Kaiju Unleashed: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Strange Beasts by Shawn Pryor • An Interview Special - Camp Kaiju: Monster Movie Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.

(00:19):
We're your hosts, Vincent Hannum and Matt Levine, and we're talking about all our favorite
monster movies, the good, the bad, and the downright campy at asking if they stand the
test of time.
Traditional Kaiju creature features, space invaders, the supernatural, and everything
in between, all strange beasts are welcome here.

(00:40):
Links to our Patreon, our website, and soon all the contact info for our special guest
waiting in the wings.
But listeners, we're going to keep you in suspense just a little bit longer.
We have to thank our patrons, Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous patron, and Peggy.
Your support allows all this good, fun, extra bonus interview episodes possible.

(01:06):
So thank you.

(01:36):
I would say nobody has anything to fear from us.

(02:01):
But we are going to control you now.
It is the same spaceship you saw near the moon.
That should convince you we do not come from your world.
We are here to make you our slaves.

(02:24):
From the laboratories and arsenals of all civilized nations, the most powerful, the
newest, the most devastating of weapons blast into action in their effort to destroy all
monsters.
Matt, how are you doing?
I'm doing all right.
How are you?
I'm doing great.
I'm excited for tonight's conversation.
Me too.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like tonight's conversation gives us a chance to just totally nerd out

(02:56):
about kaiju movies, which is always a great thing.
So so excited.
Yeah, I will let Sean talk all about his book, but I just do want to give a brief introduction
to Kaiju Unleashed, an illustrated guide to the world of strange beasts.
This is a celebration of the world of monster movies and beasts and a complete reference

(03:19):
guide to strange creatures in film and how they came to be.
So it is a fantastic book, great reference book.
I already have a copy on my desk and I can't put this down.
We're going to nerd out here, like you said, Matt, for the next hour or so.
Yeah, Sean Pryor, the author of Kaiju Unleashed.

(03:40):
Thank you so much for joining us tonight, Sean.
We're so excited to talk about this book.
Vincent, Matt, thank you for having me.
Like this.
I'm excited too.
Every time we get to talk about Kaiju, monster films and the Bazaar is always a good time.
So thank you both.
Totally.
You know, Sean, if you're able, would you would you be able to just kind of talk about

(04:02):
your background a little bit and like what led you into Kaiju movies?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like my background is I've been writing for 17 years, the last five years being the most
productive.
Originally, my focus in the beginning was working in the comic book market as not only
a writer, an editor, also part of a publishing, comic book publishing company for for a decent

(04:28):
amount of time.
And then around probably like a little bit before COVID in 2020.
So like 2019, that's when I started to make the shift from just being in the comic book
market to opening myself to the world of the book market, and then that opened up all these
different kind of doors to writing all different kinds of things.

(04:48):
Like my writing career now, it's like anywhere from graphic novels, kids prose, kids literature,
YA, YA books, historical novel, historical books, historical graphic novels, high, low
reader books, like everything, like everything across the sun.
And so I'm proud to have like a very diverse palette of books out here for like for everyone,

(05:16):
for kids, kids at heart.
And with Kaiju Unleashed, this is the first ever kind of book that I've been able to dedicate
to a subject that I truly and purely adore.
I love Kaiju.
I enjoy them, the monster films, all that stuff.
As a child, I think I was either between four or five years old.

(05:39):
Saturday night is the summer.
So if it's Saturday night during the summer, that means you get to stay up late.
And so where we live, and where we lived, like my mom would like, you know, like stay
up and watch the late movie and stuff like that.
And so like you would have like, you know, your creature feature hosts, they're akin
to the Svenguli and stuff like that, you know, but there are all kinds of hosts doing that

(06:03):
stuff like on like on these regular television channels that that weren't CBS or ABC or NBC,
because at the time there's only three networks.
But then you had like all these, I feel like all these just different, just standalone
independent channels.
So one night I was just like, well, I'm tired.
I'm just going to go to bed.
It's like 1145.
And I'm walking up the steps to go to bed.

(06:24):
And that's when I hear the Godzilla roar for the very first time.
Oh, and because my mom is just flipping channels.
She was just turning the knob and she found something.
She's like, she found Godzilla and said, Oh, and I heard that noise and like I ran right
back downstairs.
And then like I see like, you know, all these like monsters, monsters on screen.
And it was and like it went straight to commercial.

(06:46):
I was like, oh, no.
Oh, and I was in there like, we'll be back with destroy all monsters.
And I was just like, Mom, can I stay up and watch this?
She was like, yeah, come on.
And we stayed up and we watched the rest of it together.
That's the first time I ever saw Godzilla.
And like at the same time, I got to see all these other different kaiju.
And it got me so excited.

(07:06):
Like the next day, like I'm in the kid, I'm in the dining room, just drawing up kaiju
and coloring and everything, just having the time of my life.
And so like that became a thing for like me and my mom because and I've said this on like
other interviews, too.
Like, like I jokingly blame my mom for this, like, you know, addiction to science fiction,

(07:29):
kaiju, comic books, collectibles, movies, cartoons.
Like she loved I think sometimes she loves that stuff more than I do, you know.
But like, I'm thankful for I'm thankful for her.
I'm thankful for those for those moments.
But that's what got me started into kaiju.
And then, you know, like, I would always just check a TV guide.

(07:51):
I remember for years, I would just check the TV guide every single week.
And just to see, is there a Godzilla movie?
Is there another creature feature on?
Like is there something that, you know, that can give me that fix?
Yeah, because, you know, this was a time where, you know, VHS was still relatively new thing
and like you didn't have access to everything.
And so, you know, sometimes you just tape the movies, tape the movies.

(08:14):
So at least you have something, you know, so you at least have something.
And so but now you look at it now, like there's way more access, you know, way more accessibility,
you know, especially for like the young kids.
I mean, you know, I think we're at a place now where like I was at a I was at a book
festival and there's there's a little kid that saw the book and like he's talking about

(08:36):
like the Toho's Frankenstein movies like Frankenstein versus Baragon.
And like I literally just took off my glasses and I said, excuse me.
I was like, how old are you?
He was like, I'm 10, sir.
And I was like, you know what?
I was like, that's incredible.

