Kaiju Transmissions Podcast

At long last, we're back with more Gamera talk! We are joined by guest hosts Tom and Eric to discuss Shusuke Kaneko's acclaimed Gamera trilogy and 2006's reboot, Gamera the Brave. Kaneko's Gamera trilogy of the 90s remains three of the most beloved kaiju films of all time by both fans and critics. We will talk about whether or not these films earned their reputation and discuss how they hold up in 2017. We then divert our attention to the 2006 reboot, Gamera the Brave which came and went with little fanfare. Did this movie deserve to have such a short shelf life or is it an unsung classic? And what should Kadokawa-Daiei be doing with Gamera in this current, kaiju heavy climate? We discuss all this and more!

As a Halloween bonus, Byrd and Matt discuss and review the first screen adaptation of William Hope Hodgson's "The Voice In The Night" (the short story that Toho's Matango was based on). This was an episode of the Alfred Hitchcock produced anthology TV series "Suspicion," which aired on NBC in 1958 and starred James Coburn, Barbara Rush, Patrick Macnee, and James Donald before their careers took off. This TV episode languished in total obscurity for decades until recent years when an old, faded print finally made its way onto Youtube. So how does this early adaptation differ from Toho's cult classic? Is this version or Matango more faithful to the original Hodgson story? Listen and find out! Happy Halloween!

Just in time for Halloween, Byrd, Matt and guest host Tom take a look at Daiei's Yokai franchise! This includes the original trilogy of 100 Monsters, Spook Warfare, and Along With Ghosts, as well as Takashi Miike's 2004 reboot, The Great Yokai War. You'll hear us discuss all four movies, as well as give a crash course on what a Yokai is, the influence of GeGeGe No Kitaro, and more! These are prime viewing in the month of October, so break out the Adzuki beans and enjoy!

On a new October podcast, Byrd and Matt are joined by guest host Tom to discuss Toho's "Mutant Trilogy." It is time to discuss more of Toho's human sized monsters, as we discuss The H-Man (1958), The Secret of the Telegian (1960), and the Human Vapor (1960). Although not as popular as Toho's giant monster films, the mutant films are every bit as noteworthy. As always, we have a lively discussion, as we discuss the origins of these films and give our reviews. Listen and enjoy as we discuss radioactive blobs, a teleporting serial killer, and a vapor man! But first we discuss our thoughts on the new Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer!

In our second October horror episode, Byrd, Matt, and guest host Trev (Days of Future Podcast, If It Bleeds We Can Kill It) dip their toes into the Eko Eko Azarak franchise with a discussion on the first three live action movies. Produced by Gaga Co. and Tsuburaya Films, these were based on the popular manga of the same name. The series follows a young schoolgirl witch who travels from town to town as a protector against demonic activity. We discuss the original manga and review Wizard of Darkness (1995), its prequel followup Birth of the Wizard (1996) and the TV-series spin off Misa the Dark Angel (1998). How do these hold up? Listen and find out!

On another very special episode, Byrd and Matt and joined by actress Linda Haynes for this candid, career spanning interview. Kaiju fans know her best for her role in Ishiro Honda's Latitude Zero. She also starred in many 70s cult favorites such as Coffy, Rolling Thunder, and Human Experiments. We discuss these films, as well as variety of topics such as her work with directors like Ishiro Honda, John Flynn and Jack Hill, stars such as Joseph Cotten, Akira Takarada, Pam Grier, and Robert Redford, her post-acting career, making positive changes in life, the convention circuit, turning down a role from Quentin Tarantino and more! Enjoy! Linda will be attending the Chiller Theatre convention in Parsippany, NJ from 10/27/2017-10/29/2017. If you're in the area, come and give her a visit!

Happy October! KT is once again going through Japanese horror films for the entire month and we're kicking it off with the classic anthology film Kwaidan, directed by the great Masaki Kobayashi. This independent feature was produced by Ninjen Club and distributed by Toho in 1964 and features four horror stories based on the Japanese folk stories of author Lafcadio Hearn. We discuss how the film was made, the unique musical score, the struggles that Kobayashi went through to finish the film, and the strange life of author Lafcadio Hearn. Enjoy!

Byrd and Matt welcome special guest, author John LeMay ("The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monsters" book series) on the podcast to discuss kaiju movies that almost were! It seems almost as if for every Godzilla movie that got made, there are several scripts for other movies that never saw the light of day. John's newest book, "The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monsters: The Lost Films" details that very subject. We talk to John about his book, his beginnings as a writer, the process of writing the book, and why he's so drawn to the topic of unmade films. Then we also talk our favorite unmade Godzila/kaiju projects, and the ones we would have liked to see the most. We talk about infamous lost projects like Mothra vs Bagan, Godzilla vs Batman, and the proposed Toho/Hammer co-production Nessie, as well as obscurities such as Japan SOS, Bride of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. M. We also debunk some common myths along our way. So listen up, relax and learn about the Godzilla movies we ALMOST had!

On a special episode, Byrd and Matt welcome Linda Miller, best known for her role as Susan Watson in the Toho/Rankin-Bass classic King Kong Escapes! In addition to her starring role in one of Toho's golden age kaiju films, she also made an appearance in Toei's cult favorite, The Green Slime. Linda discusses both films, her modeling career, being directed by the great Ishiro Honda, language barriers on the Japanese sets, working with stars like Akira Takarada, Rhodes Reason, and Richard Jaeckel, her convention experiences, why she stopped acting, and what she's done in her post-acting life. Linda will be attending the Chiller Theatre convention in Parsippany, NJ from 10/27/2017-10/29/2017. If you're in the area, come give her a visit!

On a very special episode of the podcast, we are ridiculously excited to welcome the legendary and prolific martial arts action star Sonny Chiba! Matt ventured to Fandom Fest in Kentucky to sit down and talk with Mr. Chiba. With nearly 200 acting credits, Sonny Chiba has done it all. He's well known for his roles in cult classics like the Street Fighter series, Golgo 13, Message From Space, the Yakuza Papers and Bodyguard Kiba. He's been in everything from early tokusatsu films like Golden Bat and Invasion of the Neptune Men to work in Hollywood with Kill Bill and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He's done dozens of yakuza and martial arts films. He's also done a lot of stunt work, as well as founding the Japan Action Club for stunt/action actors. Listen as Sonny describes a variety of topics including legendary director Kinji Fukusaku, Vic Morrow, being cast by Quentin Tarantino, Fast and the Furious, language barriers on set, early tokusatsu hero film sets, differences between Japanese and Hollywood films

On a very special edition of the podcast, we present another celebrity interview with actor/stuntman Kenji Ohba! Kenji is best known for playing the long-running Toei tokusatsu superhero Space Sheriff Gavan, as well as his long career as a stunt man. Matt traveled to Fandom Fest in Kentucky this past July to conduct this interview. Ohba discusses his tokusatsu beginnings as a stuntman/suit actor in shows like Kikaider, being mentored by Sonny Chiba, mentoring Godzilla actor Tom Kitagawa, the difficulties of stunt work, how working on tokusatsu TV shows has changed over the years, and of course, the continued popularity of the Space Sheriff Gavan character (who he still plays to this day). Tune in and enjoy! Special thanks to Hiro Kitagawa for translating for this interview.

Byrd and Matt are joined by silent film historian and film restorationist Nicolas Ciccone to discuss Willis O'Brien and Harry O. Hoyt's 1925 game-changer The Lost World. Nicolas had the experience of reconstructing the film with newly discovered footage for Lobster Films' upcoming blu-ray release (in addition to providing the audio commentary). This pre-King Kong dino-on-the-loose classic is the very first giant monster run amok film and the true great grandfather of the entire giant monster/kaiju genre. We discuss the making of the film, the differences between the original Arthur Conan Doyle novel and the film, the early career of Willis O'Brien, Obie's falling out with Herbert Dawley on The Ghost of Slumber Mountain, the casual racism in the film, the brand new extended cut, lost footage, the new restoration and more! Much of this film has been lost over the years, only available in truncated versions pieced together from various elements, and the upcoming blu-ray will be the most complete version seen

Byrd and Matt are joined by Trev (If It Bleed We Can Kill It and Days of Future Podcast) to take one of our occasional detours outside the giant monster landscape to examine the the Death Note franchise. In the early 2000s, this supernatural thriller became a worldwide phenomenon, starting with the successful manga and anime series. It also spawned multiple live action films from such genre heavyweights as Shusuke Kaneko, Hideo Nakata and Adam Wingard. Our discussion is mostly based on the two 2006 Shusuke Kaneko films and Adam Wingard's American adaptation that just dropped as a Netflix Original. We'll also touch on the manga and anime, the L spin-off film, and the 2016 Japanese sequel Light Up The New World. We also discuss the recent "whitewashing" controversy surrounding the Netflix film. But first, we discuss the Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters teaser and the recent news that Steven Soderbergh was planning a remake of Matango!

