Mini-sode 01 with X7! Ultraman celebration!

               Something brand-new for us today!

Koseidon Star Destroyer Freedom

 

This is the Space-Time Ship Freedom.  It gets destroyed in the age of Gypsum or Chalk, the subtitles were not exact.  It looks exactly like a small scale Star Destroyer.  Yes, the ones featured in most of the Star Wars franchise movies. The first movie came out a year before this show did, so no real surprise that the design was... borrowed... here.  The influence of Star Wars was immediate, with most major and several minor studios trying to cash in on the brand new fad.  Still, I was surprised to see such a blatant... homage... in a Japanese television series.  I shouldn't be, though.

War of the God Monsters (1985)

I had just read about this movie in that great zine, and then it shows up on Amazon prime. I'm glad I didn't buy this thing.  It's a South Korean giant monster movie, though not a single shot of the monsters was made in that country.  It all came from various Tsuburaya shows, including Ultraman, Return of Ultraman, Fireman and Ultraman Ace.  I think Bemstar is the lead monster, which is fine, it's a great looking beast, and the others just show up. The premise is a rather obsessed scientist has found out that monsters will be returning.  A reporter is sent to interview him, and she befriends his precocious daughter.  So it's a family drama with giant monsters. 

Giant Tyrannosaurus vs. Giant Triceratops

A clip from the fun if flawed made for TV movie The Last Dinosaur. I remember watching this when it came on, and knew they had used Godzilla's roar for the T Rex. Didn't bother me, but at that time most people thought all Japanese monster movies were made by the same company.

KISS vs the Last Dinosaur

This would have been a better movie to make than what's now known as Attack of the Phantoms.  Especially if Tsuburaya Productions had done the effects.  And wrote the script.  The songs could stay the same.  I love that movie, but it's not great.  I prefer the shorter version, even.  Make fans wait a half an hour after the movie starts to see the stars... what kind of dang deal is that?  No one would be foolish enough to do that these days, right?