(08:56):
I like the fact that you know about Frankenstein versus Baragon at the age of 10.
I was like, that's wild.
Like I didn't know those movies.
I didn't know those two Frankenstein movies didn't exist until probably a decade ago.
100%.
Yeah.
No, but it's wild.
Well no, I mean, like you can be an expert at age 10 nowadays.

(09:20):
You know, I mean, as we were kind of talking about when we first started recording, like
there are some bad things about streaming and like easy access and all that.
But like the good thing is, you know, you can become like a passionate fan of these
movies as early as you want to.
You can just like dive into them and like see how much there is out there, which, you
know, I'm I won't say exactly how old I am, but I'm from that same generation where like

(09:45):
when I was a kid, it was like you got to watch it on TV.
Otherwise you might not ever see it or at least like not.
You don't know when you're going to be able to, you know.
So it's a brave new world of just being able to see whatever monster movie you want.
It's great.
There are good and bad things about it, but it's great.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
I mean, like, you know, there's still access to 1998 Godzilla.

(10:06):
So that's that's the bad part.
I would love to hear your opinion on that.
So we could talk about it later if you want to, for sure.
For sure.
A whole episode on Godzilla 98.
That's amazing.
So Kaiju Unleashed, what is the book?

(10:29):
Could you go more into the details about this book itself?
Kaiju Unleashed and all the good things it has to offer?
So yes, like so Quarto Quarto books in association with Epic Inc.
They wanted to make a book that talks about the world of Kaiju, you know, the monsters,

(10:50):
the Kaiju and the monsters that make up the plethora of these films over like the last
like 70 years.
So you know, of course, we'd be talking heavily about Godzilla because Godzilla has a metric
ton of films, both both in Japan and in the United States.
So we're talking about King Kong, talking about Mothra and Rodin.

(11:13):
We're talking about the other Japanese, you know, monster films and Kaiju films.
You know, we're also talking about films from Daiya Studio, who also they were in the in
the Kaiju game, if I recall correctly, with DiMera and also with Dimension or Dimension.
You know, so like they were they were in the game for a while, too.

(11:35):
And then you also have other foreign countries that that made like, you know, creature features
or like Kaiju type films like there's a film called Reptilicus.
Reptilicus was featured on one of the like the on the the the the Mystery Science Theater,
Mystery Science Theater 3000 comeback.

(11:56):
They did Reptilicus.
And that was the first time I ever saw it.
And it was it wasn't the foreign version.
It was the American International Pictures version.
So like they went in, they made a couple of little changes.
And and like so like there's also like Reptilicus would like spit out like this like and this

(12:19):
this like ooze.
Yeah.
It would kind of like cover the screen.
And in the foreign version, Reptilicus doesn't do that at all.
Like, let's do that at all.
But like we have to do something.
We have to give it an extra effect to make people think this is frightening.
And that is without a doubt one of the worst Kaiju films I've seen in my entire life.

(12:41):
But I appreciate the creative spirit.
I appreciate the creative spirit.
They get it.
They get a sticker for the day.
You know, put it on the wall, put on the refrigerator.
You made Reptilicus.
Good for you.
Yeah.
But, you know, so we talk about the, you know, the foreign films.
We also talk about animated films, animated TV shows, animated shows, video games, television

(13:05):
series, comic books, books, novels.
And we briefly mentioned toys, you know, so like, you know, we talk about the sofubi toys,
which are like the vinyl vinyl toys come in different sizes, which is also something that
has become an immense collector's market, especially for the sofubi that was made, like

(13:26):
I believe, like during the 60s and 70s and 80s.
That stuff's worth a lot of money now.
Like it is a very lucrative collector's market.
And we also talk about like Hotel Graceery, which is in Japan.
And Hotel Graceery, the top of the building, Godzilla's head is over the top of the building.

(13:47):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And like, at certain times of the day or night, the eyes glow and like, you know, like an
atomic breath comes in there and there are special rooms.
There's special Godzilla rooms in that hotel that has Godzilla paraphernalia everywhere.
And you can, depending on where you're at out the window, you can see Godzilla's like

(14:10):
eye or his head, so it's really, really cool.
Yeah, like, oh, and we also briefly cover Ultraman.
I personally felt that Ultraman needed to be in the book because he fights Kaiju.
He's very well known.
Ultraman can have his own book, to be honest with you, because there are so many ultra

(14:31):
heroes, just like over four generations of ultra heroes.
But I said, you know what, I want people to be aware at least.
So I was able to get that in the book, too.
So it's very informative.
You know, like, you talk about the films, you know, you'll know who the director is.
You'll know who the actors are, if there are alternate titles, we'll give them to you.

(14:54):
So yeah, so it's it's it's a bunch of fun.
It's the most I've ever written within a short window of time.
And needless to say, when I was done writing this book, I took a very long nap.
I just want to say what I my big takeaway from this from this book is how comprehensive

(15:15):
it is.
I mean, you do go into all the video games, the comic books and all the other media beyond
just standalone films.
I think that's easy to.
It's easy to forget that because me and Matt, we just focus on the films, but a media property

(15:36):
like Godzilla is not the king for nothing.
Like he dominates so much.
I mean, they're probably fans of these monsters who have never even seen the movies, but they
they love their sofubi or they love their their graphic novel that, you know, Justice
League versus Godzilla or whatever.
Yes, yes.
Just like Justice League versus Godzilla.

(15:58):
I believe it was like Justice League versus Congress, Godzilla.
And I'm like, this is wild.
I was like, never in my dreams would I ever expect anything like that.
Like, but see, the thing is, the reason why they can do that is because like the monster
versus films, the legendary pictures produces on the distributed brothers.
So it's like, OK, yeah, we have this backdoor relationship.

