Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Greetings All,

Does anyone happen to know when AIP-TV first started showing the Gamera sequels on TV? I assume it was
Probably within a year or two of the Japanese release depending on how long it took to produce and dub them. Any
Assistance is appreciated. Thank you.

It's been a while since I watched a Gamera movie that I may have forgotten or never learned when the Gamera movies came on television.

For me, living in Topeka Ks. at the time, I remember first seeing A.I.P. Gamera films on T.V. back in the mid 70's. Can't remember the specific year, though.

They had to be fairly speedy trips to US TV since A.I.P. essentially pre-bought the entire back half of the original run for television before they were even made (along with the mandate that white kids be included in the cast to make them more marketable to westerners).

I didn't know that SIP had say in the films to this extent. I had always thought that Daiei included Caucasians to boost sales globally, not just at US insistence. Interesting.

^yup, in fact there's a dvd of Destroy All Planets spuriously titled "Destroy All Planets 2010" by retro media that has an audio commentary with Carl Craig (the caucasion kid from the film). He did say they came to TV within a few years, in fact he didn't even know it was on TV, but it was what kind of prompted me to ask the question in the first place. I first saw the Sandy Frank versions on VHS in 1989, and on TV in the years after that (including MST3K)...you could not imagine how ticked off I was that the AIP versions were no longer being aired. Thankfully they still exist (although not in great quality) on several low budget DVD sets, and S!F at least got the Audio tracks for some of them, too bad they could not procure high quality video.

It was over a decade later so maybe this would be an easier question: how long did it take for Super Monster to get to the States? I know it aired on the USA Network and Elvira's movie hosting show in the '80s.

^That is a great question. The Elvira version was just the Japanese version with the English dub track placed on top, (unless the version that S!F released on DVD was different to the Elvira one actually shown on TV) what S!F would eventually use as their standard release, albeit they had btained a much better HD video print. There was another unlicensed DVD released by wanna-be horror host Mr. Lobo under the "Cinema Insomnia" label, but I cant remember if it was the actual Filmways version or just liike all the others. What I do remember was that the film was often interrupted (MST3K style but not in a good way) , and a good 15-20 minuets of the already short film were missing.

I do remember the original Filmways version with English opening/closing credits was on Television at least 2-3 times in the early 90's on late night syndication where I lived. I had recorded it on VHS, and about 10 years ago attempted to convert it to digital format, but failed and foolishly/presumptuously I tossed my VHS thinking I would not need it anymore. It was not until a later viewing did I realize the audio/video got out of sync as the film went on. Despite its flaws forum member H-man wanted a copy, below is a link to the credits as he posted on them on Youtube. Thus its why its one of the last films on my want-list of film variants. I know I cant have been the only fan to record this version on VHS. It would be good to know when it first aired/last aired and how often and in what parts of the country, other than Sacramento which I can confirm.

Sorry to necro-post but I'm bumping this thread with some info I've found lately at Newspapers.com. They don't have a complete database of all publications, of course, so there are still likely some holes. I can't verify that these are the very first television broadcasts of these movies. These are simply the earliest dates I've found.

War of the Monsters ("Barugon") was first mentioned in an article in The Salt Lake Tribune (July 28, 1967) stating that a new syndication package had been picked up and included titles such as Godzilla vs. The Thing, Majin, the Monster of Terror, Monster from a Prehistoric Planet ("Gappa"), and War of the Monsters. Majin and MFAPP were both playing in Texas by November 1967, but the first airdate for WOTM is on Feb. 17, 1968 —2pm— on KTAL-TV out of Shreveport, LA. (Reported in The Daily Oklahoman on Feb. 11, 1968.)

