1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 You know, back in those days, you simply believed in a giant 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,000 monster near your island or Village that you regularly 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,700 sacrifice maidens to that, just seems to be a universal constant 4 00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:11,400 in society. Yeah, of course. 5 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:13,000 I'm no. And also do that. 6 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:27,000 Hello, everyone. And welcome to Castle Bravo. 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,400 A Godzilla versus retrospective I'm Derek and I'm Charles It and 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,400 we're two siblings here to examine the history of the 9 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,900 Godzilla franchise one movie at a time. 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,900 So for those of you who didn't listen to episode 0 which was a 11 00:00:37,900 --> 00:00:40,200 sort of preview sort of explainer for the series to 12 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,400 come, what is Castle Bravo, basically. 13 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,700 Charlotte and I are going to sit down and work our way through my 14 00:00:47,700 --> 00:00:50,700 consideration of the Godzilla franchise from its humble. 15 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:54,300 Humble beginnings, in 1954 all the way up to the modern day. 16 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,400 We've broken this. These movies up into several 17 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,100 seasons where we will try to examine kind of a Story arc in 18 00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:04,200 the overall formation of the Godzilla franchise. 19 00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:07,100 So we're not exactly reviewing these movies where more, you 20 00:01:07,100 --> 00:01:09,200 know, watching these movies, we're going over them. 21 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,200 We're finding what we like and dislike Charlotte you. 22 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,000 And I also just have very different histories with 23 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,200 Godzilla. Yeah, I know that you basically 24 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,700 know everything about Godzilla and I have played some Godzilla 25 00:01:21,700 --> 00:01:24,400 video games, and I think I've watched like, two movies with 26 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,200 you. And I, of course, I saw the like 27 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,700 the American one, and it's going to be rough to got to, but we'll 28 00:01:28,700 --> 00:01:30,700 deal with that and in Several seasons. 29 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:34,500 But yeah, yeah. Now that's the extent of my 30 00:01:34,700 --> 00:01:37,200 Godzilla knowledge. Yeah, it's very funny because 31 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,900 you're going to recognize a lot of these like Monsters and their 32 00:01:39,900 --> 00:01:42,700 designs from playing some video games on like, you know, 33 00:01:42,708 --> 00:01:46,100 GameCube and PS2 and so on versus I'm somebody who's 34 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:48,300 manically watched so many of these movies. 35 00:01:48,500 --> 00:01:50,700 So it's going to be very interesting for us to go through 36 00:01:50,700 --> 00:01:53,700 these and kind of re-experience the franchise from the beginning 37 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,000 and watch how it grows. Watch how the special effects 38 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 grow talk about some of the politics of the series, when 39 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,300 there actually is, Takes to the movies because some of them 40 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:04,200 really are big dumb monster romps and some of them like the 41 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,000 very first movie. We're going to talk about very 42 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,600 famously is a fairly political film, but yeah, not not anything 43 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,100 as self-serious is like a review podcast. 44 00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:17,100 I'd rather talk about the overarching sort of narrative of 45 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:20,600 how the franchise came to be. Because I think that it's 46 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,100 interesting, how all of these separate basically unconnected 47 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:29,000 movies form together to become what we now consider Godzilla. 48 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,100 But for a long, Time really was not. 49 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,700 So, we're starting today as as one should, with the 1954 50 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,600 original. Now, I obviously had seen this 51 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,300 movie multiple versions of this movie because when multiple cuts 52 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:46,500 of it that have made their way to u.s. 53 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:50,400 Shores, Charlotte had you seen this movie before we started 54 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,500 this podcast know? So this is one of those ones 55 00:02:54,500 --> 00:03:00,300 that has this legendary sort of reception and status as a Old 56 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,300 sci-fi horror movie with some actual real strong social, and 57 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:08,100 political messages in it. But I also think it's a movie 58 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:10,500 that not a lot of people have actually seen despite its 59 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:13,000 status. And I think part of that's 60 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,800 because it's 1954 and black and white which I know is not an 61 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,100 issue for you know I watch a lot of old horror movies and stuff 62 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:24,000 so yeah and you're also a big fan of like Kurosawa. 63 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,500 So you you're not even unfamiliar with a lot of black 64 00:03:26,500 --> 00:03:29,800 and white you know this era Japanese Cinema. 65 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:31,500 Ah. Yeah, I've seen quite a few of 66 00:03:31,508 --> 00:03:35,800 those movies mostly for film classes and stuff, but I enjoy 67 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,600 that stuff, too. Yeah, so for those who haven't 68 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,800 watched the movie Charlotte, why don't you tell us roughly what 69 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:43,800 this movie is about? What? 70 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,500 What happens in the original Godzilla, okay? 71 00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:51,600 So ship start disappearing in the Seas near Tokyo bay and they 72 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,000 start sending out boats to try to recover them, and then those 73 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,600 ships disappear to and a Survivor gets to Shore and 74 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,700 states that a monster. Did it the people Of the island 75 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:04,600 that the Survivor gets to have deemed that monster Godzilla 76 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,100 after their Legends, they used to sacrifice women to it, which 77 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:09,800 you do it. You know, back in those days, 78 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,400 you simply believed in a giant monster near your island or 79 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,300 Village that you regularly sacrifice maidens to that, just 80 00:04:16,300 --> 00:04:19,300 seems to be a universal constant in society. 81 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:21,700 Yeah, of course, I'm known to also do that. 82 00:04:23,700 --> 00:04:26,500 So Godzilla starts, you know, pushing further and further and 83 00:04:26,500 --> 00:04:28,700 deeper into Tokyo bay the government. 84 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:30,200 Keep trying to find ways to Keep it out. 85 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,000 And also to try to keep the story contained as to not cause 86 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,800 Panic, dr. Yamane is trying to determine 87 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,400 the origins of the creature. And he wants to keep it alive 88 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,400 and study It While others hope to use dr. 89 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,100 Serizawa has new weapon, the oxygen Destroyer, which is 90 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:48,300 essentially a bubble weapon that vaporizes fish. 91 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:51,400 The kill it. It's a great, it's a little 92 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,300 simplified but you're not wrong. Hey this is a summary So 93 00:04:55,300 --> 00:04:59,900 eventually dr. Serizawa agrees but he decides 94 00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:02,100 to This is too dangerous of a weapon to have. 95 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:07,200 So he takes the weapon down underwater with himself and sets 96 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,900 it off, because he doesn't want anyone else to use his work. 97 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,400 So, he ends up, killing Godzilla and himself and before he died. 98 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,000 He, of course, destroyed all of his notes. 