Attack of the Galactic Monsters

I would have loved this as a kid, I can tell you what!  spaceships, Godzilla, aliens, you name it, it's in here and all at 55 minutes.

I had heard of it before, but having watched it now I am really kind of enjoying it.  it's a mishmash of "Zone Fighter" episodes and the Toho movie "War In Space (1977)" (which improves "War" but doesn't help Zone Fighter).

the quality isn't very good, which makes me wonder when it was made.  obviously in the time of VHS only copies, and a few generations down as well.  pretty sure it's a fan edited movie, though the music has been redone.  pretty sure the dubbing is from the international version of "War".

I had never seen the Garoga Terro-beasts being encapsulated before. how did I miss that in Zone Fighter?  I've watched that show more than once.  it doesn't appear as if Zone Fighter shows up in the "movie", just Godzilla fighting the Terro Beasts.

now we just need some enterprising fan with the skill and knowledge to re-do this with higher quality materials.  it would be a fun little project.

I like it.  it's kind of like getting a new original series Godzilla movie. and that is way better than anything we've gotten in the last 25 years. ps. oh come on, making Zone a badguy?  missing the boat here! not a real surprise, so all the people that hate the fact Godzilla appeared on tv can rejoice now!

trailers of Mazinga?

well, sort of!  here's the Hallowe'en trailer of the day:

this is the Spanish trailer, which is slightly shorter than the German trailer for Roboter Der Sterne.

obviously, this isn't Mazinga Z, but rather a Taiwanese version of Super Robot Mach Baron (1974). one can tell it's not just four or five episodes cobbled together from the original series, because none of the original actors are in it.  the Taiwanese had done this before, with Kamen Rider.  apparently the international title is The Iron Man.

apparently Mazinga Z was more popular than Mach Baron in other countries.  I can understand that. both series do have similar themes and ideas.

what it DOES lack is the awesome opening song of Mach Baron. try it, you'll love it!

the Coloring Book of Gwangi pt 2

here's a recreation of how my Gwangi coloring book looked toward the end of the time I had it.  though, actually, I don't think the last page was still in it by this time.

I kind of like the way the coloring book ends, it's kind of cool.  I got this page and a few more at Colossa's post today.  great stuff there, as always.

lots of pages get torn out of coloring books, so I am sure mine was missing several by the end of my ownership.  it's very cool to get to see these pages again.

by the way, this was my first time coloring with MSPaint.  it was kind of fun.

Ultraman Story question

this 1984 movie, Ultraman Story, has never been fansubbed.  what's the deal?

it's a pretty cool movie, shows lots of great battles from the original Ultra Series (too bad Leo and 80 get short shrift).  I like Taro a lot more these days than I used to.

horror of dracula (1958)

trailer of the day-

one of Hammer's best movies!  I saw it on tv and remembered the end the most.  Lee was truly scary as the Count.

a Hallowe'en Bash, what you might call... a monster mash!

has that been taken?  monster mash?



going to try to post one monster movie trailer a day, all cool stuff. this is a good one to start out with, Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965). lots of good stuff happened then! I saw this for the first time on late night tv, maybe around age 12 or so.  can't quite remember.  it was one of the later Toho efforts that I saw. sure was good!

the Super 8mm version

Happy 60th Anniversary, Peanuts

today is the 60th anniversary of possibly the greatest comic strip of all time-
The Peanuts. while this isn't the first strip, it's something very unusual.  what do you think it is?  and yes, there can actually be more than one answer!

the whole sequence (and answers) are here, at Roasted Peanuts, a really fun blog.

Avengers*JLA #4

this is it, the team up of the teams and the final battle against Krona.  we find out just what the Grandmaster and Metron are up to and we get to see more incarnations of the Justice League and the Avengers than we ever thought possibly could have existed.

lots of times the final book in a miniseries, or even a maxi series is a let down.  not here. we get interesting snatches of conversation between many heroes, and not all are talking to their "opposite" numbers.

there's so much going on in the artwork and the script I am still seeing new things every time I read it.  I still think my favorite line of this issue is "Captain Marvel... LOOK OUT!".  of course, without the amazing accompanying visual, it wouldn't be as great, so go look.

it all wraps up nicely and at least we don't get the final shot of "maybe not..." at the end.  I love it and always will.

Kikaida 50

for my 50th post this month (this will taper off, what with working again and all now) I thought I'd talk a little about Jinzo Ningen Kikaida.

this is where I first learned of Kikaida.  it's a nice little article telling the readers of Famous Monsters how popular the show is in Japan.  there are lots of photos of our hero and some of the early villains (Carmine Spider, Green Mantis/Mammoth, Blue Kong, etc).

due to the main thrust of the issue, I thought that Kikaida was similar to Ultraman, a giant hero defending Japan against various other giant monsters.  several years later I learned he was not that, but a human sized hero defending Japan against robots of the Dark.

it wasn't until the 90s that I actually got to see an episode of the show (and the sequel, Kikaida 01).  these were unsubtitled and were a lot of fun.  by then, I had learned Kikaida had been shown subbed in Hawai'i and was a huge hit there.  naturally, I wondered if it would ever be shown again, in the age of VCRs.

well, to the surprise of many, it was! 

the subs turned out to be only adequate and the sequel was never re-aired.  the quality of the tapes tended to be less than stellar, but at least I could understand what was going on.

and again, several years later, Generation Kikaida brought the show back, both shows in fact.  then released them on DVD with loads of great extras (most by August Ragone).

I never would have thought it possible in 1976 that I would ever have seen this show.

Switch On!

8 Man

a dramatic pose.  that is all!