(16:22):
Let's go.
Go ahead and do it.
Speaking of that, they're back in the 60s.
There was supposed there was there was a script written for this.
It was going to be a Batman versus Godzilla film where Batman meets Godzilla.
Written by written by the folks who wrote the Batman live action series in the 60s.

(16:45):
So I believe I believe they tried to staff.
I believe they signed off on it.
But then the studio got cold feet.
I can't remember the history of this completely.
But but I I want someone to find that script and adapt it into a graphic novel, because
I know it had to be one of the most bizarre things ever written for that period of time,

(17:11):
because those are two things like Adam West, Batman and 60s Godzilla.
And I'm just like, how do you make that work?
Yeah.
Like, I feel like in the late 60s, the Godzilla movies were starting to get a little bit more
like family friendly, like cartoonish.
But still, it's a weird combination.
Like, I don't.
Yeah.
I mean, I would love to read that script, too, because those sensibilities don't seem

(17:33):
to overlap, but that, of course, is like the amazing thing about it.
God seems compatible with like almost everything in a way, you know?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, no doubt.
No doubt.
Like and he's changed so much.
The characters like went through so many changes over over the decades and over the eras, you
know, like, you know, you go from it being a film about, you know, the dangers of of

(17:54):
nuclear war and the after effects of nuclear war to a giant reptile who decides to jump
in the air and start blowing his atomic breath and flies back.
You know, like, so like it goes it goes from super serious to super kid friendly back to
serious back to then.
Here's pure sci fi action.

(18:16):
It's all over the place.
But that's really the cool thing.
It's that like there's a Godzilla forever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, like there's a Godzilla forever.
You know, like, yeah, King Kong's had a few movies, but nowhere near the magnitude of
Godzilla.
But but you can't really say, well, 1933 King Kong, that's my King Kong.

(18:39):
Somebody might say, well, no, Peter Jackson's King Kong is my King Kong.
But it's you know, like it's a limited scope.
Totally, totally.
Yeah.
We watched King Kong versus no, sorry, Godzilla versus King Ghidorah from 91 on the show a
couple of years ago, and I love that movie because it is so science fiction heavy with

(19:01):
the time travel aspect.
And that's just like an example of I could talk to anybody and say, oh, you like science
fiction?
Here's this movie.
Or it's like, oh, you like.
You like serious dramas.
OK, here's the original.
Mm hmm.
Or yeah, any of the new ones coming out to.
Oh, yeah.

(19:21):
You know, like I've mentioned Godzilla minus one to so many people over like, you know,
these last like these last few months.
And like I just tell them, like, listen, like, yes, Godzilla is in the movie.
He's going to destroy a lot of stuff, but it's not the Godzilla you think of from your
childhood.
And I'm like, once again, we're kind of rolling back to the 1954 Godzilla where we're talking

(19:45):
about the after effects of war, the after effects of nuclear war.
People have PTSD.
And now as societies tried, the Japanese society is trying to get their lives together.
Oh, yeah.
Here comes a new currency.
And it's only here to wreck shop.
You know, it's it's only here to wreck shop.

(20:06):
What do you do?
And so like it's something it's something to the extent of basically like in Japan,
Godzilla films are about Japan, even though Godzilla's in the films.
Those films are normally about Japan.
In America, Godzilla films are about Godzilla or a scene or a scene or they're seen that
way.

(20:27):
So like it's two different it's two different perspectives.
But either or the films to me are still very entertaining.
And you know, and I love the messages that they bring.
Yeah, definitely.
Totally.
I would just add to what Vincent said before, you know, one of the things that's one of
the things that struck me most about the book is something that I think Vincent and I strive

(20:49):
for on our podcast, which is like, you know, certainly there's the love of kaiju movies,
the like the fact that we can't get enough of these movies, but also just the historical
social and political context.
Like the book goes into, you know, kind of like tokusatsu movies and toho studios and
just some of that context.
And I feel like it does in such a way where it's like so entertaining.

(21:11):
It's great for fans of these movies, but also it does provide that kind of context and subtext,
which I think is so fascinating for these movies.
The oceans unfathomable depths, a gigantic manlike creature appears.

(21:32):
From the fiery depths of the earth comes a prehistoric mastodon of destruction.
Never before has the screen known such heart-stopping terror.

(21:57):
Starring Nick Adams.
Well, I feel he's very important from a scientific point of view.
I'd have to cut off a leg or an arm.
Doctors, I won't let you conduct this test.
Frankenstein with the strength of a thousand men and every man's need for affection that
makes him a willing captive.

(22:18):
The chain hurts you.
The new scoop of the century.
Pounding across the motion picture screen comes the most terrifying monster of them
all.
Gamera the invincible.
Gamera, the super monster that even the H-bomb cannot destroy.

(22:43):
Gamera consuming raw atomic power.
Power to destroy entire cities.
Open fire.
Gamera's most destructive weapons have no effect on Gamera the invincible.
The mightiest nuclear weapons ever devised are powerless against Gamera the invincible.

(23:07):
Is humanity doomed?
Will the world be destroyed?
The United Nations is called to emergency session in a last desperate effort to save
the world.
We have one plan that we think might work.
We have discussed Plan Z with the Japanese authorities and they agree it is the best
of our alternative plans.

(23:28):
Is that correct, sir?
That is so.
Plan Z is hope of the world.
A cast of thousands at the mercy of the most terrifying monster that ever lived.

(23:51):
It's a piece of skin.
A leather.
From all corners of the earth they gather to study the mystifying frozen fossil.
A reptilian tail that crows into a giant of terror.
It's alive.

