Titans of Toho

An Unauthorized Guide to the Godzilla Series

And the Rest of Toho’s Giant Monster Film Library

Brian Matthew Clutter

Cover Image Poster © Toho Co., Ltd.
Additional Editing by Aaron Salvato of www.helmsman.co

Godzilla is a registered trademark of Toho Co., Ltd.

Brian Matthew Clutter is not affiliated with or licensed by Toho Co., Ltd.
All references to Godzilla herein are of a purely informational nature
©2014 Brian Matthew Clutter. All rights reserved.
 Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954)

2. Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
3. Rodan (1956)
4. The Mysterians (1957)
5. Varan the Unbelievable (1958)
6. Mothra (1961)
7. King Kong VS Godzilla (1962)
8. Atragon (1963)
9. Mothra VS Godzilla (1964)
10. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
11. Dogora (1964)
12. Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
13. Frankenstein VS Baragon (1965)
14. Godzilla VS the Sea Monster (1966)
15. The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
16. Son of Godzilla (1967)
17. King Kong Escapes (1967)
18. Destroy All Monsters (1968)
19. All Monsters Attack (1969)
20. Latitude Zero (1969)
21. Space Amoeba (1970)
22. Godzilla VS Hedorah (1971)
23. Godzilla VS Gigan (1972)
24. Godzilla VS Megalon (1973)
25. Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla (1974)
26. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
27. Godzilla 1985 (1984)
28. Godzilla VS Biollante (1989)
29. Godzilla VS King Ghidorah (1991)
30. Godzilla VS Mothra (1992)
31. Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla II (1993)
32. Godzilla VS SpaceGodzilla (1994)
 33. Godzilla VS Destroyah (1995)
34. Rebirth of Mothra (1996)
35. Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)
36. Rebirth of Mothra III (1998)
37. Tristar’s Godzilla (1998)
38. Godzilla 2000 (1999)
39. Godzilla VS Megaguirus (2000)
40. Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out
Attack (2001)
41. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
42. Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)
43. Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
44. Legendary’s Godzilla (2014)

Acknowledgements/Thanks
Suggested Kaiju Media
Appendix – Cast and Crew
 Introduction:

Before we begin, I wanted to make a brief introduction to myself

and to the way this book is set up.
First of all, my obsession with Toho’s science fiction films began
with Godzilla, when I was quite young. My father always spoke highly of
the King of the Monsters, and I was a little kid who loved dinosaurs, so the
concept of a giant radioactive dinosaur sounded awesome! TBS slotted
Super Scary Saturday to air right after NWA Saturday Morning Wrestling,
hosted by Grandpa Munster, and I was ecstatic! The first time I caught the
show the movie featured was Godzilla VS the Sea Monster. No, probably
not the greatest introduction to the genre, but it didn’t matter. I was hooked
ever since.
I’ll be honest with you, though. Do these films have profound
moments? Yes, definitely. Some fans out there take them all in a deathly
serious manner. I think this is an incredibly fun genre, and I hope my
relaying of information to you expresses that.
So what inspired me to write this book? There were a couple
factors. I absolutely loved this stuff growing up, and I still do, but over the
years as I got older and had less spare time, I would time and again find
myself buying the latest release, upgrading from VHS to DVD to blu-ray,
picking up never-before released films, and placing them on my shelf, often
to be watched once or not at all. I decided I really needed to do something
with them, so why not go film by film and review each and every one?
From there, I realized something. Only one book, to the best of my
knowledge, even covers the Godzilla films from 1999 and onward. That
would be A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series,
Second Edition, by David Kalat. It’s a great read, by the way. There had
been a flurry of new books about Godzilla that appeared around the time of
the 1998 film, but only that one expanded to include the newer series.
Godzilla is obviously Toho’s money name, but if you want to know about
the non-Godzilla films, it’s even harder to find information. Other authors
do provide some details, but you’re dealing with things that have been out
of print since 1998, so it’s hard to find. I wanted to give those interested in
the genre an updated guide of Godzilla films, as well as the lesser known
giant monster films that Toho produced over the years.
 Do you want a quick vocabulary lesson? No? Well, too bad!
There are a few common terms in the fandom that will crop up in this book.

Kaiju: Literally means “strange creature” in Japanese.

Interchangeable with “monster” for our purposes.
The Showa Era: Toho films produced from 1954-1975
The Heisei Era: Toho films produced from 1984-1998
The Millennium Era: Toho films produced from 1999-2004

Got it? GOOD!

Beyond that, the setup of my book is simple. I provide you with
the movie title, then a few alternate titles when applicable. Some of them
are cool, some of them are just bizzare (I’m looking especially at you,
Germany, and your fascination with calling everything Frankenstein). I
then throw in an amusing or profound quote from the film in question.
Some of them had a great many of them to choose from, some I just had to
pick a random line out of desperation. I then give you a little bit of
background on the film, and a little bit about how I first came to see the
film, if it’s worth repeating (and possibly even if it’s not!) then the meat of
the book, the film synopsis. I try to lay it out for you in the most
entertaining way possible, so hopefully you’ll appreciate my sense of
humor. Finally then is a bit of a critique of the film in question, a
recommendation as to who is going to enjoy it and if it’s worth your time,
and then a final score.
Simple enough, yes?
My criteria was simple—to make it into this book it had to have a
giant monster and be produced by Toho. There are some great films that
missed the cut, like Matango for example, because it lacked a giant
monster. There are some that barely made it in because of a brief monster
appearance, such as The Mysterians. Poor Gorath had a giant walrus in the
Japanese version, but I’m sticking strictly the the dubbed United States
releases, so alas, no Gorath in here.
Also, some monster and characters names change from subtitle to
dub and from one dubbing job to another; if you thought you remembered
something completely different being said, that’s probably why.
I hope you enjoy reading my work!
 Godzilla, King of the Monsters, 1956
[Americanized Version of: Gojira, 1954]
[From Around the World: Japan: Under the Terror of the Monster,
Spain]

“Well, it’s big… and terrible.”

Origin:

There were a few dinosaur films before 1933, but King Kong was
a smash hit that made the giant-monster-on-the-loose genre popular. Two
decades later, King Kong was still a popular film in Japan, as well as newer
films like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Toho Studios likes money…
so they decided to make a giant monster film of their own, headed up by
director Ishiro Honda. Claymation was considered, because it worked
pretty awesomely for King Kong, but that stuff costs money! Lots of it! So
it was decided to go with a guy in a monster suit, and a handful of shots
with a puppet. Eiji Tsuburaya headed up the special effects, and Akira
Ifukube crafted the musical score and Godzilla’s iconic roar.
Godzilla certainly has a reputation for being silly and childish,
and through the 1960’s and especially the 1970’s, this reputation is well
deserved; however in his initial outing Godzilla was an allegory for the
nuclear devastation visited upon Japan at the end of World War II. The
original Japanese version of the film is more heavy-handed in this regard--
obviously the Americans didn’t want to feel bad about the end of the war.
The feeling is still there in the film, although moved more onto the
backburner. The Japanese version is probably a better film by most
standards, but for our purposes we will stick to the Americanized edit.
We have the same story, and lots of the same footage, but
Raymond Burr of Perry Mason and Ironside fame was hired to shoot
additional footage. He was never actually on the same set as any of the
other main characters; and yes, it IS noticeable, but they do a decent job
overall.
Fortunately for me, this movie was always making the rounds on
basic cable when I was a child, so I was able to see it early in my Godzilla
fandom. I have to admit, as a child it wasn’t a favorite… I mean, hey--
black and white and no other monsters for Godzilla to fight? Plus he is the
enemy in the film instead of the hero—who would want that!?

Synopsis:

Godzilla, King of the Monsters comes on the screen (the same

font is used many decades later when Godzilla graces the Nintendo
Entertainment System)!
Then we get scenes of destruction, looking almost like World War
II aftermath.
An American is under a heavy beam. It is Steve Martin, a reporter for
United World News, who had stopped in Tokyo for a social call on his way
to Cairo. Yes, Steve Martin. We’re all amused at this amazing coincidence,
but alas it is not the Saturday Night Live star, it’s Raymond Burr. He
appears to make an attempt at doing a pushup, and then passes out.
Next we get glimpses of children being tested for radiation. Spooky stuff.
Emiko Yamane, daughter of Japan’s foremost paleontologist
shows up to visit her friend Martin. “For some there is hope, for some
there would be no tomorrow!” Martin says in voiceover. He also tells us of
the odor of scorched flesh, and sites of human wreckage. Not exactly
cheering us up. Also of note, it’s pretty obvious Martin is talking to a stunt
double.
Now, flashback to before the destruction…
Martin is on a plane, going to talk to Dr. Serizawa, his old college
friend, who was gaining notoriety in the Far East. Thousands of feet below,
a bunch of fisherman are having a rocking time playing music on the deck
of their boat, when suddenly they hear a monstrous roar, and with a flash
the vessel bursts into flames and is destroyed. We get no glimpse of the
monster, which is effective at this point in the film. The sad truth of this
incident is it was based on the true story of the fishing boat “Lucky Dragon
5” that was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was caught in a
nuclear test, shortly before filming began.
An assistant to Serizawa meets Martin at the airport to tell him
the doctor is too busy, conveniently, to meet with him (he is never actually
on screen with Dr. Serizawa, kind of a running theme for the American
inserts). The security briefly detains him to ask about seeing anything
happening below from his flight.
Soon we go from one to eight ships destroyed in mysterious blasts
of fire, and the staggering death toll causes all ships to be kept in harbor for
the time being. What few survivors are found die soon after from both
shock and ominous “strange burns.”
Fortunately, at the big government conference to discuss this
urgent matter, they invite the previously mentioned leading Japanese
paleontologist, Dr. Yamane. He suggests the government ask questions to
the natives of Odo Island. Idea seems legit. They do so, and the Islanders
are all pretty freaked out. They yell a lot, too. We even get to briefly see a
man who looks like he has a third small nipple on his chest.
Martin arrives on Odo Island and with the help of Dr. Serizawa’s
assistant asks around. The guy they talk to says a horrible monster did it.
Well, of course. Martin thinks this man has had too much alcohol, but the
interpreter thinks that isn’t the case because the Islanders are very
superstitious… Their superstition apparently means if they see monsters
it’s definitely true.
Then they get to witness a rare ceremony… one that was “all but
forgotten!” Unfortunately, it is remembered, and it’s pretty boring.
Basically, some people dance around really slowly in robes and Richard
Nixon masks (not really, but it kind of looks like Nixon). The natives say
the monster’s name is “Gojira”, but Martin and his interpreter instantly refer
to him as Godzilla. Ah well, it was meant to be, apparently. The Islanders
are certain Godzilla is the cause of these boat disasters.
Overnight, the wind suddenly picks up (has Godzilla developed a
new SUPER WIND ability?). Soon though the rumble of footsteps is
heard. Followed by a roar. Then we see a hut collapse on random people
we don’t know and never hear from again.
Dr. Yamane speaks to the Japanese Council (in English for some
reason) and says they should send a scientific expedition to the Island.
Martin asks to go along.
 For some reason there is a big party with streamers and a band
playing as the expedition boat leaves for Odo Island (and why are they still
using ships at all? I thought they had to stay at bay? They forgot they had
aircraft as well apparently.).
Meanwhile, we get to the romantic subplot of Emiko and Ogata, a
young marine officer. This makes up most of the human drama in the
original cut of the film, but it takes about a half hour to get to it at all, and
its much more abridged in the American cut. Emiko is engaged to Dr.
Serizawa… but is now in love with Ogata. It was “the usual triangle,”
according to Martin. Martin has a strange sense of what is usual, but oh
well.
On the island they find a really big radioactive footprint. Good
times. They do have the foresight then to tell the crowd the ground is
radioactive and dangerous and they make them get back a few steps; but all
the scientists just stand in it. They find some trilobite thing in the footprint,
but then… a bell starts sounding to announce Godzilla has returned to the
island.
Finally we get a glimpse of Godzilla as he peeks over a
mountainside at frightened people running away. Fortunately a couple
dudes with samurai swords are standing around in case things get out of
hand, but after roaring at the people Godzilla goes back into the water
without further incident.
We then get the paleontologist giving an exciting slide show of
dinosaur stuff, explaining the origin of Godzilla and telling us he is over
400 feet tall. Oddly, he is much taller than any dinosaur that ever existed.
He quickly explains that Godzilla was likely frozen in the water and
resurrected due to repeated H-bomb tests. We are told in later movies this
is why he is insanely huge, but they didn’t bother mentioning that now; not
to mention why he is radioactive and shoots an atomic ray from his mouth.
I guess Dr. Yamane thought this went without saying at the time.
“Well, it’s big… and terrible. More frightening then I ever
thought possible.” Martin tells his editor in Chicago. Martin says the new
plan is to use sonar and hit Godzilla with depth bombs.
Finally Martin and Dr. Serizawa catch up via phone (so they don’t
have to bother getting a stunt double for him), and we ominously hear
Serizawa’s tests are done. Serizawa is cool because he has an eye patch,
like a Japanese Nick Fury. Martin wants to have dinner with Serizawa that
night, but the doctor asks to move it to tomorrow… because his fiancée
Emiko is coming over, and she says she has something important to tell
him. Martin is kind of a jerk and doesn’t mention to his friend that he
knows of the “usual triangle” and Emiko is also seeing the marine guy,
Ogata.
Now we see Emiko and Dr. Serizawa talking (she refers to him
formally as Dr. Serizawa even though they are engaged). We learn they had
an arranged marriage from birth. So, okay, she seems a tad less bit of a jerk
for seeing the other guy I suppose. Just as she is about to break the news to
him that she wants out of the engagement, he tells her he has something
even MORE important to tell her, and takes her down to his laboratory.
He puts a little capsule thing into his big fish tank and it starts bubbling up.
Was it Alka-Seltzer? No, it was his new invention the OXYGEN
DESTROYER. It kills all the fish. Emiko cries. Poor fish. Then she
leaves without bothering to mention she is leaving him for another man.
Big battleships go out and use the depth charges. Dr. Yamane
gets mad and goes in his room and sulks because he doesn’t want Godzilla
to be destroyed. Despite not finding a body, the next day everyone just
assumes Godzilla is dead and start rejoicing. Some cruise boat full of
people drinking and dancing soon spots Godzilla popping up out of the
ocean. They realize they were pretty dumb for not waiting until things were
verified a little better.
Godzilla is swimming into Tokyo Bay, so all available military race to meet
him there. The heavy artillery seems reasonable enough at this point… not
so much the troops with standard issue rifles. Ah well.
At last, Godzilla splish-splashes into the bay and the military
opens fire, as the citizens of Tokyo are fleeing the opposite way on foot for
the most part. This might prove to not be a bad idea, as Godzilla puts his
foot down on a train track and stops a passenger train dead in its tracks. He
briefly chews on a train car for good measure, even. He tips over a couple
of bridges, then becomes bored apparently and heads back out into Tokyo
Bay.
The next day while they await another attack, it’s pointed out that
power lines surround the city. Well, okay. Those should have been there
last night. They think the electricity should stop Godzilla, so that seems
promising.
 Nightfall comes, and Martin is hanging out in the press building
where he has a good view of Tokyo. It doesn’t take long for Godzilla to
show up, and soon he makes it to the great power lines that are sure to save
the city. He doesn’t really seem to mind them and just knocks them down.
Well… that was anticlimactic. Figured he’d at least pause for a few
moments. They apparently annoy him a bit, though, since he decides to
unleash his atomic breath on them and melt them into nifty metal scrap.
From there he starts lighting up buildings, which burn instead of
melt, so that’s always fun. He also disintegrates some of the people still
fleeing the city (they have been fleeing a good 24 hours, but it IS a big
city).
At last the tanks arrive and open fire. Godzilla takes notice, and a
quick atomic flame and the tanks are gone in short order. “Neither man nor
his machines are able to stop this creature.” Martin tells his tape recorder.
“Godzilla has turned the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire… beneath the
flames thousands lie dead or dying.” Finally, right after signing off on his
tape recorder, Martin’s building collapses around him.
Godzilla goes back to the bay, now that Martin is no longer
reporting, and starts to head out, destroying some things on the way.
Finally the Japanese Air Force attacks him. Not sure why they didn’t show
up sooner. You would think they would arrive before the tanks. Better late
than never, though… well, at least if they had done something worthwhile.
They fire a bunch of missiles that mostly miss. Godzilla will tolerate no
more of this foolishness and swims away.
Now we come full circle to where the movie opened, the scenes
of destruction and people injured from Godzilla’s assault on Tokyo. Emiko
and Ogata show up to talk to Martin… sort of. The backs of stunt doubles
with random cuts to close ups of their faces do, at least. Not quite as bad as
some of the Bruce Lee footage inserted into Game of Death, but not entirely
masterfully done, either. They are kind enough to tell Martin about the
Oxygen Destroyer created by Dr. Serizawa. I guess rather than going to the
government in the midst of crisis it would make more sense to inform an
American reporter who is an acquaintance to the family. They decide they
need to beg Dr. Serizawa to let the military use the Oxygen Destroyer to kill
Godzilla.
Emiko and Ogata go to the doctor to try to talk him into it (seems
kind of jerky to bring the guy you are leaving him for, but whatever). Dr.
Serizawa refuses, so they start tussling around. After bloodying up Ogata,
they sit down and talk about it. Serizawa fears if the government gets their
hands on his formula they could end up using it for evil. The Japanese
military wasn’t really the kindest, gentlest bunch back a few years earlier in
World War II, so he has a point. Ogata tells him, “You have your fear that
might become reality, and you have Godzilla… which is reality.” Serizawa
sobs, and a nationwide prayer goes out over the television as a children’s
choir sings and footage of destruction and the injured are shown.
The doctor is apparently moved, and tells them he will allow the
Oxygen Destroyer to be used… but this will be the only time… he burns
the formula for it. Emiko starts weeping again. She was very close to that
paperwork.
Later, Martin is patched up and on the boat that all the other
major players of the film are on (although, not on screen at the same time,
of course.). Ogata and Serizawa descend in old-timey diving suits into the
water with the Oxygen Destroyer, and Emiko and her father Dr. Yamane
stand on deck looking worried. The two guys underwater spot Godzilla
sleeping on the floor of the ocean and make their way towards him with the
weapon. Godzilla gets up and starts rummaging around, possibly searching
for a breakfast burrito, while the two men get in position and are ready to
ascend. Ogata gives the signal on his line and they pull him up. Dr.
Serizawa… doesn’t. Serizawa stares down Godzilla with his one good eye
(although Godzilla doesn’t really notice, he’s just does his thing), and sets
off the Oxygen Destroyer. Godzilla begins thrashing as the doctor looks on,
and Ogata shouts for Serizawa to surface. “Ogata… it is working! Live
happily with Emiko. Good bye.” With that, he cuts his line, as the
crewman vigorously try to pull him up.
Then on the surface the water begins to boil, as Godzilla surfaces,
writhing in agony, then falls back below the surface. As the churning water
clears, we see a quick shot of his skeleton lying on the ocean floor. Well,
that’s the end of THAT chapter! No more Godzilla ever again!
“People of the world, Godzilla is dead!” an announcement goes
out. Ogata tells Emiko that the doctor wanted them to be happy together.
She begins crying again. Of course. All the crewmen pull off their hats,
presumably to honor the death of Dr. Serizawa, but maybe they were
rooting for Godzilla to destroy civilization. We aren’t expressly told why
Serizawa decides to off himself… he apparently caught on to his fiancée
having an affair since he told them to be happy together (I don’t think
anyone ever got around to telling him), so maybe he did it out of sorrow.
Or maybe he was worried that if he was alive the government would force
him to reproduce the formula for the Oxygen Destroyer and use it for
EVIL! Or maybe while they were underwater he realized they had never
put a remote detonator on the thing so SOMEONE had to stay down there
to set it off. We will never really know…
Martin intones: “The menace was gone, but so was a great man.
But the whole world could wake up and live again!”
THE END! Godzilla roar! Roll credits!

