First rule of fanzines: “Never believe a fanzine editor”. Last issue, I said: “Overall, I wouldn’t get rid of the car now”. And here’s another quote, with respect to that double edition, “This monster is a one-off”.

I lied.

Both these statements have proven to be completely untrue. I no longer have a car: it was given away to a friend at work, after I realised I was about to get hit with the triple whammy of car tax, insurance and MoT. I cut my losses, and life has continued regardless, albeit in a slightly more public-transport oriented way. Also, as you will have noticed, this is another double issue, mostly because the last one did look rather spiffing, even if I say so myself. It is also easier to do them: single issues means an almost non-stop grind, while I can take time off to recuperate between double blasts. Which explains why we are here with another slab o’ stuff.

TC may also be heading for a change in direction. Readers with especially long memories may remember the days when it was a horror ‘zine, back when there were actually decent horror films to cover. We’ve drifted since, which I feel is a strength – we can adapt, and move to whatever areas open up, rather than being stuck in a single genre like some publications.

So due to a serious lack of worthwhile movies, Film Blitz has gone on holiday: ­in the first seven months of 1994, I went to the cinema just six times. This worst period in memory capped with ‘The Flintstones’, seemingly proof the public do want crap. But ‘95 started well (Leon, NBK, Shallow Grave), and new anime/HK labels appear with delightful frequency, though quality seems like a secondary consideration for some – or even forty-secondary! Still, others blow the socks off anything Hollywood is producing (can you name the last original American horror/SF film you saw?), thus we have an anime locum for Film Blitz, until the live-action field pulls it’s socks up…

But even these fields are losing their freshness. We published our first anime review back in TC6 – Summer 1990 – and our first Hong Kong review in TC7. Both genres have now become more accepted and mainstream: thus, while we will continue to cover them as appropriate (especially when unbiased and informed anime reviews remain rare commodities), it’s time to think about moving on. Where to? What will be the next target? Only time will tell: six months ago I’d have said the Internet, but when even “Loaded” has a column on the topic, we’ve clearly missed the boat! Though at least, now I can change my SIG, which has been plugging TC14/15 since time immemorial… Hopefully by next issue, enough time will have passed to mean we won’t be accused of bandwagon-jumping when we start our ‘Net coverage!

For it is an awesome creature: no censorship, governmental control, or other external restraint. Whether this freedom will last is uncertain, so get in now! Electronic mail is welcome – editor@trashcity.org for back issues and subscriptions, or jmclennan@trashcity.org with more interesting stuff. Be warned, despite the speed of transmission, snail mail may actually get a faster response. I can write replies to it in my lunch-hour while, as yet, e-mail can only be done during my leisure time, when there are a lot of alternative distractions (hello, Tomoko!).

One such is my steadily growing paranoia, fuelled by letters like this, from one TC contributor:

"Please find enclosed the remnants of your envelope that contained your last wonderful and varied package. The whole thing plopped through my door inside one of those Royal Mail "Apologies for Damage" clear plastic bags".

This might seem just like the usual PO cock-up, except…research revealed that the dubious photocopied manga arrived safely; the questionable Danish magazines arrived safely; my seditious letter arrived safely; the only thing missing from the envelope was ten pages relating to UFOs (Majestic 12, if you follow the field). That was conspicuous by it’s absence, like the blood in an dead calf. Brief pause for the hair to rise on the back of my neck.

It is also worth noting after my anti-Customs rants in the past couple of issues, that every package sent to me here from outside the EEC now gets opened, regardless of what it looks like. Not that I give a damn, of course, as I’m not so stupid as to try and import illegal material. At least, not to this address, or under my own name. It’s actually perversely enjoyable to see that “opened by Customs” sticker, as it means I’ve managed to waste some more of their time. Petty, I know, but who cares? They don’t seem to bother watching many tapes, though I was amused to see “Madam City Hunter” and “Yes, Madam ‘92” had both caught their attention. Obviously the word “madam” has certain connotations in the tortuous mind of HMC&E.

