Undead Backbrain

I’m not sure what I think of this.

Tsuburaya Productions’ latest offering in the ultra-long-running Ultraman TV franchise — Urutora Gyarakushii Daikaiju Batoru [lit. Ultra Galaxy: Giant Monster Battle; aka Ultra Galaxy: Mega Monster Battle] (2007; TV series; dir. Yuuichi Kikuchi; main writer and series organiser: Kenichi Araki) — will be made available to non-Japanese countries under a new customisation arrangement that Tsuburaya have dubbed the “Visual Translation System”. In essence, this system will allow other countries to insert their own actors into the scenes more easily — so the monsters and SFX stuff, and even the standard backgrounds, stay the same, and only the actors change. The live-action is apparently filmed largely against a blue-screen and is kept separate for ease of “visual translation”.

Tsuburaya Productions has been disappointed with the lack of interest in recent Ultra shows displayed by representatives from foreign countries and hope that this new system will increase the incentive to purchase. As reported by SciFi Japan, the company explained their intentions like this:

“Our shows attract fans from all over the world, but we feel we can do more. For many of the superhero programs dubbed in a foreign language and exported abroad, the impact of the original piece is diminished. This is often due to the main character being a foreigner. We realize that audiences overseas may not be familiar with the Japanese actors and actresses in our shows. We want our audience to have a stronger connection with the actors. In order to solve this issue, we’ve created the Visual Translation System.

“With VT, it is now possible to repackage the latest of the popular Ultraman series as a high quality country-specific production. We take the same base script of the program produced in Japan, and using the same set and backdrop, we refilm the scenes employing actors native to the country in which the program will be shown. Using this new system, overseas customers can modify our shows to be localized using actors from their own countries. Our internationally known characters like Ultraman and his monstrous enemies can now be viewed all over the world along with locally known celebrities.”

Personally I like the shows, at least in part, because of their difference from our own more familiar TV series. I want the Japanese faces. I want the original tone. But I can certainly understand why networks struggling to attract viewers more attuned to the familiar might prefer this new approach.

Some of the Monsters of Ultra Galaxy

As a compromise between the bad dubbing of the 1970s and the complete mangling of the popular Power Rangers series (where script, plot and actors have been “re-imagined”), it certainly gains kudos points for adaptation.

• Read more about the system at SciFi Japan.
• Ultra Galaxy website

The monster that gets the Award for Biggest Monster in a Doctor Who episode turns up in the  Season 16 story The Power of Kroll, with Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Mary Tamm as Romana, and a fairly static, superimposed rubber cephalopod as Kroll. It aired between 23 December 1978 and 13 January 1979.

The story itself is a classic mix of tropes that involve an ecology disrupted by careless developers, indigenous exploitation and displacement, fanatical worship of a “natural” deity, capitalistic imperialism, native rebellion and giant monster destruction.

Writer Robert Holmes does a pretty good job with the script, Norman Stewart’s direction is servicable and as usual the acting is excellent, with even minor characters being well served by a group of experienced British actors. Some viewers have expressed disdain toward the costuming used for the “Swampies” (the original inhabitants of Delta Magna, now refugees from a capitalistic regime on the planet’s third moon), but it works within the context, provided a little discretionary tolerance is applied.

And though the huge tentacled Kroll is really too ambitious a creature for the available SFX budget, what we get does work on a simple conceptual level, despite size discrepancies between long shots of the monster and the incongruous smaller tentacles that attack on a personal level. Kroll clearly has a mass of tentacles that can attack from beneath the swamp:

Or through the ducts and piping of the offending refinery:

Though visually the concept doesn’t quite gel, Kroll is rather like the monstrous squid from Stephen Sommers’ Deep Rising — able to send long, smaller tentacles into narrow spaces in search of offending humans. In fact, now that I’ve mentioned it, there’s some similarity between the “faces” of the two monsters as well, though Kroll wins out in sheer bulk:

And the Deep Rising monster as revealed in the climactic scene:

All told, despite a somewhat rushed appearance and the dodgy, less-effective choreography of the Swampie’s religious ceremonies, The Power of Kroll is an enjoyable Doctor Who story — with the lead monster definitely one of its main attractions.

I am still here. I can see nothing, feel nothing. You have locked me into hell for eternity. If this is all there is, I would rather die now… Trapped like this, like a sponge beneath the sea. Yet even a sponge has more life than I. Can you understand a thousandth of my agony? I, Morbius, who once led the High Council of the Time Lords, reduced to this — to the condition where I envy a vegetable.

Made during what may be considered one of the most successful seasons of Doctor Who — Season 13, the “horror” season — The Brain of Morbius (originally broadcast between 3–24 January 1976) features a monster so absurdly weird it almost challenges some of the bizarro creations of Japanese kaiju eiga.

As much of a pastiche as the plot itself, the monster is a delight. “Dead” renegade Time Lord Morbius is just a brain in a jar until “mad scientist” Solon — who has been constructing a body from the survivors and non-survivors of assorted alien spacecraft that have crashed on the planet — gives up on his search for an appropriate head and attaches Morbius’ brain to the chimeran body encased inside a sort of fish-tank helmet with wires, eye-stalks and other gizmos to facilitate sight and speech.