(24:12):
It's loose.
An annihilating mastodon immune to all known weapons of warfare.
Creating chaos such as mankind has never before known.
Yeah I was wondering if you could just talk about that a little bit like how you balance

(24:41):
your love for these movies with kind of like social criticism, trying to kind of get to like
the deeper context of these movies as well. Yes. So like when writing, when writing,
when writing the book, I keep a copy on me at all times. When writing the book, it was a thing of,
yeah, like I enjoy all these films, even the ones that aren't really that good. And so well,

(25:04):
but one thing I try to make sure to do, you know, upon doing all the upon doing the research is that
if I could find a critical review from some from like any from like, you know, from like a established
movie credit, I'm going to put it in here. Because the thing is, I could tell you how much I enjoy
this film, or I could write to second write and say, you know, the film has its moments, but

(25:28):
overall is a good film, blah, blah, blah. But the thing is, you add that critical context. And then
that gives it gives it just gives it more weight, because you're getting a second opinion, you know,
because like, there are a lot of films that I love that people don't love. And that's okay.
You know, so I think that having that critical aspect, no matter what the film, you know,

(25:49):
is important. I mean, like, I'm trying to remember if I can even find a review for Zarkor, the invader.
But like, but if you know, but if I if I did, and if it was legitimate, I you know,
it's like, I'm going to put it in here, because we need that additional context, you know,
to be able to talk about, you know, mention the word tokusatsu. Like that was very important.

(26:13):
Because, like, I'm also a very big fan of Super Sentai and metal heroes. Like, you know, in America,
we used to have Power Rangers before Hasbro decided to put the Kaibosh on it. But, but like Super
Sentai has meant a lot to me has meant a lot to me since the 90s. And, and so, and so like being able

(26:34):
to talk about the meaning of the word tokusatsu, you know, that, you know, that means special effects
and that we which then leads us to Izhi Tsuburaya, who does the special effects work on like a lot
of Godzilla films back in the day, which then leads to him having his own studio, which then
leads him to creating Ultraman. And so it's kind of like, you know, if you don't get Izhi Tsuburaya

(26:58):
making Godzilla or helping to make Godzilla, do you get Ultraman? It's akin to if, if Ray Harryhausen
doesn't see King Kong and says, hey, who's a special effects guy? It says Willis O'Brien.
If he didn't, if he didn't see King Kong and see Willis O'Brien's work, do you get the Ray Harryhausen

(27:23):
era film? You took the words out of my mouth. There's like a lineage here to these movies
that they just like the dominoes are are clear and and without debate. King Kong was re-released in
the early 50s and was a massive success that coupled with 1954's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

(27:47):
Both of those two movies coming out at the same time made the folks at Toho, Tanaka and the rest
realize, I think there's something to this, this giant monster thing. Let's make our own.
You have Godzilla from those two sources. And then Godzilla, of course, came from Godzilla came

(28:10):
from Godzilla came everything else. Everything. Sweet Lord, like Godzilla introduced so many
kaiju to, you know, so many kaiju to the universe of film. It is ridiculous. You know, like,
I wouldn't know who I wouldn't know Mothra if it wasn't for Godzilla. I wouldn't know King
Ghidorah if it wasn't for Godzilla. I wouldn't know Rodan if it wasn't for Godzilla. Like,

(28:34):
even even, you know, they like Toho was like, yeah, we like King Kong.
So let's bring him over here for, you know, and and I'll be honest with you, I absolutely
adore the Japanese King Kong. I think it's great. I think it's great in all of its ridiculousness
and and like, you know, yeah, I know the suit's not the greatest in the world, but here's the

(28:56):
thing. They took five dollars in a dream and gave you a story. You know, like it has its charm,
you know, I'm not going to lie. And that's the thing I love most about Tokusatsu and kaiju movies,
especially the ones from way back when, because it's like, OK, they're creating these special

(29:17):
effects as they go. You know, it's akin to George Lucas and Luke and the people at Lucasfilm
basically creating special effects that never existed for Star Wars. Like, and that ingenuity
is just amazing. Like in the building of in the building of the suit, especially like the original

(29:38):
Godzilla film and like the first couple when, you know, due to, you know, due to like fiscal
reasons and sometimes, you know, war and other things, you know, they may not have all the
supplies. So they're like, OK, well, we got a little bit of rubber left, but we don't have
enough to make the suit. So, hey, we might put some cement in here. You know, like they had like they

(30:00):
they they made they did the best with what they what what they had. And no matter what you were
going to get an entertaining or riveting and riveting story, you know, even sometimes during
a period of time where money was super tight at Toho because Japan was going through a fiscal crisis
and they're like, well, how much of this flesh can we can we reuse? How much of it can we use for a

(30:22):
movie? Yeah, yeah, just do that. Yeah, yeah. We'll put some Godzilla in here and he'll have an
adventure with a child. And it's about bullying. And here's some here's some highlights. Here's
some highlights. You know, like it's it's the like what how televisions used to have the episode
where it's just like, hey, remember that time? And then like the screen would like wiggle and

(30:45):
and then they would play like an old clip. It's a clip show. Yeah, there it is. Yeah.
And so like there's that one Godzilla film where it's about a little boy,
a boy, but friends, the son of Godzilla. I think his name is like Minya always mispronounce
his name. Yeah, Minya, Minya. Thank you. And in little boy, friends, Minya and like Minya has a

(31:06):
bully boy has a bully. Oh, by the way, here's a clip show. All right, go stand up to your bull.
OK, but that all like even when Toho is like literally making these films up with crutches,
it took people like Honda to to still take it seriously. It was never just

(31:30):
a filler to the director or to Suburaya. And I think that makes such a difference because
because a movie like All Monsters Attack, like you're talking about, it could be so forgettable.
But it's not there is there is some creative integrity behind it.
That again makes all the difference. Oh, yeah, of course. I see. And like the thing is, is that

(31:55):
like all those directors care, like the studio care, you know, you know, they legitimately cared.
And like it's just the thing is, is that like, OK, it's just like in for Ishiro Honda, there's
a point in time in like the late 60s, early 70s where he's like, listen, this is too silly now.
You know, like we need to make we need to take we need to pull it back. And I'm sure the studio is

