TIME OF THE APES AND STAR WOLVES! Obscure Tsuburaya Productions Celebrated on Christmas!

Actresses Miyuki Tanigawa (left) and Hiroko Saito (right) pose for pictures. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Today I attended a special Christmas event that focused on some more obscure Tsuburaya Productions TV programs. Episodes of Time of the Apes (1974-75), Ultraman 80 (1980-81), and Star Wolf (1978) were screened, and each featured an appearance by one of our guests. All three episodes were film prints, not DVDs or Blu-rays.

Hiroko Saito reacts to a comment. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Hiroko Saito was one of the guests, and her career touched just about everything that was popular on TV during the '70s. She's appeared in Kamen Rider (1971-73), Kamen Rider V3 (1973-74), Kikaider (1972-73), Inazuman (1973-74), and Ultraman 80. She was a regular on Time of the Apes as the young girl Yurika.

Miyuki Tanigawa listens to a question. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Our other guest was Miyuki Tanigawa, who is best known for playing Hime on the TV series Star Wolf. Star Wolf was later edited by Sandy Frank into Fugitive Alien and Star Force, both of which were eventually lampooned on MST3K. I told Tanigawa-san about the Sandy Frank edits but decided against mentioning anything about the Satellite of Love.

It was a lot of fun to meet these two actresses -- on Christmas, no less. Shortly after the screenings, Saito-san left, but Tanigawa-san stayed for the dinner portion. Tanigawa-san was quite friendly and a lot of fun to converse with.

Tanigawa-san's birthday was on December 15, and given the occasion, a birthday cake was prepared for her. Not just any cake, mind you -- a Shin Godzilla cake! The photo above captures the moment she blew out the candles.

And there you have it! A very nice Christmas celebration with two heroines from Tsuburaya Productions.

Noel Bloom, Jr.'s back!

And this time he's out for revenge!

Okay, so maybe nothing that exciting is happening, but I'm so glad somebody posted this to YouTube.

If you're my age (late 20s), this is probably how you saw Gamera movies growing up. Celebrity Home Entertainment (Just for Kids!) released the Sandy Frank versions of the original Gamera films in the late '80s, and the tapes were hosted by a youngster named Noel Bloom, Jr. (who, it turns out, is the son of Celebrity Home Entertainment's owner).

Be sure to pay close attention at the 2:04 mark. It's always sounded to me like Noel says, "I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I didn't." (Could Noel have been taking subtle digs at Gamera all these years?) While we're on the subject, at 7:13, doesn't it sound like he says, "And the ugly kid, who's the host, isn't bad, if I must say so myself"?! Regardless, it's fun to see that Seabert's nibbling on Noel's hair on the box cover of the Sampler Collection.

UPDATE (8/27): I re-read my original post, and it may come across as harsher than I intended. I'd really like to point out that I look back on the Celebrity Home Entertainment Gamera releases with a lot of nostalgia. They were fun, and in my original post I simply wanted to mention some of the things we (my brother, my cousin, and I) picked up on as kids. Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression!