 3: hallucinations of all the dancers in the club wearing fish masks,

869
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 3: which was just so it's one of multiple parts of

870
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:01,160
Speaker 3: this movie that reminded me of The Wicker Man. Uh

871
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:04,200
Speaker 3: so they're they're fish masks here. But then later on

872
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:07,200
Speaker 3: in the movie, all the young people they decide, they're like, well,

873
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 3: Hetera's here, and you know, the earth is so polluted,

874
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,759
Speaker 3: we're basically near the end of human civilization anyway, so

875
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 3: let's just go have a big Wickerman party on Mount Fuji,

876
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:17,680
Speaker 3: which is exactly what they do. They go up and

877
00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:19,560
Speaker 3: they do a summarile kind of thing.

878
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:21,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's a it's a it's kind of a

879
00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: somber affair. They're kind of I guess mourning, but also

880
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: ultimately bringing the fight to Hetera. That the military has

881
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 1: has mostly failed, and it's up to the youth to

882
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 1: to raise their voices in song and then ultimately like

883
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: throwing torches at Hetera as he advances. It's it's pretty

884
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,480
Speaker 1: stirring because it you know, it's it's it's about the

885
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 1: youth culture. And then there's this other uh and their

886
00:47:46,719 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 1: role in perhaps fighting these important battles of the future,

887
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:53,480
Speaker 1: you know, certainly and environmentally, but it but also you

888
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:56,319
Speaker 1: have these sequences in this whole sequence you see these

889
00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: kind of ghostly looking old people watching on from shadows

890
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,439
Speaker 1: with kind of somber looks on their faces. Oh.

891
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was one of the strangest things to me.

892
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 3: I didn't know what to make of that. I thought

893
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,520
Speaker 3: maybe I had missed a scene explaining what was going

894
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:12,160
Speaker 3: on there or something. But while there is this Mount

895
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:15,360
Speaker 3: Fuji young people Wickerman party and they're out playing guitars

896
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:18,600
Speaker 3: and dancing in the field, there are these like ghastly

897
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 3: people of the wheat who are just standing behind these

898
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 3: tall grassy stalks with these gray and passive faces and

899
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:26,920
Speaker 3: just watching.

900
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:31,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, it reminded me a lot. This movie reminded me

901
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 1: a lot in general of some of the works of

902
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 1: Miyazaki because he has a lot of environmental themes in

903
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: his work, but also there are he does deal with

904
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:46,200
Speaker 1: these kind of generational conflicts as well. And I feel like,

905
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:48,399
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong on this, but I feel

906
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: like that's the territory that this director was getting into

907
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:56,200
Speaker 1: with god Zilvers's Hetera, at least just a flash of it.

908
00:48:56,239 --> 00:49:02,840
Speaker 1: There's this idea of generational conflict concerning the confrontation of

909
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:04,760
Speaker 1: in this case, environmental issues.

910
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:07,720
Speaker 3: So maybe it's like the gray people of the weed

911
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:11,120
Speaker 3: are kind of like the adults and spirited away who

912
00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:13,000
Speaker 3: can't see the magic and are just sitting at the

913
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 3: food stall stuffing their faces until they turn into pigs.

914
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:19,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, perhaps, But of course eventually it's it's all

915
00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:23,040
Speaker 1: about Godzilla and Hetera battling each other, and boy do

916
00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:25,800
Speaker 1: they battle. They battle. They battle a lot. They've battle

917
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 1: hard there, Godzilla's on the ropes. They are comebacks, and

918
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:35,280
Speaker 1: then and there's a sequence where where there's also flying,

919
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:38,799
Speaker 1: like Hetera goes into a flying form, drops Godzilla onto

920
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,439
Speaker 1: the side of a mountain, and then Godzilla falls into

921
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:43,879
Speaker 1: a hole and then this then then Hetera is going

922
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,440
Speaker 1: to like sludge flood the hole Oh, it gets it

923
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:48,840
Speaker 1: gets really intense there.

