Yeah, sort of a rather large Protoceratops. The lack of nose protrusion makes identification with a Triceratops species a dubious adventure. The spinal ridge does raise questions concerning cross-breeding with a Stegasaurus species, but those critters had these tiny little heads, so the deduction may be on shaky ground. Although not shaky because of Godzilla, as the big guy does not make an appearance in this episode of Let’s Kill a Kaiju! Reportedly, his demands are considered excessive, and he may never make an appearance.
Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) exemplifies the dangers of archaeological theft. A fair-sized statue on a far away island is being removed for display at Expo ’70, being carried away by jet-powered helicopters. Even the displeasure of Gamera (“Friend to all children!”) doesn’t discourage the weaseling. Conveyed to a waiting ship, it begins the journey to Tokyo. On the way, the crew begins to fall ill, much to the puzzlement of the ship’s surgeon.
Meanwhile, Gamera finds himself (herself?) attacked by a kaiju emerging from the sand on the island, and is left squirming on his backside when the attacker, Jiger, shoots spears from her face into the legs of Gamera, thus incapacitating the eponymous kaiju. But Jiger doesn’t take the time to slit the great turtle’s throat – perhaps a wise decision, given the flamethrower implanted in Gamera’s mouth, which opens questions in my mind as to whether the plastic surgeons are going too far these days – and immediately sets out swimming across the ocean in pursuit of the statue. Or perhaps he’s an Expo ’70 fan.
He’s clocked at 190 MPH, surprisingly, at least to me, lacking a bow wave. Upon arrival in Japan, the local forces try to discourage his attendance, but Jiger’s heat ray is an unwelcome surprise and the local forces back off.
Back on the island, Gamera shows some cleverness in removing the spears, and sets out in pursuit of Jiger via his spinning rocket mode of travel. Once in Japan, he bounces Jiger around a bit, but in an ill-considered move, he ends up on top of her and suffers a piercing wound to his lung. He drags himself off to the beach, where he appears to begin suffering white nose syndrome, which is really more of a bat thing than a flying turtle thing, but, you know, poetic license and all that rot.
But the kids! Oh, again there are kids. Grabbing that submarine from the last episode, they slip into Gamera’s mouth and go to the lung, as directed by the scientists who somehow took an X-Ray with only half a device, and discover the piercing wound deposited an egg, which has already hatched and is killing Gamera from the inside. They discover that the baby is susceptible to white noise, which matches up with what the ship’s crew had claimed had made them sick: noise coming from the statue. The statue had served to keep Jiger quiescent for millions of years.
Bad archaeologists!
The adults rig up speakers that spit out white noise on a bigger scale, making Jiger dormant while the kids close up their incision and Gamera recovers from his surgery. Then the battle is on, with a highlight being Gamera sticking telephone poles in his own ears.
Yeah. Almost worth watching the movie just for that little bit.
Eventually, the statue kills Jiger and the fun is over with.
Thank god.
