"SOUND ONLY" "VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE" "We are now on the brink of the space age." "Another major step in the history of mankind." "Space flight is no longer a mere dream." "...three, two, one, zero!" "Outer space is full of mystery." "As is the earth on which we live." "There is an area called the Tibet of Japan about 40 kilometers in diameter, in the Tohoku region." "People have believed that there is a mountain god called Baradagi living in the area." "Baradagi suddenly emerged in front of a scholar who had entered the area to solve the mystery." "Anti-Varan Headquarters have been set up by the Ministry of Defense." "So, up to this very moment, there is nothing we can fight Varan with." "PROF." "SUGIMOTO'S BIOLOGYCLASS" "We have ample evidence to assume that Varan is a Varanopode that lived about 185 million years ago." "Hello, Mr. Majima!" "Professor Sugimoto, they are from the Defense Agency." "Kusama, sir!" "Katsumoto, sir!" "How do you do?" "The Defense Agency considers this a very serious case." " Oh, I know." "Sit down!" " Thank you." " What do you know about the monster?" " Actually nothing." "But one thing we are sure is that we shall never let Varan enter the cities." "That is what we are all worrying about." "We have already alerted the troops to advance to the location and..." "We wonder if you could accompany us to the area." "By all means." "When are you going to start?" "We'll start as soon as you're ready, sir." "Hey, they are coming!" "They are all here!" "SOUND ONLY" "So this is the lake." "Yes." "Varan destroyed the Iwaya Village and returned all the way out here." "Must we all wait until it comes out again?" "Nah, the Chemical Squads are on the way here." "They will lure Varan out." "Your paper gave us a big scoop." "Yeah, I had to risk my life for it." " Hey, is it really in there?" " Yeah." "It's big, you'd better get yourself a wide-angle lens." "What's that?" "Some joker just threw a stone." "Hey, this is no time for jokes." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Take position!" "Set cannons!" "SOUND ONLY" "Aim a cannon." "Aim a cannon SOUND ONLY" "Position Secured!" "SOUND ONLY" "Position Secured!" "Position Secured!" "No. 1 all loaded." "No. 1 all loaded." "Range, 700 yards." "Range, 700 yards." "Standby!" "Standby action!" "Standby action!" "Standby!" "SOUND ONLY" "Standby!" "First platoon, standby!" "2nd platoon, standby!" "SOUND ONLY" "Calling HQ!" "Heavy artillery, 1345, rockets howitzers and mortars standing by for action." "Over!" "This is HQ." "Your message received." "Over!" " All ready, sir!" " Good!" "The civilians have been evacuated." "Thank you." "This is Mr. Kusama and Katsumoto." "Nakao, sir." "How do you do?" "Where is Varan right now?" "Oh, I suppose, Varan is at the bottom of the lake." "But, don't worry, the lake has been heavily guarded." " We'll be off now." " Good!" "I'll take a look at the new weapons." "The shells contain chemicals which will dissolve in water." "They'll take effect in 20 minutes." " When we will begin the attack?" " At 1400 hours." "SOUND ONLY" "Ready!" "Fire!" "Fire!" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Did you hear a strange sound?" "SOUND ONLY" "A strange sound?" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Like tick tock, tick tock..." "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" " See?" " Yeah." "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "I hear that too." "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Sounds like a heartbeat." "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Don't scare me like that." "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "25 minutes have passed but nothing's happened." "That's odd!" "Kenji!" "Look!" "Hum!" "Dead fish!" "Look over there!" "How long do we have to wait?" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Hmm..." "SOUND ONLY" "Hmm..." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Look!" "Ah, it's Varan!" "SOUND ONLY" "Varan!" "It's Varan." "SOUND ONLY" "It's quite a monster!" "It's horrible!" "Colonel Kusama, we must kill that monster." "SOUND ONLY" "Ready!" "Fire!" "The target's been hit!" "Let's run!" "Let's run!" "Want the enemy to see your back?" "I just want to take a picture from a distance." "Good, I think I'll also take one like that." "It's no use, Professor." "We've thrown everything at him, and he's still coming." "The situation is impossible!" "We have to withdraw!" "Now this is an order!" "Withdraw!" "Let's withdraw!" "Professor, hurry!" "Let's go!" "Kenji!" "Withdraw!" " You'd better go, too!" " You'd better go, too!" " No, I'll stay with you." "Don't be silly!" "You reporters don't have to take such a risk." "Now go on over there and wait for me!" "Hurry!" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Hey, it's Baradagi!" "It's Baradagi!" "It's Baradagi!" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "SOUND ONLY" "Kenji, help!" "Look!" "Can we call for more reinforcements?" "It is too late now." "Professor, what's happening now?" "You just saw what happened." "Varan is indestructible." "Unfortunately there's no way to stop the monster." "We can't kill it?" "Well, I think there must be a way." "To kill Varan, we might have to use something really drastic." "Hey, did you see Yuriko?" "No!" "Where is she?" "Kenji, isn't Yuriko with you?" "Nah, she left before I did." "But, she's not here!" " Not here?" " Yeah." "Hey!" "SOUND ONLY" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Oh, Yuriko!" "Are you all right?" "Hold on!" "Thank you, Kenji." "Don't worry." "SOUND ONLY" "Yuriko, Yuriko, just hang on!" "There's a cave." "SOUND ONLY" "Kenji!" "Hang on!" "SOUND ONLY" "Kenji!" "Yuriko!" "SOUND ONLY" "Look!" "They're trapped in that cave!" "SOUND ONLY" "Professor, they'll be killed if they remain there." "We must divert the animal's attention." "Did you by any chance bring the flares?" "Yes, we have, but how should we use them?" "Animals are sensitive to light, and I think the flares might do the trick." " Bring it over here!" " Yes, sir!" "Bring the flares!" "Yes, sir!" "SOUND ONLY" " Shoot the flares towards the mountain!" " Yes, sir." "Target!" "Mountain!" "Fire!" "Come on!" "Let's go!" "We've come to save you." "Oh, thank you." "Yuriko, we're safe now." "Thank you." "Look up there!" "SOUND ONLY" "Hit the dirt!" "SOUND ONLY" "VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE" "Varan suddenly emerged in the area called the Tibet of Japan." "Despite the attack by the Self-Defense Force, Varan disappeared into the sky." "And now, Varan is approaching Tokyo after it evaded the attack of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces." "Can we let Varan destroy Tokyo?" "It means our abandonment of the rights of Man and blasphemy against the gods who created us." "We must annihilate this evil monster." "The Tsukishima harbor is alerted." "All the reclaimed land at Ooi, has been alerted." "Is the Evacuation proceeding?" "Yes, all the costal areas are being evacuated." "Your attention, Please!" "Your attention, Please!" "Varan is approaching." "Please evacuate this area immediately." "Your attention, Please!" "Your attention, Please!" "Varan is approaching." "Please evacuate this area immediately." "Your attention, Please!" "Varan is approaching." "Please evacuate this area immediately." "SOUND ONLY" "From HQ to Haneda Air field." "When your defense is ready, report at once." "Report at once!" "Over!" "Roger." "Dr. Fujimura, I hear that you have invented a very powerful explosive." "Yes, but it's not exactly ready yet." "What kind of explosive?" "It's a kind of bomb that I intend to use for dam construction." "But why can't we use it now?" "We could, but I doubt whether it would work." "Why not?" "It is designed to explode hard rocks from the inside." "But if it is explode outside of something, it will have very little power." "I'll show you the picture and you'll see what I mean." "SOUND ONLY" "That's the explosive." "It's the same size as a stick of dynamite, but 20 times as powerful." "Unless we can detonate it inside of Varan, it's quite useless." "But how we are going to do that?" "This is the tower of Haneda Airport." "Varan is approaching the Air field." "Dr. Fujimura, let's try your explosive." "No, I'd rather not." "If used in quantity, I think it ought to work." "We have our duty to defend our capital." "We must try every means possible." "All right, I'll get going." "Kusama, this is the showdown between Varan and us." "Let's move our Headquarters to Haneda Airport." "Yes, sir." "First platoon!" "Standby!" "Ready!" "2nd platoon!" "Standby!" "Ready!" "Ready for action!" "Ready for action!" "Varan has passed the Haneda light-house." "Range: 2000." "Ah!" "Over there!" "Open fire!" " Have you sent for the bomb?" " Yes." "It should be here any moment now." " Check if the bomb has arrived yet?" " Yes, sir." "Come in, SM 75!" "Come in, SM 75!" "Hey!" "Oh, Yuriko!" " Let's go!" " Okay, let's go!" " Thanks for coming." " That's all right." "Thank you." "Drive towards the waterfront." "No, I can't." "It's too late now." "It's way beyond the call of our duty." "Let's go." " No, Kenji!" " Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Now, hold onto the end of it." "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Oh!" "SOUND ONLY" "Oh!" "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Hurry up!" "Hurry Up!" "Are you all right?" "I'm all right." "Fire!" "We did it." "Okay, let's go!" "Come on, action!" "Move on!" "It's dangerous here, let's withdraw!" "Commander, let's move to the north end of the field." "Attention!" "We are moving to the north corner of the field!" "Shall we begin to attack once again?" "No, if we shock Varan too much, it will also anger him." "Well..." "Tokyo is doomed." "Katsumoto?" "That's the only way it can work..." "What is it?" "We'll attack Varan from the inside." " How Are you going to do that?" " Now you just look at this." "Did you see, the