(32:17):
like, hey, hey, the kids love this. This is how we're making our money right now.
Well, that's what Suburaya was all for. He's like, no, Ishiro, the kids love it.
See, see, and that's and that's what I'm saying. So like, I get it. But I also understand where
Ishiro Honda is coming from because of the original message of Godzilla. You know, I mean,

(32:39):
like I get it. I get exactly I get exactly where he's coming from. So when you get to the he sees
era, you get that that blend of the fantastical, the childhood heart and the seriousness of Ishiro
Honda, the spirit, the spirit of Ishiro Honda and all those movies, every last one. And so like and

(33:05):
that was a perfect for me personally. That was a perfect balance. Like the he see era is a for me
is a perfect balance of Godzilla films. You know, none of them connect with each other. You know,
like one connects to Godzilla 1954. Another one connects to this. Oh, this is just stand alone
here. It's fine. It's absolutely fine. Like I don't need a Marvel Cinematic Universe map to

(33:28):
figure out what the hell I got to go. No, don't have to. No, just like, hey, there's only one
film before this one, guys. You're okay. It's got some have a nice day. You know, and then it's in
it's great. It's great. And that's no that's no shade tomorrow. Don't get me wrong. That's no shade.
I'm not saying that like you kick the can for 25 films and then you have a finale. Hey, that's

(33:49):
great. I call that television anyway. As I watched a lot of those movies and I and I enjoy it. But
like, you know, it's like I said, once again, I'm not throwing shade. It's just that this just this
is how my mind works. This is how I analyze. Hey, hey, you're preaching to the choir here.
Matt Levine has gone off on a whole episodes about it. Oh, my. Indeed, I have. No, I you're more

(34:14):
polite to Marvel movies than I am. I do like some of them, but I'm you know, you said it very
diplomatically. I think you're totally right. And I agree about the hay say era, too. Like Vincent
mentioned Godzilla versus King Ghidorah before, which I love. And also Godzilla versus Bielante
is just so imaginative and trippy and bizarre and like still part of the Godzilla universe. Like you

(34:36):
watch a movie like that. I think you said it perfectly before Sean, when you're like, if you
have, you know, a dollar in a dream, you can make these visions come to life. It's such an experience.
It's amazing. Oh, yeah. It's it's fantastic. Like, you know, especially like if you think about
Ultraman, you think about Ultraman, like that's really five dollars in the drink. Watch like

(34:58):
watch Ultraman, watch all for seven Ultraman Taro Ultraman, I believe, Ace, like all that is five
dollars in a dream. Period. Yeah. And like in and sometimes the way like a kaiju like gets killed
is brutal, like absolutely brutal. I'm like because once again, hadn't watched like Ultra

(35:22):
Sevens, my favorite ultra hero case, my favorite. But I was like, you know what? I'm going to do
some different. Let me watch some. Let me watch some original Ultraman. And so because of the
availability, because of the availability, here it is on Pluto TV, on a Toe Shouts school on the
shop factory channel. And I'm just watching and then like, you know, Ultraman does the pose makes
the L shape and like the beam flies out and the monster just splits in half. And I was like, oh,

(35:48):
I wasn't expecting that. You know, it's so so like but it's still at the same time. It's cool
because, you know, they did the best with what they had. And but I love it. Yeah, I know that's a
suit. I don't care. I think it's great. It looks awesome. You can't. You know, it's what they do
with it. I showed Destroy All Monsters to my nieces and nephew. It was the first Godzilla movie

(36:16):
they'd ever seen. They're all between five and seven years old. Yeah. They bounced off the walls.
They couldn't get enough of the final showdown on Mount Fuji. It was so awesome. So so gratifying
for me as an uncle to be like, here, let me introduce this world to you. Yes, it's the best.
I have a friend and and like he built his own Plex Media, sir. So he has tons of movies on it.

(36:45):
And like he introduced his son to Godzilla and they watched like a film like every single day.
And now like his son loves Jet Jaguar and is all and is always asking, where's more Jet Jaguar?
Where's Jet Jaguar? And and what cracks me up is Jet Jaguar has basically would now compared to all

(37:11):
the other films that have been out there is essentially a cameo, you know, like because here
I'm thinking, oh, I thought like because I thought that like that film, the one the Godzilla film
that he's in, he's in it for a little bit. It feels like a cameo. But like as a child,
that's the greatest thing on the face of the earth. You want to see him again. You're not going to see

(37:32):
him again. Yeah, I will say like Toho has a bad habit of only reusing the same five or six monsters
and like I want to see more Jaguar, Baragon, bring in the gargantuan and the Frankenstein.
Like there's so many you could you could pull in.

(37:53):
Still, it could cracks. It cracks me up. They're like is like in the book,
we have this thing called Kajuu facts. So like in some parts of the book, you get like a little
sidebar and we'll put a fact about either a film or a director or what have you.
The two Frankenstein Toho movies are Guillermo del Toro's favorite Kajuu film.

(38:14):
There you go. That is wild.
And I think Guillermo del Toro made one of the best Kajuu films. I don't know if you all disagree
with that, but I think Pacific Rim is a fantastic example of the genre. Oh, yeah. Pacific Rim is
great. Like that is legitimately a live action anime. Yeah. You know, I love everything about

(38:41):
that film, you know, like and and like for me, Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost is one of the
coolest things on screen when Charlie Hunnam's character put his hands on him, he's like, one,
don't you ever put your hands on me. You know, I think he does a speech and you know, you know,

(39:04):
we are stopping the apocalypse and all that stuff. It's just it's just good. The designs
are fantastic. The Yeagers look cool and the you know, the Kajuu look cool and they all like
the way that everything is put together, like it has meaning to, you know, I mean, like, like

(39:26):
personality. That's the word I'm looking for. Personality. The Yeagers have personality. The
Kajuu have personality. And you know, and so like it's not empty at all. I love everything about that.
I the sequel, I understand. I get it. I'm a big I'm a I'm a big John Boyega fan, so I was like,
I'm in it for him. I'm in it for him. But I'm like, no, I've said this on other podcasts.

(39:52):
Hopefully Clint Eastwood or and his son won't come get me. But, you know, man,
you all got to stop putting Scott Eastwood. You got to stop because if there's if there's
anybody else besides Scott Eastwood next to John Boyega, it's a better movie. Like I'd rather
watch paint dry and see that man act. I can't do it. I just can't. I'm sorry, Mr. Eastwood.

(40:16):
Please don't come. I got to I got to watch that again and take note of what you're talking about.
Yeah, I can't deal with them, though. Like I can't like everything else about the movie.
I'm I'm kind of cool with like I don't there was some care. There was there was like there was a
character or two that got off that like I didn't I didn't I didn't care for, um, which I was kind

(40:38):
disappointed with. But, um, and I won't spoil that. But yeah, like my biggest difficulty of
that film is Scott Eastwood. Like I am not I am not a pro AI person. But like if anybody wants
to use AI and replace Scott Eastwood with another actor, I won't say anything. It's OK.
I would support that. I'm fully behind that for sure.

(41:01):
Scott Eastwood.
All right. The attention. But I'm yeah, I love it.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm the number one number one number one Scott Eastwood haters fan. So
so I apologize for the tension.

(42:12):
Oh
He can talk.
But I,
I know what I've got to prove.
He's as good as ever.
I won't let you stop this called
five.
Thirty five years.
Let's Al� right here and

(42:41):
Golion.
King Kong escapes and meets his greatest foe.
The Kong of Steel.
A gargantuan duel, unmatched by any battle in history.

(43:07):
Thundering 60 foot robot Kong of Steel.
Creation of the evil Doctor Who.
Criminal genius who stops at nothing.
Kong, once again, dig!

(43:28):
King Kong shapes the earth.
King Kong fights for life against the copter swan.
A thousand thrills as King Kong battles the servant of Mando Island.
I was gonna ask you, you know, you brought up Ultraman and it reminded me of two of my favorite recent kaiju movies.

(43:52):
Sheen Ultraman and Sheen Godzilla from... Sheen Godzilla is from 2016. I think Sheen Ultraman is from like two years ago. It's pretty recent.
I love both those movies so much and I'm not trying to, you know, everybody loves Godzilla minus one. It's great.
I totally get that. I prefer Sheen Godzilla personally. So I'm curious how you feel about those movies.
Sheen Ultraman, I got the chance to watch the whole film last year as I was writing the book.

(44:17):
One day it was on YouTube and I was like, is this legally on YouTube or illegally?
I'll just watch it. And I didn't move. I didn't like leave my seat once. I didn't leave my seat once.
You know, I was like, I need to use the bathroom. No, it's OK.
And like I love that.

(44:40):
And like, and there's some parts where it is ridiculous, where it's absolutely, positively ridiculous.
But I find that film to be one of my favorite of the Sheen series.
Sheen Godzilla, I'll be the first to admit it took me a while to get it.
Because here I am used to the Showa era, the He-Sierra and the Millennium era.

(45:02):
OK, I got that. That's that's that's where my brain is that when you say Godzilla.
So when you see Sheen Godzilla, like it's more of a like.
Parasitic creature than like, oh, here's this nuclear lizard.
You know what I mean? And so like the metamorphosis of that, it took a while for me to like accept.

(45:27):
But then when, you know, he, you know, he pops his jaw open and it splits and he does the atomic blast.
I'm like, oh, that's it.
You're like, I'm on board. Yes.
Yes, exactly. Golf club golf club.
All hail all hail the big G.
Yes, yes. So so like I have a lot more.

(45:50):
I have a better understanding of Shin Godzilla now than I did when it first came out.
But Shin Ultraman is still my favorite.
I am captivated by that. So absolutely.
I'm so happy to hear that.
Vincent and I saw that together in theaters when it came out and I was blown away.
There's so much creativity. Like I could not take my eyes off the screen. It's great.

(46:12):
See, that's so cool. You got to see it in the theater.
I my wife took me as a surprise.
My wife took me to go see Shin Shin Kamen Rider.
We get to the movie theater and like the movie theaters running with the skeleton crew.
Half of them don't even know what they're doing.
We go into the movie theater.
They start playing Little Mermaid.

(46:34):
Oh, no. How is that even possible?
And and I was like, don't change it. They'll fix it. They'll fix it.
Wait five minutes. Little Mermaid comes back on.
I said, honey, let's just go. Let's just go.
That's tragic. Yeah, I was immensely disappointed.
I know it's on Amazon Prime as Shin Masked Rider, which is kind of funny seeing how they're my I won't get into that tendency.

(47:02):
I'm be good. Be good.
Well, I'll tell you real quick.
Matt and I and some other friends, we went to see Godzilla Kong, the New Empire, and halfway through the movie, the audio in the theater just cuts out.
And then we're all just sitting there for like 10 minutes watching the movie, but with no sound.
And it's just it was like, OK, can we fix this?

(47:27):
Are we not a professional movie theater like we're here? Right.
Who turned off the amp?
Just hit play. I don't know. Like turn your mic back on.
I don't know. No, that's that's the worst.
That is the absolute worst. Like I spent all this money to come.
I know. Yeah. And we're having problems. No, we can't have problems.

(47:49):
I spent too much. Do you know how much this popcorn cost?
You know how much this medium cost?
Like I have to drink all this medium coke. There's enough coke in here to kill a horse.
Like, but I got to finish it from what I paid. I need you to fix the sound.
And, you know, people complain about, like, the good old days of celluloid and like, oh, it's out of focus.

(48:12):
Maybe the film like jams or burns or whatever. Like, I don't know.
Those were the good old days. It's hard not to feel that way. You know? Yeah.
Like I do. I will. I miss like the thing.
The one thing I miss about celluloid, because like as a kid and even as an adult, like there are certain particulars, if it catches my eye, like I'll remember it time and time again.

(48:33):
And even as a child. And this started with Return of the Jedi.
Like I was watching the movie and then like I just see this like this blip in like the lower right hand corner.
It's a little circle comes and goes real quick.
And I was like, what is that? So like every movie after that, I would just watch for that constantly.
And then in my 20s, they're like, oh, yeah, films have multiple reels.

(48:56):
And you get that blip. That means that one reel is ending. We're starting the next.
And and I'm like, oh, OK, cool. And like that stuff.
Like, once again, I miss that, like, because, you know, now, you know, everything's digital and there's digital projection.
But like also you also we also have digital filmmakers and like I think democratizing the technology is good because it gives people opportunities to make things.

(49:20):
And which is which is awesome. Creativity is very important. The arts are extremely important.
But the one thing that I miss like celluloid has like a warmness to.
OK. Yeah. And like and and like also with lighting, sometimes like thereof, like there's just this quality to film.

(49:45):
Whereas with digital, what I've noticed is, is that a lot of filmmakers have struggled with lighting and color coding.
Totally. Yeah. And so like, you know, like, no, I'm like, yeah, I know I haven't been behind a camera.
I haven't made like, you know, 10 movies or anything like that.
But it's just something that, like, I've noticed, you know, like I understand why Christopher Nolan's like, yeah, man, I'm filming this film.

(50:11):
And then we could put it to digital. But I have actual film. I get it.
Like I more than get it. But there are some people that do film digitally that make beautiful works.
So, you know, because they understand the light, they understand the color coding like they get it.
And so and so like, you know, it can happen. You can.

(50:33):
But it's going to take time. And I think that's something else that like in this digital era that we have to realize is that in order to get to that certain quality, it's going to have to take time because we're going to have to get through all these mistakes.
Yeah, kind of just all about using the form like expressively, you know, to like get across where you want to get across. You do that with digital or celluloid. But like you have to understand the form of the beauty. So, yeah, that's true.

(51:02):
I love that conversation.
The technical side of filmmaking is is something I'm working on understanding more. But regardless, even as a casual fan who grew up watching film stock, it's just like it's an intangible that you can notice.
And I, you know, I like watching one of my old VHS tapes. Sometimes I pop that in the VCR, even though I have Jaws on Blu Ray Jaws on tape just feels cozier. I don't know. I don't know how to put it.

(51:34):
No, no, I get it. Like they're like, I still have like, OK, like as a child, I take so much stuff on VHS. I mean, like so much stuff.
And now and from childhood through my early 30s, I kept all my VHS tapes with me. OK.
So like imagine 10 nice size bins full of nothing but VHS tapes. Now some some more films that like, you know, that were legally bought, you know, you know, and but like other stuff I just taped off a TV.

(52:09):
And so it got to a point like in my in like my mid 30s, I was like, Sean, we can't keep all of this.
Like you just going to have to throw it like you got to throw a bunch of these tapes out. Yeah. Now I wish I wouldn't have done that now because some of those things that are on those tapes or stuff that's not available on streaming, not available on physical, physical media.

(52:31):
And it's like, hmm. But I kept two bins, two bins of VHS tapes. And so what I'm looking forward to doing is upscaling those VHS tapes so I can play them in H and so I can play them in HD, but they'll still be in their proper format.
But they'll be they'll be in HD. So like we might have bars on the side. It's OK. I mean, I still get that warmth. I still get to see that warmth.

(52:58):
And there's there's something about that. Like I remember to this day, I think I still have VHS tape.
There was a recording of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on one tape. OK.
And it was an eight hour tape. And and like I watched it so much that like there were parts of the VHS tape were like the tape like, you know, the all these you start seeing all these lines just go through the screen.

(53:27):
And it's like Empire Strikes Back, Hoth battle scene, Luke skipping the commands to the crew. And you just see these like heavy white lines just go through and go.
And like I like I still to this day know it like clockwork every single time. OK. Haven't watched that tape in probably 20 years. Yep.
And still I know exactly when that happens. And that's the comfort.

(53:52):
Those like those are the things I remember. That's the comfort. And that's that's the cool thing about VHS.
Like, you know, there's some countries that still operate, they still operate on VHS.
There's some countries that still make video games for the Sega Master System, not the Genesis, the Master System. OK.

(54:13):
Brazil is about the Sega Master System. They continue to make games for that. Good for you, Brazil.
Yeah, they're doing it right. They know what's up for sure. Yes.
Oh, my gosh. I want to ask you, like, what what's what's next?
Is this the first installment of a of a larger series or we got cooking?

(54:38):
We'll see. You know, we will see. Like, you know, the book just came out last month in October toward the end of October.
So we're going to see how it performs. You know, one thing I am thankful for is that Steve Roth at Rekorto
has been very helpful with the marketing and reaching out to podcasts like yours,
which has been a tremendous help for me because it helps me spread the word of of Kajuu Unleashed.

(55:06):
And I think that's great. Like, they are heavily involved and they want the book to succeed.
You know, like I'm hoping that, you know, I'm able to do like a Super Sentai book
or an American or American Power Rangers book if you know, if possible, or like Metal Heroes.
You know, like you see the show called V.R. Troopers in the United States,

(55:29):
which was produced by Heinz Saban, who originally produced Power Rangers.
He basically took all the Metal Heroes series and just mashed them together and made it and made V.R. Troopers.
It makes absolutely no sense at all. And I love every single waking minute of it.

(55:50):
You know, like, seriously, it's just like space sheriff's Gavin, space sheriff's Sherivan, space sheriff's Scheider.
Oh, here's oh, what's his face? I can't. I think it's not Kakaider. But anyway, but then you smash all this together.
Like none of these things fit. None of these things fit at all.
Like, I will make it work. And wow. And it makes no sense. But I can't stop watching it.

(56:18):
I'll admit, I've never heard of this. I want to watch everything now. Is V.R. Troopers available anywhere?
Oh, no, it's not. See, here's OK. Like I guess here's what happened. Here's what. OK.
And I'll try to be brief. I apologize. Came out in the 90s.
It was syndicated. And then it had two seasons because basically what happened was they ran out of footage for all.

