MST3K Story: Joel is happy with the calls he’s gotten recently and has a number for people to use. Joel and the Bots spend a lot of time listening to their messages. Crow and Servo do an Abbot & Costello-like routine, but Joel thinks they’ve gone a bit nutty. Later, based on a caller’s request for “more Chapstick”, Joel applies loads of it to the Bots. Crow, thinking about Chapstick, goes on a long rant on lubricants, culminating in his famous advice to “never stick anything in your ear larger than a pirate”. At the end, the Bots are making crank calls and Crow goes on and on about dog behavior.
Gamera Vs. Barugon Story: Ichiro Hirata, a crippled war veteran, backs a group of men (Onodera, Kawajiri and Ichiro’s brother Keisuke) on a mission to find a giant opal Ichiro discovered during the war. When they find the opal over the objections of the natives, Onodera orchestrates the death of Kawajiri and seals Keisuke in a cave where he is eventually rescued. Repenting against his previous actions, Keisuke joins with a native girl, Karen, to retrieve the opal. They arrive in Japan too late, as Onodera has murdered Ichiro and the opal has turned out to be an egg that has hatched revealing the monster Barugon. It grows to enormous size and destroys the city with its powerful tongue and rainbow beam, even defeating Gamera in a brief battle. After numerous attempts to destroy Barugon fail, Gamera returns and defeats it.
MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Gamera Vs. Barugon written by Nisan Takahashi (as Nizo Takahashi)
Gamera Vs. Barugon directed by Shigeo Tanaka
Gamera Vs. Barugon music by Chuji KinoshitaMST3K Guest Cast: none
Gamera Vs. Barugon Cast: Kojiro Hongo (Keisuke Hirata), Kyôko Enami (Karen), Koji Fujiyama (Onodera), Yoshiro Kitahara (Professor Amano), Akira Natsuki (Ichiro Hirata), Ichirô Sugai (Dr. Matsushita), Yuzo Hayakawa (Kawajiri)
LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey
Notes: Kojiro Hongo also appeared in the film MSTied in episode #K06 – Gamera vs. Gaos (re-used in #308).
Koji Fujiyama also appeared in the films MSTied in episodes #K05 – Gamera, #K06 – Gamera vs. Gaos and #K07 – Gamera vs. Zigra (re-used in #302, #308 & #316, respectively).
Yoshiro Kitahara also appeared in the films MSTied in episodes #K05 – Gamera and #K06 – Gamera vs. Gaos (re-used in #302 & #308, respectively).
Kyôko Enami also appeared in the film MSTied in episode #K06 – Gamera vs. Gaos (re-used in #308).
Screenwriter Nisan Takahashi wrote all of the Gamera films used on MST3K.
Chuji Kinoshita compositions can be heard in over a hundred films from Waga koi seshi otome (1946) to Chichi (1988), often working with his brother, writer/director Keisuke Kinoshita. Chuji’s genre work is too numerous to list, but includes Golgo 13 (1973), a film version of the famous Japanese comic book.
This film was re-used in episode #304 – Gamera vs. Barugon.
Notable Riffs: “Hey, it’s Bob Hope!”
“His friend was a pig?”
“Uh-oh, he thinks it’s a fire hydrant!”
Gamera Vs. Barugon original release date: 1966, as Daikaijû kessen: Gamera tai Barugon