Daiei-TV produced it’s first tokusatsu program SHONEN JET 少年ジェット (JET BOY) in 1959. Shonen Jet originally appeared in Bokura Magazine in manga form before appearing as a popular television series. Taking a page out of 1940’s serials, Shonen Jet, blends super hero action with the fun of a detective show. This hugely successful black and white TV program aired for a lengthy 83 episodes.
Shonen Jet tells the story of a young boy detective Jet (Ken Kitamura) played by Hiroshi Nakajima and later by Ken Tsuchiya. Jet and his faithful dog Shane, solve crimes and fight a wide variety villains usually stealing jewelry. The boy super slueth tracks down the baddies riding on a rocket powered scooter with ol’ Shane running along his side. Jet can stun his enemies with his gun called the Super Colt, which can also shoot flares and flames. Jet’s major weapon though is the Miracle Voice, when yelled, “WU YA TAA!!”, it causes what seems like a small earthquake, throwing the bad guys in limbo.
Daiei-TV went on to do other super hero shows like MABOROSHI TANTEI (PHANTOM DETECTIVE) and KAITEIJIN HAYABUSA (SUBMARINER 8823). Like most shows at that time the bad guys were usually gangsters, but sometimes they threw in some deformed ghoul, to creep out the kiddies. I can’t help thinking RIN TIN TIN watching this one.
83 episodes?!? i have like, four. i always felt sorry for that poor dog, trying to keep up with Jet Boy's scooter! I also have a handful of Phantom Detective episodes and i get the two confused, i know one of them encounters a robot that appears as a mysterious, floating shadow, i think it's Jet Boy. Submariner 8823 didn't do much for me but again, i only have four episodes. i'd like to know more about that show though, and Phantom Detective too! as usual, Roy, awesome post!
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER seen any of this stuff! So cool. I was thinking Jonny Quest meets Speed Racer!
ReplyDeleteI too had never heard of Jet Boy before your informative and fun post Roy - - thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of a good old German Shepherd dog (rather than a "cute" animal sidekick) makes this appealing to me.
When I was a kid I spent three months in Japan around 1959-1960. I was strongly influenced by certain TV shows that I saw and I've been trying to track them down ever since. This may be one of those. Does anybody know if one of the villains was an old man with sunglasses and devil horns who sicced a giant scorpion on the hero? This is really important to me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I spent three months in Japan around 1959-1960. I was strongly influenced by certain TV shows that I saw and I've been trying to track them down ever since. This may be one of those. Does anybody know if one of the villains was an old man with sunglasses and devil horns who sicced a giant scorpion on the hero? This is really important to me.
ReplyDeletewhen I was 5 years old, the studio filmed a part of an episode in front of our house at Seijo-gakuenmae. I got to touch Jet's motor bike and hold a gun that belonged to an actor playing the part of a policeman. I was so thrilled at the time to experience this!
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