monster is swallowing all the flares." "SOUND ONLY" "I saw the same thing happen at the mountain." "So if we can tie all the new explosives on the flares and throw it down by helicopter." "He might eat them." "I see." "We'll do that immediately." "Colonel Kusama, while we are preparing alert all the jets to pin that monster down in the same position." "Yes, sir." "This is HQ, continue the present attack." " Pin down the target." " Roger, out!" "Make way for the helicopters." "Hold all attacks!" "Roger, out!" "Get back!" "All clear!" "What time does the bomb explode?" "In about 30 minutes." "15 minutes passed, so..." "I estimated it'll be go off around 4:50." "Look, there!" "7 more minutes." "Hold the attack!" "Roger, roger!" "Oh, he swallowed the bombs!" "This time it will succeed." "It has worked." "It has worked." "It's heading toward the sea." "It's still moving." "There is one more bomb inside Varan." "He's dying." "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Don't run so fast." "Are your feet hurting you now?" "Nothing bothers me at this moment." "It's a great job!" "Let's take a good picture." "Okay." "Thus, Varan has vanished into a veil of mystery." "After a desperate struggle, Man has won another victory." "THE END" "Varan was a Toho special effects monster movie released on October 14,1958." "With us today is Murase Keizo who was in charge of the special effects models on the movie." "Hello Murase-san." "Hello." "Many special effects movies have come out over the years..." "But I believe Varan holds special memories for you." "Yes." "This was the first film that I worked on from start to finish since going to work at Toho." "I was very interested in the movie..." "But I was also full of curiosity to see how the things I created would appear and look in the final product." "Then it must be very memorable for you." "In addition to talking about those things, I'd also like to ask about you as well." "Why don't we start with how you ended up working in the special effects department at Toho." "My brother was working at Shin Toho." "I had come to Tokyo to rely on my brother to support me so I could do something about my skin condition." "Despite the air being so polluted in Tokyo, my condition got better." "When I went back to Hokkaido, it came back, so I went back to Tokyo." "So I got a part time job in the modeling department." "And that was how it all began." "Yes, when I first got there, I had no idea what to do." "The only experience I'd ever had working was on a farm herding cows." "I hadn't been to art school or anything." "But I did love to draw." "But because of that and because I was observant making small models, whether it be of farms or vegetation I could figure out how things were made and how to make it myself without studying the instructions." "That was my forte." "I see." "What was the first film you ever worked on at Toho?" "Right when I started working at Toho, they were working on "Saiyuki" with Miki Norihei-san." "I would go to the set and put his wig on him, and all sorts of things." "But the wig kept falling off, so we glued it on." "I felt really bad for Miki-san, it gave him a rash." "I also worked on "Bijo and Ekitai Ningen"." "Everyday, I would make the thick liquid and take it to to the set and pour it out." "I really didn't know what it was that I was doing." "You were thrown in the midst of it." "The one thing that I did know was that I was good with my hands." "I liked carpentry too." "I liked working with tin and carving things too." "My bosses would say that despite my young age, I could do anything." "I think being praised like that helped take my mind of of tough times." "So I was plugging along and this project, "Varan" came along." "I was so excited." "It was the first time since being at Toho that I really wanted to put my best in to it." "It is an unforgetable project for me." "I'd like to ask about the Toho special effects art department at the time." "The head of the department was Toshimitsu Teizo." "And the Yagi siblings, Yagi Yasue and Yagi Kanju-san." "There was also Kaima Eizo-san." "Yes, and then I came in." "We wanted them to hire more new people, but they didn't and they had part time women who worked on the miniature set replacing roof tiles on a broken rooves and helped with other detail work." "So it was the 5 of you who were contracted to work full time for Toho." "Yes, and the modeling department never grew beyond us 5." "How was the work assigned?" "If you look at the credits, it seems that Toshimitsu-san made the heads of the monsters, the Yagi's made the bodies." "They used to make these dolls out of Chrysanthemum." "They were very good at making forms out of wire mesh." "Whether it was Godzilla or Varan, they would make the basic shapes of the monsters' bodies out of wire mesh." "Then we would apply rice paper to the forms." "Then, on top of that, we would apply ordinary fabric." "After that, we would harden it with latex." "What became the skin was another process all together." "We would make the form, then make a plaster mold and pour the latext." "When that dired, we would remove it and then put it over the form." "You and Kaimai-san handled the final touches of the outermost layer." "We were inundated with the smell of latex day after day." "The amonia smelled awful." "We worked with infra-red lights, even on hot days." "It was hot enough to make you sick." "But that's how we would "bake" the skins." "We made them in mass quantities, and used only the best ones." "That's what Kaimai-san and I did." "It's incredible that the special SFX art department had only 5 people." "Was it a pretty family like atmosphere?" "Yes, it was a lot of fun." "Kaima-san loved to cook, so he would make us lunch everyday." "Sometimes the girls from editing would come, or the director." ""I'm having lunch here today"." "So we'd all have a nice time eating lunch together." "So it really felt like we were one big family working together." "Nakajima Haruo-san wrote in his book about going out and buying horse meat, and grilling it." "Whenever we were going to be working late after a shoot was over we would all bring grills, including the many students who worked part time in the plaster department, and we'd all grill meat." "It was a lot of fun." "Did you buy horse meat because it was cheaper than pork or beef?" "Most likely." "None of us were wealthy." "We would all bring whatever we had." "And if we had to buy something, we'd all pitch in." "That's how we worked." "Where were the workshops on the Toho lot at the time?" "When we made Varan..." "First, it was off-site in a place called Giken at Tokyo Seijo Academy." "That's where Godzilla was made." "We were moved on to the lot when that location was fully dedicated... to camera related work." "The modeling department was way in the back in a log cabin." "We put tables in the log cabin and that's where we made Varan." "When you made Varan, the big pool wasn't there." "Right, we used the small pool." "And there was a soundstage - number 10." "It was a huge stage made of slate right on the edge of the river." "That was known as the Tsumura special effects stage." "Yes, and they wouldn't let anyone from the outside see inside." "Unauthorized entry was strictly forbidden." "You weren't allowed to take pictures..." "Not even family members were allowed in..." "Visitng the set was not an easy thing." "How big was sound stage number 10?" "I'm not really sure." "I've never measured it..." "I wonder how big it was." "Bigger than stages 8 or 9?" "No, about the same size." "They could set off explosives, make as much noise as they wanted and could be pretty rough with it." "Because it was made of slate, there wasn't much that could damage it." "...So it was easy to work there." "Whether it was to make mountain's or whatever, work through the night." "So they made a huge pool on sound stage 10." "Pools nowdays are lined with plastic." "But back then, they were double layered and lined with tin." "It was lined carefully so it wouldn't leak." "Rocks were placed in the pool, and trees were planted to on the set." "The set for the lake scenes at Iwae village was created on stage 10." "When Varan emerges from the pool, he creates a whrilpool..." "There were 6 to 7 hoses about 20 cm's long coiled up in the water." "By turning them all on at the same time, it created a whirlpool." "And Varan emerged from there." "That was one of the preparations we made for the shoot." "Varan is about to appear." "I'd like to talk a bit about the film." "The movie was originally comissioned to be an American TV movie." "It was shot in standard size, but part way through management decided to make it a theatrical release." "There are a few spots where the images are a little strange where the transition was being made from standard to cinescope." "This is the only film ever trademarked as Toho Panscope." "For this DVD release, there was about 60 minutes that was edited out that was part of the export version, the audio is in Japanese..." "It's been remastered for this release." "And the previews have been remastered as well." "It's a very special DVD." "That's exciting." "Varan was a giant lizard said to have existed 1.8 billion years ago." "Who did the design for it?" "I don't remember exactly who drew it but..." "I would imagine it was Watanabe Akira or Toshimitsu and Tsuburaya... who came up with the idea and designed it together." "But I don't know exactly who drew it." "Varan was the second Toho special effects movie after Gigantis that featured a four legged monster." "When you first went to work on creating the monster did you know it was a four legged creature?" "In the beginning I had only seen drawings of it standing up." "So I was thinking that it would stand upright, and have small arms." "But in order to put a person inside of it, you would need to have space ...for the arms to go." "So that could be ther reason why they made it walk on all fours." "This film is in black