Don’t worry, I’ve reduced “Kenny”‘s* presence in the plot as much as possible – i.e. to only this one, single panel.
Personally, I’ve never been as bothered by Kennies as most other people, but I’ll bow to the consensus opinion. In this case, that is – I’m not planning to make a habit of that.
That one panel was absolutely obligatory, though. When a kaiju (whether mechanical or organic) is down and out on the ocean floor, the only thing that can trigger a miraculous recovery is a Kenny making some statement of innocent and unlimited trust. I mean, the statement is the important thing – theoretically, it wouldn’t matter who delivers it…but it takes a heaping spoonful of childish innocence and blue-eyedness to put unlimited trust into a giant monster/robo currently residing on the floor of the ocean after a crushing defeat. Especially when it looks as…well, dorky…as 8-Dork-8, who doesn’t inspire a lot of trust when he’s up and about, let alone down and out
So, for practical reasons, you couldn’t get anyone but a Kenny to deliver this kind of remark with any kind of authenticity – people who are older than about eight years…or smarter than a bag full of rubber* dicks…just can’t pull this sort of line off.
More on Monday.
* As per the MST3K definition. And that’s pretty much the most authoritative source on B-movies there is, I guess.
** Soft rubber, not the harder variety.
You could probably substitute one of those hardcore cosplaying otakus; the ones that will complain if a translation is not 100% word-for-word the same as the original but still complain that the original meaning is lost precisely because it’s a word-for-word translation.
They’d be able to deliver the line at the same level, though admittedly not the same quality as the heavy breathing from combined obesity/nasal allergies/asthma and constant snacking would dampen the impact if you don’t cut away quickly enough. But much like frogs that imitate poison tree frogs to deter predators, the performance would be juuuuuust convincing enough to work.
I always thought it was convenient that the injuries sustained were severe enough to cause incapacitation but left either no open wounds that the surrounding water would proceed to worsen or no signs of any harm at all. Of course, now I know that’s just budget/lacking special effects so that the same model/suit can be used without any need for patching or touchups when the kaiju raises back up. As long as the audience sees the attack that fell the kaiju, that’s all it takes.
Okay, I guess that would have been a potential alternative. XD But the thought really didn’t occur to me…and, at the end of the day, there’s no guarantee it would have been any more popular than using a much-maligned, but traditional Kenny for the part. XD
Yeah, Gamera and some other Kaiju were shown bleeding at times…even spraying fake blood around with considerable force and volume – but never during the underwater sequences, likely to avoid obstructing the visibility. Which was, from a Western perspective, one of the cardinal mistakes of classic kaiju movies – the severely constrained nature of their SFX would have been far less noticeable if they had used more badly-lit or mist-shrouded settings, as Western monster movies have done since time immemorial. But kaiju movies proudly put those rubber suits on detailed display with close-ups in broad daylight…and, yeah, that sometimes also revealed the damaged or patched up nature of those suits. One of the Godzilla suits was used, if I remember correctly, for three movies in a row, and it the last one it was quite obviously coming apart at the seams… XD
…and with those words: https://youtu.be/A52–FKUQgU
Thanks for the link, it brought back memories! =) And it had consequences, but you’ve seen those… XD