A kaiju Martian shirt
Pete and Joe on Sesame English
Invasion of the Unpleasant Things from Outer Space from The Muppets Go to the Movies
Kaiju is a Japanese genre, literally meaning "strange creature." While the word dates to ancient texts, by the 1950s and 1960s, it specifically applied to giant monsters. Often of mythological or extraterrestrial origin, or else the result of mad science, kaiju tend to spend their time stomping through major metropolitan areas or else battling each other. Depending on the film, they can be allied for or against humanity and sometimes protected the Earth itself against mankind's environmental excesses.
While American films like King Kong and The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms were influences, Toho Studio's Godzilla became the first kaiju superstar. Soon a platoon of monsters followed in his giant footsteps, both from Toho and from competitors (including Gamera). On TV, Ultraman and other superheroes regularly fought kaiju. Kaiju were part of Japan's tokusatsu (special effects) productions and traditionally portrayed by actors in suits; while computer animation would affect later projects, suit performance remained a key element into the modern era. Even King Kong himself would be licensed to Toho for awhile and appear in two films. In Japan, the term has also been applied to Western films featuring giant monsters.
The related term kaijin (strange person) was used for those monster characters who were more humanoid and capable of intelligent thought and speech, though in projects such as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise, the lines are often blurred.
Giant robots or mecha (as on Mecha Builders) fall into their own genre.
References[]
The following are instances where Muppet or related productions explicitly referenced kaiju movies or the genre, and not just every example of enormous Muppets or giants. See Godzilla and King Kong for specific references or analogues to those characters.
- A kaiju Cookie Monster chews chunks out of the World Trade Center on the cover of the October 1976 issue of Sesame Street Magazine (with "Monsters on the loose!" as the theme).
- The Muppets Go to the Movies presents Invasion of the Unpleasant Things from Outer Space, with rats as giant monsters (while Dudley Moore speaking Japanese with English subtitles reinforces the kaiju influence).
- Thog plays the role of kaiju in "I Feel the Earth Move" in The Muppet Show episode 502.
- A monster quiz in Muppet Magazine issue 4 has, as multiple choice answers, Godzilla as well as Gorgo (1961, British film) and Reptilicus (produced in two different versions, a Danish one from 1961 and a US version the following year). In Japan, both are classed as kaiju movies.
- In a Sesame Street News Flash segment, Kermit the Frog finds the Miami Mice unfazed by stereotypical adventure elements, including the legs and feet of a giant monster stomping through their office.
- Kaiju based on Godzilla and Mothra recurred on Sesame English as Pete and Joe.
- The film within the film "Cookie Monster vs. Monster Cookie" in Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic spoofs the movie convention of pitting one kaiju against another.
- A licensed Sesame Street shirt design depicts one of the Martians in kaiju form, complete with Japanese text.
Notes[]
- The unauthorized Real Street merchandise line invoked kaiju elements in loose versions of Sesame Street characters, while fan sculptures by Gabriel Marquez have also depicted Sesame Street Muppets as famous kaiju.