Episode 225: Zieram: Proof of Concept with Noel Thingvall

CatBusRuss⁠ is joined by prolific podcaster ⁠Noel Thingvall⁠ to discuss a Sci-Fi Channel Saturday morning classic, "⁠Zieram⁠". Our host would call it "Alien Isolation for Dummies". Noel would call it "Alien Meets Abbott and Costello". Either alternative title you bestow on the feature debut of ⁠tokusatsu⁠ master, ⁠Keita Amemiya⁠, the two mean them to be complimentary.

For ⁠CatBus⁠, he wanted to watch this film 25 years ago since the second anime VHS tape(s) he bought was "⁠Iria: Zieram the Animation⁠". It is one of his favorite bad-ass, big-boobed bounty hunter series (pardon the alliteration). Eventually, the otaku read somewhere that it was considered to be the prequel OVA to this feature. That is a stretch, but it was just fun to see the original take of her. What was even odder is her essentially playing back seat to Kenny and Vic from "MXC".

Noel is a huge fan of Japanese special effects, especially those from television shows that would eventually be edited with American teenagers to create "Power Rangers" series. He has also actively been watching Japanese media since the first run of "⁠Robotech⁠". It is only fitting that the dub the two were first introduced to was handled by Streamline Picture's ⁠Carl Macek⁠, the original reconfigurer of Japanese media.

This film is very derivative of classic sci-fi cinema. Not only does it pay homage to the "Alien" franchise, the third act is an ode to "The Terminator" and "The Thing". Noel being a host on the "⁠Masters of Carpentry Podcast⁠" proves to have the authority to make this statement.

"Zieram" is silly and over-the-top, and would be a perfect feature for B-Fest. Russ and the host of "⁠Schumacast⁠" would love to see Western cinema try to have this much fun with scary monsters.