Movie: (1971) In the (sigh) seventh outing of the long-running Japanese monster movie series, aliens from a distant planet, called Zigra, send a spaceship, called Zigra, commanded by a strange creature — called Zigra — to Earth with a plan of world domination. Opposing him is a pair of concerned marine biologists, pesky brats Kenny and Helen and, of course, giant turtle monster Gamera.
First shown: 10/19/91
Opening: J&tB are having a root beer kegger to celebrate the last Gamera movie
Invention exchange: The Mads have invented Three Stooges guns; Joel has invented the Crow-ka-bob; Frank spoils Dr. F’s surprise
Host segment 1: The bots have built a scale model of Gamera
Host segment 2: The bots present their shoe box dioramas
Host segment 3: Kenny and Helen visit on the Hexfield
End: J&tB present different ways to sing the Gamera song
Stinger: Fish boy talks to himself.
(133 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)
Loading...
• It isn’t my favorite Gamera movie (that would be “Guiron”) but this one is plenty strange and very riffable, and the guys do a great job. The host segments are fair to good.
• This episode is included in Shout!Factory’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Gamera Vs. MST3K (aka Vol. XXI) which, by the way, seems to be out of print.
• The Shout DVD menu notes something I never noticed before–there’s a preponderance of Monty Python references in this one, for some reason.
• At the beginning of the IE segment, Joel hits the piñata a little too hard, I think, and it spins around and empties the “guts” contents with the opening facing away from the camera. Joel quickly reaches in and taps it so it spins back around, and we can still see some guts hanging out, so we get the joke, but we never got to see what we were supposed to see. They keep going.
• “I’d take the pizza off the ceiling” is a reference to a commercial at the time. I can’t find it on Youtube.
• It must have taken some practice for Trace and Frank to line up those guns so they would meet.
• Tom makes a raspberry, and Joel notes that Tom has no fleshy parts with which to make it.
• Sandy Frank probably didn’t appreciate the assertion that his IQ is 13-and-a-half.
• In the segment with the Gamera model, you can see some “guts” leaking out the bottom from behind the door before Joel opens it.
• Joel says “Oh, Lisa…” before opening the “guts” door. “Green Acres” reference?
• As I noted when we watched this on KTMA: I don’t really understand the anti-science message that floats through the movie. The two dads are biologists. Doesn’t that make them scientists? And are scientists actively polluting the sea? So why are scientists the problem?
• As I also noted then: I have seen this movie a dozen times now and I still cannot make heads or tales out of the weird Zigra monster up on the shelf in the alien spaceship. It looks a little like a skeksis from “The Dark Crystal,” but what’s with the billowing cobwebs?
• Also from the KTMA comments: How did “your Earth science” pollute a planet 400 light years away? I ran that back and listened to it again and that’s definitely what he says. Doesn’t make any sense.
• Then-current riff: There’s a deserved slam on once-prominent KKK leader David Duke, but how many people even remember him now?
• The appearance of the Japanese version of the Monty Python “It’s!” guy seems to go nowhere, as does the whole “who gets to buy the fish” subplot. Ruthless editing, I assume.
• During the sketch with the dioramas, a table has been added to the set in front of the normal desk. It looks like it was something out of the prop shop — there’s spray paint patterns on it that they didn’t even try to cover up.
• As Joel brings up Tom’s diorama, Tom and Crow have some lines, but Joel completely plows right over them with his own dialog. Joel also says “Steven Bing…er…Steven King.” They keep going.
• It’s a nice touch that Cambot goes through the diorama door.
• Callback: Tom sings the Wild Rebels song. Also: “McCloud!” (“Pod People”)
• Tom again does an impression of Dr. Erhardt saying “Enjoy!”
• A glaring mistake (among many) in the dubbing: Lana says she is going to feed the kids to the dolphins, but the animals in the tank before her are whales.
• Obscure reference/pun: “That terrapin is stationary.” The right Deadheads will get it.
• In the host segment with the hexfield, the model of Gamera is, well, lame. By the way: this is Bridget’s first appearance on the show.
• The whole sequence where Gamera rescues the crippled bathysphere (which people in the movie keep calling a “bathoscope”), and delivers it on shore like Lynn Swann scoring a touchdown, which we saw in the KTMA version, is missing here. Tom notices.
• Suggestive riff: “You know, Gamera’s never seen the mohel…”
• I love Gypsy’s bullet bra in the ending segment.
• The final, harmonized version of the Gamera song seems to be all Kevin Murphy, overdubbed.
