The Kaiju Transmissions Podcast

Byrd and Matt are joined by Kevin Derendorf (Maser Patrol/Kaiju For Hipsters) and Justin Mullis (Man Creates Dinosaurs blog) to talk about King Kong's animated forms, with a spotlight on four "unofficial" animated films that were made without the permission of Kong's rights holders.  We discuss the animated musical The Mighty Kong (1998), two Kong Animated Series sequels Kong: King of Atlantis and...

In 2018, Byrd and Tom joined up with the Movie Graveyard Podcast for an audio commentary for 1961's UK classic Gorgo!  We talked about the state of the giant monster genre at the time, how it would go on to influence kaiju cinema, its origins as a Japanese/British co-production and more.  Listen along and enjoy the discussion!

Byrd and Matt get together with Kevin and Ultra superfan Connor to discuss the most recent Ultraman show, 2020's Ultraman Z!  We talk about its troubled production history, our favorite and least favorite moments, and more!  But first we have a huge kaiju news roundup, as we give our thoughts on the latest for Godzilla vs. Kong, Shin Ultraman, Cloverfield 2, Pacific Rim: The Black, and the upcomin...

Byrd and Matt are joined again by Trev and Tom to discuss the 2020 film Love and Monsters!  The film takes place seven years after a giant monster apocalypse, as our protagonist Joel travels across a monster filled terrain to find his high school sweetheart.  The film stars Dylan O'Brien, Michael Rooker and Jessica Henwick, and was directed by Michael Matthews and written by Matthew Robbins and Br...

We're back with something a little different this time as we're joined by Trev and Tom to discuss some Japanese flavored takes on everyone's favorite caped crusader.  We talk about the heavily anime and kaiju influenced Batman Unlimited animated film, Mechs vs Mutants, and the completely bonkers anime film Batman Ninja!  We're gonna talk giant monsters, giant robots, giant monkeys, giant Batmans a...

Byrd, Matt, and Kevin are joined by Jared Foust (Xenofauna on Twitter/Instagram) to discuss modern artist Takashi Murakami's 2013, film debut, Jellyfish Eyes.  Mostly known for his artwork and design work (including for artists such as Billie Eilish and Kanye West), Murakami decided to try his hand at making a children's film that would combine his aesthetic with other inspirations from kaiju/toku...

Byrd, Matt and Tom discuss the recent indie kaiju spoof, Notzilla.  After circling Hollywood and going through different hands for years, director Mitch Teemley decided to make his affectionate kaiju parody independently with a tiny budget in Cincinnati, OH.  What happens when kaiju and 50s American b-movie tropes combine with parody?  Join us as we review the film and discuss its origins and the...

If you're still not over the end of October, Byrd, Tom and Kevin are here to help with your Halloween hangover by talking about the horror-action mashups of director Ryuhei Kitamura.  Before directing Godzilla: Final Wars, Kitamura had humble beginnings making low budget genre films.  We discuss his early efforts, including the zombie/yakuza film Versus, the sci-fi/horror manga adaptation Alive, a...

For this October horror episode, we get into some werewolf shenanigans by talking about screen adaptations of manga legend Kazumasa Hirai's strange Wolf Guy franchise.  First up, we have Toho's 1973 film, Horror of the Wolf, directed by Masashi Matsumoto and co-written by Godzilla veteran Jun Fukuda.  Next up, we discuss Toei's 1975 Wolf Guy, starring Sonny Chiba as an older version of the charact...

For our first October horror episode of 2020, Byrd, Matt, and Tom are joined by Trev (Failure To Franchise, Days of Future Podcast) to discuss two shockers from exploitation maestro, Teruo Ishii.  First, we discuss Toei's controversial mad scientist tale, Horrors of Malformed Men, which was pulled from theaters and languished for decades under a studio imposed ban.  Then we discuss the Nikkatsu ya...

Byrd, Matt, Tom and resident Ultra superfan Connor discuss 2013's series Neo Ultra Q.  This 12 episode update of the series brings a diverse and more heady science fiction spin on Ultra Q, with some of the best genre talents behind the camera.  Listen as we discuss each of the 12 episodes and our favorite moments from the series!  But first, we deliver some news on the next Godzilla project and a...

Byrd and Matt are joined by frequent guest Kevin Derendorf (Kaiju For Hipsters), as well as first time guests Jared Foust (Xenofauna) and translator Amanda Whalen to discuss 1990's Ultra Q the Movie: Legend of the Stars!  This film update of the classic 60s television series has languished in obscurity for decades.  Frustrated with the lack of a translation, this group of friends threw in money to...

