Kaiju Videos for July 29th 2021

Here's some intriguing kaiju and other giant monster-related videos to for me to share and for you all to enjoy. I will be keeping up this feature as-often-as-possible for the remainder of 2021.

Direct from Matt Draper:

A comprehensive look at The Millennium Era of Toho Godzilla, including a look at the history of Roland Emmerich's Godzilla '98, how Toho returned Godzilla ahead of schedule with Godzilla 2000, and the many reboots and evolutions found within The Millennium Era, covering 6 films made from 1999 through 2004. This is Part 3 of an ongoing Godzilla series.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/8o-_VPDC4-8

Direct from MONSTROSITIES Tokusatsu Vlog:

A look at GODZILLA SINGULAR POINT's beautiful yet briefly seen version of Mothra.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/NhyLpqHXBxs

In his latest video essay "How Toei Changed Sunday Mornings", MercuryFalcon takes an extensive look at The Toei Fushigi Comedy Series: a loosely connected franchise of lighthearted fantasy adventures and mystery comedies that had major influences on the creation of SAILOR MOON and how it all came to an unlikely but satisfyingly end in a kaiju-filled crossover with the one and only ULTRAMAN.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/PecckVgJvSE

Direct from Supervoid Cinema:

After Sam Riami's 'Spider-Man 4' never happened the character was rebooted with 'The Amazing Spider-Man'. There were ambitious plans for a whole slew of movies set in that universe. Drew Goddard was at one point time attached to write and direct a 'Sinister Six' movie for Sony, as part of 'The Amazing Spider-man' and when that fell apart he would be offered a potential 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' reboot (Which later became Spider-Man: Homecoming). Here's the story of why complete with dinosaurs and giant monsters attacking New York.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/vS42hyhnMSc

Terror of The Tertiary Titans: July 2020

So... What the Hell is Terror of The Tertiary Titans?

This is a new series of articles where I showcase three or more minor monsters (giant or otherwise... but usually giant) from fiction who barely had enough screen-time or impact to deserve a full article and presented together with no particular rhythm or reason.

Yeah, that's about it.

Scavenger Raven: "What?"

SCAVENGER RAVEN
First Appearance: King Kong (1933).

A large species of scavenger bird native to Skull Island of whom sailor Jack Driscoll encounters as he approached the freshly killed carcass of the Meat-Eater (the official name of the not-quite-a-tyrannosaurus-rex-not-quite-an-allosaurus-either-dinosaur there). Startled by the human, the lone Scavenger Raven flies away.

Scavenger Ravens also appear in the 2005 novel Kong Reborn but I know nothing significant concerning said book to share here.

For the longest time, me and many other monster movie fans assumed this odd-duck (pun interned) was a Teratornis: a once living North American bird of prey whose size is virtually near that of the onscreen Scavenger Raven. While similar, The Scavenger Raven is supposed to be its own fictional bird which adds extra flavor to the relatively little seen fauna of the 1933 classic.

RELATED LINK: Wikipedia's page on this same character.

TRAUMA GAMERA
First Appearance: Gamera III: The Revenge of Iris (1998).

A terrifying nightmare version of the otherwise benevolent giant turtle, Trauma Gamera briefly appears in the black-and-white nightmares of Ayana Hirasaka, a high school student who blames Gamera for the death of her parents during the latter's battle with Super Gyaos four years prior, tying back to the events of Gamera: Guardian of The Universe (1995).

Gamera's current form in the 1998 film is not that dissimilar to Ayana's traumatic visions and the turtle's unintended but no-less-callous destruction of Shibuya while battling a pair of Hyper Gyaos only fuels Ayana's hatred, leading her into awakening the villainous monster Iris to ultimately battle Gamera to the death.

While this monster technically doesn't exist within the film's reality, Trauma Gamera has been given a secondary life through model kits and similarly rare merchandise (not to mention unofficial fan art and fan fiction). Trauma Gamera was created via a refurbished suit leftover from the aforementioned 1995 film.

Interestingly, an early concept for Gamera III was to have the trilogy's titular turtle go up against a pure evil variant of his own species before the creative crew opted for a more unique newer monster instead.

Another villainous clone of Gamera was featured as the surprise final boss in the 1995 video game adaptation of Gamera: Guardian of The Universe for the Japanese Game Boy.

