WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Zeiram 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:16.160 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.079 is Rob Lamb and my name is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:25.240 today's movie is a nine Japanese film called za Ram 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.640 or maybe better to say zer Um because the za 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.600 Ram really sounds like the Tennessee take on the name 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.479 of the alien in this film. Yeah, but hey, what 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.800 do you know? This is our very first space bounty 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.240 Hunter movie, and I think I'll have to be honest 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.360 and say that za Ram is not the most scintillating 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:47.960 movie I have ever seen, but it has a really 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.200 great central monster as it is has a fun bounty 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.320 Hunter and it is light years beyond the quality of 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:58.360 the other main Space bounty Hunter title in my mental database, 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:03.000 which is also from nine and is called a Braxis 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.520 Guardian of the Universe. Rob, have you seen this one 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.080 with Jesse the Body Ventura? I have. I believe I 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.920 watched the Riff Tracks version of it, uh, and I 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.920 remember it being bad, and I definitely remember the two 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.000 principal cast members. Bractis goes way like when I very 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.080 first started getting into b movies in like high school, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:22.640 you know, and my friends and I were going to 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.200 the uh to like the used book and and DVD 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.080 store and digging through their like trash pile to see 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:30.640 what we could find. This is one of the ones 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.320 we dug up. So it's got Jesse the Body Ventura 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.520 as the space bounty hunter, and it's got Sven ole 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.039 A Thorson, who you might know from Oh, I don't know. 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.520 He was in Conan, I think, uh, and they're running 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.959 around some Yeah, yeah, they're they're running around some town 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.760 in Ontario, and uh, Spin is the is the fugitive, 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.520 and I recall he keeps grabbing people and asking them 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.000 if they know how to compute the anti life equation. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.440 Oh yes, uh yeah. Spin shows up in a number 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.680 of different Arnold movies. He was kind of like part 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.920 of the the ensemble, I believe, um, but then eventually 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.560 starts showing up by, you know, doing solo projects as well. 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.399 Do you think they originally wanted Arnold for a Praxis 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.919 but he, I don't know, went on to Determinator two 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.480 or something. I can't imagine Arnold was ever in talks 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.560 for a Practis. I think I think this this project 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.200 was in a different orbit entirely. But hey, a space 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.360 bounty hunter can be a lot of fun because Okay, 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.760 so you know, you have like two parties arrived from 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.680 other worlds. Now they're here on Earth, and there's already 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:33.920 a chase going on, so like, you know, it's not 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.520 like you have to get to that part once they're here. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.280 One is already in pursuit of the other, and that's 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.880 a good setup. Yeah, absolutely. Um. You know, in general, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:47.520 the bounty hunter uh scenario makes for good fiction, especially 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.520 when you know, because you can do the same thing, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.320 like who's this mysterious individual chasing this other mysterious individual. 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:55.560 Well you're gonna have to explain it to the bystanders 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.519 and they become part of the whole plot. But yeah, 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.440 throw in space and alien ends, and you've you've got 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.040 yourself a winning formula. Um. And I think that's one 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.720 of the things that I like about Za Ram is 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.639 that it's a pretty simple formula. They don't they get 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.120 into a fair amount of complexity with the monster itself, 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.440 but in terms of the basic plotting, uh, into a 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.040 certain extent, the world building, they keep it simple. Um, 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.519 this is a movie where the title is the name 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.919 of the monster. Uh. So you know it's going to 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:31.400 be monster centric. There's extremely little plot in this movie. Yeah, 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.600 but what what it lacks in, uh, in story complexity, 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.520 I would say it's somewhat makes up for in the 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.520 form of the far more interesting than spin only Thorsen Fugitive, 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.000 which is an elegantly haberdash to bipedal star beast who 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.360 has so many now I reveal my true form moments. 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:53.600 I lost count of them, like every time it now 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:57.280 I reveal my true forms. There's another one coming, that's right. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.920 Um My son walked in and watched part of this 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.640 with me because because this is ultimately a pretty pretty 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.400 harmless movie. It's got a little bit of a little 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.880 bit of a monster blood and monster grossness in it, 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.720 and some sci fi weapon fire, but for the most part, 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.040 pretty wholesome. Uh. So he was watching part of this 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.560 and he was he was at least acting a little exasperated. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.919 He was into the monster designs. But he's like, haven't 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.360 they almost killed this thing like six times? Yeah? Yeah, 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:27.680 that they have. Uh. Luckily it finally sticks. But I'll 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.200 tell you something else. It sticks. Yeah, this monster's design 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.559 sticks with you. Because I had never seen this film 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.680 and its entirety, but I caught I think I caught 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.160 part of it back in the nineties on the Sci 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.560 Fi Channel. They had a dub version I think they 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.919 showed and it was one of those where you know, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.760 who knows what else was going on, But I only 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.039 caught just a glimpse of it, just enough to watch 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:53.320 like one or two scenes with the title creature, this hulking, 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.839 relentless alien bioweapon that you know, it seems like this 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.719 thoroughly unique amalgam of alarm features, you know, which is 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.359 is good in any monster, because monsters are are often 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.880 this sort of a Malcolm, but it's a monster where 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.679 it's primary form, the one that gets the most screen time. 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:17.040 It's suggests elements of Samurai and one mushrooms and sting rays. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.840 You know, obviously there's a little bit of Xeno morph 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.320 sprinkled in there. There's also a sense of the Cyclops 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.600 and just much much more like it seems like they've 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.960 they've added enough elements that it just becomes uh, you know, 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.359 unique feeling. And it also made an impression on me 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.640 because at the time I have not seen much in 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.880 the way of Japanese cinema, especially you know, the sort 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.000 of the bio horror realm of Japanese cinema, you know, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:44.400 thinking of classics like Akira or Tetsuo the Iron Man. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.920 But again, I didn't see the whole film. I forgot 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.359 about this creature for the most part, but occasionally I 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.480 would be reminded of him. And maybe it's because I've 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:57.080 been watching the Boba Fete series with with alien bounty hunters. 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.000 Maybe that that made me think of him again. Um, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.200 I was like, Okay, I need to look this film up. 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.599 I need to see who this mysterious uh um creature 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.520 was and what this film consisted of and give it 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.080 a proper viewing. And and I would argue, maybe you 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.520 still don't know who this alien creature was, because I 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.839 don't think the movie really addresses that question much. No, 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.040 we don't know really where he's from or what he 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.560 did do have a bounty hunter chasing after him. I mean, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:26.960 he could be a good guy for all we know, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.960 though probably not. Um, his his backstory is not really 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.080 fleshed out. All we're really told is that he's he's 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:38.080 essentially some sort of bioweapon. I'm gonna buck expectations and 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.279 argue that when it really comes down to it. Much 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.600 like the original Alien Za Ram is a movie about 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.680 work in the workplace, you know, because it's about a 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.320 It's not really about human relationships. It's not really about 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.880 good versus evil. It's really about people trying to do 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.919 their jobs. So you have a couple of power company 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.080 eyes who have a job to do. There are main 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.640 human characters, and then you have your Xeno Legal bounty 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.280 hunter who has a job to do and she's our 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.760 main sort of you know, superhuman hero. And the movie 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.160 is essentially what happens when those two groups trying to 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.160 do their jobs jam into each other a cross purposes. 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.880 It's like, you know, when you see a road partially 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.520 blocked for digging on a pipe or something, and then 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.760 there's a delivery driver who has to get through but 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.239 their truck won't fit the gap, and they start arguing. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.200 Except add in space tentacles. Yeah, I think I think 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.480 you're essentially right here. Um. I wonder what we're to 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.440 make of the fact that zyr In itself is essentially 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:45.080 a product in in a humanoid form. You know, I 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.040 don't know, maybe there's nothing to be to be made 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.240 with that, But across across my mind, oh, no, I 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.160 can see it if he's a bioeapon. I mean, like 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.760 much like you know when when I watch Alien. Uh. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.160 The movie raises lots of great questions and I love it. 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.000 But one of one of the ones I think people 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.240 don't think about very often is I'm like, man, if 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.920 like the Whaland Utahny Corporation had better workplace protections, Like 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.480 if they they had better like union regulations in place 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.760 or something, a lot of this could have been avoided. Um, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.360 but probably all of it. But no, I mean, it's 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.760 just like, it's a movie about work problems and this 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:20.800 is kind of the same. It's like, why did these 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.560 two electricians have to go into the warehouse to investigate 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.800 the alien technology themselves? Couldn't they have called a supervisor 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.880 to to deal with this? Yeah? Yeah, it seems like 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.720 there should be more of a system in place. Shouldn't 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.040 the police maybe get involved? I don't know, Yeah, you 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.560 would think so. All right, So the elevator pitch for 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:40.559 z Ram, I feel like we've basically done it already. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:46.559 It's an alien bounty hunter alien bounty taking place on Earth, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.640 drawing earthlands into the wild cosmic scenario. Did you did 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.200 you say Earthlands, did I I don't know Earthlands, earth Links, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:59.120 maybe Earths. I like in this universe. I'm just I'm 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.520 expanding on the Z A Ram universe here already, all right, okay, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.000 so who meets a Ram? Oh no, we gotta have 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.480 some trailer first. Oh oh sorry, okay, let's hear some trailer. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.920 The people of Earth are about to be visited by 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:19.079 some guests. While they're here, try and make them the 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:32.640 feel welcome. If you can't take the heat, get out 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:39.520 of the galaxy. Yeah. Not not a great trailer, my fad. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.880 But that's the that's the English language shoil or the 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.600 voiceover is a bit a bit much. But we wanted 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.080 to have something for you that wasn't just explosion sounds. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.160 I mean a big part of this movie is explosion sounds. Yes, okay, 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.960 so who made this thing? All right? So the director, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.000 one of the writers, and the character designer. His Kita 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:06.480 am Amia Ammama has an illustration background born nineteen nine. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.240 And I think the illustration background makes sense given just 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.680 how visual this movie is, Like, this is a movie 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:17.640 that's very much about look at this look at this monster. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.760 Look what happens when he has a costume change? Um, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.360 you know that the character design elements are very strong 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.520 in this I agree so much so that there are 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.200 even uh moments of this movie that look like hand 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.160 drawn illustrations. Like there is an opening scene. Actually, it's 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:33.880 it might be my favorite part of the whole movie 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.959 is the black and white silhouette opening sequence. Um. And 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.760 when the the outline of za Ram is first revealed, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.760 before we see any of the you know, the surface detail, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.440 Zerram kind of looks like an illustration. He looks like 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.480 a hand drawn animation until it's revealed like, oh no, 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.680 this is somebody in a costume lit from behind. Yeah, 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:56.520 and he's yeah, it's a pretty great costume. It's one 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:01.079 of these where za Ram generally feels warmoss but has 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.560 very a very humanoid gait about him, very humanoid dimensions. Uh. 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:10.000 I feel like it was very effectively done. Heavy footfalls. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.840 Z Ram likes to kind of clump around on the floor. Now. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.240 Emmamia has done a lot of work in design and effects, 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.720 including uh, this is interesting. He was an effects animator 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.360 on nine gun Head, which we covered on Weird House 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.920 in the Beast. Oh yeah, that's right. He's also worked 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.840 as a character designer for video games such as clock 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.360 Tower three, which I believe I played that one back 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.800 in the day, and like PS two UM. He was 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.319 also involved in some only Musha titles and az a 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.240 Ram is very much his sort of his follow up 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.959 to his first full length film, Cyber Ninja, from which 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.240 I have not seen, but I looked at some stills 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.320 from it. Looked at at least one clip. It looks 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:52.840 like a lot of fun and there are also some 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.400 really out there monster designs in it. I have not 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.679 seen it, but I will watch based on the title alone. 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.640 So he would go on to direct a sequelsz A 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:06.120 Ram two, and there's also a spinoff animated series that 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.040 seemed to have quite a following, aria Zeri Um The 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.480 Bounty Hunter. He's worked a lot over the years, though, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:16.000 and his filmography includes some common writer films and what 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:20.160 seems like dozens of titles in the film TV franchise Garo, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:25.040 which like these other titles, is a toku satsu or 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.040 live action special effects drama UH, this time about a 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.000 man in magical armor who has to protect humanity against 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.000 the horrors, which I believe are some sort of demons. Now. 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.800 Garo I've seen is is sometimes described as a midnight 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.360 uh Toko Satsu series as it yes contains like people 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.040 and you know heroes and fancy armor suits battling monsters, 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.920 but it apparently has darker elements for grown ups and 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.200 its and it's such as is shown on TV like 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.440 Late at Night Zairam. However, is not midnight Toko Satsu. 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.280 This is Toko Satsu for the whole family. Again, my 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.760 nine year olds and walked in and seemed to enjoy 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.360 it and critiqued it a little bit. Yeah, I'd say 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.120 that probably the scariest thing in here is well, I 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.880 mean some shots of Zerram the monster have like that 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.200 that scary face thing that comes out of it, which 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.880 we can talk about more. But uh, probably the worst 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.559 thing is that it like really bites the electricians arm 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.080 bad and leaves a big bloody welt. If you can 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.160 deal with that, I think the movie's cool. Yeah. Um, 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.600 now with the neck, I want to hit the other 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:30.720 writing credit on this, who is also the visual effects coordinator, 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.160 and I think it becomes pretty obviously we're kind of 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.440 in pumpkinhead territory with this film. Uh. This is this 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.840 is a film you know by special effects people with 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.520 very much a special effects design mentality that goes into it. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.960 So it's it's monster first, it's visuals first, and maybe 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.400 the actual plotting and acting and so forth takes a 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.320 backseat to all of that. Now, your Pumpkinhead comparison, that 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.200 was directed by Stan Winston, right, Am I right about that? 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:01.480 I believe? So? Yes, Uh that Isten of course, a 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.720 legend of special effects. Uh not so much, you know, 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.520 a legendary director. Um, but but he did get in there. 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:11.240 He got in there with Pumpkinhead in and he I 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.720 think he did. He directed mostly some other short stuff. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.320 He directed a film titled A nome Name norm from 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:20.800 that I've never heard of, so just now, and he 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.080 did some video shorts. But yeah, Pumpkinhead was his chance 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:25.760 to really get in there and show what he could do. 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.680 And it's mostly about a really cool monster. But because 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.240 you've got some Lance Henrickson in there too, I guess yeah, yeah, 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.040 it's uh, it's an okay horror movie. It's it's a 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.440 great looking horror movie. Also featuring Dick Warlock. Oh yes, okay, 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.680 So anyway back to back to za Ram writing credit 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:46.640 and visual effects coordinator goes to Hajimi Matsumoto as a writer. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.880 They only worked on the Xerrium movies and three other titles, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.520 but Matsumoto has primarily worked in special effects, including some 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:59.360 Godzilla movies, GAMMERA Guardian of the Universe, which I which 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.120 I love. It's a really fun one with a lot 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.240 of like cute Gamera when he's little and then he 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.240 becomes your expected Gamera. Is this the second movie we've 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.880 mentioned in this episode called Guardian of the Universe with 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:14.200 the subtitle Guardian the Universe? Oh? Man, that sets up 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.280 a perfect sequel idea Gammera versus Abraxas. They gotta duke 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.440 it out and figure out which one is the real Guardian. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.000 Oh it's gotta be Gamera. I'm gonna I vote Gammera 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:28.400 every time, especially over over Ventura. But let's see. Oh yeah. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:33.760 But Matsumoto was also also involved in the special effects 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:38.680 on Ring uh, the the original Japanese ring upon which 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.960 the American film The Ring was based. He also worked 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.720 on some of the Ring sequels. He worked on Spiral, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.920 and he worked on The Grudge, both the Japanese version 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.040 and the American remake. All right, but we would not 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.360 have a space bounty Hunter movie without our Space Bounty Hunter. 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:58.000 So who who plays this all important character. It is 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.720 Yuko Mariyama, playing Area of the bounty hunt her. She 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.560 was born in ninety eight, Japanese actor. This was her 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.160 first role apparently, and she went on to do the 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.520 sequel some TV. She was in Reborn from Hell too, 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.600 and it looks like she retired from acting between two 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.640 thousand and two thousand four and possibly went into some 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.240 sort of education field for some reason. I usually just 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.520 like to see that. I mean, assuming it wasn't caused 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.000 by some bad experience or something. When somebody's just like, Okay, 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.280 I was acting for a while. Now I'm career change, 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.880 I'm gonna do something else. Yeah. Based on the limited 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.240 English information I could find about it, it it sounds like 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.000 she just like she she eventually found her calling somewhere else. 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.760 So yeah, more power to her now. As we talked about, 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.400 this movie doesn't place a lot of dramatic demands on 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.480 its actors, but I'd say she's good. She she she 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.000 feels this role quite well. She she wears the power armor, 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.120 she does a good fight scenes. She has a good 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:55.720 determined stare when facing down the monster. Thumbs up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.600 so solid action performance. Uh you know, she comes off 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.600 as a badass and and uh and and unlike her 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.640 her AI help her, Bob, she's she's she's kind of reckless, 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.200 she's relentless. She's like she's got to get her bounty, 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.040 while while Bob the AI is more concerned about, you know, 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.800 how this is going to affect their license. Do they 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.520 do they have the actual permit to use this particular 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.879 super weapon against the alien and stuff like that. Oh my, 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.119 got that interminable argument at the beginning about the zone 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.600 and whether you're using a zone will cause them to 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.960 forfeit some percent of the bounty. And we should have 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.480 had more of that. It could have been the shin 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.800 Godzilla of Alien Bounty hunter films. Oh that would be 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.840 a good idea. Alright, so too, Earthlings or earth Linds, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.359 if you will get get sucked into this, uh, this 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.640 whole situation. And the first of them we'll start with 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.920 is uh I believe with His name is tep tepe I. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:58.119 I'm sorry, Tepe tepe A tepe the handsome electrician unknown age. 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:03.800 This characters played Kuni, hero Ida and um very limited 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.680 credits on this guy who was in both the zraz 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.119 Aram movies. Doesn't seem to have been active in a 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.520 in a long time. But then the other electrician who's 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.639 our funny electrician, are kind of obnoxious electrician because you know, 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.120 that's kind of how you know your duo should go 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.320 in a film like this. Uh, this is coma and 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:26.440 he is played by Yuki hero Hotaru. Born in nineteen 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:31.320 fifty one. Hotaru is very active still today, mostly on 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.560 Japanese television. He made a career for himself initially playing detectives, 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.560 usually in Japanese pink films. This is a broad category 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:43.680 of erotic films in Japanese cinema, with some particularly sleazy titles. 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.040 But he seems to have gradually crossed over into mainstream 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.919 sci fi and horror as well, uh, ultimately starring at 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.120 or at least acting in a number of TV shows, 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.960 even kids films. He worked in that Garo series that 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:00.720 I mentioned earlier. Um so yeah, and you can see 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.800 you can ultimately see why because he has a he 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:08.000 has a very charismatic face. He's pulled constantly pulling funny 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.200 weird faces in this film, So you can see why 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.119 an actor like this would be sort of your go 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.960 to for sort of uh, you know, a wonky character roles. Uh, 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.320 you know, it's certainly in recent decades. Yeah, he's doing 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:25.480 a zany Jim Carey kind of thing. Yeah, And we 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.320 we usually mentioned the music, so I'll go ahead and 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.560 say that hirokazu Ota is credited with the music. The 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.320 score is a bit much in places for my taste, 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.240 but it's pretty effective in other places. Um. This individual 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:43.760 also scored the film Roboman ha Kader, from which I 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.480 haven't seen, but I've I've noticed on shells many times. 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.320 It's another one of these sort of hero in armor 0:19:49.480 --> 0:20:02.239 or robot gear battles evil. All right, Well, you might 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:03.920 have already guessed from the way we've been talking about 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:05.640 it so far. This is not really one of those 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.240 movies where it will make much sense to go scene 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.439 by scene, since there really is very little plot. It 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.240 is mostly a showcase for for visual spectacles, you know, 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:20.359 sci fi tech battles, tentacle attacks, monster transformations, and and 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.119 so forth. But we can give you a general picture 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.320 of the shape of the plot and then talk about 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.480 some highlights that we really enjoyed. And Uh, the first 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.720 highlight I would say is actually the very first thing 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.000 in the movie Strong. Strong opening sequence might have been 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.000 my favorite part of the entire thing. And interesting connections 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.760 throughout this opening sequence to the Suta car because you 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.880 have this background of deep chance, as if you know, 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.919 the moon monks are doing matins. But then also you 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:51.280 have space marines and these egg shaped e v A 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.919 helmets much like the uh like the they're shown in 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.960 the most recent Dune movie. Yeah, yeah, so they're they're 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.200 they're clearly here or I don't know that they're here. 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.000 They're there, They're somewhere, presumably in space, maybe on a 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:09.240 spaceship or something space station. Yeah, to stop ze Ram 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.119 and who they don't stand a chance. No, So what 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:15.359 we see is a black and white silhouette of a 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:19.760 creature who looks like a person wearing a wide brimmed hat, 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.480 or perhaps somebody who has a large mushroom cap for 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.359 a head. And it's hard to tell more than that 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:30.480 because the persons in silhouette except when it pauses to 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:36.200 suddenly reveal a face, but not with the correct proportions 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:38.400 for like a human face, So it's not a face 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.600 that would fill what is presumably this creature's head. It's 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.119 like a little tiny face, and it's in this pale 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.199 makeup that looks kind of like a mask from no Theater, 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:54.040 but with supernasty black teeth, like very scarified. Yeah. And 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:56.280 it and when we zoom in on it, it often 0:21:56.280 --> 0:22:00.760 makes little noises kind of like yeah, stuff like that, 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.480 which adds to the creepiness. But then, okay, so when 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:06.960 we see the face, the face is not proportional to 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:08.639 the size of the head. It's much smaller. It's like 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.320 a little cameo, you know, a little little tiny face 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:14.800 on this big head with the with the wide brimmed hat. 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.720 And then it is the body of this creature looks 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.399 like it is wearing some kind of fibery cloak. You know. 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.320 It's like it's got a big kind of ragged cape. Yeah, 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.560 like it's been it's been tromping through humanoid realms, and 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:33.320 so it is taken on the guise of human clothing. Um. 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:34.760