day 30 - Godzilla vs. Megalon, Ultraman

OK film fans, I woke up this Saturday morning feeling a bit nostalgic for the Saturday morning excitement I would feel as a kid. The rush my sister and I would get from waking up at the crack of dawn, full of energy missing during weekday mornings, to watch cartoons that ran from 7AM to 10AM. Fueling my excitement with copious amounts of sugary cereal until my mom would cut off the supply and send me outside to burn it off. On sunny days we would play football and baseball, ride our bikes anywhere and everywhere, and then play games like freeze tag, kick the can and dodge ball.

But if it was a rainy day, and there were plenty with all the thunderstorms passing through the Midwest, then I would often get on Cy-Ride, Ames' bus system courtesy of ISU, and head to one of the theaters in town. Now, being a college town, the theaters in Ames were a bit more experimental than the norm in most small towns, Iowan or otherwise. On many weekends they still employed a tradition know as the double feature, (which has disappeared from theaters like my favorite seat in the balcony) primarily geared for kids from the ages 8 to 12. Whenever I think of the double features there's always one show, from around '77 or '78, which comes to mind.

Godzilla vs. Megalon and Ultraman are a one-two combo punch of adrenaline and fun for kids of all ages. Usually a double feature would consist of two similar themes or have the same starring character. While these are both products of the abundantly imaginative Japanese TV/Film system of the 60s, they are also linked in my mind by two separate characters who I thought were one in the same as a kid. It's these characters that made an indelible impression on my fertile young imagination. Respectively, Jet Jaguar and Ultraman are similarly styled characters, especially in appearance.

A minor player in the Godzilla films, Jet Jaguar only made this one appearance, but what an appearance it was. I have always loved Godzilla films and this is one of my favorites in the series. It doesn't hurt that it was canonized by the classic show MST3K. If you have a rainy day to spare, here's their entire take on the film. Since you more than likely won't, here's a quick and educational summary and Jet's classic theme song (lyrics are courtesy of MST3K and may not be a direct translation.)

While Godzilla films were regularly seen in double features and matinees, I had already seen most of them on TV long before seeing them on the big screen, the Ultraman film was a singular experience that settled into my subconscious. I never saw any of the Japanese TV shows it was based on, but the effect it had on me and my friends lingered for years. It was the first combination I had ever seen of kung-fu and sci-fi, blowing the minds of every kid in the theater. For the next month my friends and I would mimic the moves and sounds we remembered from the film. It was an introduction to outrageous, acrobatic, over the top choreographed fight scenes with interlaced special effects, like a comic book hero none of us had ever heard of coming to life. It was Iron Man meets Bruce Lee and I loved every second of it.

Like the aforementioned Iron Man, I still have moments that jolt my inner little kid with a rush of adrenaline and fun, but these days the moments are few and far between. But sometimes, on a Saturday morning, I'll wake up in a mood that transports me back to the excitement of Scooby Doo, a bowl of Captain Crunch and a 17'' color TV.