99 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,700 So no one can use it again. So Godzilla's killed. 100 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:19,400 And at the very end, they're basically saying this is going 101 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,800 to happen again, if the nuclear test don't stop and that's the 102 00:05:22,808 --> 00:05:24,900 movie. Yeah, it's actually very 103 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:27,900 interesting. I like this movie, it starts off 104 00:05:27,900 --> 00:05:30,500 very like fractured and Mented, right? 105 00:05:30,500 --> 00:05:33,000 Like you don't even know who the main characters are. 106 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,500 I don't think you have any semblance of a cast until almost 107 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:39,500 half an hour like right like 20 30 minutes into the movie, 108 00:05:39,500 --> 00:05:42,900 because before then it's just a bunch of scenes of like 109 00:05:42,900 --> 00:05:46,200 government buildings and like people reacting to what's going 110 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,800 on. But you don't have a firm idea 111 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,600 that like there's any continuous cast until you get to that 112 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:55,100 Island. After the Survivor washes, 113 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:57,200 ashore and you have dr. Your Mane, you know, 114 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,300 investigating like the footprints and testing for 115 00:05:59,300 --> 00:06:01,600 radioactivity. Being and then touching the 116 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,200 radioactive water, which I would. 117 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,200 I would like to believe that. Yeah. 118 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,900 That like a professor or somebody with that degree of 119 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:12,400 Education would maybe know like hey the geiger counter is going 120 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,700 crazy. Let's not touch the water but he 121 00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:17,200 sure does do it. Yeah like he just grabs a groups 122 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,800 of people and he just hangs out in this radioactive water. 123 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:20,700 Yeah. Like it's not that. 124 00:06:20,700 --> 00:06:22,600 Yeah. Just like yeah this is big S big 125 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:23,900 as footprint. What's up, man? 126 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,300 Here's some prehistoric fossils in the footprint. 127 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:28,600 That tells you that what made this is old because that's how 128 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,200 it works. You and I regularly Early, walk 129 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,100 around with snail, stuck to the bottom of our feet or whatever. 130 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,800 Oh, it's very, it's very interesting because when it 131 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,900 comes around to actually trying to figure out what Godzilla is 132 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,000 and think unlike a lot of movies of the time, the original 133 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Godzilla is kind of willing to let Godzilla's Origins be a bit 134 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,900 of a mystery, they think he's some kind of prehistoric 135 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,300 dinosaur-like creature that got mutated by atomic tests but they 136 00:06:55,300 --> 00:06:58,100 don't know if he was mutated or woken, they don't, they don't 137 00:06:58,100 --> 00:07:01,600 know what he is something to do. Racine before and they'll never 138 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,300 have an answer to what Godzilla is at least within this movie. 139 00:07:05,500 --> 00:07:09,600 Yeah, a lot of newer movies like to focus on the what and the why 140 00:07:09,700 --> 00:07:12,600 but in this movie it's just like you don't know but we have to 141 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:13,700 stop it. Yeah. 142 00:07:13,700 --> 00:07:17,200 Destroying every yeah and I like that kind of focus on like this 143 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:22,200 is not, it's not so important. What its Origins are so much as 144 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,800 it's causing problems right now and killing people and 145 00:07:25,808 --> 00:07:28,000 destroying Tokyo night after night. 146 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,700 That it comes back, and we've got to do something. 147 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,200 Thing about it. But also the one thing that they 148 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,000 do seem to figure out is this was very definitely created by 149 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,200 American nuclear testing and and we'll kind of get into some of 150 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,400 the politics of this because there's a fantastic scene where 151 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,800 the diet which is sort of like Congress, I guess would be the 152 00:07:45,808 --> 00:07:48,300 best way to describe it to a lot of Western listeners. 153 00:07:48,300 --> 00:07:50,900 It's yeah, it's yeah, it's basically like a Japanese 154 00:07:50,900 --> 00:07:53,700 government assembly or like debating, whether or not it's 155 00:07:53,700 --> 00:07:56,800 worthwhile to expose that Americans accidentally created 156 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,600 Godzilla or not. But yeah, and then Resolver is 157 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,900 kind of interesting character. Who again, we'll get into as we 158 00:08:02,907 --> 00:08:06,600 talk a little more deeply about the politics of the movie, but 159 00:08:06,700 --> 00:08:09,000 Sarah is always is very interesting character aside from 160 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 the fact that you first see him like on a dock full of cheering 161 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,900 people looking somber with his eye patch and you're like, huh? 162 00:08:14,900 --> 00:08:19,400 I wonder which of these is a major character like, you know, 163 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:24,200 he's a very interesting kind of look into a character who's 164 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,400 dealing with a lot of kind of I don't know exactly how to 165 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,900 describe this but he's definitely Definitely not 166 00:08:30,900 --> 00:08:34,100 neurotypical in regards to, he's definitely dealing with some 167 00:08:34,100 --> 00:08:38,799 PTSD and rage and things like that kind of under the surface. 168 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:41,600 Yeah. And for some reason his, his 169 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,300 outlet for that was to create the oxygen Destroyer. 170 00:08:44,300 --> 00:08:45,800 Yeah, I have a theory about that. 171 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,900 That's not actually explicitly described anywhere and I guess I 172 00:08:49,900 --> 00:08:52,200 should explain this now, rather than continue to put this down 173 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:57,600 the road, but Sarah's Allah is by word of God, a former 174 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,800 Japanese soldier during World War, To which to be fair. 175 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,200 If you were a man, his age in 1954, you probably were one way 176 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,200 or another part of the Japanese Army in World War 2. 177 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:12,700 That's just how time works and how drafts work. 178 00:09:12,900 --> 00:09:19,300 But that really does the idea of him as a kind of scarred, former 179 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,700 Japanese soldier who is now gone into Academia. 180 00:09:22,700 --> 00:09:26,400 But invents this super weapon like the movie, doesn't say it, 181 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,100 the directors never said it, but it makes a lot of sense that 182 00:09:29,100 --> 00:09:33,700 maybe He's looking for something that is kind of a counter-attack 183 00:09:33,700 --> 00:09:38,500 to the American bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 184 00:09:39,100 --> 00:09:42,300 That's, you know, what that it's full on headcanon but it makes 185 00:09:42,300 --> 00:09:45,300 too much sense with some of what we know about Sarah zawa and I 186 00:09:45,300 --> 00:09:46,600 love that. There's a lot of this sort of 187 00:09:46,608 --> 00:09:50,500 detail that you can infer from basic details about the movie 188 00:09:50,700 --> 00:09:54,300 which then makes his i.d. You know, his realization that 189 00:09:54,300 --> 00:09:56,200 the weapon. He's created the oxygen. 190 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,400 Destroyer is is simply too dangerous and that if he Was it 191 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:02,600 to make its way into the mainstream? 