• There’s no cast and crew roundup this time: Some people did work on other movies we watched, but they’ve all been mentioned in previous episode guide entries.
• Creditswatch: The mole people “roadies” behind Dr. F. and Frank are Kevin and Jef. There’s also a “special thanks” to St. Paul Harley Davidson. Wonder why. Maybe for Trace’s and Frank’s getups? Once again “villians” is spelled wrong and Dr. F’s last name is spelled “Forrestor.”
• Fave riff: “And, uh, maybe you could dust up here some time!” Honorable mention: “Wait, I found some more oxygen in a drawer. We’re fine.” and “Fish Argument Theater will be right back, but first, a scene from Plot Convenience Playhouse.”
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
This has become one of my “comfort” episodes – if I’m having a bad day I can put on one of these episodes and guaranteed by the time the Stinger rolls I’ll feel at least 90% better. I told Bridget at the second convention how hilarious I thought she was as Helen and she said the line “Gamera is good. Gamera is my boyfriend” for me. I can die happy. My favorite riff in the episode has to be when Servo says sarcastically “Ooh the great Kanto earthquake”. Don’t know why it just always cracks me up.
I want to party like Joel and The Bots, as this is the final GAMERA episode. YAY!
As has been documented in previous episode guide entries, I am sort of “meh” on the whole GAMERA series. They are all “good, not great” episodes for me. Not sure what it is about them, but they are nothing if not consistent. They all land squarely at 3/5.
Despite my feelings towards these eps, I still totally plan on buying the MST3K vs GAMERA box set, if not just for the nifty extras, then just for collection and completist sake.
RIFFS AND THINGS:
As noted by others above, the Dr F line “Brace yourself, Jeff Smith” is a winner. As usual, Dr. F’s nicknames for Joel are almost apropos of nothing. And I totally grew up watching the Frugal Gourmet and always thought he was kind of a weirdo (but aren’t all chefs?) but always appreciated the references on MST3k.
when the laser beam makes the fake moon-car go all blurry,
CROW: “Oh, the stretching beam. You blurred me!”
movie: “Henry!”
Crow: “Portrait of a Serial Killer.” ——–Dark movie, man. Dark movie..(but great!)
Joel: “Iwo Jima babies, by Jim Henson.” ——A precursor to the “Jim Henson’s —- Babies” riffs in the future, which seem to get a lot of flak here on the message board, but I have always liked that series of jokes.
Servo: “Stay off the moors!” —–American Werewolf in London reference, another great horror film!
Servo totally says “ENJOY!” like Dr. Erhardt at one point.
–
And yes Sampo, I remember who David Duke was/is. He deserves all the flak he can get.
–
Just like all the rest of the GAMERA movies,
GAMERA VS. ZIGRA, 3/5
The Gamera episodes aren’t my all-time favorites but I find this one more watchable than the others MOSTLY because of the bikini-clad woman but not completely. There’s not much more to say than that. It doesn’t give me a slight headache, maybe I was just having a bad week but the first 2 of these 5 episodes kind of put me off.
Call me crazy, but I have developed a fondness for this one. “Sure, she can conquer the Earth, but she can’t run in heels…”
My favorite of the Gameras.
Okay the riffing flags at times in the latter half of the ep, but you try writing riffs for those sub-plots that go nowhere…
The “children”, of course, are highlights in the riffing. They seem especially weird in this ep so it give the Brains a lot to work with. Is it me or is the older of the two girl siblings really odd or what? I talking about her acting. She looks stunned or frightened…easy to imagine her running to her parents after the director calls cut. Just truly weird.
I love when Zigra or the ship, or whatever, is compared to the Sydney Opera House. Not sure why but that one floors me every time. It really does look like the opera house!
Sampo, I think the idea is that Zigra is an ancient all knowing god. He speaks through different channels–the girl in the bikini, the monster, the boat, etc. So this is just an ancient statue that represents Zigra. They don’t have ladders on their planet and, in deference to Zigra’s obscure wishes and wants, he does not like to be dusted. Either that or the set design looked really bad and the director, after spanking the set designer, had the cobwebs added for effect. But Gamera does speak through channels. In fact, he is speaking to me now. He says I want a Coke.
The special effects are the worst of the series in this one…Gamera’s floppy arms. WTF?
Favorite (sick) riff: (in little girl’s voice, me paraphrasing as always) Can I have it now?