BEZAZELSHUN
First Appearance: Godzilla In Hell, issue 1, variant cover by Jeff Zornow.

Okay, now we're getting to the truly obscure goodies!

Bezazelshun is a large Hell-spawn demon who appears only on the EC Comics inspired variant cover for the first issue of Godzilla In Hell (July 15th 2015).

While meant as a homage to EC Comics (the publisher famous for Tales From The Crypt and other 1950s horror comics), artist Jeff Zornow took a more imaginative and admittedly more awesome heavy metal route with the Hellish landscape it presents.

The winged humanoid goat demon who appears to be casting judgement on Godzilla has no finalized / official name but a helpful Facebook chat with Jeff Zornow himself christened his creation as Bezazelshun - an obvious play on Beelzebub.

Before we move onto the next entry, mention must be made of the two gigantic devil skulls littering the background, suggesting that far bigger demons once inhabited Hell.

EMERALD CITY COMIC CON MONSTERS
First Appearance: Emerald City Comicon 2008 advert by Dan Brereton

One-off postcard advert for the 2008 Emerald City Comicon, illustrated by comic creator Dan Brereton and featuring his genetically engineered hero Giantkiller up against two monsters while straddling The Seattle Space Needle.

Giantkiller himself (or Yochu as his scientist creator calls him) was the titular star of Brereton's 1999 comic book miniseries who hunts giant monsters that have crossed over from a paralleled universe, having taken over and settling in San Francisco, California, during their initial invasion.

While the miniseries featured a nice variety of monsters (heavily inspired by Japanese kaiju films and the pre-Spiderman-era monsters of Marvel Comics), the two featured above are wholly exclusive to this standalone advert.

Speaking of advertisement exclusive giant monsters...

THE THING (That Isn't Mothra)

First Appearance: American adverts for Godzilla vs The Thing (1964).

In one of the most blatant examples of misleading Hollywood ballyhoo, the North American release of Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) not only renamed the film Godzilla vs The Thing but also had the official poster (beautifully illustrated by poster artist Reynold Brown) pitting Godzilla against a tentacled eldritch horror hidden behind a censored sign, giving an ominous mystery to who The King of The Monsters could be fighting.

Of course, if my previous paragraph didn't give it all away, The Thing's true identity within the movie itself isn't some mind-blowing mass of horrific feelers but the more comprehensible form of Mothra.

While Mothra is a beloved figure in pop culture today whose popularity has garnered her multiple film appearances (something the more edgy giant monster fans regret, similar to hardcore Batman fans' resistance towards Robin), she was relatively new and untested in 1964 with this film being only her second appearance. 

American International Pictures (AIP) who distributed Mothra vs. Godzilla under the new title, felt audience wouldn't go for a monster movie where one of the titular beasts was basically a fuzzy butterfly and decided to hide that fact behind an admittedly cleaver mystery to what 'THE THING' might actually be.

I don't know how disappointed or pleasantly bemused American audiences were with Mothra's reveal but I can state that the hidden identity ploy extended into the US theatrical trailers as well, minus a few brief glimpses of Mothra's twin larvae babies and the brightly colored egg they both hatched from.

Of course, what conversation about misleading movie posters and giant Japanese movie monsters wouldn't be complete with mentioning those wacky Italians!

Italy released a steady steam of Kaiju EIga throughout the 1960s and the 1970s and, while that's commendable compared to other European countries that had less luck with the genre (SEE Britain and Russia), the Italian releases were a little infamous for their wildly misleading titles and wildly more misleading posters however beautifully painted many of them are.

Re-titled Watang! Nel favoloso impero dei mostri (literally means Watang! In the Fabulous Monster Empire in English), the Italian release of Mothra vs Godzilla took the original Reynold Brown ad art and reworked it to feature more dramatic background mayhem and an uncovered Thing itself, now an otherworldly starfish-like weirdo over a plant-like mass.

The Italian release poster for the original "Mothra vs Godzilla"

That's it for the first edition of Terror of The Tertiary Titans; when I do another one of these, I'll probably limit the number of featured monsters to three-or-less entries just to make things a little easier for my typing fingers.

Devilman 2004 Is Terrible and You All Know It!

FINALLY! I've been vindicated!

