General Gamera Thread

For the discussion of any Gamera related movies, comics, video games, etc.
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Vakanai
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:04 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:09 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 4:33 pm I guess I'll watch the original version, then. Gammera the Invincible is the only version I've seen, so I guess I've missed out on this sociopathic kid I keep hearing about.
He was in Gammera the Invincible too. You might just have blocked him out from your memories...
I vaguely remember him from GTI, but what I'm saying is I haven't gotten the full picture if that version of the movie cuts out a lot of the relevant screentime.
Well, if you haven't got it yet, the original Gamera Japanese film, plus the rest of the Showa era, is selling in a nice set right now. I got my copy today and am about to watch it in a bit.
I'm prepared for the full psycho kid experience!
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Vakanai wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:12 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:04 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:09 pm

He was in Gammera the Invincible too. You might just have blocked him out from your memories...
I vaguely remember him from GTI, but what I'm saying is I haven't gotten the full picture if that version of the movie cuts out a lot of the relevant screentime.
Well, if you haven't got it yet, the original Gamera Japanese film, plus the rest of the Showa era, is selling in a nice set right now. I got my copy today and am about to watch it in a bit.
I'm prepared for the full psycho kid experience!
Yep, I just got the Arrow set the other day. I've had the original Gamera film on my Legacy Collection DVD for years, actually, I just haven't gotten around to watching it.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

Post by edgaguirus »

It's not bad, and starts the Showa Gamera tradition of using unorthodox strategies to deal with kaiju. It also doesn't overload on the kid stuff like the later Gamera films do.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:18 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:12 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 8:04 pm

I vaguely remember him from GTI, but what I'm saying is I haven't gotten the full picture if that version of the movie cuts out a lot of the relevant screentime.
Well, if you haven't got it yet, the original Gamera Japanese film, plus the rest of the Showa era, is selling in a nice set right now. I got my copy today and am about to watch it in a bit.
I'm prepared for the full psycho kid experience!
Yep, I just got the Arrow set the other day. I've had the original Gamera film on my Legacy Collection DVD for years, actually, I just haven't gotten around to watching it.
Well, there's no time like the present! :huge:
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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All right, got it watched. It was pretty good! Toshio definitely did turn out to be a dangerous, emotionally unstable nutjob, but his presence and advocacy for Gamera did a lot to make the movie unique, at least for the time. It would've been a fairly by-the-numbers, forgettable monster story otherwise. Off the top of my head, I think this was the first kaiju film to feature a monster-obsessed kid in a starring role, wasn't it? If so, that really makes Gamera, The Giant Monster an underappreciated landmark. It started one of the genre's best-known tropes. I mean, it's a trope 90+% of the fandom hates, but still. :lol:

And it's a shame Daiei slashed the film's budget. The effects were actually pretty well-done and impressive at times, and I'm sure it could've been something special if there had been more money to work with.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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JAGzilla wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 6:58 am Off the top of my head, I think this was the first kaiju film to feature a monster-obsessed kid in a starring role, wasn't it? If so, that really makes Gamera, The Giant Monster an underappreciated landmark. It started one of the genre's best-known tropes. I mean, it's a trope 90+% of the fandom hates, but still. :lol:
I was just thinking about this the other day, watching Mothra, because of the kid with the mouse. I always remembered him playing a bigger role in that movie, but lo and behold I was wrong.
It's funny how "The Kenny" became such a cliche of the genre when there really wasn't a Kenny in the Godzilla series proper until Smog Monster, well after most of the Gamera movies and Gappa.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 9:33 am
JAGzilla wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 6:58 am Off the top of my head, I think this was the first kaiju film to feature a monster-obsessed kid in a starring role, wasn't it? If so, that really makes Gamera, The Giant Monster an underappreciated landmark. It started one of the genre's best-known tropes. I mean, it's a trope 90+% of the fandom hates, but still. :lol:
I was just thinking about this the other day, watching Mothra, because of the kid with the mouse. I always remembered him playing a bigger role in that movie, but lo and behold I was wrong.
It's funny how "The Kenny" became such a cliche of the genre when there really wasn't a Kenny in the Godzilla series proper until Smog Monster, well after most of the Gamera movies and Gappa.
What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:34 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
Oh, I get.
I hate the Kenny character trope...
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 7:28 pm
Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:34 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
Oh, I get.
I hate the Kenny character trope...
I often connect that "Kenny" with the running South Park joke of them always killing Kenny. :)

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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:34 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
Interesting. I never knew where that term came from. Thanks for the info!
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:34 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
I always thought it came from Brandon Tenold and his Gamera reviews :lol:
Last edited by Jermobooka on Wed May 26, 2021 5:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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56 years ago today, a new Daiei film gave Toho's Godzilla series its first taste of domestic competition.