The result, with stitches, a grotesque patchwork of skin textures, and mismatched arms (including a giant lobster claw), is wonderfully strange — one of the best and most oddly convincing monsters in the Doctor Who menagerie. It is said (by Morbius himself) to be “built not for looks but for practicality”, though it probably fails in the latter ambition.

With its referencing of gothic horror and in particular the Frankenstein story (as re-constructed on film), the episode remains a favourite — well-acted, effectively designed and wonderfully dark. To my mind the controversial development of the script (originally written by veteran Terrance Dicks, extensively re-written in his absence by script editor Robert Holmes to up the horror quotient and to remove a technically challenging scavenger robot, and thus, by Dicks’ chagrined request, given a pseudonymous writing credit — “Robin Bland”) was probably a blessing, though as outlined in the “making of” doco on the DVD, the original, more-scifi script would have worked, too. It just would have been a profoundly different experience.

An Unfulfilled Wish: Though Philip Madoc does a great job as the mad scientist, I would have loved to have seen Peter Cushing in the role. His Frankenstein (as depicted in a string of Hammer Horror films) is the definitive mad scientist and he was in his prime at the time. In the “making of” doco director Christopher Barry says that he considered Cushing (and Vincent Price) for the role, though he doesn’t explain why it didn’t happen in the end.

DreamKeeper (Canada/US-2003; TV; dir. Steve Barron)

This film is based on Native American mythological tales, recounted to a culturally recalcitrant youngster by his traditionalist grandfather. It is a Hallmark TV movie and was the winner of an Emmy for Visual SFX and Best Film at the American Indian Film Festival, as well as being nominated for a Saturn Award.

You can see how effective the SFX are from this excellent sequence featuring a mythological warrior fighting the lake serpent Uncegila — videoed from a TV broadcast by the look of it, with Croatian subtitles and an added musical soundtrack:

Two new (at least to me) bizarre zombie entertainments in this, the Renaissance time of zombiedom!

Real Zombies

First up is a TV series, a satire of reality TV called America’s Next Top Zombie Idol, written and directed by Blair Butler. Currently filming its pilot episode, the show features eight zombies who must live together Big Brother (or maybe Survivor) style and compete in ways I’m sure we can at least have a stab at imagining. (”Oh dear! The contestant’s left arm has been voted off the show!”) It is scheduled for release in the 2008-2009 season.

Apparently Blair Butler is also involved in developing a non-fictional reality TV show called Scream Queens, in which wannabe horror film actresses are put through horror hell… Hmmm….

Source: Quiet Earth via Avery

Zombie Mermaid?

Ah! My Zombie Mermaid [aka Â! Ikkenya puroresu; Ah! House Collapses!] (Japan-2004; dir. Naoki Kudo and Terry Ito) is obviously one of those films that leave you convinced that nothing is too bizarre for the Japanese cinema. One hopes so, anyway! It’s about a wrestler, a mermaid, a “zombie castle”, and lots of other weird stuff. Personally I loved Minoru Kawasaki’s The Calamari Wrestler, which has a similar vibe, so I’m rather looking forward to seeing this one.

Here’s the trailer:

Go! Godman (or Ike! Goddoman) was a Japanese TV series than ran for 26 short (five minute) episodes from 5 October 1972 until 10 April 1973. It was a tokusatsu television series: the first from Toho to feature a Kyodai Hero — an Ultraman-like giant superhero fighting assorted giant monsters, most famously Toho’s own Gabara (from All Monsters Attack), Gorosaurus (from King Kong Escapes), Kamoebas (from Space Amoeba), and Sanda and Gaira (from War of the Gargantuas). There was no story in each episode, just a fight between Godman and that day’s monster.

Go! Godman was followed by Go! Greenman (or Yuke! Guriinman), which ran for 52 episodes from 12 November 1973 until 27 September 1974. Some of the same Toho monsters made cameo appearances, along with King Kong (well, the suit, not the name) from King Kong Escapes, and Minilla from Son of Godzilla.

Both these series are about to be released in Japan in a box-set of three DVDs titled Kaetekita Ohayou Hiiroo: Yuke! Yuke! Goddoman & Guriinman [lit. Return of the Good Morning Heroes: Go! Go! Godman & Greenman].

The big news is, however, that the third disk will feature something being called Shinsaku Goddoman [lit. New Godman Production]. This is a new Godman feature directed by Masaaki Tezuka, who is best known for the post-Millennium Godzilla films Gojira tai Megagirasu: Jii Shômetsu Sakusen [trans. Godzilla vs. Megaguiras: G-Eradication Command] (2000), Gojira tai Mekagojira [aka Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla] (2002) and Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S. [aka Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS] (2003).

ScifiJapan reports that:

The team also includes monster suit maker Fuyuki Shinada, whose previous work has included such high-profile productions as GODZILLA, MOTHRA & KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (aka GMK, Gojira Mosura Kingugidora Daikaiju Soukougeki, 2001), the monster Legion for GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF LEGION (Gamera 2 Region Shurai, 1996) and Iris for GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS (Gamera 3 Irisu Kakusei, 1999).

