EDITOR’S NOTE: Gappa, The Triphibian Monster was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, February 24, 1968 at 1:00 a.m., Saturday, March 15, 1969 at 11:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 25, 1970 at 1:00 a.m. It played as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet.

Gappa: The Triphibian Monster, initially released in the U.S. as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, is essentially Gorgo with monsters drawn from Japanese legend. That’s totally fine with me, because this movie is absolutely gorgeous.

Remarkably, this was the only giant monster movie the Nikkatsu studio produced. After this, it’s all Roman Porno and pinky violence.

An expedition from Tokyo heads to Obelisk Island — you know, just like Skull Island — where the president of Playmate Magazine, Mr. Funazu, wants to make a resort. The natives welcome them warmly until the forbidden zone is breached and the expedition takes a gappa egg with them. They plead that the egg’s parents will do anything to get it, and you know how humans act in Japanese kaiju films. That means that before you know it, we have two giant bird/turtle/lizard monsters going wild all over Japan to get their baby back.

This is a movie that could never be made today, because all of the natives of Obelisk Island are basically Japanese actors in blackface. Plus, the actions of the civilized people can additionally cause the Gappas to ignite the volcano and destroy every single villager except Sa, killing the men painted brown.

Speaking of racism, there was an urban legend that Nikkatsu’s international English translation had the line, “The monsters are attacking Tokyo. Fortunately, they are attacking the Negro section of town.” This is not true.

Akira Watanabe left Toho to work on the special effects for this movie. He’s known for finishing the designs of Baragon and King Ghidorah. There must not have been any bad blood, because he returned to serve as the art director for movies like King Kong Escapes, Son of Godzilla, and Prophecies of Nostradamus.