ISSUE 01 / JULY 2013

BEASTS VS. BOTS

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DEATH: POLITICIANS
IN MY EYES (1974)

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Welcome To
BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH.
Devin Faraci
Badass Digest Editor in Chief
@devincf
Read more at badassdigest.com

Birth. Movies. Death. These are the three most monumental

aspects of any life, which is why weve chosen to name this
publication after them. Welcome to the first (collectors!)
issue of BIRTH. MOVIES. DEATH., the new magazine
from the Alamo Drafthouse.
Every month BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH. will be brimming
with articles from the Drafthouse programmers and the writers
at BadassDigest.com. Each months content revolves around
our national programming, which is inspired by our absolute
devotion to the best and the most fun movies of all time.
Were proud to have our big debut be all about big monsters
in celebration of Guillermo Del Toros PACIFIC RIM. Del
Toros long-awaited blockbuster has humanity building
enormous mechs to battle back an invading force of giant
monsters. BIRTH. MOVIES. DEATH. welcomes those
monsters with an interview with del Toro himself about the
film and its inspirations, articles about the real life origins
of Godzilla, North Koreas bizarre entry in the kaiju genre, a
lost King Kong knock-off that might have been Japans first
giant monster movie and more.
Zip up your rubber monster suit and get ready for a month
of city crushing, earth shattering big screen kaiju action at
the Alamo Drafthouse. 6

CONTENTS
Welcome To BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH.

Screening In July At Your Alamo Drafthouse

Terms And Conditions Of Your Insurance Policy With Toho Insurance Company, Ltd.

Lucky Dragon 5: The Terrifying Truth That Inspired GODZILLA

One Of Cinemas Last Wizards Is Gone: Ray Harryhausen, 1920-2013
Rampage And Melee: An Overview Of Kaiju Games
KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO: Hoax Or The First Kaiju Movie?
On Mechs & Monsters: The Guillermo del Toro Interview

On Optimus Prime And Movies Made By Marketing Committees

GODZILLA: King Of All Comic Book Monsters

PULGASARI: The Time North Korea Kidnapped A Filmmaker To Make A Kaiju Movie
The Mysterious Origins of VOLTRON

A Eulogy For Bambi, Sweetest Of All Woodland Creatures

Editor-in-Chief
Devin Faraci
Managing Editor
Meredith Borders
Associate Publisher
Henri Mazza
Art Director/Graphic Designer
Joseph A. Ziemba
Copy Editor
George Bragdon
Contributing Writers
Jordan Hoffman, Alex Riviello, Evan Saathoff, Robert Saucedo, Tommy Swenson
All content 2013 Alamo Drafthouse | drafthouse.com | badassdigest.com

drafthouse.com

badassdigest.com

birthmoviesdeath.com

drafthousefilms.com

fantasticfest.com

mondotees.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Screening In July At Your Alamo Drafthouse

Inspired by our enthusiasm for the upcoming release of PACIFIC RIM, the Alamo Drafthouse programming team is
presenting a month of screenings on the theme of Beasts Vs. Bots. For tickets, showtimes, formats, and a full list of titles,
visit drafthouse.com.

EVANGELION creator Hideaki Anno was attempting to

turn the foundational genre of his medium, the giant mecha
robot story, inside out. Grounding the drama in the interior
lives of flawed and tragic characters, and exploring the real
world ramifications of pop sci-fi concepts, Anno defied
expectations of failure and produced a masterpiece as formally
ambitious and accidentally influential as WATCHMEN was
for comics, reinventing what was possible to achieve in a
weekly animated series. It was an ultimate mic drop move.
Anno could have retreated from that particular spotlight
as Moore did, distancing himself from his early work and
leaving it to pedantic fans to argue and obsess over. Instead,
he picked the mic back up and decided to remake the whole
thing from scratch.

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Evangelion: 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone

Dir. Masayuki/Kazuya Tsurumaki/Hideaki Anno,
2007, PG-13, 98 min
A teenage kid is brought to Tokyo-3 by his estranged,
emotionally abusive father and recruited to pilot a giant,
symbiotic Evangelion robot for a paramilitary super-science
organization named NERV in a war against enormous,
divine, alien invaders called Angels who are prophesied to
bring about the Third Impact and end all life on Earth.
Maybe. I think. And thats all before things start to get weird.
When the original NEON GENESIS EVANGELION
television show premiered in 1995, it revolutionized the anime
industry by deconstructing familiar tropes and archetypes
and forging a new direction for psychologically rich and
thematically complex animation. Much like Alan Moore did
with his seminal superhero comic WATCHMEN in the 80s,
BIRTH. MOVIES.DEATH. / JULY 2013

Taking as his source the 26-episode TV series and two

subsequent feature films, which piled even more mysteries
and hallucinatory, apocalyptic imagery onto the shows
already cosmically complex storyline, the yet-to-becompleted 4-film cycle of the EVANGELION REBUILD
movies is part retelling and part maybe-timeloop-sequelwho-knows, all vibrantly rendered in gorgeous, new, bigbudget animation. The first film is a very faithful scene-forscene adaptation of the first six episodes of the original series,
but the second film begins to deviate dramatically from the
source. Deepening characters, themes and plot, Anno takes
the original story in striking new directions, redefining it
past the point of recognition and injecting a vitality that
takes the whole project a million miles away from any sort
of George Lucas-style OCD tinkering. By the time we get to
EVANGELION 3.0, were 20 years into the future beyond
the cataclysmic end of the original series and all bets are off.
The incredible, epic-scale battles between robots and
monsters remain, as do the agents of NERV who are
investigating and collaborating with what may be an
apocalyptic conspiracy, traveling from the remains of the
polar ice-caps floating in blood-red seas, to the moon itself,
to unravel the storys mysteries. Expanding on the original
series subversion of the classic anime story of a boy and
his giant robot into a polemic on the psychological damage
caused by self-imposed isolation, the REBUILD films
deliver beautifully nightmarish moments of body-horror
transformation played out on a galactically ambitious scale
in which the characters are forced to retreat into the depths
of their own subconscious to face terrors and monstrosities
that dwarf any simple end-of-the-world scenario. Almost
20 years on, EVANGELION is still pushing boundaries as
some of the best anime around. (Tommy Swenson)

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(in the form of the superweapon Oxygen Destroyer), it also

works as a wonderfully suspenseful horror movie, slowly
building up to Godzillas first rampage. GODZILLA is a
movie with punch, where every civilian death is felt and the
monsters aggression is out of control.
GODZILLAs cultural impact is, of course, still felt to this
very day. It launched an entire genre of men-in-suits monster
movies, but that was totally an accident. The original plan
for GODZILLA was to have it be model animation, like
KING KONG, but it was realized nobody in Japan had the
skills required and that it would take a whopping seven years
to finish the movie. So the legendary Japanese FX man Eiji
Tsuburaya put an actor in a rubber suit and thus was born
the Kaiju movie! That process, known as suitmation, is now
considered a Japanese craft art.
Dont walk into GODZILLA expecting a cheesy romp. This
is a real movie, with real stakes and a surprisingly bittersweet
ending. Theres a reason Godzilla is King of the Monsters.
(Devin Faraci)

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GODZILLA
Dir. Ishir Honda, 1954, NR, 96 min
GODZILLA may have become best known for participating
in silly, cheap monster mashes, but the original 1954 movie
-- known as GOJIRA in Japan -- is a cinema classic for a
damn good reason. This movie doesnt just have giant monster
action, its also a sobering and honestly scary warning about
the danger of nuclear weapons... made by people who know
the truth all too well.
Ishiro Hondas movie came out just nine years after Fat Man
and Little Boy leveled Nagasaki and Hiroshima and after
Tokyo had been largely destroyed by Allied firebombing. The
scenes of destruction caused by the deep-sea nuclear terrorbeast must have been not only thrilling to Japanese audiences
-- everybody loves watching monsters kick over buildings -but also troubling. While future films would be more or less
superhero action larks, the original GODZILLA includes
sequences where scientists test orphaned children for radiation
contamination and the gravely wounded line hospital hallways,
imagery all too familiar to the Japanese population.
But GODZILLA isnt a downer! While the movie wrestles with
the threat of nuclear weapons and the morality of technology

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future due to total annihilation by Godzilla, teleportation,

ESP, androids, little baby dragon dudes, evil white people
and, of course, King Ghidorah and the half-mutant, halfrobot MECHA-KING GHIDORAH!!!
The fantastically convoluted plot involves an elaborate timetravel scheme to delete Godzilla out of history but double
and triple-crosses spin the whole thing into complete headscratcher territory. The real reason to watch any Godzilla
movie, though, is for the unfettered eradication of human
civilization by colossal monstrosities - and GODZILLA VS
KING GHIDORAH delivers ultimate destruction. The
masterfully designed monster suits and impressively detailed
miniature cities hold up as incredible examples of the value
of practical effects, delivering a tactile pleasure that CGI
carnage never will. The original composer for the series, Akira
Ifukube, returns with his first Godzilla score in almost two
decades and it undeniably elevates the whole thing to even
greater heights. There are few pleasures in life more pure than
seeing the great roaring, radioactive lizard monster pummel
a mutated dragon creature through the Japanese tax center
to the sounds of an Ifukube score. Godzilla will never die.
(Tommy Swenson)

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GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORA

Dir. Kazuki Ohmori, 1991, NR, 100 min
In the 1980s Toho Studios decided to reboot their indomitable
Godzilla series by ignoring all fourteen previous, increasingly
insane sequels and making a direct follow-up to the irradiated
original. No other rubber monsters to pal around with at first,
just a new nuke-scorched Godzilla suit bringing complete
devastation to miniature Japan. Forging a convoluted new
continuity, these Heisei-era films dramatically increased the
size of the monsters and returned Godzilla to his rightful role
as a terrifying, world-ending abomination. But then in the
first follow-up of this new series they made him fight a giant
rosebush and nobody went to see it. The only solution was
to bring back the most evil, awesome Godzilla opponent of
all time - King Ghidorah, the vicious, flying, three-headed,
lightning-breathing dragon from outer space.
GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH is the pinnacle of the
second era of Godzilla filmmaking. Watch this movie and
lose your mind witnessing the secret origins of the original
Godzilla, plenty of deep sea adventure, WWII soldiers
fighting dinosaurs, UFO sightings, time traveling Futurians
from the 23rd century warning Japan about their gloomy

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consumption until the fragile nerves of their prepubescent

brains can no longer properly distinguish between fantasy,
reality, Saturday morning cartoons and an intruding
nightmarish hell dimension. Because even though this is
indisputably a family film, its also the most violent and
horrific Godzilla movie ever to be accidentally shown to
living people. The Smog Monster doesnt just knock over
buildings and crash through bridges. It sucks the flesh from
peoples bodies and leaves them as smoldering piles of bones.
It also kills a cat.

