Matango, Part 1: The Shipwreck

So here begins our descent into Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People. If you happen to own a copy (like I'm sure most of you do) you can play along. Of course you could also just go here, to Internet Archive and watch it for free as part of its public domain database... which makes me feel so swell that I doled out money for my copy. Anyway, we'll be watching up to about the 20 minute mark. And not to spoil the surprise, but we won't come across any attacking Mushroom People in Part 1. Unfortunately.

Our adventure opens in the psychiatric ward of the Tokyo Medical Center. Here we introduced to one of the survivors of the horror we're about to witness. I'm not sure if it's the English translations or the fact that he's in this ward, but he doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Actually I don't know who he's even talking to. He sort of says the following -

"She's dead. The other too. Actually only one dead. Yes, they're all alive. If I told you the truth you'd believe I was insane too."

And as we try to unravel this conundrum, we're suddenly whisked away to the open sea. It's a beautiful day. A yacht rollicks through the waves and the text of the opening credits. We are introduced to our 7 future fungus snacks... I mean seagoers. They are:

Mr. Koyama, the sailor (Think Gilligan)

Mr. Kasai, owner of the yacht (Think Mr. Howell)

Miss Sekiguchi, the singer (Think Ginger)

Ms. Soma, the university clerk (Think Mary Ann)

Mr. Murai, the university professor (Well, the Professor)

Mr. Kasai, the skipper (Yup, the Skipper)

and

Mr. Yoshida, the writer (Hmm... well, that one doesn't fit, but you can imagine Mrs. Howell if you'd like)

It's Mr. Yoshida who leads off the festivities. It seems he brought his manuscript with him which promptly blows overboard, the pages helplessly floating down to the ocean below. Everyone thinks this is funny and laugh at him. No one really tries to help retrieve the pages. Oh well, there goes his favorite story.

Why be sad on such a wonderful day? It's sunny. The salt water is splashing about you. And Miss Mami Sekiguchi has a ukulele and she's about to sing a classic seafaring shanty. In fact we can sing along. Here are the lyrics:

La la

That's right. You only need to know one word. La. You just sing it over and over and over. I tried to count how many times she sings it and I got up around 114. It's hard to count because several times they break away from her to show some of the male characters admiring her looks. But let's say 114.

Unfortunately our happy joyride turns sour. Ominous clouds appear. Suddenly the yacht is thrown side to side as lightning strikes. The la-la song is over and concerns now turn to the destruction of the boat. Much sadness and panic ensues.

The next morning is calm again, the storm ended. But they are afloat on the ocean, drifting where the tide will bring them. Down below, they sulk as they listen to a radio report announcing that they are missing at sea. Tensions rise as they ponder what will become of them. Above deck, Mr. Yoshida sees a hulk of a ship, bearing down on them, about to rip their tiny yacht to smithereens. He screams. Oh, hold on. It doesn't appear to be a real ship. That's the good news. The bad news is that it seems to be a black, haunted, ghost-ship-of-death that vanishes into thin air. At least that's what it looked like to me. No one seemed to be that concerned about it though.

They continue to drift until finally they see land. Japan? Not really. But some sort of land. They all come above deck to see what their future holds. Evil Mushrooms! No, not yet... but we're getting there.

This should get you to about the 19 minute and 30 second mark. I know, I know... you can't stand it! We must go on! Patience my friends. All good things in time.

Next Time. Part 2: The Island.