Toho Kingdom

Shhh! The Octopus wrote:If I was a kid in Japan back in 1967 and saw this magazine on the rack, I think it would give me nightmares.


Those eyes.....

That picture reminded me of specifically how weird it is when you notice the Kong suit with the oversized head is used in the water scenes. I’m guessing they didn’t want the actor to drown??? Or needed a larger head for the serpent to wrap around?

I always thought this was a cool shot.

and here is the small puppet from the scene where Kong is carried off by Dr.Who's helicopters.

Shhh! The Octopus wrote:I always thought this was a cool shot.

and here is the small puppet from the scene where Kong is carried off by Dr.Who's helicopters.

It’s a shame that the Giant sea Serpent wasn’t put in the film just a little bit more.
And yeah that’s cool but it’s not in the actual film is it?

^No it was just a set up shot.

Does anyone else think this was a strange project for Takeshi Kimura/Kaoru Mabuchi?

Of the two primary Toho toku writers during this period (the other being Shinichi Sekizawa), Kimura was the man who usually explored darker material and with a much more pessimistic view. That worked well for Matango and Frankenstein Conquers the World (despite how it appears on the surface) but KKE was Toho's co-production to bring the Rankin/Bass Kong series into live action. I'm surprised Sekizawa didn't get the assignment since he usually turned out more lighthearted scripts, which you think a live action version of a cartoon would call for.

And in true Kimura fashion, none of the characters are particularly fleshed out, although they have more personality and distinct roles than in most of his scripts. (Compare to WOTG, where everyone is either a doctor, military man, or reporter and all but Kumi Mizuno play their roles as stock characters.) Dr. Who is the best character of his "Kaoru Mabuchi" phase (1965-1972), but mostly because Amamoto plays him so over the top. Also, it's been said before, but although Paul Frees doesn't sound a thing like Amamoto, his voice is perfect for the character in the U.S. version.

When called attention to, it certainly does come off as odd that he'd accept such a job but maybe at the time he'd fallen into a writing rut and wanted to do something a little less brooding?

As of 2019, Gorosauras is the only monster to share screen time with both King Kong and Godzilla.

How crazy is that?

That will most likely change with 2020's Godzilla Vs. Kong, but for right now, my man Gorosauras has a weird distinction that I kind of like, lol.

Now all Gorosaurus needs is screen time with Gamera and he's got it all.

edgaguirus wrote:Now all Gorosaurus needs is screen time with Gamera and he's got it all.

Anno presents Shin Gororosaurus X. Shin Godzilla X. Shin Gamera X. Shin Ultraman: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!

Stump Feet wrote:

edgaguirus wrote:Now all Gorosaurus needs is screen time with Gamera and he's got it all.

Anno presents Shin Gororosaurus X. Shin Godzilla X. Shin Gamera X. Shin Ultraman: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!

Be lying if I said I wouldn't watch the hell out of that...

Shhh! The Octopus wrote:If I was a kid in Japan back in 1967 and saw this magazine on the rack, I think it would give me nightmares.


Those eyes.....

I saw what you said and immediately thought about that song that starts out with "These eyes"...

Terasawa wrote:Does anyone else think this was a strange project for Takeshi Kimura/Kaoru Mabuchi?

Of the two primary Toho toku writers during this period (the other being Shinichi Sekizawa), Kimura was the man who usually explored darker material and with a much more pessimistic view. That worked well for Matango and Frankenstein Conquers the World (despite how it appears on the surface) but KKE was Toho's co-production to bring the Rankin/Bass Kong series into live action. I'm surprised Sekizawa didn't get the assignment since he usually turned out more lighthearted scripts, which you think a live action version of a cartoon would call for.

And in true Kimura fashion, none of the characters are particularly fleshed out, although they have more personality and distinct roles than in most of his scripts. (Compare to WOTG, where everyone is either a doctor, military man, or reporter and all but Kumi Mizuno play their roles as stock characters.) Dr. Who is the best character of his "Kaoru Mabuchi" phase (1965-1972), but mostly because Amamoto plays him so over the top. Also, it's been said before, but although Paul Frees doesn't sound a thing like Amamoto, his voice is perfect for the character in the U.S. version.

There are brief moments that do point to Kimura’s involvement. Two scenes in particular:
-Kong getting captured by helicopters
-The way dr. Who is killed


The scene with Kong and the helicopters is strangely tragic, and the scene with Dr. Who is super violent compared to the rest of the film.

LSD Jellyfish wrote:The scene with Kong and the helicopters is strangely tragic,

The Kong puppet that was used for that scene is still around.

Jesus fucking Christ put that thing back where it came from.

Why's that puppet wearing Akemi Negishi's bra?

GojiDog wrote:As of 2019, Gorosauras is the only monster to share screen time with both King Kong and Godzilla.

How crazy is that?

That will most likely change with 2020's Godzilla Vs. Kong, but for right now, my man Gorosauras has a weird distinction that I kind of like, lol.

It doesn't strike me as particularly weird given that Kong was only involved in two Toho productions and one wasn't canon.

Terasawa wrote:Why's that puppet wearing Akemi Negishi's bra?

The puppet has fashion sense.

LSD Jellyfish wrote:There are brief moments that do point to Kimura’s involvement. Two scenes in particular:
-Kong getting captured by helicopters
-The way dr. Who is killed


The scene with Kong and the helicopters is strangely tragic, and the scene with Dr. Who is super violent compared to the rest of the film.

To the latter point, Dr. Who's henchmen all act like bumbling fools once Mechani-Kong was killed. This was something Kimura did a lot, although usually with police or politicians or other authority figures. In this case, I think he or Honda went too far in making the henchmen totally incompetent to point of being unbelievable.

I think Kimura, writing as Kaoru Mabuchi, phoned in a lot of his screenplays. WOTG is nothing too special, nor is DAM, but both were co-written by Honda, who allegedly added or embellished the most interesting concepts in those films. Godzilla vs. Hedorah was likewise co-written by Yoshimitsu Banno and I believe he eventually admitted much of the resulting film was his vision. The only other "Mabuchi" screenplay, which is pretty decent, is FCTW, but most of the situation and characters were present in Jerry Sohl's earlier "Godzilla vs. Frankenstein" draft. So KKE is apparently the only filmed screenplay "Kaoru Mabuchi" wrote from scratch by himself, and even that was based on the Rankin/Bass series.

I just rewatched this yesterday and the ending definitely bothered me by how stupid the henchman suddenly became, like if I was in Dr. Who’s shoes, I would have began choking them

Dr. Who isn’t much brighter either. He strolls up to the bridge at dawn like he expected the crew to just leave Tokyo without an order from him first.