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GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER

Dir. Yoshimitsu Banno, 1971, PG, 87 min
Whats this? Just your average, everyday, run of the mill
combination of horror, childrens movie, 70s psychedelic
exploitation and Godzilla. Wait, what? GODZILLA VS.
THE SMOG MONSTER is hands down the weirdest
goddamn giant monster movie ever made by a margin wider
than that floating trash island in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean. More insane even than GODZILLAS REVENGE,
where all the monster action takes place inside the mind of a
little kid. This time Godzilla is like a superhero and savior of
the planet and he has to do battle with literally a giant pile
of garbage. Hedorah the Smog Monster is the most original,
unique and incomprehensible kaiju ever featured in one of
these things. Like some industrialized blend of the Blob,
a melting Cthulhu and Oscar the Grouch, the sentientpollution-thing Hedorah grows and multiplies and slimes
his toxic sludge all over Japan.
This is a movie targeted to kids. Little kids. Little kids who
are plagued by epileptic fits exacerbated by unchecked sugar

Punctuated by bizarrely self-aware animated interludes that

comment on the action, this is a film that has no qualms
about pausing for a science lesson about galaxies and nebulas.
Its got the first appearance of hippies in a Godzilla movie
and an inspirational/borderline-unbearable theme song
called Save the Earth that plays constantly throughout.
Theres a scene in a nightclub where a guy drops acid and
watches as everyones heads become fish. Godzillas entrance
is scored and photographed like a Technicolor Hollywood
musical. He fights the Smog Monster by waving his arms
and dancing around. When thats not enough he flies about,
squatting backward and shooting atomic breath to propel
himself. Since when can Godzilla fly? Since now. This is just
that kind of movie. The kind of movie where when a kid sees
Godzilla from a rollercoaster, the action stops for a freeze
frame zoom on the monsters blurry silhouette like some
amateur Bigfoot footage. The kind of movie where we watch
a building slowly crumble in complete silence. The kind of
movie that nobly drives home the indelible message: dont
pollute . . . or else, THIS!
Amidst the insanity, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG
MONSTER even takes time for a scene -- in which a little
boy stands on the shore, waiting for his lost father who has
been attacked by Hedorah -- that is so poetic and visually
expressive that it can stand next to any great arthouse cinema
of the 20th century. If you can open your mind wide enough
to receptively view this movie, its multi-layered presentation
of giant monsters, drug experimentation, eco-politics,
astronomy lessons, exploding rock n roll, Jungian imagery,
youth culture protests, parenthetical cartoon breaks and
avant-garde psychedelia will give you a lasting gratification thats
very hard earned by any other means. (Tommy Swenson)

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Filled with heart, humor and chills, THE HOST is like a

Korean JURASSIC PARK. Ranked on Quentin Tarantinos
list of top 20 movies since 1992 (when he first started
directing), this movie is, as Manohla Dargis of the NEW
YORK TIMES calls it a loopy, feverishly imaginative
genre hybrid about the demons that haunt us from without
and within.
If you missed South Koreas highest grossing movie of all
time when it was micro-released in the States in 2007, I cant
recommend seeing it enough...preferably with a loved one.
(Greg MacLennan)

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THE HOST
Dir. Joon-ho Bong, 2006, R, 119 min
You are what it eats.
THE HOST is blockbuster plotting and political commentary
wrapped up in a good, old-fashioned gigantic monster
movie. An American military pathologist commands a
reluctant Korean assistant to dump hundreds of gallons
of formaldehyde into the Han River...AND NOTHING
HAPPENS. That is until a few years pass and sightings of
a strange amphibious creature in the waterways begin to be
reported. All hell eventually breaks loose, and the monster
is on the attack.
But this movie isnt just a movie about monsters -- its
about family. Park Hee-Bong is a 60-year-old snack bar
owner who operates his business along the Han River
with his incompetent, grumbly sons and archery medalist
daughter. Awestruck and afraid, the family soon leaps into
Avengers mode when the monster kidnaps Park Hee-Bongs
granddaughter.

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IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA

Dir. Robert Gordon, 1955, NR, 79 min

IT CRUSHES! KILLS! DESTROYS!

The
Creature Features of the 50s featured a mess of similar,
uninspired product. Some are still a lot of fun to go back
and revisit. Some are actually really great. And some are IT.
The recently departed special effects god Ray Harryhausen
(CLASH OF THE TITANS) used his craft to make sure IT
CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA did not just flounder
away into the abyss of forgettable 50s horror. The budget
was low and the story was contrived, but its the execution,
especially from Harryhausen, that sets IT apart.
Harryhausens stop motion animation births a genuinely
terrifying giant octopus that tries to take down no less than
the Golden Gate Bridge. Harryhausen may have made more
technically impressive achievements with CLASH, THE
SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and EARTH VS. THE
FLYING SAUCERS, but its the combination of his expertise
housed in an unabashed B-movie premise that makes this
film work in original and entertaining ways. Dont miss IT!!
(R.J. LaForce)

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KING KONG
Dir. Merian C. Cooper/Ernest B. Schoedsack,
1933, NR, 104 min
When the AMAZING KONG was unleashed onto
moviegoers 80 years ago, there was truly no cinematic event
that matched its grand scale and unbridled imagination. It
houses dozens of dinosaurs, a giant spider, a giant crab and
the infamous gorilla. And the effects that make them come
to life are sincere, practical and timeless.
What sets KONG apart and helps it achieve its all-time
classic status, though, is a simple story wrought with
complicated themes. You both fear and care for the big guy
in an emotional tug-of-war, all the while having your mouth
agape because of the amazing visuals.
And lets not forget the performance of Fay Wray, the hypnotic
beauty that steals our hearts and allows Kongs to flourish.
Most people know the story of Kong, but to experience this
David O. Selznick production on the big screen is a truly
special occasion. Over the years technology in movies has
gotten more advanced, but few moments will inspire the awe
that so many frames in KONG do. Over the years the term
has been loosely issued to so many films, but the original
KING KONG is an undeniable masterpiece. (R.J. LaForce)

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Maria, under the city, where he is exposed to the horrors of

life below his privileged world. Maria prophesis of a great
mediator who will come and bring the two classes together,
but when Freders father learns of this he aims to destroy
Maria and any uprising that may occur.
When METROPOLIS was originally released in 1927,
people didnt understand it. German expressionistic science
fiction wasnt exactly a hot genre at the time, and the films
long runtime and forced censors caused a hack-and-slash
cut that left the world without Fritz Langs true vision.
It wasnt until 1984 that music producer Giorgio Moroder
pieced together what was once thought to be a lost film.
The Moroder version was tinted throughout, featured
additional special effects, subtitles instead of intertitles, and
a pop soundtrack featuring well-known singers including
Freddie Mercury and Pat Benatar. This was the definitive
version for close to 20 years . . . and it was AWESOME.
Langs Art Deco dystopian world sizzled and popped while
a raging soundtrack blew you away. If silent films cause you
any hesitation, this version takes away all your excuses and
provides the perfect gateway into an incredible classic film.
But then in 2005, an original and complete cut of
METROPOLIS was discovered in Argentina and contained
more than 25 minutes of unseen, unfound footage, preserving
Langs original vision. Full restoration was completed in
2010, and, while the Moroder version is a phenomenal and
fun 80s watch, this version features Langs true vision and the
original 1927 score re-recorded by the Rundfunk Symphony
Orchestra of Berlin in glorious surround sound.
Whether youre a cinephile completist or casual movie fan,
you owe it to yourself to witness the true cinematic power of
METROPOLIS. (Greg MacLennan)

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METROPOLIS
Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927, NR, 145 min
Its 2026 and wealthy industrialists rule the vast city of
Metropolis while the lower class toils away in the underground
to keep the citys power running. The Master of Metropoliss
son, Freder, follows the beautiful underground-dweller,

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host of surprises: vampiric man-eating plant life, indigenous

peoples still going about life and somehow unaffected by
radiation poisoning, and two very small women -- The Twins who are the guardians of the sacred egg. When the expedition
leader Clark Nelson discovers that the Twins are not only
curiously miniature, but also have a talent for singing, he
sees great big dollar signs in his eyes. He kidnaps them and
decides to exhibit them around the world. Scumbags will be
scumbags, so Nelson makes headlines with his newsworthy
act, but little does he know that the Twins sweet, serene and
catchy melody -- you will not be able to get it out of your
head for years to come -- is actually a telepathic distress call
to Mothra.
The sacred egg hatches and Mothra (in larval form) is pissed.
So pissed that she swims across an entire ocean to rescue her
guardian protectors and loyal followers. The rest is an all-out
attack on the city and its people. Mothra is on a rescue mission
and nothing of this earth can stop her from accomplishing
her goal. MOTHRA is the first film in what is still today the
only daikaiju spin-off franchise in cinema history, due mostly
to the extreme popularity of Mothra with Japanese females.
Follow-ups include: MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA (1964),
the later Heisei-era GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1992),
and REBIRTH OF MOTHRA I (1996), REBIRTH OF
MOTHRA II (1997), and REBIRTH OF MOTHRA III
(1998). All hail Mothra! (Sam Prime)

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MOTHRA
Dir. Ishir Honda, 1961, NR, 101 min
Based on a serialized novel titled THE LUMINOUS
FAIRIES AND MOTHRA by Shinichiro Nakamura,
Takehiko Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta, 1961s MOTHRA
introduces an altogether different breed of Showa-era
daikaiju into the radiation-riddled tokusatsu universe of
rubber monsters. Where Godzilla is the rampaging reptile
crowned King of the Monsters, by contrast Mothra is both
female, a deity and a giant moth. She also does not needlessly
stomp around bustling cities unless she has a reason: namely,
to protect her loyal followers. As compared to other Toho
daikaiju, Mothra might seem tame or even peaceful, but do
not be fooled by the elegant exterior -- when backed into
a corner or pushed to her limit, this lepidopteran proves
truly lethal!
MOTHRA begins with a scientific expedition to Infant
Island, the location of a recent H-bomb testing site. Men in
protective suits invade the irradiated island, only to find a

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Terms And
Conditions Of
Your Insurance Policy
With Toho Insurance
Company, Ltd.
Evan Saathoff
Badass Digest News Editor

@sam_strange
Read more at badassdigest.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Toho Insurance Company, LTD. thanks you for your

patronage. According to our records you have elected
to enroll in our Gargantua Coverage Plan. This is the
most comprehensive package we offer. You have made a
smart decision.

This also includes any offensive aggressive action which

happens to utilize, via remote, mental or pilot control,
another Kaiju, either living or robotic. Furthermore,
any damage inflicted by the Kaiju known as Mothra is
considered Friendly Fire. The same goes for Gamera.

We arrive now at the final preliminary step. To initiate your

Kaiju protection, you need only sign and date the bottom of
this document, thus ensuring you have read and understand
our terms and conditions. Upon execution of this last task,
you and your loved one(s) can rest peacefully knowing you
are in the hand(s) of people who care.

D. Damage, injury, or death done by Kaiju that have fallen

onto structures as a result of offensive aggressive action
also counts as Friendly Fire and therefore will not be
covered by your policy.

This legal agreement between you and Toho Insurance Company,

LTD. states in no uncertain terms the specific scope and limitations
of your Gargantua Full Coverage Insurance Care Plan. What
follows are the legal terms and conditions for this plan:
A. This plan will cover only death, injury and destruction
professionally determined to have been caused by Kaiju.
Toho Insurance Company, LTD. defines Kaiju as: Gigantic
monsters of varying origin not normally found in the
natural world, typically either reptilian or insectoid in shape.
This definition does NOT include the following: Yokai
Monsters, villains of the elite force known as Power
Rangers, Pokemon, mechs and/or tragic apes.
B. In the event of a documented and proven Kaiju attack,
Toho Insurance Company, LTD. agrees to pay you, the
party signed below, a premium recovery cost in Yen
calculated according to the market value of said item(s).

E. Damage to property or health must come as a result of

deliberate action on the Kaijus part. Fires, tidal waves and
wind damage incurred in the wake of Kaiju movement
will not be covered.
F. Some Kaiju have been known to spontaneously give birth
to baby versions of themselves. Any household who feeds,
coddles, offers shelter or in any way cares for these infant
Kaiju automatically forfeits all coverage without refund.
Our definition of Baby Kaiju also includes Kaiju still in
a larva/caterpillar state.
G. We are responsible only for Kaiju-related damages and
health issues incurred in Japan. For protection against
Chinese, Korean, American or any other non-Japanese
Kaiju, you will need a separate Toho Insurance Company
LTD. policy. All are available on our website.
H. 
For purely economic purposes, we do not consider
Godzilla a Kaiju.

In the case of physical injury, a medical estimate performed

by a doctor underToho Insurance Company, LTD.s employ
will determine recovery cost based on standard medical
prices. Toho Insurance Company, LTD. acknowledges
only the healing properties of Eastern medical practices and
will not pay recovery costs for Western medical treatment.

