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Florence Finnegan: It'll send out a magnetic pulse that'll fry the brain stems of every living thing within 250,000 miles. Except for me. Safe in this room.

OT: I do like Doctor Who, but didn't that sound an awful lot like that "magic phone booth" in Superman II where he magically avoided losing his powers by (insert cheesy script device here) and standing in the booth?

Of course, the cheese was expected in that episode of Doctor Who, since it was written by Russell T Davis.

The buff was because of criticism of the early games that Radscorpions were too badass to be such easy monsters and that they should be more like Deathclaws. Sometimes developers agree with the advice, other times not. Personally, Radscorpions and Killer Cockroaches are too Damnation Alley for me (see here for a shot of the giant scorpions).

All the gory details. Strangely enough, it was shot in Canada. There's a good (read: funny) post-mortem review here.

Yeah thats much more like assisted gliding than anything else. When he can take off from a standing start, like in Nausicaa (valley of the wind), I'll be impressed. Also his landing technique seems a bit hair raising. Do you fold up the wings before or after you deploy the parachute?

Anyone want to explain why the seismic station at Inchon, South Korea appears to be quiet at the time of the blast (1:35 UTC)?
I see an event at Inchon at about 14:30 UTC on Sunday, but it's 11 hours earlier than the reported blast.

This wasn't really a nuclear bomb test, it was a summoning! They're summoning the real Pulgasari! However, unlike the movie one which feeds on iron, this one feeds on Plutonium. It will crush the enemies of the DPRK then lead all the communist brotherhood in an interesting folk dance before turning on them to sate its hunger for nuclear fuel. Kim, as usual, has awakened a monster even he and his propaganda machine will not be able to control

Seriously, there's a 4.2 on the USGS site, but they could have just faked it with a load of TNT, like that mysterious railway explosion they had years ago. Local quarry explosions frequently register as high as 2.0 on the richter scale. Enough Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil down a well and you, too, could claim mastery of nuclear weapons, without any international monitors to say otherwise.

I came here for the UHF reference. Joe Earley.

Old news, there was a documentary about them made in 1967: http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/gappa.html
Oh, and the proper term is triphibian, since it swims, flies, and walks.

What's in Kim Jong ils PS2 right now you think?

Is it any worse than "Inframan"?

Here we go. Can you explore to find Lumpy & Itchy? Can you use the weird pleasure machine? What happens on life day?

"Food of the Gods"?

Steganography vs. Steganalysis

Wasn't this the sequel to Godzilla vs. Mothra?

Rundown on various offspring of Godzilla in different realities & continuities:

The cute, annoying, pudgy son-o-G in the earlier movies was called Minya. I'm not sure where the name Minilla popped up -- I've heard it before, but never seen it in any of the subs or heard it in the dubs. Then again, more recent dubs have done strange stuff like change the names of Mothra's little twin hotties (The Cosmos), so I just may be out of the loop.

The little fat guy was in Godzilla's Revenge AKA All Monsters Attack (Worse than GINO, avoid at all costs), Son of Godzilla, and used as a greatest hits bit of stock footage in a couple others which are also best forgotten.

Godzooky was the often forgotten American cartoon version of son-o-G circa '79. Think Scooby Doo meets Jaques Cousteau with a big green Scrappy Doo. Completely fucking terrifying to recall now, but I loved it when I was 4. I so wanted a remote control that would call big G to do my bidding. I still want Mothra's little twin hotties, though, but I digress.

Perhaps Minilla is the Americanized name for the baby G that we saw in G vs Space G and vs Destroyah? I think his official name was Godzilla Jr in those, although he graduated and became full blown Godzilla in G2K.

A fairly nice perspective on the big green guy's varied histories is here. Another is here but takes itself a lot more seriously.

I hope it's as good as the old Holiday Special!

Would you like the next Spaceballs to also kill Chewbacca?
As long as he gets Lumpy and Itchy in the process.

I wonder if they're bring Bea Aurthur back for this one, too? On the bright side, given how low the bar was set for the Star Wars Christmas Special, we're pretty much assured that anything that's done for TV by George is going to be better. (OK, bright side in the brown dwarf star sense.)