The picture above is from the new feature, the monster being Tsunojirasu.

And as we’ve been talking about weird kaiju a lot lately, check out this one from the original Greenman series:

It’s what makes me love them!

Sources:

• SciFi Japan
• Enshohma from the Kailuphile.com Forum
• the Toho-a-Park Godman/Greenman website
• Wikipedia
• Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

The Tale of a Beer-Fueled Ultraman

Much of the following is mere deduction based on Japanese websites (the text of which I don’t have the knowledge to decipher), the odd video clip and scraps of information found on forums. Hence the accuracy of the account is open to question.

I would welcome any corrections or additions.

Den Ace is a comedy character created by Minoru Kawasaki — director of such weird genre films as Ika resuraa [aka The Calamari Wrestler] (2004), Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu [aka The World Sinks Except Japan] (2006) and the upcoming full-on daikaiju movie, Girara-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu [lit. Guilala’s Counter Attack: the Touyaku Summit One-Shot Crisis]. Kawasaki is responsible for many, if not all, of the Den Ace short films.

A satiric, slapstick take on the Ultraman franchise, Den Ace tells of Den Hajime, an ordinary, not-overly competent bloke, who changes into a giant, 2000-metre tall superhero named Den Ace when he feels contentment. Den Ace’s motto: “His power is pleasure”.

Whenever a giant monster attacks the city, Hajime drinks a beer, or, failing the availability of beer, throws himself at a woman. The resulting sense of pleasure causes him to grow large and become very powerful indeed. Of course randomly making love to whatever woman is available at the time causes some tension between himself, his girlfriends and his mate, so beer is the preferred option. But whatever it takes! Heroes must suffer in order to save humanity from the monsters!

As far as I can determine, Minoru Kawasaki himself plays Den Hajime in the short films and sequences, which have a strange habit of turning up in unexpected places.

Above: Minoru Kawasaki as Hajime, transforming into Den Ace
through the pleasure derived from beer.

The Filmology of Den Ace

The original Den Ace TV shows apparently dated from the 1980s and early 1990s, with brand new episodes following in more recent times, including TV specials, straight-to-DVD releases and cameo appearances in at least one other movie. The episodes seem to be short — about 5 minutes — in duration.

I have no idea exactly how many episodes of the TV series there were, but here are the DVD releases I have managed to track down:

Ganso Den Ace (2001 release?): “Contains episodes 1 through 5 originally aired on TV in 1989″, and five newly produced episodes.

Den Ace - Hankerchief Oji no Himitsu (TV film, 2006).

Den Ace The Final - Kiraku ni Ikiyo (TV film, 2007).

Zettai Yaseru Den Ace - Uchu Dai Kaiju Girara Tojo! / Uchu Kaiju Sho Shingeki (2007, title translates as something like Den Ace: “I Will Lose Weight”: March of the Space Monster — Giant Space Monster Guilala Appears): a short promotional film designed to showcase the director’s upcoming Guilala feature film).

Cameo appearance in Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu [aka The World Sinks Except Japan] (2006).

In Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu, the Den Ace TV show is an entertainment that has become popular among the Japanese in the aftermath of a worldwide catastrophe that left Japan as the only nation not drowned by rising waters. It is said that the show lightens Japanese spirits and expresses the native population’s growing impatience at all the foreigners now seeking refuge on their shores (see image sequence below).

Below are what appears to be a few of the short TV episodes:

And another (unconnected) episode:

Sources:

• Kaiju Search Robot Avery
• August Ragone on the Club Tokyo/Monster Zero Forums
• DVDJapan
• The Den Ace TV show website
• and a site I’ve lost track of (where the sequences of images from The World Sinks Except Japan come from)

This looks like it will be worth keeping an eye on. Titled M.O.R.A.V. (which is an acronym for Multi-Operational Robotic Armored Vehicle), it is an in-development scifi TV series set in the fictional country of Tangri Island, where a military/political drama is being played out using 30-foot robots and other hi-tech weaponry.

The website provides ongoing information on the progress of the series, as well as video insight into technicalities relating to the SFX.

TV Series, UK, 1983/1986

Shades of Darkness is the title of an anthology series comprised of nine famous ghost stories filmed for television by Granada TV in the 1980s. Seven were aired in 1983, and two more appeared in 1986. Six of them are currently available on DVD. The episodes are:

The Lady’s Maid’s Bell (27/05/1983)*
The Intercessor (03/06/1983)*
Feet Foremost (10/06/1983)
Afterward (17/06/1983)*
The Maze (24/06/1983)*
Seaton’s Aunt (01/07/1983)
Bewitched (08/07/1983)*
The Demon Lover (21/06/1986)*
Agatha Christie’s The Last Seance (27/09/1986)

Those marked with an asterick are included on a DVD released by Koch Entertainment.

As I watch them (or at least those on the DVD), I will post reviews. The first review, which is of “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell”, is now on my website here.