In April of 2020, author Steve Ryfle approached us about being involved in organizing an online tokusatsu convention he wanted to hold in the wake of the pandemic.  Of course we said yes, and joined the rest of the team, which also includes Patrick Galvan, John DeSentis, Erik Homenick, and Kyle Gilmore.  Here we have the whole team (minus Kyle Gilmore) discussing who we are, what this convention i...

Byrd, Matt and Tom review Norman England's 2006 science fiction film, the iDol!  This film features a lot of tokusatsu veterans both in front of and behind the camera.  The film follows Ken, a toy collector who quite literally ends up being controlled by his hobby.  We'll get into the film's commentary on collector culture in fandom, the new blu-ray release from SRS Cinema and more!

Byrd and Matt welcome writer/director Mitch Teemley to the show to discuss his new kaiju comedy, Notzilla!  This loving send up of classic kaiju films had a rocky path to being made.  We discuss the original script, how it had interest from Hollywood studios and stars, and the decision to rework the film and complete it as an independent feature years later.  We also get into the special effects t...

Byrd and Matt are joined by frequent guest host Kevin, as well as Justin Mullis (the Man Creates Dinosaurs blog) to talk about the recent Netflix anime series, Japan Sinks 2020.  This new adaptation of the Sakyo Komatsu disaster novel (which got two tokusatsu adaptations from Toho) takes a new approach to the material with a new storyline, new characters, and a lot of commentary on the current sta...

Live streamed as part of Kaiju Con-Line, Byrd and Kevin held a panel on Takashi Miike's 2005 Yokai epic.  Before Kadokawa rebooted Gamera to be more Brave or gave Daimajin a brand new Kanon, they revived their third most-popular monster franchise: Yokai Monsters. The resulting picture, The Great Yokai War, has an interesting history tying together Japanese mythology, manga, and popular culture in...

Byrd and Matt are joined by Trev (Days of Future Podcast/Failure to Franchise) to take a deep dive into Starship Troopers, a Western series with many ties to Japanese sci-fi.  We discuss the original novel, the 1980s anime mini-series, the three live action films, and the two recent Japanese-American animated sequels.  We will examine the novel's influence on Japanese science fiction, how the subt...

Byrd and Matt are joined by author John LeMay (Jaws Unmade/The Lost Films) and Connor Anderson (Easter's Kaiju Kompendium blog) to discuss and review the fourth show in the Ultra series, the Return of Ultraman!  We discuss the show's early concepts, Ishiro Honda's involvement, our favorite and least favorite episodes, why the MAT are terrible at their jobs, and more!  Tune in and join the conversa...

Byrd and Matt are joined by artists Nick Shev and John Bellotti to take a detour into an American monster franchise and discuss all six (!) Tremors films (to date).  We start with the origins of the classic original film and go through the entire series, including some brief talk about the canceled television series, the actual television series, the problem with Shriekers, the OTHER canceled tele...

Byrd and Matt welcome Norman England back to the podcast, this time to reflect on his directorial debut film, 2006's the iDol!  The iDol is an independent Japanese science fiction film that features plenty of prolific tokusatsu veterans both in front of and behind the camera and is just now finding a release in the United States.  It tells the story of an obsessive toy collector whose reality is w...

Byrd and Matt are joined by director/editor Brandon Smith to discuss his upcoming crowdfunded film The Legend of the Bear Lake Monster!  Described as "The Goonies + Jaws," the film is based on the cryptid that allegedly resides in the titular lake in Utah.  We talk about a variety of topics such as the appeal of cryptozoology in a post-smart phone world, the history of the Bear Lake Monster, what...

Byrd and Matt are joined by indie creature creator Rashaad Santiago to talk about his upcoming crowd funded monster film, Terror From Beyond Beyond!  In addition to discussing the genesis of Rashaad's new project, we also talk about his work on the Godzilla fan film, Godzilla: Heritage, his directorial debut Beast of the Water, winning season six of SyFy's competitive series Face-Off, and advice f...

Byrd and Matt are joined by Kyle Yount of the Kaijucast/Collect All Monsters to take a plunge into the world of Japanese mythology!  Here, we discuss the Shinto legends of Yamato Takeru, Prince Susanoo, and the slaying of the eight headed dragon, Yamata no Orochi.  We will talk about the original stories, as well as three feature film adaptations:  The Three Treasures (1959), Little Prince and the...

Byrd, Matt, Tom and Kevin take a deep dive (no pun intended) into Shinpei Hayashiya's indie Deep Sea Monster trilogy!  These low budget kaiju films include Reigo: The Deep-Sea Monster vs. the Battleship Yamato (2008), Deep Sea Monster Raiga (2009), and the new God Raiga vs King Ohga (2020) and were from the director of the famed elusive Gamera 4 fan film.  Thanks to SRS Cinema, these films are ava...