Issue 9 - Yipe!

and the Science Patrol werethe beginning of my real loveaffair with kaiju and cheesyminiature effects. My husbandAndy Trembley can laythe blame on Ultraman formy voracious consumption(and collection) of Gojira(Godzilla), Mosura (Mothra),Gamera, and other actors-in-rubber-suits-stomping-on-miniature-citiesfilms. The Abominable SnowMonster from Rankin-Bass?Terrifying with all thosefangs. Giant Lobster-Menfrom Space? Not a problem.Eventually, I learned whyJapanese actors voices neverseemed to match what theyappeared to be saying, but itdidn’t matter, this was stillfun. (I will say that whilestill cheesy, those shows andfilms are way more entertainingthese days with Englishsubtitles and the original languagesoundtrack)Spreading the InfectionIn high school and college,while I was awareof other animated seriesfrom Japan, noneof them made a tremendousimpression onme… this was the timeof Star Wars. Just aftercollege, however, anew wave of Japanimationarrived. I vaguelyregistered its existence(my friend Karen, on theother hand was doingamazing StarBlazers andSpace Battleship Yamatocostume, as she talkedabout earlier in the issue).I was doing all sorts offantasy and SF costumes, butthere were a couple of Japanese-inspiredpieces tuckedin there: at Costume-Con 3(1985) I entered a the historicalmasquerade with a kabukicostume: Princess Takeyashi(from The Demon Princess).In 1993 I entered the Confrancisco(51 st World ScienceFiction Convention) with aset of origami-folded papercostumes entitled From theFolded Universe, which effectedkabuki-style transformationswhile on stage (adragon with captive maidenbecame a helmed prince withprincess in bridal kimono, allmade from folded paper). WeFigure 2: Lost in Space -- The RegenerationIt doesn’t get any prettier at higher resolutionwon that year’s CostumeApaaward for our efforts.And then came Robotech,which all my friends wentmad for, but I found justplain confusing. Fortunately,more and more films and serieswere becoming availablefor view (and folks also beganreferring to it as anime ratherthan Japanimation). I wanderedinto a convention videoroom one day and watched,jaw agape, the opening episodeof Ranma ½. After exhaustingRobotech, KTEH,our local PBS station, startedbroadcasting other anime,including several OAV(Original Animated Video)productions and one of theTenchi Muyo! serials. Sometime in there Jennifer Tifftand I did an entry at the Bayconmasquerade with designsinformed by (yes, really) Anime,Star Trek: The Next Generation,Dr. Who and Lost InSpace. As I recall, the designbrief for Lost in Space: TheRegeneration entailed “colorcombinations not found innature, spandex, asymmetricconstruction, and horrificpuns.” In addition, my uniformwas designed to be hottubcompatible as soon as Ished my boots. Fortunatelyfor the reader, I have only onegrainy snapshot of the result.