and white so you can't tell but what color was it?" "It was sepia, actually, closer to ochre." "It wasn't a dark color like Godzilla was." "It was a lighter sepia too." "Did you apply the color yourself?" "No, I think we did it all together, so Toshimitsu did some too." "The Yagi's didn't do any painting but Toshimitsu, Kaimai and I would do the painting." "I've heard model fans say that the opening and closing of it's mouth was controlled mechanically." "Yes it was." "there was no wireless system available then, so it was hard wired." "We used a battery operated switch to control the mouth," "It was a Mabuchi motor, and a Yusei Gear." "That's how we opened and closed the mouth." "The spikes on Varan's spine are particularly unforgettable for you." "Yes." "They were discovered almost by coincidence." "At first, we were thinking of making them transparent and out of FRP..." "But it would be very difficult to make them to be transparent with FRP." "And they would break while filming." "It would be quite an ordeal to remake them and re-shoot scenes." "So Tsuburaya asked me to make them from something unbreakable." "I had gone to buy something and I saw the shopkeeper spraying the sidewalk down with a hose." "It was a clear hose." "I saw it and thought, "this is it"!" "I ask the brand, but back then, there weren't that many sizes available." "I searched all over and got what I needed." "I cut the hoses diagonally with an exacto knife then I glued this smoked film that looked like smoked glass inside." "It was transparent on one side, but the back side was semi-opaque." "It was shere coincidence, and I was able to make them look sharp." "Were the spikes on Varan's back on the original design sketch?" "They were." "But because the drawing was black and white you couldn't really tell." "It wasn't until Tsuburaya told me that I realized they were transluscent." "Until then, I had no idea they were transparent." "People wonder how it was made." "It's a vinyl hose." "A lot of people wonder how they were made so well." "Even if I was to try to do that again, it would be very difficult..." "It was a very difficult technique." "It was born of coincidence." "It was, it really was." "But when they were finished, they looked so sharp but were flexible at the same time." "I was very pleased." "Even if you glance quickly at Varan, those spikes are very noticable." "There were the spikes but also the texture of it's skin was very bumpy." "There are divets here and there too." "Those came from the peanut shells we'd eaten for our afternoon snack..." "Some of them had worm holes, and lots of texture." "So we used clay and pounded the peanut shells into it to get a pattern." "When we lined them all up Tusburaya was impressed with it." "When he asked us, we told him that we modelled it on a peanut." "He thought it was great, that it was perfect." "Then we made a lot of these odd shaped forms with holes and dents." "We dropped those into a plaster mould and poured latex into it." "On the screen now we have Varan coming out of the water on stage 10." "It's a very powerful scene." "Nakajima, who was inside swallowed water a few times it was hard work." "Those rocks to the side, they're all made of tin." "Yes, and we slapped plaster on to them to create that hard look." "All of the rocks and walls were made of tin." "We applied plaster to it all to make it look like rocks." "Was that one of your jobs too?" "No, there was a plaster department next door to us." "They were the people who made miniatures out of plaster." "They would spend all day doing that, covered in plaster." "That's quite the shoot." "Yes." "I'm amazed that the set was so well made." "Varan's just come out, but he looks really good in Cinescope." "He's a long monster." "He fits really well into the frame when he's on all fours." "It wouldn't have fit so well in a standard format." "Being able to see the entire length of his body makes it more powerful." "Varan follows Godzilla and Rodan and is the 3rd Toho fx monster." "Have you seen Godzilla and Rodan?" "I have." "There was one after this, the Three Headed Monster, was it?" "Yes, Mothra and Rodan were in that one and all kinds of things happen." "I had seen them at the studio." "In regards to Varan's model." "I heard that the Varan suit was very thin to make it easier to move in." "It wasn't so much that it was thin..." "It wasn't like now where the core structure is made of stryofoam." "The core structure was made of wire mesh." "The older Yagi brother made the form very realistic." "It was so realistic that all we really had to do was add the skin." "Even the muscle tone was created with wire mesh." "We layered that with rice paper, fabric and latex." "Then no one could get their arms in because the wire was in the way." "So we crushed that and pulled it out so our arms could fit inside." "There's nothing in there; it's just the skin." "So if you bumped one of the muscles against something, it'd get pushed in." "It would go back right away." "So it was very thin, but not necessarily so that it would be easier to manouver." "And the shell would come off so people could get in and out." "If we made the shell too stiff, you couldn't get in and out." "So it was made to be easy to take off and put on very soft so that it could conform to the body..." "It's said that one of the shortcomings of these monsters is that human knees and monster knees are in different places." "So Varan looks like he's walking on his knees and not on his feet." "And his movements look unnatural." "Yes, that's true." "It was one of the trouble spots." "There was no way around walking on his knees." "So they had cut out his feet, or covered them by buildings." "...With camera work." "They erased his feet with camerawork." "And so long as you could see his tail, you could tell how big he was." "That's how they shot it." "So you were aware of this during the filming?" "Yes, his hind legs weren't cutting it, so it had to be done." "I guess that was one of the sacrifices that had to be made." "And it was difficult to get it to turn out the way we intended it to." "I'm sure Toshimitsu had a really hard time with the facial expression." "He got the basic appearance, but he wanted to make it more detailed." "Like raising his brow just a little more, and all kinds of things." "One time, he was so tired, he wasn't paying attention to the lamp that he had focused on one section and it started smoking." "We all screamed, "It's on fire"!" "There was pandemonium." "We shot long hours, everyday until 9 or 10 o'clock." "The suit would come back all wet from the shoot." "And we'd have to make sure he was dry and repaired by morning in time for the next day's filming." "It would take us until 11 or 12 o'clock." "We stayed in the Toho dormitories, day after day." "Does that mean that there was only one Varan suit?" "As far as I can remember, we only made one." "And the entire movie was shot with that." "Yes, and there was a puppet and another one that was 1/2 sized." "If you look at the screen..." "There were parts where we actually filmed real jeeps driving and there were parts where we used miniatures on a miniature set." "I also wanted to ask about Varan's long tail." "Yes, it's very long." "Did you experience any difficulties in making the tail?" "Yes, because it was so long, it would tend to break." "We cut a bunch of sponges in to doughnut shapes there were about 70 of them or more." "We stacked them up to make the basic form of the tail." "Then we used a grinder to clean up the edges." "The grinder was normally used to sharpen metal tools." "You have to be careful with it." "And we were using it on urethane which would grab hold of it." "I did all the grinding." "Sometimes I would get flung across the room by it." "It was very dangerous." "But I was very careful." "I made small blocks that were stacked up." "Then, when it was all put together, we had to clean it up." "After that, we applied the scaly skin to it." "So, it did't break, and it looked and moved as thought it was very heavy." "It's movements were very fluid." "What about Varan's clay head, did you make that?" "It wasn't completely made of clay." "The core was made of wire mesh, and rice paper was laid on top of that and clay was applied on top of that." "Now a days, the core would be made of styrofoam." "But back then the core was made of wire, on top of which we put rice paper." "Then on top of that we put "yudo"." "What's "yudo"?" "An oil based clay." "It's the clay that kids used to use in school." "It's not a water based clay, it has oil kneaded into it." "It doesn't get dried out." "If it was water based, it would dry out and get cracked so you would have to keep it wrapped in cloth and things." "But we didn't have to do that." "We used this oil clay to make the face." "And finally, we would make a mould." "But with Varan, we didn't make a mould." "We made the form with wire mesh, and the skin was made of cloth." "We left a little bit of wire mesh inside." "And because there was the motor to move the mouth if there was only latex, it would be too soft to support the motor so we inserted a metal rod about 5mm in diameter and attached the motor to that so we could move the mouth." "And the eyes lit up." "So Thoshimitsu did most of the work on the face?" "Yes, he did." "But you did the finish work, right?" "Kaima and I did the finish work together." "But when we were filming because Varan's nails and other bits still had wire mesh in them they would bend or get crushed." "It was a real problem." "We stuffed it with latex and all sorts of things." "But we couldn't get the nails to be as sharp as we wanted." "The director kept asking us if there was anything we could do about it." "We sharpened wooden sticks and all sorts of things but there was nothing that really worked." "A few years later, FRP was created and we could make nails and things with it." "But at the time, we used wire to make the nails." "So it was a lot of