Episode 42: Ben Avery vs. 'Gamera vs. Jiger'

The Monster Island Film Vault

Hello, kaiju lovers!

The “Year of Gamera” reaches its midpoint in an episode that’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Well, not really. But you will hear Nate and returning guest/multi-podcaster Ben Avery discuss 1970’s Gamera vs. Jiger. This movie, which shockingly opened the year the Japanese film industry crashed, serves as a (sorta) big budget travelogue/commercial for Expo ’70, the first world’s fair held in Asia. Both “Cornjob” and a yellow submarine return, but outer space is replaced with “innerspace” as the Kennys travel inside Gamera to cure him of his “impregnation” by Jiger, an ancient female demon beast. I’m not making this up. It’s a movie that may have anticipated The Exorcist and Alien. The Toku Topic, naturally, is Expo ’70. I mean, what else would it be?

Afterward, Nate and Jimmy get a surprise visit from Monster Island’s resident mad scientist and mushroom enthusiast, Dr. Dante Dourif, who’s been sent on a mission to “stabby-stabby” Nate with a syringe filled with his mushroom-enhanced COVID-19 vaccine. Oh my….

Check out all of Ben’s podcasts:
-Strangers and Aliens
-Welcome to Level 7
-The Comic Book Time Machine
-Supersonic Pod Comics

Guest stars:

• Daniel DiManna as Dr. Dourif

Additional music:

• “Chant My Name!” by Masaaki Endo
• “Man-Eating Spore of Agony” by ilp0

Sound effects sourced from Freesound.org.

We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Travis Alexander and Michael Hamilton (co-hosts of Kaiju Weekly); Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Eli Harris (elizilla13); Chris Cooke (host of One Cross Radio); Bex from Redeemed Otaku; Damon Noyes, and The Cel Cast! Thanks for your support!

You, too, can join MIFV MAX on Patreon to get this and other perks starting at only $3 a month!

Buy official MIFV merch on TeePublic!

This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.

Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00-6:02
Entertaining Info Dump: 6:02-13:07
Toku Talk: 13:07-55:48
Advertisement: 55:48-56:25
Toku Topic: 56:25-1:30:29
Housekeeping & Outro: 1:30:29-1:40:35
Epilogue: 1:40:35-end

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© 2021 Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

• “About Expo ’70 in Osaka” (Tower of the Sun Museum)
• “Expo ‘70” (Wikipedia)
• “EXPO '70: 50th ANNIVERSARY” by Kaiju Masterclass (YouTube)
• “Expo 70 Osaka: A Futuristic Experience” (Culture Trip)
• Flower, James. “A Guide to English Language Gamera” (Arrow Video Gamera: The Complete Collection).
• Galbraith IV, Stuart. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of 103 Features Released in the United States 1950-1992.
• Gamera: The Complete Collection, Disc Four Special Features.
• Gamera vs. Jiger Commentary by Edward L. Holland (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
• Gardner, William O. “The 1970 Osaka Expo and/as Science Fiction.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society, Vol. 23, Expo '70 and Japanese Art: Dissonant Voices (DECEMBER 2011), pp. 26-43.
• LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982.
• Macias, Patrick. “A History of Gamera: Gamera vs. Jiger” (Arrow Video’s Gamera: The Complete Collection).
• “Metabolism (architecture)” (Wikipedia)
• Uri, John. “50 Years Ago: Moon Sample Rocks Osaka Expo ’70.” (NASA). Edited by Kelli Mars. Updated March 16, 2020.
• Wiki Articles on Gamera vs. Jiger:
  • IMDB
  • Gojipedia
  • Wikipedia
  • Wikizilla