1
00:00:08,029 --> 00:00:09,447
[skids]
2
00:00:09,530 --> 00:00:12,616
[man] In the '70s, everybody wanted
something new and exciting,
3
00:00:12,700 --> 00:00:13,784
and this was it.
4
00:00:13,868 --> 00:00:15,619
[in Japanese]
5
00:00:16,495 --> 00:00:18,706
[man] We made Japanese Spider-Man,
6
00:00:18,789 --> 00:00:20,916
and it is totally different
from the original Spider-Man.
7
00:00:23,961 --> 00:00:24,962
[screams]
8
00:00:29,258 --> 00:00:31,844
[monster shouts in Japanese]
9
00:00:32,344 --> 00:00:34,930
[man] There's no Aunt May.
There's no Peter Parker.
10
00:00:37,725 --> 00:00:38,726
There's a robot.
11
00:00:38,809 --> 00:00:40,019
[grunts]
12
00:00:41,103 --> 00:00:42,563
There's cars.
13
00:00:46,233 --> 00:00:50,529
There's people jumping and flying around
and battering the hell out of each other.
14
00:00:51,489 --> 00:00:54,325
And it had very little to do
with the actual Spider-Man.
15
00:00:54,825 --> 00:00:58,245
I remember Marvel saying,
"We don't let this out of Japan.
16
00:00:58,329 --> 00:01:00,873
Just limit everything to Japan only."
17
00:01:01,374 --> 00:01:02,750
For the next 30 years,
18
00:01:02,833 --> 00:01:06,670
you never heard of or even saw
the Japanese Spider-Man in America.
19
00:01:09,298 --> 00:01:11,550
This is the real story
of Japanese Spider-Man.
20
00:01:12,885 --> 00:01:14,887
[screams]
21
00:01:53,801 --> 00:01:57,263
There were three people,
brought me to Japan.
22
00:01:57,346 --> 00:02:00,558
A woman, Stan Lee and Spider-Man.
23
00:02:02,727 --> 00:02:05,646
The woman was my wife. She was from Japan.
24
00:02:06,564 --> 00:02:08,691
I met her in school in America,
25
00:02:08,774 --> 00:02:11,777
and in the '70s,
I used to take trips over to Japan.
26
00:02:13,070 --> 00:02:14,572
Now, when I was in Japan,
27
00:02:14,655 --> 00:02:18,492
I used to see a tremendous number
of Japanese comics.
28
00:02:18,576 --> 00:02:22,455
Everywhere I went, there was
what they call "manga," Japanese comics,
29
00:02:22,538 --> 00:02:24,415
and everybody was reading them.
30
00:02:24,498 --> 00:02:27,752
I remember looking around,
and I saw no American comics,
31
00:02:27,835 --> 00:02:29,670
and I started wondering why.
32
00:02:29,754 --> 00:02:32,006
And I was an old comic books buff.
33
00:02:32,089 --> 00:02:34,050
I liked the Marvel stuff.
34
00:02:34,133 --> 00:02:36,761
Stan Lee was a hero of mine.
35
00:02:37,636 --> 00:02:39,555
So I called up Marvel, and I said,
36
00:02:39,638 --> 00:02:43,309
"Hey look, you guys have your comics
all over the world and all over America,
37
00:02:43,392 --> 00:02:45,936
but the biggest comic book country
in the world is Japan,
38
00:02:46,020 --> 00:02:47,730
and you guys have nothing out there."
39
00:02:47,813 --> 00:02:50,566
They said, "Well, we used
to ship a bunch of comics over,
40
00:02:50,649 --> 00:02:53,611
and somehow half of them would come back.
They would never sell."
41
00:02:53,694 --> 00:02:57,156
I said, "Hey, I tell you what.
You want a chance to make some big money?
42
00:02:57,239 --> 00:03:00,076
I think that there's an audience here
that would go for you guys
43
00:03:00,159 --> 00:03:01,744
if it was presented properly.
44
00:03:01,827 --> 00:03:04,622
Give me a chance. I'll go over there,
and I'll figure out what's wrong,
45
00:03:04,705 --> 00:03:06,374
and I'll come back to you with a deal."
46
00:03:07,541 --> 00:03:09,835
Luckily, Stan Lee agreed with me.
47
00:03:10,669 --> 00:03:13,381
I came to Japan as a publisher.
48
00:03:13,464 --> 00:03:17,176
Every publisher in town knew that,
"Hey, there's this funny gaijin--"
49
00:03:17,259 --> 00:03:19,428
Gaijin is an outsider in Japanese--
50
00:03:19,512 --> 00:03:22,973
"running around with Marvel comic rights.
Maybe we should talk to him."
