I Found Cool Stuff -- Chapter 11: Rolling Bomber Special
Presumably, you've heard of "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", the kids-show juggernaut that started in the early 90's, and is still around today, sort of (more on that in a future chapter).
Well, those shows were derived from a Japanese franchise called "Super Sentai", sentai meaning Task Force, which has been on Japanese TV continuously for nearly as long as I've been alive, over thirty years.
If all of this is drawing a blank stare from you, then *maybe* you might remember a gag show from the mid-eighties called "Dynaman", which was a parody dub of the sentai show of the same name from Japan, and the dubbers would go on to form The Kids In The Hall shortly thereafter.
Still not with me? Take five good-looking (Japanese) teenagers from all walks of life. They unite despite some differences to put on color-coded spandex and stylized helmets to defend the earth against some strange and dangerous foe. That foe usually has hordes of non-verbal henchmen, and some sort of dastardly plan to enslave or destroy the earth. The heroes combat said foe with martial arts, gadgets, and large colorful guns and robots. You can follow this concept, right?
Yes, I love this Sentai stuff. Love it to death.
For the actual entry for today, I give you ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL, a short film made in Japan that lovingly parodies the Sentai concept, but has some interesting things to say beyond just poking fun at tropes and cliches. It's also a great example of "less is more". Sometimes you only need seven minutes to tell your story -- trying to drag this one out beyond that would've been bad, so kudos to the director and/or writer for keeping it tight and contained.
I laughed until my sides hurt the first time I saw this, and I still make a point of watching it once in awhile just for fun.
Well, those shows were derived from a Japanese franchise called "Super Sentai", sentai meaning Task Force, which has been on Japanese TV continuously for nearly as long as I've been alive, over thirty years.
If all of this is drawing a blank stare from you, then *maybe* you might remember a gag show from the mid-eighties called "Dynaman", which was a parody dub of the sentai show of the same name from Japan, and the dubbers would go on to form The Kids In The Hall shortly thereafter.
Still not with me? Take five good-looking (Japanese) teenagers from all walks of life. They unite despite some differences to put on color-coded spandex and stylized helmets to defend the earth against some strange and dangerous foe. That foe usually has hordes of non-verbal henchmen, and some sort of dastardly plan to enslave or destroy the earth. The heroes combat said foe with martial arts, gadgets, and large colorful guns and robots. You can follow this concept, right?
Yes, I love this Sentai stuff. Love it to death.
For the actual entry for today, I give you ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL, a short film made in Japan that lovingly parodies the Sentai concept, but has some interesting things to say beyond just poking fun at tropes and cliches. It's also a great example of "less is more". Sometimes you only need seven minutes to tell your story -- trying to drag this one out beyond that would've been bad, so kudos to the director and/or writer for keeping it tight and contained.
I laughed until my sides hurt the first time I saw this, and I still make a point of watching it once in awhile just for fun.
Click to view