From June 30-July 3 of 2017, Godzilla suit actors Haruo Nakajima and Tom Kitagawa were featured guests at the Days of the Dead convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is the panel Q and A with the two actors from the convention. Unfortunately, this would also become one of Haruo Nakajima's final interviews and his final convention appearance. The two men answer questions about how they got involved in suit acting, working in the suits, working with miniatures, their thoughts on the American Godzilla films and more! With the clearance from the Days of the Dead con, KT is proud to present this panel discussion with two legendary kaiju performers! Listen and enjoy! Special thanks to Nick Adam Poling and Jonathan Crocetti for providing the audio, Christopher Marti for his post production work, and Corey Hannigan for translating at the panel! DISCLAIMER: The audio for this is a little rough, as the convention did not have a proper set up to accommodate some of the recording hardware. After a lot of post-p

Matt and Byrd are joined by special guest, Ed Holland of Monster Attack Team magazine! We interview Ed about the creation of the magazine, its hiatus, and its resurgence over the last few years! Just how does one get a high quality magazine made in 2017? Ed also tells us about being on the sets of Ultraman Powered and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. But first, we discuss Ed's relationship with the late Haruo Nakajima, who passed away shortly before this recording. Ed did a lot of stateside events with Mr. Nakajima and shared some great stories and insights! Kick back and enjoy!

For our very first LIVE episode, we present our 50th anniversary panel discussion on 1967's GAMERA vs. GYAOS. Byrd and Matt are joined by Nicolas Poling (of the Monster Report on YouTube) to take a deep dive through how it was made, how it originated, the SPFX, how it changed the Gamera franchise, the social climate of the time that is reflected throughout the film, differences in the rare manga adaptation, audience Q & A, and more! DISCLAIMER: The audio on this one isn't perfect since the convention couldn't support some of our hardware, but we cleaned it up the best we could!

Due to some MAJOR technical difficulties at G-Fest, the audio from our interviews with composer Michiru Oshima, director/SPFX Director Kiyotaka Taguchi and assistant director Kazuhiro Nakagawa were all unusable. To make up for it, we've transcribed the interviews for us to discuss them on the podcast, where we can talk about their answers and give our thoughts on what they had to say. Oshima discusses working on the Godzilla films, working with Seijun Suzuki, and composing for anime and video games. Taguchi discusses working on Godzilla films, the Ultraman shows, his short films, and his thoughts on CGI. Nakagawa discusses his film Day of the Kaiju, working on Attack on Titan and Shin Godzilla, and his thoughts on the Monsterverse. So listen up and hear our reflections on getting the amazing opportunity to interview these incredible people. But first, we have some fan mail! Also, check out the text transcripts of the interviews at maserpatrol.wordpress.com!

Byrd and Matt dig into the life and career of famed monster music composer Akira Ifukube! To do this, they interview Ifukube's official biographer Erik Homenick (who runs AkiraIfukube.org) and film music buff John DeSentis (conductor & co-organizer of the Ifukube 100 and Symphonic Fury kaiju music concerts). As an added bonus, they've brought some SUPER rare Ifukube music cues (reconstructed and recorded by John from Ifukube's manuscripts). This is UNHEARD Ifukube music you will only hear on this podcast! We discuss how the composer got involved in film music, his preferred instrumentation, why he didn't get along with Akira Kurosawa, his political views, his relationship with Ishiro Honda, how he felt about his kaiju scores, the creation of Godzilla's roar and more! Then we take a dive into how he got involved with the original Godzilla film, and debunk some common myths about the score. This is a packed episode, so listen up!

Byrd and Matt are joined by guest Chris (of the Other Sounds Podcast and Cosmic Monster) to discuss the work and life of Haruo Nakajima, who passed away on August 7, 2017. Nakajima is best known for playing Godzilla from 1954-1972, as well as playing Rodan, Mothra, Baragon, the Green Gargantua, Varan, various Ultraman kaiju, and many others. Nakajima was the most prolific suit actor of the Showa era and endured plenty of dangerous situations by playing monsters underwater, being flung through the air on wires, having explosives go off near his flesh, being buried alive, and more, all in the name of entertainment. We discuss Nakajima's start as a stuntman, working with Akira Kurosawa, his filmography, and our favorite Nakajima roles, as well as who he was to us and his legion of fans worldwide.

Byrd and Matt discuss two creature features from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. First we discuss 2006's The Host and dissect the film's themes and the real life incidents that influenced the film. Then we discuss the recent film Okja, which just dropped as a Netflix Original. We go deep into the themes of each film, and discuss the hot topic of what the original content created by Netflix and other streaming services means for theatrical films and big studios.