01x01 - Japanese Spider-Man

[bunniefuu]

[skids]

[man] In the '70s, everybody wanted
something new and exciting,

and this was it.

[in Japanese]

[man] We made Japanese Spider-Man,

and it is totally different
from the original Spider-Man.

[screams]

[monster shouts in Japanese]

[man] There's no Aunt May.
There's no Peter Parker.

There's a robot.

[grunts]

There's cars.

There's people jumping and flying around
and battering the hell out of each other.

And it had very little to do
with the actual Spider-Man.

I remember Marvel saying,
"We don't let this out of Japan.

Just limit everything to Japan only."

For the next 30 years,

you never heard of or even saw
the Japanese Spider-Man in America.

This is the real story
of Japanese Spider-Man.

[screams]

There were three people,
brought me to Japan.

A woman, Stan Lee and Spider-Man.

The woman was my wife. She was from Japan.

I met her in school in America,

and in the '70s,
I used to take trips over to Japan.

Now, when I was in Japan,

I used to see a tremendous number
of Japanese comics.

Everywhere I went, there was
what they call "manga," Japanese comics,

and everybody was reading them.

I remember looking around,
and I saw no American comics,

and I started wondering why.

And I was an old comic books buff.

I liked the Marvel stuff.

Stan Lee was a hero of mine.

So I called up Marvel, and I said,

"Hey look, you guys have your comics
all over the world and all over America,

but the biggest comic book country
in the world is Japan,

and you guys have nothing out there."

They said, "Well, we used
to ship a bunch of comics over,

and somehow half of them would come back.
They would never sell."

I said, "Hey, I tell you what.
You want a chance to make some big money?

I think that there's an audience here
that would go for you guys

if it was presented properly.

Give me a chance. I'll go over there,
and I'll figure out what's wrong,

and I'll come back to you with a deal."

Luckily, Stan Lee agreed with me.

I came to Japan as a publisher.

Every publisher in town knew that,
"Hey, there's this funny gaijin..."

Gaijin is an outsider in Japanese...

"running around with Marvel comic rights.
Maybe we should talk to him."

And I figured out why American comics
were failing here in Japan.

An American comic book
is meant to be read.

A Japanese comic is meant to be looked at.

An American comic
is like an illustrated book.

You have to read three or four
word balloons in every picture.

You look at a Japanese manga
and they have action in it.

You can feel the action like a storyboard.

The Japanese manga audience
simply wanted to be entertained

in the way that
they wanted to be entertained.

[shouts]

[Pelc] While I was sitting here in Japan,
I'd brought my young son with me,

and he and a lot of his friends
watched these shows on Japanese TV,

things like Kamen Rider,

and kids loved it, even though they
didn't understand what was being said.

They loved the action.
They loved the music.

There was a driving force behind them.

And one of the companies
behind those shows was named Toei.

Toei was one of the big powerhouse studios
here in Japan at the time.

So I made a call, and I was lucky enough
to get an interview with the president.

His name was Watanabe.

I said, "Look, you guys got all the shows
and all these superheroes,

and I represent Marvel."

Mr. Watanabe was known as
the king of the Ginza at the time,

which meant that after work every night
you went out to bars together.

It was the way of doing business
at the time.

That's where you made your contracts
in Japan.

You didn't make them
with a lawyer on paper.

You made them over drinks and a handshake,
which you can never tear up.

You can't tear up a handshake.

And I sat down, and I negotiated a deal

in which Marvel would be able to pick up
all the Toei superheroes

and Toei could pick up
all the Marvel superheroes.

We made a deal.

I sent the contract to Marvel.
Marvel accepted it.

They said, "Okay, run with it."
So I said to Toei, "Okay, we got a deal."

Stan Lee was the guiding genius
in comic books,

and he had the sense of what people liked
and what they didn't like.

So Stan needed to like what he saw.

The first show that was produced
by Toei was Spider-Man

'cause that was Marvel's
bread-and-butter character.

Mr. Watanabe said,
"What do you think of Spider-Man?

What do you think of it, Gene?"
I said, "I think it's great."

