Kyle speaks with Megumi Odaka, the actress who played Miki Saegusa, during last month’s G-FEST 25 with Robert Scott Field (right) providing interpretation. [Photo Credit: Robert Moreno]
When I read the announcement confirming that Megumi Odaka would be a guest at this year’s G-Fest, I think I could feel the collective of Godzilla fans exclaiming “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT??!”
It had been eighteen years since she’d made a G-Fest appearance in the year 2000 and I would imagine that her appearance at the Chiller Theatre last year heralded her return to the only annual Godzilla convention in the world.
Odaka-san’s film career doesn’t run very deep. Outside of the Godzilla series’ Miki Saegusa, she appeared in a couple of other Japanese films. In fact, during my research, I discovered there’s just not a lot of information about this actress – which is one of the reasons I wanted to talk with her ahead of time, to see what we could cover during the panel. Even though she was open to covering any of her projects, we didn’t get to discuss much more than the Godzilla series; I’m hoping to eventually get her back on the podcast for a more in depth conversation about her life in and out of the spotlight.
This recording is from the panel that took place at G-Fest 25 and as such the audio quality isn’t that great. Check out the show notes below for a link to the Youtube video of the panel as well.
MAGICAL MONSTER MOVIE MUSIC:
1. The Return Of Godzilla by Akira Ifukube/Koichi Sugiyama from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
2.Junior and Miki by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
DAIKAIJU DISCUSSION REMINDER: Don’t forget that if you’d like to submit your homework for our daikaiju RE-discussion of Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), please make sure to send your thoughts questions and reviews in before August 24th. Thanks!
Kaijucast #243 Godzilla's friend & Co-Star Megumi Odaka[ 54:21 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
August 20th,2018 Podcasts |
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Kyle sits down with Godzilla suit actor (Heisei era 1984-1995) and Robert Scott Field at G-FEST 25. [Photo credit: Robert Moreno]
Wow…seriously. I never thought I’d ever be able to type this out:
This episode marks the fourth appearance of Godzilla suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma on the Kaijucast. I feel incredibly lucky to have interviewed this legendary stuntman a whopping total (so far) of three times — and he appeared on a panel recording from Monster Mania in 2016. Since Satsuma’s career has been covered in bits and pieces in previous episodes, I totally went into this panel thinking that we would probably hear several stories again. How wrong I was! Satsuma-san knows how to tell a story, so I invite you to listen to his story of how he got his start as an actor.
Maybe I should just keep inviting him back as many times as possible. (we all know the correct response there… DO IT!)
Satsuma first appeared in episode 118 and then a shorter interview was posted as episode 188. This time around, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to moderate Satsuma’s panel at last month’s G-FEST 25 and this episode is the audio from that panel.
Major thanks to the staff at G-Fest for their assistance in arranging this panel – also to Robert Scott Field for providing translation and a little commentary during the interview.
MAGICAL MONSTER MOVIE MUSIC:
1. Godzilla Goes Flying by Riichiro Manabe from Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
2. The Destruction Of The Nuclear Power Plant by Reijiro Koroku from The Return of Godzilla (1984)
DAIKAIJU DISCUSSION REMINDER:
Don’t forget that if you’d like to submit your homework for our daikaiju RE-discussion of Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), please make sure to send your thoughts questions and reviews in before August 24th. Thanks!
Join us for a special interview with kaiju Keizo Murase from G-Fest 25!
I am thrilled to bring you this interview with Keizo Murase, a kaiju suit-maker from the showa era and beyond. I originally met Murase in 2016 when he was a guest at Monsterpalooza. I did a poor job of coordinating interview options and ended up not sitting down with him at all during that trip. Let me tell you, that was a huge regret for about two years!
Thankfully, the crew from the annual Godzilla convention, G-FEST, heard my kaiju prayers and brought this living legend to the show. Let me share with you just a portion of Keizo Murase’s monster roster: Daikaiju Varan (1958), Mothra (1961), King Kong vs Godzilla (1962), Gorath (1962), Matango (1963), Dogora (1964), Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965), Gamera (1965), Daimajin (1966), Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) and Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) — the point is that this man’s career is vast! And because of that, we could only cover a small amount of it in this interview. Let’s all cross our claws that the Kaijucast has an opportunity to welcome Murase-san back to the podcast in the near future!
MURASE-INSPIRED MUSICAL MOMENTS:
1. Baradagi, God Of The Mountains by Akira Ifukube from Daikaiju Varan (1958)
2. Titanosaurus Attacks by Akira Ifukube from Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
SUGGESTED VIEWING:
I didn’t mention this in the recording, but make sure to check out the gallery of images from Murase’s prop room at the convention, featuring a number of reproductions that were made exactly as they would have been in the showa era! Thanks to David Eric Dopko for sharing his photos.
DAIKAIJU RE-DISCUSSION REMINDER:
Don’t forget! We’re covering Godzilla vs Biollante for our Daikaiju Re-Discussion this month. If you’d like to send in your homework, please do so before August 24th to be included in the episode.
Gretchen and Kyle take a long hard look at the second anime film in the Polygon trilogy of Godzilla Anime films.
We’re back and discussing another brand new entry in the Godzilla series: GODZILLA CITY ON THE EDGE OF BATTLE. Specifically, this is the second film in Godzilla’s first-ever animated trilogy. It should be an exciting time, but overall, these animated films are not delivering for the fans (at least in my observations). Just like the listeners, we are doing our best to find the goodness amongst the mediocre, but this trilogy-so-far is making doing that difficult to say the least.
If you are unfamiliar with these films, they were part of an animated deal between Toho and Netflix struck back in 2016. Once they are released theatrically in Japan, Netflix gives the films a two month break and then internationally takes care of distributing the films on their platform.
If you missed our discussion of the first Anime film (Godzilla: Monster Planet), you might want to give that a listen first. And if you haven’t seen this entry, our discussion gets pretty specific, so please acknowledge the SPOILER WARNING, peoples!
MECHA-MUSIC CITY PLAYLIST:
1. City on the Edge of Battle by Takayuki Hattori from Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
2. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle English Language Trailer (2018)
3. Bilusaludo’s Technology by Takayuki Hattori from Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
4. THE SKY FALLS by XAI from Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
DAIKAIJU DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT:
Next month, we are going to be watching 1989’s Godzilla vs Biollante for our series of Re-Discussions. Orginially we talked about this film during a recording I made in Idaho at Anime Oasis back in May of 2010. That means that the discussioneers were all attendees of the convention, but this time, I’m hoping to get some of my awesome cohosts in to watch the film. If you’d like to be part of our episode, make sure you send you homework in via our handy contact formby or before Aug 24th to be included in the show.
The Kaijucast Listener Party at G-Fest courtesy of Mike VVeber’s 3D Camera – give it a shot …if you dare!
Clancy and I cover our time at the twenty-fifth G-Fest! It was such a great time – we both loved seeing all of the listeners and fellow kaiju fiends at this convention, but this year was very special to each of us for different reasons. Huge thanks to the staff of G-Fest for involving the Kaijucast in so many of the guest panels this year – I’ll be dishing those interviews out in short order next month!
Enjoy the episode and we really hope that you’ll make it to next year’s G-Fest and help us celebrate ten years of the podcast!
MONUMENTAL MUSICAL MOMENTS:
1. Latitude Zero US Trailer (1970)
2. Mothra by the Long Boards from Motorhythm (2008)
3. Xian Escape from Monster Zero (1965)
4. Destroy All Monsters Medley from Godzilla vs Heavy Metal (1998)
Kaijucast #243 Godzilla's friend & Co-Star Megumi Odaka [ 54:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