The terms and conditions stated above describe the full extent
and limitations of your Gargantua insurance policy. For this,
you agree to pay Toho Insurance Company, LTD. a total of
5,000,000 Yen per year, split into bi-annual payments of
2,500,000 Yen each. Your deductible for any claims will also
be 2,500,000 Yen.

If the signee can prove death occurred as the result of a

Kaiju attack, Toho Insurance Company, LTD. will pay out
a flat rate of 100,000,000 Yen for each deceased individual
protected under the plan to any survivors protected by the
plan. If there are no survivors protected by the plan, there will
be no payment made by Toho Insurance Company, LTD.

If you pay for one half of the year, but default on payment for
the second half, Toho Insurance Company, LTD. will send a
company Kaiju to kill you and/or destroy your properly. To
emphasize the punitive intention of this action, the Kaiju
employed will be Gabara.

Cause of death must be specified by a Toho Company,

LTD. coroner. Bite marks, radioactive burns, severed
limbs and footprint-stamped torsos do not automatically
indicate death by Kaiju. All cases will be investigated.
C. This policy does NOT cover injury, loss of life, or damage to
property caused by Friendly Fire, most commonly defined
as offensive aggressive action taken against rampaging
Kaiju. This includes standard gun fire, artillery, laser
blasts and any damage done by either air support or tanks.

If you find the terms and conditions of your policy

unfavorable or unfair, we urge you to leave Japan as soon as you
possibly can. 6

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Lucky Dragon 5:
The Terrifying Truth
That Inspired GODZILLA
Tommy Swenson
Alamo Drafthouse Programmer
@80s_lightning

Read more at badassdigest.com

A small Japanese fishing boat floats quietly at sea. The

fishermen are making music, playing games and sleeping on
deck. Suddenly, their tranquil moment is shattered by the
sound of an explosion. The fishermen all rush to the railings,
looking out across turbulent waters. Piercing white blindness
overtakes everything, and their screams are silenced by an
unseen, all-consuming force.
Thats the opening scene of Ishiro Hondas GODZILLA,
but to Japanese audiences of the time, it was an instantly
recognizable tribute to a very recent tragedy. On March
1, 1954, the crew members of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru
(or Lucky Dragon 5), a 140-ton fishing boat out of Yaizu,
Shizuoka Prefecture, were exposed to fallout from the test
explosion of a U.S. hydrogen bomb detonated at Bikini
Atoll. The Lucky Dragon tragedy galvanized an emerging
movement against nuclear weapons in Japan, spearheaded
primarily by housewives in Tokyos Suginami Ward; the illfated boat emerged as an enduring symbol of protest against
the proliferation of weapons capable of eradicating all life
from the surface of the planet.

Under the command of an inexperienced 22-year-old captain
named Hisakichi Tsutsui, the Lucky Dragon left port on
Jan. 22, 1954 with an underpowered engine capable only of
5 knots, and was beset by mechanical malfunction almost
immediately. Less than three weeks into its voyage, as it was
rounding the southern tip of Midway Island, nearly half of
the ships 330 fishing lines were caught on coral reefs and lost.
Unwilling to return home in failure, Tsutsui chose instead
to head south to the Marshall Islands, in hope of finding a
plentiful haul of bigeye tuna. No member of the crew was
aware that the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency had been
alerted by the U.S. government of planned nuclear tests, and
that an exclusion zone had been established around Bikini
Atoll extending eastward to longitude 166 16.
BIRTH. MOVIES.DEATH. / JULY 2013

By the end of February, the Lucky Dragons supplies were

exhausted and fuel was nearly depleted. Noting their
longitude at 166 18 (still safely, though obliviously, outside
the exclusion zone), the crew planned for one final day of
fishing on March 1 before returning home to port. At 6:45
am on the Day the Sun Rose in the West, a blast of light cut
through the morning darkness. Crewman Matakichi Oishi
described seeing the detonation: A yellow flash poured
through the porthole. Wondering what had happened, I
jumped up from the bunk near the door, ran out on deck and
was astonished. Bridge, sky and sea burst into view, painted
in flaming sunset colors.

He was witnessing Castle Bravo, the first ever test of a dryfuel thermonuclear device. And, oh man, did it go completely
wrong. The bombs engineers at the Los Alamos Laboratory
miscalculated, and instead of the bomb blast delivering a
planned yield of six megatons, it yielded an unimaginable
FIFTEEN megatons! It was the biggest explosion ever caused
by human beings, and over a thousand times more powerful
than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Lucky Dragon 5 survived the initial blast, but soon, a
mysterious cloud of white death ash began to softly rain
down on the ship. Later tests determined it was atomized
coral, the ghostly remains of the habitat they were there to
fish. Oishi recalled:The top of the cloud spread over us.
Two hours passed.White particles were falling on us, just
like sleet. The white particles penetrated mercilessly eyes,
nose, ears, mouth. We had no sense that it was dangerous.
For six hours after, they patiently hauled in their fishing lines
before weighing anchor.

That evening, the crew members began to feel nauseous,
exhibiting early symptoms of radiation poisoning. By the

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time they reached Yaizu on March 14, they were covered

in burns, bleeding from their gums and barely able to open
their eyes. The 23 crew members were quarantined outside
the city, and all their clothing and belongings were buried.
Meanwhile, the fish they brought back with them were
somehow accidentally unloaded and taken to markets across
Tokyo. The government soon began a frantic search to recover
the entirety of the catch, but by the time it was concluded, at
least two full tuna had been sold and likely consumed.

In the aftermath of the Castle Bravo test, the Ministry of
Health and Welfare concluded that 856 Japanese vessels
were exposed to radiation from the detonation. The Japanese
fishing industry was crippled. Prices plunged, and between
March and December of 1954 alone, over 75 tons of tuna
were destroyed after being found unsafe to consume. And
Americas response? The Atomic Energy Commission accused
the Lucky Dragon of being a spy vessel, sent to discover
military secrets. They denied any negative effects from the
test, claiming there [was] negligible hazard, if any, in the
consumption of fish caught in the Pacific Ocean outside the
immediate test area subsequent to tests. At the very same
time, however, America instituted much tighter regulations
on all imported fish.

The Lucky Dragons chief radio operator, Aikichi Kuboyama,
died in September of 1954 at age 40, the first Japanese victim
of a hydrogen bomb. The US government eventually gave
a meager two million dollars to the Japanese government as

compensation for unspecific damages resulting from the Castle

Bravo test. A diplomatically positioned ex-gratia statement
made it clear that America was assuming no responsibility
and that the payment was merely intended as a sympathetic
gesture. The whole incident caused a tremendous amount
of unrest in Japan. A large number of outraged Japanese
citizens identified closely with the crew of the Lucky Dragon
5, and over 400,000 people attended Kuboyamas funeral.
Following this incident, the anti-nuclear movement quickly
became a powerful voice in Japan. And then in November,
GODZILLA was released.

Beyond the opening scenes, which encapsulate the tragedy
of the Lucky Dragon 5, director Ishiro Hondas film grapples
with the consequences of nuclear weapons with more direct
intentionality, gravity and integrity than any film we would
see for the next thirty years. Having been drafted into the
Imperial Japanese Army, Honda spent the last six months of
the war as a prisoner in China. In 1946 he was repatriated
through Hiroshima, witnessing firsthand the aftermath
of the nuclear attack. Those traumatic sights left a lasting
impression which would be filtered throughout his entire
body of work. He deliberately staged Godzillas destruction
of Tokyo as a slow-motion, personified version of a rolling
nuclear attack like those perpetrated against Japan.

Watching GODZILLA today, the weighty moral quagmires
that form the backbone of the narrative still feel urgent and
unresolved. The film continues to resonate in part simply

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due to the masterful artistry and applied craft of Honda,

special effects genius Eiji Tsuburaya and composer Akira
Ifukube. The insane originality of their vision still pops
with a vibrancy lacking from contemporary CGI-ridden
blockbuster still-births. But I think primarily the film still stands
out -- even from its 27 increasingly fun and outlandish sequels
-- because it struggles so earnestly with large-scale questions
of guilt and responsibility.

In GODZILLA, a film that boldly accepts our reality as one
in which human beings can willfully tear apart and destroy
the fundamental particles of the universe, a scientist character
played by Akihiko Hirata has created an Oxygen Destroyer
that can disintegrate oxygen atoms. After Godzilla is awoken
from his underwater sleep by a nuclear detonation, it becomes
clear that the Oxygen Destroyer is likely the only weapon that
can get rid of him. The scientist agonizes over the decision to
use his new invention, terrified by the possibility that, once
introduced to the world, such a weapon could never truly be
contained. Ultimately, he resolves to use it, but not before
burning the records of his lifes work to prevent others from
abusing such destructive knowledge. After Godzillas defeat,
he sacrifices himself, ensuring that the secrets of the Oxygen
Destroyer would die with him.

In later Godzilla movies, humans are often forced to
manipulate one giant monster into helping defeat another,
more immediately dangerous one. But in the end, theyre
still always stuck with a giant goddamn monster to deal
with. The abundance of crazy creatures in the Godzilla
franchise reflects the paranoid politics of mutually assured
destruction during the Cold War. Godzilla himself represents
the potential for the complete destruction of everything,
and the unfathomable consequences of fucking around with
forces powerful enough to destroy all life on Earth.

The movie still resonates because that omnipresent threat
of annihilation hasnt gone away. After the disaster at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, the Lucky
Dragon 5 embarked on a symbolic new voyage, acting as a
vivid reminder of the almost incomprehensible dangers of
peaceful nuclear technology. If that threat of total extinction
doesnt ring with the same urgency that it did during the
Cold War, its partly because weve just become accustomed
to it, grown up with it as a simple fact of modern life. Over
time, weve come to accept the idea that were irreparably
ruining this planet, an idea that decades ago had already
found expression in 27 incredible movies starring a guy in a
rubber monster suit.

Humans wont be here forever. Maybe we dont really belong
here at all anymore. Maybe ours is a world intended for giant
monsters instead. 6

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One Of Cinemas Last Wizards Is

Gone: Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013
Devin Faraci
Badass Digest Editor in Chief
@devincf
Read more at badassdigest.com

I met Ray Harryhausen once. I interviewed him briefly

backstage at a comic book convention and I found him
to be personable and nice and very sharp for a man in his
80s. Talking to him was amazing, but the real thrill for me
came at the beginning and the end of the interview, when I
shook his hand. That hand had been responsible for some
of the greatest creatures and fantastical moments I have ever
experienced in the movies.
Harryhausens career began where so many of modern movies
biggest dreams did: KING KONG. He saw that film dozens
of times and was inspired to follow in the footsteps of the
great stop motion pioneer Willis OBrien. OBrien himself
gave young Harryhausen some advice after seeing the aspiring
filmmakers home movies. Harryhausen ended up working
with OBrien as an assistant animator on MIGHTY JOE
YOUNG, a film that won OBrien an Oscar.
In many ways Harryhausen wasnt that different from the fans
of today who hope to follow in the footsteps of their heroes.
He hung out in LA with like-minded nerds, joining the Los
Angeles Science Fantasy Society at the urging of his fellow fan,
Ray Bradbury. Those two became great friends with the head
of the Society, the original fan, Forrest J. Ackerman. Imagine
hanging out with those three in Cliftons Cafeteria in downtown
LA, talking about Flash Gordon and pulp sci-fi stories. That
trio would go on to change the entire face of science fiction and,
along the way, American culture itself.
Harryhausens great feat was the way he seamlessly integrated
his stop motion creatures with live action. He avoided
expensive optical printers, which also had the bonus of
reducing image degradation that was common in special
effects work at the time. What Harryhausen sought was a
perfect meeting of the live action and stop motion, which
would in turn give the animation a more realistic feel. His
first solo film was THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS,

which saw him working with Bradbury (the producers of

the film learned that Bradburys short story THE FOG
HORN had a sequence very similar to one they wanted in
their movie, so they bought the rights to keep him from
suing). That film was a major success, and Harryhausens
career took off. He was involved heavily in every step of
pre-production, essentially directing the pictures himself.
It was common knowledge in Hollywood that the director
on a Harryhausen film was only there to help facilitate the
animators vision.
Harryhausens body of work is astonishing. THE BEAST
FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, EARTH VS. THE FLYING
SAUCERS, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD -- those are
just his masterpieces from the 50s.The 1960s saw unbelievable,
imagination-soaked movies like MYSTERIOUS ISLAND,
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, ONE MILLION
YEARS B.C. and VALLEY OF GWANGI. As Hollywood
changed around him Harryhausens output slowed in the
70s, and he made the brilliant GOLDEN VOYAGE
OF SINBAD and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE
TIGER before unleashing perhaps his greatest -- and final
-- work, the original CLASH OF THE TITANS. What Ray
Harryhausen did was simply magic. He brought inanimate
objects to life on screen, and he gave them character and
personality that often dwarfed the so-so actors who were
up against them. It is no hyperbole to say that the mind
(and hands) of Harryhausen shaped the geek revolution that
has swept pop culture in the last few decades. The creatures
and scenarios he created are the embodiment of our dreams
projected on screen. Harryhausens work is the definition of
wonder, a perfect encapsulation of the awe and joy we get
from the movies.
He was one of the last real wizards, and our world is a little
less magical now. 6