And he said, "Okay, I believe in it.
I think this is good.

I've got my best people working on it."

We were approved for almost 50 episodes.

Marvel just considered Japan
a territory in and unto itself.

I remember Marvel saying to Toei,
"Just limit the territory to Japan.

We don't let this out of Japan."
And then they said, "Go for it."

Nobody's gonna care over here in America
'cause they're not gonna see it.

As long as it works and we make money,
that's fine.

That was the key.

Frankly speaking, these superhero shows
that were being made by Toei

were commercials to sell toys.

The sponsors were all toy companies,

and they all were making
these fantastic metal toys.

Robots and cars and stuff that
were incredibly intricate, beautiful toys.

Basically, we needed toys
to fund this entire project.

So we started sitting
and looking at the plots

of the American Spider-Man and said,
"We don't have any of this stuff."

So I said, "Let's put 'em in.
We need a robot."

[man 2 in Japanese]

[interviewer in Japanese]

[Pelc] So we put in a robot
called Marveller,

and Popy became the sponsor of the show,

and we were on the way.

There was a few things
that I insisted upon.

Because of copyright, the costume had
to be perfectly Spider-Man, which it was.

And he had to have Spider-Man action.

sh**t webs, which he did,
crawl on walls, crawl on ceilings.

So all of the action and powers
that Peter Parker had

when he became Spider-Man,

we incorporated that
into the Japanese Spider-Man.

[narrator] Spider-Man.

[in Japanese]

[Pelc] When it came to picking
the actors and actresses,

that was left in Toei's hands.

They said "Look it, I have my people
that are popular.

I know who's gonna work.
I know who's not gonna work."

[man 3 in Japanese]

[voice in Japanese]

[Tôdô]

[narrator] ...the amazing Spider-Man.

[narrator] The most popular, most daring,
most exciting superhero

in the entire world.

[in Japanese]

[Pelc] Stan Lee felt that
the American Spider-Man movie

was not connecting with the audience.

It wasn't as good as it should have been.

Although it wasn't as bad
as it could have been.

Well, I won't ask
if you had anything to do with it.

Well, I was supposedly the consultant,

but they really didn't listen to me
that much.

The one thing I don't want to happen,
I don't want the shows to be pedestrian.

These characters are too important to us,
and I think the future ones...

Well, the beginning ones weren't bad.

I think the future ones
will be much better.

[Pelc] So we knew that we had
to do a good job, and if we don't do that,

I'm out of work and all the money and time
that I put in to coming to Japan,

and gave up my job,
and I've lost my house,

I've lost my business,
if this goes to hell.

[voice]

[gasps]

[voice]

[growling]

[Tôdô]

[screams]

[Tôdô]

[screams]

[gasps]

[Tôdô]

[groans]

[in Japanese]

[Tôdô]

[in Japanese]

[woman in Japanese]

[Miura]

[Hitomi in Japanese]

[Miura]

[child]

[Miura]

[in Japanese]

[Miura]

[in Japanese]

[Garia in Japanese]

[Kaneda]

[in Japanese]

[Kaneda]

[Tôdô]

[in Japanese]

[Tôdô]

[Pelc] We gave Spider-Man
a car called the GP-7.

Now GP... a lot of people
would've thought of Grand Prix,

but here's the inside story.

[engine revs]

After work we used to always
go out drinking together at night.

And after a bunch of drinks,

we're trying to think of a name
for the car.

And I used to be a disc jockey
in New York City.

I used to say, "GP, stay loose."
It was my closing line.

So I said, "Why don't we use GP?"

And then somebody,
I don't remember what, said,

"We need a number,
and seven is a Japanese lucky number."

[interviewer in English]

I never got a real one so...

[in Japanese]

[Pelc] As far as
creating their own villains,

they went back to some themes that come
from Japanese cultural mythology.

A lot of Marvel comics comes
from Norse and Greek mythology.

A lot of the Japanese stuff came
from Japanese history.

So that would resonate more
with the Japanese audience.

I said to Toei,
"I don't know much about Japan,

but if you guys believe this is
gonna work, well, let's go with it."

So I left it in their hands, and there was
no decision to use a Green Goblin

or a Doc Ock or somebody like that.

[cawing]

[screams]

[Tôdô]

[Pelc] Professor Monster really sounds bad
when you do Japanese to English,

but in Japanese it sounds good

'cause you combine a Japanese word
with a American word,

and, at the time, that was cool.

So "Munsta," Monster is "Munsta,"
k*lled you.

It sounds cool to the kids.

It doesn't matter what it is.
It sounds good.

[Spider-Man grunts]

[Pelc] Toei knew what turns on
the Japanese audiences.

These guys have been making for years

extremely popular stuff
that kids connect with.

[beeping]

[Pelc] The robot's not a character
that was a problem with Marvel.

It doesn't really exist in America.
Plus, it's a cool looking thing.

[Murakami]

[grunts]

[in Japanese]

[tires squealing]

[growling]

[Tôdô]

[yelps]

[monster grunts]

[Tôdô]

[in Japanese]

[voice yowls]

[Pelc] Japanese shows were being made

on what Americans would consider
a shoestring budget.

And I remember a guy once said, "Gene,
we dream of what we can afford to do."

And that I remember
made an impression on me.

We dream what we can do.

[growling]

The limited budget was the king.

If you stepped beyond the budget,
you were going to k*ll your future.

[in Japanese]

[Pelc] You had to stay within a tight
budget, so you did the best you could.

You had to save money everywhere.

[speaking Japanese]

[Pelc] You'd always reuse scenes.
Again, a budgetary thing, but it worked.

[monsters screaming, groaning]

- [growls]
- [gasps]

[Kaneda]

[Koga]

[Pelc] For the opening,
we decided to do a big stunt.

We spent some money to sh**t
in the heart of Tokyo,

at the Tokyo Tower.

[Koga]

I remember standing there with
all the people watching him and saying,

"Don't fall. Don't fall."

He climbed that thing by himself.

[man singing in Japanese]

[creature] Hmm? Spider-Man!

[Kaneda]

[Pelc] A lot of these guys
were Olympic level athletes in my mind.

And, you know, don't want to call them
stuntmen, I'd rather call them athletes.

[Kaneda]

[Koga]

[tires squealing]

[in Japanese]

[grunts]

[grunts]

[gasping]

Most of the people
were not getting paid a lot of money,

but they were happy to be in the shows.

So they were taking it
very, very seriously.

On set, it was very much business-like,
very unlike an American set. No joking.

Now in Japan, taking liberties
is not considered good.

"This is what we told you to do, this is
what you're getting paid to do. Do it."

So it's really the producer and director
who decide what you're gonna do,

and I know that sounds,
to an American, rather cold,

but this is the other side of the world.

[laughing]

We're producing film in Japan
for the Japanese,

so you want something that works for them.

To me, it looks a little overplayed
as a lot of Japanese actors tend to do,

- but that works here in Japan.
- [laughing]

And we have to realize
that there are many paths to the same end.

[Pelc] What they do in one culture
and what's done in another culture,

you can't compare them.

[grunts]

[Tôdô]

[Pelc] Marvel trusted us and they really
didn't communicate very much with us.

As long as the checks were coming in
and people were happy with me,

everything was fine.

Whatever we wanted to do,
they said, "If it works,

and it's popular and getting the ratings,
what more do you need? Go for it."

[Koga]

[barking]

[groans]

A lot of times we had a lot of explosions

because explosions are exciting
for kids and on TV.

[man singing in Japanese]

But because we had too much trouble
with the police and the fire department,

we used to have to take the crews
way out in the woods

and explode everything out there,
where there'd be no danger to anything.

[creature grunting]

[Pelc] Marvel wanted to see
what we were sh**ting.

So we cut a pilot.

We had the first one ready.

So Marvel flew a bunch of people out here,

Stan Lee, a bunch of other people
who were from corporate.

So I remember sitting in the screening
room, and here's all the corporate guys.

They're sitting there,
the corporate people plus Stan.

I'm nervous as hell because if these guys
don't like it, I'm out of work.

The thing comes on. We watch it.

[creature growling]

[whimpering]

[Spider-Man grunting]

[Pelc] It ends,

and all the people
don't have a word to say.

And the corporate people look at me
and they say,

"Gene, you've been in Japan too long.

Nobody's gonna want this.
What the heck is this?

This is not Spider-Man.
This is crazy stuff."

When the executives
all start dissing this thing

because it's so silly-looking to them,

I'm scared
because I'm about to lose years of work.

And then, suddenly,
Stan Lee stood up applauding.

And he said, "This is great.
This is a living comic book."

He said,
"Adults will love it because it's camp.

Kids will love it
'cause the action's fantastic.

If this is what the audience wants,
let's give it to 'em."

And at that point the executives looked at
me and said, "Gene, what a great idea."

Stan has always had my back,
but at this time,

when he saw what we actually produced
and stood up and started clapping,

I felt so good.

I said, "Hey look, the king
of comics is looking at what I've done

to his favorite character
and his work, and he likes it."

And the rest is history.

[interviewer in Japanese]

[Pelc] Everybody loved what we did.

The merchandise,
the toys, were selling like mad.

So that made everybody happy.

The toys are selling, the ratings
are good, the money's coming in.

What more do you need?

[Murakami]

[pulsing]

[Miura]

- [screaming]
- [creature growling]

[Tôdô]

[grunting]

[all in Japanese]

[Tôdô]

[cheering]

[Tôdô]

[Spider-Man]

[Tôdô]

[Tôdô]

[Spider-Man]

[Tôdô]

[Pelc] Spider-Man was such a popular show
that all these similar shows were created.

In Japan, that type of TV show
became the main style for kids' shows.

[Miura]

[Pelc] The Sentai series, which are these
Japanese live-action superhero stuff,

did not have robots at the time.

The Spider-Man robot
was such a big hit and a big seller

that for the next season they said,
"Hey, we gotta have a robot."

Then Stan said, "You know, those
robots are great characters.

Why don't we do something
with the robots for the American comics?"

I said, "Well why don't we do a story
with just all robots?"

So Stan helped me write the stories.

We did a comic book
called Shogun Warriors.

And one of the robots
that later got pulled out of it

was called The Transformers.

And The Transformers, as you know,
became a big hit after that.

And frankly speaking,

to me, Japanese Spider-Man
started the Power Rangers.

I'm proud of all the shows
and all these superheroes,

because nobody else
had ever done this before.

By the end of the sh**t,
the crew's connection was really amazing.

[Miura]

[Murakami]

[Pelc] If you enjoy what you're doing,
it's not work.

It's pleasure,
and that's the way to live your life,

and I enjoyed what I did
with Stan and his wife, Joanie,

who once told him,
"Write what you want to write,

and if your heart is in it,
people will go for it,"

and that happened with me.

My wife said, "Gene, if you really feel
you can make a success of it,"

she said, "I'm with you. Go for it."

And it worked,
and I'm forever grateful for that.

We recently celebrated
our 50th plus anniversary

on the road to forever together.

That came from Spider-Man. Thank you.

[Tôdô]

[Tôdô]

Spider-Man! Spider-Man.

Ah. My son. How are you?

Wow, it's great. Look at that.

Now, you ought to go like that too.

Oh, that's great.

Wait. Here we go.

- Thank you very much. It's great.
- Thank you.

I enjoyed it very much.

Well, I liked the way they did it
in a Japanese style.

It wasn't really like
the American version.

It had its own flavor.
And even the way he walked.

And the characters that they had,
that they created,

which were different
than our own characters,

were very colorful and very interesting.

I was very impressed with the action

because none of them were done
by computer graphics,

but whatever you saw on the screen
was really being done by human beings.

And when Spider-Man
was climbing that building,

I thought it was wonderful the way
they had him going up the wall.

It was so different than the way
we do them in the United States

that it was fun 'cause I was looking at a
totally different style and a good style.