[Guyver Spawn]

Shout Factory is releasing several Tokusatsu films on Blu-ray. This set is a web exclusive and won't be sold outside of SF's website. The films in this set are For Prince Of Space (1959), Invasion Of The Neptune Men (1961), Watari The Ninja Boy (1966), Golden Ninja (1966), Dragon Showdown (1966), And Ninja Scope (1969)

Pre-order at https://shoutfactory.com/products/cl...40477947166854

[GoldenXtreme]

Awesomely obscure choices. Some people are disappointed by the lack of the second Prince of Space movie though. I suppose they could always release a second collection later that includes it though!

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Awesomely obscure choices. Some people are disappointed by the lack of the second Prince of Space movie though. I suppose they could always release a second collection later that includes it though!

It even seems to me that this is how it was intended. It?s also very funny that in 1966, two films called ?Golden Ninja? were released in Japan, which had nothing to do with each other.
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/451628
So it would be better to name it "Golden Bat".

[Guyver Spawn]

Golden Bat is one of Japan's oldest superheroes. Pre-dating Ultraman and Kamen Rider by over 30 years.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyver Spawn

Golden Bat is one of Japan's oldest superheroes. Pre-dating Ultraman and Kamen Rider by over 30 years.

He is one of the oldest superheroes in principle. 8 years older than Superman.

[TokuKnight89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyver Spawn

Golden Bat is one of Japan's oldest superheroes. Pre-dating Ultraman and Kamen Rider by over 30 years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

He is one of the oldest superheroes in principle. 8 years older than Superman.

Can y'all expand on that?

A film released in '66 is hardly older than Superman or Ultraman!

The character must be older than the film itself.

In addition, what's this dichotomy with "Golden Bat" and "Golden Ninja"?

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89

Can y'all expand on that?

A film released in '66 is hardly older than Superman or Ultraman!

The character must be older than the film itself.

In addition, what's this dichotomy with "Golden Bat" and "Golden Ninja"?

Yes, the character first appeared in the fall of 1930 in kamishibai (Japanese paper theater). So he's at least eight years older than Superman.
Regarding the name, the situation is as follows. Golden Bat is his name, derived from a brand of cigarettes for advertising purposes. But since there is nothing from the bat in him, it was often renamed in translated versions. Ninja was taken up because of the popularity of shinobi, who became famous outside of Japan quite early. As far as I know, in the European box office he was called Phantomen and Fant?mas.
By the way, this film is not even the first about the Golden Bat. Before it there was a film from 1950, which has not survived. But there is a poster and a couple of stills:

[DaikaijuSokogeki01]

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what movies Shout could include to justify a second collection with the second Prince of Space movie. Maybe the Phantom Agents/Ninja Butai Gekko movie and Message From Space? Voyage Into Space already has a blu-ray from Scorpion, and The Green Slime belongs to WB unless they'd be willing to sub-license it to Shout.

[TokuKnight89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Yes, the character first appeared in the fall of 1930 in kamishibai (Japanese paper theater). So he's at least eight years older than Superman.
Regarding the name, the situation is as follows. Golden Bat is his name, derived from a brand of cigarettes for advertising purposes. But since there is nothing from the bat in him, it was often renamed in translated versions. Ninja was taken up because of the popularity of shinobi, who became famous outside of Japan quite early. As far as I know, in the European box office he was called Phantomen and Fant?mas.
By the way, this film is not even the first about the Golden Bat. Before it there was a film from 1950, which has not survived. But there is a poster and a couple of stills:

Why did the '50s film not survive? The War ended in the '40s.

I know that there was a Japanese King Kong film from before the War which didn't survive, but a copy of a post-war movie should be stashed away somewhere.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89

Why did the '50s film not survive? The War ended in the '40s.

I know that there was a Japanese King Kong film from before the War which didn't survive, but a copy of a post-war movie should be stashed away somewhere.

As far as I know, the reason may be that in Japan at that time they were quite careless about films. If movie didn't become popular, it was simply thrown away without being archived. Well, maybe someday someone will find it. In any case, it`s definitely not possible to find it online yet.