Overview:

While the film will provide moments to snicker at, it really does
do a good job of intoning the destruction of World War II and sense of
hopelessness in the aftermath scenes. A lot of the silliness in this film is
derived from the Americanization of the source material and is absent in the
original uncut version.
The puppet is a little iffy looking, but the Godzilla suit is top
notch as far as giant monster suits go. It was the first of its kind, so there is
room for improvement, but they do a good job of not focusing too much on
the monster and allowing you to see any flaws… all the rampaging takes
place at night. Now it’s not to the extent of Cloverfield by any means, you
definitely DO see plenty of Godzilla, but he’s not dancing around nonstop
in your face like in later entries. The atomic ray effects leave a little to be
desired, its basically a stream of smoke coming from Godzilla’s mouth, not
the awesome rays we’ll see later, but for the time they aren’t bad. I think
it’s important to be fair and consider the technology they had to work with,
even if you can fault them for having a small budget.
The miniatures, like in most Toho films, are really top notch
overall. The buildings crumble and burn realistically, the power lines melt;
it’s all good-looking stuff. I’m not sure where the reputation of “cardboard”
sets comes from; it definitely isn’t here.
The score is by Akira Ifukube who would do most of the Toho
science fiction films from the 50’s through the 90’s. It’s a good score, from
the haunting drumbeats to other pieces that will show up frequently in the
series, although the traditional Godzilla theme hasn’t been written quite yet.

Recommendation:

This is worth seeing both for its film significance in starting the
Godzilla franchise as well as giving a jolt to the giant monster movie genre.
If that is completely not your thing, it’s a fascinating film from the
perspective of being a haunting allegory of World War II… if you’re into
that artsy stuff. For no other reason, it’s worth seeing just to see the film
that spawned a series that has lasted longer and had more entries than even
the James Bond franchise. That’s definitely impressive, regardless of how
the quality has spiked and dived over the decades.

Final Score: A
 Godzilla Raids Again, 1959
[Americanized Version of: Godzilla’s Counterattack, 1955]
[AKA: Gigantis, the Fire Monster]

“That was a very terrible thing.”

Origin:

Well, the first Godzilla film made lots and lot of money. Sequels
are a powerful force indeed, and the top brass at Toho Studios were eager to
cash in a second time. Quickly after the success of the original film was
realized, Toho Studios rushed into development of a sequel.
Unfortunately, they killed off their main star at the end of the first
film; so in the Japanese version it’s explained that coincidently another
“Godzilla” shows up shortly after the death of the first. Convenient
enough, I suppose--although kind of sad to find out that the monster we’ve
known and loved for decades really only had one film and was replaced in
the sequel. Or maybe no one really cares about that. Think of it as George
Lazenby subbing in for Sean Connery in one of the Bond films… at the end
of the day it’s still the same character.
Now, the version we lucky Americans got of this film in 1959
isn’t quite the same. This is, of course, only the second Godzilla film, so it
wasn’t really clear it was going to be such a huge franchise. Warner Bros.
bought the film rights to Godzilla Raids Again but thought it would be
incredibly awesome to rename Godzilla to Gigantis (maybe to explain away
his death in the previous film?). Most of the silly cuts and changes they
made are in present on home video releases but at least Godzilla has been
added back in to the title screen, which has a cheap 1980’s looking
superimposed “Godzilla Raids Again” for the title instead of the old
fashioned 1950’s monster font of “Gigantis, the Fire Monster.” They also
edited out the wonderful Godzilla roar, making him sound like his opponent
in the film, for no particularly good reason.
Also of interesting note: This is the first time Godzilla fights
another monster (Anguirus, but sometimes referred to as Angilas, and even
Annzilla if you read the wrong library book as a child), and the last time a
Godzilla movie would be filmed in black and white. Even more exciting…
the American dub has a young George Takei doing voice work, slightly pre-
dating his career as a guy who posts amusing images on Facebook all day.
For me, this film was a Holy Grail I sought after for a long time before
finally seeing it. It occasionally would pop up in the TV Guide as showing
on the Disney Channel, but that was premium stuff back then, so did me no
good. I recall the time I excitedly discovered the VHS tape at a now long
defunct department store, but my mother wouldn’t buy it for me. Sad times,
indeed. In my early internet days I scored a copy off of eBay, which upon
arrival was clearly a bootleg… but at least I finally got to see the movie!

Synopsis:

The first thing we see is stock footage of a hydrogen bomb going

off! A voice over tells us that deadly rockets and missiles are taking off
daily, which we are fortunate enough to see footage of. Some is real
newsreel footage; other is pulled from random other films and looks
considerably putrid.
GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN comes on screen, in crumby super-
imposed 80’s font! Credits rolls and we see some interesting footage of the
burning city.
The film really gets going and we are introduced to the small
village that is the focus of the film, and the airplane owned by the cannery
company that is scouting for tuna over the ocean. All this is explained to us
in a voice over by Tsukioka, our main character. He has just spotted a big
school of tuna! His girlfriend is working the other end of the radio. Ah,
another romance.
The main guy’s buddy, Kobayashi, is piloting another plane from
the same company. His engine goes dead! Tsukioka goes looking for him,
and finds a little section of islands, where he finds the spot that Kobayashi
has landed. He lands and they have a lovely discussion. “Trying to please
a woman is like swimming the ocean!” Then, they hear a monster roar.
Gigantis… err…. Godzilla is looking down at them! Except he doesn’t
sound anything like Godzilla, because Warner Bros. thought it would be
awesome to edit his iconic roar. The two pilots see there is another
monster, as well. Godzilla and Anguirus are doing battle on this tiny
island!
Anguirus is somewhat of a mutant ankylosaurus. He has a spiky
back and goes around on all fours--except he really just crawls on his knees,
not really using his back feet. Hey, he’s a guy in a monster suit. Deal with
it. After a quick skirmish, the monsters topple over a cliff and continue the
fight underwater, giving the guys a chance to escape.
Back in civilization, the authorities have them look at picture
books of dinosaurs so they can identify what they saw. Japan’s foremost
paleontologist from the last film is there, Dr. Yamane! He sits quietly as the
others talk about the mean things these dinosaurs are capable of. We find
out Anguirus has several brains throughout his body!
Finally, the wise Dr. Yamane speaks! He tells us no one knows
how to destroy the monsters. How helpful. He fortunately brought a film
of Godzilla’s attack on Tokyo from the last film, so we can compare it to
Gigantis and see destruction in general. The film reel starts with the
formation of the world; fortunate they had a cameraman there. Then we see
terrible dinosaur puppets, followed by some really bad dinosaur suits.
Finally we get some nice Godzilla footage, some neat highlights from his
rampage through Tokyo. “That was a very terrible thing.” He also recaps
that Dr. Serizawa created the Oxygen Destroyer that killed the first creature,
but died in the process so we have no known weapon to defeat the
creatures. Uplifting pep talk there, Yamane—and thanks for the film of
prehistoric dinosaurs spliced into your reel before Godzilla.
We go to Tsukioka and his girlfriend talking about the situation.
“Ah, banana oil!” exclaims Tsukioka. George Takei would later explain
that was all they could come up with to match the mouth movement. Sadly
the exciting new phrase would not go on to enter the lexicon of the Western
world.
Troops are mobilized to attempt to take out the monsters. We see
the Japanese command center with their big map and military units in
certain placements… as well as a silly looking little wooden dinosaur
marking Gigantis’ position.
Gigantis misses Osaka on his first pass, and much like happened
in the last film, once the danger is momentarily passed they all start dancing
and celebrating. It was a national holiday practically, we are told. I’m not
sure why it doesn’t occur to them that the monster is alive and well and
could turn around at any moment and head their way. Mid-dance at a
nightclub, this shocking horror is realized, as a loud speaker informs them
that Gigantis is heading back to Osaka. Tsukioka and his girlfriend flee
with the rest of the crowd, as Osaka goes into blackout (what monster
doesn’t love a shiny city full of lights? Plus it helps emulate the bombings
during World War II, which was only a year less fresh in the minds of the
Japanese at this point in history than in the last film).
Tanks roll out into position; fighter jets soar overhead. Godzilla
is swimming towards the shore! The military shoots some flares into the
sky and the shiny things impress Godzilla, and then he heads back to sea.
Meanwhile, a prison truck is transporting some of the most
dangerous criminals in the land! They kindly are moving them out of the
possible path of destruction. Being the vile criminal scum that they are,
they overpower the guards and fight to escape, running free in the streets of
Osaka. I’m not sure how humorous it’s supposed to be, but the three that
actually get away remind me of the Three Stooges. The other criminals are
captured quickly. The three who get away hijack a truck and are pursued by
the police. The truck loses control, does a pretty cool ramp stunt and
crashes into the Osaka refinery, causing a huge explosion! Well, so much
for the blackout. Godzilla sees it, and apparently this trap the military
spoke of has yet to do anything, so he heads back to Osaka to frolic in the
flames. The military opens fire but it is as effective as the last time a
monster attacked Japan.
As if on cue, Anguirus shows up as well! Monster party! They
waste no time in beginning to fight it out again. This of course leads to
even more destruction as they tear through the city and Godzilla tries to
roast Anguirus with atomic breath. It doesn’t seem to bother Anguirus too
much, but the city around it doesn’t fare as well.
Godzilla and Anguirus take a stand for green energy and topple
another big refinery with smokestacks aplenty. We will find over the years
that Godzilla is occasionally a big advocate for green energy and curbing
pollution.
The three criminals did not die in the fiery truck crash,
apparently. We see them again, running from the wrestling dinosaurs.
They flee into a subway, but quickly MONSTER ACTION causes the
whole subway to flood, and this time the beloved three criminals have truly
met their demise.
 The battle carries over to a big giant pagoda building—perhaps
the Osaka Castle, which is a bit of a running theme in later films. They
fight around it for a while, and eventually Godzilla forces Anguirus through
it. Finally, Godzilla bites the neck of Anguirus and that does him in.
Godzilla tips him over, exposing his soft underbelly, and kindly cremates
him. Very efficient.
With that, Godzilla is satisfied and leaves, heading back into the
ocean.
Kobayashi invites Tsukioka to hang out with him at a weird gentleman’s
club place, and they sing a rousing chorus of “We Won’t Come Home Until
Morning.” As they are having a wonderful time a man in a business suit
interrupts to tell them one of the cannery’s ships has been sunk, and
Gigantis is responsible (they continue to be quick to forget these monsters
as soon as they are out of sight).
We hear that the UN is mobilizing against the monster, and we
even get a cameo of the United States congress as they pass some anti-
Gigantis bill, or something equally as effective.
Tsukioka is cruising in the sky looking for Godzilla, as his buddy
Kobayashi hits on an office girl. He radios in that he has sited Godzilla so
Kobayashi races out to meet up with him. The two friends meet up in the
sky and Tsukioka goes back to refuel and report to the military, while
Kobayashi sticks around to keep an eye on Godzilla, who is standing amid
icy mountains below.
A bunch of military planes fly out to Godzilla and begin bombing
him and the surrounding area, attempting to put an end to his vile reign of
fear (that lasts as long as he is visible then quickly dissipates into national
holidays).
The bombs just didn’t seem to be doing the trick, so Kobayashi
does a suicide dive at Godzilla, taking an atomic flame head on and
smashing into a big icy mountain behind the monster, starting an
avalanche. The other planes use bombs and missiles instead of themselves
and get more ice to fall, half burying Godzilla so he is temporarily stuck in
one place.
Back at headquarters they decide that this is a swell idea and
organize to bombard the ice and bury Godzilla once and for all. Tsukioka,
even though he is just a guy that looks for fish, is permitted to go as well to
settle the score for the death of Kobayashi.
 They drag in a bunch of barrels on the ground and shoot at them,
which as we now know from playing video games will make any kind of oil
drum explode. They synchronize this with more jets that take aim at the ice
and snow on the mountains, and eventually poor Godzilla is buried.
“Back home, a grateful nation rang out the bell of happiness,” we
are told. “We were together for all time now, and we could once more live
out our lives in happiness.”
THE END! The weird roar they used for Godzilla the entire film is
heard one last time! Credits roll!

Overview:

This is a movie, all right! This is definitely a weaker entry then

the first in the series. The mock-up city is still well constructed, but Osaka
just isn’t as magnificent a city as Tokyo (which realistically, only a year
later, would still be under construction… although I don’t think that logic is
in play in these films). Some of the military units are cool looking, but
some are obvious toys.
Also on the plus side of the effects, while Godzilla has weird
teeth, both monster suits are pretty solid and the battle between the two of
them is good for a first outing.
The story is okay, but it feels like a retread of the original film, except with
a second monster thrown in. It even throws in a main character suicide at
the end, for good measure.
Any Toho film scored by Akira Ifukube is going to have a great
soundtrack… and he did indeed originally score the film, but the version
watched here that was released in the United States was stripped of the
original score by Warner Bros. and had a random stock score inserted. It
isn’t terrible, but it isn’t memorable, either.

Recommendation:

Well, a part of me wants to say ANY movie including Godzilla is

worth seeing, but in all honesty if you are going to skip your way through
the series, this is one you can leave out. As I said, this was a film I had
waited years to finally get my hands on, but sadly, it wasn’t worth the wait.
Much like the American-inserted film score, this film is… just there. It’s
more or less inoffensive, not really terrible, but not really great. As a
quickie cash-in sequel to a blockbuster, it does its job, but doesn’t attempt
to rise any higher than it’s required.
Still kind of fun for the novelty of hearing George Takei narrate a Godzilla
film, though.

Final Score: C-
 Rodan, 1956
[AKA: Rodan! The Flying Monster!]
[From Around the World: Rodan: Death Bird, Poland]

“If they’re not killed they’ll take over the earth!”

Origin:

After the mediocrity of Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla would

take a fairly long vacation from film and Toho would produce other monster
films, trying to capture the success of the first Godzilla film—with variable
success.
Rodan was one of the first of the “find a new Godzilla!” phase,
and a good effort. Also, this is the first monster film from Toho filmed in
color.
There were some minor changes between the original Japanese
version of this film and the version released in America, but its far less than
in the previous two.
Rodan was one of the earliest Toho kaiju films I saw, and as a
result, has maintained a special place in my heart. Years later, it still holds
up.

