A young boy aids in the fight against a mechanized terrorist organization as the sole controller of a prototype giant robot.
I couldn’t sleep, so I wandered into the weird and comforting landscape of UHF television’s modern equivalent, which in this case is a digital antenna station on 56.4 here in Los Angeles, called Comet TV*
For the next half hour, I watched this magnificently bizarre thing called Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot. As far as I can tell, there’s this little kid called Johnny Sokko, and like all the other kids in school were all “Johnny Sokko, you’re a stupid face!” so he was like “h*ck you guys, I’m going to get a giant robot and live on a boat for some reason. Oh, and also, I’m like 8 or whatever, and I’m in charge of a giant flying murder machine. So watch your step, bitches.” Johnny gets this this giant robot who flies, and he controls him by issuing commands into a gold wristwatch. Instead of telling the robot to breakdance for his endless amusement, Johnny cries a lot and makes the robot save the world from a squid guy or something who lives in a sunken spaceship, adjacent to a pineapple under the sea? It’s all a little fuzzy in the translation, I’ll be honest, but I think I got the gist of it.
Anyway, I probably made some of that up, but this is all true: There’s a Flying Robot who is vaguely Egyptian. There’s a Gargoyle Gang, the Emperor Guillotine, a military group of children who are called Team Unicorn and are the only thing between Earth’s survival and intergalactic destruction for some reason, and all the bizarre 1960s Kaiju visual effects you could ever hope for. The music is exactly what you want it to be, and at one point, an entire freeway overpass is destroyed, because who among us hasn’t wanted to do that!
A quick search on a few of the Internets made it clear to me that I was not just way late to the party on this (the short I saw was originally released in Japan in 1967, as Giant Robo because obviously) but I am also discovering this literally decades after it became popular with the cool kids. So if you’re like OH GREAT WIL WHEATON THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME WITH SOMETHING I ALREADY KNEW ABOUT now you can feel like a jerk because it’s new to me, Roland. It’s new to me!
It’s weird, and fun, and overflowing with potential audio samples, so I thought I would share it with you today. Here’s what I think is the first episode, in which we meet Johnny Sokko, the Flying Robot, an unsettling sea monster, and more:
There are several collections of Johnny Sokko films at the Internet Archive. I guess you can also buy remastered DVDs if you want to go that route (though I strongly believe that the faded and aged look of the originals at archive.org is a significant contributor to the charm of the thing.)
Good luck. We’re all counting on you.
*It’s owned by the profoundly evil Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is a giant bummer. You can buy evil offsets by supporting ACLU and SPLC, if it makes you feel better.
I’m going to be showing my age, but I’m very familiar with “Johnny Sokko, the Flying Robot”! My two oldest sons watched and loved it! The oldest probably still watches it today! We all love it!!!
I used to LOVE this silly, deeply stupid show when I was a kid. I have the DVDs of the entire series too; the English-dubbed versions I grew up with, of course… extra cheesy (sorry but not sorry…). It’s utterly nonsensical and goofy as hell, but when I was a little kid? It was entertainment. And yes, it always looked like cruddy, faded 16mm film… even in the ‘70s. Ah, memories. Thanks for that, Wil!
Yes! It was faded when I saw it, and that was circa 1972. Of course, the lousy UHF reception from our rooftop antenna and our ten year old Sears black and white TV didn’t help. I love to torture my son with tales of the dark times of my childhood- no color TV until I was 13, and only rich people had cable when it came to town during my high school days.
I had a huge crush on Johnny Sokko when I was eight. Oh my…
Oh Wil, Wil, Wil, Wil…. How did you miss this? There is a movie version of this show called “Voyage Into Space” (if memory serves) that ran on KTTV or KTLA just about every weekend in the 1970s. It’s everything both right and wrong about Japanese Live Action TV all at once! Welcome to the party!
I used to watch this on my Grandma’s black and white TV in Sacramento. I would sit on my sleeping bag in the middle of her rock hard floor sweating up a storm on a hot summer night watch johnny Sokko. Gosh…great pull. 🙂
I vaguely knew the name, heard it dozens of times from husband. I asked him if he remembered watching Johnny Sokko and the flying robot-and he interrupted me, correcting me “GIANT ROBOT” sooooo yeah.
Do you know what this item is?! You win 1,000 points if you do!
https://flic.kr/p/VAUqTi
OMG it’s the trash compactor monster!!
ONE THOUSAND POINTS FOR YOU! it’s the original one that he had as a kid. C found it at nanas house. 🙂
Didn’t know the name, but I remember the robot! Thanks for finding this.
Wil, I watched it as a kid in St. Louis. Maybe now people will believe me that it existed! (I had trouble finding anyone else that knew about Speed Racer until the movie.)