192 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:07,300 That it will simply be part of a continued cycle of escalation of 193 00:10:07,300 --> 00:10:10,400 mankind, creating new weapons with which to kill each other 194 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,600 and he chooses to destroy his notes and die in order to end 195 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:15,400 that cycle. I think that makes that a lot 196 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,700 more powerful. If you consider that, he may be. 197 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:23,300 The origins of this weapon were in kind of an angry attempt to 198 00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:27,100 to get sort of Revenge for the attacks on Japan, which I'm sure 199 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:29,700 a lot of people in Japan weren't too happy about. 200 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:30,900 About. I'm sure. 201 00:10:30,900 --> 00:10:35,300 Yeah I mean what 1954 this was less than 10 years right after 202 00:10:35,300 --> 00:10:37,400 the right, clear bombings of Japan. 203 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:42,300 So you know Most people alive at the time. 204 00:10:42,300 --> 00:10:45,500 Remember them very clearly. Yeah, I can imagine. 205 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:49,900 Yeah, honestly. So before we delve back into the 206 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:52,300 politics of the movie because I just really didn't want to punt 207 00:10:52,300 --> 00:10:55,100 that that thought process too far. 208 00:10:55,100 --> 00:10:58,700 Down the road, I want to talk real quick about the monsters in 209 00:10:58,700 --> 00:11:01,500 this movie of which, of which there's only one and it's 210 00:11:01,500 --> 00:11:05,300 Godzilla himself itself, it's not really clear. 211 00:11:05,300 --> 00:11:07,800 I think, from what I've heard Godzilla is consistently 212 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,800 referred to with With non-gendered terminology a lot 213 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,800 of times in Japanese but that's I'm not an expert. 214 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,600 My understanding is that's not too uncommon for things like 215 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,300 Monsters to not be referred to with he or she kind of words. 216 00:11:23,300 --> 00:11:26,200 That's a very that's a thing we do in English a lot but in 217 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,800 Japanese it's a lot more of like that and it but of course we've 218 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,100 consistently used, masculine terms for Godzilla in English 219 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:37,500 dubs and Godzilla's got that title of king of the monsters. 220 00:11:37,500 --> 00:11:41,700 So I guess Like me. We're just making it up as we go 221 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:43,700 along when it comes to Godzilla's gender identity. 222 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,100 Yeah, you know, and that's fine. Yeah. 223 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:52,200 But I really like, Godzilla's suit design in this movie. 224 00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:55,700 I mean, first appearance of Godzilla and Godzilla's very 225 00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:58,400 creepy. The suit is intentionally 226 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,300 designed where the scales resemble, the keloid scars that 227 00:12:02,300 --> 00:12:05,700 you saw on the survivors of the nuclear bombings. 228 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:09,200 In Japan was kind of deep radiation burn scars. 229 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,300 Got those very creepy beady, eyes and weird kind of out poke 230 00:12:12,300 --> 00:12:14,700 needle teeth. This is definitely not the like 231 00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:16,700 fun. Weird Cookie Monster thing. 232 00:12:16,700 --> 00:12:19,800 We'd see, you know, a decade from now, right? 233 00:12:19,900 --> 00:12:23,200 Although they did switch between like the suit and then very 234 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:24,800 clearly a sock puppet. Yeah, yeah. 235 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:28,000 Well I got a sock puppet, they definitely had. 236 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,900 Yeah. Pop a hand puppet for a couple 237 00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:32,400 of those close up shots on the head and the hand puppets a 238 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,300 little off model. Like the the suit design is 239 00:12:36,300 --> 00:12:41,600 incredible and then the puppet is Just a little like uneven and 240 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,800 wonky looking. But, you know, I mean, 1954 like 241 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,600 this movie was ahead of its time on effects work. 242 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,000 Oh, yeah. So directed by ishiro Honda who 243 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,500 we're going to talk about a lot this season, this first season 244 00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:56,800 of Castle Bravo because he's going to direct every single 245 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,700 movie we talk about other than the second Godzilla movie, which 246 00:13:00,700 --> 00:13:02,500 seems weird and we'll get around to that. 247 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,200 And then the effects work were by longtime collaborator of 248 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,400 Hondas eiji tsuburaya. These two kind of became a 249 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,700 Godzilla Dream Team. Mmmmm well, really a Sci-Fi 250 00:13:10,700 --> 00:13:15,200 Dream Team for Touhou for many, many years and tsuburaya kind of 251 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,400 pioneered, a lot of these soup mation techniques that were used 252 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,000 in this movie and a lot of future movies. 253 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,100 If you're a big fan of like, Power Rangers or Ultraman, or 254 00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:27,900 Kamen Rider or anything like that, any of that kind of 255 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:32,300 Japanese suit television movie, sort of stuff, a lot of that 256 00:13:32,300 --> 00:13:36,800 Artistry comes from doing the suit for the original Godzilla 257 00:13:36,900 --> 00:13:39,200 because this original movie was actually going to be good, 258 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,700 Claymation, stop motion, like, harryhausen style, kind of look 259 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,300 with, was harryhausen doing effects at this point. 260 00:13:46,300 --> 00:13:50,000 Do I have my timeline, right? They were inspired by a couple 261 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,000 of Western, like, American monster movies that had similar, 262 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,500 kind of, claymation and puppetry stop motion effects for 263 00:13:56,500 --> 00:13:58,800 Monsters. And they're basically told that 264 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,700 would take way way too long to actually do the movie that way. 265 00:14:01,900 --> 00:14:04,600 So they just, they built a giant suit to put a man in, and the 266 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,000 original suit is like 200 pounds of foam and rubber. 267 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:13,500 So the The poor actor inside, the suit was incredibly hot and 268 00:14:13,500 --> 00:14:17,600 Incredibly tired, every day that he was shooting, I've read that 269 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:19,000 they would peel him out of that suit. 270 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,700 And then pour a literal cup of his own sweat out of the, the 271 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:24,600 rubber of the suit. Yeah. 272 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,600 Yeah, it wasn't great. But, yeah, so that the special 273 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:32,100 effects work in this first movie is, I think we look back on it 274 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:37,100 now and it seems very quaint. But for 1954, this was really 275 00:14:37,100 --> 00:14:39,200 groundbreaking stuff. Yeah. 276 00:14:39,500 --> 00:14:41,700 Yeah. And then, yeah, I think at this 277 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:44,800 point, it's well-known trivia that this was movie was inspired 278 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,300 by the nuclear bombings of Japan as well as maybe less known the 279 00:14:48,308 --> 00:14:53,400 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test, which was us the Americans tell 280 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:55,000 you have, that's where that comes from. 281 00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:59,600 That's where hurricane. Yeah, but it's, it's the 1954 282 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:04,300 nuclear tests that America did in the Bikini at all and 283 00:15:04,300 --> 00:15:06,600 famously The Castle Bravo nuclear test. 284 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:11,200 Accidentally saw some unexpected and unintentional casualties 285 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,000 from Japanese fishermen who were near the testing site which is 286 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,700 where a lot of the opening of this movie comes into play with 287 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,000 the fishing boats disappearing, people actually at the time 288 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,000 called exploitive for Honda 02. Yeah, 22. 