Synopsis:

We get a proper opening credits sequence, with some rocking

Akira Ifukube music, then we get some exciting stock footage of nuclear
tests! Some of this is the same footage that was tacked onto Godzilla Raids
Again. I guess nuclear tests are fun to watch. Buildings are vaporized, and
perhaps Indiana Jones is in a nearby fridge.
“But what have these tests done to mother earth? Can the human
race continue to deliver these staggering blows without arousing
somewhere in the depths of earth a reaction, a counterattack, a horror still
undreamed of? There are persons in the Japanese Islands who believe that
the horror has already been seen. What is the aftermath? This is the story
of such an aftermath.”
Shigeru does a voice over introducing us to the mining town he
has always called his home. Things are tense in the mines, Shigeru’s
friends Yoshi and Goro get in a skirmish. Unfortunately they are not
Mario’s dinosaur and the four-armed guy from Mortal Kombat. That would
make for a fantastic film right off the bat. The mines were having trouble
with water constantly flooding in for no apparent reason. News of another
shaft flooding reaches the mining office and a crew rushes down. Yoshi
and Goro are missing!
A team of four miners work their way into the murky water… and
find a dead body! Alas, it is dear Yoshi, “almost hacked to pieces.” The
mining community is stunned. It’s obvious that he didn’t simply drown, so
Goro is suspected of the grisly murder. Shigeru defends Goro’s good name,
and it is revealed that he is in love with Goro’s sister, Kiyo!
Meanwhile, the police are searching for Goro in the mine… not
sure if as a suspect in Yoshi’s murder, or just to see if he survived the mine
flooding; but I suppose it doesn’t matter. “Goro, are you dead!?” shouts a
policemen. Suddenly the policemen begin to be pulled underwater, one by
one! They fire shots into the dark water but it is to no avail! The last in the
line makes a run for it and gets back to solid ground and calls for help; but
the screen goes black and we hear his horrifying screams as he is killed.
We go to a press conference, where a doctor tells the reporters
and miners that these men did not only die of their wounds, but also of
shock! Is the Shockmaster afoot?
Kiyo is all sad about the murders and her brother being missing. Shigeru is
trying to comfort her; then a giant bug monster plows into the room! It
appears to be some sort of large earwig thing with big claws. I don’t think
they mention it in the movie but at some point Toho named these things
“Meganulan.” The more you know! Authorities and mobs are called and
they skirmish with the bug monster. The monster escapes, leaving a few
more casualties, but at last the doctors can tell what was causing the
horrible wounds they kept finding on bodies in the mine.
Now that an actual monster has been sighted, the actual military
shows up and begin searching the mines, led by Shigeru and some other
miners.
 Hurray, Goro’s body is found! And then another Meganulon
attacks. The military opens fire with machine guns, but it doesn’t seem to
hurt them overly so. Shigeru, being the cool dude he is, goes all Temple of
Doom on them and sends a big train of mine carts hurtling into the face of
the attacking bug monster. They attempt to retrieve Goro’s body, but
another bug attacks. All the action in the mine causes a big avalanche, and
Shigeru is trapped apart from the rest of the miners and troops.
Soon after, there is a big earthquake near the mine, and it seems a
local volcano has started to show signs of activity. Down in a deep crevice
caused by the earthquake, the authorities spot Shigeru, crawling around
looking worse for wear. He’s banged up but alive… and suffering from
amnesia.
His friends try to jog his memory, and even his lover, Goro’s
sister, gives it a try, but he doesn’t recognize her. Then they get the bright
idea to show him pictures of the bug creatures; and it apparently gives him
a headache and he has to lie down. Minor progress, I suppose?
Meanwhile, we get a look at the Japanese Air Force. A jet pilot
calls in to report an object has been sighted flying at supersonic speeds,
flying at angles that should be impossible for a jet. The pilot attempts to
pursue but the object turns and hits him head on, downing the jet. Perhaps a
reference to the Thomas Mantell incident of 1948?
Not long after, more and more sightings of a supersonic “maniac”
are reported, and other jets and planes have been knocked out of the sky.
Also, reports of sonic blasts leveling cities! …we don’t actual see the
results of this, though, just hear the news report. Kind of a downer, that’s
certainly something I’d like to see for myself.
Then a couple that was just married goes on their honeymoon to
the active volcano. How romantic. Suddenly she spots something and goes
spastic, and they both begin to run. A big shadow blocks the screen for a
split second, and all that’s left is the groom’s camera and the bride’s shoe.
The developed camera film gives a clue, as a picture is snapped that
resembles a monstrous wing.
Meanwhile, Shigeru is still sitting around not knowing anything,
and is handed a nest containing two eggs that are just starting to hatch.
Who doesn’t like to see things like that? At last his memory is jogged
sufficiently! We get a flashback to him stumbling around in the mine, and
coming across a monstrous egg, surrounded by the silly Meganulon bugs.
They begin to quiver and crack! A baby Rodan is born! Still sitting in his
broken shell, he bends down and starts eating the bugs. Nice—no wasted
time for this Rodan.
We snap back to Shigeru having a panic attack. Finally he calms
down and finally recognizes Goro’s sister!
He meets with authorities and identifies Rodan as a nice big
picture of a pterodactyl or some type of dinosaur bird thing, even though
Rodan doesn’t really look entirely like one. He leads the authorities back
into the mine once again so that they can destroy whatever eggs may still be
lying around. They manage to find shell fragments, but another cave-in
causes them to run out before they can do anything too awesome in there.
SCIENCE is able to tell by the eggshell piece that Rodan is over 100 tons.
A military copter flies the scientist and Shigeru over the volcano,
and they see human bones inside, and Rodan nesting in a little crevice on
the side.
Now that we’ve established that, jets are scrambled and they head
out to take care of this Rodan problem. They bombard the volcano walls in
hopes of killing or trapping Rodan, but as luck would have it he flies away
instead. As if that weren’t bad enough, a second Rodan pops out right after
the first one. “It has a mate!” some random guy exclaims. Not sure how he
knew they weren’t just siblings, but oh well. We get a nice shot of a jeep
getting blown into a boulder as the second Rodan flies away, giving a very
satisfying crunch.
The jets dogfight with the Rodans the best they know how, but this type of
thing typically does not go well for the Japanese military.
After some fun jet battling, the Rodans arrive in the city of
Sasebo. It is kind of silly looking as they stand there and flap their wings to
create a windstorm, but the effects of buildings and vehicles getting
hammered with strong winds is really nice. There is an odd shot of a Rodan
with mouth agape and some kind of mist coming out of it. This only
happens once, and nothing more is said about the matter. Anyway, one of
the Rodans is getting hit hard by artillery when the other flies over and
decimates the military vehicles. They fly off together.
When asked to explain why the Rodans may be underground
again: “These Rodans are reptiles, a member of the snake family,” we are
told by the scientist. Now it all makes sense! They plan to attack the
volcano ones again in hopes of causing it to erupt and kill the Rodans.
There is some discussion as to rather or not an erupting volcano is more
dangerous than the Rodans, but as is often the case it is decided the Rodans
must be killed at all costs.
All sorts of cool missile launching vehicles surround the volcano’s base and
they unleash their weaponry. The Rodans are irritated. The volcano
erupting around them, one of the Rodans flies out, while the other is trapped
inside. It makes an attempt at escape but is caught up in the flames and
falls back into the crater of the volcano. The first Rodan is apparently
saddened and flies back to its fallen comrade.
Goro’s sister leans on Shigeru and weeps (always so much
sadness when the monster dies in the end), and he voice-overs: “Like
weary children, each had refused to live without the other, so they were
dying together. I wondered rather I, a 20th century man, could ever hope to
die as well. It was as with something human were dying, as the flames
consumed them in a fiery holocaust, their last agony wails echoing in a
mournful cry. We stood their staring with a strange fascination. I realized
now, that by the narrowest of margins, man had proved himself the
stronger… but would it always be so? May not other and even more
terrible monsters even now be stirring in the darkness, and when at last they
spring upon us, can we be certain that we will beat them back a second
time? The answer lies in the future. Our fears for now have gone up in
flames and smoke.”
THE END! A Rodan shriek is heard and we get credits!

Overview:

I love Rodan. It starts out like a murder mystery with the grizzly
butchering in the mines by the Meganulon, and then suddenly we get super
sexy giant birds flying around and destroying Japan. The effects, while not
impeccable, are solid. Scenes of the city literally being blown away are
well done, and this is probably the best Rodan suit ever present in a film. In
later films he starts to look more and more like a Muppet. The musical
score is great as well. Really, there isn’t much to dislike about this film.
 Recommendation:

It’s an introduction to a Godzilla mainstay, and has an

entertaining story and effects. Plus the US cut is just a little over an hour,
so you aren’t wasting too much time if you hate it!

Final Score: A
 The Mysterians, 1957
[AKA: Earth Defense Force]
[From Around the World: Phantom 7000, Germany]

“It’s almost as if this whole area was put into a giant blender.”

Origin:

It’s the 1950’s; invasion from outer space is the cool thing all the
kids are talking about. Originally, there was no giant monster present in the
script, but producer Tomoyuki Tanaka wanted some monster fun. Ishiro
Honda settled on the robot Moguera instead of a living, breathing kaiju, to
show off the Mysterians technologically advanced society. The people of
earth would finally catch up to this advancement in robotics in 1994 in
Godzilla VS SpaceGodzilla.
This wasn’t a film I had easy access to growing up, but a friend of
mine got his hands on a suspicious looking copy through mail order when
we were in high school. The DVD release reviewed herein uses an all-new
dub, for what it’s worth.

Synopsis:

We open with a nice Tohoscope logo, and then all the credits are
floating around out in space. Now we go to Japan below, where some kind
of festival is going on, complete with kimonos and boring looking dancing.
Some very bizarre masks in the crowd, as well. There is some drama going
on amongst the people, as some dude, Dr. Shiraishi, doesn’t want to dance
with a girl, but as this is being discussed with his buddy Atsumi, a strange
glow is seen in the distance! A forest fire!
Three guys bike to the source of the fire, despite Shiraishi
warning them to stop, and they discover the fire is coming from the roots of
the trees and going up. Yikes. They panic and try to get out, but are
surrounded by flames. So ends the adventures of the three guys with bikes.
 The next day, in some sciency place, Atsumi and the head science
old man are looking at Shiraishi’s report about a newly discovered asteroid
that they think was once a planet. While they discuss this, they get word
that a landslide occurred over where Shiraishi was last hanging out. We get
some neat footage of ground collapsing.
The military is dispatched to investigate, Atsumi in tow, and they
report massive radiation in the area the day before (but everyone is just
hanging around in normal clothes, not too concerned about it), but that has
all apparently gone away now after the landslide. Alas, Shiraishi is
presumed dead, despite the deep affection we all have for him.
As they leave the area, they also discover a river full of dead fish,
and then as they drive away, they smell burning. Their tires are melting due
to the ground becoming incredibly hot. And then a mountainside collapses
and Mogera, a giant funny looking robot comes out, starts demolishing the
countryside, as well as their jeep. Mogera looks kind of like the Muppet
Gonzo and shoots lasers out of his eyes.
Nightfall comes and--good news, everyone! Mogera has reached
the city! Mass evacuation begins, while policemen shoot their pistols at the
giant robot. Mogera uses his laser heat ray thing to incinerate them and set
fire to the town. He even takes out the fire trucks trying to put out the fires
he’s causing. What a jerk. Silly as Mogera looks, the burning buildings
around him are well done miniatures. As artillery barrages attack the robot,
we get a quick glimpse of a few shiny lights in the sky. The first
appearance of UFOs in a Toho film—a historic moment, indeed.
We get a short meeting at the Diet Building where they tell us that
the monster wasn’t a living creature, but a robot. Well, okay. It being a big
metal thing was kind of a give away, but thanks for the info.
As a group goes about doing SCIENCE they see a big dirt pile
rising from the ground, and soon it’s revealed to be a big dome thing that
was hidden under the earth. It asks for the cooperation of the people of
earth, and refers to the group of scientists there by name! Such a smart
dome. It invites them inside. Such a hospitable dome. They ask if it will
harm them and it tells them they have no need to worry, so they go right in!
Once they go inside funny capes appear on all of them, complete
with big Dracula collar. A kind yellow Power Ranger points them into a
room. These are the greatest alien costumes ever, I feel the need to point
out. An orange Ranger comes in with more yellows and is apparently the
emissary sent to talk to the humans. He explains they didn’t really mean to
attack them but just wanted to show their power because they thought the
humans would instantly attack them if they didn’t show a display of ability
first. Well, yes, destroying and killing is a good way to win friends. He
boohoos that the army will cause wars and the scientists need to stop them
from using hydrogen bombs on them. “Some of your people are even
selling land on Mars, yet have no right or authority to do so.” Well, I was
unaware of that, I would be kind of mad, too. The alien tells them they just
want 3 kilometers of land on earth, and the right to freely marry earth
women. Hmmm. 80% of their children are born with abnormal defects so
they must dispose of them. Nice! Eugenics is so cool. Anyway, they think
mating with earth women will solve the problem. He shows the earth
scientists a picture of the specific women they want. At least they know
what they want, suppose. They insist that they are pacifists, however. Just
that they will attack if their demands aren’t met. I don’t think they
understand what being a pacifist really entails.
Atsumi tells his girlfriend and other friend who is a girl that they
are on the list of brides for aliens, and as they react in disbelief dear
Shiraishi shows up on the television and talks directly to them--because
alien technology is that cool. Anyway, he is wearing a fancy cape and tells
them to do what the aliens want.
As it turns out, the world wants none of this aliens taking land
and giving lists of women to marry, so the military starts shooting at the
dome. A bunch of jets go in for a bombing run, and it looks pretty cool, but
then after showing some tanks firing again I’m pretty sure they reused the
exact same footage. UFOs take out one of the fighters, then the dome gets
serious and starts shooting out a pretty laser beam and taking out planes and
tanks left and right. While some of the tank miniatures aren’t great
themselves, the destruction of them looks nice.
We see a bunch of newspaper headlines from around the world, as
Japan calls an international meeting to aid in fighting the Mysterians. The
paper from the US is called “The Liberal Times,” proving the media’s
liberal bias once and for all!
There is a big UN type meeting and one of the guys sounds like
the dubber was trying to do an Andy Kaufman as Latka impression,
complete with “Thank you very much.”
The international coalition tries an attack with two really crappy looking
rocket ships, and one just gets shot out of the sky without doing anything
useful and the other retreats. I suppose they wanted to show yet again how
futile attacking them was but this was dull and pointless as best as I could
tell.
This does not please the Mysterians, so they tell the humans they
are going to take more land than originally mentioned. The UN people are
discussing if they should use hydrogen bombs or not, when a guy walks in
with a rolled up blueprint shouting: “Good news, good news! Everyone,
this will please you!” He has the most stereotypical, flamboyant gay voice
you could imagine. Oddly out of place in 1950’s Japanese sci-fi. The good
news he spoke of is some big new ray gun they think can stop the
Mysterians.
Despite that hopeful moment, we see one of the girls mentioned
earlier get kidnapped in her home by a spaceman! As her other friend
comes in to find her missing, she is kidnapped as well. Those dastardly
Mysterians. They fly them up to a UFO and off it goes.
Soon thereafter, the new awesome ray guns, the Markalites, are air dropped
in by a rocket and begin bombarding the dome. They look like big satellite
dishes, but they seem to pack a powerful punch. Little wheels on the
bottom of their legs drive them slowly closer as more and more beams are
fired.
As the back and forth lasering continues, a rescue operation is
underway to get the women out of the Mysterian base.
A deal is reached that the humans will stop their lasering if the
Mysterians will leave immediately. The Mysterian leader raises his hand
and suddenly a big flood erupts and washes away some town. The man
inside the Mysterian base is shooting the place up and the power goes out in
the main alien conference room. They capture him, but as the assault
continues outside Mysterians start randomly falling over in the dome.
Shiraishi, dressed as a Mysterian, has led all the women out of the evil
base. “Escape quickly! This place will explode soon!” he yells from a far
off distance as everyone stands around not doing anything for a while.
Finally there is some light flashing and they run away.
Outside, Mogera has been digging away under one of the
Markalites, but though it succeeds in knocking the thing over, it just topples
on top of him, and alas Mogera is presumably out of commission. The
barrage continues, and at last the dome explodes in a big mushroom cloud!
Some UFOs do make it out, though, but one of the rocket ships
opens fire and takes some of them out, a few escaping into outer space, and
we all hope for a sequel.
We get a glimpse of a satellite over Mars and THE END appears on the
screen!
Credits roll.

Overview:

It’s a mixed bag in the effects department. There are some great
miniatures in the city and effects when things are destroyed. The
earthquakes and floods are good natural disaster effects. The laser blasts
and such are good for the time. On the other hand some of the miniatures
as far as the military units are less than amazing. The costumes for the
Mysterians are pretty silly as well--although that can be a good thing if you
are watching the movie just to see a fun film from the era.
As an aside, Moguera (as well as the Markalite laser cannon) is an
enemy in the first Godzilla Nintendo game (Godzilla: Monster of
Monsters), and I had no clue who he was because as of yet he hadn’t been
in a Godzilla movie. Kind of an odd choice to include a monster Godzilla
had never fought, but he was one of a few who made it into the game
despite not interacting with Godzilla on camera.

Recommendation:

This is better to see as an early sci-fi epic than something

involving giant monsters, if that’s your thing. Mogera only makes limited
appearances; the focus is more on the drama and space aliens. I’d say this
film is mostly a skip unless you enjoy alien invasion films, as the monster
action is lacking.

Final Score: C-
 Varan the Unbelievable, 1958
[AKA: Great Monster Varan]

“Mud again! Nothing but mud and sand!”

Origin:

Godzilla spawned a great franchise for Toho… clearly Varan can

do the same. At least, that was the hope. Varan’s film career began as a
joint venture between Toho and a US studio, but the Americans backed out
before they had done anything. Toho had already completed a significant
amount of work, so went ahead and finished the production without any
help, and released the film in Japan.
Soon after, another American film company thought they could
have the next big thing on their hands, and got a hold of the film to prepare
a United States version of the film. Only effects shots were left, as an
entirely new movie was crafted around the fragments of the original.
Things did not go so well this time as they did with Godzilla, King of the
Monsters.
This was another film that was hard to come by in my youth, but with the
advent of the internet, I was able to eventually find a video tape of both the
US and original Japanese version. Kids these days are incredibly lucky to
have both versions floating around on DVD now as well. The United States
cut is what we are about to take a look at.