Kind of.

YouTube producer and reviewer TitanGoji​ (an extremely nice fellow in person) does a great service towards an ungrateful tokusatus fandom, huh, I mean "humanity" and shares his extremely negative (rightfully so) review of the truly terrible live action film adaptation of demonic superhero manga DEVILMAN (2004).

Seriously, it's nice to see someone relatively popular among the current tokusatsu fandom lay into this film because this crummy mess has TOO MANY DAMN defenders online! Perhaps loyal Devilman fans who's never seen this film what-so-ever but will defend the franchise regardless and at all costs? Or an anime fan who doesn't like it when their genre-of-choice is being criticized even if said criticism is limited to one minor aspect that really does suck regardless?

Even I know that's a stupidly blind thing to do! Fandom loyalty isn't worth dying on a poorly rendered hill of CGI demon bodies for!

Seriously though, this film is terrible and makes most other anime-to-live-action-adaptations look like honorable B+ efforts by comparison - something that TitanGoji goes into further detail towards the end of this accursed film and the sordid production history behind it.

Giant Toy Soldiers With The Joker

I still cannot stand this bloody holiday known as Ex-Mess but if it offers some festive giant monsters then I'll take it!

Robin: Gargantuan killer toys whose bright colors highlight them from the otherwise pitch black background? I don't see any, Batman!

Here's a trio of giant toy soldiers from the fun but ultimately passable CHRISTMAS WITH THE JOKER, the second episode of BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (November 13, 1992) which also marked that show's first appearance of the titular Clown Prince of Crime.

Despite the series' attempts to avoid the more fanciable clichés of children's adventure cartoons of the 1980s and early 1990s, the producers and writers would still dip their toes into such nonsense occasionally, as with their rendition of The Joker being surprisingly efficient at building murderous robots as either attack drones, booby traps (Hazel), or fully functioning henchmen (Captain Clown).

Despite their great size and stomping square-shaped feet, The Toy Soldier Robots were among The Joker's weaker creations as their heads were easily torn or knocked off by the defending Batman and Robin, destroying the holiday giants instantly.

I really have nothing much other to say about these three automatons other than that their Joker-like smiles were a nice design touch.

Criss-Mass still blows. Give us the time off but keep everything else I hate about this time of year. Happy Arbor Day, suckers!

KaijuNoir x Fire-Beast x Christopher Martinez: Podcasts SOS...The Hell?

A long awaited post-Thanksgiving surprise from yours truly will be coming later tonight, but until then, my friend and fellow monster movie fanatic KaijuNoir invites Christopher Martinez onto his Shuwatch! Podcast to talk about his metafictional Fire-Beast comic series.

And while we're at it, you can also check out KaijuNoir's older video review for the most recent entry of Chris' anthology, where he pays homage to the late Showa-era of Japanese giant monster films.

Enshohma and KaijuNoir Reviews BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE (2016)

Here's a 'video-podcast' where I and friend KaijuNoir have a rather extensive conversation on the recently released animated adaptation of Alan Moore's 1988 graphic novel (fancy speak for really long comic book issue), Batman: The Killing Joke.

Poison Gas Monster Dorugo

As mentioned in my longer version of that overlong snails article, there's a lot of overlooked and obscure Kaiju (Giant Monsters) that need more exposure online.

And well beyond unreliable if not flimsy internet archives such as message board forums, Tumblr or Facebook, which might be fun services for those with the shortest of attention spans (common of most Humans these days), but not for the more serious-minded monster fans and 'pop culture scholars' like myself and my many(?) fans.

Today's obscure Kaiju has been featured before on numerous fan sites, but again all those being things like message boards, Tumblr and Facebook posts, and thus I wanted to give this trunk-faced fellow a more solid home so-to-speak.
I know some miserable negativists might say the same about a blog like the one that you're currently reading, but I trust that my non-negativist readers are way smarter than that.

And if you still feel otherwise, well than screw you because its my blog!

Today's monstrous subject, Dorugo.

Most modern-day Americans really have no idea just how BIG the Kaiju Boom of the 1960's and its proceeding successor of the Henshin Boom during the 1970's really was.
Not only were there fantastical and colorful monsters in movies and on television, but also board games, toys, books, newspaper articles, novels, manga, magazines, bromide postcards, trading cards, radio programs, vinyl records, a renewed interest in Yokai mythology, and even imported fantasy shows and films from other countries such as the works of Irwin Allen and Ray Harryhausen.