289 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,300 So, clearly be referencing events that were like six months 290 00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:32,700 old at the time that this movie came out. 291 00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:35,600 Okay. I could see that, I guess I'll 292 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,100 kind of, I don't believe that it's exploitive. 293 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,900 I have done. A lot of reading about issue. 294 00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:46,600 Honda in recent years and I have grown a lot of appreciation for 295 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,400 him and his beliefs in these recent months as I've really 296 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,800 read more into him to prepare for this podcast and we'll get 297 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,400 into that in a second. The last little bit of trivia 298 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,200 thing, I want to bring up, I don't know. 299 00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:59,700 You said you'd never seen Lee original cut. 300 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,000 Had you ever seen the American recut? 301 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,300 Godzilla king of the monsters? No, not just like I hadn't seen 302 00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:05,800 either. Yeah. 303 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,600 Not the not the 2000. What was it, 2018. 19, whatever. 304 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,100 Legendary the one with, with Zella. 305 00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:19,000 And I've seen shin guards. Yeah, so I have complicated 306 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,400 feelings on both of those. And the shin Godzilla episodes 307 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,200 gonna get me in trouble with Godzilla fandom, but I'll deal 308 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,000 with that when it comes. But yeah, so that we did an 309 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,600 American recut of movie called Godzilla king of the monsters, 310 00:16:29,700 --> 00:16:33,200 slightly recut, the movie inserted a lot of scenes with 311 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,900 American gay icon, Raymond Burr. As this, you know, American 312 00:16:36,900 --> 00:16:40,600 journalist named Steve Martin, which is a I'm that is hard to 313 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,600 say and not immediately think of a completely different person 314 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,500 nowadays. Yeah, but he is like stationed 315 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:49,700 in Japan when this happens, and there's a lot of scenes of him, 316 00:16:49,700 --> 00:16:54,200 narrating things or kind of recording his audio Diary of 317 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:57,000 what's going on. And, and that was their way of 318 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 trying to sell it to American audiences. 319 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,700 And it's definitely a worse cut of the movie. 320 00:17:01,700 --> 00:17:04,700 But at the same time, it's probably the only way you could 321 00:17:04,700 --> 00:17:08,400 have given a black and white Japanese monster movie to 322 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,700 America. And see any success at all in 323 00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:13,400 the 1950s. So yeah, they were going to sit 324 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:14,000 through. Yeah. 325 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,900 Subtitles people today, don't do subtitles like do you really 326 00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:19,300 think people? Yeah, 60 years ago we're going 327 00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:23,800 to do subtitles oh my God it's 65 plus 60, 70 G's. 328 00:17:24,099 --> 00:17:28,099 I don't want to think about those words and numbers that's a 329 00:17:28,108 --> 00:17:32,200 long Godzilla's old trying to think about Tom yeah. 330 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,300 Time is tough time. Sure do be hittin real bad. 331 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:42,400 Mmm, so Not every Godzilla movie is political. 332 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,500 In fact, many of them are very dumb but I do think extra-long 333 00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:51,000 first episode is a great time to talk about kind of the politics 334 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,300 of the original film, as well as kind of get into issue, Honda's 335 00:17:56,300 --> 00:17:59,600 backstory and what beliefs, we can maybe glean from it. 336 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,200 Because it's not like Honda ever came out and wrote like a book 337 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,400 about his life and like here's all of the things I believe you 338 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,100 kind of have to glean a lot of it from his Is work and from his 339 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:13,900 Origins, I'm going to, I'm going to start with issue, Honda's 340 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,400 personal life, if I may. Okay. 341 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:21,100 So the director of this movie, you sure do Honda, who in a lot 342 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:23,800 of ways. I guess, you could call may be 343 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,400 the most influential person behind the creation of Godzilla. 344 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,200 Like it's definitely not a one-person effort, tsuburaya 345 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,000 clearly had a lot of hand and helping to design Godzilla 346 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,100 because Godzilla had to be something that he could 347 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,700 physically create for a suit technology. 348 00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:41,200 The Producer of the film, obviously, had some saying it, 349 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,200 but it does seem like, Honda has maybe the biggest hand to play, 350 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,900 and what we consider kind of the iconic meaning behind Godzilla, 351 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,100 Honda's father, and grandfather were both. 352 00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:58,300 They both worked in Buddhist temples, is from what I've read, 353 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,500 and he comes from a heavily Buddhist family. 354 00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:06,500 And he at a young age, gets drafted into World War Two. 355 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:08,500 He does not sign up for the Japanese Imperial. 356 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,400 Real army in World War Two. He gets drafted against his 357 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:13,200 will, which is not too surprising. 358 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,700 When you consider, what his beliefs must have been as a 359 00:19:15,708 --> 00:19:18,400 Buddhist. He, there's not a lot of 360 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,000 information out about what he did during World War Two, I have 361 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,500 read that. He spent some time having to 362 00:19:24,500 --> 00:19:28,400 guard the camps where the Japanese kept their comfort 363 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,300 women, which is a horrible. Yeah, a horrible horrible 364 00:19:31,300 --> 00:19:35,900 practice where Japan basically kidnapped and forcibly enslaved 365 00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:40,700 into sex work, a lot of Maine. And Asian women usually see 366 00:19:40,700 --> 00:19:44,300 China and South Korea to this day. 367 00:19:44,300 --> 00:19:47,400 Still kind of demanding that Japan acknowledge what they did, 368 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,200 which Japan does not like to do as a nation and as a government. 369 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,300 Yeah. So that and I think that detail 370 00:19:55,300 --> 00:20:00,600 that he watched over or was a guard at one of these whatever 371 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,800 you want to call it, I mean, let's call it a sex slave Camp 372 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,300 because it's basically what it is. 373 00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:05,900 Yeah. You know again, for somebody who 374 00:20:05,900 --> 00:20:10,300 comes from a long, pretty pretty heavily Just family for many 375 00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:13,900 generations that that must have been pretty shocking to have to 376 00:20:13,900 --> 00:20:15,900 deal with. And I think some of it shows 377 00:20:15,900 --> 00:20:19,600 through and maybe some later movies that we'll get to his 378 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,900 thoughts on that sort of thing comes back home. 379 00:20:21,900 --> 00:20:26,300 He's actually in Japan when the bombings of Hiroshima and 380 00:20:26,300 --> 00:20:31,600 Nagasaki occur, which can't be good for your mental health. 