51
00:03:24,016 --> 00:03:27,937
And I figured out why American comics
were failing here in Japan.
52
00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:31,232
An American comic book
is meant to be read.
53
00:03:31,941 --> 00:03:34,318
A Japanese comic is meant to be looked at.
54
00:03:34,819 --> 00:03:38,489
An American comic
is like an illustrated book.
55
00:03:38,572 --> 00:03:42,368
You have to read three or four
word balloons in every picture.
56
00:03:42,451 --> 00:03:46,038
You look at a Japanese manga
and they have action in it.
57
00:03:46,122 --> 00:03:48,499
You can feel the action like a storyboard.
58
00:03:49,542 --> 00:03:52,420
The Japanese manga audience
simply wanted to be entertained
59
00:03:52,503 --> 00:03:54,630
in the way that
they wanted to be entertained.
60
00:03:58,342 --> 00:03:59,343
[shouts]
61
00:03:59,427 --> 00:04:02,680
[Pelc] While I was sitting here in Japan,
I'd brought my young son with me,
62
00:04:02,763 --> 00:04:07,393
and he and a lot of his friends
watched these shows on Japanese TV,
63
00:04:07,476 --> 00:04:08,978
things like Kamen Rider,
64
00:04:09,061 --> 00:04:12,231
and kids loved it, even though they
didn't understand what was being said.
65
00:04:12,314 --> 00:04:14,150
They loved the action.
They loved the music.
66
00:04:14,233 --> 00:04:16,193
There was a driving force behind them.
67
00:04:17,278 --> 00:04:20,823
And one of the companies
behind those shows was named Toei.
68
00:04:23,034 --> 00:04:27,663
Toei was one of the big powerhouse studios
here in Japan at the time.
69
00:04:28,914 --> 00:04:33,544
So I made a call, and I was lucky enough
to get an interview with the president.
70
00:04:33,627 --> 00:04:35,755
His name was Watanabe.
71
00:04:35,838 --> 00:04:39,383
I said, "Look, you guys got all the shows
and all these superheroes,
72
00:04:39,467 --> 00:04:41,135
and I represent Marvel."
73
00:04:41,635 --> 00:04:44,930
Mr. Watanabe was known as
the king of the Ginza at the time,
74
00:04:45,014 --> 00:04:48,601
which meant that after work every night
you went out to bars together.
75
00:04:48,684 --> 00:04:50,895
It was the way of doing business
at the time.
76
00:04:51,395 --> 00:04:53,439
That's where you made your contracts
in Japan.
77
00:04:53,522 --> 00:04:55,900
You didn't make them
with a lawyer on paper.
78
00:04:55,983 --> 00:04:59,362
You made them over drinks and a handshake,
which you can never tear up.
79
00:04:59,445 --> 00:05:00,863
You can't tear up a handshake.
80
00:05:01,447 --> 00:05:03,616
And I sat down, and I negotiated a deal
81
00:05:03,699 --> 00:05:07,953
in which Marvel would be able to pick up
all the Toei superheroes
82
00:05:08,037 --> 00:05:10,581
and Toei could pick up
all the Marvel superheroes.
83
00:05:10,664 --> 00:05:12,166
We made a deal.
84
00:05:12,249 --> 00:05:15,378
I sent the contract to Marvel.
Marvel accepted it.
85
00:05:15,461 --> 00:05:19,090
They said, "Okay, run with it."
So I said to Toei, "Okay, we got a deal."
86
00:05:19,590 --> 00:05:22,843
Stan Lee was the guiding genius
in comic books,
87
00:05:22,927 --> 00:05:26,639
and he had the sense of what people liked
and what they didn't like.
88
00:05:27,348 --> 00:05:29,934
So Stan needed to like what he saw.
89
00:05:31,227 --> 00:05:34,397
The first show that was produced
by Toei was Spider-Man
90
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,191
'cause that was Marvel's
bread-and-butter character.
91
00:05:37,274 --> 00:05:39,610
Mr. Watanabe said,
"What do you think of Spider-Man?
92
00:05:39,694 --> 00:05:42,029
What do you think of it, Gene?"
I said, "I think it's great."
93
00:05:42,113 --> 00:05:44,657
And he said, "Okay, I believe in it.
I think this is good.
94
00:05:44,740 --> 00:05:46,659
I've got my best people working on it."
95
00:05:47,493 --> 00:05:50,246
We were approved for almost 50 episodes.
96
00:05:50,746 --> 00:05:55,334
Marvel just considered Japan
a territory in and unto itself.
97
00:05:55,418 --> 00:05:59,797
I remember Marvel saying to Toei,
"Just limit the territory to Japan.
98
00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:04,009
We don't let this out of Japan."