And our following subject is among the book-based creations of this Monster Boom.

Poison Gas Monster Dorugo originates from the Japanese book “Shin Sekai No Kaiju” (“New World of Monsters”), which was the sequel to the 1967 book "Sekai No Kaiju" ("World of Giant Monsters"). 

And sadly that's all I really know about these books and Dorugo itself (and such a long, slightly vindictive intro for this relatively short article), though the character subtitle of Poison Gas Monster gives a good impression of its deadly powers, despite the goofy elephant-like appearance. It has been heavily suggested that Dorugo might be a space alien in origin, but I can't confirm nor deny that character tidbit at the time of this writing.

Like a lot of the original monsters from these books, more recent vinyl figures of Dorugo were produced decades late, becoming collector items for people ignorant (if not uncaring) of the character's conceptual history.

Photos courtesy of Trampt.com

And something common of printed monster media from this era, here's a cross-section of Dorugo's internal workings.

Thankfully, my friend and fellow Kaiju fanatic Titanollante, one of the founders of Wikizilla, helped translate the anatomy image, as seen in the secondary version beneath the first. This reveals that Dorugo can also shoot fourth a deadly energy beam from its trunk in addition to the alternative of lethal gas, as Dorugo possess two organs (sacks) for either ability.

To all other 'Kaijuhistorians' reading this: these simplistic articles that I'm posting are simply here to make these obscurities more well known online. And with that said, if you find more extensive information on both Dorugo or his debut book "Shin Sekai no Kaiju", by all means PLEASE make your own articles and spread the obscure love across the web!

The foolish mentality of 'Reviewer Dibs' don't mean crap where the unknown and unloved is concerned.

And an additional HUGE THANKS to the tumblr site Kaijusaurus for helping me create this article in the first place.

Thanking a singular tumblr after bad mouthing the very concept itself - hypocrite much, Enshohma?

Deadpool Video Podcast Review Thingie

Some very old geezer once asked me "Enshohma...What's a Podcast?", and not being all that computer savvy myself, I could only reply with "It's like talk radio programming, but produced digitally and posted on the internet", which is an apt description I hope.

The old codger then asked me "Enshohma...What's a Radio?". Our conversation ended soon afterwards.

Above is my video-based podcast review for the recently released film "Deadpool", co-hosted with friend and colleague KaijuNoir, whose already done his own podcast review for this same film on his separate YouTube channel.

And here's a better look at the title card illustrations that I did for the video posted above, inspired by the title character Deadpool's own artistic talents straight from the film.

Deadpool Himself

Enshohma (My Pen-name Monster)

Draco Azul (KaijuNoir's Original Robot Hero and Mascot)

Waiting for Gamera - Featuring Artwork by WinterGaia

Despite several official news announcements made across 2014, it looks as if the "Gamera Revival Project" (its official placeholder title), which might have been a new movie planned for 2015, has been canceled.

And quietly swept under the proverbial rug.

Now giant monster movies are announced and ultimately cancelled all the time (looking at you two, Hollywood and Kickstarter). But with 2015 being the 50th Anniversary of Gamera, this is a very discouraging turn for fans of the fire-breathing super-turtle.

Today's subject, as seen in his successful 1995 film revival "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe"

There's still some hope that we'll be getting SOMETHING significant later this year, to commemorating Gamera's original 1965 debut. Outside some limited Japanese toy releases, and simple lip-service from 'niche-nerd' news sites.

And I also suffer from extremely terrible, awful, miserably BAD timing, which has been a major factor in why I don't update my blog that often to begin with. And knowing my luck, the greatest final trailer for the completed "Gamera Revival Project" film, will premier an hour from whenever your reading this.

But since this is Gamera we're talking about, for once my bad timing would be a good thing.

Some of my fellow fans have noted that there's still plenty of time left for a new Gamera film to begin shooting, before year's end. But unless Kadokawa Pictures has one Hell of a secret production plan in the works, this is cutting it way too damn close!

Something all turtles are known for; flying through the outer space without oxygen

After giving it some thought, I've come to realize that I actually like Gamera a little bit more than the original Kaiju King who inspired him, Godzilla.
Blasphemous, I know (nor do I really care), but the world needs more positive heroes, fictional and otherwise...Even if Gamera did start out as a berserk destroyer, in his very first film outing.

And the very idea of a gigantic, fire-breathing turtle monster from ancient Atlantis, who can pull into his armored shell, and become a flying saucer of blue flames and physics-deifying awesomeness, is just too insane for me NOT to love!

There are many fellow Gamera fans who feel the exact same way. And have taken their own paths in celebrating Gamera's 50th birthday, through endeavors like web-podcasts and fan created artwork.

****

Over the course of 2015, I'll be doing several Gamera-themed articles, as well as showcasing related projects from people outside myself.

Beginning with this melancholy, but ultimately sweet nature comic strip, entitled "Cheer Up Gamera". And was written and drawn by fellow artist, Kaiju fan, and overall nice person, WinterGaia.

It captures both the negative and positive aspects of the Gamera's now overlooked legacy. In an anime-inspired, anthropomorphic, somewhat schmaltzy, kind of way.

Click HERE for An Enhanced View of Page 1

Click HERE for An Enhanced View of Page 2

Click HERE for Page 3

Click HERE for Page 4

Click HERE for Page 5

Click HERE for Page 6

Click HERE for Page 7

Click HERE for Page 8

Click HERE for Page 9

Multiple Morals of the Story:

*Cute, young anime girls are eternal angels of mercy.

*Guiron the knife-headed monster is a much nicer guy off-camera.

*The Kaiju from "Pacific Rim" really are a bunch of teenage jerks.

And the love and support of friends is always welcomed, when keeping one's spirits up. And that last sentence was diffidently NOT meant as a simple joke.

RELATED LINKS:

WinterGaia's DeviantART Page

That Giant Shrimp-Looking Thing

Crap…Well, I was going to publicly announce my love for a certain sphinx lady tonight, as part of my month-long salute to Obscure and Overlooked Kaiju.

But then Anime News Network had to come along, and rain on my parade, by announcing a new series of Japanese-produced Godzilla films, to be produced independently from the Legendary Pictures series.

Now, we had a similar jump-the-gun moment with this same news earlier in the year, so I'm going to wait until more confirmation comes in (UPDATE: It's for real).

And although I’m happy to hear even more Godzilla films coming (along with the Legendary Godzilla sequels, Gamera’s 50th Anniversary, ”Kaiju Gaiden”, "Hail to the King", "Skull Island", "Pacific Rim 2", "Pacific Rim: The Animated Series", "Tremors 5", Liongate’s "Power Rangers", "Attack On Titan", and "Jurassic Park 3"), I’d rather indulge in the Monster Obscurities for now.

So let’s do a Godzilla related one, shall we?

COP OUT! COP OUT! COP OUT! COP OUT!

Giant Shrimp-Looking Thing (as it's flippantly referred to, by one character), made its minor debut in the 2014 graphic novel "Godzilla: Awakening", as one of the lesser-sized mutants to hail from the same wacky age as Godzilla and the MUTOs had.

Unfortunately, the less-than-comprehensive artwork, and pretentious nature of "Godzilla: Awakening", doesn't give this new monster (along with all the other archived beasts at a secret Monarch Museum), any decent exposure.

Though unlike ’The Saber-Toothed Gorilla’ from Dark Horse’s Godzilla comics, Giant Shrimp-Looking Thing does shows up for one more panel. And by doing so, suggests that these prehistoric sea creatures were common prey for larger monsters; like the deadly cell collective dubbed The Shinomura.

Nom...nom...nom..nom...

And yeah, these Giant Shrimps may be puny, when compared to Godzilla himself, but they’re still quite big in comparison to a human. And worth mentioning like similar overlooked ‘Minor Kaiju’, such as Giant Condor (from ”Godzilla vs The Sea Monster”), and Giant Sea Snake (from ”King Kong Escapes”).

I’d include Oodako to that same list...But considering the secret history of that giant octopus, in-and-out of the main Toho-produced monster movies, one comes to the simple conclusion that...OODAKO IS THE GREATEST MONSTER TO EVER LIVE!!!

But that, dear friends...is a tale for another time.