Yesterday

Above, the left front tire blew out yesterday. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Yesterday was the 32nd anniversary of my 39th birthday. 

It is a weird feeling that I am now at the same age my dad was when he passed away 25 years ago. 

It was a good birthday, but it could have been better. 

First off, on the way home from the Flying J's Denny's restaurant where we had our usual Tuesday coffee gathering, the left front tire on the Jeep blew out. Now I have to deal with that. I have to go into Gallup and pay a deposit for a replacement tire (Cooper Discoverer). When the dealer gets it in, I'll have to bring the wheel into town for it to be mounted on the rim. It was a couple of blocks from home when it happened, so I managed to get the Jeep into the garage. 

Above, Richard Pusateri at the Big Pool at Toho Studios in 2001. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Then, in the afternoon, I learned that Richard Pusateri, one of the gang of kaiju enthusiasts (formerly from L.A.), passed away after a 2-3 year battle with cancer. Richard was the one who coined the name "GINO" (Godzilla In Name Only) for the Tri-Star Godzilla of 1998. We met at G-FEST 1999 in Burbank. We went to the premiere of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack at the 2001 Tokyo International Film Festival and toured Toho Studios with Koichi Kawakita and Shogo Tomiyama. We attended many screenings in Hollywood and at the American Film Market in Santa Monica. Some used to refer to us as the "Mario Brothers". He will be missed. 

As we get older, it seems that more often life throws curve balls at us. 

Kenpachiro Satsuma, 1947 - 2023

Above, Kenpachiro Satsuma and yours truly at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for G-FEST 2000.

Sad news has been reported.

Heisei Godzilla suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma has passed away today at age 76. He portrayed Godzilla from Return of Godzilla (1994) to Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995).

 

I met Mr. Satsuma in 2000 at G-FEST 2000 at the Hollywood Roosevel Hotel. 

From Wikipedia:

Kenpachiro Satsuma (薩摩剣八郎, Satsuma Kenpachirō, May 27, 1947 – December 16, 2023), born Yasuaki Maeda (前田靖昭, Maeda Yasuaki) was a Japanese actor and stuntman who portrayed Godzilla in the Heisei films, from 1984 to 1995.

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Satsuma began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in samurai films. In 1971 he was offered the role of the smog monster antagonist Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, opposite Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla. He went on to play Gigan in two further Godzilla films. When Nakajima retired from the Godzilla role in 1972, substitutes were hired between 1973 and 1975 until Satsuma took over permanently in 1984. His portrayal took the character away from the humour of the character's portrayals over the past decades, returning to the more animalistic Godzilla persona of the original 1954 film.

While filming Godzilla movies, Satsuma would regularly pass out on the set due to lack of oxygen while wearing the poorly ventilated and rubber suits; this was especially a problem during production of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, in which the steam effect on the suit (meant to represent Godzilla undergoing a nuclear meltdown) was achieved using pure carbon dioxide.

 

Above, two Godzillas, Kenpachiro Satsuma and Haruo Nakajima at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for G-FEST 2000. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Remembering Koichi Kawakita

Remembering special effects director Koichi Kawakita on his 80th birthday.

Above, Koichi Kawakita and yours truly at G-FEST 2000 in Hollywood.

 

Kōichi Kawakita (川北 紘一, Kawakita Kōichi, December 5, 1942 – December 5, 2014) was a Japanese special effects director, cinematographer, and optical photographer.

Born: December 5, 1942 in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan

Died: December 5, 2014 (aged 72)

Megumi Odaka Turned 50 Yesterday

Above, Megumi Odaka (center) arrives at LAX for G-FEST 2000
with her sister Rina and Robert Scott Field. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

1972. This was the year I graduated high school. It is also the year that actress Megumi Odaka was born.

This coming September, several classes (including mine) of Hawthorne High School will be celebrating their 50-year reunion. I plan on attending. Since I experienced the years since graduation, I can believe it has been 50 years.

What is hard to believe is that Megumi Odaka had reached 50 years of age yesterday. When she was acting in the Heisei Godzilla series of movies, she was in her 20s. When she made her first Godzilla movie appearance in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), she was 17.

From IMDb:

Megumi Odaka was born on May 9, 1972 in Kanagawa, Japan. When she was 12 years-old, she jump-started her film career as a voice actress for children's TV shows in Japan. In addition, with also being a singer, she released several singles and albums throughout the late 1980s. After participating in the "Toho Cinderella Contest" in 1989 with actress Yasuko Sawaguchi, she was cast as psychic girl Miki Saegusa in the Godzilla film Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989). Impressed with her portrayal of Miki Saegusa, Toho studios had her return in the remaining 5 Godzilla sequels, thus becoming the first actor to portray the same character in a Godzilla film for more than 2 times. To this date, she is the one actor with the most reoccurring role in the Godzilla film trilogy.

After the Godzilla "Heisei" series ended in 1995, Megumi has pretty much retired from films. However, she has made appearances on stage, including "Peter Pan," "Anne's Love," and "Fiddler on the Roof," and occasionally can be seen participating at Godzilla conventions.

She appeared as a guest at G-FEST 2000 in Hollywood. She was 28 then. It is even hard to believe that G-FEST 2000 was held 22 years ago this coming summer.

This only goes to show how time flies. 

"Godzilla 2000" Released In The U.S. 20 Years Ago

Above, the U.S. poster for Godzilla 2000.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. theatrical release of Godzilla 2000 (the U.S. title for Japan's Godzilla 2000 Millennium) that was produced by Toho Pictures in 1999.

This was the first theatrical wide release of a Japanese Godzilla movie since Godzilla 1985. The event (along with the opening of G-FEST 2000 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel) was celebrated at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors when they proclaimed "Godzilla Week".

Above, the "Godzilla Week" proclamation scroll by the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Godzilla 2000 would never have been produced had Tri-Star's Godzilla (1998) been a critical and a better box office success. It was so badly derided that G-fan Richard Pusateri's nickname of G.I.N.O. (Godzilla In Name Only) stuck to the monster, even to this day.

Unfortunately, Godzilla 2000 only made about $10 million at the U.S. box office thanks to a botched marketing campaign by Sony/Tri-Star. The U.S. edit actually improved the Japanese original.

CBR.com takes a look at how Tri-Star's failure "kickstarted" the Toho Godzilla "Millennium Series" of movies.

They begin it with:

This month marks the 20th anniversary for the American theatrical release of Godzilla 2000, the film that kickstarted the Millennium era for Toho Studios' iconic monster franchise. The most short-lived and quirkiest era to redefine the eponymous kaiju for a new generation, Godzilla 2000 not only marked the first Japanese produced film in the franchise after a four-year hiatus by Toho but also served as an immediate rebuttal to Hollywood first attempt to reimagine the monster for the American audience from the ground up. What resulted was a film series that took Godzilla to the strangest places in his on-screen history to date, concluding with an explosive confrontation between the classic kaiju and his maligned, American counterpart.

One prized possession I have for Godzilla 2000 is a theatrical 35 mm film trailer produced by Tri-Star. It was played at G-FEST in 2008 before the screening of Godzilla Final Wars. It resides in my refrigerator. Below is the trailer on YouTube.




If you can't take the heat...RUN!

To read the full article, go here. 

New Scans of Old Photos

For the blog about Megumi Odaka's appearance at this year's Chiller Theater Expo, I had to make a new scan of some photos of her when she arrived in Los Angeles for G-FEST 2000 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

I used one of them, but I figured that I may as well post the others here.

Above and below, Rina & Megumi Odaka and Robert Scott Field at LAX. Photos by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Megumi Odaka is interviewed by the Japanese media at LAX. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Heisei Godzilla Kenpachiro Satsuma and Armand at G-FEST 2000.

