The next installment in our lead-up to Skull Island has us taking a detour to have a sleep deprived look at five King Kong rip-offs from around the globe. With King Kong being so popular, everyone wanted a piece of the action. We'll discuss Britain's KONGA (1961) and QUEEN KONG (1976), America's THE MIGHTY GORGA (1969), South Korea's A*P*E (1976), and Hong Kong's MIGHTY PEKING MAN (1977). We also touch on the obscure 2010 Kong remake from Bangladesh and some of the unlicensed animated versions of King Kong. We're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here, as some of these are among the worst giant monster films we've ever seen. Which of these are worth tracking down and which are the stinkers? Listen and find out!

On the next installment of our King Kong recap, we examine the Dino De Laurentiis remake from 1976, and its 1986 sequel King Kong Lives. But before reviewing the films, Byrd exhausts himself by recalling King Kong's convoluted legal rights history and the extremely troubled production of the 1976 remake. For some, these films bring a nostalgic sense of joy. For others, they represent a giant black eye on the franchise. What side of the fence do our hosts fall on? Listen and find out!

In the latest in weekly series leading up to Kong: Skull Island, we take a quick break from the King of the Apes to talk about his spiritual little brother, Mighty Joe Young! We discuss the Willis O'Brien/Ray Harryhausen classic from 1949, as well as the 1998 Disney remake. We'll discuss both films, Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Rick Baker, and the advantages of practical effects over CGI. How do the adventures of Mr. Joseph Young of Africa hold up? Listen and find out!

To kick off our weekly King Kong spectacular to lead up to the release of Kong: Skull Island, we set our sights on the Japanese King Kong films. Join us as we discuss Toho's King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and King Kong Escapes (1967) at length. We also touch on the two lost Japanese Kong films, the American/Japanese cartoon The King Kong Show, Kong's appearance on Toho's Go! Greenman, unmade Japanese Kong films, and even some of the many King Kong manga! The King of the Apes has a rich history with Japan and we wanna tell you all about it! But first, we have the latest news regarding Godzilla 2 and Legendary Pictures!

For the second part of our interview, director/writer/critic/translator/photographer Norman England tells us all about the art of subtitling, working with Takashi Miike on the film Yakuza Apocalypse, his time working with Sushi Typhoon, being an American film critic in Japan, Japan's treatment of foreigners, the Japanese film industry, why he isn't currently directing another film, and the amount of effort that goes into making a movie. We also touch on Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and the time Norman found a rare Son of Godzilla poster tacked to a wall in the middle of nowhere!

Kaiju Transmissions welcomes its first Guest of Honor by welcoming (all the way from Japan!) writer/director/critic/translator/photographer Norman England to the show! As many fans know, Norman wasn't only the director of the Bringing Godzilla Down To Size documentary, but he's also spent MANY hours on Japanese film sets, including Gamera 3 and many of the Godzilla films (in addition to countless other Japanese genre films). In this first part of a two part interview, Norman shares many stories from his 100+ days working with the Toho crews, as well as his experience making what is arguably the definitive Godzilla documentary. In addition to that Norman also tells us about several books he's working on, nationalism, his thoughts on Shin Godzilla, and misconceptions that fans have about Japan. But first, we discuss Norman's inexplicable love of Howard the Duck and what it was like seeing movies in the torn down grindhouse theaters of 42nd Street in New York City back in the 80s.

Byrd and Matt are joined by musician and film music connoisseur Chris Marti of Cosmic Monster to discuss the music of kaiju films! We go discuss the various composers of kaiju films, our favorite composers and scores, and just how important music is in kaiju films. We follow that up with a monster music playlist that Chris put together for us, which includes well known tracks and oddball obscurities! Intro music: -Cosmic Monster- "Up From The Depths" -Marasu Sato- "The Appearance of MechaGodzilla" Kaiju Music Playlist: -Akira Ifukube- "Godzilla Comes Ashore" -Kunio Miyauchi- "Ultra Q Theme" -Masaru Sato- "Yacht, Hurricane and Monster" -Riichiro Manabe- "Monster Match III" -Erven Jereb- "Godzilla's Revenge Title Credits" -Magnetic System- "Cozzilla Main Theme" -Isao Tomita- "Great Prophecies of Nostradamus" -G.H.Q.- "Give Back The Sun" (cover)

In the holiday spirit, Byrd, Matt and Eric give the gift of an intro to the world of kaiju collecting! They discuss what their first Godzilla collectibles were, and how their collecting habits have evolved with age. Matt and Eric talk their love of kaiju toys and Byrd discusses why he loves Japanese kaiju books that he can't read. Matt and Eric also give advice for people new to collecting kaiju toys. They also discuss their favorite items in their collections, and the ones that mean the most to them. This episode also features the debut of "Up From The Depths," the official Kaiju Transmissions theme song by Cosmic Monster!

To celebrate the release of a new Star Wars film this coming weekend, Byrd and Matt got together at 2:00 AM to take a delirious, sleep deprived look at two completely bonkers Japanese Star Wars knock-offs from the 1970s. Toho's War in Space (1977) and Toei's Message From Space (1978) were both put into production to capitalize on the success of the original Star Wars, which was going to be released in Japan in the summer of 1978. Listen as the two exhausted hosts discuss horned wookiees, flying battleships, rapist lizard men, and drunk Vic Morrow to ultimately decide- which studio made the better Star Wars rip off?