And then they said, "Go for it."
99
00:06:04,093 --> 00:06:07,221
Nobody's gonna care over here in America
'cause they're not gonna see it.
100
00:06:07,304 --> 00:06:09,724
As long as it works and we make money,
that's fine.
101
00:06:10,266 --> 00:06:11,559
That was the key.
102
00:06:14,353 --> 00:06:18,649
Frankly speaking, these superhero shows
that were being made by Toei
103
00:06:18,733 --> 00:06:20,526
were commercials to sell toys.
104
00:06:21,318 --> 00:06:23,779
The sponsors were all toy companies,
105
00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:27,658
and they all were making
these fantastic metal toys.
106
00:06:27,742 --> 00:06:32,621
Robots and cars and stuff that
were incredibly intricate, beautiful toys.
107
00:06:32,705 --> 00:06:36,333
Basically, we needed toys
to fund this entire project.
108
00:06:37,585 --> 00:06:39,962
So we started sitting
and looking at the plots
109
00:06:40,046 --> 00:06:43,257
of the American Spider-Man and said,
"We don't have any of this stuff."
110
00:06:43,340 --> 00:06:46,594
So I said, "Let's put 'em in.
We need a robot."
111
00:06:48,012 --> 00:06:51,599
[man 2 in Japanese]
112
00:08:26,068 --> 00:08:31,365
[interviewer in Japanese]
113
00:08:39,832 --> 00:08:42,460
[Pelc] So we put in a robot
called Marveller,
114
00:08:42,543 --> 00:08:45,671
and Popy became the sponsor of the show,
115
00:08:45,755 --> 00:08:47,465
and we were on the way.
116
00:08:56,974 --> 00:08:59,393
There was a few things
that I insisted upon.
117
00:08:59,477 --> 00:09:03,898
Because of copyright, the costume had
to be perfectly Spider-Man, which it was.
118
00:09:03,981 --> 00:09:05,816
And he had to have Spider-Man action.
119
00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:09,820
Shoot webs, which he did,
crawl on walls, crawl on ceilings.
120
00:09:09,904 --> 00:09:12,740
So all of the action and powers
that Peter Parker had
121
00:09:12,823 --> 00:09:14,283
when he became Spider-Man,
122
00:09:14,367 --> 00:09:17,244
we incorporated that
into the Japanese Spider-Man.
123
00:09:18,245 --> 00:09:19,830
[narrator] Spider-Man.
124
00:09:20,706 --> 00:09:22,625
[in Japanese]
125
00:09:24,293 --> 00:09:27,046
[Pelc] When it came to picking
the actors and actresses,
126
00:09:27,129 --> 00:09:29,340
that was left in Toei's hands.
127
00:09:29,799 --> 00:09:32,510
They said "Look it, I have my people
that are popular.
128
00:09:32,593 --> 00:09:34,845
I know who's gonna work.
I know who's not gonna work."
129
00:09:36,514 --> 00:09:42,853
[man 3 in Japanese]
130
00:10:02,998 --> 00:10:06,293
[voice in Japanese]
131
00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:15,803
[Tôdô]
132
00:10:29,650 --> 00:10:32,653
[narrator] ...the amazing Spider-Man.
133
00:10:34,989 --> 00:10:38,701
[narrator] The most popular, most daring,
most exciting superhero
134
00:10:38,784 --> 00:10:40,161
in the entire world.
135
00:11:03,142 --> 00:11:04,518
[in Japanese]
136
00:11:20,701 --> 00:11:24,038
[Pelc] Stan Lee felt that
the American Spider-Man movie
137
00:11:24,121 --> 00:11:26,374
was not connecting with the audience.
138
00:11:26,457 --> 00:11:29,543
It wasn't as good as it should have been.
139
00:11:29,627 --> 00:11:31,754
Although it wasn't as bad
as it could have been.
140
00:11:31,837 --> 00:11:34,048
Well, I won't ask
if you had anything to do with it.
141
00:11:34,131 --> 00:11:36,133
Well, I was supposedly the consultant,
142
00:11:36,217 --> 00:11:38,844
but they really didn't listen to me
that much.
143
00:11:38,928 --> 00:11:42,598
The one thing I don't want to happen,
I don't want the shows to be pedestrian.
144
00:11:42,681 --> 00:11:46,602
These characters are too important to us,
and I think the future ones--
145
00:11:46,685 --> 00:11:48,688
Well, the beginning ones weren't bad.
146
00:11:48,771 --> 00:11:51,107
I think the future ones
will be much better.