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Rampage And Melee:

An Overview of Kaiju Games
ALEX RIVIELLO
Badass Digest Games Editor

@alexriviello
Read more at badassdigest.com

Overgrown monsters and robots smashing the hell out of

each other amidst skyscrapers! Frenzied beasts with no care
or concept of collateral damage! Yes, Kaiju seems such an
obvious theme for games, seeing how it appeals to the destructive toddler that lives in all of us. So obvious, in fact,
that there are hardly any games that utilize it, and even less
that do it well. You would think that there would be a billion Kaiju games out there -- but youd be wrong. Wrong
like the 1998 GODZILLA. Just have no reason to exist.
Its a mystery why so few games are devoted to such clearly
perfect material but thats not to say that there arent some
classics in the genre. Many are easily available today and
deserve spots in your gaming library.

So lets go through them by rewinding time to 1986, a year

of chaos in America. President Reagan was selling guns to
Iran, the Challenger exploded shortly after launch, OUT
OF AFRICA won best picture at the Oscars and monsters
were stomping our arcades.
RAMPAGE
Bailey Midways arcade classic started it all. Its pretty direct
and to the point -- you choose one of three giant monsters
and have to smash every single building in a city to ashes
before moving onto the next city to do the same. Its a coop game so you work together with your fellow monsters
for ultimate destruction but a few fists inevitably land on
your compatriots, and there are never enough people to eat
to boost your health. This game sucked up many a quarter
in its day...
Most gamers grew to know and love this through its NES
version but if they did they were missing the three-player aspect, and Ralph, the giant timber wolf. A few sequels
were released decades later but they couldnt improve on
the basic model. Find yourself a bar or arcade that has it
and enjoy whats still one of the finest Kaiju games.
KING OF THE MONSTERS
In 1991 SNKs GODZILLA knock-off was the first to
do the most obvious thing with the genre, and use it for a
wrestling game. Sure, theres the usual city and innocent
bystanders to stomp on and smash through, but your whole
goal is to whittle your opponents health down and then pin
him for three seconds. You know, like monsters do in the wild.

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Beautiful colorful graphics and simple button-mashing

controls made for an arcade hit that spawned an inferior
sequel right away. A perfect port of the original was one of
the reasons the $650 Neo Geo was so tempting, provided you had another $200 for the cartridge too, of course.
Now your best bet to play it is the NEOGEO X Gold system, which comes packed with it and 19 other games for
about the same price as the original cart.
WAR OF MONSTERS
This did, though. Just months after Godzilla had his way
with the Gamecube, WAR OF THE MONSTERS descended upon the PS2. Aliens have crash-landed on Earth,
spilling radioactive goo all about the land. This causes gigantism in all sorts of animals and formerly inanimate objects, which grow several stories tall and commence pounding on each other, because Kaiju.

90s Godzilla and the streamlined 2000 model. (Unsurprisingly the American Godzilla doesnt rear his ugly head.
He would have been the perfect dummy to practice your
moves on in a training mode!)
The single player campaign is lousy but the four-player is
nearly unmatched, especially on the Gamecube, where it
was bested perhaps only by another game with Melee in
its title. But then again, it was on the Gamecube, which
meant it could never reach the audience it needed to. An
Xbox adaptation did so mediocrely that a planned PS2 port
was canned, and its sequels havent been able to recapture
the magic.
Its a shame this never got a follow-up, but its available as
a Playstation Classic on the Playstation Network, so it lives
on in our hearts and flattened cities.
MONSTERPOCALYPSE
Developers had been slacking with Kaiju video games, but
there turned out to be other options out there for gamers,
such as with this amazing miniatures game. After all, why
simply play chess when you can pit monster army vs. monster army? Monsterpocalypse started out as a collectible
game in which you first chose a boss monster from every type of Kaiju you can think of -- giant dinosaurs, apes,
aliens, robots, and even Lovecraftian beasts that lumber
around flinging around enemies with their tentacles. Once
you select the head of your army (and its clear plastic Ultra
form) you can pick and choose ground troops from the corresponding faction, and then of course the various buildings
that youll soon be destroying, from apartment buildings to
nuclear power plants.

It has everything you could ever want in a one-on-one

fighting game -- lots of fun characters (a giant electric eye!
A four-armed lava golem!), lots of super moves and, of
course, a fully destructible city with lots of unsuspecting
motorists to toss around. The game has much more of an
American atomic monster movie feel than the other games
-- the selection screen is a drive-in theater -- which makes
it stand out from the Japanese style of other games.
GODZILLA: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS MELEE
From 1991, a dearth of good games. It wasnt until 2002
that the next great Kaiju game came out, and part of it
was thanks to Nintendo. Those four controller ports on
the Gamecube enabled developers to equip games with
four-player matches as defining features, such as with this,
which is still the best Godzilla game of all time.
It features a nice selection of eleven classic Toho monstersOrga, Destroroyah, King Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon,
Rodan, even multiple versions of Godzilla, including the

It gets real fun when you start unleashing all the power moves
to conduct maximum damage, like suplexes that let you smash
your foes into buildings that then explode, or a running charge
that can smash a creature through anything in its path, including its own units. Sadly, after an exciting announcement of a
Tim Burton adaptation (hey, we can always hope he comes
back to us one day, cant we?) the game seems to have shriveled
up and died. Privateer Press hasnt had news on the series in
two years but Monsterpocalypse is well worth hunting down,
especially the two-player Battle Boxes which give you and a
friend everything you need for a Kaiju throwdown.
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE:
INSECT ARMAGEDDON
This sequel to EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 2017 (available
for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC) improved on the original in nearly
every way. But whereas all the other games in this article let you
play as giant monsters, this one lets you play as a little, stinking
human. Whats the fun in that? Fortunately youve got a ridiculous amount of firepower and thousands upon thousands of

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foes to aim it at. Youre one of the last line of defense against
otherworldly invaders, most of which are ants.
If youre laughing at the idea of an ant invasion, think
THEM! -- these ants are twenty feet long and come burrowing up from nests in the ground with malicious intent.
Then there are the swarms of giant spiders, hornets and
praying mantes, as well as the giant mechs and flying saucers. Sometimes youll get all of these at once, and youll
never face just a few enemies at once, either. The game is
always throwing dozens of enemies your way, overwhelming you with sheer numbers of giant, mutated animals. Its
the kind of pure arcade shooter that just isnt made anymore.
Note that although INSECT ARMAGEDDON is the latest and greatest in the series, theres a new one (EARTH
DEFENSE FORCE 2025) on the way this very month.
KING OF TOKYO
Richard Garfield (of MAGIC THE GATHERING fame)
recently dipped his toes into the world of Kaiju with this
2011 dice game. Two to six players choose monsters and
commence rolling, Yahtzee-style, trying to get results that
let you attack your foes, or store energy to buy powers.
You compete to attain the titular title, as only one monster
can take over Tokyo at once and you automatically become
the biggest target when you do. Theres a lot of pushing
your luck with the dice as you try to get victory points, and
knowing when to retreat is key. Half the fun though is the
great art of these cardboard monsters, as well as the expansions, the first of which features a giant koala bear.
Dont be scared by the designers pedigree, as this is probably the lightest game of them all. Anyone can pick it up
and play a match in a half hour or less, making it perfect
for whenever you need that quick Kaiju fix. 6

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KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO:

Hoax Or The First Kaiju Movie?
Devin Faraci
Badass Digest Editor in Chief
@devincf
Read more at badassdigest.com

Godzilla is the accepted King of the Monsters, but he wasnt

the first on the scene. One of the great forefathers of all things
Kaiju is King Kong, the misunderstood, lovestruck ape from
Skull Island who wowed audiences in 1933 (meaning this
year is his 80th anniversary!). Did King Kong make a visit
to the Land of the Rising Sun long before Godzilla ever rose
from the sea?
There are rumors of a film called KING KONG APPEARS
IN EDO, which was released in Japan in 1938. Every print
of the movie is today lost as a result of WWII bombings
(not an unusual thing -- most Japanese film from before
WWII is considered lost), but researchers have found an ad
for the film from a 1938 magazine called KINEMA JUNPO.
Theres also an eyewitness report; Fuminori Ohashi, the
almost totally anonymous Japanese special effects genius who
created the first Godzilla suit (and who went on to consult
on the creation of Disneyland and who helped develop the
masks for the original PLANET OF THE APES), talked in
an interview with SciFiJapan.com about making the ape suit
for KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO:
The first model making to be counted as special art

direction in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did

for the movie KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO [Edo Ni
Arawareta King Kong, 1938] fifty years ago. It was also the
first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects.
What is KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO? Beats me.
The title indicates its a movie about a giant ape showing
up in Japan during its medieval period -- samurai versus
King Kong! But then theres one image from the movie that
appears legit (or at least isnt a definite hoax), and it shows a
giant ape climbing buildings that are definitely not medieval
Japanese but rather influenced by German expressionism. If
the movie exists its damn weird.
There are plenty of people who believe the whole thing is a
hoax. Some claim that there was no record of the movie prior
to 2005, but noted Japanese film expert August Ragone claims
to have found references to the movie in a 1978 pressbook.
The fact that Ohashi went on the record about it surely has
to mean something as well.
If KING KONG APPEARS IN EDO is a real film, its a
milestone. Its Japans first giant monster movie. King Kong,
it turns out, is actually the original Kaiju. 6

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On Mechs & Monsters:

The Guillermo del Toro Interview
Devin Faraci
Badass Digest Editor in Chief
@devincf
Read more at badassdigest.com