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Major sssspielberg! wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:34 pm
Vakanai wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:22 pm What a "The Kenny" if you don't mind my asking?
When Mystery Science Theater did the first Gamera movie they used the Sandy Frank release which referred to Toshio as "Kenny," and it became something of a running joke on the show. Since then some people (or maybe just me lol) have called the stock character of the monster-obsessed kid in kaiju movies Kenny. So I was saying it like "The Kenny first appeared in Gamera (1965)" referring to the trope. A good example would be the kid in Yongary.
To add to this, Sandy Frank's Time of the Apes and Gamera vs Zigra also had similar child characters named Kenny. (And his Fugitive Alien had two characters named Ken.) Those were all riffed the same year on MST and certainly contributed to the annoying-kid-in-Japanese-monster-film trope.

I think the first time I ever saw "Kenny" in that context online was at Stomp Tokyo.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Taking the time to praise Showa Gamera.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Is this me having a mandala effect or did the Sandy frank dub make Toshiro in Gamera the same kid as Gamera vs Gayos?

I remember the old ocean opening dubs implying it was the same kid in both movies.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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miguelnuva wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:52 pm Is this me having a mandala effect or did the Sandy frank dub make Toshiro in Gamera the same kid as Gamera vs Gayos?

I remember the old ocean opening dubs implying it was the same kid in both movies.
The child in the "Sandy Frank version" of Gamera vs Gaos is named Eiichi Kanemaru -- it's the same name in the Japanese version and both English dubs. On the other hand, the child in Gamera is named Toshio Sakurai in the Japanese version and the 1966 American version, but he's bafflingly rechristened "Kenny" in the dub commissioned by Sandy Frank. They're not supposed to be the same character.

And Sandy Frank wasn't responsible for dubbing any of Gamera vs Barugon, Gamera vs Gaos, or Gamera vs Guiron: Those were all existing dubs dating back to the '60s that had been originally produced for Daiei. Of the Gamera films, Frank's team dubbed only Gamera and Gamera vs Zigra.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

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Terasawa wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:15 pm
miguelnuva wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 8:52 pm Is this me having a mandala effect or did the Sandy frank dub make Toshiro in Gamera the same kid as Gamera vs Gayos?

I remember the old ocean opening dubs implying it was the same kid in both movies.
The child in the "Sandy Frank version" of Gamera vs Gaos is named Eiichi Kanemaru -- it's the same name in the Japanese version and both English dubs. On the other hand, the child in Gamera is named Toshio Sakurai in the Japanese version and the 1966 American version, but he's bafflingly rechristened "Kenny" in the dub commissioned by Sandy Frank. They're not supposed to be the same character.

And Sandy Frank wasn't responsible for dubbing any of Gamera vs Barugon, Gamera vs Gaos, or Gamera vs Guiron: Those were all existing dubs dating back to the '60s that had been originally produced for Daiei. Of the Gamera films, Frank's team dubbed only Gamera and Gamera vs Zigra.
I have a similar Mandella effect with the Sandy Frank Gamera dubs too. I used to think that Kenny's name was Timmy for the longest time.

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Re: General Gamera Thread

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

Having been watching the Heisei Gamera Trilogy almost once a year now. I think for when I get around to watching them again, gonna start watching them in the original Japanese subs.

It took me the longest time to notice how just cringe and awkward the dialogue in the English dub was.

"It's getting away!" "Wait! You're not gonna chase it are you?" "It's looking for food!" "For food! That'll be us if were not careful!" "If it can't find prey here it'll attack Japan!"
"He made us dinner. That's pretty cool huh?"

:lol:

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Re: General Gamera Thread

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GodzillaFan1990's wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 11:41 am Having been watching the Heisei Gamera Trilogy almost once a year now. I think for when I get around to watching them again, gonna start watching them in the original Japanese subs.

It took me the longest time to notice how just cringe and awkward the dialogue in the English dub was.

"It's getting away!" "Wait! You're not gonna chase it are you?" "It's looking for food!" "For food! That'll be us if were not careful!" "If it can't find prey here it'll attack Japan!"
"He made us dinner. That's pretty cool huh?"

:lol:
The gamera trilogy had a fine dub, it don't see it cringy at all.
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Re: General Gamera Thread

Post by shadowgigan »

I love the ADV dubs, especially Kurata's dub. I know alot of people find it corny, but I think his delusional speeches were epic.

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