381 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,300 I would imagine not. And I've also read from a couple 382 00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:37,900 different articles that he was forced to film. 383 00:20:38,900 --> 00:20:40,900 For like, the government of Japan. 384 00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:45,500 But I can't find out how much of that was before like, during 385 00:20:45,500 --> 00:20:47,000 World War Two. And how much of it was post 386 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:51,700 World War Two? I do know that tsuburaya and and 387 00:20:51,700 --> 00:20:57,700 Honda both had a passion for filmography and you would see 388 00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:00,000 Honda. Once Honda got to make more of 389 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,800 his own movies delving, a lot into like, Pulp sci-fi, where 390 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,200 there would frequently be these kind of themes of when something 391 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,300 goes wrong, when a bad person does something, or a country 392 00:21:13,300 --> 00:21:17,200 does something awful that, it's a failure of humanity, rather 393 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,200 than this country is bad. And when somebody does something 394 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,700 good, it is more of sort of a credit to humanity. 395 00:21:25,700 --> 00:21:28,400 And it's showing the virtues within all of us. 396 00:21:28,500 --> 00:21:33,000 There's definitely a lot of sort of humanists sort of like Global 397 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,300 human esteems within his Works which has, that's not 398 00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:38,400 surprising. Yeah, given his back. 399 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,000 Right. What is surprising? 400 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,600 Is that these? I don't think any of the movies 401 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:47,500 that I'm familiar with her have seen are really anti-nationalist 402 00:21:47,500 --> 00:21:51,400 specifically, but the complete absence of any strong 403 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,900 nationalist themes repeatedly through his work, almost all of 404 00:21:55,900 --> 00:21:58,600 which is set in Japan. I think that's very interesting. 405 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:02,800 And I think that's very telling because nationalism has much 406 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,800 like in America, Japan has always had a really strong sense 407 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,400 of nationalism and modern Times. And I think it's hard to 408 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:15,000 necessarily explain things in the 1950s on like, a modern 409 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,600 right versus left, political Spectrum. 410 00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:22,700 But to be to, to choose to consciously, portray things, as 411 00:22:22,700 --> 00:22:25,700 being about Humanity, revving, about Nations. 412 00:22:25,700 --> 00:22:27,900 I do think is sort of a political statement in and of 413 00:22:27,900 --> 00:22:29,500 itself. Yeah. 414 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:32,400 I mean, I would not be surprised if a lot of the movies back then 415 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,600 were just like our country is good and the other countries are 416 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,300 bad. Well, especially giving them 417 00:22:37,300 --> 00:22:40,900 somebody who was, who had to do. Propaganda for a while to break 418 00:22:40,900 --> 00:22:42,800 away from that, you know, and maybe that's it. 419 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,600 Maybe it's just I got sick of doing nationalist stuff. 420 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,700 And I want to, I want to swing to a different perspective but 421 00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:51,900 again like given a very strict Buddhist background. 422 00:22:51,900 --> 00:22:56,000 I would imagine that that nationalism is really far less 423 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,400 important than sort of the human soul and human spirit and 424 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,500 potential. There is, we mentioned that 425 00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:04,900 scene in the Japanese diet where they're arguing over, whether or 426 00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:08,400 not to reveal that America likely. 427 00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:11,800 Caused or created Godzilla or at the very least caused Godzilla 428 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,700 to wake up and start attacking Japan. 429 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,400 It's not like Godzilla knows who detonated a nuke on top of it, 430 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,300 right? But it's really interesting 431 00:23:19,300 --> 00:23:21,600 because kind of the argument they're having in this short 432 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,900 scene in the diet, I think is very telling they talk about how 433 00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:29,800 we have a duty to tell the truth about who is responsible for 434 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,900 this and why this is happening, but then the counter argument to 435 00:23:32,900 --> 00:23:35,700 that is, okay? But the world's only just really 436 00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:39,100 coming together and building these diplomatic Relationships 437 00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:43,000 again, and we're building our relationships with America and 438 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,300 all of this is very important and we can't sacrifice that kind 439 00:23:46,300 --> 00:23:49,500 of Global. Peace over this over an accident 440 00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:52,900 is not at an act of War. This is you know a mistake. 441 00:23:52,900 --> 00:23:56,600 It is that Global Peace more important than telling the 442 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,200 truth. No matter what. 443 00:23:58,300 --> 00:24:01,000 And I think that when you consider this is less than 10 444 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,300 years after America, intentionally dropped two 445 00:24:04,300 --> 00:24:07,000 nuclear bombs on Japan that you have. 446 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:08,500 Yeah. Somebody portraying the It 447 00:24:08,508 --> 00:24:12,100 going, hey, maybe it's more important for us to remain 448 00:24:12,100 --> 00:24:16,200 diplomatic allies with America and for all of these countries 449 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,600 to get along rather, than to cause tensions with the sort of 450 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,500 thing. You know, the scene doesn't 451 00:24:20,500 --> 00:24:22,500 outright say that that is the correct Choice. 452 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:24,800 It definitely leaves it. Where like, these are two sides 453 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,500 arguing, and who knows who is correct? 454 00:24:26,500 --> 00:24:29,400 But to even present that argument again, I think is 455 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,800 telling because that's a Japanese director saying there 456 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,100 is weight to this argument that, like, maybe it's better for us 457 00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:38,400 to overlook these things and simply move. 458 00:24:38,500 --> 00:24:41,700 Forward you know for the sake of the world not for the sake of 459 00:24:41,700 --> 00:24:44,100 Japan. Yeah I can imagine that was 460 00:24:44,100 --> 00:24:45,700 probably upsetting for some people. 461 00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:49,900 Yeah yeah well and you know I think that's where you not to 462 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:51,900 overeat into this but I think it's where you get away with 463 00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:54,700 having it be like a debate seeing like that is like you can 464 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,800 you can maybe sneak in scenes like this are great as a 465 00:24:58,808 --> 00:25:02,600 Storyteller because you can sneak in what you believe and 466 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,900 leave it as one of two sides, but you can put it against the 467 00:25:05,900 --> 00:25:10,300 popular thing and put them. On kind of even ground and go, 468 00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:15,000 who's to say, and you're simply introducing that idea and that 469 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,500 that idea has equal weight to your viewers, may be trying to 470 00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:20,000 heavily implied, right? Right. 471 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,200 Like, hey, you should give weight to this at a bare 472 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,600 minimum, which again, 1950s, Japan, kind of a brave thing to 473 00:25:26,608 --> 00:25:28,600 say, kind of a brave thing to present. 