147
00:11:51,190 --> 00:11:54,735
[Pelc] So we knew that we had
to do a good job, and if we don't do that,
148
00:11:54,819 --> 00:11:58,614
I'm out of work and all the money and time
that I put in to coming to Japan,
149
00:11:58,698 --> 00:12:01,325
and gave up my job,
and I've lost my house,
150
00:12:01,409 --> 00:12:03,869
I've lost my business,
if this goes to hell.
151
00:12:08,708 --> 00:12:13,921
[voice]
152
00:12:15,965 --> 00:12:16,966
[gasps]
153
00:12:17,049 --> 00:12:21,470
[voice]
154
00:12:42,616 --> 00:12:43,784
[growling]
155
00:12:45,036 --> 00:12:46,037
[Tôdô]
156
00:12:49,790 --> 00:12:50,916
[screams]
157
00:12:52,251 --> 00:12:55,337
[Tôdô]
158
00:13:07,808 --> 00:13:08,893
[screams]
159
00:13:11,604 --> 00:13:12,688
[gasps]
160
00:13:12,772 --> 00:13:15,566
[Tôdô]
161
00:13:20,654 --> 00:13:22,406
[groans]
162
00:13:25,451 --> 00:13:28,662
[in Japanese]
163
00:13:37,630 --> 00:13:42,009
[Tôdô]
164
00:13:53,145 --> 00:13:54,188
[in Japanese]
165
00:14:01,696 --> 00:14:04,240
[woman in Japanese]
166
00:14:22,842 --> 00:14:25,594
[Miura]
167
00:15:14,435 --> 00:15:16,896
[Hitomi in Japanese]
168
00:15:17,855 --> 00:15:23,194
[Miura]
169
00:15:42,296 --> 00:15:44,006
[child]
170
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:51,555
[Miura]
171
00:16:24,088 --> 00:16:26,632
[in Japanese]
172
00:16:27,174 --> 00:16:29,677
[Miura]
173
00:16:57,079 --> 00:16:58,664
[in Japanese]
174
00:17:50,216 --> 00:17:52,551
[Garia in Japanese]
175
00:17:55,888 --> 00:17:59,517
[Kaneda]
176
00:18:38,681 --> 00:18:42,977
[in Japanese]
177
00:19:17,386 --> 00:19:19,388
[Kaneda]
178
00:19:35,404 --> 00:19:37,531
[Tôdô]
179
00:19:57,176 --> 00:19:58,719
[in Japanese]
180
00:20:03,808 --> 00:20:06,644
[Tôdô]
181
00:20:37,425 --> 00:20:40,678
[Pelc] We gave Spider-Man
a car called the GP-7.
182
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,142
Now GP... a lot of people
would've thought of Grand Prix,
183
00:20:46,225 --> 00:20:47,727
but here's the inside story.
184
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:51,105
[engine revs]
185
00:20:51,188 --> 00:20:55,443
After work we used to always
go out drinking together at night.
186
00:20:55,526 --> 00:20:57,445
And after a bunch of drinks,
187
00:20:57,528 --> 00:20:59,822
we're trying to think of a name
for the car.
188
00:20:59,905 --> 00:21:02,366
And I used to be a disc jockey
in New York City.
189
00:21:02,450 --> 00:21:07,079
I used to say, "GP, stay loose."
It was my closing line.
190
00:21:07,163 --> 00:21:09,123
So I said, "Why don't we use GP?"
191
00:21:09,206 --> 00:21:12,084
And then somebody,
I don't remember what, said,
192
00:21:12,168 --> 00:21:15,963
"We need a number,
and seven is a Japanese lucky number."
193
00:21:20,217 --> 00:21:22,928
[interviewer in English]
194
00:21:23,012 --> 00:21:24,847
I never got a real one so...
195
00:21:30,853 --> 00:21:37,360
[in Japanese]
196
00:21:38,277 --> 00:21:40,154
[Pelc] As far as
creating their own villains,
197
00:21:40,237 --> 00:21:45,284
they went back to some themes that come
from Japanese cultural mythology.
198
00:21:48,204 --> 00:21:52,249
A lot of Marvel comics comes
from Norse and Greek mythology.
199
00:21:52,333 --> 00:21:56,087
A lot of the Japanese stuff came
from Japanese history.
200
00:21:56,670 --> 00:21:59,840
So that would resonate more
with the Japanese audience.
201
00:22:00,466 --> 00:22:03,677
I said to Toei,
"I don't know much about Japan,
202
00:22:03,761 --> 00:22:06,931
but if you guys believe this is
gonna work, well, let's go with it."
203
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,727
So I left it in their hands, and there was
no decision to use a Green Goblin
204
00:22:11,811 --> 00:22:13,813
or a Doc Ock or somebody like that.
