by Chris MaGeeThere's been some strange synchronicity at work this past week. First the Pow-Wow's Eric Evans shared a YouTube video with all of us here that features Pettonton, the melon-headed, long-armed alien from the 1983-84 Toei-produced Fuji TV tokusatsu series of the same name. It made the rounds between us via Facebook and the general reaction was one of giddy confusion to comments of "That's actually kind of frightening." One thing we knew for sure is that we wanted to pass on the hilarity/ horror to all of you, but then more... that's right more... tokusatsu TV series opening popped up online!
The folks over at CNN Go posted their own pair of retro kids tokusatsu series openings this past week - "Ganbare! Robocon" from 1974 and "Guru Guru Medaman" from 1976. Again, would these have inspired fits of laughter and wonder amongst Japanese youngsters or would they have been the fodder for hallucinogenic nightmares... or both? All I know is that little girl whose plate floats away at the start of "Guru Guru Medaman" is priceless! Check all of these old openings below.
"Pettonton" - FujiTV circa 1983-84
"Ganbare! Robocon" TV Asahi circa 1974-1977
"Guru Guru Medaman" - TV Tokyo circa 1976-77
Thanks for these, great fun.
ReplyDeleteI watched a recent Guru Guru Medaman with my nephew and can confirm that it's as wild as ever.
This pair of monsters enjoying themselves on the Shinkansen - ekiben and all - is good, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9seeGKBkUtw