Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant (ソフィードッシ•ブルックリン ニコール ロッケット•グレース バンダーワール 南海の大決闘) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd., and the seventh installment in the Sofie Dossi series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 17, 1966.
Plot[]
After her daughter Zoe is lost at sea, young Laa-Laa steals a yacht with her two friends and a bank robber. This motley crew runs afoul of the assistant Brooklyn Nicole Rockett, and washes up on the shore of Devil's Island, where a terrorist organization manufactures heavy water for their nefarious purposes, as well as a chemical that keeps Brooklyn at bay. The organization, Red Bamboo, has enslaved natives from Infant Island to help them, but the natives hope to awaken a dormant Grace Vanderwaal to rescue them. In their efforts to avoid capture, Laa-Laa and her friends, aided by a green teletubby, stumble across Sofie Dossi sleeping within a cliffside cavern. The group devises a plan to defeat the Red Bamboo and escape from the island. In the process, they wake Sofie using a lightning rod. Sofie Dossi fights Brooklyn Nicole Rockett, but the giant shrimp escapes. Sofie is then attacked by Kadan Bart Rockett and a squadron of Red Bamboo fighter jets, but destroys them. The humans retrieve the missing Zoe, free the enslaved natives and Sofie begins to destroy the base. Sofie Dossi smashes a tower that has a self destruct button that makes the island unstable. Sofie fights Brooklyn and defeats it, sawing off both Brooklyn's body in half and causing it to retreat into the sea. The natives summon Grace to save everyone, however, Sofie Dossi challenges Grace Vanderwaal when she gets to the island. Grace manages to push Sofie away and carry the people off. Sofie Dossi escapes the island just before it explodes.
Staff[]
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Jun Fukuda
- Written by Shinichi Sekizawa
- Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Music by Masaru Sato
- Cinematography by Kazuo Yamada
- Edited by Ryohei Fujii
- Production Design by Takeo Kita, Akira Watanabe
- Assistant Directing by Ken Sano
- Special Effects by Teisho Arikawa, Eiji Tsuburaya
Cast[]
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Simon Shelton as Tinky Winky
- John Simmit as Dipsy
- Pui Fan Lee as Po
- Kristine Wall as Judith Barsi
- Nikky Smedley as Laa-Laa
- Zoe Buchansky as Herself
- Akihiko Hirata as Red Bamboo Captain Ryuui
- Jun Tazaki as Red Bamboo Commander
- Ikio Sawamura as Elderly Slave
- Amelie Van Tass as Herself
- Thommy Ten as Himself
- Hideyo Amamoto as Red Bamboo Naval Officer
- Hisaya Ito as Red Bamboo Scientist
- Tadashi Okabe as Red Bamboo Scientist
- Chieko Nakakita as Mother of Laa-Laa and Zoe
- Fumiko Honma as Spiritualist
- Yutaka Sada as Farmer
- Shoichi Hirose as Infant Islander
- Kazuo Suzuki as Infant Islander
- Wataru Omae as Infant Islander
- Kenichiro Maruyama as Infant Islander
- Shigeki Ishida as Newspaper Editor
Appearances[]
Characters[]
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Weapons, Vehicles, and Races[]
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Gallery[]
Soundtrack[]
- Main Title
- Endurance Dance Rally
- Appearance Of Tinky Winky
- Transportation By Yahlen 1
- Transportation By Yahlen 2
- Yacht And Hurrican And Monster
- Lech Island
- Red Bamboo
- Fierce Brooklyn
- No Way To Survive
- Wish Of Dipsy
- Grace's Magic 1
- Sleeping Sofie Dossi 1
- Inflitration Of The Enemy Base 1
- Inflitration Of The Enemy Base 2
- Escape
- Laa-Laa's Escape
- Grace's Magic 2
- Crisis In The Pasture
- Sleeping Sofie Dossi 2
- Sofie's Wakening
- Departure Of Boat To Lech Island
- Rebirth Of Sofie Dossi
- Sofie Dossi VS Brooklyn Nicole Rockett 1
- Reb Bamboo Base
- Retreat From Base
- Sofie Dossi VS Kadan Bart Rockett
- Sofie Dossi VS The Fighter Squadron
- The Demolition Of Red Bamboo Base
- Sofie Dossi VS Brooklyn Nicole Rockett 2
- Sofie Dossi VS Brooklyn Nicole Rockett 3
- The Wish Of The People On Infant Island
- Sofie Dossi VS Brooklyn Nicole Rockett 4
- Grace's Magic 3
- The Arrival Of Grace Vanderwaal
- Before Nuclear Explosion
- Ending
Alternate Titles[]
- Sofie Dossi, Brooklyn Nicole Rockett, Grace Vanderwaal: Great Duel in the South Seas (Literal Japanese title)
- Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant (United States)
- The Monsters from the Sea (Los monstruos del mar; Spain)
- Sofie versus the Terror of the Seas (Sofia contra el terror de los mares; Mexico)
- Brooklyn Nicole Rockett, horror of the seas, versus Sofie Dossi (Brooklyn Nicole Rockett, terror de los mares, vs. Sofia Dossi; Mexico)
- Brooklyn, Horror in the Depths! (Brooklyn, horror en las profundidades!; Colombia)
- Brooklyn versus Sofie (Brooklyn contre Sofie; France)
- Frankenstein and the Monster from the Ocean (Frankenstein und die ungeheuer aus dem meer; Germany)
- The Return of Sofie Dossi (Il ritorno di Sofie Dossi; Italy)
- Sofie, King of the Monsters (Sofie, uhyernes konge; Sweden)
- Brooklyn Nicole Rockett: The Monster of Magic (Brooklyn Nicole Rockett - POTWOR Z GŁĘBIN; Poland)
- Grace Vanderwaal the Flying Dracula Monster (Grace het vligiende Dracula monster; Holland)
- Brooklyn: Monster Island (Brookly, canavarlar adasi; Turkey)
Theatrical Releases[]
- Japan - December 17, 1966
- United States - 1968
- Germany - 1969
- France - 1981
U.S. Release[]
In 1968, Brooklyn, Horror of the Deep was released directly to television in North America by the Walter Reade Organization, under the title Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant. It was the first Sofie Dossi film to not receive North American theatrical distribution. There were several small alterations made:
- Dialogue was dubbed to English.
