Back in the States, my DVD collection included GI Joe: The Movie, Robotech, and some Godzilla movies. I saw nothing wrong with still enjoying crap from my childhood, so when I came here, I was curious what kind of crap Koreans my age grew up with. Aside from a few comments from my girlfriend (”All children love ALF,” “Oh…the SMURF!”) I had no idea what Koreans my age grew up with….that was until I picked up three craptacular giant robot DVDs in a subway station for 10,000원 (less than $10US).
So it’s the lunar new year vacation now, with my girlfriend, friends, classmates, teachers, and co-workers out of town, I’ve been left to my own devices, which means it’s time for alcohol and early 1980’s Korean animation! Let’s party!
썬더-A (Thunder-A)
I mentioned this briefly in a post yesterday, here’s what I recall from that movie. Basically the entire thing was a crappy Gundam rip-off (read as, “there was a giant red, blue, and white robot that kicked some ass).
Additionally you could tell this movie was apeing 1970’s Japanese animation by the fact that there was some completely pointless fat kid sidekick who did nothing to further the storyline aside from eating peanuts.
The best things about this cartoon were the fact that 썬더-A destroyed one enemy spaceship by giving it a 똥침 (the Korean “game” where someone rams their fingers up anothers anus), and some kid tried to do taekwondo on a robot and continued to do so even though he injured himself each time he hit the robot. Additionally this cartoon feature what would have to be the screamingest protagonist I have ever witnessed in a movie. He was all like, “가자!!!!!!!!!!!!! (LET’S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)” Totally awesome!
지구호 (Jiguho)
This film technically did not feature a giant robot. What it did have was a Captain Harlock type flying space pirate ship. Additionally this awesome film included a viking helmet clad enemy who had cancerous Cobra Commander looking minions.
Like 썬더-A before it, this film featured some pointless sidekicks. This time instead of a doofy looking kid we were treated to a teddy bear who came to life and a stupid looking robot (not giant) who I am pretty sure was named, Kunta Kinte. And if that isn’t enough, the kids in this story lived on a planet shaped like a walnut.
건담 V (Gundam V)
Well this movie might have been called Gundam, the actually robot was a total ripoff of the robot from Macross (better known to American children of the 80’s as Robotech). I mean the robot even had the same logo on it. Anyhow I didn’t really care for this movie. Aside from the fact that it was longer than the others, and the DVD was kind of choppy at the end, it featured two really disturbing things. First off there was a fat kid who got pantsed by a bulldog. Secondly, and more disturbingly, there was a scene in which a kindergarten aged girl was clad in a bikini, and for whatever reason had cleavage. Dudes…what the shit?!
Anyway I learned a couple things during this film festival. The first is that if I want to be a 박사님 (博士 / professor) of space or robotics in the future in Korea, I’d best get working on my mustache and sideburns….and buy some brown suits. The second thing I learned is that if I ever want to watch the history of 서태지 (Seo Taiji) on Korea’s answer to MTV again, all I have to do is watch an 80’s Korean robot DVD (each time a film ended, the Seo Taiji special was starting on TV). Anyhow I think I’m drunk so I think I’m going to get my nap on.