Guillermo del Toro and giant monsters are a match made in

heaven. This month that match finally makes its way to the big
screen as his long-awaited kaiju vs. mechs movie, PACIFIC
RIM, explodes into theaters. Its his biggest movie, his most
expensive film, but in some ways its his most personal -- del
Toro grew up immersed in and obsessed with both giant
monsters and giant robots. He still has the sketches he made
as a child, designing a giant robot that would be not just his
friend but also his home.
That love for big monsters and big mechs saturates every
frame of the film. Its a movie whose final dedication -- to
monster masters Ray Harryhausen and Ishir Honda -- is
almost redundant because their spirit lives on throughout.
If there was any doubt that del Toro -- who has already
brought us a litany of classic modern monsters ranging from
The Faun in PANS LABYRINTH to every denizen of the
spectacular Troll Market in HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN
ARMY -- was following in their footsteps, PACIFIC RIM
puts that to rest.
Del Toro was putting the finishing touches on the film when
he graciously took time out of schedule to talk with BIRTH.
MOVIES.DEATH. about his love of kaiju and robots, and it
didnt take long for the whole thing to turn into a big geekout.
Q: People dont tend to realize this, but GODZILLA is a
really serious movie.
A: The version I saw as a kid was the Raymond Burr version,
which was not tonally cohesive and a bit of a mess, but it
has one of the greatest monsters of all time. When you see
the original cut, the Japanese version, its a really somber
movie. Its very bleak and one of the most existential kaiju
movies. Its a very dark coping mechanism, almost, with
the fact that around a decade before [the movie] the bombs

had dropped, and how world-altering that had been for

an entire country. That coping mechanism is articulated
in a way that is deeply personal and cannot be appreciated
all over the way it was appreciated in Japanese culture. It
was a game changer. Kaiju became part of the cultural
landscape in a way that yunkai had been in medieval
Japan.
Q: The Japanese didnt invent giant monsters. We had KING
KONG, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, all
of which came before GODZILLA. But GODZILLA
changed so much for them, and kaiju became very much
its own genre. Why do you think Japan responded to the
giant monster thing?
A: KING KONG sets off a lot of the rules that will find
their way into a lot of kaiju movies. Youre going to have a
landmark building in a city getting attacked by kaiju, or at
least used in the marketing materials. Youre going to have
an element of almost primal mythology associated with
that creature, so that it becomes elemental. But precisely
because of the trauma of the atomic explosions less than
a decade before is where it became rooted in more than
myth. They were rooting it in the psyche of a country in a
way that is incredibly moving and human and deep. I think
KING KONG had a beautiful sort of adventure feel -- you
can trace the roots of KING KONG to adventure pulp,
adventure novels, the fascination that America has with
the exotic wilds of Africa and large primates that begins
in the 1890s and continues well into the birth of cinema
-- but all of that has an exoticism to it. Theres no healing
of a trauma, theres no deep connection to the healing of a
psyche of a country -- where GODZILLA and the kaiju do
have that.
Q: Where in your psyche do your kaiju come from?

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A: Its coming from such a primal place for me as a guy who

grew up with them. The kaiju I was trying to build was
trying to reproduce the feeling you had as a kid watching
things that big, clashing on the screen. When youre a
kid watching WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, its like
watching two mountains go at it. Or a cyclone versus a
hurricane. Its a primal spectacle. Its coming from awe
for me, and a place of love.
Q: Travis Beacham, the screenwriter of PACIFIC RIM, has
said he almost feels pedantic because sometimes he wants
to correct people that the movie does not have robots, it
has human-piloted mechs. Theres a difference between
those two things, isnt there?
A: 
Im not semantically that fixated because ultimately
whatever people want to call them...but the reality is
that theyre the largest mechanical suits to do violence in
the world. A robot can have a personality, like Robbie or
Iron Giant or Maria, because they have the autonomy of
thought. They process situations, they make decisions,
they offer solutions. Jaegers dont. Their personality is that
of the pilots and the country that made them. Jaegers per
se dont have that personality.
Q: When we talk about PACIFIC RIM we go right to
the kaiju movies, but maybe the giant mech films are
lessrepresented. What are the mech movies you looked at

or that influenced you over the years?

A: To me the preparation for PACIFIC RIM was my entire
childhood watching these movies. Im old enough -Im 48 -- so when I was a kid the big rage on TV was
GIGANTOR, TETSUJIN 28. TETSUJIN 28 was a huge
influence on me. As a kid your biggest fantasy is to have
a giant robot of your own that you can control. I grew
up on Japanese shows -- Osamu Tezukas ASTRO BOY,
Eiji Tsuburayas ULTRAMAN and ULTRA Q, I grew up
with a series almost no one has seen in America called
CAPTAIN ULTRA -- and the things I admire about
Japanese animation and the Japanese science fiction is
that the battles were really hardcore. The mecha and the
kaiju did get sorely damaged. They got sliced in half, they
were almost surgically split, the mechs lost an arm, lost a
leg. That was a very visceral experience to me. I had the
preparation and then I rewatched those movies as a young
adult and as a teenager, but I made the serious decision
to not revisit them for PACIFIC RIM. Lets operate from
a place that has a real and intimate knowledge of these
things but not imitate them -- lets just go at it.
Q: Youve become known as maybe the biggest defender of
monsters in cinema. Do you feel like youre turning your
back on the monsters by making them the bad guys this
time around?
A: I think when youre a genuine kaiju fan it doesnt matter

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what side theyre on. These movies operate almost like

a wrestling match, and you get the good kaiju and the
bad kaiju and the kaijin, like in FRANKENSTEIN
CONQUERS THE WORLD, fighting Baragon.
When Baragon fights the Frankenstein Creature you
can root for the good guy, but you love -- LOVE -Baragon. You are absolutely rooting for the bad kaiju
all the time. You may be rooting for a good wrestler,

but hes usually less interesting than the bad wrestler.

My love of monsters -- Ive done my share of trying to
approach them from a different moral point of view, so I
dont have anything to prove there. Ill go back to that one
day. But the kaiju, its not that theyre good or bad, theyre
hard-wired to just destroy things. Its like when you watch
a force of nature or a scorpion youre not thinking This

Images 2013 Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures

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scorpion is good or bad, hes going to sting you because

thats just how scorpions are.
Q: Tornadoes are just tornadoes. Theyre not picking and
choosing what to destroy.
A: There is no moral moment of decision for a tornado.
The tornado doesnt think, Hmmm, Ill go for the
gas station rather than the orphanage. There is no
moral superstructure that you can impose on a kaiju.
One of the things about loving monsters, whether they
be the creations of Ray Harryhausen or of Jack Pierce at
Universal, it doesnt matter if the monsters are good or bad
in the movie. The most famous monsters Harryhausen
ever made were the heavies, and you love them
even more.
Q: This magazine is really geared towards hardcore film fans.
Is there a kaiju film you love that you wish more people
had seen?
A: Its not a kaiju film, but theres a very interesting movie
that Ishir Honda did that was based on William Hope
Hodgson story called The Voice In The Night. The
film is called MATANGO, and I think in America it
was called MATANGO THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE.
Hodgsons story was influenced by Lovecraft, and I
really recommend people seek it out because it is an
incredibly weird clash of Lovecraftian lore with one of
the greatest Japanese fantasy filmmakers of all time.
PACIFIC RIM is dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and
Honda. Its very respectfully dedicated to them because
theyre the masters.
Q: What is it about Harryhausens monsters that made them
so great? Was there something you can identify or can it
be explained?
A: 
The reason I dedicated the movie to Honda and
Harryhausen is because I think both of them have
something in common, which is you can see they love
their creations. Theyre high on their own supply, which is
something I completely share. I can make a spooky creature
like The Pale Man, but you can always tell when someone
who designed the monster knows and loves monsters,
and when somebody grew up with that imagination. You
can see that through the eyes of what they were creating,
because it was so precious to them. Thats what it is -- the
monsters were precious. 6

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Flying Turtle Power:

The GAMERA Trilogy!
Evan Saathoff
Badass Digest News Editor
@sam_strange
Read more at badassdigest.com

Thanks to a cooler than usual name, his memorably baffling

character design, tons of cable television repeats and a handful
of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 episodes,
Gamera remains one of the very few Kaiju to gain his own
prominence outside of the Godzilla franchise.
Of course, that still leaves plenty of people out there who have
never heard of him. So just to catch everyone up: Gamera is
not a giant lizard or an oversized insect but rather a massive
turtle. For added menace, he has upward pointing tusks. For
added lulz, he flies by spinning like a top.

often ponderous and always cost-effective human scenes

when all you really came for is the giant monster fighting
action. Each Kaiju film must navigate a tricky ratio of human
to monster screen time. If the monster stuff is really special,
you can afford more scenes spent among boring humans. If
the monster fights are lame, youd better at least have a lot
of them. The magical combo rests at about half and half,
especially if the filmmakers found a way to make the human
stuff interesting. The best Ive ever seen in this regard is WAR
OF THE GARGANTUAS, which manages to be entertaining
no matter what kind of scene youre watching.

Gameras first film run, designated the Showa series,

consists of seven increasingly kid-friendly films and one clip
show (more or less). Like a lot of Kaiju films, the Showa
Gamera series showcases a certain goofy charm that negates
its significant shortcomings. The films are easy to make fun
of but also kind of special. If youre already predisposed to
Kaiju movies, its hard not to get excited about something
like Gameras foe, Guiron, a kind of shark Kaiju whose entire
head is one giant sword (and who, by the way, appears to
have a modern counterpart in PACIFIC RIMs Knifehead).

The films in Gameras Hensai Trilogy devote way too much

time to human storylines, but its worth it for a few reasons. For
one, each film really tries to go deep into Gamera mythology,
and while slow going, much of it is pretty interesting. For
instance, the third film opens with the surprise discovery of
an underwater graveyard filled with the skeletons of previous
Gameras. This bit is indicative of the bigger ideas at play
here. The Gamera graveyard never really pays off the way you
want it to, but its a jaw-dropping Kaiju moment regardless,
the likes of which no Godzilla film has yet approached.

The last real film of the Showa series came with 1971s
GAMERA VS. ZIGRA. But in 1995, Gamera was revived with
a great trio of films known as the Heisei Trilogy. First came
GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, followed
the next year by GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION, and
concluding with 1999s GAMERA 3: AWAKENING OF
IRYS (sometimes referred to as REVENGE OF IRIS). All
three films were directed by Shusuke Kaneko, who would
go on to direct two DEATH NOTE films as well as 2001s
GODZILLA, MOTHRA, AND KING GHIDORAH:
GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK.

This more serious tone does occasionally stumble, but even

this is part of the fun. When an onlooker names the second
films villain Legion by starkly quoting biblical verse, its hard
not to guffaw a bit. The same goes for the way the films
credits isolate the second Katakana character in Gameras
name, which kind of looks like a drunken letter T, so that
it briefly resembles a martyrs cross before the rest of his name
shows up.

Being a Kaiju fan means sitting through a lot of poorly made,

Its also easier to pay attention to all the human scenes because
this is a real trilogy, not just three separate films unified by
style and decade. Not only do all three entries have the same
director, but they all star Yukijiro Hotaru, Shinobu Nakayama

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and Ayako Fujitani (Steven Seagals daughter!) in roles that

grow in importance from one film to the next (or diminish,
in Yukijiro Hotarus case). You could sit down and watch
GAMERA 3: AWAKENING OF IRYS without knowing
anything about the previous two, but it would barely make
any sense, and youd be missing out on a medium amount
of world building.
But the main reason the human scenes are worth sitting
through is the same reason all Kaiju human scenes are worth
sitting through: Its just the price you must pay to get to
the fights. And Gameras fights are absurdly great. One very
important detail that sets Gamera films apart from Godzilla
films is their dedication to Kaiju gore. This is true of both
the Showa and Heisei Gamera series. The guy bleeds a lot.
To give you an idea of how awesome these films can get, in
AWAKENING OF IRYS, Gamera at one point finds himself
unable to defend himself because his hand has been pinned
to a wall. So he just rips it off and finishes the fight with one
hand figuratively tied behind his back. Godzilla never did
anything like that.

at them, but when hundreds cover Gamera like a bunch of

army ants, the imagery is kind of sickening and awesome.
As the film goes on, all the little alien crabs combine into
one main foe whom Gamera blows up (after ripping off one
of her horns). The third film gives this Gamera trilogy its
greatest Kaiju villain in Irys, a kind of a bi-pedal dragon
Kaiju with fluid-sucking tentacles and lots of sharp spikes
all over.
On top of all the tough fighting, Gamera also has to contend
with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. These knuckleheads
go back and forth on whether or not Gamera is friend or
foe. As a result, the trilogy features several instances where
Gamera needs to go chase some villainous Kaiju but cant
because the JSDF is shooting him down with missiles. This
has the odd but extremely pleasing effect of turning Gamera
into not just a genuine hero but a harried one as well. Impeded
by the very people hes trying to defend, Gamera puts off
an almost John McClane level of exasperation, all without
changing his facial expression. Its great.

These movies get down and dirty, and that more than any
other reason is why you should watch them. If Godzilla is
the ubiquitous standard-bearing Harry Potter of Kaiju and
Mothra is the saccharine but stiff Hermione Granger, then
Gamera must be Kaijus Ron Weasley, the poor, redheaded
kid with a filthy mouth and ratty clothes who knows how to
take a beating.

The 1990s were impressive years for Kaiju films. Filmmakers

had generations of practical special effect techniques to use
and improve upon. Kaiju effects were subtly enriched by
rather than dependent on CGI. You can tell the difference
just by comparing Gamera movies. The first series is limited
but fun. The Heisei Trilogy looks just right. And the only
millennial effort thus far, 2006s GAMERA THE BRAVE
looks like a goofy, weightless cartoon.

Over-the-top violence and crazy origins help elevate Gameras

villains beyond just regular old Kaiju, which is kind of
what they look like. In GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE
UNIVERSE, Gamera fights the Gyaos, who look like little
more than Rodan ripoffs. But while the Gyaos are physically
unimaginative villains, their unexpected meanness demands
they be taken seriously. Gamera spends the next film fighting
Legion, a bunch of crab Kaiju. You want to roll your eyes

Continuity is nothing new to Kaiju, but if youre looking for

a fun, narratively concentrated trilogy of films to marathon
in one afternoon, you cant do much better than the
Heisei Gamera Trilogy. The three films offer great looking,
surprisingly violent Kaiju action, a weirdly relatable hero and
an overall story arc that manages to be more epic in scope
than you might expect. 6

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On Optimus Prime
And Movies Made By Marketing
Committees That Are Still
Crazy Awesome
HENRI MAZZA
Associate Publisher
@henrimazza

Read more at badassdigest.com

Its the beginning of July, and the biggest season for movies
in the year. This summer, Hollywood has already given us
another Iron Man movie, a new Superman, and, soon, big ass
robots fighting huge effing monsters. Pretty much everything
on screen this month will have at least one explosion, and all
of these movies have been carefully developed by studio suits
utilizing market research and test audience focus groups,
with the ultimate goal being to make a big spectacle that can
be understood and enjoyed by a wide enough audience so it
can clean up at the box office all over the world.

all, or it wouldnt exist in anything like this form.

And so of course this is also the season when there are dozens
of articles bemoaning the state of cinema today.

Screenwriters of course complained that this kind of pseudoscience is removing the art from writing, and one of our
own writers, the amazing Film Crit Hulk, totally eviscerated
that article and the company they were profiling with an
incredibly thoughtful analysis of how the storytelling process
should work. And all of those critiques are true.

Earlier this summer, Steven Soderbergh launched the first

big attack on the studio system of the season when he gave
an address at the San Francisco International Film Festival
and drew a line in the sand between cinema and movies:
The simplest way that I can describe it is that a movie is
something you see, and cinema is something thats made
. . . Cinema is a specificity of vision. Its an approach in
which everything matters. Its the polar opposite of generic
or arbitrary and the result is as unique as a signature or a
fingerprint. It isnt made by a committee, and it isnt made
by a company, and it isnt made by the audience. It means
that if this filmmaker didnt do it, it either wouldnt exist at

Next there was a big piece in the NEW YORK TIMES about
Worldwide Motion Picture Group and how the studios
are hiring them to use statistical analysis of screenplays to
determine if a movie is likely to be a box office hit before they
even give it the final green light. Heres one of my favorite
bits from that: Bowling scenes tend to pop up in films that
fizzle, Mr. Bruzzese, 39, continued. Therefore it is statistically
unwise to include one in your script.

And making movies for the widest possible audience of

course means that theres the potential for a certain amount
of dumbing down of the stories that are being told.
But who cares? Because sometimes you arent in the mood
for cinema, and sometimes movies made for the crassest
reasons, movies made by a committee, and movies made
to appeal to the lowest common denominator possible, can
become touchstones for a generation.

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After all, in his State of Cinema speech even Soderberg

admitted that a lot of the films he would classify as cinema
are unwatchable pieces of crap. His point was that as long
as those unwatchable pieces of crap are true to one authors
vision than at least we have something artistic, and theres a
voice thats worth listening to. But I would disagree. I dont
want to listen to every voice that shouts in the wind just
because it has a unique vision of lunacy.
And the flip side of that Soderbergh coin is true as well, because
while there are several big budget Hollywood movies filled
with explosions that are unwatchable collections of boring
set piece after boring set piece, punctuated with unemotional
scenes of terrible comic relief, there are also tons of examples
of movies that were made to suit the calculations of the most
unscrupulous bean counters who were just trying to make a
buck that still became the defining moments in the cinematic
lives of the audience they were made for.
Case in point? The original TRANSFORMERS: THE
MOVIE (the animated version from 1986) and the Death
of Optimus Prime.
See, in the early 80s Hasbro acquired the rights to a bunch
of Japanese toys that were both robots and vehicles. By
following a set of instructions you could transform them
from one to the other, and that was pretty cool. But it also
wasnt enough to suck you into an entire world or make you
buy toy after toy after toy, so Hasbro borrowed a page out

of the playbook Mattel had written a few years earlier with

their Masters of the Universe line of toys and they decided
to pay to produce an animated TV show that would take
these shells and turn them into characters.
Optimus Prime was a semi-truck who led the Autobots, a
group of car/robots who wanted to successfully blend in with
human society so they could go back to their home world
one day and live in peace, or something like that. Megatron
was a robot who somehow turned into a tiny gun and led
the Decepticons, a bunch of bad guys who wanted to shoot
different colored lasers than the Autobots at whatever they
could. Every afternoon on TV they had adventures, they
fought each other, they introduced new characters, and they
made kids around the world want to buy more toys.
After two years of that cartoon on the small screen, Hasbro
helped produce a full length feature film, TRANSFORMERS:
THE MOVIE, which promised an epic space battle for the
future of Cybertron, the Transformers home world. This
movie introduced us to a lot of new characters, and could
have been a great way of selling more toys while still being a
very standard kids adventure movie (albeit one with a great
soundtrack).
But in the middle of the movie, just after a fist-bumping
rendition of The Touch by Stan Bush, Optimus Prime
and Megatron meet up for a battle, and (27-year-old spoiler
alert) Optimus Prime dies. Ha ha ha! the kids laughed

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to themselves. This is a great trick hes playing. Good job,

Optimus. Now wake up and kick his butt!
But Optimus Prime doesnt wake up. Optimus Prime
stays dead.
And so kids in the theater start crying. Not sobbing, like we
all do at the beginning of UP, but slowly, with tears running
down their cheeks and a little quiver in their bottom lip. For
many, this was the first father figure theyd ever had to face
losing.
Years later, in college, while sipping beers at a local tavern
and dealing with the loss of an actual friend, or parent,
or grandparent, some of those now-grown kids could be
overheard saying, The first death that really affected me in
my life was Optimus Prime. Then later my dog died, too.
Does that sound ridiculous to you? Then GROW A HEART!!!
OPTIMUS PRIME WAS A HERO!!
Sorry. It still gets to me sometimes.
So here I am, 27 years later, still thinking about a cartoon
character who fell down and didnt get back up again (at
least not until 1988, when he was resurrected with the
powermaster technology).
But what motivated screenwriter Ron Friedman to give us
this pivotal moment in cinema history? The greed of the
suits at Hasbro, of course.
Because Optimus Prime was popular, but maybe he was too
popular. Maybe if you loved Optimus Prime and you had
an Optimus Prime toy and a Bumblebee toy and maybe
a couple of Decepticons for them to fight then you didnt
NEED to add a Hot Rod to your collection. But if Hot Rod
became the leader? Well, you want to play with the leader of
the Autobots, dont ya kid?
There was no noble desire to express anything about the
human condition and how fragile our lives are as we cling to
this spinning sphere thats hurtling through space. But that
lesson was learned anyway, because OPTIMUS, NOOOO!
So theres no doubt that for children of a certain generation
TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE is both a fantastic piece
of entertainment and a seminal moment in our lives. But
according to the Soderberghs of the world, that isnt enough
to make it cinema.
And that kind of argument is an old one, but one that still
bothers me.
I think if a movie, or a TV show, or a book or play or song

speaks to you, and teaches you, and changes your perspective

of the world and lets you grow as a person, then that movie
is Good. Even if its made by a bunch of assholes sitting
around a table in a boardroom, munching on cigars and
looking for more money to afford fuel for their private jets
to take them to Cuba so they can restock their supply of
illegal smokes. It doesnt matter, and trying to differentiate
between two different stories and determining which one is
art is a foolish endeavor.
Ultimately, nothing can be art because of how it is created.
Until it enters the mind of someone in the audience, a story
or a painting or a song or a movie is just a series of words, or
colors, or a melody, or images flashing on a screen. But when
something that we create out of nothing, based solely on the
power of our minds, enters the mind of someone else in the
audience? Thats where the connections are made, and thats
when at the very least that creation has the opportunity to
become art.
So yes, OF COURSE lets seek out the brave independents,
and lets support the next Shane Carruth who is even now
toiling in his garage making the surprise hit of Sundance
2017. Lets embrace the cinematic outliers and join Film
Societies and respect the Masters of Cinema and cherish every
opportunity we have to enjoy the classics on a big screen in
a darkened theater filled with other true film fans.
But lets not make all of that mean that were afraid to open
our hearts and minds to the next superhero movie thats filled
with explosions that are designed with the express purpose
of selling tickets overseas.
And just because were smart enough to know when something
is paying homage by ripping off Kurosawa doesnt mean we
have to stop ourselves from enjoying THE WOLVERINE,
or classify the pleasure we get from it as guilty.
This summer, lets bury the hatchet and let all Film Fans and
Cinephiles and Movie Lovers come together and just enjoy
it all. Because who knows? If you have a couple of beers in
your system you might even get into the right frame of mind
to find the art in GROWN UPS 2. After all, maybe this is
the one where they kill Adam Sandler. 6

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GODZILLA:
King Of All Comic Book Monsters
Robert Saucedo
Alamo Drafthouse Programming Director, Houston
@robsaucedo2500

Read more at badassdigest.com

The Marvel Universe is home to many a strange creature.