Since I missed the weekend Gamera discussion please let me indulge in a recap the eps in the order I like them…
Zigra: one of my favs of Season 3 A-
Gamera: still great after all these years A-
Gaos: Bumped up this one’s grade considerably. A new “find” A-
Guiron: Used to be my favorite but hasn’t held up for me. I still love the film. Watched it as a kid. A-
Baragon: Without kids this one isn’t as funny. B+
Don’t much care for Gamera episodes, but Zigra Lady is HAWWWWT.
Even hotter in the little orange skirt. I see London, I see France….
Crow: I see heaven!
“Hey.. that’s not a Coke! She has a Rolling Rock!”
The oceans are precious! Oh, and by the way…did I mention how precious the oceans are? And, while I’m on the subject, I’d also like to remind you that the oceans are precious! ARE YOU GETTING IT YET?…I MEAN ABOUT HOW PRECIOUS THE OCEANS ARE?…
The environmental subtext in this movie is only slightly less ham-fisted than the one in “Birdemic”.
didn’t jeff smith get arrested/accused of having child porn or something? i remember some scandal related to him disappearing entirely. yeah, he was really annoying and kinda pompous.
should’ve looked it up. he was accused of sexual assault on a 15 yr old and a few others while working at a church food pantry. great.
#60: Re: Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet. Don’t know where you found your news, but at the time I recall the main flap was that he sexually harassed one of his younger male sou-chefs. That other stuff may have emerged during the investigations.
But I liked his show, and his recipes are excellent. (He sold a lot of cookbooks.) And Mike did a number of impersonations of him — any time he ends a sketch with “I bid you peace,” that’s the Froog.
#50: Now I am curious about the Zoellner sisters. Is there a picture online somwhere?
It’s taken me a few days to get all the the way through this experiment. Nothing to do with its quality – more my that attention span’s been pretty taxed this week. There is one observation I wanted to share with the group before it’s too late: While Helen and Kenny 2.0 are indisputably annoying, possibly the most annoying kids in any Gamera movie – which is really saying something – they’re annoying in a surprisingly realistic way. Unlike Original Recipe Kenny, Ichi, and the kids from Guiron, they act like real young children – asking annoying questions, getting in the way – and they’re appropriately frigthened when they find themselves in danger. Plus, they’re only in the movie because their fathers are involved in the Zigra situation, not because they’re Gamera experts called in to share their monster expertise. So, basically, I find their annoyingness much less annoying because it makes sense withing the movie. It’s also nice to see that their fathers are irritated by the kids’ presence as well.
I wonder how much longer the oxygen in the disabled bathysphere would’ve lasted if those two stowaways weren’t there hyperventilating it all away? Good thing they were all saved by editing.
I wonder, did Sandy Frank Distribution use the southeastern American usage of “coke” in their translation? The stuff in those bottles doesn’t look like cola to me. I find it helps my sanity to focus on this sort of thing rather than try to follow the fakakte plot…
I don’t why, but this is my favorite Gamera movie they did. Maybe it’s the feeling that the maker of this film didn’t take themselves seriously as the other films seemed to do. Maybe it’s the attractiveness of the space woman helping Zigra and the Benny Hill loke chase that occupies about two thirds of this movie all with the delightful accompaniment of her line ” I won’t hurt you” ad nauseum. It could be the horribly delicious stupidity of the anti hypnotism call. Or the fact that earthquakes is Zigra’s main weapon. Or that the category 18 so oftly threatened made absolutely no sense but they sold it with a gravitas of Academy Award winning caliber.All the pieces come together to make a film I absolutely love more than the others in the Gamera ouevre. I don’t know why, I’m basically assuming it’s Space Woman in a bikini.
@Mickey Bruce, my favorite riff in that movie. I actually DID have a Rolling Rock in my hand when I first watched that episode.
Maybe the fish argument scene makes perfect sense in the original Japanese language and context. People who both speak English and can lip-read Japanese probably have a way better understanding of these things…
This episode always sat on my head and crushed it, as Joel said in a later episode.
I was watching the KTMA version of “Gamera vs. Zigra” last night and something struck me. Has anyone else noticed that the voice of Zigra sounds an awful lot like the unnamed narrator of “Blood Waters of Dr. Z” (“Sargassum, the weed of deceit”)? They’re both going on about how “fish are going to rule the universe” and such. So I’m wondering if maybe the same guy did both. Is there any way to verify this?
Favorite riff from Episode 316:
As the “Zigra Woman” is walking down a hallway looking for the 2 children who she must kill:
Crow: “Sister, that dress is headed for trouble and it’s taking you with it”
>>>I don’t really understand the anti-science message that floats through the movie
Well, one should never presume that the translators/dubbers successfully conveyed the original intent, I suppose.