924
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:52,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, horrible. So it's a part where you think Godzilla

925
00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 3: is maybe gonna die, like Hetera throws him into an

926
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:58,840
Speaker 3: open grave of toxic sewage. Yeah.

927
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:00,719
Speaker 1: Oh, and then but the fly ying Heroro is not

928
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:02,759
Speaker 1: the only one to fly. Godzilla flies in this and

929
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 1: I don't think i'd seen this before.

930
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:07,840
Speaker 3: I started shouting when I saw it. Godzilla like balls

931
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:10,400
Speaker 3: up basically like Tuck. I was gonna say, he tucks

932
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:12,320
Speaker 3: his tail. That makes it sound like he's ashamed. He

933
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:15,280
Speaker 3: like balls up into an almost kind of fetal position,

934
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:18,200
Speaker 3: and then kind of hurt like blows out the radiation

935
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,240
Speaker 3: breath like a jetpack exhaust trail and flies.

936
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 1: Yeah. I thought I'd seen all Godzilla's tricks before, but

937
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 1: this is my first time seeing this. I'm curious if

938
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: this ever came up again in another Godzilla film, or

939
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:32,719
Speaker 1: if they decided not to. I mean, I thought it

940
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,920
Speaker 1: would look it fit perfectly in this film. I'm not

941
00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:39,920
Speaker 1: sure if other Godzilla directors would have liked it.

942
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if Godzilla can fly, that kind of

943
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,640
Speaker 3: changes the whole equation. I'm sure there have been other

944
00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:48,040
Speaker 3: movies where he flies. I have a vague tingling recollection

945
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,560
Speaker 3: that happens in something else, but it's certainly not all

946
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:54,040
Speaker 3: of them. Okay, Now, ultimately there it's one of those

947
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:57,640
Speaker 3: sequences where it involves the human characters trying to set

948
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:00,800
Speaker 3: some kind of technological trap for the Montster. They're trying

949
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:05,520
Speaker 3: to electrocute Hetera because the scientist character figures out that

950
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 3: electricity dries out the sludge and this is the only

951
00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 3: way it can be defeated. And if they're not able

952
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,839
Speaker 3: to defeat it with these big electrodes, then it will

953
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:17,359
Speaker 3: get too big for even Godzilla to handle, and then

954
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 3: it will just take over the world. Right.

955
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 1: Also oxygen, so they bomb it with oxygen from helicopters

956
00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:23,200
Speaker 1: a little bit.

957
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I remember that. But like we were saying, ultimately,

958
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:29,399
Speaker 3: the military is not very good at upholding their part

959
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:31,520
Speaker 3: of the deal, and Godzilla kind of has to do

960
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:35,200
Speaker 3: everything for them, and Godzilla like sighs and shrugs his shoulders,

961
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:41,760
Speaker 3: like really, guys. But eventually Godzilla pairs his radiation breath

962
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:45,200
Speaker 3: with the giant electrodes, and of course, you know who

963
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:47,560
Speaker 3: wins in the end. You know, yes, it's not hard

964
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,359
Speaker 3: to guess, but there's a lot of great stuff along

965
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:52,960
Speaker 3: the way. One of my favorite parts was when Godzilla.

966
00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 3: It almost seems like the good guys think they have

967
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,759
Speaker 3: defeated the monster, like twice already, but it keeps coming back.

968
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:03,880
Speaker 3: So Godzilla, having defeated it another time, starts sort of

969
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 3: reaching into the sludge corpse body and just like ripping

970
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:10,680
Speaker 3: out guts and throwing them all over the place, like

971
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:13,360
Speaker 3: you know, you get some guts, and you get some guts,

972
00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 3: and all the bits of guts all dry out in

973
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,520
Speaker 3: the electric field. And I thought that part was great.

974
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, just breath blasts the whole field afterwards, and

975
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:23,360
Speaker 1: then it's done.

