Childhood Memories: Japanese TV Shows

On Monday I took a personal trip down memory lane with a POST about two of my fave childhood TV series - Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis. Well, today I'm doing it again. So if you have absolutely no interest in cheesy Japanese children shows about robots and aliens from the 1960's - then you may want to skip this post.

All three of these shows were produced in Japan and then had English dubbed over the Japanese dialogue. This sometimes made the English dialogue hysterical, although I didn't realize it as a child. I was too mesmerized by the storylines and ... cough cough ... the "special effects".

First up is Ultraman. Ultraman was created in 1966 by the same people who created the original Godzilla movies, so they always featured some dude in a monster suit (sometimes a spray-painted Godzilla suit) wrecking the hell out of a model of Tokyo. And as you will see in the clip below, the fight scenes are kinda funny - with mocking, water-splashing and even tickling between Ultraman and the monster...

But Ultraman used to give me a damn heart attack every time I watched it as a kid. Ya see, Ultraman needed the Sun's rays to survive (or somesuch), and for whatever reason he couldn't get enough on Earth. So after a little bit of fighting with the monster of the day, Ultraman's "warning light" would start blinking (like an overheating car engine). And if Ultraman didn't wrap things up and high-tail it outta there he would die. And EVERY episode I was convinced Ultraman was going to bite the big one. I guess I was a childhood pessimist.

Next up is The Space Giants. This was a show about a Japanese kid who had this whistle thingy that could summon three robots who could turn into rockets: Goldar (Daddy robot), Silvar (Mama robot), and Gam (Kid robot).

I totally wished I was that little boy with the whistle. I so wanted to summon my fierce robot/rocket friends anytime I had trouble with a classmate or when Mama Bunny got on my nerves.

Finally, we have my favorite - Johnny Sokko and His Giant Robot. Johnny controlled the Giant Robot by talking into his Timex watch. And the Robot obeyed all Johnny's commands. Plus, Robot had some fierce Vogue moves he used when he was fighting the evil Guillotine and his minions - and he also had fingernails which turned into missiles...

Giant Robot was like a fierce metallic SUPER DRAG QUEEN! But the saddest day of my childhood came when those bastards KILLED THE GIANT ROBOT. I cried when I watched this clip again while doing this post - almost as hard as I did as a kid ...

Yes, I know I'm old - but that's what us old people do ... talk about "the olden days" and about fierce Japanese dragbots...