08.21.2014: Kenpachiro Satsuma Interview

If you’ve ever heard Whovians ask each other “Who is your doctor?”, you might understand why Kenpachiro Satsuma is my Godzilla. Godzilla 1985 was the first Godzilla film I saw and it was while I was living in Japan with my family. I remember recording it from the English channel and watching it over and over again. And while the heisei series is a little lacking in story, I love that Godzilla and Satsuma’s portrayal of the King of Monsters. So when I had the opportunity to interview the man who played my Godzilla, I jumped at the chance. In addition to Satsuma, I would like to thank Jason Varney for his translation skill and Shigeko for allowing me the time for this interview.

Just a written warning, sometimes interviews can get away from you – especially when you and the interviewee don’t speak the same language. This was definitely one of those cases. I think it’ll be pretty obvious when a single question sends the conversation into a weird place but still part of what made this enjoyable. I could absolutely interview this man for another hour or two if I ever had the chance… maybe for my next documentary!

This interview (which was recorded at the Big Wow Comic Fest) is the meat of this episode, so there aren’t any news stories to cover. We’ll get to those in the daikaiju discussion next week. Thanks for your patience with this episode – I know that compared to our usual schedule, it’s pretty late. Normally I like to have the first episodes posted in the first half of each month but with the kickstarter followed shortly by the trip, I ran out of free time.

GODZILLA MUSIC:
1. Godzilla Appears by Reijiro Koroku from Godzilla Returns (1984)
2. Godzilla Vs. The Tank Corps (From OSTINATO) by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
3. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah I by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
4. Godzilla From The Fuji Volcano (Godzilla Theme · Faster Version) by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
5. Godzilla vs. Rodan I by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993)
6. Ending by Akira Ifukube from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)