474 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,400 That maybe Japanese nationalism is not as important as kind of 475 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,200 the, the global peace and Global Connections and diplomacy, 476 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,400 right? So like deeply Deeply political 477 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,900 movie, I do. I wonder if you wanted to maybe 478 00:25:41,908 --> 00:25:45,200 talk a little bit about kind of what this movie has to say, 479 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,400 about the arms race, given. All of what we've been talking 480 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,600 about with like Sarah zawa and Honda's, backstory and politics 481 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,500 and so on. Yeah, so this movie is presented 482 00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:02,000 as so they just fell out, I mean, a very loud noise in my 483 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,200 microphone. This is this movie is presented 484 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,000 as kind of a natural disaster. Disaster Movie for the most 485 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:10,800 part. Yeah. 486 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,100 It is very much more like structured. 487 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:16,000 Like a like a disaster movie than like a monster movie. 488 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,000 That's a good call. Yeah, and you know they very 489 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,000 very brazenly State. This natural disaster was caused 490 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,100 because of the fact that we use nuclear weapons on each other 491 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,700 and maybe we shouldn't do that. But the entire movie, they are 492 00:26:31,700 --> 00:26:35,200 going into radioactive locations, there's a scene where 493 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,800 a bunch of people are sitting around getting scanned with 494 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,800 Geiger. Ders and like separated from 495 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,100 each other, and oh my God, does he do, they start scanner 496 00:26:43,100 --> 00:26:46,400 scanning people and they scan the, like eight-year-old boy, 497 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,300 and the counter is going. Yeah, hearts. 498 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:50,700 And you just, you just immediately know, like, oh, that 499 00:26:50,700 --> 00:26:54,600 little boy is gonna die slowly from radiation poisoning. 500 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,800 That's often it wouldn't it. Wouldn't surprise me if that was 501 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:02,000 something that he had seen fog. I mean, yeah, how much of that 502 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,800 extended section of the movie after Godzilla's first attack 503 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,300 in, Tokyo must have been inspired. 504 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,600 And directly by the aftermath of the American nuclear bombings in 505 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,700 Japan that scene where the, the mother is pronounced dead and 506 00:27:16,700 --> 00:27:20,200 taken away as the little girl, the like three-year-old girl 507 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,800 starts screaming and crying. That was hard. 508 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,700 Yeah, that was real screaming and crying. 509 00:27:26,700 --> 00:27:29,200 I don't know where they sourced that from. 510 00:27:29,500 --> 00:27:33,600 But Wharf. That was yeah, rough to watch 511 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,000 and listen to yeah. And I think that whole thing 512 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,900 makes a very clear statement about what Leaving behind. 513 00:27:38,900 --> 00:27:41,500 When we use a weapon yet, you have the scene where there's 514 00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:45,400 like the mom and her kids who were in the middle of Godzilla's 515 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:46,900 attack. Going like don't worry. 516 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:51,900 We'll be seeing daddy soon like she's yeah, fuck that's dark 517 00:27:51,900 --> 00:27:53,600 bro. That's kind of dark. 518 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,500 Honda my guy. Are you okay? 519 00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:59,300 Yeah, this is a heavy movie. I think people don't realize 520 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:03,700 before they see this movie, that like this movie has some shit to 521 00:28:03,700 --> 00:28:06,200 say and show. This is not a big dumb monster 522 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,400 movie, right. And on top of Of all that it's 523 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,300 talking about the fact that we just don't know what what's 524 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:13,200 going to happen. Because of the fact that people 525 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,700 use weapons like this, it could awaken a giant lizard. 526 00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:18,700 Yeah, for all we know, we don't know what kind of aftermath, you 527 00:28:18,700 --> 00:28:20,100 know, that kind of radiation has. 528 00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:22,700 Because it's a thing we hadn't studied really at the time. 529 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,300 Well, I'm down to the last, I mean, a, the fact that you had 530 00:28:26,300 --> 00:28:29,300 the whole subplot with Sarah's Iowa and venting the oxygen 531 00:28:29,300 --> 00:28:31,500 Destroyer. This weapon that would vaporize 532 00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:36,100 all oxygen atoms in water within X radius, and was this 533 00:28:36,100 --> 00:28:38,300 horrifying weapon, even more potential. 534 00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:41,500 Devastating than the nuclear weapons and realize that he was 535 00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:44,700 contributing to the kind of cycle of escalation. 536 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,000 Yeah. And that that's what I was going 537 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,300 to get to this is that it's just a statement on the fact that if 538 00:28:49,300 --> 00:28:51,900 we continue to escalate, you know, we're all going to die. 539 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,800 And that's and him being is humanist. 540 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,600 As he is, that's the most important thing he could take 541 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,900 away from all this. I think, is that we just need to 542 00:28:59,900 --> 00:29:04,000 stop because even after Sarah zawa sacrifices himself and 543 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,100 stops that part of the, the cycle of escalation. 544 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:08,800 Yeah. Mate, at the end of Movie is 545 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,600 still like hey there's gonna be another Godzilla because we're 546 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,700 if we keep doing Atomic test if we keep fucking with the shit we 547 00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:18,500 already have, this is still going to continue. 548 00:29:18,500 --> 00:29:22,100 It wasn't enough for us to just cut off the next step. 549 00:29:22,100 --> 00:29:26,300 We're still here at this point which I mean really ends the 550 00:29:26,308 --> 00:29:29,100 movie on a pretty dark and somber note, to be honest with 551 00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:30,900 you. Yeah, I gotta say it's a good 552 00:29:30,900 --> 00:29:33,800 thing that the oxygen Destroyer doesn't wake anything up or? 553 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,800 Yeah. Well, you know well we got a 554 00:29:36,808 --> 00:29:38,300 couple Seasons before we get to that. 555 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,800 One of one of everyone's favorite Godzilla movies in 95. 556 00:29:43,300 --> 00:29:46,700 So, is this movie good? That seems like a stupid 557 00:29:46,700 --> 00:29:48,700 question to ask for this particular movie. 558 00:29:48,700 --> 00:29:50,800 I think it's incredible. Yes, I love. 559 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,500 I actually think this is one of those movies that despite being 560 00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:55,500 incredibly old and in black and white. 561 00:29:55,500 --> 00:29:57,800 And I think you have a hard time, convincing, a lot of 562 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,300 people to watch a very old black and white movie much less like 563 00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:03,100 Godzilla. Like it's hard to get people to 564 00:30:03,108 --> 00:30:05,900 watch a Godzilla movie because everyone has this idea that 565 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:08,200 they're all very dumb and don't get me wrong. 566 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,500 And many of them are, they're very entertaining dumb and we'll 567 00:30:12,500 --> 00:30:16,000 get to those ones. But like I think this is a movie 568 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,800 that a lot more people should see if anybody's going to watch 569 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,500 one Godzilla movie. I wish they would watch the 570 00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:23,500 original and I think even if you're not interested in 571 00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:25,300 Godzilla, I think people should watch the original. 