But it has been, overall, a cracking nine months (even used some of my 15 mins of fame, with an appearance on “Moviewatch”. Got paid, got famous, and got to plug TC – who could ask for more?). Possibly, rather too good, as far as this publication is concerned; something I started because I was bored, must now compete with many other pastimes for attention. Next issue will try and break the second rule of fanzines: “It is not possible for an editor to run a life and a fanzine”! For now, TC’s future is assured: its frequency, on the other hand, is uncertain… But if I get the next double out by year end, as planned, ’95 would see four issues – equalling the combined tally for 1992-1994 inclusive! But readers are reminded of the first rule of fanzines…

Thanks are due to the people at Anime Projects, Kiseki, Manga, Pioneer and Western Connection, for sending me tapes (even though last issue was a while ago), Trevor and Paul, the Good Mixer crew (previously known as the Psychotronik mob), John, Steve/Mike, the Cinema Store (when’s ‘Robocop’ due out?), Steve, Nicolas, Paul, Rob, Miles, Rudy, Rick and the entire population of alt.cult-movies and alt.asian-movies for wasting most of my evenings over the past year or so! We also bid a farewell to long-time TC artist Per Porter, who would seem to have succumbed to the seditious delights of home and family! Thanks a million, Per; there can be little doubt that we wouldn’t have got here without your efforts.

(in order of appearance – otherwise it wouldn’t be a contents page, would it?)

Paris
Book Reviews
Neither Liberal nor Democratic
American Animation I: Ren and Stimpy
Fried Chicken
Live-Action Role-Playing
Rutger Hauer
Conspiracy Cormer
High Weirdness By Mail
American Animation II: The Simpsons
Unconvention ’94
The Price
The Phonetics of Luxury Cars
Lino! Lino! Lino!
Emmanuelle Beart
Blancmange
Against Disney
Nothing in Between
American Animation III: Tiny Toon Adventures
Things That Go Hump in The Night:
Part A: (Undressed) to Kill
Part B: Different Strokes
Part C: Blood and Black Lace
Anime Blitz
Comix ‘R’ Us

This is TC16/17. All comments to: 34 Perran Road, Tulse Hill, London SW2 3DL. Subscriptions to future whatever-we-put-out (likely candidates: another double, a best of TC, or the long-threatened Kinski special) are £1 per number in the UK, £1.50/$3 Europe, £2.50/$5 further afield. Text: Jim McLennan, unless credited to one of Steve C, Cat, Rob Lyn Davies, Peter J.Evans, Todd Grimson, Phoenix Hitch, Des Lewis, Rik Rawling, Jim Swallow, Andy Waller and Steve Welbum. Per replacement: Rik Rawling (cheers!). Printed by Juma in Sheffield. TC14/15’s available from me: £2.50.

This article was originally intended for publication in TC14/15, but was omitted – probably due to lack of space. It never got published, so this is the first time it has seen the light of day!

Or everything you didn’t want to know about latex and Japanese co-productions.

Way, way back in the mist’s of the 1960’s Tsubaraya Eiji (Godzilla’s effects man and a guy who knew a thing or two about rubber suits), conceived a strange new peripatetic and apparently eternal defender of the Earth. Enter Ultraman, the bug-eyed, ever so tall fighter of strange monsters.

Cut forward 20 years to 1987. Tsubaraya productions attempted an animated version of Ultraman. But did they use fine Japanese animators. Nah, they signed a deal with Hanna Barbera to try and crack into the US TV market! This oddity was eventually released in the UK under the MY-TV label as Ultraman 2 (MYTV 20019 – but hard to get as it’s out of production, unless you have an NTSC video because it’s been re-released by LA Hero /Ultra Action Video in the States as ‘Ultraman: The Adventure Begins’).

Basically the plot introduces us to the benevolent alien Ultraman in his quest to defend the Earth. Alas, he can’t last long in Earth’s atmosphere and so he has to share someone’s body. The body in question this time is that of Space Pilot Harris who gets assigned to the Emergency Science and Defence Squad, a newly formed team with a brief that includes studying strange lights in the sky and firing lasers at really oddball monsters.