Megumi Odaka To Appear At Chiller Theater Expo

Above, from the Chiller Theater website.

Not since she appeared at G-FEST 2000 in Hollywood, Heisei Godzilla actress Megumi Odaka has not appeared at any stateside convention (as far as I know).

That is all about to end when she appears next month at Chiller Theater Expo at the Hilton Parsippany in Parsippany, New Jersey April 21 to 23.

Above, Megumi Odaka arrives in Los Angeles in 2000 for G-FEST. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I took a look at Chiller Theater's website and they do have a pretty impressive line-up of guests.

For more information, go here.

July 2000 "Godzilla Week" Photo Surfaces

Above, gathering in the Hall of Administration before the "Godzilla Week" ceremony are (left to right)
Armand Vaquer, Masaharu Ina of Toho L.A., Andrew Wong and J. D. Lees.  Photo courtesy of Andrew Wong.

Back in July 2000, the second G-Fest in Southern California was about to be held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  A month later, Godzilla 2000, the first Japanese Godzilla movie to be released nationwide in theaters since Godzilla 1985.

To garner some publicity for both, the idea was to have the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declare the week of G-Fest "Godzilla Week." Toho Co., Ltd. was enthusiastic over this idea and even shipped over (at their expense) a Godzilla 2000 event suit for the ceremony to be held at the Hall of Administration.

Unfortunately, Jaime Geller, a publicist at Sony Entertainment, horned in and thinking she knew better than anyone about what constitutes good publicity, nixed the appearance of the event suit saying it was too small and, "It detracts from the grandeur of Godzilla." (Sony had the U.S. theatrical rights to Godzilla 2000, which included publicity.) Once fans heard the news of the cancellation of the event suit, the "fit hit the shan." Geller received many angry messages from irate fans.

The ceremony went ahead anyway without the event suit and, as a result of Sony's dumb move, no publicity was generated. But, at least Toho got a nice scroll (below) out of it and it hangs somewhere at Toho in Japan.

What prompted this post was the above photograph that, until tonight, I didn't know existed. It was sent to me by Andrew Wong.  Thanks, Andrew!

Check out Andrew's GForever website.

"Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy" Movie Book

Above, the cover.

In January 2001, Japanese publisher Shogakukan published their TV-kun photo book on the 2000 Toho feature, Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy (ISBN 4-09-101475-5).

The movie premiered in Japan on November 3, 2000 at the Tokyo International Film Festival.  Its initial release was on December 16, 2000.  It was directed by Masaaki Tezuka.

Above, the photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony that appeared
in the "Godzilla x Megaguirus" Shogakukan movie book.

Shogakukan has a history of publishing high-quality photo books that are loaded with rare photos from the movies and production stills.  This one was no exception.  It contains photos of props, monster suits, wardrobe, miniatures and statistics, besides scenes from the movie.

Above, the "Godzilla Week" proclamation
scroll by the Board of Supervisors.

One item of interest (at least to me) included in the book was a group photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony that was held in July 2000 at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.  The ceremony was held at the Board of Supervisors meeting and a proclamation declaring "Godzilla Week" was sponsored by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and signed by all the Board members.  The idea for the ceremony was to draw media attention to G-FEST 2000 (to be held that week in Hollywood) and the opening of Godzilla 2000 the following month.  Toho even shipped over an event suit for the occasion, but Jaime Geller of Sony/Tri-Star Pictures nixed the appearance with the flimsy excuse that Sony/Tri-Star had the "publicity rights" to Godzilla 2000 and the suit "detracted from the grandeur of Godzilla."  It was more likely that she wanted to control this fan-generated event with the usual "Hollywood knows best" attitude. As it turned out, Sony/Tri-Star was conspicuously absent from the ceremony.  They sent no representatives.  Thankfully, we had the full support of Toho's Los Angeles office.