572 00:30:25,300 --> 00:30:30,300 It's a film classic. It has inspired and led to so 573 00:30:30,300 --> 00:30:34,400 much in special effects advancement is just a good ass 574 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,100 movie. It's a good movie and I think 575 00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:40,500 that the structure of the V is very simple and I feel like a 576 00:30:40,508 --> 00:30:42,900 lot of movies after it used its structure. 577 00:30:42,900 --> 00:30:44,600 Yes, I think it's interesting again. 578 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,600 Like we talked about it a bit but at the beginning of the 579 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,200 movie it's this very chaotic. It's all over the place. 580 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,000 You're just seeing kind of the during the mystery phase of the 581 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,400 movie before you have any idea, what's going on? 582 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,600 You also don't have any idea of like a cast or a central 583 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,600 location or anything. It's just jumping around and 584 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,800 then once we get more into the hardcore investigation, then we 585 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,000 start meeting characters by name and then we start. 586 00:31:08,300 --> 00:31:11,100 About Godzilla. And then we get into like the 587 00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:14,900 love triangle between Ogata and Amico and dr. 588 00:31:14,900 --> 00:31:18,000 Serizawa and then things start to come together, right? 589 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,000 And I kind of like that, it's, it feels amateurish at first, 590 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,800 but then it pulls together and you're like, oh, this was a very 591 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,700 intentional, structural choice and that's cool as shit. 592 00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:30,600 Yeah. As simple as it is, it works. 593 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,400 And I think that people should watch this movie, it's just a 594 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,300 good movie. If you like Godzilla at all, if 595 00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:38,200 you like monster movies, if you like natural disaster movies, 596 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,100 Like horror movies to good watch. 597 00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:41,600 Yeah. So I'm going to I'm going to 598 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,500 throw one more little thing under what did we like? 599 00:31:43,500 --> 00:31:47,200 And this might just be a case of my very broken by sexual brain, 600 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:51,100 but everybody in this movie was hot as fuck in, like a weird 601 00:31:51,100 --> 00:31:53,500 old-timey way. Do you know what I mean? 602 00:31:54,300 --> 00:31:55,500 Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. 603 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,500 Like, oh God has got that kind of like real rugged. 604 00:31:58,500 --> 00:32:01,700 Handsome, kind of look going on. Amico, be cute as fuck. 605 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,500 Sarah, zawa he good-looking even dr. 606 00:32:04,500 --> 00:32:08,200 Yamane old ask, dr. Yamani has some kind of like 607 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,700 Dapper Japanese Colonel Sanders shit. 608 00:32:10,700 --> 00:32:12,800 Going on that. Like I appreciate that. 609 00:32:13,700 --> 00:32:20,800 I'm just saying. So so what did we dislike about 610 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,800 the movie? I'm going to let you roll first. 611 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:25,400 I got a couple things in mind that I think could have been 612 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,800 better but I'ma let you see what you hit first, I don't know. 613 00:32:28,808 --> 00:32:32,700 That's a hard question because it's minor nitpicky shit for 614 00:32:32,700 --> 00:32:35,900 sure. Like yeah, I feel like some of 615 00:32:35,900 --> 00:32:38,700 the times that they had to use the little puppet took Out of it 616 00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:41,000 a little bit, you're the puppet be a little off model. 617 00:32:41,100 --> 00:32:43,700 Kind of was a little rough but you deal with it. 618 00:32:43,700 --> 00:32:45,900 I guess. I don't know. 619 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,700 It's I'm viewing this in context. 620 00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:50,800 It's 1954, is their first go around. 621 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:52,600 So it was really hard for me to be nitpicky. 622 00:32:52,700 --> 00:32:54,100 Yeah. Because a lot of stuff, they did 623 00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:56,700 with special effects. Nobody was doing what these what 624 00:32:56,700 --> 00:32:58,300 these guys were doing at the time. 625 00:32:58,300 --> 00:33:01,900 So I mean, this is this is really ground breaking shit for 626 00:33:01,900 --> 00:33:05,700 1954. The one thing, the only scene 627 00:33:05,700 --> 00:33:08,200 that I have any nitpicks about is there a sassy? 628 00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:11,100 Seen. I think it's at the tail end of 629 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:14,600 Godzilla's first attack on Tokyo as he's walking back into the 630 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,600 bay and they've finally scrambled the fighter jets to 631 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,100 attack Godzilla. And the Jets are like shooting 632 00:33:20,100 --> 00:33:23,400 missiles at Godzilla and I think the effects work of like the 633 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,700 these little tiny model Jets which looks super good and super 634 00:33:26,700 --> 00:33:30,000 detailed shooting these missiles which I don't know how they did 635 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,200 it. I don't know how physically they 636 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,900 did these little kind of firework shots out of these jets 637 00:33:36,900 --> 00:33:39,700 in such an obvious way. It looks great, but they have 638 00:33:39,700 --> 00:33:42,200 this long sequence of the Jets making passes and shooting 639 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,500 missiles and every single one of these little group, firework, e, 640 00:33:45,500 --> 00:33:49,300 missile Shots, mrs. Godzilla-like by quite a bit. 641 00:33:49,300 --> 00:33:52,300 Yeah, and goes into the ocean and it's just a little weird 642 00:33:52,300 --> 00:33:55,900 way. All right, my theory if I try to 643 00:33:55,900 --> 00:34:00,000 make like an excuse for this is that the Godzilla suit was 644 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,700 probably really flammable. I know that some of the future 645 00:34:03,700 --> 00:34:06,600 Godzilla suits were still flammable and caught fire a 646 00:34:06,608 --> 00:34:10,900 couple of times. So so maybe they knew that they 647 00:34:10,900 --> 00:34:15,000 couldn't land these like firework shots on the suit 648 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,600 without risking lighting the actor on fire, but it makes 649 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,600 sense. You still have a several minute 650 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:24,600 long sequence of jets me passes and shooting missiles at 651 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,800 Godzilla. Who is not attacking them back. 652 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,000 He's just ignoring them and walking into the sea. 653 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,800 And it's weird given how good the special effects are in other 654 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:33,500 places. Like you look at the scene where 655 00:34:33,500 --> 00:34:37,300 Godzilla melts the the towers with the high-tension wires and 656 00:34:37,300 --> 00:34:39,699 uses the atomic breath. First time and that's great. 657 00:34:39,699 --> 00:34:44,100 This cool Misty. Sort of whatever it's almost 658 00:34:44,100 --> 00:34:46,900 certainly like smoke being shot through a hose or something. 659 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,199 Yeah, but it's a great effect and you watch the tower like 660 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:53,400 start to Glow white and sag under its heat and all I can 661 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,400 think of is that like maybe the towers were made out of some 662 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,300 kind of meltable material, right? 663 00:34:59,300 --> 00:35:02,200 That like, melts at a fairly low temperature and then they just 664 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,500 like used up a hair dryer or something, like a Heat fan just 665 00:35:06,500 --> 00:35:09,500 off camera to start melting it. because it's a really, really 666 00:35:09,500 --> 00:35:12,700 good really great practical effects work and then you have 667 00:35:12,700 --> 00:35:16,200 this scene where the Jets shoot at Godzilla and it's it's, 668 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,000 that's all I can think of but it's it's it's the one thing 669 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,700 where I was re watching this movie and going, you know, I 670 00:35:22,700 --> 00:35:26,700 might have cut this down about half the length and had like a 671 00:35:26,707 --> 00:35:30,000 couple of close-up shots of a missile exploding on a scale 672 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,800 pattern where maybe it was like a piece of fabric that wasn't 673 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,900 attached to the suit that you were close up on not for me to 674 00:35:35,900 --> 00:35:40,000 give directing advice to a Legendary Japanese director. 