This site is much better. It has really been a long time. This show is older than most of the girls I meet these days.

Any chance we'll get the Star Wars Holiday Special on DVD?

No Star Wars Holiday Special??

Galaxina has to be the funniest worst movie ever.

It used to come on late nights on HBO, and my brothers and I always made a point to watch it. Sometimes it's hard not to love a good bad movie.

off the top of my head I can't think of any other comic books that were redone for a completely different culture. Anyone?

Yes. Oh, yes.

But you'd better hope it doesn't come out like this.

Stomp Tokyo: Pulgasari

I like the way Kim Jong-Il turned the Marxist version of the historic class struggle into a monster movie. (***Caution Spoilers:*** I. E. Like capitalism, Pulgasari fights the evil king (aristocracy) on behalf of the peasantry, but after defeating him turns on the working class....) I just wish it was available on DVD...

"If you've never seen Godzilla before, you might actually be impressed by the quality of the acting and script. This isn't a scream-queen b-movie, despite its reputation. Most of the characters seem genuinely terrified of the thin air they're staring into before Godzilla is matted in..."

And I would be remiss if I didn't remind you to check out the imdb

Has anyone here played ICO? Its a very romantic sort of game; and kinda spiritual too. The basic premise of the game is , young lad gets trapped in castle, meets strange but beautiful ethereal girl caught between life and death. Strange asphyx like creatures hound the girl, and try to drag her into another world. ICO, must solve puzzles, some of which require the ethereal powers of the girl in order to solve.

Although not strictly billed as a love story, I felt that the young lad and the girl had quite an interaction with each other, the animation silky smooth. The characters would hold hands, if ICO runs too far away he can call the girl and she will come running, or if she cannot make her way to ICO will yell back. To be honest im waffling and not doing the game much justice.

I just wanted to mention it because despite being a great game, its the first game ive really ever played where central characters have a significant relationship / interplay from which feelings seem to emanate from the screen and into your thoughts.

nick ...

Dear Blue Lobster:

I read that one of the largest crayfish ever found was 90lbs and 6 feet long. They found it in Louisiana in 1934 and named it Ol Papa Epice. They did not say, but I assume it would be a Red Swamp cray since they are native to that area. Does anyone know if this is true? I found this info at www.somaradio.ca/~minimalism/crawdad.html. I could not find any other info on it though. If anyone has any info on this please email me. It sounds crazy, but I dont know why it would be made up.

Thanks,
Daniel

Dear Gentle Sir:

Crayfish come in all sizes, some no larger than the top knuckle of your pinky and some larger than your average lapdog. Of course no one cares about the smallest ones when there are real monsters creeping around the dark corners of the world. Through time there have been some very large crayfish indeed, so let's look at a few examples of record-breaking crays.

Ol' Papa pic astounded Louisiana in 1934, but let's not forget that for publicity's sake the accepted measurement of 6 feet included his antennae. More accurate reports claim that the actual length from head to tail was 3 feet, 4 inches and weight was somewhere around 30lbs. Nonetheless these numbers are impressive since no other American cray reaches anywhere near these proportions. Since the species was never recorded doubts of authenticity suggest that the "cray" may have been a marine lobster introduced into a brackish swamp pool. DNA testing of the carapace has been inconclusive thus far.

In Borneo during World War II another creature waved its gargantuan claws into history. Bagaton (Kadazan-Dusun for "big jar") was found by Australian marines patrolling swamps. Measuring an amazing 4 feet, 2 inches and weighing 49lbs, Bagaton resembled marine lobsters from that region of the world but was caught in a freshwater pool. Taxonomists theorize that Bagaton is a marine species that had re-adapted to fresh water within the last several millennia. Again, lack of further scientific testing leaves us with more questions than answers, though the Bagaton corpse is still in relatively good condition for future research.

Prehistoric crayfish and lobsters handily beat today's record-holders for size and weight. Cruising the warm, shallow seas millions of years ago we find several bizarre specimens. Anomalocaris, a close lobster relative with lobster-like pincers but no body armor, actively swam and hunted food. It grew to lengths of five feet. Meganychus grew to lengths of eight feet and featured a set of claws that spanned four feet when fully splayed! Another genus, Gigaeurys, was almost as long as it was wide six feet and is thought to have been an evolutionary dead end that was as closely related to crabs as it was to true lobsters and crays.