I had a similar issue explaining this show existed to people! I caught it during my stay at St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn. back in the mid-80’s (for treatment for Leukemia). I go back home, and spent YEARS trying to convince people it existed. Fast forward to the late 90’s, and a friend remembered my description of the robot and found the Giant Robo anime OVA. It wasn’t the same, but I felt a bit of relief to know I hadn’t just dreamed the whole thing up in some medication induced haze.
Awesome, thanks.
I am a pretty big fan of the over-the-air sub-channels, between the various ones we have in the DC area, I can satisfy my nostalgic cravings on many axes. In spite of which, I’ve never actually watched Johnny Sokko, I associate CometTV mostly with their back-to-back classic MST3Ks on Sundays.
I love the weird channels you sometimes get with a digital antenna. Last December, I woke up one night in the middle of the night and wasn’t able to go back to sleep. I ended up flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch. I ended up watching what I THINK was a 70s or maybe early 80s era Christmas special with Robert Goulet singing “Little Drummer Boy” which was supremely weird.
If it wasn’t for this program – power rangers wouldn’t exist … lol
By the way the robot I think was made to work with one user early version of “voice recognition” and I believe johnny got the watch and was the first voice …
So happy you found this. I loved this as a kid. It played along side Utraman and Speed Racer weekdays after school. Trippy times indeed.
Reminds me a little of “Thunderbirds”. Similar style, but no robots and filmed with marionettes.
I never saw this until recently, but it reminded me of the dubbed tokusatu series I did watch and deeply loved, in the 80s – The Space Giants (Ambassador Magma). I’ve only found one other person that also watched it. 😉 (Though in SoCal, I imagine there’s more – I grew up in WV.) https://youtu.be/pg2-ZKvMrIQ
As you said Wil, you’re really late to the party on this one. Growing up, the UHF station in Cleveland used to play this alternating with Ultraman daily in the afternoon.
Now what you need to run into is Kikaider. Of the same era it’s a scientist-makes-robot, robot-fights-bad-guys story.
Oh you’re lucky to experience it fresh as an adult. What fun that must be! I watched the AIP release in the 70’s as a wee lad. I cried after the final episode (oh who am I kidding, I cry EVERY time I watch the final episode). Then it disappeared. For years, couldn’t find anything about it especially on the nascent internet. But countless google searches and it’s come back to life. Seriously it was dormant for ever. Even with an classic Anime adapation.
I know the name, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched Johnny Sokko before. Or if I have, it was when I was in elementary school, watching it after school along with other Japanese shows, Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, and The Space Giants (which I just looked up and found out was originally called “Ambassador Magma” in Japan). How cool to find this stuff now! I’m definitely going to have to watch it!
BATTLE OF THE PLANETS!! I want to watch it again, but I’m so worried that the reality won’t live up to the memory.
I only recently read that the episodes shown in the US when we were kids were heavily re-edited from the original Japanese and the original show was fairly different. That plus worrying the show won’t live up to the memory makes me hesitate to watch it now.
actually the English dub and Japanese dub are mostly the same, the editing of the English one was mostly of the audio track and not the footage
Same
Ye gods, yes!!!!!! so much yes!!!!!
Also: Space Battleship Yamato, AKA “Star Blazers” in the U.S.A. Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers showed up on the first ever cable TV channel we got when cable first came to my tiny little hometown in southern MN and I gobbled up all the animated stuff, especially those two shows. LOVED them.
When I was in high school (mid-’80s), I read an article about manga and anime that talked a lot about Yamato and I was really upset that it was one that wasn’t shown on my local stations when I was a kid. (At least not that I knew about.) I should track it down now, since we live in glorious future times when movies and TV shows are much easier to get a hold of.
Goldar and Silvar are awesome names. Space Giants was an amazing show
Goldar and Silvar! Yes!
This is cool that you found this, and that it is on CometTV. I watched this (reluctantly) when I was a kid (my brother watched it; he was nine years older and always got to pick the tv shows!) I know, after saying THAT this will sound really stupid, but you brought back a great memory.
It isn’t any different than me discovering this old show called “Dr. Who”….
Luckily we have CometTV on our cable system as it’s available as a digital sideband of one of the Connecticut broadcast channels. Seen it a few times. CometTV is also available for free at their website (if you get the annoying graphic screen that looks like it is stuck in loading that just what they put up on the website while the able channel is running commercials).
Might I add that the robot makes me think of the Golem from the silent movie version of the eastern European myth.
Love that show. Totally hooked when I was a younger person. I’m glad to read that so many others recall it like I do. I thought I might be alone….everyone always looked at me like I was bonkers when I’d bring it up. Great fun, cheesy monsters, and 8 year olds wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying guns!