work." "Yes." "There's another thing I want to ask you about." "What are your memories of Tsuburaya?" "Tsuburaya was very friendly with the Yagi's." "They'd been working very closely together for quite a while at Toho." "He'd come by to see the Yagi's quite often." "So even before filming began, when we were still in the preparation phase he'd come by to check things out, 2-3 times a week." "He came around to check a lot." "I'm not sure if it was to check or if he was bored." "Even when we were filming, if there was some waiting time he'd come to our workshop for a smoke and some tea." "We talked about all sorts of things." "For me, this great man that I respected was coming by everday and it made me very nervous." "But on the other hand, a lot of my ideas and skills were accepted." "He kept asking me if I could do this, that or the other." "For a while I didn't respond to him at all." "You're a craftsman." "There's nothing you can't make." "You have to make it work!" "You're going to earn yourself a reputation!" "You're going to gain a reputation as an artisan." "I was surprised." "That's how highly he respected us artisans." "He depended on us." "When he said this to me, I realized that I couldn't be lazy." "I would think that every time I saw Tsuburaya's face." "Tsuburaya wrote this himself in his memoirs but it wasn't an easy living." "Yes." "I had no prior experience working for a salary, nor had I ever had a part time job." "So when Kaimai first brought me in and Sueyasu asked me how much I would work for." "I had no idea so I said 150 yen." "He said you could have three bowls of soba with that and nothing else!" "How much was a bowl of soba back then?" "40 or 50 yen?" "About that." "So I had a piece of bread for breakfast, and I couldn't afford lunch so I'd sleep." "You went without lunch everyday?" "Yes I did." "And I would get fed dinner for working overtime." "I'd get a food coupon for a midnight snack that I used to get a boiled egg." "I would sell it and buy something for breakfast." "They're both starchy staples." "Yes, and because of the saltiness of the noodles, I could eat a lot of rice." "I lived like that for over a year." "Sometimes the woman who ran the boarding house would get vegetables from the farmers who lived behind us and she'd leave them on my porch for me." "So I would eat them, cooking a little bit at a time." "My diet consisted of butter and rice or rice and noodles again for a while." "You went through some tough times." "Part timers got paid 450 yen a day." "But I had said I'd work for 150 to 200 yen." "That's 1/3 the amount." "And when I said that if I ran out of money to eat I'd have my parents send me rice, they laughed at me." "But they never sent me rice, and they never sent me money." "This lasted for a year?" "Yes, for a year." "And after that?" "My wages increased little by little." "But I had never asked the company for more money." "Jokingly my department head said he wanted to see how I spent money." "So I wrote it out and took it to him." "He said, "You haven't had a cup of coffee, you haven't seen any movies you haven't been anywhere or bought any books!" "How can you live like this!"" "But I told him, this is how I really live." "He said that something had to be done about it." "People in the special arts department all knew that my pay was low, but I was still a hard worker." "So people helped me out a lot." "And somehow I started to make enough to make ends meet." "There's an episode about those times that you wrote about..." "You went to eat ramen." "Yes, the crew chief found out that I wasn't eating." "The crew chief?" "Yagi Kanjo." "Kanjo-san found out and he was like, "You haven't eaten anything how can you work like that?"" "I said I was hungry." "He said that we would go eat ramen together at 3 o'clock." "He gave me a ride on the back of his motorcycle." "We went to Seijyo Gakuen and he fed me ramen." "That ramen was so good!" "Even now when I eat ramen, I think about that." "I couldn't believe such good ramen even existed." "There were dramas like "One Bowl of Noodles"." "But when I see those, I think "I've lived like that"." "You had some great memories but some hard times too." "But I'm here now because I endured and withstood all of those hardships." "I thought about quiting so many times, but I stuck with it." "And I'm very glad that I did." "And every time I thought about quitting, I would think about my brother." "After brother brought me down to Tokyo, I couldn't quit, and leave and betray him like that." "My brother would always pop into my head." "I have to stick with this!" "I was always mindful of not taking our brotherly love for granted." "That obligation is very important." "But you did seriously consider quitting because it was so hard." "I had actually gone to them to say that I couldn't do it any more and that I had offers from other companies." "When I tried to quit, they told me that I was locked into a 5 year contract." "And I couldn't break my contract." "I was shocked." "So I can't quit part way through a contract?" "No, we can't have that." "But they've written me and want me to start in April." "Isn't there anything we can do?" "When I was seriously thinking about quitting, the art department the model department got together and signed a petition to stop me." "I ignored their efforts and quit." "The Tsuburaya contract was up and he was going to leave to start his own production company." "So it didn't make sense for me to stay at Toho anymore." "So Tsuburaya was a great support for you." "My model making teacher was invaluable to me but Tsuburaya was the person who influenced me most." "I wasn't sure how good I would be working in a place without him." "So it wasn't that I quit because I wanted to but because I was so upset." "I knew that if I stayed at Toho, I would have some stability, but I didn't think I could do it without Tsuburaya, and those feelings were strongest." "This was after "Frankenstein Conquers the World"?" "No, I had already decided to quit on "Godzilla VS the Sea Monster"." "Was that after The Sea Monster was finished?" "No, during it." "So I wasn't actually on the set." "The following year - 1967, you went to X Productions." "Yagi Kanju's son was working at Daiei." "He didn't want to work there forever, so he asked me if the two of us could get together and do something." "He spoke to me before he died, as if it was his last will and testament." "I didn't know what to do." "So I quit." "And Yagi and I started a company called X Produtions." "The two of you?" "Yes." "In 1972 you created Tsueni." "I had told Yagi Masao, the president of X Productions that after 5 years, I wanted to start my own company." "But in the meantime, I would train my replacement." "I trained 4-5 people, and resigned from X Productions." "And I started to get work from Toei." "I went to Taiwan to make special effects movies." "I wanted to do all sorts of things." "Tsueni was located in Komae Fuchu, Izuho-cho... you moved around a lot." "In the beginging I made a small shack off of my residence where I made all sorts of monsters." "Model makers have to be located where they won't be a nuisance to neighbors." "Yes, that's very true." "When I moved to Fuchu, there was a tofu maker next door." "Working with styrofoam, melting it and working with urethane it emits a lot of gasses." "The immediate neighbors knew, but the others were concerened that it was dangerous." "There was a scene where Varan opens his wings and takes flight." "Are the wings removable?" "Not really, in the big version, there were traces of the wings." "But they only fully materialized when he stretched his arms to fly" "And the flying Varan was smaller?" "Yes, 1/2 size." "What were the wings made of?" "A sheet of plastic." "But not transparent plastic." "It was a slightly opaque sheet of plastic." "We used something called zabon enamel to add a translucent orange." "It was slightly gradieted." "The base of the wings was darker, and it got lighter towards the tips." "In the movie, the battle between the navy, army and Varan is about to begin." "In most of the upcoming scenes, Varan is in the ocean." "In the shots where Varan is swimming towards us, Nakajima was inside being pulled along by a wire - so it was very hard for him, I'm sure." "There was water coming at him, but he still had to act and swing his arms." "I think that must have been hard." "This was filmed in the small pool, right?" "Is it very small?" "Yes, it was pretty small." "You're a model specialist." "Are model makers on set during the filming?" "We are there from morning till night, the whole time they are filming." "We have to move things around during the shoot when the set changed." "There are still shots of us dragging things around on a cart." "It was in the heat of the summer and we were wearing straw hats." "The plaster department used to make rocks by pouring mounds of plaster." "But when you do this, it gets into your hair and hardens so we'd all wear these straw hats." "When we had a free moment, we'd help too." "And so that's why there are still photos of us with straw hats on." "This was shot when it was hot out." "So when we had to be in the pool to film, we were actually happy." "I'd like to ask about the various special effects departments that were under the direction of special effects director Tsuburaya Eiji." "Filming, lighting..." "The special effects art department had a few departments within it." "There was a special department within the scenic department." "They made things like houses with miniature creeks and buildings..." "They'd work together with the plaster department to make the buildings." "In the art department, there were people who specialized in mechanics." "They worked with the tanks and the airplane propellers or hooked up the motors, or made sure the tanks would run..." "The mechanical end of things." "Yes, there was a department that did that." "There were special departments in the explosives division." "And a department that was in charge of the details on the ships or handling the sinking ship on the set." "There were lots of assistants who did that sort of thing." "That must have been hard to coordinate." "If one department fell behind, the entire shoot would get held up." "I think it was hardest for the assistant director." "He'd have to go to every department to see how they were doing." "And to see if we were going to be able to keep to the filming schedule." "I think it was hard to plan it all." "Nakono Teruyoshi was the assistant director under Tsuburaya." "That's right." "There was Nakano but there was also..." "Asai Masakazu?" "Yes, Asai, he was around a lot." "I think Nakano came after Asai." "There was a large staff." "There were about 50 people in all of the art and scenic departments." "And when filming started, there were at least 30 people on set." "You worked on a lot of films while you were at Toho." "I'd like to ask you about each film and the monsters." "The first film you worked on was "The H-man." "To create the liquid man you used a special kind of gel." "Yes, we colored it with "aotake"." "Aotake was something you put in your fish tank when your gold fish got sick." "It would kill the virus and keep the other fish from catching it." "It was a kind of medicine that you would dissolve in water." "We thought it was a really pretty color, so we dissolved it into the gel." "If you left it all night, the substance would turn in to a thick liquid." "So we would mix that with more water and pour it out and film that." "When we poured it down the wall, the camera and the wall were one." "The camera would turn with the wall." "That's how we made it look like the liquid was creeping up the wall." "That's how you controlled the liquid glass." "When there was a humanoid, we made a mould of a human and poured it in." "The rest was done by composite." "Next was "Songoku"." "Miki Norihei wore a costume." "I felt really bad for Miki." "The wig that we made for him didn't fit - the middle part kept popping up." "Even wig glue didn't work so I had no choice but to glue it on." "It gave him a rash and itched and turned red whenever he bathed." "It drove him mad." "But we couldn't film because it wouldn't lie flat." "He endured it, but I feel really bad about it." "Miki worked really hard." "Next was "The birth of Japan"." "This was Yamata-no Orochi." "When we made the big one we made each scale one at a time." "When the Yamata-no Orochi sticks his head into a turtle shell when he drinks sake, they wanted his neck to move freely." "We could move it up and down and to the left and right." "But they wanted the neck to twist more." "So it was more natural." "Where it connected, we rigged it so that we could get it to twist by using air." "It was really hard to do." "We got the idea from a kamamoko board." "We made big ones and small ones and joined them and made a mold." "Then we poured latex in and made something like an accordion bellows." "By sending in air, to the left or right, we could get it to move like a snake." "Yamata-no Orochi was really hard to make." "The big Yamata-no Orochi, the one that Mifune rode and pierced with a sword there were 7-8 people inside of it." "They were in the body which was made of bamboo baskets." "We were all in there." "But with Mifune's passion, we had no idea where the sword was going to go." "He'd be riding the snake like a horse and pierce it with a sword." "Inside, we were terrified that we were going to get stabbed." "Gold powder would come shooting out of the place where it was stabbed." "It was rigged in such a stupid way, you wouldn't believe it." "Did anyone get hurt?" "No one got hurt." "But it was scary." "So there were two Yamato-no Orochi, small and large?" "There was the 8 section Yamato-no Orochi that came out of the water and sticks it's head in a turtle shell and the one that Mifune rides during their battle and pierces with a sword." "There were two different ones." "They were made of latex?" "Yes, they were made of latex." "The scales, Varan's too, were stuffed with something called "shirage"." "It was used when plastering walls." "We would pour that in to the mould, into the latex and cover it with cloth." "If we wanted it to be firmer, we would mix more shirage in with the latex and stabilize it until it dried." "Once it dried and we removed the mould, it would stay in that shape." "We used it when making scales for all kinds of monsters, including Godzilla." "Did you use it on Varan too?" "Yes, it was used in making Varan's skin." ""Teihei-yo no Arashi" is a war movie with no monsters but..." "It was a war movie that was filmed in Mitohama right near Mitohama." "The small dolls that you see waving on the fighter planes and ships..." "We made lots of those 15 cm tall soldiers." "You did that kind of work too?" "We'd make them and set them up on the ship's deck." "I would think that there was a special department that made miniatures." "Yes, but because modeling department made the dolls, we had to set up." "They told us where to put them, but we placed them." "They all had wire in their legs, so we drilled holes and stood them up." "There were a lot of miniature dolls in that movie." "There were lots of them." "We made them and set them up, day in and day out." "It must have made you lose your mind." "Yes, it was hard." "The hardest part was that they wanted them to move, to wave their hands." "They wave flags..." "We tied fishline to their hands and moved them from inside the ship..." "And at one point, they made us get in the ship, and set off the explosives." "So you were in the explosives department too?" "Yes, I was the switchman." "I would flip a switch inside the boat and that would set off an explosion outside of the boat and a column of water would shoot up about 3 meters." "Inside the boat, it would be defeaning and make your head pound." "We would communicate with the people on land by radio." "Now right, now left, and that's how it worked." "So I was made to be a pyrotechnician." "And when the filming was over, we'd ride back, 20 or 30 of us on the boat." "That location was really tough." "And for the scene where they are being attacked from the shore we stuffed explosives into a shaft that we held in our hands and fired." "But sometimes, the explosives would fall out the back." "There were piles of dried grass that the farmers had gathered for their horses." "I was shooting the explosives, but there's all this commotion behind me." "The dried grass behind us had caught on fire." "The cameras were in front of us but we were being attacked from behind." "It was very scary." "That goes hand in hand with special effects filming." "Yes, it does." "We had a good laugh." "You couldn't tell what was being filmed." "There was fire in the background too." "The time you were in the ship's shell during a storm in the Pacific..." "I was talking to Watanabe Tadaaki, who was involved in special effects until just recently, he said he was in there too." "Yes he was, I was too, we both were in there." "There was one pilot and about 5 pyrotechnicians." "They would talk to us on radio, and they would give us a signal." "We'd throw our switches, and there would be an explosion and the water outside of the boat would shoot up 3 meters." "The scale of the shooting in those days..." "The ship was built in the Sumida river and sailed to Aburatsubo." "So it was sailed down in the sea?" "It was too big to be loaded on to a truck so it was sailed to Mitohan where we filmed it." "It was such a big production, even we were surprised." "But we all had fun." "There was danger, but even that became fun." "Listening to your stories, you were a special effects model maker but you did a lot of things on set." "I did do a lot of different things." "You really had to be all over to get the job done." "It wasn't just model making." "I helped with the scenics with detail work, made new roof tiles if they broke." "We would use water to compress cardboard to make roof tiles and cut them with scissors, one by one and glued them on." "I did detail work like that too..." "I did all sorts of things." "Next was "Mothra"." "This was a huge production." "Mothra was hard work." "Mothra's wings have a pattern on them." "I made all of the patterns." "Then we sprayed it on with a spray gun." "It was very hard." "And on Mothra's body, we applied a soft vinyl to make her look shiny..." "We painted her with that, then took a blow torch to it to make it look slimy." "The purple spots and veins that you can see were all painted on by hand." "Then we painted the vinylzor on with a brush and baked it on with the torch." "Vinylzor?" "Yes, now there's something called Cobazor." "We got the materials at a shop and painted it on." "We really wanted Mothra to seem alive, not dry." "At first we painted her with laquer to get a sheen, but it looked too hard." "And the director said to me that his insect couldn't look that hard." "He said, "you'll see if you look at a real bug"." "It looks more fleshy." "So we painted that stuff on." "But when we filmed, and an explosion would go off, it would get burned." "So at the end of the day, we'd peel that section off and reapply the plastic." "It was very sticky and a big pain." "But it the end it looked really good." "Before we move on to "Siechu", let's go back to this movie." "The 24 cannon rocket launcher that we see here..." "Is it true that the staff called it the "Pon Pon Cannon"?" "Yes, it was called the Pon Pon Cannon." "When we had free time, we were made to help." "We all loaded the gun powder." "Into the pipes?" "Yes, first we'd put the fuse in, then the gun powder, then seal it up with felt." "Yamamoto Kyozo gave us directions." "Watanabe was there then too." "We made lots of them everyday." "Here it comes, here's the vehicle." "In back there, they're all set." "Yamamoto Kyuzo is the explosives expert." "Yes." "Yamamto did things big." "His explosions were so big when they went off, the screen would go..." "The director would say "Kyu-san, that's too much!"." "But it did have a lot of power." "These tanks go off too." "Each one of them is loaded with gunpowder." "They made you do that kind of work too." "You were a Jack of All Trades." "If you were free and good with your hands, everyone would come to you." "They were behind and weren't going to make it in time, so they begged me." "It was fun so we all did it together." "Varan is about to land at Haneda airport." "There's is a story about Inoue Taikgo making this miniature bigger than he was supposed to, and getting in trouble from Tsuburaya-san." "It was a great set that couldn't be built today." "Inouean was specialized in architectural models, right?" "Architecturals and over all set design too." "If something needed to be done in the pool, he would design that." "Watanabe Akira was the head of special effects art department." "And Irie Yoshio was there too." "Irie worked more with the mechanical things." "He made the tanks and the airplanes, made sure the propellers would turn." "Varan moves around a lot." "Were the spikes on his back pretty securely attached?" "The bases were sewn on then covered with cloth we made sure they were secure, then covered them with latex." "Even if you pulled on them, they wouldn't come out that easily." "You could lift the suit by one spike." "They were that strong?" "Yes, there's no way it would come out." "Not a single spike came out during the filming." "That was fortunate." "It was worth the hassle." "It was a good idea to make them the way we did." "If it was made today, it would just be glued on." "Sewing them on and securing them was the hardest part." "We didn't have good glue back then." "There was no super glue yet." "Minase just said that he would like to see the new Varan." "Sitting here listening to you, I would like to see you make a new Varan." "Varan?" "Yes." "Well you see... when I was first asked to do this, I thought it would be fun to see if I could remember how to make his skin." "So I gathered some supplies and tried it." "Really!" "I had no idea!" "As I was doing it, I decided to make the head too." "I'm building a prototype." "That's incredible!" "I wanted to recreate it, I've been thinking of those times and doing it." "If I could show it to people, that might be nice." "But the materials..." "I have to go back to those old materials." "Using old materials, not new ones, means I have to find them." "And the same things don't exist." "We've made all this progress but you can't find the old materials anymore." "Maybe this will be a catalyst." "I'm sure there are model makers who'd like to try to make a Varan but I think it would be difficult to make it that same way." "And that's something that you've experienced, trying it yourself." "Yes." "So, you're pretty far along?" "You'll have to wait and see." "I'm looking forward to it." "My staff is very interested in the process." "So that's how it was made!" "They come real close to look, and watched me for days." "I've been trying to remember the past as I work on it." "It's hard." "And I can't make the same thing again, it' difficult." "There are things that could only be done at that time." "You built King Gidora and Mothra for the new Godzilla series." "I was so happy." "To be the first generation, then to see my sons the second generation be involved so passionately was great." "And to be involved with it again, made me really happy." "It's sad that you haven't been making models of monsters for movies lately." "I'd really like to be doing it, but I haven't had many opportunities." "I've been working alongside my staff, late in to the day." "You can't do this work unless you love it." "I could claim old age and quit any time, but the fact that I can't quit it's an illness." "You're going to build models until the day you die." "To be able to continue even through hard times I think I'm able to do it because I did all sorts of different things." "You made the actual Mach Five in Speed Racer, and the big Nekobus and all sorts of things." "I'm very fortunate to have been able to work on a lot of fun projects, too." "I've worked on a lot of big projects." "I'm very thankful." "To go back to the movie." "When the truck exploded, I heard that Nakajima Haruo burned himself" "Do you remember this?" "No I don't." "I didn't know that happened." "His skin was damaged, so he used a "Don-cloth" as a plaster." "Don-cloth or heisan cloth." "What is a don cloth?" "Nowdays it's called heisan cloth." "You know how tofu makers use soy beans?" "It's the sack that the beans and grains come in." "We use it even now for a lot of things." "It's even used in the scales on King Gidora." "There are some old materials that we still use in the same way today." "We've run through a lot of your history but there's one thing that I have to ask." "I'd like to ask about the first time you used FRP on Magma and how Tsuburaya praised you." "When I made the fangs on Magma, Tsuburaya looked at them and asked me where I got the ivory." "I had no idea he would say that, I was surprised." "I told him it wasn't ivory, that it was resin." "From now on you can make Godzilla's nails and teeth and everything out of resin, and it would look much better." "He told me that I'd found something incredible." "That was the first time that I had used FRP in my model making." "Because I had done all sorts of things and found new materials when we started "Dogora", he wanted the creature to be made of something transperent and soft, that moved well." "In between films, I would spend my time in downtown Tokyo at a resin company." "I spent an entire week in the lab with the scientists developing a clear soft vinyl." "I showed Tsuburaya what we had made, he liked that material but wanted to know about the shape." "So I went to talk to Yagi." "Yagi built the basic form out of wire mesh." "He made it out of wire mesh?" "Yes, Dogara is made of wire mesh." "Then we made a plaster mold and poured wax in to that." "We took the form of the creature to a caster to have it cast in bronze." "When it was time to pour the liquid in to the cast, I wanted to do it at the shop." "At their place?" "No, at our place." "I told Tsuburaya that I really wanted to make it in the model shop but it would cost money because we needed to make a kiln." "He asked me if it was going to cost money." "I told him it would be expensive." "Fine." "I say it's fine, so it's fine." "Go ahead and order it and make it." "We did, and Dogora was born in the model shop." "Tsubyraya really is the god of special effects." "I was so happy when Tsuburaya approved of the material." "When he asked me if we could put it in water and make it swim, I was nervous." "We hookd it up to wires and put it in the water, and were able to film it." "I was impressed." "Were the tentacles moves its fishline?" "I've heard that you used water pressure to make them move." "We did use some water pressure, but if it was too close to the surface it would make bubbles and it wouldn't work." "So we moved the legs from above with fishline." "There were about 4 lines down the body, one from the inside of the head and one on each leg." "There's nothing like having something you discovered be accepted." "I'm not sure if it's okay to say it myself, I'm very humble..." "But when it worked, and my efforts contributed to a final product whether it be Varan or other things, it makes me happy that my efforts were acknowledged." "You worked really hard." "And that's why I am here today." "If this didn't happen, I have no idea what I would be doing today." "So, it's good you didn't quit model making..." "Yes." "I was at Toho for 71/2 years." "Those 71/2 years gave me some wonderful experiences." "You've told us so many stories." "We're about to come upon the climax scene in Varan." "Was this a puppet made for the close ups?" "Yes, it's a puppet." "Was this moved by hand?" "Nakashiro was inside." "He lifted his arm and made him grab it in his mouth." "Here's the part where the explosion was so big you couldn't really see." "That explosion - it was in his mouth." "It was completely white at first." "Yamamoto packed it with too much gun powder." ""It's all white and you can't see anything!"" "But they ended up using it anyway." "It would be a hassle to reshoot it." "Once you destroy a set like this, it takes a long time to remake it." "I hear stories about spending all night remaking a set because of a mistake." "That happens with special effects." "And sometimes, you only get one scene in a day!" "Everyone has to be so focused just for one shot." "We're getting to the end of the movie." "One of our main focuses and concerns about the shoot was how well Nakajima would perform in the suit." "And how much water would he swallow when he was in the water?" "Those were our concerns till the very end." "It was Nakajima who was the hero, not us." "But making movies is a group effort." "I think it was created by everyone's efforts." "What did these Toho special effects movies mean to you?" "Toho was a place that nurtured my dreams for the future." "It was a stage that gave birth to many movies that our children can watch forever." "And this is one of those movies." "We heard lots about Varan and Toho special effects movies." "It was an honor to spend this time in your warm presence." "Thank you very much." "I'm looking forward to seeing your new Varan model." "We were speaking today to Murase Keizo-san who was in charge of the model making for Varan." "Thank you very much." "VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE" "Five, four, three, two, one zero!" "We are now on the brink of the space age." "Another major step in the history of mankind." "Space flight is no longer a mere dream." "Outer space is full of mystery." "As is the earth on which we live." "We are now about to reveal the most mysterious story ever told." "PROF." "SUGIMOTO'S BIOLOGYCLASS" "Everyone, would you please come over here?" "I