With names like Grogg, Goom, Grattu and, yes, Fing Fang
Foom, giant creatures have long found a home in the same
comic book world that Spider-Man, the X-Men and The
Avengers call home. Its only natural, then, that Godzilla,
Tohos King of Monsters, would come to call the Marvel
Universe home too.
1977 saw Godzilla in the height of his popularity. The
giant radioactive lizard that had been born into this world
as a terrifying piece of post-World War II, anti-American
propaganda was now a full-fledged superhero. He wrestled
across yearly movies -- fighting all manner of evil aliens,
undersea civilizations and fellow mutant menaces. He
befriended the young (appearing in an anti-bullying PSA)
and even had time to father a son! There were toys (many,
many toys), Christmas-themed singles and, thanks to Marvel
Comics, a monthly series that saw the monster journey
through space and time in search of adventure.
Godzilla was no stranger to comic books -- he had long
found a home in black-and-white manga released in Japan
and frequently tied to his regular output of films. Godzillas
first American comic book appearance was a four-page
freebie given to audiences at screenings of GODZILLA VS.
MEGALON in 1976.
The following year, Marvel Comics licensed the character
for what would be a 24-issue series written by Doug Moench
(the co-creator of characters such as Moon Knight and DC
Comics Bane) and illustrated by Herb Trimpe (longtime
Hulk illustrator and the first artist to draw Wolverine in a
comic book). Marvel licensed Godzilla but did not pony
up for the lizards film friends or foes -- leaving Moench
with the freedom (or burden, as the case may be) to create

new adventures and enemies for Godzilla to combat over

the course of the series.
In The Coming, the first issue of GODZILLA, KING
OF THE MONSTERS, the lizards primary pursuer is
established to be none other than S.H.E.I.L.D, Marvels
go-to organization when it comes to keeping world peace
and/or capturing rampaging radioactive lizards. Dum Dum
Dugan, Nick Furys right-hand man, is personally charged
with ridding America of the creature and teams with a group
of Japanese scientists to capture the behemoth after he begins
his North American tour following an appearance in Alaska.
From Alaska to Seattle to San Francisco, Dugan and his team
track Godzilla. Along the way, Godzilla takes in the sights and
even has a chance to interact with local heroes -- including
a rumble with San Fran superhero team The Champions,
a 70s alliance that included Iceman, Angel, Ghost Rider,
Black Widow and more.
In order to give the monster opponents that offered a fair

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fight, Moench invented a fleet of new monsters (including

Yetrigar the biggest bigfoot of them all!) for Godzilla to
rumble with. He and Trimpe also invented the mechanizedmonster fighter Red Ronin. The character, a by-product of
Stark Technology and enemy to monsters everywhere, is a
giant samurai-inspired robot that has, even after Marvels
Godzilla license expired, continued to pop up in the Marvel
Universe -- even recently given the alter-ego of a teenage girl.
Halfway through the series, Moench began to find his groove
and decided to send Godzilla on even stranger adventures -ejecting the lizard from Earth and sending him to the moon
to settle a longstanding feud between two warring alien races
and to the west to rumble with cattle-rustlers and cowboys.
Godzilla was even shrunk down to the size of a rat thanks to
the use of Pym Particles, a material invented by Hank Pym
(aka Ant-Man) that can change the size of anything it comes
in contact with.
Once shrunk, Godzilla began a multi-issue arc that saw the
monster slowly begin to grow back to full-size. Captured by
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Fantastic Four before he had retained
his full size, Godzilla was sent back in time to the age of
dinosaurs -- Marvels top scientists surely not considering
what possible ramifications could come from the exposure of
a radioactive monster to the prehistoric timeline. Obviously
Reed Richards wasnt a Ray Bradbury fan.
As it turns out, Godzillas radiation does futz with the time
travel technology and instead of being sent to the past, he is
sent to the Jack Kirby-created alternate dimension Dinosaur
World, home of cross-species BFFs Devil Dinosaur, a giant red
T-Rex, and Moon-Boy, a monkey boy with a heart of gold.
Once the Fantastic Four realized their mistake, they plucked
Godzilla from Dinosaur World and plopped him back in
the middle of New York City. Now at his full-grown size, it
was finally time for the King of Monsters to battle Marvels
premier superhero team -- The Avengers. The last two issues
of Marvels series featured Godzilla in an all-out-rumble
with The Avengers and the Fantastic Four and featured
appearances from S.H.I.E.L.D., The Daily Bugle (including
a showdown between J. Jonah Jameson and Godzilla) and
even one final last-minute cameo from Spider-Man. In the
end, all it took was a stern talking to by a young boy to send
Godzilla on his way -- disappearing into the ocean and out
of the Marvel Universe forever.
Or was it forever? Despite the fact that Marvels license with
Toho for Godzilla had ended, Marvel was not willing to
let go of the King of Monsters that easily. In 1985, Doctor
Demonicus, a monster-loving mad scientist that had first
appeared in an early issue of GODZILLA, KING OF
MONSTERS, made his return in an issue of IRON MAN.

He even brought along an old friend. In order to skate

international copyright laws, Godzilla was never referred to
as Godzilla and was given a makeover courtesy of Demonicus.
Now with a few horns on his head, a fin along his back and
webbed hands, the new and improved Godzilla was free to
rampage across the Marvel Universe again -- without Marvel
needing to cut a check to Toho.
This new version of Godzilla only appeared a few times
-- including once in an issue of The Things solo series in
which the monster was, presumably by accident, referred
to directly by name. A few years ago, in the first issue of
MIGHTY AVENGERS, a spin-off series featuring a team
of government-sanctioned Avengers, New York City was
attacked by a horde of monsters controlled by the Mole
Man, an underground-dwelling, monster-loving villain.
Among the monsters was Godzilla -- without the amphibious
adjustments Demonicus had made to his body. This cameo
was most likely not an official appearance by the monster -instead just a clever gag from artist Frank Cho.
Marvel found a lot of success in the 70s with licensing
characters -- including series set in the Marvel Universe
that featured toy properties Rom the Space Knight and the
Micronauts. Unfortunately, the use of these characters in
the Marvel Universe means that many stories from Marvel
Comics are no longer able to be reprinted -- with collections
of comics from the 70s often skipping over issues that
feature characters to which Marvel no longer has a license.
Even Shang-Chi, a Marvel mainstay and current Avenger,
has almost no reprint collections available due to the fact
that Shang-Chis father was established to be Fu Manchu
and Marvel no longer has the rights to use the character.
Thankfully, Marvel worked out a deal with Toho last decade
and released a black-and-white collection under their
Essentials series that collects the full 24-issue run. ESSENTIAL
GODZILLA is easily available and highly recommended
for both fans of Kaiju and Marvel superheroes. If anything,
the collection is worth a purchase alone for the multi-issue
arc in which a shrunken Godzilla fights rats, sharks and
New York muggers. You just cant put a price on that kind
of entertainment. 6

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PULGASARI: The Time North Korea

Kidnapped A Filmmaker
To Make A Kaiju Movie
Devin Faraci
Badass Digest Editor in Chief
@devincf

Read more at badassdigest.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

However else history remembers North Korean leader Kim

Jong-Il -- that he was a madman, that he was a despot, that
he brought his nation to its knees and starved his own people
to death -- lets not forget that he was also a huge fan of the
movies. He had a massive collection of films -- 15,000 or
more -- and was on the record as a big fan of James Bond
films, as well as a lover of the RAMBO and FRIDAY THE
13TH franchises. Even before he became the president of
North Korea, he saw that cinema was the way to escalate the
image of his nation in the eyes of the world. Over the years
Kim Jong-Il worked on dozens of films, and he even wrote
a book on the subject, called ON THE ART OF CINEMA.
But perhaps his greatest cinematic moment came
PULGASARI, a Kaiju movie made in 1985. That the dictator
of North Korea should executive produce a monster movie
that was a thinly veiled critique of capitalism is one thing,
that he should kidnap a South Korean filmmaker to get it
done is something else altogether.
Kim recognized that North Korea didnt offer the proper
talent pool to make great films, so he arranged to get himself
a filmmaker. In 1978 Choi Eun-hui, a South Korean movie
star, disappeared in Hong Kong. Her husband, Shin Sangok -- a famous director known as The Prince of Korean
Cinema -- came to Hong Kong in an attempt to find her.
It wasnt long before Shin ended up with a burlap sack over
his head, was knocked out by some kind of gas, and woke
up on a ship, wrapped in plastic. He had been kidnapped
by North Korean agents. That Kim Jong-Il always did know
how to make things cinematic. The two South Koreans were
taken to Pyongyang to make movies for The People.
Shins initial living situation was okay, but then he tried to
escape and ended up in jail, living on cornmeal and grass -making him better fed than most North Koreans. After five
years Kim Jong-Il brought him out and in 1983 Sang-ok
began making movies for Korea. This was also when he was
finally reunited with his wife, a moment that the dictator
commemorated with a huge party and an apology. Shin
would later say that the North Korean film crews were fine,
and made up of good people. Just 200 or so were evil, and
they were in charge, he told the Guardian in 2003.
Shin was given a budget of $3 million a year, and he eventually
turned out seven films for Kim. Among other landmarks,
Shins movies depicted the first onscreen kiss in any North
Korean film. His hosts were friendly enough, but the director
was forced to claim that he was in North Korea willingly and
that he had defected. But Shin had a plan . . . (more on that
later).
Kim Jong-Il liked GODZILLA movies. A lot. So one of
the films that he had Shin make was a riff on Japans Kaiju
cinema; PULGASARI is the tale of a small doll that magically

comes to life when it touches blood. The doll grows into a

giant, metal-eating monster who first helps the local peasants
overthrow their feudal lord but whose demand for metal
overwhelms the farming communities, who must feed the
beast their tools to satisfy it. The monster that helped them
turns on them, and must be destroyed -- a story of capitalism
(with its endless demand for resources) run amok.
PULGASARI is terrible, but its notable for featuring man-insuit effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, the special effects director
of the GODZILLA movies since the 70s (he had been
working on the films since the 60s). Nakano was convinced
that he would be allowed to return to Japan, and so he
brought with him his team of Toho technicians, including
Kenpachiro Satsuma, who had played Godzilla in numerous
films. Satsuma played Pulgasari, and supposedly (according
to Wikipedia and a shady looking North Korean website)
preferred PULGASARI to the American GODZILLA. Then
again, who wouldnt?
PULGASARI played very briefly outside of North Korea,
becoming something of a cult classic and a truly hard film
to find (at one time). Shin and his wife managed to escape
Kim Jong-Ils clutches while in Vienna for a film festival.
The two raced to the American embassy (in an actual car
chase) where they applied for asylum. While the official
North Korean party line was that Shin and his wife had
defected, the South Koreans had made secret recordings
of Kim Jong-Il that proved otherwise -- and that had him
talking about how flawed North Koreas form of socialism
was, and how the nation was at the kindergarten level
of technology. Lots of bad, bad stuff about his own
country, basically.
Shin moved to America, where he worked under the name
Simon Sheen. He directed 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP and
produced a couple more 3 NINJAS films, which is surely
not all that different from working in North Korea. Most
amazingly Shin worked on a movie that was essentially a
remake of PULGASARI; he was actually very proud of his
Kaiju film. The American version is called THE LEGEND
OF GALGAMETH, which sees a prince teaming up with a
metal-eating dragon to save his kingdom.
Eventually Shin moved back to South Korea and made some
more movies. He was working on a Genghis Khan musical
(really) when he died in 2006; Shin was posthumously
awarded the Gold Crown Cultural Medal, the highest award
an artist can get in South Korea. I dont know how North
Korea marked his passing. 6

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The Mysterious
Origins of VOLTRON
JORDAN HOFFMAN
Badass Digest Contributor

@jhoffman6
Read more at badassdigest.com

Hold on to your blazing sword, because rooting out the

origins of VOLTRON is steeped in myths as confusing as
the mighty robot itself.

The five space rangers follow an almost one-to-one parallel

with a show that helped prime the pump for VOLTRON:
BATTLE OF THE PLANETS.

Imagine a world without cable, where cartoons of every stripe

are not available at all times. After school, you watch whats
on channel 5 or you watch nothing. More importantly,
imagine a world without Google, where quick keystrokes
cant explain why your toy Voltron is labelled Voltron III
when you dont remember Voltron I or Voltron II.
VOLTRON has a lock on the psyches of people exactly my
age (like the members of the Wu-Tang Clan, I suppose) and
Im now convinced part of its hold was that we intuitively
knew we were only getting part of the story. The Japanese
import, a syndication mish-mosh of other shows stripped of
its violence and loaded with fig leaf repurposed footage, was
part-serialized story, part-robeast of the week, part-kiddie
show cuteness. The dialogue and voice acting is atrocious, but
the explosive animation remains quite striking by any measure.

BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, quickly nick-named

G-FORCE (and later re-cut and distributed that way)
was an American cash-grab after STAR WARS. It took a
popular Japanese cartoon (SCIENCE NINJA TEAM
GATCHAMAN) that was set in space, chopped it up, added
an R2-D2-ish character (that would be the lovable 7-Zark-7
from Center Neptune) and fed it to kids crazy early in the
morning. I distinctly recall watching this show at 6 am when
the rest of the home slumbered.

