Episodes
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Ultraman Rising (2024)
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Saturday Jun 22, 2024
Byrd, Matt, Kevin and Lux discuss the recent Netflix animated film, Ultraman Rising! The first American Ultraman production in nearly 30 years follows a baseball player named Kenji who moonlights as everyone's favorite silver giant Ultraman to defend the planet from giant monsters. One day he comes in possession of a baby monster and has to adjust his life to being the creature's parent, while the KDF science team try to hunt it down. In addition to our review, we discuss the film's early development as a non-Ultraman story and how it fared in being updated to be Ultraman, the problem with Netflix's approach to new releases, how it works as an entry point into the franchise, and more! So how did this entry in the long running series fare? Listen and find out!
Sunday Jun 09, 2024
Parasyte: The Grey (2024)
Sunday Jun 09, 2024
Sunday Jun 09, 2024
Byrd, Lux and Kevin discuss the recent Netflix series, Parasyte: The Grey, (directed by Train to Busan's Yeon Sang-ho). This Korean spin-off of Hitoshi Iwaaki's classic Japanese story follows a supermarket clerk named Su-in, who is partially possessed by a parasite named Heidi, as she teams with a gangster named Kang-woo to evade the rest of the alien body snatchers, as well as The Grey, a special ops unit tasked with exterminating all parasites. How does the show live up to the rest of the franchise? Listen and find out! But first, we discuss the announcement of Grant Stupore (I Am Mother) as the director of Legendary's next Godzila/Kong film, as well as the news of Toho and Korea's Wow Point collaborating on a new Human Vapor tv series. Relax and join the conversation!
Sunday May 26, 2024
Ape X Mecha Ape: New World Order (2024)
Sunday May 26, 2024
Sunday May 26, 2024
Byrd and Matt discuss the Asylum's latest monster mockbuster, Ape X Mecha Ape: New World Order. The third film in the "Ape vs." series sees the giant ape Abraham and his mechanical doppelganger Mecha Ape go up against Kulalu, a Cthulhu knockoff summoned by a doomsday cult to wipe out humanity. How does this compare to other Asylum efforts? Listen and find out! But first Matt gets us caught up with his thoughts on Godzilla x Kong and gives an update on the state of the podcast. Listen and enjoy the show!
Monday May 13, 2024
Time of the Apes (1987)
Monday May 13, 2024
Monday May 13, 2024
With a new Planet of the Apes movie in theaters, Byrd, Tom and Kevin decide to take a look at Japan's attempt to cash-in on the franchise. This Sandy Frank Entertainment-produced compilation film was made up of footage from Tsuburaya Productions 1974-1975 series, Time of the Apes, about a group of children and a scientist who find themselves shot forward in time to a future taken over by apes. We'll discuss this forgotten oddity as well as the series that spawned it. But first, we give our thoughts on the Planet of the Apes series as well as the latest Monsterverse news and the new Godzilla arcade game. Relax and enjoy the show!
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
Byrd is joined by Lux, Tom (of the Final Forum Dragonball Podcast), and Trev (of the Failure to Franchise Podcast) to talk about the new film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire! This new entry in Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse is another crossover between the two monster icons, as they go up against the threat of the evil ape Skar King and his army of apes and the frost monster Shimo. Along the way, Kong forms a bond with the young ape Suko. We'll talk about the production history as well as give our thoughts on the film. But first, we discuss Godzilla Minus One's recent Oscar win! Kick back and enjoy!
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Godzilla (1998) Retrospective w/ Failure To Franchise Podcast
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Our pals Trev (frequent KT guest) and Chris over at the Failure to Franchise podcast had Matt and Byrd on their show to discuss Godzilla 1998! We discussed how it came to be, memories of living through the marketing and release of the film, the backlash to it, and the lasting effects it had on the franchise. Did the movie impact the series for good or bad? Is it as bad of a movie as people say? How does it hold up all these years later? Listen and find out!
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
The Whale God (1962) + News Roundup
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Byrd and Matt discuss Daiei's 1962 period monster movie, The Whale God (aka The Killer Whale). Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka (Zatoichi series), with a script written by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) based on the novel by Koichiro Uno, it tells the story of a whaling village in the early Meiji period being terrorized by a gigantic whale. Two men, Shaki (Kojiro Hongo of the Gamera films) and Kishu (Shintaro Katsu of the Zatoichi films) to compete to be the one to kill the whale. For decades, this film was obscure to American audiences, but it just saw its first blu-ray release stateside. We'll give our review, as well as talk about whaling in Japanese culture, the awesome Akira Ifukube score, the themes of forgiveness and obsession, the influence of Moby Dick, and more! But first we have a news roundup with our thoughts on the new Godzilla x Kong trailer, Godzilla Minus One's Oscar nomination, and the passing of suit actor Ken Satsuma. Relax and enjoy the show!
Sunday Feb 11, 2024
Translating the Original Godzilla Novels with Jeffrey Angles!
Sunday Feb 11, 2024
Sunday Feb 11, 2024
Byrd, Kevin and Justin interview poet and Japanese literary translator Jeffrey Angles about his recent translations of Shigeru Kayama's 1955 novelizations of Godzilla '54 and Godzilla Raids Again (now available for the first time in English via University of Minnesota Press). We talk about Angles' interest in Japanese literature, his love of Edogawa Ranpo, the tightrope of maintaining an author's voice while translating, the life and career of Godzilla author Shigeru Kayama, Kayama's long-overlooked contributions to the creation of Godzilla, releasing a Godzilla book without needing Toho's permission, differences between the films and the novels, and more! Relax and join the conversation!
Sunday Jan 21, 2024
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters (Season 1- 2023-2024)
Sunday Jan 21, 2024
Sunday Jan 21, 2024
Byrd, Matt and Tom discuss Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the recent MonsterVerse spin-off series on Apple TV+. The story flashes between the 1950s and the 2010s as it follows the founding of the Monarch organization (introduced in 2014's Godzilla reboot) and two siblings trying to untie their family's mysterious history with it. Join us as we discuss the shows pros and cons, the charm of Kurt and Wyatt Russell, Legendary's lofty ambitions, the MonsterVerse's continuity problem, the current state of streaming television, what we would want from a second season, and more! What did we think of the show? Listen and find out!
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Rogue Stars! Gorath (1962) and Warning From Space (1956)
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Byrd and Lux ring in the new year by talking about two Showa-era "colliding worlds" epics. First is Daiei's Warning From Space, the first Japanese science fiction film made in color. It tells of a race of cyclops starfish aliens who warn humanity that a planet called Planet R is on a collision course with the earth. After that we discuss 1962's Gorath (technically a New Years movie!), Ishiro Honda's classic that tells of the titular star on a collision course with earth and the scientists tasked to prevent it with very little time. We also talk about the history of "worlds colliding" films, the weird post-film history of Gorath's walrus kaiju, Magma, and we determine which of these golden age classics holds up better. Relax and join the conversation!