Synopsis:

Immediately we are thrown into the action as people run through

the street and buildings collapse. We seem to transition very quickly from
Big City Japan to Remote Village Japan, and we see some people
worshipping a statue that I assume is supposed to be Varan but looks only
vaguely like him. VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE appears on the screen,
and we’re off.
 Commander James Bradley is on duty on a Japanese island,
where he dictates to his Japanese wife a letter to the military informing
them that this would be a good place for testing their new science project.
His wife is concerned that they are forcing the residents of the island to
evacuate because the testing will pretty much ruin the lake, which has been
their livelihood for ages. Commander Bradley insists this doesn’t matter
and they will be fine. Such a nice fellow. Then he bosses his wife’s kid
brother around. I am making him sound like a jerk--and he apparently is
one--but I am pretty sure we are supposed to consider him the hero of the
film.
He goes out and makes fun of the locals chanting and drumming
for an imaginary monster. Some guy with a funny hat attacks him and tries
to knock him out, but after a scuffle he just goes back on his porch and talks
to his wife, not even mentioning the fight.
Things progress and the Japanese government, taking orders from America,
apparently, tries to get the people to leave the island, but they refuse. So
Commander Bradley talks to a Japanese soldier about how they may have
to use force now. They assume once more troops arrive the natives will
leave peacefully. The Japanese soldier warns him that according to local
beliefs, if the US experiments harm the area, a monster will rise from the
sea and destroy everything.
Tanks arrive! With artillery and bazookas and such. Those locals
better get moving! A couple reporter friends of the Commander and his
wife show up with them to document the situation.
We get a somewhat lengthy scene where Bradley’s wife boohoos
that they are using the island for the tests and that the people back in Tokyo
are calling her husband a tyrant for what he is doing. He assures her that
it’s all peachy.
“They should have laws and regulations governing newspaper
reporters, and the people they work for,” the Japanese soldier tells Bradley.
Stupid freedom of the press—always mucking up everything.
Commander Bradley decides to be “nice” and NOT force the
locals to evacuate… he will just let them stay while dangerous tests are
done on the lake they use for fresh water every day. The soldier thinks this
is a great idea and thanks him for his kindness.
The testing on the lake begins! Testing apparently means firing
mortars into the water. They are releasing some kind of chemical, which
obviously needs tested here. They observe that shockingly, the fish begin
dying almost right away.
While the Commander naps, a monster begins rummaging
around. Varan is here at last! A soldier fires some shots that do nothing,
then the soldier simply dies of shock. That’s the easy way out of the movie,
I suppose. Moments later Commander Bradley and his Japanese soldier
friend find him, and are baffled at what could have happened. They don’t
notice that all the trees nearby were trampled down in the area until the next
day when they see a giant footprint.
Fortunately a lot of military might is already there to drive off the
locals, so they surround the lake, and while Bradley is preparing to send his
wife to Tokyo where she will be safe, Varan’s head pops out of the lake and
they open fire.
In the face of Varan’s rampage, an old man vigorously waves a
tree branch around. No context is given, and it is to no avail.
Varan very slowly comes ashore as they continue to shoot at him
and the locals finally evacuate.
Commander Bradley’s wife begins crying that it’s all her fault,
and the Commander consoles here, assuring her no one is to blame here. …
Wasn’t this the guy that demanded these tests be done here which resulting
in Varan awaking and rampaging about? Heh.
There is a hopeful moment as Varan corners Bradley, his wife, and the
Japanese military guy that hangs out with him into a cave. Will Varan
finally kill off this blameless Caucasian man? No. Some fighter jets go by
and distract Varan. Shiny objects will do that, I suppose.
Varan goes out to sea and what appears to be mostly stock
newsreel footage of naval ships and jets begin attacking him. He tries to
high-five a plane that gets too close to him but knocks it out of the air
instead.
The bombardment continues on regardless, although I fear when
Varan isn’t on screen that I am seeing historical archive footage of the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor instead of movie special effects.
Monsters and explosions usually mean a good time for all, but
this bombardment of Varan as he swims around just keeps going on and on
for at least a good ten minutes with nothing else of value happening.
Finally Varan makes it to shore, and some man I don’t recognize
(I am going to assume maybe he was more important in the Japanese
version?) drives a truck slowly to the shore and then runs away. Varan
smashes the truck and there is a big puff of smoke and Varan sounds
wounded. He writhes in agony a bit then goes back into the water.
Commander Bradley is told by his friend that Varan is dying. The
Commander says it doesn’t matter rather Varan is dead or alive because
now they have the chemical that can kill him, or at least ward him off.
Well, good for them. The natives insist he is alive and just resting at the
bottom of the sea.
Bradley and his wife talk about going on vacation, and drive
away. We get a voice over of Commander Bradley telling us the monster
might return in a hundred years, or tomorrow… maybe even today! We can
only hope.
THE END!

Overview:

This is a bad film. Really.

The Japanese version is a tad better, but still rather dull. I
suppose the terribleness of Commander Bradley makes the US version a
little more humorous at least, if you want to approach it from that angle.
There can be a little humor derived from the “so bad, it’s good!”
factor, but honestly its just bad and boring overall. It clocks in at only a
little over an hour but time does not fly as you are watching. The end
artillery barrage on Varan takes up almost a quarter of the film. Most of the
worthwhile effects that aren’t from newsreels are borrowed from Gojira. It
is inserted a little more discreetly than stock footage would be later on in
Toho’s library, at least.
The Japanese version of the film has the added bonus of allowing
us to see Varan take flight, like a flying squirrel. They cut that out of the
US version for some reason. Your best bet is just to wait until Destroy All
Monsters if you want to see flying Varan, though.

Recommendation:
 You have my permission to skip this one. Feel free to give it a
watch if you want to see an American military commander treat Japanese
people in a completely terrible way without even realizing it.
Unfortunately, that’s the most interesting aspect of the film.

Final Score: D -
 Mothra, 1961
[From Around the World: Mothra Threatens the World, Germany]

“We are now entering the radioactive area. Check your protective
equipment.”

Origin:

Yet another new and creative experiment from Toho! Mothra

would go on to be the only other Toho kaiju that rivaled Godzilla in
popularity and eventually had a few more staring roles. Mothra also marks
the first script from Shinichi Sekizawa, who would go on to write many
popular genre films throughout the decade.
This made the late night cable television circuit on TNT’s Monster
Vision back in the day, so I Was able to catch it back then.

Synopsis:

Columbia Pictures Corporation presents… MOTHRA!

I could be wrong, but I refuse to believe the music they play
during the opening credits is the original film scores. Sounds way too
Americanized. It’s not bad, just sounds out of place.
A major storm is being tracked, and soon we see a sea vessel
being tossed about. Before long the captain makes the call to abandon ship.
Presumably the next day, a rescue copter flies over the area and
spots four men waving at them amidst a bunch of rocks in the ocean.
The four men are brought back, and everyone is shocked to see
how healthy they are. Apparently they are supposed to be dying of
radiation poisoning, due to testing in the area. There is a conflagration as a
photographer takes an unauthorized photo. The shipwreck survivors wisely
surmise they aren’t harmed by radiation due to the juice the natives on the
island gave them. Everyone is shocked because before nuclear tests were
done on the island, it had been made certain no one was living there.
 There is a lovely party with streamers and a crowd waving as
Nelson, the man leading the expedition to see who is living on this island,
and his crew, go off on their expedition to the island. The press has been
banned from going, but this doesn’t stop a determined reporter, nicknamed
Bulldog, who manages to sneak aboard.
Nelson nearly shoots Bulldog when he finds him “dusting” in his
cabin, but graciously decides to spare his life. Dr. Harada has talked Nelson
out of throwing Bulldog into the brig, and ends up having him work as part
of the crew. The expedition team makes their way onto the island, and once
they reach the top of a rocky mountain area, they are shocked to see a lush
green area beyond them.
They journey in, and evil purple vines attack a member of the
crew. Fortunately, the tiny little Mothra Twin Fairies are there! They make
a weird noise for an unnecessary long time, and the vines let go of the man.
The Mothra Fairies inform the men that they would prefer atomic
bombs be tested elsewhere, rather than on their island. I suppose that’s
understandable. Nelson grabs the girls, and pulls his gun so no one can stop
him, as the rest of the expedition tries to talk him out of it. Before anything
else can happen, the crew realizes that island natives have surrounded
them! They decide to put down their guns, and Nelson releases the twins.
…and then the team is returning home, victorious! I guess there is no need
to know how things went down with the island natives.
Bulldog is discussing Nelson with a buddy, and he thinks he isn’t
just an explorer, but a crooked art dealer. Those crooked art dealers are
always spoiling everyone’s fun and kidnapping tiny twin fairies. They look
into deciphering some odd writing, where they see the word “Mothra,” but
don’t know what that means.
Back on the island, Nelson has returned to kidnap the Mothra
Twins! That fiendish art dealer! One of his henchmen is shocked to see the
island natives coming towards them; but Nelson has no qualms telling his
men to shoot their way out. The natives just walk towards them slowly
hitting rocks together, getting mowed down quite effectively by Nelson’s
team’s firepower. This is certainly one of the more violent showings seen
from a crooked art dealer in some time. An old man bows before an altar
and calls out to Mothra… and the scene ends!
Nelson has set up a big show, complete with a pit orchestra…
very reminiscent of the original King Kong. Instead of the giant ape, we get
the tiny twin fairies. They are lowered down to the stage in a tiny golden
carriage. The twins emerge and the crowd goes wild! They begin singing
the Mothra song, which will be heard in numerous films to come.
Back on Infant Island, Mothra’s egg apparently hears the praise
from the far away twins! At the same time, natives on the island are
singing their own praises to the giant egg. Many of them appear to be
Japanese in blackface.
Bulldog and crew go backstage to try to talk Nelson into letting
them go, saying what he is doing is basically slavery, but the promoter
working with Nelson insists the twins love what they are doing and are
having the time of their life. Nelson for some reason relents and lets them
talk to the twins. Bulldog tells them that they are friends and will try to
rescue them. We find out that they are communicating to them in their
native language by using telepathy--which might explain their ability to
summon Mothra so effortlessly in the future. The twins are sad, because
they know good people will be hurt when Mothra rampages through Japan
to rescue them.
On the island, the Mothra praise and worship service continues,
as a voice prays: “Mothra, thou art life eternal. Answer the prayer of thy
servants. Come to us again out of the legend. Mothra, protect us with the
power of life.” The egg finally cracks, and caterpillar Mothra is born!
Mothra begins the long swim to Japan, taking out a boat along the
way. It seems this marks the first of many “monster swimming to Japan”
scenes that happen in a lot of Godzilla films later.
Fighter jets surround Mothra and bombard him with missiles. He
bobs around a bit but appears to be continuing his swim. Apparently
Mothra is presumed dead on the mainland, as Nelson insists after the assault
Mothra is no more.
Just before another show of the Mothra Twins is about to begin,
Nelson gets a call to cancel the show, but he refuses. Apparently something
is going on at a nearby dam, and we soon see it is indeed Mothra at work
once again.
Finally the government does something useful and issues an order
that Nelson must release the girls, in order to stop the coming monster
apocalypse. Instead of complying, Nelson goes on the run with the Mothra
Twins.
 Mothra has made landfall and is moseying through the land,
taking out a small town that gets in the way, as fighter jets continue to fire
missiles at him. As is often the case, Mothra more or less ignores the
weapons and keeps going on his merry way.
Mothra finally hits the city, and the Defense Force rolls out tanks
and missile launchers to combat him. This is roughly as successful as the
fighter jets, as Mothra just sort of rolls on through, demolishing whatever
building is in his way. Eventually Mothra reaches Tokyo Tower and amid
numerous exploding rockets and shells begins to ascend up the side.
Eventually the tower breaks in half and Mothra lies on the ground, as the
military calls for a cease-fire. Mothra begins spinning a cocoon, and… the
military just watches. It would seem a good time to continue the battle, but
apparently not.
The people of nearby Rolisica vow to help against this Mothra
threat, and are sending their newest super weapon to aid in the battle against
giant bugs. They arrive to the cocoon site the next morning: numerous
atomic heat rays mounted on trucks. They look similar to the maser
cannons that Toho would use in later films. At 10:00 AM sharp, they begin
the attack. The cocoon is bombarded with fancy heat rays, and bursts into
flames!
Nelson has retreated to his home country of Rolisica, and it is
heard on the radio that Mothra is certainly dead. The news is broken to the
twins that Mothra has passed away, but they ignore the taunts and continue
singing.
Suddenly, the burned looking cocoon breaks open, and Mothra
emerges in adult moth form! Apparently atomic heat rays just speed up the
metamorphosis process. Mothra seems angry and begins fluttering about,
causing massive wind damage. Not having time to stick around and cause
more problems, Mothra makes a beeline towards Rolisica.
The government of Rolisica is not pleased, and issues orders to arrest
Nelson, which leaves Nelson in a bad mood.
New Kirk City is under attack! Mothra arrives to cause havoc in
what is obviously a stand in for New York City. All the signage is even in
English.
Nelson is trying to get away, but is hallucinating and seeing island
natives everywhere he looks. Police stop him and tell him to give up, but
he leaps out and shoots an officer—typically a bad idea. The other police
officers gun him down quickly, and soon the Mothra Twins are rescued.
Bulldog and crew come upon a church, and when viewing the
sight of the cross they suddenly have an idea. They ask the local authorities
to draw up a giant logo from the old artifact on a nearby runway, and have
all the churches ring their bells at three o’clock because it sounds like the
girls singing. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but they seem to think it’ll
do the trick.
At three o’clock, the bells ring, and Mothra is appeased! She
goes to land on the giant symbol they painted on the airport runway, and the
Mothra Twins are given back.
The tiny women somehow climb on Mothra’s back, and Mothra
lifts off, as the gathered crowd waves and shouts, “Sayonara!” They
decided not to dub that line, apparently.
We close with the Mothra twins emerging from a tiny Mothra
Temple door on the island, as the natives sing and dance happily, all praise
unto Mothra!
THE END!

Overview:

It’s a fun movie. The monster action is a little light, but the
human cast is entertaining enough. The exotic island sets look good, and
Mothra’s destruction is as fun as a giant caterpillar or moth destroying
things is going to be. Bulldog is likeable and Nelson is quite easy to hate,
so it keeps the film interesting.

Recommendation:

Not the most exciting film, but a worthy entry. Mothra will go on
to great fame and be second only to Godzilla in film appearances. If you’ve
already determined you’re not a fan of the giant moth, this won’t change
your mind.
Final Score: B -
 King Kong VS Godzilla, 1962
[From Around the World: The Triumph of King Kong, Italy]

“No more! I’m sick of Godzilla!”

Origin:

Okay, so… this one has kind of a long and sordid history. It
began as an idea by Willis O’Brien, the stop motion master who worked on
the original Kong film, where he wanted to put Kong against Frankenstein
via claymation. This idea bounced around for a while and Universal
optioned the idea, and at some point discovered that while they had
copyrighted the make-up effects for the Frankenstein monster they were
famous for making films about, they didn’t have film rights to the creature
itself. So the idea sat there for a while and eventually someone dug it up
and said, “Hey, those Godzilla movies from over there in Japan are
popular… why don’t we tweak this script and change Frankenstein to
Godzilla?” From there things went underway and a joint production
between Universal and Toho commenced! And… Willis O’Brien was
never told any of this was going forward until late in the progress and he
was heartbroken his idea was reduced to this. If it makes him feel any
better, they didn’t bother crediting him at all, anyway.
So here we have it, up to this point, and likely still today, two of
the biggest icons in giant monster films face off for the first and last time!
Kong is scaled up significantly, since the original Kong would be stupidly
tiny compared to Godzilla. Since he is from a different island and isn’t in a
crater at the base of the Empire State Building, we can assume this is just
another even GIANTER gorilla, I suppose.
When I was a very young lad, I bought my father this videotape
as well as a toy Godzilla and King Kong for Christmas. I think I got far
more use out of all that than he ever did. It’s the thought that counts, right?

Synopsis:
 Instead of opening with a Toho logo we get Universal
International! Then we go right into a nice King Kong VS Godzilla title
card and the opening credits.
Now… is it the Universal logo trying to show up again? Well, it
might be the same spinning globe for all I know, but its just a shot of the
earth revolving rather quickly, and we get a Shakespeare quote intoned over
the image: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are
dreamt of in our philosophy.” Okay, then.
We go to the UN, where we meet United Nations reporter Eric
Carter with the news. After he discusses a story I don’t think has anything
to do with the plot, he goes to talk about icebergs breaking up near Japan,
which is cause for concern. The concept of global warming was beyond
them, it seems. From there Carter goes on to talk about an AMAZING
DISCOVERY of big red berries! They apparently are a big breakthrough in
pharmaceuticals. The island they grow on is rumored to have a giant
monster on it, though. Convenient!
We go then to an exciting Pacific Pharmaceutical meeting. Some old guy is
explaining to the head of the company how he found the berries on Faro
Island. And a giant monster, he thinks. The boss, Mr. Tako, flips a coin
and tells his two employees, Sakurai and Kinsaburo, that its heads, so they
better go find the monster! “Find me a monster, rather he exists or not!”
Seems fair.
We follow Sakurai home, where he has dinner with his sister and
her boyfriend, and we are introduced to her boyfriend’s invention of a
super-strong thread. He shows its great power by swinging around outside
the balcony of the apartment.
We are now aboard the US submarine Seahawk, investigating the
issue with the melting icebergs. Strange seeing so many Americans in a
Godzilla film, other than lots of Raymond Burr. Suddenly the Geiger
counters go nuts and they see a glowing iceberg in the distance! A nice
Godzilla roar, a flash of light and flames and… well, no more Seahawk. A
copter sees their distress signal and flies down to investigate. The
helicopter crew is freaked out to see Godzilla digging his way out of an
iceberg.
A coastal military base scrambles as Godzilla comes ashore,
icebergs still floating around him. A sizeable unit of tanks approaches, but
he melts one with atomic breath (a nice effect), and the others turn and
retreat. Godzilla burns down the military installation for good measure, as
evacuation plans go into effect across Japan.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tako is watching the destruction on television,
and gets angry with the press Godzilla is getting. He pushes plans into
overdrive for an expedition to find him a monster of his own.
The Pacific Pharmaceutical vessel quickly arrives on Faro Island,
which appears to be inhabited by Japanese people in blackface. Sakurai,
Kinsaburo, and a translator dressed kind of like Gilligan go ashore and are
quickly taken by a few tribesman to the village. The village chief seems
angry at first, but after some bribery with a radio everything is cool. They
even are kind enough to start passing out cigarettes to the natives, and even
give one to a child. Nice! Greatest pharmaceutical company ever! The
chief says they can stay, but won’t be responsible if the god comes down
from the mountains and eats them. A wise business decision if ever I’ve
heard one. Then there is a crack of thunder and the natives stop their
smoking and all run off to do their interpretative dance and singing and
bowing towards the mountains. After a roar is heard Kinsaburo decides to
start worshipping the mountain god as well.
We get another news update from UN news’ own Eric Carter, and
it is awesome. An expert scientist brings a children’s book onto the news to
show pictures of dinosaurs from it, and explains how he thinks Godzilla is a
cross between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Stegosaurus. Greatest scientist
ever! I’m pretty sure his analysis was never considered again.
Back on the island, some stuff goes down and a kid is going to get
some berry juice to help the scaredy-cat Kinsaburo rest; but a giant octopus
wants berry juice as well and attacks him and his mother in the berry juice
hut! The villagers throw sticks and such at the monster and the kid and
mother escape, but the octopus is still there causing trouble, until at long
last King Kong shows up! He makes quick work of the wall apparently
designed to keep him out, and throws a chunk of it at the octopus, then goes
over to beat the tar out of it. It mostly looks like he is just holding it over
his face as they fight. Finally it has enough and crawls over some rocks and
out of sight. Hopefully to some water or something like a normal octopus.
Then Kong looks down and sees big jugs of berry juice, which he quickly
chugs down, showing us his stupidly articulate tongue. The villagers start
up their Kong praise and worship service again and he falls to the ground,
asleep.
 We then go to UN News where we find out not only that Kong is
on a boat on his way to Japan (with no explanation as to how they got him
onto a boat), but the awesome scientist guy from earlier is still there, and he
tells us that Godzilla has a brain the size of a little marble (which he holds
up) but Kong has a brain 10 times the size of a gorilla skull (which he also
holds up). He also mentions something about Godzilla being an amphibian
(which I guess contradicts him being a cross between two dinosaurs
earlier?). I, for one, am impressed with this brain size scale being made up
of gorilla skulls.
Back to the ocean, we see Kong on a big raft being dragged by a
boat, as Mr. Tako lowers down much like WCW icon Sting via helicopter to
look at his new pet giant gorilla. His workers explain that they have
dynamite on the raft; in case Kong gets unruly they can just blow him up.
Japan telegrams the boat and tells them basically “Get that stupid thing
back to the island, we don’t want him here!”
Japan is not faring well, as Godzilla is still strolling about,
apparently headed to Hokkaido.
While all this is going on, Kong is waking up on his raft, so they
decide to blow him up! After all the jokes with the plunger, it ends up not
working, so they have to shoot the dynamite. Finally it blows, but instead
of them all being covered in bloody hair, as you would hope, it just leaves
King Kong unharmed but free from his bonds and swimming behind them.
So he goes to Japan, too.
At long last, the two monsters meet! Kong throws a rock at
Godzilla, so Godzilla blasts his heat ray and singes Kong’s chest hair, and…
so ends the battle. More of a contract signing than an actual fight here,
really. I am really hyped to order the Pay-Per-View now!
Fortunately, the Japanese military has a great plan to stop Godzilla. It
involves digging insanely huge holes and filling rivers with gasoline. Gas
was cheaper back then, I suppose, but it still seems overly elaborate and not
well thought out.
Godzilla is lured by the flaming rivers and falls into a giant hole
they dug (to be fair I think they used a natural ravine, but there was a lot of
additional digging), and they set off dynamite and hope to have killed him.
As the military guys approach he, happily pops his head out of the hole.
Back to UN News, our favorite scientist tells us that while
Godzilla hates electricity, King Kong derives strength from it. Of course
gorillas love being electrocuted! One can assume that this is possibly a
leftover from the Frankenstein script, but it seems like someone would have
realized this didn’t make a great deal of sense and excised it from the final
draft. We will see that character changes like that tend to not get the
rewrites they deserve as we delve into Toho filmography.
At long last Kong reaches Tokyo, and happily runs along, arms
waving in the air and stomping on houses. He comes upon some power
lines, and holds a wire between his teeth like its dental floss. Hurray for
supercharged Kong! He rummages around and after a while grabs a train
car. As it turns out, the sister of Sakurai is onboard, and Kong pulls her out
and carries her to the Japanese Diet building. Apparently they were trying
to re-create the mood of Kong climbing the Empire State Building, but the
scale of Kong is significantly larger (to match the size of Godzilla) so it’s
not particularly impressive. He really only needs a stepladder to get up
there.
Mr. Tako and crew have a marvelous plan to rescue the girl!
They use loud speakers and drum the Faro Island’s native Kong praise song
while they launch narcotic berry juice missiles into the air around Kong. I
love all the elaborate schemes in this film. Kong gets sleepy and slides off
the building and while he slumbers on the Tokyo street the girl is rescued!
During all this chicanery, Godzilla has arrived at Mt. Fuji. The
Japanese Prime Minister says the atomic bomb is out of the question; the
only hope is to bring the two monsters together! At long last we get a
payoff for the super strong thread we saw early in the film. They get some
big cables of it and hook Kong up to a bunch of giant balloons and
helicopters. Greatest way to transport a monster I’ve ever seen, personally.
Mr. Tako is glad for the publicity, I’m sure.
After a night of Kong being ballooned through the air, they reach
Mt. Fuji and find Godzilla standing around looking at a rock or something.
They blow the balloons and Kong falls down, landing butt first and sliding
down Mt. Fuji, delivering a big kick to Godzilla. The battle plays out much
more like a professional wrestling match than it does two primal creatures
battling each other to the death--which is a good thing, in this writer’s
opinion!
My favorite moment is when Kong apparently throws a boulder with such
momentum that he rolls head over heels down the mountain and cracks his
head on a big rock. Excellent fighting strategy.
 After much scuffling, Kong is down for the count, Godzilla has
him buried in rocks and aflame with atomic breath… then DEUS EX
MACHINA TIME as a thunderstorm happens to move over the area and a
lightning strike empowers Kong! He begins beating down Godzilla with
electrical-sparky fists!
They battle across the countryside and end up seemingly taking a
moment to stop trying to kill each other and tear up a big pagoda palace, as
are often destroyed in Toho films. From there they hurl each other into the
ocean and an earthquake erupts (with some stock footage from The
Mysterians thrown in to add to the destruction).
Moments later, King Kong surfaces in the ocean, and is seen
swimming back towards Faro Island… no sign of Godzilla.
THE END! King Kong roar!

Overview:

It’s fun; and its actually supposed to be for the most part. The
two Pacific Pharmaceutical guys, Sakurai and Kinsaburo, are like a
Japanese Abbott and Costello, and if you dig that sort of thing they do a
good job with the comedy. Their boss, Mr. Tako, is fairly humorous as
well.
On the other hand, the UN News broadcasts I assume weren’t
meant to be so funny--but they are. Unintentional or not, I don’t think it’s a
bad thing with the tone of the film as it is.
The only really bad thing is the King Kong suit. I really think they
could’ve run to a local costume shop and gotten a random gorilla outfit for
$20, and it would have looked better. This thing is ugly. I assume they
didn’t intentionally have a really bad Kong suit, so its strange they did such
a bad job here; but again, the tone of the film is light so its not such a big
deal.
The Godzilla suit is fine--a little saggy looking, but it works.
Kong is a little more of the main star at the point in history the film was
made, so I guess that’s understandable. Godzilla is really more of the guest
star, in both this and his next appearance.
Like other early Godzilla films, there are significant differences
between the US and Japanese version of the film; they are considerably
different but both entertaining. If you were like me, you grew up reading
the Monster Series of books by Ian Thorne, where he perpetrated the myth
that there were alternate endings to this film, one with Godzilla winning and
swimming away, and the US version with Kong being victorious. Alas,
there is only an ending with Kong swimming off, although the Japanese
version features a Godzilla roar at the end instead of Kong. Exciting stuff,
this. I like to assume that Godzilla won and took a nap on the ocean floor
as Kong retreated, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part. Also,
most of the original score by Akira Ifukube was jettisoned for random stuff
from Universal’s vault o’ music. I recognized some Creature from the
Black Lagoon in there, which is nice, I suppose.

Recommendation:

The marquee value of the final bout is probably worth giving it a

view if you have the chance, especially if you enjoy professional wrestling.
Also of historical note, this film marks the first time either Godzilla or King
Kong were filmed in color.
So yes, end of the day, it’s a fun movie that definitely has no
intention of being taken seriously, and is worth a watch.

Final Score: B
 Atragon, 1963
[From Around the World: U2000: Warlords of Horror, Germany]
[From Around the World: Agent 04 of the Submerged Empire, Spain]

“Manda will be pleased with them!”

Origin:

Atragon definitely has a different feel to it than most other Toho

kaiju films. Like The Mysterians, it really is only barely a kaiju film at all
(enough to make the cut to be in this book, apparently). It delves into
patriotic themes with World War II veterans on the Japanese side of the
conflict, which is obviously something we don’t see too often in most
media.
The film is based off a series of novels for young adults written by
Shunro Oshikawa, who was clearly influenced by Jules Verne; basically, a
nice underwater sci-fi adventure, just light on the monsters.
Tough to come by back in the day, I never was able to track down a
video or find Atragon on television, but I was fortunate enough to have a
friend who ordered this critical piece of cinema history along with other
hard to find Toho classics, before everything started getting DVD releases.

Synopsis:

The film picks up right away with a car driving erratically and the
passenger being very concerned. Elsewhere, a bikini photo shoot is going
on by the waterfront, when the model is shocked to see a strange looking
scuba man climbing out of the water. The flash photography seems to
cause him to fall back in. Just then the erratically driving car comes flying
in and goes straight into the water!
The title card comes up to tell us: ATRAGON!
The next day, the car is fished out of the ocean. It was stolen the night
before, and the driver tells how he was almost killed. The two
photographers, Susumu and Yoshito, are also present, telling authorities
about the strange looking scuba diver they had encountered. Suddenly a
beautiful woman exits a ship on the harbor, and they decide they need to
hire her as a model. She ignores their calls and boards a car and is driven
away before they can catch up to her.
The man in car was a leading scientist, and he isn’t the only
scientist being kidnapped these days. Something strange is apparently
going on.
A mysterious acting reporter comes in to ask retired Rear Admiral
Kusumi about a special battleship that was being built during the war. He
insists the lead designer, Imperial Captain Jinguji, has created a newer,
better sea craft and is out in the ocean to this day! Kusumi has nothing
more to say to the reporter, though. The project was never completed,
Captain Jinguji is dead, and what little information there was on the project
is already public knowledge. The reporter leaves, and Kusumi’s assistant,
Makoto, the same woman the photographers were after earlier, discusses the
issue with Kusumi. Captain Jinguji was her father, and she wishes the
reporter was correct and he was still alive—but of course, they know better.
She wishes her father had stayed to raise her, but Kusumi tells her that
patriotism was the most important thing for the captain, and he had to fulfill
his duty to his country.
The two photographers have tracked down Makoto! They are
really keen on getting her undressed and taking pictures, it seems. Kusumi
and Makoto leave, with the photographers following--and the reporter
following them. Suddenly Kusumi realizes it’s not his regular driver! He
drives them to the ocean, and tells the admiral to leave the car. As the evil
driver takes the two at gunpoint to the water, the photographers arrive and
go after them, confronting the man. He says he is taking them to the
Empress of the Mu Empire, and is indeed Agent 23 of Mu. One of the
photographers tries to hit him with a wrench, but he tells him he has special
energy so he can’t be hurt. Well, that’s a convenient plot device.
Mu Scuba men start popping up in the ocean, and finally a glowing light is
seen farther out, likely their submarine, as a fight breaks out on the beach.
The Mu agent is clearly outnumbered, but puts up quite a fight. Finally the
admiral gets the gun and but the agent just runs into the ocean.
They report this incident to the authorities, and he wonders if the
Mu Empire is in Africa, but they tell him it was a continent that fell into the
ocean 10,000 years ago. As they discuss the matter, a package arrives from
the Mu Empire! They have great mail service. It contains a small reel of
film. The film gives a history lesson on Mu. They have become
technologically advanced beneath the earth’s surface, although they don’t
tell us how they survived the initial drowning. Now they have a fancy
underwater world. Captain Jinguji’s original craft is shown in the footage.
The Mu Empire doesn’t know where the captain is, but they implore the
people of Japan to stop him in developing his new super submarine. If the
surface dwellers don’t listen, the sea serpent Manda will be unleashed! Oh
no, what a threat.
Things begin to go south, as the Mu Empire starts sinking sea vessels and
destroying coastal cities. Venice and Hong Kong are no more, but we don’t
really get to see any of the destruction. Nothing they do seem to have any
effect, even their best submarines. They discuss the hydrogen bomb, but no
one wants to go that route. The UN begs Admiral Kusumi to let them know
where Captain Jinguji is so he can use his super awesome submarine to save
the day, but he insists he doesn’t know anything more about it.
A man is arrested that is suspected of being a Mu agent. He had
been following Kamoto around, which certainly raised some red flags.
When they interrogate him, he eventually admits to being loyal to Japan,
not an agent of Mu. He is working for Captain Jinguji. This is enough to
get him freed from prison, but he still refuses to reveal the captain’s
location. Another earthquake hits, courtesy of Mu, and the mysterious
reporter shows up to join in on everyone demanding to know where Jinguji
is, and finally the man gives in. He refuses to just tell them, but instead
they all take an all expense paid trip to the location… not just the
government officials, but the photographers and mysterious reporter as
well!
They eventually transfer from plane to boat and land on an island. Armed
guards, who lead them to a jeep, greet them. There are lots of various
modes of travel going on in this film. So exciting. At last they reach the
makeshift military compound, and eventually Captain Jinguji greets them.
He seems uninterested to see his daughter for the first time since she was
three years old, but is quick to get down to business. He refuses to use
Atragon… he says it was built only to serve the Japanese Navy, and will not
help the rest of the world. He insists he didn’t surrender in World War II,
and implies he is still at war, despite it being twenty years ago. This guy
doesn’t get the concept of being on the wrong side of history.
 The next day the group is brought into the dock to see the
Atragon take off for the first time. It is a breathtaking procedure of lots of
doors opening and closing and things moving really slowly. Finally it gets
out into the water, and then takes off into the sky, like any submarine
would.
There is eventually further arguing about honor and patriotism,
but the Captain remains opposed to helping the world. He is outraged how
Japan has apparently changed in his absence. Finally, Makoto shouting that
she hates him multiple times seems to be enough to begin to thaw his icy
heart, but still not quite.
As Makoto is walking away, the mysterious reporter kidnaps her.
It turns out he is an agent of Mu! Shindo, one of the photographers,
happens upon this, and they struggle. He has set bombs that blow up the
military compound, and the explosions bring their fight to an end. He
kidnaps both of them and takes them to Mu, leaving the Atragon covered in
rubble.
They are brought before the Empress of Mu, and she orders them to be
given to Manda. Good deal! The big crowd starts chanting for Manda.
They are placed in prison with the other kidnapped folks for the time being,
but Manda is outside their window.
Mu finally unleashes its forces on Tokyo, complete with lots of
their funny looking scuba men, but also aircraft with the capacity to do
some serious damage. They give a deadline for handing over the Atragon,
which will result in total annihilation if not met.
While all this has been going on, Captain Jinguji and his crew have dug
their super sub out of the wreckage, and at last are ready to go to war. The
Captain is ready to destroy the Mu Empire!
They are a bit too slow, however, as the clock strikes the
deadline. Cities collapse into themselves! Laser snakes on top of
submarines blow up sea craft! And an old man from Mu laughs evilly out a
window! At this point, the Atragon finally shows up.
Shindo and Makoto are finally going to be sacrificed to Manda, when
Shindo reveals to their Mu captors that he has explosives with him, and
he’ll blow the place apart if they don’t follow his bidding! He forces the
Empress of Mu to lead them out of the prison, and they end up in a room
full of the scuba suits. While they are suiting up, the Empress discretely
presses a button that causes an explosion and lets Manda out of his stony
house they keep him in.
The Atragon arrives on the scene just in time, and the scuba group
manages to make it past Manda and board the submarine. Captain Jinguji
tries to convince the Empress that peace can be made, but she refuses.
Naturally, the next course of action is to destroy Mu’s sea serpent. Manda
puts up a mild fight, but is underwhelming. The creature is quickly frozen
with the Absolute Zero ray that all super submarines should come standard
with. Accomplishing this, the Atragon uses its drill and enters into Mu’s
underground home, landing in the power room. A team disembarks and
starts blasting away at the Mu soldiers who only wield spears. After
dispatching the Mu troops, they set some bombs in strategic places and
reboard the Atragon.
The Atragon leaves, and the Mu base is blown into tiny pieces. A
Mu vessel starts using its laser snake, attempting to stop the super sub, but
it is greatly outmatched. The Mu Empress escapes, and guards try to grab
her, but the Captain says to let her go. She wants to die in her own country,
and her wish is granted, as she swims towards the explosions and isn’t seen
again.
THE END!

Overview:

Definitely a different flavor than your average Godzilla movie,

Atragon stands out—rather that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.
I really enjoy the film. There is a spy film vibe from all the agents of Mu
running around. The effects and miniatures are pretty decent, although I
admit to thinking the snake laser weaponry is silly looking, it has a certain
1960’s charm. Pacing is a bit of an issue as well. The set pieces are well
constructed, but we watch the Atragon take off for the first time much
longer than most people are going to want to.
There are stories of Japanese soldiers who were stationed on far off
islands who didn’t get the news that the war was over and thought they
were still fighting for their homeland long after the fact (this even happened
on Gilligan’s Island!), but in this case, Captain Jinguji knows exactly what
he is doing. It’s compelling to see how the man is torn by the patriotism he
feels for Japan and what the world and his daughter he had to leave behind
want him to do. It is also kind of awkward, because he was a member of
the Axis Powers. Still, there is a good story there of a man having to make
a choice.

Recommendation:

Manda is only thrown in as an afterthought, much like Moguera

before him. If you are strictly into Toho films for the kaiju action, this
probably isn’t for you. Otherwise, if you want a good old-fashioned sci-fi
adventure, with a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea vibe, this is the place to
be!

Final Score: B
 Mothra VS Godzilla, 1964
[AKA: Godzilla VS The Thing, Godzilla VS Mothra]
[From Around the World: Watang in Fabulous Empire of Monsters,
Italy]
[From Around the World: Godzilla and the Urweltraupen, Germany]

“I’m a scientist, and this is an experiment.”

Origin:

Mothra was popular, King Kong VS Godzilla did well… how

about another VS movie pitting Mothra VS Godzilla? Okay! Once again it
feels more like Godzilla is the guest star, and Mothra is the real focus.
The US distributors thought it would be better if Godzilla fought
a mystery creature; so all the press and trailers called it Godzilla VS The
Thing originally. Not to be confused with The Thing from Another World…
and that made it into the dubbing a few times. It’s the same movie no
matter what it’s called, though (not to be confused with the 1992 Godzilla
and Mothra film…).
Fortunately for me, this was a part of the package of Godzilla
films that TNT ran on numerous marathons in the early 1990’s. Nothing
says President’s Day Weekend like a Godzilla marathon—especially when
Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla song is the bumper between every film.

Synopsis:

American International Pictures present… GODZILLA VS THE

THING!
We get what I believe is the first use of what I’ve always
considered the “Godzilla theme” here, during the opening titles, amid a
crashing ocean. A tsunami of some sort is desolating some telephone poles
and building. It’s nice to get right to some action this time. A giant egg is
tossed about in the ocean, and the next morning everyone is all excited and
looking at it, amid the cleanup from the storm.
 An older man with a Hitler mustache complains to a reporter,
Ichiro Sakai, that his story paints things too bleakly, and that the city will be
back to normal soon. The reporter is annoyed and goes to find his
photographer, a young woman named Junko Nakanishi, who is taking too
long to get pictures taken. He tries to take over and show her how to get it
done fast when they see a weird slimy thing in the water in front of them.
The girl thinks its pretty.
The gathering crowd is afraid to go out there, even though a surly
businessman is trying to get them to. A man with a funny hat and weird
staff that looks like it has paper streamers on it says that they will be
protected from monsters by the gods if they go out and get the egg ashore.
Well, that settles it!
Reporter Ichiro asks the lead scientist if he thinks the egg will
explode. The scientist doesn’t think so. The surly businessman comes
forward and says he owns the egg now, as he bought it for the price of
153,000 chicken eggs. Nice. The reporter disagrees that a giant egg
washing ashore is something that can be bought, but the businessman insists
that he did. Being the mean man that he is, he asks Junko to take a picture
of him, and he blows smoke from his cigar at the camera right as she takes
it. That jerk!
The surly businessman begins plotting with another evil capitalist
to build a giant incubator around the egg and charge admission to see it.
Suddenly their meeting is interrupted by two tiny voices in unison! It is, of
course, the Mothra Twins. Not sure how they got here, but regardless they
insist the egg be returned. Instead of trying to reason with them, the
businessmen try to capture them by throwing a jacket over them. The tiny
people are more evasive then they look, and escape, partially due to Ichiro
walking in and interrupting their would-be captors crawling around on the
ground.
Outside, the twins begin pleading with the reporter and crew to
return the egg, they explain to them that the egg belongs to Mothra, and a
hurricane caused it to be washed into the sea. That’s what you get, Mothra,
for laying an egg so close to the coastline. Stupid moth. We then listen
closely and hear the residents of Mothra Island singing and dancing for the
return of the egg. Toho really loved using the island natives back in the
day. After this, the twins casually point out that Mothra is “over there.”
Not sure how Mothra snuck to the mainland, but there she is!
 The next day, the reporter and team return with the twins to the
Happy Enterprises guys and try to reason with them again. Instead, the
businessmen offer to buy the twins. Well, it seems reasonable enough, but
they didn’t go for that. While the news team discusses its next course of
action, they discover the twins have vanished. They soon discover that
somehow they are on top of Mothra and Mothra flies them away abruptly.
Ichiro and Junko go to visit their scientist friend, and their
meeting starts with them being decontaminated. “Why?” they ask.
“Because you’re radioactive,” he replies casually. Well, good to know.
They go out with the scientist to do some radioactive testing at
the egg’s crash site, and while arguing with the landowner, Junko goes off
to get pictures, but she can’t because the ground is moving. And…
Godzilla’s tail pops out of the ground! Followed by the rest of him,
fortunately.
Godzilla is all like, “Yo industrial park, I’m gonna smash you!”
And he does. Fire trucks are dispatched before we see any military
response. Good luck, firemen. Godzilla goes about his merry way, taking
out a big tower when his tail gets caught in it, and he does the traditional
destroying of a big pagoda. This time he trips and falls right into it.
Then we get our special AMERICAN FOOTAGE inserted just for
us, as the US sends battleships to the Japanese coast to fire super awesome
Frontier Missiles at Godzilla. They knock Godzilla down and do more
harm than the average man-made weapon, but clearly aren’t going to finish
him off.
We go back to a meeting of the news media… and one of them
casually mentions maybe “the Thing” could defeat Godzilla. The news
team things this is a great idea! I like that the media is making these
decisions and then telling the government and scientists what they should
do. The world would be a better place if this style of governing were
enacted.
Ichiro, Junko, and the scientist, Dr. Miura, go to Mothra Island,
which has been decimated by nuclear tests. Oddly, there is a skeleton of a
large turtle casually shaking its head back and forth. Looks kind of like the
Dry Bones enemy in the Super Mario Bros. games, but no one bothers
pointing it out. Natives (Japanese actors in red face this time instead of
blackface) show up and round up the team, taking them into a big cave
place. Well, only the ones that round them up are red…. The rest are
brown. Maybe the elite team of rounding up island visitors gets to be red
for some reason. An old man with a great beard (apparently the “chief”?)
tells them to drink a mystery liquid from fancy cups to cleanse the evil
spirits from them. Good, I was tired of them harboring evil spirits. They
ask the chief if they can borrow Mothra to help them. The chief goes on a
rant about how evil the mainland people are, what with their nuclear testing
that has ruined the island and killed off many of their people. Well, that’s a
fair point.
Then the tiny Mothra Twins start singing.
The twins tell them they have special powers, like telepathy. It’s
like tiny X-men! The twins turn them down again, but Junko gives a
passionate speech about how there are many good people in Japan and that
the innocent will die with the evil if Mothra does not intervene. Ichiro joins
in on the preachiness, and gives a good talk about how they must all help
each other.
Apparently bored by all the sappiness, Mothra begins chirping,
and the twins tell them to follow them. It’s great seeing the normal sized
people sprinting to keep up with the tiny little fairy girls.
They reach Mothra, and Mothra gets sung to.
Apparently the song does its job, as after the chorus is over, the
twins tell them Mothra has agreed to go to fight Godzilla—but Mothra is
dying and won’t have the strength to return home. Well, thanks Mothra,
that really is nice of you.
Meanwhile, the military is discussing their plan for awesome
electrical weapons to hopefully stop Godzilla. This is sure to go well! This
time they are going to use giant nets!
Much like in King Kong VS Godzilla, we get lots of construction
units digging a stupid-big hole again! Their preparation is well underway
when Godzilla shows up! A battalion of tanks goes out to stop him!
Godzilla just sort of keeps walking and ignores their volley of blasts, even
though shells are clearly detonating on his body. He’s hardcore.
Elsewhere, the evil businessmen get in a big fight because one of
them lost everything by taking the advice of the other. The one with the
Hitler ‘stache pretty much pounds the face of the other into a bloody mess.
Nice violence for the era. Godzilla doesn’t like to see people fight, and is
headed this way. While Hitler businessman is gathering money into a bag,
the bloodied up guy gets a gun out of a drawer and murders him (well, it’s
practically self-defense at this point), and attempts to run off with the
money, but Godzilla wags his tail and demolishes his building, presumably
killing him inside.
Godzilla then sees the tasty, tasty egg!
He tears away the incubator and is all excited for his snack when
Mothra flies in to the rescue! The giant moth and dinosaur begin scuffling,
Mothra unleashes hurricane like winds by super wing flapping, and
Godzilla is deterred for the time being. The egg rolls right to him, and he
starts hitting at it while trying to bat Mothra away with his tail. Mothra is
not fooled by this trickery, and grabs his tail, dragging Godzilla away from
the egg.
Most of the time in these films, we get Godzilla verses monster in
a similar shaped suit, and it’s a glorious wrestling match, but its nice to see
Godzilla verses a flying, non-humanoid shaped monster.
Mothra unleashes her FATALITY move: an evil pollen death
dust. Godzilla is weakened by it, but manages to let off a blast of atomic
beam and Mothra retreats, wing smoldering. Knocking Godzilla down a
mountainside, Mothra goes to land on her egg to die. Sad times. The death
dust did more harm to Mothra than Godzilla, apparently, as he is quickly
back on his feet.
Godzilla apparently has lost interest in the egg, as he wonders off
and the military gets a chance to engage him again, complete with giant
nets.
Amid all the pyro, Godzilla’s head catches on fire. I assume that
wasn’t intentional, but its cool nonetheless. The artillery and lightning rays
are pretty impressive looking and inventive here, but Godzilla doesn’t care
and trudges through.
Finally the moment arrives! A giant net is dropped on top of
Godzilla! Yay! More lightning towers (basically giant Tesla Coils from
Command & Conquer: Red Alert) bombard him, and the metallic nets act as
a conductor. Godzilla is down! Looks to be the most effective the military
has been in a while. They are ordered to increase voltage to put the monster
away for good, but it overloads the machine and the barrage stops; Godzilla
quickly melts the towers and gets up to incinerate the tanks surrounding
him as well.
After all that fun, Godzilla apparently recalls the giant egg he was
all excited about earlier, and heads back in that direction. With much
singing, the egg starts glowing and finally hatches. Not one, but two baby
Mothra caterpillars emerge! Kind of gross, really, but the people are
psyched!
In Godzilla’s path is an island that just happens to have a group of
school children visiting it at the time. I guess a monster rampaging the last
couple days isn’t reason enough to cancel school and field trips. Education
is important in Japan, after all. The baby Mothras immediately leap into
action after being hatched, and start swimming towards Godzilla!
One of the mean little Mothras is a biter, and give Godzilla’s tail a
good chomp, while the other sneaks to the other side and hides in a little
(well, relative to monster sizes) cave and begins bombarding Godzilla with
Mothra silly string silk cocoon spray.
Godzilla complains and flails about and throws a tantrum, but the
king of the monsters is no match for sticky string stuff spit out by bugs.
Eventually he falls into the ocean and everyone decides he is no longer a
threat ever again. Clearly being submerged in water will kill him.
The children are rescued from the island, and the reporters and
scientist wave as the two Mothra caterpillars swim away!
THE END!

Overview:

Many consider this the best Godzilla film of the 1960’s, if not
best of all time. I prefer the next couple films personally, but this is
definitely one of the best the series has to offer, and is a good example of
what Toho Studios had to offer with story and special effects in the 1960’s.
All the effects are solid, from the miniatures to the monsters, and all the
destruction in between.
The story is entertaining as well, and like King Kong VS Godzilla
before it, doesn’t take itself too seriously, with plenty of intended comedy.
As is often the case, the film has its share of unintentional comedy as well,
but that’s part of the charm of the genre.
Oddly, Mothra was referred to as a male in the first Mothra solo
film, but here we see that “she” has laid an egg and is referred to as a
female. Oh well. Mothras seem to have a short lifespan, so who knows,
maybe we’ve already moved on to another generation.
 Recommendation:

Definitely a must see—quintessential Toho giant monster action!

Plus a giant egg!

Final Score: A-
 Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, 1964
[AKA: Three Giant Monsters: The Greatest Battle on Earth]

“Ah, these monsters are as stupid as human beings!”

Origin:

Toho saw the success of mixing their own creations Godzilla and
Mothra together… so why not throw in Rodan and a new monster and see
what they do? At this time, it was becoming increasingly obvious that more
and more children were enjoying the films, and it was decided to take
Godzilla in a little more friendly direction. This film marks the first time
Godzilla fights to defend the earth, although he does so begrudgingly. It
would be a few films before he decided to go all out hero mode. This also
is the first time Godzilla gets a partner (actually two!) to take on another
foe.
Like many of the Godzilla films from around this period, this one
turned up on basic cable pretty often on the Turner networks. Between
Godzilla, cartoons, and NWA/WCW, Ted Turner kept me pretty occupied as
a kid.

Synopsis:

The title comes up, calling it “Ghidrah” instead of “Ghidorah.”

That’s what we knew him as back in the old days! Not sure why the change
seemed necessary at the time. Anyway, the credits roll and are intercut with
clips from later in the film of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan battling
Ghidorah, who remains mostly off screen here so we can be shocked and
appalled by his appearance later.
“The flying saucer people are obviously on guard against the
unbeliever,” a wise man says at the meeting of UFO watchers. They blame
the reporter, Naoko Shindo, who is present, for sending brain waves into
space and scaring off the UFO that otherwise would have arrived. As one
of the UFO fanboys is telling Naoko he doesn’t think the earth will explode,
but that something bad will happen, they notice multiple falling stars in the
sky.
One of them crashes into earth. Surely good things will come of this!
Meanwhile, some secret service agency assigns an agent, Naoko’s
brother, Detective Shindo, to protect a princess from some unknown
country who is coming to Japan to escape an assassination plot.
We go to the evil layer of the enemies of this random nation,
where everyone dresses stupidly, and they discuss the bomb they have
planted on the princess’s plane.
Then, to the plane: The princess is happy to be escaping her
home country for now… but a flashing light in the sky with a funny voice
tells her to jump off the plane. That would seem ill advised, but as soon as
she is out the plane explodes.
The crashed meteor couldn’t just sit there all by itself, so a team
of archeologists travels the treacherous mountain terrain to take a look at it.
They all get a bit concerned when they discover all their compasses are
pointing them directly at it (and they are pretty sure it’s not “North.”), so
they hurry along.
Naoko, reviewing tape from her meeting with the UFO fan club,
is told to rush out and get a story about a new prophetess that is out yelling
prophecies to people in the street! Someone in the crowd yells out that she
should do a strip tease for them. That’s… a little unexpected for a giant
monster film of the era, but we’ll take it! She continues to tell the crowd
that the world is on the brink of destruction. The prophetess tells the
reporter that she is from Mars. She predicts there will be a tragedy at Mt.
Aso. “As a man of science, I assure you her prophecies are absurd,” a
scientist at Mt. Aso assures us.
The cast comes together, as we see the agent going home to his
mother’s house, where his sister, Naoko, and she is apparently dating the
scientist who is looking into the meteor. Well, all that is convenient!
Their mother’s favorite show is on: Where Are They Now?!
There is an amusing discussion between the hosts of the show, and they
bring out a couple kids and ask them whom they want to see. They ask for
Mothra. One of the hosts says that Mothra is a science fiction monster and
they can’t do that. …? Breaking the forth wall? That’s very odd. But as a
consolation they bring out the Mothra Twins, and one of the kids ask how
the Mothra caterpillars are. We find out casually that one of them is dead,
but the other is doing well and protecting the island. Then a Mothra based
musical number. We get a cutaway to the island, where apparently they
spend all their time bowing to the giant bug.
The agent apparently finds this all boring, so goes to read the
newspaper, where he sees a picture of the prophetess, and realizes it’s the
princess from the plane explosion. Far away in Weirdo Land where the
princess is from, they, too, have the Japanese newspaper, and the uncle who
is trying to assume the throne sends his best assassin, Malness, to go to
Japan and kill her.
The police find a fisherman that can confirm the prophet woman
is indeed the princess because she traded him a royal bracelet for his coat
and hat. They tell him they will have to hold him even though they know
he didn’t steal it. Ah well, he had a good run. They still aren’t sure how
she could have possibly survived the plane exploding, so they do the
obvious thing and go talk to the UFO crackpot guy from the beginning of
the film. He explains how the explosion of the plane created a dimensional
rift and the princess was lucky enough to fall through it. Well okay, that
was useful.
The agent, reporter, and scientist all walk into a bar… and the
Martian prophetess comes on TV. She is saying Rodan is going to show up
at the volcano she’s at. A man’s hat blows into the volcano, so he pays
some guy to go get it for 200 yen (that’s just short of $2 US with today’s
exchange rate). The prophetess warns him, but he calls her an idiot and
goes on down to get the hat.
And then Rodan comes out of the rock. People flee in panic, and
Rodan flies around and knocks shingles off of some rooftops.
Meanwhile, the Mothra Twins are leaving by boat, and the
Martian lady warned that the boat will sink and shouldn’t leave port, but the
captain demands she leave.
Back at the meteor site: suddenly the space rock becomes even
more magnetized than before, and all their metal tools go flying towards it.
Naoko brings the prophetess to a hotel, and coincidently Malness
the assassin and his thugs are standing right there in the hall and see her.
She stares at him for a really long time, but then when the thugs discuss it
the leader comments he thinks its her but isn’t sure because there was no
sign of recognition on her face. Apparently it’s normal to stare at him for a
long time for no reason.
 In the hotel room, we discover the Mothra Twins have fled the
boat and are in there as well, heeding the words of the prophetess!
We get to see what happened to the boat--a marvelous case of
wrong place, wrong time. Godzilla surfaces in front of it, just as Rodan
flies over. Godzilla quickly incinerates the boat.
Naoko is called down by her brother, and leaves the prophetess in
the room, giving the assassin thugs the perfect opportunity to break in.
Instead of just killing her, the lead guy is all obsessed with making sure it’s
really her, and pulls a knife, telling her to say hello to the knife that killed
her father. After some delightful conversation, they decide it really is she,
and are slowly, slowly, moving the knife towards her to finally kill her,
when the Mothra Twins turn out the light. Just in time, the Agent Shindo
shows up and gunfire is exchanged, and the enemy runs off.
Godzilla makes it to land! As he is about to get busy destroying
everything, Rodan flies overhead and it seems to annoy Godzilla. He
clumsily follows after the bird, smashing whatever gets in his way.
Two monsters certainly isn’t enough, so back at the meteor crash
site, it starts glowing and lightning strikes all around. The meteor cracks
open, sparks, then flames shoot up and take the form of Ghidorah, the three
headed, two tailed, armless dragon.
Meanwhile, they are doing some kind of brain wave testing on the
Martian prophetess. The doctor insists she is normal. The prophetess
awakes and continues her happy tale of destruction upon the earth. She
tells how Ghidorah left Mars desolate and in ruin.
At last the sirens go off and people begin the fun evacuation
proceedings! Conscientious shop owners board up their shops before
fleeing in the streets. Ghidorah flies over a big Japanese castle and blows
some shingles off, and as if this isn’t bad enough, Godzilla and Rodan
arrive at to the area at the same time.
The exciting destruction is interrupted as we go to a government meeting
where they debate the use of atomic weapons and how they are going to
attempt a more technical approach to defeating Ghidorah. Fortunately, the
Mothra Twins are there! The location of the princess/Martian/prophetess is
then revealed on television, so the gangster assassins make their way to the
clinic. The Mothra Twins propose that Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla all
cooperate as a means of defeating Ghidorah. The government seems to
think this is a reasonable course of action.
 While it would be nice to mull it over, Ghidorah arrives to the city
and starts lighting things up, as he is apt to do. Nice miniature work here,
and some of the best city destruction scenes done with practical effects.
The twins immediately sing out to Mothra, and Mothra, being of
good hearing, hears their prayers and makes his way to the ocean to swim to
Japan.
Back at the clinic, they administer a truth serum on the prophetess
to try to get to the bottom of who she really is. She still thinks she is a
Martian. She divulges that several Martians escaped to the earth 3,000
years ago. This could be going somewhere interesting, but the gangster
assassins pull up outside, just as the doctor suggests shock treatment. Ah,
the good old days of psychiatric medicine.
As they prepare to shock the poor woman, the assassins sneak in
and turn up the switch on the electrocution shock machine, so that they
won’t even have to do any work to off the princess.
Back outside, Rodan has picked up Godzilla and is giving him a
nice ride, which ends in him being dropped onto power lines. Well, there
goes electrocuting the princess. A shootout erupts between gangsters and
the good guys. They get the princess out and drive away from the clinic.
Godzilla and Rodan continue their tomfoolery, Godzilla giving
Rodan some hits with his tail until Rodan bites it. Mothra finally arrives to
make some sense out of all this. Mothra attempt to settle things between
the monsters by spraying them with silly-string. Rodan appears to actually
laugh at Godzilla when he gets doused with it.
They begin their conversation. The Mothra Twins translate.
Godzilla and Rodan think it’s none of their business if the earth perishes, as
they have always had trouble with men and hate them. Rodan threatens to
just fly away.
Elsewhere, Ghidorah causes an avalanche that crushes the
Malness’ car. A handy coincidence.
Meanwhile, the monster conference continues. Mothra keeps
trying to persuade the other two to help, but they are stalwart in their views
on the matter. “Oh Godzilla, what terrible language!” the twins translate for
us. Mothra has had enough, and goes off to fight Ghidorah all on his
lonesome.
Mothra approaches Ghidorah and gets firmly blasted away.
Godzilla and Rodan have a change of heart after seeing the poor treatment
Mothra is getting, and go to join in on the battle.
As all this fun is going on, the Martian princess wonders off, and
the last remaining assassin, Malness, of all people, who survived the
avalanche, takes aim at her with a sniper rifle. The agent sees what’s going
on and they begin exchanging fire, as the princess takes a dive down the
mountainside. He goes after her as the gunfire still continues. The Martian
takes a hit to head in the fall and suddenly recognizes the assassin as a
traitor from her kingdom of oddly dressed people.
Ghidorah blasts Godzilla in the crotch with lightning and another
avalanche occurs, killing Malness once and for all. Agent Shindo and the
princess are safe!
The monster battle rages on, and Mothra even gets to hitch a ride
on Rodan’s back. Finally, taking all he can take, Ghidorah flies back out
into space, and the day is saved! Godzilla has begun a new career as
reluctant earth defender, apparently.
The princess, now in her right mind, has a small press conference
as she leaves to return to her country, and thanks Agent Shindo. Her plane
takes off, and we cut to Godzilla and Rodan sitting on a mountainside as
Mothra swims away and the twins yell, “Goodbye, goodbye! We’re going
back to Infant Island!” to them.
THE END!

Overview:

I really love this film, and it is easily one of my favorites, so I a

certainly biased here. Ghidorah’s assault on the city still holds up—it just
looks incredible. The footage would be used again and again in the years to
come. I guess if you get it right once, why bother doing it again? Rodan
gets to return to film as well, which also pleases me. The Terrible Trio of
Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra is just plain fun, especially with the
“discussion” that goes into them joining forces.
Godzilla and Rodan have both finally done something useful for
humankind, and crossed the line to earth defender. That certainly is a
critical moment that will follow them through the rest of the Showa era.
The whole royalty assassination plot mixed with alien prophetess is
also an entertaining story. It could be fun even without giant monsters
blowing things up, but fortunately we get that as well. The human drama is
entertaining in this film and you don’t get the feeling the movie is dragging
when there is no monster on the screen.

Recommendation:

A must see for anyone interested in the genre! Godzilla’s first face
turn coupled with quite possibly the best special effects in the series make
this mandatory viewing!

Final Score: A
 Dogora, 1964
[AKA: Dagora, the Space Monster]

“I’m still a young soldier!”

Origin:

This is yet another film from the Toho catalogue that feels out of
place among the other kaiju films. It basically is a heist movie, and does a
good job in that regard with lots of twists and turns among the characters.
I’ll be honest; I had a hard time following exactly what was going on, so I
hope above all hope that I have transcribed the events of this film
accurately. The title character, Dogora, is important to the plot, but still has
a small role compared to all the detectives and gangsters and scientists that
fill up most of the time. The real star of the film is the Mark Jackson,
portrayed by American actor Robert Dunham (who would go on to play the
angry Seatopian). Plans were in the works to do a series of crime thrillers
with him, but it never came together.
Dogora marks the first film encountered in this book that I had yet
to view for myself! I’ve never known for it to be shown on television, but
fortunately there are some DVDs of it floating around out there. It sat in
my collection for close to a decade before I got around to it for this book.
I’m sorry, Dogora.

Synopsis:

We begin with a shot of the earth from outer space, and soon find
ourselves inside a command center on the earth’s surface, monitoring outer
space. They soon spot an unidentified flying object, which confounds
them. We get a look at the shiny blue pulsating goo in space, the movie
title!
DOGORA: The Space Monster!
The credits roll with nice outer space visuals abounding around
them.
 A woman is sitting in her car in front of a jewelry store. A
couple of police officers find this suspicious and try to get her to move
along, but she refuses. As they walk away, they see a man floating
sideways down the street singing. …well, then. That’s different. The
police are quite baffled, and grab the man.
While the police are distracted, the girl radios her crew inside,
who are breaking into the safe. Their work is soon put on hold, as they start
floating in the air as well. Slimy blue ooze looks to be breaking into the
safe, as the burglar crew manages to get out and are driven off by the girl
out front.
Inspector Komai shows up at Dr. Munakata’s house. The doc is a
crystallographer, and while he is talking to the inspector, a big plate of
diamonds disappears. As the inspector inspects things, a man jumps out
and knocks him unconscious then runs away. It is none other than jewel
thief Mark Jackson. As he is on the run outside, the first diamond thieving
crew forces him into their car and drive off.
Komai comes to, and finds the doctor and his secretary staring at
him, and he is apparently quite smitten by her.
Mark Jackson is led by gunpoint into the crime gang’s lair. They
soon find that he has a bag of diamonds on him, taken from Dr. Munakata.
Komai tries to get the doc to make a police report on the stolen
diamonds, but he refuses, because they were fake. He was trying to
develop them to be used as resources and tools instead of just valuable
jewelry. You would think someone breaking into your place would be
enough to file a police report, regardless, but the doctor thinks otherwise.
Just then, the crime gang discovers the same thing, and lock up
Jackson. The crime boss calls in to headquarters (he apparently isn’t the
boss after all?) and is told that a big shipment of diamonds is arriving by
boat, and they plot to hijack them on their way to the processing plant. Just
then, Jackson shows up and drops two beat up guards into their office, and
runs off.
Komai is talking to the secretary, Masayo, when her brother runs
up. He works at the lab that was monitoring the satellite in outer space that
was destroyed. Suddenly they all begin to hear a strange sound, and her
brother says it’s the sound they heard when the satellite blew up! They look
around and see smokestacks being ripped off of a factory and rising into the
sky! Soon the entire plant starts to get sucked up in a whirlwind! There are
strange sparks in the sky as the scene ends.
Later, a truck transporting diamonds is cruising down the road,
when they spot a woman lying in the road! It is, of course, the gangster
woman setting a trap. As they are tending to the woman, the gangsters
show up and hold the drivers at gunpoint, and steal the contents of the
truck. Jackson arrives on the scene and they all begin shooting at each
other. The fun gangster shooting hijinks are interrupted by strangeness
from outer space once again, as a truck begins floating around, and the
gangsters run off.
Mark Jackson has returned to Dr. Munakata, to ask him about the
strangeness in the sky, and Masayo alerts Komai of this. The police arrive,
but Jackson calmly hangs around. They want to arrest him, but he insists he
is working for the World Diamond Insurance Association, and is on the trail
of what is stealing all these diamonds. He tries to talk the Japanese team
into letting him join them in their inspection.
Everyone heads to Kyushu, and the gangster girl tries to talk
Jackson into working with her and double crossing her gang. He turns
down the request, and continues to act mysterious.
Air raid sirens start going off, as another unidentified object is
detected. Dr. Munakata and Masayo join with the military in observing the
odd thing on radar. They send a reconnaissance plane to take a look at what
is going on, and they spot a swarm of bees being sucked into the air. Little
Dogora pieces begin raining down!
Meanwhile, the gangsters are spying on Mark Jackson. Komai is
waiting for him in his hotel room, and they begin discussing diamond heists
again, have a brief skirmish, and Komai leaves, returning to the Doc and
Masayo. As soon as he enters the room, the air raid sirens go off again, as
Dogora is headed to the area.
We finally get to see Dogora; up in the sky a big blue jelly fish
like thing is waving its tentacles around. Now that the creature is visible,
the military gets to work shooting at it. In response to this, Dogora start
sucking up coal from the surface below. Delicious, delicious coal. Once
Dogora has had enough coal, it grabs a big bridge and pulls it into the sky,
then hurls it back into the sea. It doesn’t like being shot at, apparently.
The military gets all excited when they think they destroyed
Dogora, but Dr. Munakata is not amused. Within moments, multiple blips
appear on the radar--all the military has done was cause Dogora to
multiply. Hurray. The many Dogoras go on a rampage around the earth,
eating oil and mines and such.
Masayo and Komai do some snooping around, and their
information leads the doctor to believe that wasp venom is dangerous to
Dogora; it causes its cells to crystallize, hence the falling debris when the
swarm of bees were pulled into the sky. A big batch of artificial wasp
venom is quickly put into production, as they didn’t have any lying around.
The gangsters are overall annoyed at all the goings on, and want
to steal some diamonds. They capture Komai and Jackson, and leave them
to be blown up, but they manage to escape. The gangster girl doesn’t want
anything to do with any of the groups, and runs off with the diamonds.
Dogora shows up again, absorbing some coal, but this time it is
attached with wasp venom. While this is going on, the gangster gang tracks
down their double-crossing gangster girl, and are about to kill her off when
Komai and Jackson arrive on the scene. A big shoot out erupts, complete
with some bomb throwing.
Gangster girl just doesn’t want to give up, and makes a run for it
with the diamonds, but the gangster boss sees this and puts a bullet in her
back.
The military is still at it, and begin dropped venom spraying
bombs and move out the venom spraying turrets. Finally the venom
squirting jets are dispatched as well. Dogora’s flesh begins to crystallize
before their eyes.
The shoot-out gets interrupted, as Dogora crystals begin falling
on the battlefield. As the gangsters are making a run for it, all of them are
crushed under a Dogora chunk. That’s a unique way for a gun fight to end.
The threat is ended, and Mark Jackson boards a plane to go home
to the United States, Dr. Munakata is going as well, to give a speech to the
UN. Komai and Jackson exchange a handshake, and its revealed Jackson
only ever had fake diamonds the entire time. Once again, the day is saved,
thanks to wasp venom.
THE END!

Overview:
 Dogora looks nice when he (or whatever gender it is) is finally
visible, but spends a good amount of time as invisible. The “sucking”
sequences, for lack of a better term, are well done. I can’t think of any
other Toho film that features that kind of effect and it’s impressive to see
buildings and debris sucked straight into the air.
All the crime drama and double crosses are interesting, but, for me
at least, it seemed as if there was too much going on and it was hard to
follow whose side anyone was on. Again, to be fair, this is the first time
I’ve seen the film, so perhaps upon another viewing I could discern the plot
a little better. Mark Jackson is a likeable guy, and while I don’t know what
exactly any further Mark Jackson adventures may have entailed, the
character was fun, and if Toho had done more crime drama/kaiju flick
hybrids, there could have been a lot of potential there. It wasn’t meant to
be, it seems.
Bonus points to Dogora for being an inanimate background object
in the Godzilla NES game.

Recommendation:

Not a necessity. If you do enjoy old fashioned gangster/heist

movies, feel free to give it a shot. You aren’t missing too much if you opt
out.

Final Score: C
 Invasion of Astro-Monster, 1965
[AKA: Godzilla VS Monster Zero]
[From Around the World: The Monsters Invade Earth, Spain]

“With you I have found love beyond all computation.”

Origin:

In a lot of ways, this film sounds a lot like Ghidorah: The Three-
Headed Monster on paper, but has an identity all it’s own. Instead of just a
crazy princess possessed with an alien prophetess, we get an entire invasion
of fine folks from Planet X. We also get Nick Adams in his first of a couple
roles in Toho films. He brings a fun energy to the movie, and it’s a shame
he didn’t do more roles in the kaiju universe.
This was one of the Godzilla films that I saw very early in
childhood, on TBS on a Saturday morning. Oddly, when it was edit to fit in
the time slot (or edited for some reason, anyway) they removed the entire
action sequence on Planet X, which concluded Godzilla’s wonderful dance
number. I wasn’t aware such an incredible event had occurred until years
later when I bought my own VHS copy of the film. The human drama in
the film is fine, but taking out monster action seemed like an odd choice.