I used to imagine having a giant robot come to my aid when I got made fun of for my viewing choices. 🙂
PS – Don’t forget Ultraman from back then, too!
Johnny Sokko was on every weekday afternoon when I was growing up, along with shows like Gilligan’s Island, Hogan’s Heroes, and Ultraman. You and I are approximately the same age, but we grew up on different coasts, so who knows if you could have seen it.
OMG! I do remember seeing this! I totally forgot about it!
When I was a kid, the station out of Oakland had this show on at 4PM called Captain Cosmic that was hosted by a masked Bob Hoskins, who also hosted Dialing for Dollars at noon and Creature Feature on Saturday. (Did the man never go home?)
Anyhow, Captain Cosmic introduced me to Flash Gordon serials and a bunch of kaiju shows. This was one of them!
I can’t wait to show my daughter! Thank you!
Bob Wilkins, not Hoskins, because I’m an idiot and it’s too early and I should be getting ready for work instead of waxing nostalgic.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wilkins
LOVED this show as a kid! I made giant robots out of Lego all the time. Great memories.
If this is your first time seeing Johnny Soko, are you also not familiar with Ultraman???
Loved that show as a kid. Thought that egyptian(y) look of the robot was so cool.
Man, Roland is such a jerk. Not everyone has seen all the things, Roland!
How odd that you mention Comet TV. I just recently found that network buried deep in my cable channels and have enjoyed the options it provides. Recently they showed an early Wil Wheaton movie called The Curse, which included Alice Wheaton in the cast. I make sure to flipped by Comet TV from time to time to see what other gems I can stumble upon.
I love your idealogical cap and trade system proposed in the disclaimer. That’s also why I have switched to just watching H&I (Heroes and Icons) channel. It’s pretty much all Star Trek all the time with a little Xena and Hercules mixed in for palate cleanser. I don’t know if its in your market yet, but it’s the greatest thing since the late 90s when there were 3 STs going at the same time.
Johnny Sokko and Ultraman were two of the first Kaiju based shows I remember seeing as a kid and reenacting on the elementary school playground. Thanks for a great trip to yesterland. Here’s a link to an episode of Ultraman for any who are not familiar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7_DBzBetM
Giant Robo is also referenced in Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, which actually also references Wil Wheaton by name. So even if you weren’t aware of it Wil, your paths were destined to cross. (Here’s a list of all references in Ready Player One for the curious: http://www.shmoop.com/ready-player-one/allusions.html)
That such a great book! I only found it recently, (speaking of coming late to things). Johnny Sokko I don’t remember. Speed Racer and the Thunderbirds are the things I remember most after school. Also Captain Scarlet and Stingray.
Check out who read the RP1 audiobook.
I think he knows about it.
Loved this show! Johnny Sokko kind of reminds me of the boy scout from Pixar’s UP
The giant robot took SOOOOO long to go through his “Kung Fu” moves to finally fire his rockets.
If you like Giant Robot, then check out another weird Japanese sci-fi show from the 1960-70’s called Ultraman
I can’t believe this one flew under my radar also– never heard of it, never seen it– how is that even possible?! Thanks for sharing this treasure! This is the kind of stuff I grew up on.
Oh, that does bring back memories. I used to watch this after school on KTVU (which had a surprising amount of Japanese kaiju shows that it would air). Good times!
Wow — instant nostalgia braingasm! The intro alone was the greatest anything ever, once upon a time. It still sends chromatic chills up my spine. To this day I’ve remained firmly against diplomatic resolutions with city-stomping monsters.
Love cometTV and their programming…Johnny Sokko was not one I was familiar
These shows are a world unto themselves. The original and still champeen is Ultraman, but the others I caught a lot of growing up were this one and Space Giants, starring the the O.G. Goldar (but thanks for playing, Power Rangers), and his wife Silvar, robots who could turn into rockets, fighting the evil Rodak and his Lugo men. My favorite part of that one is that Methuselah create the rocket-boy Gam to look just like our protagonist Mikko – except they look nothing alike! He’s just another kid in the same outfit!)
LUGO MEN! I’d forgotten what they were called but it’s coming back to me now! I vaguely remember men dressed all in black leotards or something turning into green goo.
HAHA, I used to watch Johnny S. way back when…
Whoa! Robots were dabbing back in the 60s!
If you can, you should try to get ahold of the magnificently retro-futuristic “Giant Robo” OAV series, loosely based on the Johnny Sokko Giant Robo, plus a number of other manga the same person behind that show wrote. Cranked out as a labor of love by the studio, it often went years between episodes, but when new ones did come out, they were amazing.
I used to love to watch this show when I was a small child! My sci-fi geekery started early and never died. Now, I’m in grad school for computer science, LOL.
I meant young child. Whoops!