675 00:35:40,100 --> 00:35:43,600 Me is a complete nobody agent that one sequence was weird for 676 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,600 me, but I mean beyond that. Yeah. 677 00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:48,500 I was immediately once we finish that scene and moved on like I 678 00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:51,100 moved onto like it's a super gripping movie. 679 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,600 Yeah. So we've talked a bit about kind 680 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,600 of the lasting impact of this movie, right? 681 00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,100 That like if you're a fan of Japanese you know kind of action 682 00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:02,700 in sci-fi. So much of the effects work 683 00:36:02,700 --> 00:36:06,200 you've seen was pioneered on this movie, the suit designs of, 684 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,300 you know, shows like Power Rangers come Comes from this 685 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:12,500 movie, which I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, it's actually really 686 00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:14,500 cool. I didn't realize that that this 687 00:36:14,500 --> 00:36:18,700 is basically the origin of that style and that format of suit 688 00:36:18,700 --> 00:36:21,100 mation, which makes sense, because I think of other like, 689 00:36:21,100 --> 00:36:23,700 black and white horror movies of the time and the monster always 690 00:36:23,700 --> 00:36:27,400 looks like a dude, and like a felt suit with like a helmet on, 691 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:31,800 you know what I mean, as opposed to Godzilla's suit is, I mean, 692 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,400 like, if you know, anything about modern cosplay, like, it's 693 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,700 very much that style of like, you take the foam and Building 694 00:36:38,700 --> 00:36:41,900 the sections with the foam in the latex and the Rubber and 695 00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:44,600 painting and applying and you're taking it like, section by 696 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,500 section and applying it to your actor. 697 00:36:46,500 --> 00:36:49,300 It's very interesting and intricate stuff. 698 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,400 But yeah, the way people do cosplay nowadays is basically 699 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,900 just a cheaper and with modern technology and modern materials 700 00:36:55,900 --> 00:36:59,100 version of the same stuff they did for Godzilla back in 1954. 701 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,500 Yeah. So we got to talk about kind of 702 00:37:02,500 --> 00:37:07,300 the overarching story of this season of Castle Bravo, which my 703 00:37:07,300 --> 00:37:11,500 thesis here is that while we think of Godzilla as this huge 704 00:37:11,500 --> 00:37:16,000 franchise, it really took a while for Godzilla to become as 705 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:21,000 big as we think of him nowadays. So, as of this point, there's no 706 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,800 Godzilla verse. We've got one movie obviously, 707 00:37:23,900 --> 00:37:27,700 and it's clearly intended to be kind of self-contained, but may 708 00:37:27,700 --> 00:37:30,700 be open for a sequel. You know, Godzilla's. 709 00:37:30,700 --> 00:37:34,800 Yeah, story is not really gone into like, oh, maybe it was an 710 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,000 underwater dinosaur that we either mutated or woke up. 711 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:38,700 Whoo. Hose. 712 00:37:38,700 --> 00:37:39,100 Yeah. The note. 713 00:37:39,100 --> 00:37:41,500 They leave it on. Seems like it was made just to 714 00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:42,500 keep it open. Yeah. 715 00:37:42,500 --> 00:37:44,100 Hey, there could be another one of these. 716 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,800 Yeah, but like Godzilla, this Godzilla dies, when we see 717 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:52,200 future Godzilla movies, it is not this Godzilla with one 718 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:54,200 exception somewhere in the 2000s. 719 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:56,800 If I remember correctly, and I'll deal with that in season 720 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,900 four, whenever we get to that, but we, that sounds confusing. 721 00:38:00,900 --> 00:38:03,800 Yeah, I know. Well, the 2000s are a weird time 722 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,600 for Godzilla, for sure. Not that there's any not weird 723 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,700 time but it gets weird. Order. 724 00:38:09,100 --> 00:38:12,900 So, one thing that's interesting is Godzilla has been broken up 725 00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:16,000 into a few different eras and a couple different like timelines 726 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,900 of movies. And from now up through the mid 727 00:38:18,900 --> 00:38:24,500 1970s, every movie featuring Godzilla or one of the things 728 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,500 that appears in a Godzilla movie but maybe appeared elsewhere 729 00:38:27,500 --> 00:38:33,000 first hint hint is is one big long timeline and then the 730 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,000 mid-80s they reboot everything and they start over. 731 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,900 But the first Godzilla movie still counts They sort of make 732 00:38:38,900 --> 00:38:42,900 like a new Godzilla to in the 80s and then go from there into 733 00:38:42,900 --> 00:38:46,500 the 90s and then through the 2000s there's and, and on, 734 00:38:46,500 --> 00:38:49,700 there's been a bunch of random individual Godzilla movies, that 735 00:38:49,700 --> 00:38:53,300 acknowledge the first movie, but then nothing else not even each 736 00:38:53,300 --> 00:38:56,000 other. So, this is kind of like a Nexus 737 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,700 point, right? This is every just about every 738 00:38:58,700 --> 00:39:02,600 movie, except for the American ones and one specific Japanese 739 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,700 one acknowledge this movies. Existence makes sense. 740 00:39:05,700 --> 00:39:08,100 Yeah. But ultimately, it is very 741 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:13,500 stand-alone and it doesn't play deeply into future Godzilla 742 00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:16,700 movies with a couple of very rare exceptions. 743 00:39:16,700 --> 00:39:20,800 But yes, this movie comes out, it's not a tremendous success at 744 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,200 first, it takes a little bit of time to find its corner and 745 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,500 really become as respected as it is nowadays. 746 00:39:26,500 --> 00:39:29,500 And it will take by my estimation. 747 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:33,100 And by the estimation of this season of Castle Bravo, roughly 748 00:39:33,100 --> 00:39:37,200 a decade for Godzilla to really become kind of the figure that 749 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:41,600 we Jin him to be nowadays. I don't know if you have 750 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,500 anything else. You want to bring up before we 751 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:46,000 wrap any other, final closing comments? 752 00:39:46,500 --> 00:39:49,500 Um, I don't think so. I don't know. 753 00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:51,700 I like this movie looking forward to the next movies. 754 00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:54,500 Yeah, well don't say don't say that too quickly about this next 755 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:56,900 one. Oh, yeah, okay, so that's a wrap 756 00:39:56,900 --> 00:39:59,400 on this episode. Thank you all so much for 757 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:03,100 joining us, both on our journey. And for this film specifically 758 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:06,900 next week, we'll be traveling forward to 1955 for the direct 759 00:40:06,900 --> 00:40:08,100 sequel. To the original Godzilla. 760 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,800 Ella, Godzilla, Raids Again. Also the only movie in this 761 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,100 first season of Castle Bravo not directed by ishiro Honda. 762 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,600 You can follow us on Twitter for more of our sparkling 763 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,600 personalities. I'm at Derby City, Derek and I 764 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:26,500 am at this Arrow complex. It's V is C ero complex-2 and 765 00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:28,800 you can follow the show itself at Castle Bravo. 766 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,700 Pod for production updates. Take care everyone. 767 00:40:35,100 --> 00:40:38,300 Castle Bravo is a production of Derek Van Dyke and Charlotte 768 00:40:38,300 --> 00:40:41,500 landel. All editing is performed by 769 00:40:41,500 --> 00:40:45,400 Derek Van Dyke. Special thanks to julienne, 770 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:49,600 Lamont for Designing our original art assets and to David 771 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,500 Van Dyke, for providing our theme song pools of memory.