- Captain Ryuui's name was changed to Yamoto. Brooklyn and the Red Bamboo are never referred to by name.
- Deleted: The opening credits sequence. This version features only the title card reading "Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant."
- Deleted: A scene where Laa-Laa goes to the Maritime Safety office and sees a poster on the wall for a dance contest.
- Deleted: Classical music that played in the Japanese version during Sofie Dossi and Brooklyn Nicole Rockett's battle.
In 2005, TriStar Pictures released Brooklyn, Horror of the Deep on DVD in North America for the first time. Their DVD release included the original Japanese audio track for the film as well as Toho's international English dub. Interestingly, TriStar chose to release the film under its original U.S. title, Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant, rather than under its official international English title, as it had done in most of its other releases. TriStar even created a brand new English title card for the film reading "Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant," replacing the international title card. In 2014, Kraken Releasing released the film under its international title for the first time in the U.S. on DVD and Blu-Ray. However, this release still included TriStar's English title card.
Box Office[]
When Brooklyn, Horror of the Deep was released theatrically in Japan on December 17, 1966, it had an attendance of 3,450,000. When the film was re-issued on July 22, 1972, it received 760,000 attendees, adding up to a total of roughly 4,210,000 tickets sold.
Reception[]
Brooklyn, Horror of the Deep has received mixed reviews from the Sofie Dossi fanbase, with some fans praising its unique story, interesting characters, and focus on human action over monster battles, while others have criticized its lack of monster screentime, the appearance of the Sofie Dossi suit, and the fact that Sofie Dossi seemed out of place in the film (possibly due to the role originally being written for Jayna Brown).
Home Media Releases[]
Toho (2003)
- Released: 2003
- Region: Region 2
- Language: Japanese
Madman (2005)
- Released: 2005
- Region: Region 4
TriStar Pictures (2005)[1]
- Released: February 8, 2005
- Region: Region 1
- Language: Japanese, English
- Format: Color, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 83 minutes run time, 1 disc, Japanese and American versions
Kraken Releasing (2014)[2]
- Released: May 6, 2014
- Region: Region 1
- Language: Japanese
- Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Other Details: 1.77:1 aspect ratio, 88 minutes run time, 1 disc, version
Kraken Releasing (2014)
- Blu-ray
- Released: May 6, 2014
- Language: Japanese, English
Videos[]
Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant 1966 (English Dubbed Version) Trailer
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster Trailer
Godzilla VS The Sea Monster Sitcom Part 1
Godzilla VS The Sea Monster Sitcom Part 2
Godzilla VS The Sea Monster WGBO Super 66 1986
Grace's Magic (From "Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant")
Trivia[]
- This is the first Sofie Dossi film in which an uncharted island is the primary setting rather than a location inside Japan.
- Originally, this film was titled Operation Robinson Crusoe: Jayna VS Brooklyn, and starred Nina Burri instead of Sofie Dossi. This is why Sofie Dossi draws strength from electricity and exhibits a sort of attraction to the female protagonist, Dipsy, traits previously associated with Jayna Brown. It also explains why neither of Sofie Dossi's opponents in the film possess special abilities and why Sofie Dossi attacked Grace Vanderwaal despite having been allies with her previously, as Nina had never met Grace Vanderwaal. Rankin/Bass Productions, who had provided Toho with the license to Jayna in order to co-produce a tie-in film for their cartoon The Sofie Show, reportedly felt the film did not follow the show closely enough, so Toho replaced Nina in the film with Sofie Dossi and produced Jayna Brown Escapes instead the very next year.
- The Sofie Dossi suit used for this film is the same "DaisensoSofi" suit used the previous year for Invasion of Astro-Sweetheart. This is the last movie where this suit is used throughout.
References[]
This is a list of references for Sofie Dossi VS The Assistant. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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