976
00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:25,160
Speaker 3: So I don't know if you noticed the same thing

977
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:28,640
Speaker 3: I did. It's possible I'm mistaken about this, But did

978
00:52:28,680 --> 00:52:33,440
Speaker 3: the movie show a very brief flash of that famous

979
00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:37,200
Speaker 3: woodblock the Great Wave off Kanagawa for a second at

980
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:37,560
Speaker 3: the end.

981
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:41,120
Speaker 1: It did, and then I think it had it added

982
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:42,720
Speaker 1: the text like will it happen again?

983
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:45,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I wondered, did you know what to make

984
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:48,239
Speaker 3: of that? Like why the Great Wave? In particular?

985
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 1: I believe that this is this is a piece of

986
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,279
Speaker 1: art we've discussed in the show before, when we talked

987
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 1: about it on a stuff to blow your mind episode

988
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:55,080
Speaker 1: about rogue waves.

989
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,319
Speaker 3: Yeah, because but I believe to depict a rogue wave

990
00:52:58,800 --> 00:52:59,479
Speaker 3: right right.

991
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,600
Speaker 1: And I was looking up for like a nice concise

992
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:07,440
Speaker 1: description of what this picture is and what it perhaps means,

993
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 1: and I found one at the Yale University Art Gallery,

994
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,360
Speaker 1: and this is what they have written there.

995
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:14,799
Speaker 3: Quote.

996
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 1: At first glance, snow capped Mount Fuji looks calm in

997
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:20,719
Speaker 1: the background of this print, far from the boats and

998
00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,719
Speaker 1: towering waves. But the mountain is slightly obscured by a

999
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 1: boat whose sharp, sickle like tip threatens to lop off

1000
00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:30,320
Speaker 1: Mount Fuji's peak. And recent scholars suggests that this print

1001
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:34,319
Speaker 1: has political implications. Mount Fuji, a symbol of Japan, is

1002
00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:37,880
Speaker 1: menaced by boats and overpowering waves, both of which may

1003
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 1: imply a fear of foreign powers encroaching on Japanese shores. Indeed,

1004
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:46,080
Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty three, roughly twenty years after this print

1005
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:49,600
Speaker 1: was made, the American commodore Matthew Perry led a United

1006
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:53,399
Speaker 1: States Navy fleet into the Tokyo Harbor and forcibly open

1007
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 1: Japan to trade. So I think we might interpret this

1008
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:01,880
Speaker 1: as meaning like pollution is the next great wave, or

1009
00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:06,160
Speaker 1: it is the current great wave and it is threatening Japan,

1010
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:09,919
Speaker 1: and you know, can we stop it? Can we rise

1011
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: up against? Like what is our what is our resolve

1012
00:54:12,840 --> 00:54:13,960
Speaker 1: against this threat?

1013
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:16,800
Speaker 3: And Godzilla himself embodies that resolve?

1014
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:20,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe so. By the way, there are multiple versions.

1015
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:22,799
Speaker 1: You know, this is a very popular piece of art,

1016
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:26,720
Speaker 1: so there's been various reinterpretations and parodies of it over time.

1017
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,640
Speaker 1: If you just do a quick Google image search for

1018
00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:32,840
Speaker 1: the Great Wave off Kanda Gawa Godzilla, you will find

1019
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:38,320
Speaker 1: depictions of Godzilla battling the wave, literally depictions of Godzilla

1020
00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:40,799
Speaker 1: as the wave. It's pretty fun.

1021
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:44,800
Speaker 3: That's good, all right. Well should we wrap it up there?

1022
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:48,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's go ahead and close the book on this one.

1023
00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:48,279
Speaker 4: Now.

1024
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:52,080
Speaker 1: If you're wondering though, where can I watch Godzilla versus cetera.

1025
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 1: If you if you subscribe to HBO Max, you can

1026
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,719
Speaker 1: find it in the TCM collection there, which is where

1027
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 1: we watched it in really just glorious quality. But you

1028
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,960
Speaker 1: can also pick it up in various other formats, including

1029
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,160
Speaker 1: Blu Ray and if you want to go for something special,

1030
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:10,440
Speaker 1: pick it up as part of their Criterion Collection box set.

1031
00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:14,360
Speaker 1: Godzilla The Shoa Era Films nineteen fifty four through nineteen

1032
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:17,880
Speaker 1: seventy five. So yes, I think this marks the first

1033
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:22,800
Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema film that is also in the Criterion Collection.

1034
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:25,600
Speaker 3: Oh I'm not so sure about that. Isn't there a

1035
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 3: criterion of Split Second? What about Robot Jocks?

1036
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:31,479
Speaker 1: Not yet?

1037
00:55:31,560 --> 00:55:32,800
Speaker 3: I used to believe.

1038
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:35,239
Speaker 1: I think I could be right. I think this is

1039
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:37,319
Speaker 1: their first Criterion collect because I don't think Mad Love

1040
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:39,080
Speaker 1: is in the Criterion Collection. Oh really?

1041
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:41,200
Speaker 3: And transfers to Return of Jack Dead.

1042
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,320
Speaker 1: No no, not yet? Not yet?

1043
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:46,040
Speaker 3: All right. Well, I got to say, honestly, this is

1044
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:48,680
Speaker 3: one of the most enjoyable Godzilla movies I've ever seen.

1045
00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:52,359
Speaker 3: It's kind of notorious. Actually, if you look at, you know,

1046
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:55,719
Speaker 3: lists of people ranking the best Godzilla films, it does

1047
00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:58,320
Speaker 3: not usually make the top tier. But I disagree. I

1048
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:00,759
Speaker 3: would put it right up there with the best. Yeah.

1049
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pleasant to watch. So if you if you're

1050
00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:06,120
Speaker 1: looking for a Godzilla film, give this one your consideration.

1051
00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:09,040
Speaker 1: All right, So we're wrapping it up here. As always,

1052
00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:11,360
Speaker 1: you can catch Weird House Cinema every Friday in the

1053
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:15,120
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind Podcasts feed. You can find

1054
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:17,200
Speaker 1: that feed wherever you get your podcasts. But if you

1055
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:18,440
Speaker 1: want to get to it quickly, you can go to

1056
00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:20,920
Speaker 1: stuff to Blow Yourmind dot com and that will shoot

1057
00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,560
Speaker 1: you over to the iHeart listing for our page, and hey,

1058
00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:25,279
Speaker 1: there's a store tab there, and if you click on

1059
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:28,080
Speaker 1: the store tab, you'll find us some merchandise for Stuff

1060
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:30,799
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, but also some merchandise for Weird

1061
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:34,080
Speaker 1: House Cinema, including a shirt. You can finally get Weird

1062
00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:36,840
Speaker 1: House Cinema's logo or a version of its logo on

1063
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:41,200
Speaker 1: T shirts and stickers and iPhone covers and I don't

1064
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 1: know what else is all sorts of stuff, So that's

1065
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:45,080
Speaker 1: there if you want. It's just, you know, just for fun.

1066
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:47,440
Speaker 1: But the best thing you can do to support our

1067
00:56:47,440 --> 00:56:50,680
Speaker 1: show is just simply to rate, review, and subscribe wherever

1068
00:56:50,719 --> 00:56:51,799
Speaker 1: you have the power to do so.

1069
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 3: Huge things As always to our excellent audio producer Seth

1070
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:57,839
Speaker 3: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch

1071
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:00,000
Speaker 3: with us with feedback on this episode or any other,

1072
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:02,160
Speaker 3: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to

1073
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:05,040
Speaker 3: say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff

1074
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:13,600
Speaker 3: to Blow your Mind dot com.

1075
00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:16,680
Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1076
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:19,560
Speaker 2: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio, app,

1077
00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:22,720
Speaker 2: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.