have a surprise for you." "Now look!" "This species of butterfly has been known to exist only in Siberia." "But a schoolboy found if right here in Japan during the summer vacation." "I want to find out whether many such butterflies exist there or not." "We have sent two institute members to research the area." "The area is in Tohoku." "Up the Kitagami River..." "about 40 kilometers in diameter..." "The area is called the Tibet of Japan." "Oh, the road is terrible." "We should have come on foot." " Mm, let's see how far we can go." " Okay." "Oh, excuse me." "Is this Iwaya Village?" "Urh... urh..." "Mm...!" "They think we're monsters." "The God of Baradagi..." "The God of Baradagi?" "Never heard of such a name before." "This is the Tibet of Japan, all right." "I really hate this place." " Well, let's go ahead." " Yeah." "An earthquake?" "I don't think so." " Where shall we go?" " Mm..." " Shall we turn back?" " Shall we turn back?" " No, let's go a little further." "It's still early." "I'm scared." "It's too early for monsters." "What's that?" "It's a gas which is specific to this region." "I see." "I don't know why the map doesn't show any lake here." "Yeah." " Hey, let's take a look at the car." " Okay!" "Look!" "Over there!" "That's the one." "Yeah." "A red-spotted tail." "That's beautiful!" "Yes, it's a beauty." "Hey, let's go back!" "WHO KILLED THEM?" "BARADAGI?" "TWO SCHOLARS KILLED IN THE MOUNTAINS" "Professor, you don't really believe in such things, do you?" "Mm, it's very puzzling." "Oh, Yuriko!" "Kenji, I came here to take back things that my brother left behind." "Oh, this is all that's left of him." "Professor, Miss Yuriko." "My condolences." "Professor, do you know what killed them?" "Well, it's very hard to tell." "The police said that your brother's jeep was crushed like a paper toy." "Then it could not have been a landslide." "If it's a landslide, it will be easy to recognize." "Are you superstitious?" "No, of course not." "But we know nothing about the biological aspects of the place." "About the local myth called Baradagi..." "We might think it is a superstition..." "But the people who live there..." "they do not think so." "They all think that Baradagi is real." "I'll try to find out what that Baradagi is." "You?" "I'm a reporter and we are planning to solve the mystery of the 20th century." "This is a big scoop." "That's why I've joined the research party." "I see." "But that's too dangerous." "Oh, don't worry!" "I'll look after her." "Oh no, not you." "You don't look like much protection anyway." "Professor, may I go with them?" "Mm." "Ticket, please." "Ticket, please." "Miss, how far is Iwaya Village from here?" "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know." "I've never been there." "Iwaya Village?" "Huh, nobody goes there." "Thank you very much." " Let's go 'n take a look." " Okay." "Let's rest a while." "How about it?" "You tired?" "Yes, a little." "How far is it from here?" "Two kilometers." "Oh?" "Then let's keep on going." "Oh, what's that?" "It's only a bird." "Stupid!" "It couldn't be." "Don't be a coward." "I didn't know a bird could sound so frightening." " You are really scared!" " You are really scared!" " Don't be silly." "What is it?" " Did you hear anything?" " Did you hear anything?" " Sure, I did." "Sounds like footsteps." "Someone's coming!" "Ah!" "You can not go further." "Why the mask?" "It's Baradagi!" "Baradagi?" "Yes, sir." "Are you living in Iwaya?" "Yeah." " What does your father do?" " What does your father do?" " He's a priest." "A priest?" "Look!" "That's Baradagi!" "Don't let him see you." "He'll eat you up." "Oh?" "Eat me up?" "Baradagi!" "Baradagi!" "Oh God of Baradagi!" "Please deliver us from your great wrath." "Oh God of Baradagi!" "We did not mean to invade your privacy." "Oh God of Baradagi!" "Please forgive those that have offended thee." "Who are you?" "What do you want?" "All of us came from Tokyo to explore this area." "Explore?" "Never!" "You must go back!" "Don't you know, two men have been killed by Baradagi?" "And they were also from Tokyo." "You'd better go!" "Wait a minute, these two men and I studied in the same Institute." "And... one of them was her brother." "We don't believe that their deaths were caused by the wrath of Baradagi." "It's ridiculous to believe such a thing ever existed." "Hold your tongue!" "I refuse to fill my ears with blasphemy." "Now everyone of you listen to me, I personally forbid you to go any further." "What is Baradagi?" "Have you ever seen him?" "Heaven forbids, you'll die if you see Him." "Go, go before you evoke the divine wrath." "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Gen!" "Where are you going?" "Come back!" "Gen!" "Gen!" "Where are you going?" "Come back, Gen!" "Come back here, my boy!" "Your son is condemned." "You will die, if you go in there." "Gen!" "Gen!" "Come back!" "Come back, boy!" "Gen!" "Gen!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "What are you trying to do?" "Why are you afraid of Baradagi?" "Nobody's seen him." "We have to find that kid!" "Yuriko, let's go!" "Yeah." "Horiguchi!" "Okay." "Hey, give me a hand." "Must you go?" "Yes, I have to rescue that boy." "Oh God of Baradagi!" "Forgive them." "Have mercy on them!" "Boy!" "Boy!" "Boy!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Boy!" "It's getting foggy!" "Watch your step!" "Boy!" "Ah!" "Damn it!" "Gave me a scare!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "What's the matter?" " I can't find Yuriko." " I can't find Yuriko." " Oh?" "Yuriko!" "Kenji!" "Horiguchi!" "Oh, they've come back!" "Oh, they're coming back!" "They're back!" "Now look, the fog is getting too thick." "Help us find the boy!" "Where is your friend, sir?" "We lost her." "On account of the fog." "Baradagi's angry!" "We can never believe such nonsense." "This is the 20th century." "How can you be so foolish." "It's true, we have met with many strange phenomena out here." "But they have nothing to do with the Baradagi at all." "Now, get rid of that silly superstition and help us find the boy." "Can't you see, even a small boy went to save his own pet." "Okay, I'll go with you!" "Me too." "I'll go with you!" "Oh, Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Chibee!" "Oh, Chibee!" ""The boy is safe. "" ""We'll stay near the lake until the fog lifts. "" ""Yuriko. "" "Say, your boy is safe." "Oh, thank God!" "The boy is safe!" "Let's go!" "Let's go together!" "Oh, Kenji, look!" "The fog is lifting." "Yeah!" "Come on, let's go!" "Oh, boy, the fog is lifting." "Yeah!" "Ah, Chibee!" "Gen!" "Where are you?" "Gen!" "Oh, look!" "Oh, Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "It's good to see you." "Gen, oh my boy, you are saved." "Hey, look over there!" "It's Baradagi!" "Baradagi!" "Run for it!" "Run!" "Hurry!" "Let's get out of here." "Let's run!" "Run!" "Hurry!" "Come on!" "Hey, come on quick!" "Forgive them!" "Forgive them!" "That's an oversized lizard!" "What is it?" "It could be a Varan." "Varan?" "But it's unbelievable that Varan can still be alive after millions of years." "But, Kenji, you have to believe it now." "It is Varan that killed my brother." "Yes, it would wreak havoc in a big city." "Come on!" "Let's report it!" "VARAN, THE PREHISTORIC MONSTER" "VARAN ANNIHILATES A VILLAGE" "We have ample evidence to assume that Varan is a Varanopode." "And as to my knowledge, Varanopode lived about 185 million years ago..." "It ranges from the Triassic period to the Jurassic and cretaceous periods." "Hello, Mr. Majima!" "Professor Sugimoto!" "They're officers of the Defense Agency." "Kusama, sir!" "Katsumoto, sir!" "How do you do?" "The Defense Agency considers this a very serious case." " Oh, I know." "Sit down!" " Thank you." " What do you know about the monster?" " What do you know about the monster?" " Actually nothing." "But there is one thing we are quite sure, that is we shall never let Varan enter the cities." "That is what we are all worrying about." "We have already alerted the troops to advance to the location and we wonder, sir, if you could accompany us to the area." "By all means." "When are you going to start?" "We'll start as soon as you're ready, sir." "Hey!" "They are coming!" "They are all here!" "So this is the lake." "Yes." "Varan destroyed the Iwaya Village and returned all the way out here." "Must we all wait until it comes out again?" "Nah, the Chemical Squads are on the way here." "They will lure Varan out." "Your paper gave us a big scoop." "Yeah, I had to risk my life for it." " Hey, is it really in there?" " Hey, is it really in there?" " Yeah." "It's big, you'd better get yourself a wide-angle lens." "What's that?" "Some joker just threw a stone" "Hey, this is no time for jokes." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Take position!" "Set cannons!" "Position Secured!" "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "No. 1 all loaded." "No. 1 all loaded." "Range, 700 yards." "Range, 700 yards." "Standby!" "Standby action!" "Standby action!" "Standby!" "First platoon, standby!" "2nd platoon, standby!" "Calling Headquarters!" "Heavy artillery, 1345, rockets howitzers and mortars standing by for action." "Over!" "This is HQ." "Your message received." "Over!" " All ready, sir!" " Good!" "The civilians have been evacuated." "Thank you." "This is Mr. Kusama and Katsumoto." "Nakao, sir." "How do you do?" "Where is Varan right now?" "Oh, I suppose, Varan is at the bottom of the lake." "But, don't worry, the lake has been heavily guarded." " We'll be off now." " We'll be off now." " Good!" "I'll take a look at the new weapons." "The shells contain chemicals which will dissolve in water." "They'll take effect in 20 minutes." " When we will begin the attack?" " When we will begin the attack?" " At 1400 hours." "Ready!" "Fire!" "Fire!" "25 minutes have passed but nothing's happened." "That's odd!" "Kenji!" "Look!" "Hum!" "Dead fish!" "Look over there!