godzilla and jet jaguar

Who out there used to watch all of the old Godzilla movies on television? If I remember correctly, they were usually found on Saturdays, sometimes Sundays. I used to adore Godzilla, even from a young age. I got a Mattel Godzilla for Christmas when I was about five. If you pressed a lever on his back the arm would shoot off at some unsuspecting target. (in my case it was either my parent's legs or later, the three legged Siamese cat) He also had wheels embedded on the bottoms of his feet so you could kind of roll him around, and he also had a fiery tongue that would stick out of his massive fanged mouth. Recently I asked about that Godzilla, thinking (hoping) he was in my parent's attic. But to my utter dismay, I found out it had been gotten rid of when they sold their last house. I was crushed. I was very fond of that toy for years, and hey, imagine the fun Clare and I would have with him now. (picture two Jack Russells being chased through our house by a Godzilla....)

Anyway I was kind of an interesting child. And definitely not your average girl. I was not into cartoons, let alone Saturday morning cartoons like most normal children at that time. I read far too much; wrote my own books (and illustrated them, made covers, bound the covers to pages, you get the idea...we still have those however, they did not meet the same fate as Godzilla); drew copius amounts of pictures; made my own maps; played school when school was out; and created my own backyard museums complete with collections of rock samples and science experiments. And yes, I even catalogued my items and made curatorial cards for them to be displayed with each exhibit. I was even known to charge some of the neighbours money to visit my museum. (hey those nickels add up!) As the school said, I was a "gifted" child. Luckily, it seems thus far, Clare is not trailing far behind.

Even with music, I was way ahead of those my own age. Back in the early 80's, we didn't have "boy bands" so to speak, for the girly girls to follow wholeheartedly. There were a smackerling of odd one hit wonder singers, but none that I could be bothered with. For our time, the masses didn't have much to go on till around 1985 when bands like Wham and Frankie Goes to Hollywood hit the scene. But by that point, I was about 13 and had previously formed my own unique ideas about which music was great, and what bands were not. When MTV came out in 1980 (it was 1980, wasn't it?), I instantly took a liking to the bands coming out of England....I knew which ones had messages to convey. I grew up with parents who had a huge range of musical interests, and I had been taken to concerts from the age of three years old. When I was ten, I certainly didn't know anyone else who was hip to the music scene, let alone anyone else who was passionate on the political messages these bands were sending out (like U2). But there I was, a child listening to the likes of the Clash and U2, Flock of Seagulls and Modern English, The Pogues, Echo and the Bunnymen, Boomtown Rats....oh the list goes on. And I was actually receiving the messages they were sending out. I still have the vinyl collection to prove it. (People tell me to get rid of them...I say NEVER....I love my vinyl, even though it is mostly 20 years old and I have no record player to play them anymore) Needless to say, I have never been one to follow anyone~ not with music, clothing, ideas, opinions, etc.

So my point is, I was pretty much the only kid I knew who watched Godzilla. Oddly, I had just asked about my shooting arm Godzilla over Christmas when we went home to visit. Then Greg told me the other day he saw that an episode of Godzilla was airing on television at work.

My favourite episode was "Godzilla versus Megalon" (1973). My favourite character in this one was "Jet Jaguar", a robot created by Dr. Goro Ibuki. Jet could "fly" and had "automatic evasion sensors" so he "always gets out of your way" when you were walking around.

In the course of the movie, Jet gets hijacked by the Seatopians to help direct the actions of Megalon, a ginormous bug which is going to destroy Japan. In the course of the film, the good Dr. is able to regain control of Jet via a necklace transmitter, (which was much like the Oscar Meyer Weiner Whistle... and sounded like it, too) and sends him off to get Godzilla. After his return, we find out that Jet has been programmed to reprogram himself for survival. This lame excuse is supposed to justify why he can suddenly grow from the size of a normal human to the same height as Godzilla. Ehm, yeah, brilliant efforts on the writing team's behalf. But from what I recall, Jet Jaguar sides with Godzilla to destroy the giant bug/moth enemy and all of Japan is saved, the citizens are overjoyed that their hero, a huge reptile, saved them and are actually teary when having to wave goodbye as Godzilla walks off into the distance.

There was a song in Japanese at the end of the episode about Jet Jaguar (a very campy sounding theme song) that they never bothered to translate into English. I was miffed for years about what the song actually said. Recently I found the translation and it goes like this (if this is indeed the "real" lyrics) :

"He jock it made of steel. Eats sushi from a pail.
Jet Jaguar? Jet Jaguar! He mother never really love him.
He crimefighting covers up a basic insecurity.
He dickey covers up an adam's apple the size of a Toyota!
He basically good hearted but he'd like to smash that kid against a rock.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Who's there?
His head looks like Jack Nicholson.
Don't smile like that it will stay that way! Yahmmmaahoaahoaaaughhh!!!
Don't touch my bags, if you please, Mr. Customs Man!"

The actual sound file can be found here:

http://www.stomptokyo.com/ godzillatemple/hidden/jetjag.wav

(For some bizarre reason, the code won't let me link it, so if you really are curious (or nostalgiac) just copy and paste)

Ah that brings back memories. Yes, I know...I am so sad!!