Once fans learned of the "sabotage" of the event due to the cancellation of the suit's appearance (we went ahead with the ceremony anyway), the "fit hit the shan."  Fans raised holy hell with many irate emails directed to Sony/Tri-Star.  Had the suit been allowed to appear, it may have helped a little with the boxoffice take of Godzilla 2000 (it earned a measly $10 million) as people would have been able to see the new Godzilla "Millennium" design up close for the first time.  Sony's saving grace was that they provided hundreds of Godzilla 2000 cloisonne promo pins and mini-posters to hand out at the event and at G-FEST.

Above, my autographed group photo of the "Godzilla Week" ceremony.  Photo courtesy of
the office of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The Godzilla x Megaguirus: G Annihilation Strategy book is currently out-of-print, but it can still be found at eBay and some Japanese online bookseller websites.  At the time of publication, I bought two of them (one for myself and one as a "thank-you" gift to Supervisor Antonovich).  It is amazing that over 12 years have passed since "Godzilla Week" and the publication of the movie book.

2 Years...

Left, a glamour portrait of my mom from the early 1950s.

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of my mom's passing.

Since she was the one who got me interested in horror and science-fiction movies as well as comic books (she would read all the ones I brought home), it was only fitting that I spent yesterday at the L.A. Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. She would have approved (and probably would've liked to have attended).

The last convention I took her to was a Dark Shadows Festival in Burbank a few years ago. She also attended the awards banquet at G-FEST 2000 in Hollywood.

40 Years of "Godzilla vs. Hedorah": The Men Who Played Godzilla and Hedorah

Above, Kenpachiro Satsuma (Hedorah) and Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla) take a break during the filming of "Godzilla vs. Hedorah." This still was signed by both actors. From the personal collection of Armand Vaquer.

As posted previously, July marks 40 years since the release of Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) in Japan.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the two men who gave it their all in their portrayals of Godzilla and his foe, Hedorah.

Above, Kenpachiro Satsuma (left) and Haruo Nakajima share a laugh in Hollywood 29 years after making "Godzilla vs. Hedorah." Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I had the good fortune to first meet Kenpachiro Satsuma (Hedorah) and Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla) at G-FEST 2000 in Hollywood. Since then, I have gotten to know Mr. Nakajima well and attended a dinner party in the Nakano section of Tokyo with Mr. Satsuma in 2001, following the premiere of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Both men are some of the nicest people I've ever met in show business.

Satsuma played Hedorah and other monsters before he took over the Godzilla role in 1984 in Return of Godzilla (a.k.a. Godzilla 1985). His stint as Godzilla ended with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995.

Above, the Bandai Hedorah toy I bought during my 2007 Japan vacation.

Nakajima's appearance of Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Hedorah was second to the last before his retirement from the role. He began his run as Godzilla in the original 1954 feature. His last appearance as Godzilla was in the following year's Godzilla vs. Gigan. Nakajima published an autobiography of his life and career in Japan last year. He is now a spry 82-year-old.

A tip of the cap to both men and domo arigato gozaimasu!

Old Pictures

While perusing some old files in my old computer, I came across some oldies.

2000

Below, is an article from the Los Angeles Daily News from July 16, 2000 on G-FEST 2000. The article appeared in the newspaper while the convention was in progress. I showed it to Mr. Nakajima at the awards luncheon at the Hollywood Roosevelt. (Click on image to see larger.)



After arriving at LAX from Japan for G-FEST 2000, Megumi Odaka is interviewed in the Tom Bradley Terminal by a Japanese radio station:



Below, Sadamasa Arikawa pushes his luggage to the bus at LAX after arriving in 2000:



Below, the night before G-FEST 2000 opened, the guests were gathered in a suite at the Hollywood Roosevelt to go over the weekend's activities:



Below, yours truly with special effects director Koichi Kawakita at the Hollywood Roosevelt in 2000:



2004

Following the American Film Market screening of Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., we gathered at the Santa Monica Hooters for an after-movie snack: