Tokyo S.O.S. Episode 2 “Gorjia”

 

Welcome to the second episode of the Tokyo S.O.S. Podcast. In this episode, we are reviewing both the japanese and the american version of the 1954 classic, “Gorjia”. Known as “Godzilla: King of the Monster”, This classic revolutionized what we know as the giant monster movie and started the world wide obsiession known as “Godzilla”. In this episode, we will discuss Akira Ifukube’s music, Eji Tsuburaya’s special effects, and Ishiro Honda’s directing. We also discuss how the actors did and how the whole movie represents the hard political times that the Japan was going throught. You can also find the Tokyo S.O.S. podcast on Itunes now. by searching for “Tokyo S.O.S.” on Itunes, you can find the show, so please leave us Itune reviews. You can also leave us fan mail at www.tokyosospodcast@gmail.com. So, untill next time godzilla fan, this is the Tokyo S.O.S. podcast signing off.

One Response to “Tokyo S.O.S. Episode 2 “Gorjia””

  • Ern:

    oh well now we know why Thomas pronounces the word incorrectly, he must be reading it right off show notes…
    GORJIA? what movie is this? because as any 4yr old fan could tell you the translation is GO.JI.RA

    since you love to use wiki;
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    Name

    Gojira (ゴジラ?) is a combination of two Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ?, “gorilla”), and kujira (鯨(クジラ)?, “whale”), which is fitting because in one planning stage, Godzilla was described as “a cross between a gorilla and a whale”,[5] alluding to his size, power and aquatic origin. A popular story is that “Gojira” was actually the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio.[6] The story has not been verified, however, because in the fifty years since the film’s original release, no one claiming to be the employee has ever stepped forward and no photographs have ever surfaced. Kimi Honda (the widow of Ishiro Honda) always suspected that the man never existed as she mentioned in a 1998 interview that “the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories”.[7]

    Godzilla’s name was written in man’yōgana as Gojira (呉爾羅?), thus the kanji used were for phonetic value and not for meaning. Many Japanese books on Godzilla have referenced this curious fact, including B Media Books Special: Gojira Gahô, published by Take-Shobo in three different editions (1993, 1998,[8] and 1999).

    The Japanese pronunciation of the name is [ɡodʑiɽa] ( listen); the Anglicized form is /ɡɒdˈzɪlə/, with the first syllable pronounced like the word “god”, and the rest rhyming with “gorilla”. When Godzilla was created (and Japanese-to-English transliteration was less familiar), it is likely that the kana representing the second syllable was misinterpreted[citation needed] as [dzi]; in the Hepburn romanization system, Godzilla’s name would have been rendered as “Gojira”, whereas in the Kunrei romanization system it would have been rendered as “Gozira”.
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    hmh what do ya know, not a single GORJIA anywhere

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