Other, even larger, prehistoric fossils found off the coast of Japan inspired myths of the Ebira, a giant sea monster that guarded an island of treasure from the outside world. Thanks to the myths and the fossil species, this 20 foot long primitive lobster relative thought to be capable of vocalizations meant to stun prey eventually found its way into cinema in the 1966 Toho masterpiece Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. Sadly for crustaceanists everywhere Godzilla made short work of the giant lobster champion with his atomic breath.

they laid most of their feature animation division off after Osmosis Jones, sold off their furniture, etc.

Warner has not had an permanent animation division since 1962, when they closed that department and laid off the most brilliant American animator to ever hold a brush.

They should have gone into the market and dominated then. Not now... with a scene packed with competitors especially sony the 8000 ton godzilla

Godzilla is not welcome in Korea. It is the territory of Yongary

The Japanese, clever that they are, have already beaten us to it.

My vote's for the Smog Monster. Mostly hot air, attracted to crap, and if memory serves me, he spends most of his fight with Godzilla pissing himself.

...ever try to bring back Inframan.

It was built for use in the first movie that I ever walked out of, called "Damnation Alley"

But how could you not have liked "Damnation Alley?" With both Jan-Michael Vincent and George Peppard? You just can't go wrong with a cast like that!

doesn't it become Guillon?

Indeed. There should never have been an Outpost 2, nor a Clock Tower 2, or Clock Tower 3, or an E.T., for that matter.

Where is the John Romero we knew? The Doom 2 John Romero whom you could grovel in front of (and then shoot with your rocket launcher)?

I think what motivates these nostalgic people mentioned in the article is that same college-years nostalgia that causes people to watch Xanadu and Dagon.

Or rather, "Face It, We Love Crap"

We all remember Torg as the killer robot from that classic Christmas film, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians .

funny you should mention that considering one of my favourite stallone quotes:
"Myra, some people might think you're cute, but I happen to think you're a very large baked potato."

OJ Simpson would be the perfect person for the job

pray tell, who the hell got wi-fi out there?

i expect burnings of wireless transitters as english cultural intrusion by welsh nationalists.
it'll be like burning man crossed with the wicker man

Let's just hope ISRO (India's version of NASA) is better than their version of Hollywood:

http://stomptokyo.com/movies/s/superman-indian.htm l

Look, all they have to do is change the name to Mojira. Problem solved.

Or not.

Shatner is perfect as the Chairman... over-the-top, energetic and inherently humorous... however, I highly doubt he can fully capture the charm of Kaga...

Actually, this has been done before:
Godzilla vs. Biollante, specifically.
In fact, it was actually *interesting* in that film, with one of the best G-suits ever, imho. Heck, there was even some reflection on the consequences of using such a thing. Similarly, for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), considering the aftermath of the Oxygen Destroyer and Serizawa's fears in Godzilla (1954/1955).
For current aspects of the original legend, see the real thing in its original home.
"thought you'd like to know"

Aren't you thinking of "The Monolith Monsters"?

I agree that Zardoz has no place in a "least influential" list. I could see it in a list of "most far out" or "worst", but that movie, which I saw on TV when I was a kid, is one of a dozen or so that leave me still today with a sense of mystery, of "what the hell was that?", of "wow". This is a result of growing up in the '70s, when everybody's getting high except you. Oh, nice intertextual title, too.

Take a look here : Giant Monster Gamera .

Anyone care to enlighten me why corporations tend to choose weird code names just to look cool in their financial reports?

They reviewed the original and dubbed versions. (So you can see what you're missing.)

The reviews are heartfelt but also quite funny.

"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"

They reviewed the original and dubbed versions. (So you can see what you're missing.)

The reviews are heartfelt but also quite funny.

"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"

They reviewed the original and dubbed versions. (So you can see what you're missing.)

The reviews are heartfelt but also quite funny.

"Knowledge = Power = Energy = Mass"