The two-&-a-half-minute music video Monkey vs. Robot (2000) was brought to my attention by Danielle Stalling the director of Haunted Planet (2006).

Brooklyn director Nate Pommer has spoofed Godzilla vs any monster-of-the-month movie.

The video is action-packed & witty, of general interest to whoever loves a giggle, & of even greater interest to fans of monster flicks. The costumed stars are shown in this publicity still with their own heads revealed.

The song is written & performed by James Kochalka, & ends as a spoof of the classic rock song Gloria.

I've linked it above for your amused viewing pleasure. If the link is ever broken, I hope someone will let me know, & I can probably link it at another web address since several people have uploaded it to the web, including at google videos where it was in the "top one hundred" list.


A better known short film for James Kochalka's retro rock spoof is Geoff Marslett's two & a half minute animated cartoon also called Monkey vs. Robot (1999), as seen on HBO & Nickelodeon.

In the past this has been available for web-viewing, but when I wrote this review, it was being held back by the company to which Kochalka liscensed it, so if you want to see it, check out Spike & Mikes Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation Volume 7.

The character designs (sample shown at head of page) are by the multi-talented Kochalka himself, who is something of an underground cult favorite among comix fans.

If you go to a website like amazon.com & request "Monkey vs. Robot" you'll find a couple of "children's" books by Kochalka featuring these guys, plus other of his illustrated books. These books are obvioiusly not "just" for kids by any means, & some parents may not think them suited for kids at all (though I bet most kids would disagree). You can also just get Kochalka's music on CDs.

Kochalka is a brilliant musical comedian. He's a bit like Weird Al Yankovich except bordering on cool instead of totally dorky, & creating his own pop culture moments instead of satirizing the pop culture moments of others.

His songs create an alternative world of fantasy & ridiculousness. Hockey Monkey extends his monkey mythology. Elsetimes he's just gross, as in Wash Your Ass, both of these numbers available on the CD Spread Your Evil Wings & Fly.

I've hyperlinked to music videos of Hockey Monkey a mix of live-action & animated cartoon, & Wash Your As, live action, which will play on Mac. You can also see a live performance of live performance of Hockey Monkey & Breakaway (2003) at YouTube, but this group is the Zambonis, not James Kocahlka SUperstar.

If you have a PC, or any trouble getting to the links, go straight to www.jameskochalkasuperstar.net not only to get on James' mailing list & check out lots of tunes & a couple videos for either Mac or PC.


Less effective is Monkey vs Robot: The Movie (2006) put up on YouTube by an teenage amateur in Spain going by the name Metalinside, using an instant video animation software. He didn't get permission from James to do this, & judging by his comment didn't even know this is a famous song. So who knows how long it'll be on the web; it all depends on the excessive kindness of Kochalka not to police it.

I found even that crappy video fun because you can't go wrong if that song is playing. Compare it for instance to Monkey vs Robot: Advent Primates (2006) with the tune "One Winged Angle" instead of "Monkey vs Robot." It just doesn't work the same. Ditto for Robot vs Small Kong (2006) obvioiusly intended for Kochalka's song, & using the same gaming software as the Spanish teenager had. The only reason it's not as much fun as the Spanish kid's crappy attempt is because the maker didn't swipe Kolchalka's song.


If you're not totally sick of the song yet, you can see yet another music video for Monkey vs. Robot (2006) depicting a live-action drunken monkey & a labor robot going at it.

It's a lot like the Nate Pommer vision of the song though not half as funny. It does have one amusing bit of its own, the manner by which the names of the lead characters are spelled out toward song's end. ANd I did like the robot design.

There are a few other unofficial music videos out there & more apt to appear at any moment, as periodic youtube searchs will doubtless continue to reveal.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl