Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot Vol. 1



I picked this DVD up from a bootlegger at MegaCon last weekend. This show is remembered with much affection by some people, but I never saw it, exactly. I do have very vague memories of seeing Voyage into Space (1970) once, a feature film cobbled together from five or so episodes of Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot (1967). I remember that the movie really freaked me out, especially the scene at the end where the evil Emperor Guillotine grew to giant size and pulled off one his own fingernails to prove he was made of explosive material.


That is not dead which can eternal lie, and in strange eons even death may die...

In any case, here's the set-up of Johnny Sokko. Johnny is a little boy who meets Jerry Mano (a secret agent for a group called Unicorn) on a cruise ship. The ship is sunk by a giant monster, and Johnny and Jerry are stranded on an island. The island is home to a secret base for the Gargoyle Gang, which, under Emperor Guillotine's leadership, has built a giant robot. Through a series of unbelievable events Johnny ends up being the sole person in the world that can control the giant robot, which he does by speaking into a special watch.





Every episode of the series progresses in about the same way. Guillotine wants the giant robot back. He sends some of the Gargoyle Gang out to kidnap Johnny or cause some disaster that will bring Johnny and giant robot flying to help. Jerry gets into a gun fight with Gargoyle's human agents, while Johnny directs to the giant robot to fight whatever giant monster Guillotine has come up with this week. The end.



Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot was obviously made to capitalize on the success of Ultraman (1966), and It's nearly as good as that seminal show. The robot is neat looking, and the special effects are plentiful, at least for television. Chris picked up a DVD of episodes from the later Ultraman rip-off Spectreman (1971), and it looked like it was shot in someone's basement.


He's not just a beatnik, he's a beatnik on the edge!

One thing about Johnny Sokko, the monsters have a bit of variety to them. The second episode of the series has the giant robot fighting a giant bowling ball with retractable spikes. Later episodes feature a giant robot hand and a floating eyeball.






The Japanese prototype for Destro.

Perhaps the biggest mystery of Johnny Sokko is what happened to Johnny's parents. If they were on the ship with him, then they'd probably be dead. But when Johnny is inducted to Unicorn, he's told not to tell his parents. Don't the parentals notice the rocket pack he uses to get around? Don't they care that their son disappears for large periods of time, and has a giant robot hanging around the house?

Posted: Wed - March 10, 2004 at      

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