205
00:22:35,543 --> 00:22:36,377
[cawing]
206
00:23:00,192 --> 00:23:01,318
[screams]
207
00:23:02,820 --> 00:23:05,072
[Tôdô]
208
00:23:17,835 --> 00:23:22,465
[Pelc] Professor Monster really sounds bad
when you do Japanese to English,
209
00:23:22,548 --> 00:23:24,216
but in Japanese it sounds good
210
00:23:24,300 --> 00:23:27,511
'cause you combine a Japanese word
with a American word,
211
00:23:27,595 --> 00:23:29,180
and, at the time, that was cool.
212
00:23:29,263 --> 00:23:33,142
So "Munsta," Monster is "Munsta,"
killed you.
213
00:23:33,726 --> 00:23:35,144
It sounds cool to the kids.
214
00:23:35,227 --> 00:23:37,021
It doesn't matter what it is.
It sounds good.
215
00:23:40,566 --> 00:23:41,692
[Spider-Man grunts]
216
00:23:44,403 --> 00:23:47,323
[Pelc] Toei knew what turns on
the Japanese audiences.
217
00:23:47,406 --> 00:23:49,408
These guys have been making for years
218
00:23:49,492 --> 00:23:52,620
extremely popular stuff
that kids connect with.
219
00:23:53,454 --> 00:23:54,580
[beeping]
220
00:24:00,002 --> 00:24:03,005
[Pelc] The robot's not a character
that was a problem with Marvel.
221
00:24:03,089 --> 00:24:06,967
It doesn't really exist in America.
Plus, it's a cool looking thing.
222
00:24:20,815 --> 00:24:24,235
[Murakami]
223
00:25:28,758 --> 00:25:29,925
[grunts]
224
00:25:30,009 --> 00:25:33,804
[in Japanese]
225
00:25:33,888 --> 00:25:35,473
[tires squealing]
226
00:25:40,811 --> 00:25:43,522
[growling]
227
00:25:45,149 --> 00:25:48,486
[Tôdô]
228
00:26:02,083 --> 00:26:03,042
[yelps]
229
00:26:03,125 --> 00:26:05,252
[monster grunts]
230
00:26:07,088 --> 00:26:09,048
[Tôdô]
231
00:26:20,518 --> 00:26:25,314
[in Japanese]
232
00:26:26,482 --> 00:26:28,776
[voice yowls]
233
00:26:28,859 --> 00:26:30,569
[Pelc] Japanese shows were being made
234
00:26:30,653 --> 00:26:33,322
on what Americans would consider
a shoestring budget.
235
00:26:33,864 --> 00:26:38,786
And I remember a guy once said, "Gene,
we dream of what we can afford to do."
236
00:26:38,869 --> 00:26:41,205
And that I remember
made an impression on me.
237
00:26:41,288 --> 00:26:43,958
We dream what we can do.
238
00:26:44,542 --> 00:26:47,878
[growling]
239
00:26:47,962 --> 00:26:50,256
The limited budget was the king.
240
00:26:50,339 --> 00:26:53,008
If you stepped beyond the budget,
you were going to kill your future.
241
00:26:53,092 --> 00:26:54,093
[in Japanese]
242
00:26:54,176 --> 00:26:57,596
[Pelc] You had to stay within a tight
budget, so you did the best you could.
243
00:26:58,472 --> 00:27:00,182
You had to save money everywhere.
244
00:27:03,018 --> 00:27:04,353
[speaking Japanese]
245
00:27:04,812 --> 00:27:09,400
[Pelc] You'd always reuse scenes.
Again, a budgetary thing, but it worked.
246
00:27:12,236 --> 00:27:15,531
[monsters screaming, groaning]
247
00:27:21,495 --> 00:27:23,456
-[growls]
-[gasps]
248
00:27:25,458 --> 00:27:31,589
[Kaneda]
249
00:27:46,896 --> 00:27:52,568
[Koga]
250
00:27:58,949 --> 00:28:01,952
[Pelc] For the opening,
we decided to do a big stunt.
251
00:28:02,036 --> 00:28:05,581
We spent some money to shoot
in the heart of Tokyo,
252
00:28:05,664 --> 00:28:07,124
at the Tokyo Tower.
253
00:28:07,625 --> 00:28:09,877
[Koga]
254
00:28:40,116 --> 00:28:43,327
I remember standing there with
all the people watching him and saying,
255
00:28:43,411 --> 00:28:44,829
"Don't fall. Don't fall."
256
00:28:46,122 --> 00:28:48,082
He climbed that thing by himself.
257
00:28:49,333 --> 00:28:53,045
[man singing in Japanese]
258
00:29:21,991 --> 00:29:25,494
[creature] Hmm? Spider-Man!
259
00:29:25,578 --> 00:29:28,831
[Kaneda]
260
00:29:52,980 --> 00:29:56,525
[Pelc] A lot of these guys
were Olympic level athletes in my mind.
261
00:29:56,609 --> 00:30:00,029
And, you know, don't want to call them
stuntmen, I'd rather call them athletes.
262
00:30:01,072 --> 00:30:05,701
[Kaneda]
263
00:30:39,527 --> 00:30:44,657
[Koga]
264
00:31:05,261 --> 00:31:08,013
[tires squealing]
265
00:31:51,348 --> 00:31:52,558
[in Japanese]
266
00:31:56,854 --> 00:31:58,064
[grunts]
267
00:32:19,168 --> 00:32:20,252
[grunts]
268
00:32:28,052 --> 00:32:29,845
[gasping]
269
00:32:33,099 --> 00:32:35,601
Most of the people
were not getting paid a lot of money,
270
00:32:35,684 --> 00:32:37,478
but they were happy to be in the shows.
271
00:32:37,561 --> 00:32:40,147
So they were taking it
very, very seriously.
272
00:32:41,023 --> 00:32:46,362
On set, it was very much business-like,
very unlike an American set. No joking.
273
00:32:47,405 --> 00:32:51,033
Now in Japan, taking liberties
is not considered good.
274
00:32:51,617 --> 00:32:55,037
"This is what we told you to do, this is
what you're getting paid to do. Do it."
275
00:32:55,121 --> 00:32:58,541
So it's really the producer and director
who decide what you're gonna do,
276
00:32:58,624 --> 00:33:02,211
and I know that sounds,
to an American, rather cold,
277
00:33:02,795 --> 00:33:04,547
but this is the other side of the world.
278
00:33:04,630 --> 00:33:06,632
[laughing]
279
00:33:07,633 --> 00:33:10,678
We're producing film in Japan
for the Japanese,
280
00:33:10,761 --> 00:33:12,888
so you want something that works for them.
281
00:33:13,264 --> 00:33:17,727
To me, it looks a little overplayed
as a lot of Japanese actors tend to do,
282
00:33:17,810 --> 00:33:19,729
-but that works here in Japan.
-[laughing]
283
00:33:19,812 --> 00:33:23,024
And we have to realize
that there are many paths to the same end.
284
00:33:24,650 --> 00:33:26,902
[Pelc] What they do in one culture
and what's done in another culture,
285
00:33:26,986 --> 00:33:27,987
you can't compare them.
286
00:33:28,988 --> 00:33:30,156
[grunts]
287
00:34:27,463 --> 00:34:30,716
[Tôdô]
288
00:34:41,060 --> 00:34:45,439
[Pelc] Marvel trusted us and they really
didn't communicate very much with us.
289
00:34:45,523 --> 00:34:49,151
As long as the checks were coming in
and people were happy with me,
290
00:34:49,235 --> 00:34:50,319
everything was fine.
291
00:34:50,403 --> 00:34:53,155
Whatever we wanted to do,
they said, "If it works,
292
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:57,159
and it's popular and getting the ratings,
what more do you need? Go for it."
293
00:34:59,620 --> 00:35:03,791
[Koga]
294
00:35:42,371 --> 00:35:43,414
[barking]
295
00:35:57,595 --> 00:35:58,846
[groans]
296
00:35:58,929 --> 00:36:01,474
A lot of times we had a lot of explosions
297
00:36:01,557 --> 00:36:04,602
because explosions are exciting
for kids and on TV.
298
00:36:04,685 --> 00:36:06,979
[man singing in Japanese]
299
00:36:07,063 --> 00:36:10,608
But because we had too much trouble
with the police and the fire department,
300
00:36:10,691 --> 00:36:13,319
we used to have to take the crews
way out in the woods
301
00:36:13,402 --> 00:36:16,989
and explode everything out there,
where there'd be no danger to anything.
302
00:36:19,784 --> 00:36:21,035
[creature grunting]
303
00:37:09,750 --> 00:37:11,836
[Pelc] Marvel wanted to see
what we were shooting.
304
00:37:12,378 --> 00:37:13,754
So we cut a pilot.
305
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:16,173
We had the first one ready.
306
00:37:16,257 --> 00:37:18,676
So Marvel flew a bunch of people out here,
307
00:37:19,051 --> 00:37:23,264
Stan Lee, a bunch of other people
who were from corporate.
308
00:37:24,348 --> 00:37:27,810
So I remember sitting in the screening
room, and here's all the corporate guys.
309
00:37:27,893 --> 00:37:30,438
They're sitting there,
the corporate people plus Stan.
310
00:37:31,272 --> 00:37:35,526
I'm nervous as hell because if these guys
don't like it, I'm out of work.
311
00:37:44,285 --> 00:37:46,954
The thing comes on. We watch it.
312
00:37:49,832 --> 00:37:51,917
[creature growling]
313
00:37:52,001 --> 00:37:53,961
[whimpering]
314
00:37:57,965 --> 00:37:59,675
[Spider-Man grunting]
315
00:38:04,430 --> 00:38:05,598
[Pelc] It ends,
316
00:38:06,098 --> 00:38:08,434
and all the people
don't have a word to say.
317
00:38:14,940 --> 00:38:17,109
And the corporate people look at me
and they say,
318
00:38:17,193 --> 00:38:19,820
"Gene, you've been in Japan too long.
319
00:38:19,904 --> 00:38:22,031
Nobody's gonna want this.
What the heck is this?
320
00:38:22,114 --> 00:38:24,533
This is not Spider-Man.
This is crazy stuff."
321
00:38:25,576 --> 00:38:29,872
When the executives
all start dissing this thing
322
00:38:29,955 --> 00:38:32,291
because it's so silly-looking to them,
323
00:38:32,375 --> 00:38:36,212
I'm scared
because I'm about to lose years of work.
324
00:38:38,005 --> 00:38:41,509
And then, suddenly,
Stan Lee stood up applauding.
325
00:38:41,592 --> 00:38:45,679
And he said, "This is great.
This is a living comic book."
326
00:38:45,763 --> 00:38:48,557
He said,
"Adults will love it because it's camp.
327
00:38:48,641 --> 00:38:51,143
Kids will love it
'cause the action's fantastic.
328
00:38:51,227 --> 00:38:54,063
If this is what the audience wants,
let's give it to 'em."
329
00:38:54,730 --> 00:38:58,526
And at that point the executives looked at
me and said, "Gene, what a great idea."
330
00:39:00,861 --> 00:39:03,364
Stan has always had my back,
but at this time,
331
00:39:03,447 --> 00:39:07,034
when he saw what we actually produced
and stood up and started clapping,
332
00:39:07,118 --> 00:39:08,452
I felt so good.
333
00:39:08,953 --> 00:39:11,789
I said, "Hey look, the king
of comics is looking at what I've done
334
00:39:11,872 --> 00:39:15,501
to his favorite character
and his work, and he likes it."
335
00:39:16,627 --> 00:39:18,170
And the rest is history.
336
00:39:22,299 --> 00:39:27,304
[interviewer in Japanese]
337
00:39:41,402 --> 00:39:43,029
[Pelc] Everybody loved what we did.
338
00:39:43,654 --> 00:39:47,158
The merchandise,
the toys, were selling like mad.
339
00:39:48,075 --> 00:39:49,660
So that made everybody happy.
340
00:39:50,161 --> 00:39:53,664
The toys are selling, the ratings
are good, the money's coming in.
341
00:39:53,748 --> 00:39:55,207
What more do you need?
342
00:39:56,208 --> 00:40:01,005
[Murakami]
343
00:40:12,266 --> 00:40:13,267
[pulsing]
344
00:40:13,350 --> 00:40:17,104
[Miura]
345
00:40:27,907 --> 00:40:30,159
-[screaming]
-[creature growling]
346
00:40:30,242 --> 00:40:32,828
[Tôdô]
347
00:40:46,801 --> 00:40:48,344
[grunting]
348
00:40:56,769 --> 00:40:58,854
[all in Japanese]
349
00:40:59,730 --> 00:41:01,273
[Tôdô]
350
00:41:14,036 --> 00:41:15,037
[cheering]
351
00:41:15,871 --> 00:41:18,999
[Tôdô]
352
00:41:23,713 --> 00:41:26,090
[Spider-Man]
353
00:41:30,177 --> 00:41:32,930
[Tôdô]
354
00:41:43,232 --> 00:41:46,402
[Tôdô]
355
00:41:48,029 --> 00:41:50,031
[Spider-Man]
356
00:42:01,333 --> 00:42:03,252
[Tôdô]
357
00:42:21,228 --> 00:42:26,359
[Pelc] Spider-Man was such a popular show
that all these similar shows were created.
358
00:42:27,735 --> 00:42:32,156
In Japan, that type of TV show
became the main style for kids' shows.
359
00:42:33,032 --> 00:42:37,536
[Miura]
360
00:42:42,333 --> 00:42:46,504
[Pelc] The Sentai series, which are these
Japanese live-action superhero stuff,
361
00:42:46,587 --> 00:42:48,172
did not have robots at the time.
362
00:42:49,131 --> 00:42:52,968
The Spider-Man robot
was such a big hit and a big seller
363
00:42:53,052 --> 00:42:56,180
that for the next season they said,
"Hey, we gotta have a robot."
364
00:42:57,890 --> 00:43:01,060
Then Stan said, "You know, those
robots are great characters.
365
00:43:01,143 --> 00:43:04,563
Why don't we do something
with the robots for the American comics?"
366
00:43:04,647 --> 00:43:07,400
I said, "Well why don't we do a story
with just all robots?"
367
00:43:08,567 --> 00:43:10,695
So Stan helped me write the stories.
368
00:43:11,737 --> 00:43:14,573
We did a comic book
called Shogun Warriors.
369
00:43:15,741 --> 00:43:17,868
And one of the robots
that later got pulled out of it
370
00:43:17,952 --> 00:43:19,787
was called The Transformers.
371
00:43:20,413 --> 00:43:23,624
And The Transformers, as you know,
became a big hit after that.
372
00:43:24,375 --> 00:43:26,085
And frankly speaking,
373
00:43:26,168 --> 00:43:29,880
to me, Japanese Spider-Man
started the Power Rangers.
374
00:43:30,923 --> 00:43:33,718
I'm proud of all the shows
and all these superheroes,
375
00:43:33,801 --> 00:43:36,512
because nobody else
had ever done this before.
376
00:43:38,639 --> 00:43:42,560
By the end of the shoot,
the crew's connection was really amazing.
377
00:44:10,671 --> 00:44:12,673
[Miura]
378
00:44:24,393 --> 00:44:26,729
[Murakami]
379
00:44:38,491 --> 00:44:41,077
[Pelc] If you enjoy what you're doing,
it's not work.
380
00:44:42,620 --> 00:44:44,580
It's pleasure,
and that's the way to live your life,
381
00:44:44,663 --> 00:44:48,876
and I enjoyed what I did
with Stan and his wife, Joanie,
382
00:44:49,543 --> 00:44:53,130
who once told him,
"Write what you want to write,
383
00:44:53,214 --> 00:44:55,549
and if your heart is in it,
people will go for it,"
384
00:44:55,633 --> 00:44:57,343
and that happened with me.
385
00:44:57,426 --> 00:45:00,971
My wife said, "Gene, if you really feel
you can make a success of it,"
386
00:45:01,055 --> 00:45:02,890
she said, "I'm with you. Go for it."
387
00:45:03,599 --> 00:45:06,143
And it worked,
and I'm forever grateful for that.
388
00:45:07,144 --> 00:45:11,023
We recently celebrated
our 50th plus anniversary
389
00:45:11,107 --> 00:45:13,025
on the road to forever together.
390
00:45:14,318 --> 00:45:16,862
That came from Spider-Man. Thank you.
391
00:45:18,322 --> 00:45:20,282
[Tôdô]
392
00:46:16,172 --> 00:46:18,424
[Tôdô]
393
00:47:29,078 --> 00:47:31,622
Spider-Man! Spider-Man.
394
00:47:32,832 --> 00:47:36,877
Ah. My son. How are you?
395
00:47:36,961 --> 00:47:39,547
Wow, it's great. Look at that.
396
00:47:39,630 --> 00:47:41,841
Now, you ought to go like that too.
397
00:47:44,301 --> 00:47:45,428
Oh, that's great.
398
00:47:46,429 --> 00:47:47,680
Wait. Here we go.
399
00:47:51,726 --> 00:47:54,854
-Thank you very much. It's great.
-Thank you.
400
00:47:54,937 --> 00:47:57,106
I enjoyed it very much.
401
00:47:57,773 --> 00:48:04,530
Well, I liked the way they did it
in a Japanese style.
402
00:48:04,613 --> 00:48:08,534
It wasn't really like
the American version.
403
00:48:08,617 --> 00:48:13,372
It had its own flavor.
And even the way he walked.
404
00:48:13,456 --> 00:48:17,418
And the characters that they had,
that they created,
405
00:48:17,501 --> 00:48:21,213
which were different
than our own characters,
406
00:48:21,297 --> 00:48:24,258
were very colorful and very interesting.
407
00:48:24,341 --> 00:48:27,678
I was very impressed with the action
408
00:48:27,762 --> 00:48:31,557
because none of them were done
by computer graphics,
409
00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:38,522
but whatever you saw on the screen
was really being done by human beings.
410
00:48:38,606 --> 00:48:42,109
And when Spider-Man
was climbing that building,
411
00:48:42,193 --> 00:48:46,197
I thought it was wonderful the way
they had him going up the wall.
412
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:50,868
It was so different than the way
we do them in the United States
413
00:48:50,951 --> 00:48:56,957
that it was fun 'cause I was looking at a
totally different style and a good style.