Gamera Vs. Zigra passes the Bechdel Test. The beachgoers discuss the evacuation order.
Regarding the Minamoto clan, apparently they were big movers and shakers in Japanese politics during the Heian Period (794-1185). What that had to do with anything in the film is beyond me.
Nice to see that they could recycle the Valkyrie costume Gypsy wore in Gamera Vs. Gaos.
It must have taken some practice for Trace and Frank to line up those guns so they would meet.
Guess any outtakes they had of Frank’s eyes getting poked out weren’t up to snuff for the Poopie reel.
Favorite riffs
And believe me, it’s exciting. How can you think this is not exciting.
Sushi lovers go straight to the source.
All the Canadian seals are on steroids.
“You forget, space is curved.”
And so am I.
“Zigra, why did you cause that earthquake? It’s sheer madness!”
Because I didn’t make the cheerleading squad.
Check this out. She can rule the world, but she can’t run in heels.
Will Wayne Newton keep the fish? Stay tuned.
Fish Argument Theater will be back. But first, a scene from Plot Convenience Playhouse.
Okay, okay. You’ve been riding me the whole film. Did they ever invite me over for dinner? No! But when they’re in trouble, it’s Gamera this and Gamera that.
For the afternoon show, we’ll drown two schoolchildren.
“I was working at a moonbase. I was riding on a moon jeep.”
I was eating a Moon Pie. I had just mooned a passing moon jeep.
“Is there any way of seeing if Gamera is still alive?”
Yeah, just leave a message on his machine.
No that the Machine That Goes Ping. Turn on the sonar.
They all die in a yellow bathysphere.
Anybody know why Shout no longer has the rights to the Gamera films? Was the license only for five years or something? And I was just recently wondering why these eps weren’t streaming on ShoutTV… Glad I got the boxset when I did.
BTW, Sampo, in the KTMA review you mentioned how odd it was that the woman decides to ditch her space suit and change into a bikini because that’ll be more ‘appropriate”. James rolfe did a review on “Gamera Vs. Zigra”, and he joked that the woman going around in a bikini is so she doesn’t have to “hypnotize” anyone. :P
Anyway, here’s my review.
316 – “Gamera Vs. Zigra”
First shown: 10/19/91?
Opening: J&tB are having a root beer kegger to celebrate the last Gamera movie?
Invention exchange: The Mads have invented Three Stooges guns; Joel has invented the Crow-ka-bob; Frank spoils Dr. F’s surprise?
Host segment 1: The bots have built a scale model of Gamera?
Host segment 2: The bots present their shoe box dioramas?
Host segment 3: Kenny and Helen visit on the Hexfield.?
End: J&tB present different ways to sing the Gamera song?
Stinger: Fish boy talks to himself.
Memorable Riffs:
Servo: “Oh, like Al Sharpton.”
Servo: “And, you’ll have to learn to blow air out the back of your neck, too.”
Crow: “That’s the award? Getting stuffed?”
Servo: “Well, whatever it is, we can’t afford to show it land.”
Crow: “You’re right, I’m ashamed. Spank me.”
Girl: “What does ‘magnitude’ mean?”
Crow: “I think it means ‘green’.”
Crow: “My life’s flashing before my eyes! Diapers… potty training… pre-school…. Um… that’s it.”
(Gamera sticks his tongue out)
Joel: “Hey, a Gene Simmons impression!”
Joel: “I thought I’d blend in with this costume.”
Crow: “Do they ever invite me over for dinner? No! But, when they’re in trouble it’s ‘Gamera! Gamera’!”
Crow: “Wow. Tokyo Disney sucks. There’s Nothing World, and Parking World…”
Fav. Riff:
Servo: “Okay, it works! So, they don’t like Yoko Ono! What’s your point?”
Comments:
– Erm…. Who’s throwing the confetti and silly string in the opening segment? Magic Voice?
– I love how visibly disturbed Crow is by Joel’s invention exchange. Rightfully so.
– I wonder how they trained the seal that comes in first place, to actually climb on top of the “1st place platform….
– Obscure riff: Joel mentions “Hallabaloo”, an old sketch show from the 60s.
– Look carefully at Crow in the shadowrama. The top of his planter tray, used for his upper torso, appears to be reflecting some light off of it.
– Crow makes a variation of the “It’s just a show, you should really just relax” during Segment 1.
– Earthquakes in Japan? Talk of oil spills in the ocean? This film is loads of “Harsher In Hindsight”.
– The alien’s plot in this film is kinda odd. They want to take over a planet that has essentially already been tainted by pollution? I don’t get it.
– It amuses me that, despite the kids are in peril, and possibly facing certain death, that doesn’t stop them from singing the Gamera theme song once he shows up.
– How come Joel didn’t make a clay figurine of Cambot in Segment 2?
– I like how the alien woman wanders the streets in a swim suit, and nobody finds this unusual. Even more odd is her blatantly telling one of the fishermen she’s looking “to see two children”. That just sounds very wrong out of context.
– Also, did the alien woman leave two other women unconscious somewhere naked?
– How appropriate that Mike Nelson and Bridget Jones play Kenny and Helen in Segment 3?
– Interesting that when a character in the movie says “blinded by the light”, Servo references the original Bruce Springsteen song “Blinded By the Light”, as opposed to the more well-known version by Manfred Mann.
Best Segment: None of the segments are really memorable IMO, but Segment 2 is kinda cute.
Worst Segment: Segment 1 is another one of those “long walk to a bad joke” segments.
Overall: An alright episode, but I think the riffing dies down towards the end. *** stars.
I’m a bit disappointed (but not surprised) that some of my fellow MSTies already pointed out that orcas are dolphins. I was all set with a bit about how spending eight years doing a whales activity at the local science center makes you notice that sort of thing, but now I have to reason to mention it, because…oh.
Anyway, everyone has their favorite MST movie, or short, or host segment, but GvZ gets my vote for best stinger. Or at least tied with the laughing reindeer in Santa Claus.
Also, is this one of the last times we see the Mole People in Deep 13?
And Gamera vs Zigra wins for the most annoying children in any Gamera movie ever. Possibly any Kaiju movie ever. Yes, they’re more annoying than the Ichiro in Godzilla’s Revenge. In addition, unlike most other Gamera children, they provide nothing to the defeat of the monster (or the plot in general – except filler). They do manage to rescue their parents after they get snapped at, but that’s pretty much it.
It occurred to me that if the kids hadn’t stowed away aboard the ‘bathoscope’, the 2 dads would’ve surely been killed. Gamera has no interest in saving adults. So I suppose that’s one other thing the kids did, indirectly.
Despite my dislike of the children, I like Zigra just for the goofiness of it.
As I mentioned on the KTMA episode, the use of ‘Earth Science’ is probably a bad translation. It’s likely she said ‘Surface’, instead of ‘Earth’. I’ll be sure to listen for that for my blu-ray review.
I remember David Duke and enjoyed the slam on him. What a jerk.
Like Guiron this film feels like it was made by children as well as for children.
Farewell Gamera, I’ll see you in my dreams.
Ok, here’s my uncut blu-ray report.
Full movie title is Gamera tai Shinkai Kaiju Jigura (Gamera vs Deep Sea Monster Zigra).
Looks like the subtitle team dozed off a couple times, since there’s at least 2 or 3 lines of dialogue that aren’t subbed at all. Again, the subtitles are somewhat lacking in accuracy. Picture is fantastic, though.
A fair amount was cut out of the SF version. There’s a tiny bit more dialogue at the beginning setting things up, and the Zigra Spaceship assault on the moon is a few seconds longer. The opening credits after that plays the Gamera March (that’s the original title of the song) while panning over the Kamogawa Sea World.
There’s a bit more to pretty much every fight scene in the movie, including when Gamera gets hit by Zigra’s sit down gun, which is why he’s upside down unmoving in the ocean.
The biggest part cut out was just after the kids talk to the JSDF, there’s a fairly long reel of stock footage of JASDF jets launching, and flying around. Supposedly they’re attacking the Zigran Spaceship, but not a single model was used (or harmed!) – they just animated it to look like some of the jets in the stock footage exploded from lasers.
Also, after threatening to kill everyone in the bathyscaphe, Zigra apparently decides to take a nap. This is when Gamera decides to sneak up and rescue them. But as he’s sneaking up, he’s roaring, which seems like a bad idea. He then throws a rock at Zigra (which seems like an even worse idea!), and Gamera does some sort of weird silent dance thing that seems to put Zigra back to sleep? I don’t understand it. He eventually gets the bathyscaphe and escapes with it. Weird.
Notes:
-The movie takes place in the ‘later half of the 20th century’, which is why there’s a moonbase, of course. Just like the one we have now! …..right?
-The 2 scientist fathers blame scientific progress for ruining the earth. I guess blaming the people misusing science was too complex for little kids.