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "Look!" "Ah, it's Varan!" "Varan!" "It's quite a monster!" "It's horrible!" "Colonel Kusama, we must kill that monster." "Fire!" "The target's been hit!" "Fire!" "Let's run!" "Let's run!" "Want the enemy to see you back?" "I just want to take a picture from a distance." "Good, I think I'll also take one like that." "It's no use, Professor." "We've thrown everything at him, and he's still coming." "The situation is impossible!" "We have to withdraw!" "Now this is an order!" "Withdraw!" "Withdraw!" "Let's withdraw!" "Professor, hurry!" "Let's go!" "Kenji!" "Withdraw!" " You'd better go, too!" " You'd better go, too!" " No, I'll stay with you." "Don't be silly!" "You reporters don't have to take such a risk." "Now go on over there and wait for me!" "Hurry!" "Hey, it's Baradagi!" "It's Baradagi!" "It's Baradagi!" "Kenji, help!" "Look!" "Can we call for more reinforcements?" "It is too late now." "Professor, what's happening now?" "You just saw what happened." "Varan is indestructible." "Unfortunately there's no way to stop the monster." "We can't kill it?" "Well, I think there must be a way." "To kill Varan, we might have to use something really drastic." "Hey, did you see Yuriko?" "No!" "Where is she?" "Kenji, isn't Yuriko with you?" "Nah, she left before I did." "But, she's not here!" " Not here?" " Yeah." "Hey!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Yuriko!" "Oh, Yuriko!" "Are you all right?" "Hold on!" "Don't worry." "Just hang on!" "Hold on!" "Yuriko, Yuriko, just hang on!" "There's a cave." "Kenji!" "Yuriko!" "Kenji!" "Yuriko!" "Look!" "They're trapped in that cave!" "Professor, they'll be killed if they remain there." "We must divert the animal's attention." "Did you by any chance bring the flares?" "Yes, we did, but how should we use them?" "Animals are sensitive to light, and I think the flares might do the trick." " Bring it over here!" " Yes, sir!" "Bring the flares!" "Yes, sir!" " Shoot the flares towards the mountain!" " Yes, sir." "Target!" "Mountain!" "Fire!" "Come on!" "Let's go!" "We've come to save you." "Oh, thank you." "Yuriko, we're safe now." "Thank you." "Look up there!" "Hit the dirt!" "Anti-Varan Headquarters have now been set up by the Ministry of Defense." "The Navy and the Air Force have been alerted day and night in search of the monster." "15 port!" "15 port, sir!" "Of course, sir!" "Steady!" "Steady as she goes!" "Of course, sir!" "Sonar Contact?" "No contact, sir!" "So, up to this very moment, there is nothing we can fight Varan with." "He is really a monster, he can even repel the 36mm cannon." "What is your opinion, Dr. Fujimura?" "I don't think the situation is really that pessimistic." "Maybe our cannons and machine guns are not strong enough." "But we still have stronger weapons that can penetrate steel." "Although, Varan is a monster, he is a living animal." "And I don't think his skin is stronger than steel." "Dr. Sugimoto, what do you say?" "I am sorry for the time being, there's nothing I can say not until we know more about Varan." "But skin is always flexible and never stronger than steel." "Yes, of course it is common sense but Varan exceeds our scope of knowledge." "We can never predict what's going to happen." "Have you any suggestions?" "Not now." "Actually, I'm hoping that Dr. Fujimura's idea will work, there are some new weapons." "What do you say, Dr. Majima?" "I agree with Dr. Sugimoto." "It's not the hardness of the skin that repels the shells." "Maybe it's the flexibility of the skin that causes it." "Oh, damn it, not a single fish." "Our lucks out!" "Oh, let's go home." "Mm, good idea." "Hey, what's that?" "Ah!" "Ah, it's Va..." "Va..." "Va..." "Varan!" "Varan!" "Varan!" "It's Varan!" "Ah!" "This is the Uranami reporting." "Varan is located at 35.5 North, 140.15 East." "I'll repeat, 35.5 North, 140.15 East." "Varan is moving toward the southwest." "Standby units, move out immediately." "Move out immediately." "Varan located five o'clock low." "We've found Varan." "Commence the attack with the rocket bomb." "I'll repeat, commence the attack with the rocket bomb." "Rockets away!" "Varan has submerged." "We made several direct hits." "He must have been injured." "We are still standing by!" "Commander, based on this information Varan will attack us where we least expected." "So, please alert all the fleet." "10 Port!" "10 Port, sir." "Of course, sir!" "Steady!" "Steady." "Calling HQ!" "1120." "We've found Varan." "Calling HQ!" "1120." "We've found Varan." "Range: 2000..." "Range: 2000!" "Damn it!" "Varan will attack us again!" " Standby, for action!" " Standby, for action!" " 10 degree port!" " 10 degree port!" "Fire!" "This is the Uranami reporting." "Varan is heading toward the Uraga Channel." "Commander, Varan is heading toward Tokyo." "Hey, come with me." "What's up?" "Is our helicopter available?" " Helicopter?" " Yes." " Don't you want to take pictures of it?" " Don't you want to take pictures of it?" " Yes, of course." "Are you crazy?" "The Airports are closed, right now." "URANAMI" "Commander, let's attack again." "Attack again?" "With what?" "Depth charges." "That is the weapon that will do the trick." "Trick?" "Yes, sir." "We'll use depth charges." "Like we used to do for sweeping the mines." "This is Isonami report to HQ." "Varan passed Uraga Channel heading towards Tokyo Bay." " All right, go ahead!" " All right, go ahead!" " Yes, sir!" "Prepare to attack with depth charges." "Prepare to attack with depth charges." "Prepare to attack with depth charges." "Ready for action, sir!" " Fire!" " Fire!" "Standby!" "Fire!" "Standby!" "Fire!" "He got hit." "A direct hit..." "Good, I think we got him this time." "He's still alive!" "The Tsukishima harbor is alerted." "All the reclaimed land at Ooi, has been alerted." "Is the Evacuation proceeding?" "Yes, all the costal areas are being evacuated." "Your attention, Please!" "Your attention, Please!" "Varan is approaching." "Please evacuate this area immediately." "Your attention, Please!" "Your attention, Please!" "Varan is approaching." "Please evacuate this area immediately." "From HQ to Haneda Air field." "When your defense is ready, report at once." "Report at once!" "Over!" "Roger." "Dr. Fujimura, I hear that you have invented a very powerful explosive." "Yes, but it's not exactly ready yet." "What kind of explosive?" "It's a kind of bomb that I intended to use for dam construction." "But why can't we use it now?" "We could, but I doubt whether it would work." "Why not?" "It is designed to explode hard rocks from the inside." "But if it is to explode outside of something, it will have very little power." "I'll show you the picture and you'll see what I mean." "That's the explosive." "It's the same size as a stick of dynamite, but 20 times as powerful." "Unless we can detonate it inside of Varan, it's quite useless." "But how are we are going to do this?" "This is the tower of Haneda Airport." "Varan's started moving." "It is approaching the Air field." "Dr. Fujimura, let's try your explosive." "No, I'd rather not." "If used in quantity, I think it ought to work." "We have our duty to defend our capital." "We must try every means possible." "All right, I'll get going." "Kusama, this is the showdown between Varan and us." "Let's move our Headquarters to Haneda Airport." "Yes, sir." "First platoon!" "Standby!" "Ready!" "2nd platoon!" "Standby!" "Ready!" "Ready for action!" "Ready for action!" "Fire!" "Varan has passed the Haneda light-house." "Range: 2000." "Ah!" "Over there!" "Open fire!" " Have you sent for the bomb?" " Have you sent for the bomb?" " Yes." "It should be here any moment now." " Check whether the bomb has arrived?" " Check whether the bomb has arrived?" " Yes, sir." "Come in, SM 75!" "Come in, SM 75!" "Hey!" "Oh, Yuriko!" " Let's go!" " Okay, let's go!" " Thanks for coming." " That's all right." "Thank you." "Drive towards the waterfront." "No, I can't." "It's too late now." "It's way beyond the call of our duty." "Let's go." " No, Kenji!" " Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Now, hold the end of it." "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Kenji!" "Kenji!" "Hurry up!" "Hurry Up!" "Are you all right?" "I'm all right." "Fire!" "We did it." "Okay, let's go!" "Come on, action!" "Move on!" "It's dangerous here, let's withdraw!" "Commander, let's move to the north end of the field." "Attention!" "We are moving to the north corner of the field!" "Shall we begin to attack once again?" "No, if we shock Varan too much, it will also anger him." "Well..." "Tokyo is doomed." "Katsumoto?" "That's the only way it can work..." "What is it?" "We'll attack Varan from the inside." " Are you going to do that?" " Are you going to do that?" " Now you just look at this." "Did you see, the monster is swallowing all the flares." "I saw the same thing happen at the mountain." "So if we can tie all the new explosives on the flares and throw it down by helicopter." "He might eat it." "I see." "We'll do that immediately." "Colonel Kusama, while we are preparing alert all the jets to pin that monster down in the same position." "Yes, sir." "This is HQ, continue the present attack." " Pin down the target." " Pin down the target." " Roger, out!" "Make way for the helicopters." "Hold all attacks!" "Roger, out!" "Get back!" "All clear!" "What time does the bomb explode?" "In about 30 minutes." "15 minutes passed, so..." "I estimated it'll go off around 4:50." "Look, there!" "7 more minutes." "Hold the attack!" "Roger, roger!" "Oh, he swallowed the bombs!" "This time it will succeed." "It worked." "It has worked." "It's heading toward the sea." "It's still moving." "There is one more bomb inside Varan." "He's dying." "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Don't run so fast." "Are your feet hurting you now?" "Nothing bothers me at this moment." "It's a great job!" "Let's take a good picture." "Okay" "Thus, Varan has vanished into a veil of mystery." "After a desperate struggle, Man has now won another victory." "THE END"