(56:42):
I mean, they literally they burned through five series worth of footage in two seasons.
Mishmashing and Frankensteining all of this together. Right.
So they're like, well, you know, the Toys are making money, but the ratings are really good.
But like we don't want to make original costumes because like they did.
But we are still in the 90s. So like they didn't really know how to function with those types of costumes.

(57:04):
And the American versions of those costumes, costumes look awful. I mean, they were they were not good.
So they're like, well, we just ended. So it was on VHS for a bit.
And then you had like some best ofs on DVD. And then a few years ago, Shop Factory was like, OK, here's season one, part one, your season one, part two.
And then they did season two, part one. But the sales for that weren't that great.

(57:30):
So they did a limited set on season two, part two. Now, all of that is now discontinued.
The the name rights to be our troopers last.
So it's just like I'm sorry, I'm not paying $200 on eBay, you know, for for like one about one half volume of our troopers.
I'm keep that. I'm sorry. I just keep my memories in my head.

(57:52):
That's why I be able to find a couple of episodes on YouTube.
It's it's it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
But like I love all right. Camp Kaiju listeners, do your homework.
Find the our troopers.
You may regret it, but I'm sorry.

(58:14):
I'm going to have to do my homework as well. It sounds amazing. Can't wait to watch.
No, but this is this has been great.
You know, like I said, with you know, Kaiju unleashed out right now, like I'm about to head to a book festival Saturday, you know, with copies of Kaiju unleashed along with some other books that I've written.
I wrote a biography about the Olympic snowboarder, Sean White, as part of who HQ's who is who was who are series.

(58:43):
And that came out literally a few weeks before Kaiju unleashed.
And you've got a couple got a couple of things in the works like like I have a there's a high low reader series called The Gamer.
It's a superhero series and it's literally Toku inspired like Toku inspired stuff for kids.

(59:06):
I am legitimately writing Super Sentai for kids and without people understanding that Super Sentai and like I love and the kids, the kids like eat it up.
I get to go talk with school kids about being creative and writing.
How do we make books and stuff like that? And like a lot of times they'll get copies of The Gamer.
And they're like this superhero is cool. And and like it just brings a joy to my heart.

(59:33):
You know that like I get to write a Toku Toku and every and every and the kids love it, man.
It just brings brings joy to my heart.
That's fantastic. Congratulations on all that. And and Kaiju unleashed.
You know, I mean, so much I want to ask, but I, you know, we're our hour is up.
I know like I was going to ask about your like, I know you have background in comic books and graphic novels.

(59:59):
So I was going to ask about the overlap between that art form and Kaiju movies.
But, you know, I mean, I'm eager to like explore your past work and maybe that's a conversation for another time because I know we're kind of out of time here.
But oh, yeah, no problem. I'm I'm always around. I always got five minutes on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
So please, by all means, I would love to come back. I had a fantastic time.

(01:00:20):
Vincent, Matt, you guys are awesome.
And like this this conversation really like lifted my spirits, man. So thank you both.
Thank you. Truly. The honor was ours. This.
It's just like it was fortuitous like Steve reached out and I was like, yeah, that's great.
Why not? A fellow Kaiju nerd and and author to Matt and I both write in our in our other lives here.

(01:00:50):
So, Sean, thank you for for everything.
You're very welcome. Thank you.
OK, one last question, actually, for the book. Where is it available for purchase?
OK, cool. You can purchase it. You can go through bookshop.org.
That way you can support independent bookstores, get it through them.
If you don't want to do that, you can go to Barnes and Noble dot com, Amazon dot com, books, a million dot com, wherever books are sold.

(01:01:15):
Or if you don't have the money to get it, you want to go to your local library,
see if they have any money in their budget to purchase books and request Kaiju Unleashed.
You can do that as well. It's a beautiful hardcover.
It's I I still look at this cover and I'm just like, how can you say no to this?
How can you say no to this? It's a cover by Daz Tibbles.

(01:01:36):
And so by artist Daz Tibbles and so beautiful and like the color, the color usage is amazing.
And like they even like paint it out the outer rim of the pages.
I didn't know they were going to do that. And so when I got those copies, I was just like, so.
So, yeah, it's it's great. But yeah, you can get you can get the book anywhere books are sold or go to any of those any of those book websites.

(01:01:59):
Like I'm big on bookshop dot org because I like to support small businesses.
And so and so and the price is still the same no matter what.
So anyway, you get it. You know, I mean, I understand some of you might write the Pirate Seize.
I'm not going to say nothing. But if you can purchase it, I would really appreciate it.
Totally. And it is a beautiful book. I just wanted to add that.

(01:02:22):
Like, it's a gorgeous book. The imagery is amazing.
Like it evokes all those same feelings of monster love that you get from watching the movies.
So it's an incredible, a very beautiful book for sure.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
We'll put the links to those sources you just mentioned in our show notes and encourage all of our listeners to go check it out.

(01:02:44):
All right. Sounds good. I appreciate y'all.
We'd love to talk to you all again. So please, anytime, just reach out.
Thank you. You're welcome. Good to meet you.
All right. Well, thank you all for listening to this episode.
We'll see you next time for Godzilla minus one.
Please rate and review wherever you listen. You can also share this podcast with a friend.

(01:03:05):
Send us listener comments at CampKaiju at gmail.com, our Facebook page or on Instagram. Links are in the bio.
If you'd like to be a featured voice on the show, please leave us a voicemail at 612-470-2612, telling us about your favorite monster movies and memories.
Finally, please check out our website, CampKaijuPodcast.com for more information.

(01:03:28):
CampKaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Mignon's mailbox music by Ben Cook Phelps.
Thanks again, friends. And until next time, stay campy.

(01:04:33):
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Kaiju Unleashed: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Strange Beasts by Shawn Pryor • An Interview Special