Right, so we have the team formed; a motley bunch made up from a dashing Captain, the wild inventor, a fat bumbling guy, our young hero and the token female scientist. The next 60 minutes shows their efforts to fight off strange creatures, crash fighter aircraft and finally let Ultraman barely beat off the monsters. It’s fun…but not very good.

Interestingly enough there is an odd plot parallel between this and the later “Ultraman: The Alien Invasion”. In both films there is an sequence in which a lonely boy loses his pet lizard, the lizard becomes a monster and Ultraman fights it. In Ultraman 2, the boy loses his pet, in the Alien Invasion he flys away with it.

I suspect that this stems from both stories emerging from Tsubaraya’s Ultraman team. After all, Ultraman is pretty much a fixed format show which survives because the public like the hero and the stories. Weirdly enough, the nearest UK parallel to this is probably Doctor Who. Now that would make a good film, Doctor Who and Ultraman Vs….. (answers on a postcard please).

A few years later Tsubaraya Productions joined forces with The South Australian Film Corporation to make “Ultraman Towards The Future”. which has been cut to produce the first two Ultra label releases – “Ultraman: The Alien Invasion” and come September, “Ultraman: The Battle for Earth”. The Alien Invasion is an odd piece of work. Stylistically it looks very Japanese and the plot is pure Ultraman (mainly because it was written, designed, special effected et al by the Japanese half of the deal). But we have all these rotten Australian actors hamming their way across the sets and only one token oriental female, who failed to get the female lead as all of this was meant for Australian TV.

So let’s cut to the plot; Ultraman beats up a “Thing” on Mars and from it the weird green guudis virus streams towards the Earth. Also on the Martian surface are two astronauts; one of them has been severely fried by the Thing (along with their Tin Foil space capsule), the other is left stranded on the surface. Soon after, a huge, strange city block eating monster emerges in downtown Sidney, Ultraman appears and beats it up. So does our astronaut friend (any of you who haven’t yet spotted the link between him and Ultraman wake up now please).

OK, so this is a standard plot. The Earth is being attacked by an intelligent virus which transmogrifies creatures into a gigantic form. This Guudis virus has the eventual goal of infecting and altering every living thing on the planet (has this caught the attention of Blood Music fans yet?).

Now that’s been dealt with we can step back and look at the film. The fights between Ultraman and the monsters are quite well done. If you like Godzilla Vs Whatever then this kind of action should be well pleasing. There are even a few gem scenes – like Australian cops being worried by a small monster that’s taking a ride on a lonely merry go round, or our hero being chastised for worrying about fashion accessories when the monsters are attacking. The human contingent in the film are all members of UMA (Universal Multipurpose Agency – but who cares what it means), who have access to state-of-the-art-so-let’s-crash-it technology. (Just like the characters in Ultraman 2 who are always losing expensive jet fighters). Towards the end we even have a nutty general who intends to nuke half of Australia rather than let UMA and Ultraman deal with a particularly bad news monster. If it was the half of Oz where “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” were shot then perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea.

In this film Ultraman also displays the distinctly green tendency of only being able to operate at full size for three minutes because he doesn’t like Earth’s polluted atmosphere. He also always has to be almost beaten up before finally recovering and giving his aggressor what for, just like Spectreman (plug plug!). Actually Spectreman is an old Ultraman rip off where a mad alien (Doctor Gory) is trying to save the Earth from mankind’s polluting ways by unleashing a horde of monsters one by one. Fortunately standing in his way is a pollution researcher who gets transformed into Spectreman by another alien force so that humanity has a chance against the monsters. While of course trying to find ways around the pollution problem. Since Spectreman follows where Ultraman treads I suspect that the anti pollution stance has been part of Ultraman for a while. Not surprising, I suppose, given Japan’s smog problem. But at least it suggests that there is no PC, green, cash-in going here – it’s been part of Ultraculture for quite a while. Both hero’s also share the same tendency to get themselves well smegged before retaliating and saving the day.

To sum up: one fairly awful animation and one quite good fun film. Ultraman 2 is dire enough to understand why an animated series never got made in the States. Ultraman the Alien Invasion is okay – although it has been criticised by some fans of Japanese TV for having productions standards that are too HIGH! Guess they must mean the lack of papier mache…

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