The story of VOLTRON (later known as Voltron III, just

hang with me) is about five peace keeping space rangers
from Earth who reawaken the legendary Voltron to protect
the besieged planet of Arus from Evil King Zarkon of Planet
Doom. Zarkon, with the witch Haggar at his side, has an
army of vicious robeasts led (at first) by his doofus lieutenant
Yorak, then later his lovesick son Lotor. Zarkon kinda has a
blue fish face and the robeasts, obviously a portmanteau of
robot and beast, all tend to look more like beasts than robots
(I suspect the robo is in there so American kids wouldnt
see the weekly slaying of sentient beings.) The robeasts are
shuttled around in coffins called beastcrafts and thats the
greatest thing ever.

VOLTRON had an earnest, charismatic leader, a laid-back

second-in-command, a Princess in pink, a shrimpy kid and
a fat guy. When they got in their color-coded special vehicles
they would join together to form a giant robot called Voltron.
But there were two other key differences. The first was that
the pre-robot vehicles werent just rugged tanks or jets -- they
were mechanical lions.

BIRTH. MOVIES.DEATH. / JULY 2013

BATTLE OF THE PLANETS had an earnest, charismatic

leader, a laid-back second-in-command, a Princess in pink,
a shrimpy kid and a fat guy. When they got in their colorcoded special vehicles they would join together to form a
super-vehicle, the Phoenix.

When American distributers wanted to adapt the Japanese

show for kids they requested the one with the lions from
Toei Animation. They actually wanted a different robot
lion show (MIRAI ROBO DALTANIOUS) but ended up
with BEAST KING GOLION. It was one of the greatest
misunderstandings in animation history.

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GOLION is big, colorful and gorgeous and theres something

innately awesome about five robot lions joining to become
a behemoth with growling metal jaws for fists and feet.
The origin didnt matter too much because the American
adaptors werent planning on telling the same story anyway.
For starters, theyd have to cut out a lot of the blood, guts and
death. Which leads us to the second big difference between
VOLTRON and other shows we were used to: Sven.
I remember many school bus rides arguing about who the
heck Sven was. He was part of the original team, some swore.
Some claimed he wasnt even real. Again, you gotta remember
how we first saw these shows. They werent shown in order
-- odd, because there is something of a narrative. (Indeed, it
takes FOUR WHOLE EPISODES of VOLTRON before
they actually form the robot.) The first blue lion, before the
Princess took the seat, was this nice enough fella named Sven.
(Note to Toei Animation: not many dudes named Sven have
such dark eyes and hair, but well let it pass.)
Sven, about whom I spent a lot of time arguing (because
I saw an episode with him, I swear!) was a horrible,
horrible character. Despite Peter Cullens intro, the voice

acting is poor all over VOLTRON. Lennie Weinrib voices

Hunk (the fat guy in the yellow lion) as the worlds worst
Fred Flintstone impression. Michael Bells Sven sounds like
an 8-year-old who wont stop mimicking the Swedish Chef
until you threaten to send him to his room. When the teams
cross-chatter is pumping themselves up to really give it to
a threatening robeast, Sven just blurts out Give Him!!!!
Its absurd.
(To be fair, I must salute Jack Angels voicing duties of
Commander Yorak. He sinks his teeth deep into wonderfully
absurd lines like Stupid robot lions, do you think you can
defeat the great Yorak, commander of all the evil robot forces
of the Galaxy?!? Fooooools!!! with all the relish such poetry
deserves.)
Anyway, the point is that after a few episodes you didnt have
to deal with Sven too much. He was attacked by Haggars
blue cat with electric eyes (!) and fell down injured. Hovering
over him, team leader Keith says there is a doctor on Planet
Ebb and then Sven disappears like Poochie going to his
home planet.

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In the Japanese version Sven dies. In the American version,

Sven comes back to much hoopla far later in the series. That
wasnt actually Sven. That was Svens twin brother, but the
American distributers brushed that all aside.
Turns out the Japanese version had a hell of a lot more
violence (and slave abuse and piles of dead bodies), which
is why each episode ends with the robeast getting killed in
almost the exact same way. Recycled footage took care of
that, and when there was too much of a hole to fill in they
could always cut back to Earths home base known as
Galaxy Garrison.
Heres the thing about Galaxy Garrison. This footage, mostly
comprised of men sitting around a giant table saying how will
we help the Voltron Force?, is actually taken from another
show entirely. The Galaxy Garrison sequences were lifted
from ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER XV, and after
VOLTRON ran out of material from the original GOLION
show, the American producers just decided to switch over to
footage from this show entirely. This is where the mysterious
Vehicle Voltron comes from, which, if you bought the toys
was bafflingly called Voltron I.
Imagine coming home from school one day, and, after
winning the fight with your sister to watch the show you want
(take THAT stupid LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE)
your five favorite space explorers and their lions are gone. In
their place are FIFTEEN space explorers divided into three
groups the Air, Land and Sea Teams and when the whole
group comes together they form a different robot.
Of course, this new version still had a shrimpy kid, a fat guy,
a Princess-surrogate and a leader who looked and sounded
just like Keith (or Jason from BATTLE OF THE PLANETS)
but it was impossible to know everyone and all we wanted
was our old characters back. Plus, all fifteen of the vehicles
could fly, but Land could also ride over rugged terrain and
Sea could go underwater. Air could just. . . stay in the air.
How is that cool? And thats the one the leader is in? No
thank you!
(To be fair, the Sea Team had this blue guy with a weird
voice who kinda sounded like. . . oh my God. . .Michael
Bell? Kirik the blue Sea Team dude was Sven! Aghhhhh if I
could go back in time and tell the kids on the bus this!!!!)
This second iteration scored poorly, so new episodes with
the Lion team were commissioned. To make sense of the
continuity it was explained, in a crossover later released as a
45 minute VHS called FLEET OF DOOM, that the Lions
were from the Far Universe and the Vehicles were from the
Near Universe. This may lead you to ask what about the
Middle Universe? And here lies the greatest VOLTRON
mystery of all.
There was a kid on the bus who swore, swore, that he had a

cousin in Ohio that had Voltron II toys. And it was called

Gladiator Voltron. Whereas Vehicle Voltron and Lion
Voltron were comprised of fairly obvious components, this
rumored, half-truth of a Voltron was, supposedly, a collection
of three middle-sized robots that became a Giant Robot like
we knew and loved. And if we just waited, the show would
be starting any day now.
The show never came, but the legend of Voltron II
(like the stories of the mighty robot of Planet Arus itself )
had some validity. An adaptation of the Japanese show
LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS was planned
but later dropped. And, eventually, VOLTRON slipped
away from afternoon television. Or maybe I just grew up.
(Im sure I didnt go do something outside, as my mother
screamed at me to do, I can tell you that much.) So it wasnt
until I took a look back at these shows online that I realized
just how obviously Japanese they were.
Forgetting the hallmarks of what we now recognize as an
anime style, there are noticeably non-Western moments all
over the place. Whenever the Voltron Force encounters a tomb
or a holy place, they clasp their hands and bow their heads
as if in Shinto prayer. There are also these giant-eyed space
mice running around interrupting the story, a fine example
of kawaii -- the emphasis of cuteness in unexpected places
in Japanese culture. I mean, there is a fierce robot versus
monster battle in outer space and the show frequently cuts
to shots of an adorable, pudgy pink mouse named Cheddar.
Theres also a lot of bondage play with the Princess. In just
the first few episodes she is tied to a chair by her surrogate
father and later spanked by her (German?) nanny while
the entire Voltron Team laughs. I dont know that this is
specifically Japanese, but I submit it as a compliment that
anything sexually deviant has a way of having double impact
when you know it comes from Japan.
Due to the cuts and translations theres plenty that comes
across as strange while watching as an adult. Why does King
Zarkon refer to our heroes as the Voltron Force before they
actually present themselves as Voltron? He even has a line to
Haggar (and her cat) ranting about the Votron Force, then
mere seconds later seems shocked that the legendary Voltron
may have returned. Furthermore, the nobles of Planet Arus
cant operate Voltron because they dont know how, but as
soon as our guys show up they say well do it and then
somehow they know how to drive these crazy robot lions.
It makes no sense. And why is it that just by tunneling to
the lions secret locations theyll emerge in their uniform?
(Though I guess you can say the same about the Bat-Poles.)
In 2011 there was a surprisingly decent modern update
of VOLTRON called VOLTRON FORCE. While Im
hardwired to dislike any show that uses the word epic (I

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much prefer the original and its lines like fire the CryptoRay! and Our mission is simple -- to destroy everything on
the planet!!) I must confess that it is peppy, fun and fairly
true to the original. Or, at least, the hodge-podge of BEAST
KING GOLION and ARMORED FLEET DAIRUGGER
XV and censorship cuts that eventually joined forces to
become (cue Peter Cullen): Voltron! Defender of the Universe!

Oh, there was also a horribly rendered CG atrocity from

1998 called VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION that
was so wretched I turned it off after three minutes. Woe be
to the millennials who have nostalgia for this artless affair
as opposed to the kaleidoscopic, tableaux-rich animation
and hazily spliced stories of robot versus robeast from my
misspent youth. 6

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A Eulogy For Bambi,

Sweetest Of All Woodland Creatures
Evan Saathoff
Badass Digest News Editor
@sam_strange

Read more at badassdigest.com

How long is a lifetime? Many of us may feel tempted to answer

this question with an onslaught of figures and averages and
socio-economic trends. But the truth is, no answer could
ever possibly satisfy. A lifetime is simply the length of ones
life, as long as it needs to be. Some lifetimes are long. And
some, as the reason for this gathering so painfully illustrates,
are quite brief. But they are no less full.
We are united this sorrowful day in mourning for Bambi,
truly one of Heaven and Earths most innocent and loving
creatures. Bambi lost his life, as so many of his fellow forest
friends lost their lives, when he was stepped on and crushed
by a roaming, 200-foot-tall beast known as Godzilla.
Given his significant size, it is unlikely Godzilla meant to
harm poor Bambi. In fact, Godzilla probably did not even
know the damage he caused simply by taking that fateful
step. Reports indicate the great monster stood upon Bambis
corpse for some time, flexing his toes likely in comfortable
repose, perhaps reflecting on a heightened state of bliss
brought to him by the natural, majestic beauty of the forest
into which he had accidentally wandered. Here was a place
with no guns, no bombs, no strafing jets and no tanks. This
was a lush, green paradise, free of all gigantic robots driven
by humans or fellow monsters brainwashed and controlled
by aliens.
BIRTH. MOVIES.DEATH. / JULY 2013

Such a calm and soothing environment was a fitting domicile

for Bambi, who remained an endlessly loving creature, full
of kindness and goodwill, even after life had robbed him
of so much. Gone at last to his eternal reward, Bambi can
now reunite with his wife Faline, who was stepped on by
Ghidorah, his twin children, who were both eaten by Rodan,
his pal Flower, who was blown off a cliff by the wind from
Mothras wings, and yet another friend, Thumper, who was
murdered by a weasel.
Bambi left behind no will, nor did he ever discuss privately
his wishes regarding disposal of his body. But knowing what
we know about Bambi, we have opted to leave him where he
lay, so that he may slowly decompose and become a larger
part of the forest he loved so much. May all creatures, from
the buzzards above to the maggots below, feast on sweeter
meat tonight, perhaps the sweetest of all meats: Bambi Meat.
As for the rest of us, I leave with only this warning: If you
hear gigantic monster steps which appear to get closer with
each report, please -- I implore you -- do not continue grazing
peacefully as though nothing strange is afoot. Run away, or
at the very least walk away. If you cannot be bothered to do
even that, for the love of God, just look up and see what
approaches. Had Bambi followed any of these steps, none of
us would be here today, performing this lamentable task. 6

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