Likewise, Return of the Giant Monsters ("Gyaos") was first mentioned in a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 4, 1968. Win Fanning reports that WPXI 11 in Pittsburgh has picked up several movies, including ROTGM, for its Chiller Theater. The Pittsburgh Press reported on Aug. 27 that other films in the package included Frankenstein Conquers the World, The X from Outer Space and Yongary. The earliest broadcast I can find, however, was on Sep. 28 of that year at 10:40pm on KVII from Amarillo, TX. (Reported in Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on Sep. 22.) By the way, Pittsburgh would finally get to see ROTGM on Channel 11 on November 30, 1968 at 11:20pm, followed by TXfOS.

The earliest date I can find for Destroy All Planets ("Viras") is November 28, 1970 (3pm on WDCA out of D.C., reported by The Baltimore Sun in the Nov. 22 edition), but I would not be surprised if this one had turned up somewhere in 1969.

Attack of the Monsters ("Guiron"): Saturday October 10, 1970 (actually 12:30 Sunday morning) on WPXI 11 in Pittsburgh. (The Daily Courier, Connellsville, PA, 10/3/70.)

Gamera vs. Monster X ("Jiger"): Also on WPXI, February 27, 1971 at 11:15pm. (The Kane Republican, Kane, PA, 2/20/71.) Again, these dates are simply the earliest I've found. Still, I'd like to believe that some programmer at Channel 11 really liked Gamera movies.

Super Monster: February 14 (how romantic), 1982 at 9am on Channel 8 in MS. I can't figure out what station this was but it was reported in McComb, Mississippi's Enterprise-Journal on Feb. 12. This film, either as "Super Monster" or "Gamera - Super Monster," was broadcast on MTV during its early years but I haven't found a TV listing for that just yet.

For some reason, AIP apparently never picked up Zigra. I think the Sandy Frank version was dubbed in 1985 (the year that one of the dubbed characters refers to as the present date) but it didn't turn up until a 9pm broadcast on the USA Network on April 3, 1987. (The Palm Beach Post, same date.)The Celebrity video release —along with "Gamera," "Barugon," and "Gaos"— seems to have been July 14 of that year. (Variety 7/8/87 and Billboard 6/6/87) "Guiron" would hit home video in August 1988.

I just want to give you a round of applause.

Excellent work.

Yes I recorded off TV Gamera vs Monster X, as well as Dagora, and Gamera Super Monster from a local TV station (KMAX 31)in the early 90's *now our CW affiliate . These played concurrently with Sandy Frank Gamera films, I think though because there was no other dub for them. Additionally our legendary Horror host Bob Wilkins hosted a special evening showing Attack of the Mushroom People, but it was edited down to 1 hour with commercials, and they actually *fast forwarded* the film in broadcast to eliminate *boring parts*, it was more a novelty than anything else, still I wish I still had it. Losing this, and Super Monster were my most egregious errors in judgement.

Another North American Gamera oddity: this clipping from the Calgary Herald (1970-12-28). Gamera vs. Barugon wasn't exhibited theatrically in the U.S. (or Canada) and was only shown on television as "War of the Monsters." Could this be a screening of the export version?



The co-feature may have been Daimajin. Check out the tagline on this Daiei poster:



There doesn't seem to be an extant export version of Daimajin but that doesn't mean one never existed. If the two films shown that week were prints of Daiei export versions then how the hell did they end up at a drive-in in western Canada?

^ They were originally released as a double bill in Japan, right? That lends credence to these prints being direct from Japan export versions probably intended for one of those North American theaters catering to Japanese immigrants and their families that showed Japanese films direct from their native distributors.

It looks like that drive-in owner had some connections. They landed the same kaiju double-feature that Japanese moviegoers got nearly five years earlier. Maybe that drive-in presented them subtitled rather than dubbed.

H-Man, great work on compiling all of this info about Gamera's US broadcast history here in this thread, which I'm just now taking in.

^ It's interesting to think about these venues catering to immigrant populations showing all this stuff outside of the US distribution we are all aware of.

I find it pretty unlikely that those films were subtitled... the ad probably would have said so.

It played a few months later in March 1971 at the 40th Ave Drive-In, also in Alberta.



The last stop a few days later in March was another drive-in in Alberta.