-In the SF version, Kenny’s mom says to ‘wipe that whip cream off your face’, despite it obviously being toothpaste, since he just BRUSHED HIS TEETH! The original Japanese version just says to rinse his mouth out.
-Kenichi (Kenny) is even more shrill and annoying in Japanese – he apparently feels he has to shout out every line as loud as possible. Helen, on the other hand, is far less annoying than her dubbed voice.
-The ‘American’ father is played by Fujiyama Kouji, who was the greedy villain guy from Gamera vs Barugon. To reinforce his being American, he occasionally uses English, and he’s quite good with it.
-If I remember, back in the 70’s Japan used a different scale for earthquakes, and I believe it went up to 18, which is why they use that system here. They use a different system, now.
-Helen wants a cola, not specifically Coke. Although she only asked for one once. The rest of the time she wanted juice.
-Kenichi’s dad is not only a marine biologist, he’s apparently a mathematical genius, calculating out the exact number of kilometers that 480 light years is in about a half second(that’s how far away planet Zigra is).
-Woman X, the pretty lady controlled by Zigra, tells them that ‘cultural progress’ ruined the seas of Zigra, not ‘Earth Science’ (or Surface Science, like I suspected above).
-I still don’t understand what froze Woman X and Zigra that allowed the children to escape the ship. I think it was the thing they touched – which makes it unbelievably fragile.
-Zigra’s Japanese voice sounds like a very deep-voiced computer with a bad cold.
-Woman X made the announcement to the world about the earthquake that leveled Tokyo, so why was the JSDF commander so surprised when the kids told him the ‘Zigran’ was a woman?
-I noticed the goofy dolphin guy, after the (still) bizarre fish purchasing scene (was this guy or the hotel guy a comedian at the time?) & stopping to help the bikini-clad Woman X, has a lot of trouble keeping his eyes on her face (especially with the way she was leaning over at the truck window).
-I never thought about it before, but apparently Zigra doesn’t need his ship to communicate with the entire world? Is he somehow able to send out radio waves to communicate?
-Zigra explains that our beautiful oceans somehow made him grow much larger than he normally is. He also calls himself beautiful and again threatens to conquer the world (oh, and resistance is futile).
-Chikako (formerly Woman X) tells the trapped people in the bathyscaphe to ‘remember Zigra’s characteristics’, which Kenichi’s father apparently does – he uses the light to anger Zigra into using his stop ray, which is what saves them from suffocating (puts them in suspended animation).
-Chikako didn’t say it right out since she didn’t want Zigra to overhear, but afterwards didn’t bother to tell the terrified families of the trapped people about tricking Zigra into using the ray. She just let them suffer.
-I noticed it watching the SF version too, but when Gamera hauls Zigra out of the water, Zigra’s spines must be imbeded in his belly…
-At the end, Kenichi’s dad is explaining the message that we should take care of our oceans & the rest of the world, but notes that our beautiful oceans are what drew Zigra here. Uh, do we want to keep our oceans beautiful so we can lure MORE aquatic space monsters here?
On a final note, something I had never thought of before about Gamera. He eats & barfs flame, but he’s healed by water, the exact opposite element. An interesting dichotomy.
I can only hope that the revival of the Godzilla franchise will bring about some more Gamera movies.
Farewell, Gamera, we hardly took ye seriously. A goofy movie (with bonus eyecandy!) and the fun, jovial host segments adds up to a great watch.
Fave riff:
[father gives Helen ridiculously technical explanation of earthquakes)
Joel: Dad, I’m SIX!
I agree with you. Out of all those Japanese “Monster Kids”, those two were the most realistic. For that reason, they come off….to me, anyway….as the least annoying. I like them.
Now, that boy in that “Godzilla VS. Megalon” film, on the other hand….AUGH!
Out of all of those “Monster Kids”, Roku-San (‘Roxanne’) and those boys in “Invasion of the Neptune Men” are the most annoying to me.
Not my favorite Gamera episode but this one holds up pretty well. The movie itself is ridiculous, the monster fight scenes are pretty bad in this one, and of course the plot is really bad. Overall the guys do a good job riffing and it the whole episode seems to go by pretty quick. I agree that the “good” Gamera song at the end is all Kevin Murphy overdubbed.
The fish dispute alone makes this my favorite Gamera movie. The incredibly hot villain running around in a bikini removes any reasonable doubt.
Trace is about as Bill Corbett as he’d ever be when he violently shakes Crow in frustration during the fish argument: “What does this have to do with ANYTHING?!!”