Giant monsters are fucking rad, that’s an undeniable fact. But there are hundreds of kaiju films that have spawned out of Japan and the rest of the world, and we desperately needed a flimsy excuse to watch more of them. So join myself and colons each month as we take a look at different kaiju films, from the famous to the obscure, as we work out which ones are worth your time, and who truly is the king of the monsters.

For episode two, we’ll be taking a look at Rodan. Released in 1956, it followed Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again in Toho’s slowly-growing catalogue of kaiju movies, and was also Toho’s first colour film. If you want to watch the film before listening to the podcast, you can do so here via Archive.org.

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Opening music: “EM20_Jerry_GZM” – Shin Godzilla Original Soundtrack
Ranking sound clip: “Main Title” from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster – Shin Godzilla Original Soundtrack
Closing music: “Badman Riddim (Jump)” – Vato Gonzalez ft Foreign Beggars

Show Notes

Rodan (1956)

Directed by Ishirō Honda
Produced by Toho
Runtime: 82 minutes

Starring:
Kenji Sahara as Shigeru Kawamura
Yumi Shirakawa as Kiyo
Haruo Nakajima as Radon/Rodan

2:07 Running through the feedback for episode one!

7:20 The fact zone returns

12:40 Setting the scene

14:12 Admiration of the 1956 corpse make-up

18:16 There’s something in the water

21:49 Action figures on string are attacked by the Meganulon

25:11 Shigeru returns, but something’s not quite right

28:31 Rodan appears!

32:10 It’s too expensive to film on location, so we’re using paintings for some shots

34:44 The three forms of Rodan

39:11 There’s a bit of a problem with scale

41:10 Surprise! There’s a second Rodan

45:06 Admiring the advanced lava technology

46:03 Final thoughts about the film

50:11 colon’s cuddle corner, with its fun, catchy intro

56:45 That chibi artwork, including Rodan, for Godzilla, King of the Monsters

1:02:02 Adding Meganulon and Rodan to the official GLORIO’s King of the Kaiju monster ranking

1:12:44 A brief mention of next month’s kaiju film

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Thanks for tuning in! Let us know your thoughts below, and consider preparing for August’s episode by watching the next film on our list; Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. See you in episode three!