Synopsis:

The opening credits start rolling; telling us Nick Adams is staring

in Monster Zero (despite the packaging of the film not calling it that). The
credits appear over still photos of various space craft and radar dishes,
definitely impressive visuals. Other than the space craft I honestly can’t tell
if they are miniatures or photos of actual facilities.
Text comes on screen to inform us: “A mysterious planet has been
discovered beyond Jupiter, and earth has launched an exploratory space
ship.”
Glenn and his Japanese co-pilot Fuji are approaching this
mysterious planet, which has been creatively named “Planet X.” Fuji tells
the command center to not let his sister do anything crazy while he’s away
in space. Glenn thinks this is humorous, while back on earth the doctor in
charge of the space mission questions Fuji’s sister, Haruno, and we find out
she is dating an inventor that Fuji does not approve on.
Apparently the inventor boyfriend, Tetsuo, is working on some
kind of newfangled rape whistle, as all the device does is make a loud and
annoying noise. He receives a phone call offering him a contract for his
miraculous device!
Tetsuo and Haruno have a date that night, where he confides in
her the device has been sold. It seems the World Education Corporation
wants to market the device as a toy. And yes, a company called “World
Education Corporation” is really a toy manufacturer. Tetsuo introduces his
girlfriend to the lady from WEC, Miss Namikawa, and she somehow knows
all about Fuji’s mission to Planet X.
At long last, Glenn and Fuji arrive on Planet X and begin their
testing and exploration of the new planet. They are startled briefly by a
sudden flurry of lightning, but continue on, as Fuji plants a dual Japanese
and American flag on a hilltop. Fuji then spies footprints, and warns Glenn,
but Glenn does not respond. He returns to the site of the landing and finds
that their spacecraft has vanished as well! A lighted cylinder rises from the
rocky ground, and a voice beckons Fuji to come inside.
Fuji is led by lights down a metallic hallway, and eventually
meets up with Glenn in a dark room. The lights go on and they find
themselves in a control room of some sort, and a contingent of men from
Planet X come into the room, wearing lovely Planet X garb. Just as they
begin to talk, some lights begin flashing, and the Controller of Planet X is
informed that Monster Zero has attacked the area once again. He tells the
astronauts that this is why they live underground; Monster Zero has
destroyed all life on the surface. With the press of a button, he reveals to
the earthlings Monster Zero… who turns out to be Ghidorah, whom Glenn
and Fuji recognize from his recent attack on earth.
It’s reported over the radio that a water tank was damaged, and
the Controller immediately encases the astronauts in a bubble and runs off
to tend to matters, but it is back seconds later, reporting everything is fine.
The Controller of Planet X then asks a favor: borrow Monster
One and Monster Two from earth; Godzilla and Rodan. He thinks it is the
only hope of Planet X, since they were able to drive Ghidorah away from
earth. No mention of Mothra. Glenn and Fuji are a little confused, since
they have no authority to lend earth’s kaiju to aliens, nor know how to
transport them into space, but the Controller insists its no problem, and in
exchange they will give earth the cure for ALL DISEASE! Sounds like a
good deal. The astronauts embark back to earth to see what everyone
thinks of this trade.
The Japanese Supreme Council discusses the matter briefly, and
decides it’s a great idea.
Meanwhile, Tetsuo goes to the World Education Corporation
headquarters to inquire about his invention, and what they are doing with
it. They tell him it’s still being researched, and a lackey goes back to ask
their boss about it. The boss has weird metal knobs on his back and is
getting recharged, apparently. He says to get rid of Tetsuo politely, but he
burns the plans for the loud buzzing device.
Tetsuo is most displeased with this lack of progress concerning
his device, as he won’t get the $100,000 in the contract until it goes into
production, and it’s discovered that Glenn is dating the woman who gave
him the contract to begin with. He vows to track her down and get to the
bottom of all this. Glenn seems intent on getting to the bottom of
something himself, if you know what I mean.
The next day, Glenn grabs Fuji out of the Space Authority control
room and takes him on a drive to where he had taken the girl the day
before. He says they spent the night in a bungalow here and in the middle
of the night, Glenn awoke to find his date talking to the Controller of Planet
X. The Controller told her that all preparations were made and not to worry
about anything. Fuji and Glenn are dumbfounded by exactly what all this
means, but they think the people of earth are putting too much trust in the
people of Planet X; that perhaps since they are having water problems they
are looking into moving to earth.
Soon thereafter, fancy UFOs come out of the water, revealing that
the Planet X folks have indeed been on the earth for a while now. The
Japanese Defense Force, a crowd of onlookers, and Glenn and Fuji gather
to stare at them, and soon one lands and the snazzy dressed Xians make
their way to talk to the earthlings. The Controller keeps harping about
peace, which is something we will come to see earth invaders do from time
to time in the Toho Universe, but the earth folks are angry that they landed
on earth without giving notice.
The UFOs then go about retrieving Godzilla and Rodan from their hiding
places. Godzilla is pulled from a lake, looking like he is peacefully asleep.
It’s hard to imagine how Godzilla made it into a lake without anyone
noticing, but not quite as odd as the other UFO finding Rodan curled up for
a nap embedded deep in a rocky mountainside. Toho does tend to have
kaiju turn up in unusual places, but Rodan’s choice is odd, as well the fact
he apparently phased through solid rock to get there, or resurfaced the rocky
exterior without anyone noticing.
Glenn and Fuji plan to accompany the gentlemen from Planet X
back to their planet along with the monsters and their boss Dr. Sakurai,
although Glenn has a tough time getting away from his new girl who wants
to marry him—but he promises that they will get married (a bit
sarcastically) upon his return to earth. Tetsuo sees her driving away and
demands the car be followed, recognizing she is the jerky businesswoman,
Namikawa, who bought his device and never paid him. He follows her to
the top secret Planet X island hideout, where he manages to quickly fall into
a trap door and be captured.
Meanwhile, the UFOs return to Planet X, and the earth men are
taken into the underground base, while Godzilla and Rodan stay on the
surface (Who needs oxygen and reasonable climate when you’re a giant
kaiju?), where King Ghidorah quickly shows up to see what his old foes are
doing there. A battle ensues, but Ghidorah doesn’t put up his usual fight,
and quickly retreats, which prompts Godzilla to do a lovely dance.
“A happy moment,” the Controller of Planet X states. This is the
first time Ghidorah has been driven off without any destruction or
casualties.
Instead of watching the fun times on the surface, Glenn and Fuji
have sneaked away to explore Planet X. They hop in an elevator as they try
to avoid guards, and wind up in a strange room full of gold, which they
recall being stated a few times that water is worth more than gold here.
Glenn spies his girlfriend, and isn’t quite as confused as you would expect,
but runs over to ask her what she is doing here (not really caring she is
dressed in traditional Planet X garb). She looks at him, bewildered, and
another woman walks out, who looks identical to the first. Fuji tries to talk
Glenn into getting out of there, but guards soon surround them.
The Controller chastises them for running off, and Glenn
comments how all the women look alike here, and figures out his girlfriend
is from Planet X. He then goes on a spiel about beauty being skin deep, but
mercifully the Controller cuts him off, and tells them they are forgiven for
running off, since they are guests. The earth emissaries are given an
audiotape with instructions on how to make the super duper wonder drug
that will cure all of earth’s illness, and shown that a duplicate of their first
space shuttle has been made so they can get home. Godzilla and Rodan
watch sadly as they are left behind on Planet X.
The astronauts return and everyone gathers around excitedly to hear the
audiotape that will give them the miracle drug. “I am the Controller of
Planet X. To the people of the earth:” Well, so far so good! “I demand that
you obey the following orders!” Oh… not so promising. “You will place
the earth under our absolute control and be governed as our colony!” He
follows up to explain their civilization will be wiped out if they don’t
comply, and Glenn calls him a double-crossing fink.
Rioting and looting ensues!
Glenn and Namikawa run into each other, and she admits she is
from Planet X, and that she is controlled by computers. She tries to talk
him into becoming a citizen of Planet X so they can get married. Glenn
gets angry and demands to know a way to stop the invaders, but before she
can reply, a contingent of Planet X soldiers come in, and arrest Glenn.
Namikawa tries to save him and professes her love for him, and with that a
Xian disintegrates her with his ray gun. Glenn speaks poetically, “You
rats! You stinkin’ rats! What did you do to her!?”
While the invaders from Planet X start blowing things up, Glenn
gets thrown into the same cell as Tetsuo. While they marvel at how
soundproof the cell is (even the bars!), sciency things are going on
elsewhere, and its discovered that the magnetic rays controlling the Planet
X individuals can be interrupted by a special light ray.
The prisoners discover a note from Namikawa that she had
apparently slipped into Glenn’s pocket, and among some romantic musings,
she tells him that annoying noises will disrupt the magnetic rays that control
the Planet Xians as well. Tetsuo puts two and two together and realizes that
is why they bought his device, which he happens to have with him. They
use it to take out some guards and escape the island.
Planet X’s deadline has been reached, and no surrender of earth
has been given, so they activate Godzilla and Rodan to begin an attack on
Japan, just like old times. They are controlling them with their fancy
computer radio waves. It was noted earlier that Ghidorah was attacking
America, but we never actually see this. The Controller is pleased with the
destruction of Godzilla and Rodan and orders Monster Zero to join the
attack with them, and he promptly arrives.
The military does its thing, but at this point, they really should
have learned their lesson and not bothered. The kaiju continue putting the
boot to the city, ignoring military efforts.
Finally, the people of earth are ready for their counterattack:
“This is an emergency. The unpleasant noise you hear on your radio
receiver is not a mistake. Do not turn off your set, but turn up the volume
as high as possible.” Zany though the plan may be, it proves effective, and
things start to go haywire for the Xians. The military moves out its units
with the light cycle rays and goes into action. They also begin bombarding
the island hideout, as things continue to go into disarray for the aliens.
As Planet X’s equipment malfunctions, they lose control of the
monsters (who fall over in comical fashion at this event, Rodan especially
looks like he’s throwing a tantrum). The UFO the Controller of Planet X is
in begins bursting into flames, but he still hopes to mount a counter to the
counterattack. Finally he relents, and says, “We will escape! Escape into
the future! Into that dimension we’ve never seen! All of you, join me in
escape!” With that, he presses a button and the UFO blows up, as well as
their island base. No idea what he was ranting about with his escape into
the future bit, but as it would turn out Planet X would indeed invade again
in 2004’s Final Wars.
Well, no longer under the control of Planet X, Godzilla and
Rodan are not fond of King Ghidorah, so they quickly administer a beating
to everyone’s favorite golden space dragon. In a great tag team move,
Rodan picks up Godzilla and rams him into Ghidorah, who is standing
conveniently by a cliff, and all three of them topple over into the ocean.
Moments later, Ghidorah emerges and flies off into space.
Godzilla and Rodan don’t bother surfacing, but its assumed
Ghidorah retreated back into space and they apparently didn’t feel like
bothering to swim back to the surface.
Glenn wants a vacation, but his boss tells him instead he’s going to go back
to Planet X and be earth’s first ambassador! A plot point that would never
be heard from again!
THE END!
 Overview:

This is another of my favorite films, but I will try to reign in my

passionate love for Monster Zero. Nick Adams and Akira Takarada play
off of each other very well, and Nick Adams is just a fun actor to watch.
Admittedly, the monster action in this film is limited—only a brief skirmish
on the surface of Planet X, some quick destruction, and a couple minutes of
Godzilla and Rodan driving King Ghidorah away from earth. This should
be a bad thing, but the human cast and plot are very engaging. The
mannerisms and dialogue from the Controller of Planet X is some of the
most enjoyable things put to film in cinema history. Okay, maybe that’s
overdoing it, but it’s pure entertainment.
Godzilla dances a little jig in outer space, as well. A happy
moment, indeed.

Recommendation:

Possibly the perfect film to encompass the kaiju scene from the
1960’s, definitely a must see. Clearly it’s not meant to be taken seriously,
and that’s okay.

Final Score: A
 Frankenstein Conquers the World, 1965
[AKA: Frankenstein VS Subterranean Monster Baragon]
[AKA: Frankenstein VS the Giant Devil Fish]

“You never heard what was said of Frankenstein’s experiments?”

Origin:

At one point King Kong VS Godzilla was going to be a

Frankenstein project. The concept of that floated around for a while and
became what we know as Frankenstein Conquers the World. Early
concepts had the Frankenstein monster fighting Godzilla, but for whatever
reason a new kaiju was created, and we get Baragon in his debut role. I
love Baragon, and I’m glad we have him, but having Godzilla fight the
Frankenstein monster would’ve certainly been a novelty, especially coming
shortly after his bout with another American movie star in King Kong.
Nick Adams was still working with Toho, so we get his final kaiju
film appearance here as well.
This film is certainly more of a rarity, although I happened to see
it via mail order before it was widely available in the United States.
Eventually it made a handful of appearances on AMC back when they
showed a fair amount of Toho stuff, and the nation rejoiced when this film
was released commercially on DVD.

Synopsis:

The opening credits play out as the camera slowly pans over
various things in a laboratory.
Bombs and snow alike are falling outside, as World War II rages
on. A mad scientist looking fellow is listening to the heartbeat of
Frankenstein’s monster’s heart inside a big container, as Nazi soldiers burst
in and take it away from him. The scientist is mad and starts smashing all
his colorful bottles and such.
 The chest containing the heart boards a U-boat and travels from
Germany all the way to Japan. Hopefully nothing would happen to the
monster’s heart that would expose it to massive radiation! It’s delivered to
a Japanese scientist who seems eager to research it. It is only referred to as
“Frankenstein’s heart,” so I’ll give in and drop “Frankenstein’s monster”
since they aren’t bothering to make the distinction. As they prepare to look
at the heart, we find out it’s August 6th, 1945… and the atomic bomb drops.
Fifteen years later! An American doctor, James Bowen, is doing
his rounds in a Japanese hospital. He laments that Hiroshima was a tragedy,
but it has given them the opportunity to study cellular structures. Always a
silver lining!
Out in the streets as the nurse walks home, an old man yells at a
boy running away. We don’t get a good look at the boy, but the old man
thinks he is murdering his dog and going to eat it.
We then get a scene of a bunch of school children yelling happily
and running into their classroom, where they find a mangled and bloody
rabbit in multiple pieces on the floor. They stare for a moment, then all run
out of the room screaming.
Dr. Bowen is hanging out with his fellow doctor, the beautiful
Sueko Togami, when they hear a commotion outside, and see a car has hit
the feral boy. He gets up and runs away, though.
The next day, the boy is found in a cave, grunting back at the
policeman, villagers, and two doctors. They consider shooting him, but
eventually the Dr. Togami is able to sweet talk him out.
A big group of men in suits and reporters gather around the kid as
he eats, and Dr. Bowen is impressed that he hasn’t succumbed to radiation
poisoning.
Shortly after the discovery of the weird boy, earthquakes start
breaking out in the area. That typically isn’t a good sign in a kaiju-plagued
nation.
While Frankenstein Boy is being studied, he is watching
television, and seems to be enjoying a band performance, when a man
screams on the screen. He immediately throws the television out the
window. As Togami tries to calm him, they think he is about to attack her,
so Bowen hits him with a chair, but he really just wanted to look at her
necklace.
Around this point they also begin to notice that he keeps growing and
growing. So, like any reasonable hospital, they put him in a cage to contain
him.
Finally a former military man shows up, and he explains to them
all about Frankenstein’s heart arriving in World War II. He tells tale of how
the heart simply wouldn’t die.
Another doctor, Yuzo Kawaji, rushes to Frankfurt, Germany to
talk to the scientist they took the heart from. He explains that as long as the
heart gets sufficient protein, it will restore the body of Frankenstein, and
cannot be destroyed. He advises hacking off the kid’s arms or legs to see if
they grow back. Also, the severed limbs will stay alive! Finally, an excuse
to hack off limbs!
Back in Japan, they are all pretty eager to hack off limbs and see
what happens, other than the Togami. Bowen eventually relents and says
they should think it over longer at least.
Dr. Bowen is having his other two doctor buddies over for dinner, but the
Kawaji is running late. He certainly wouldn’t have stayed late at work to
hack off one of the kid’s limbs, would he? Well, maybe. We don’t quite
see what he was doing there, but he brings a whole film crew with him.
They anger the wild man and he manages to rip his own hand off from the
chained manacle and escapes into the streets!
The police arrive, as the mad man just sits in the jail eating,
ignoring the bodies of the film crew that were crushed by his cage when he
broke out. The police open fire, but it doesn’t seem to hurt him too much.
He bursts through the wall and runs away, going to find his friend
Togami… the only person that seems to really care about him and not treat
him as a monster or science experiment. He grunts in her window briefly,
but then runs away.
Later, the cell the creature was in is being investigated, to try to
determine how he escaped. They think maybe he slipped his hand out of
the chain, but then see the severed hand crawling around the cell. So… that
confirms it. Frankenstein!
As experiments are done to his hand, Frankenstein moves on to
Okayama to eat more delicious animals. The officials begin considering
tanks since the regular police weaponry isn’t cutting it.
Meanwhile, some party boat is doing its thing, when suddenly the
crew spots Frankenstein in the water. The partiers on the boat seem
dismayed. Frankenstein loves the groovy music, though.
Frankenstein later tries to catch a wild boar, but a tank drives into
his trap he dug for it. Stupid tank. It’s kind of a strange sequence.
That night, yet another wild party is going on, and suddenly the
earth shakes, and Baragon makes his screen debut! He smashes the place,
killing many. However, no witnesses survive. In fact, all the bodies of the
dead are gone. Frankenstein gets the blame.
Soon its time for a montage of Baragon eating things! He eats
chickens! He eats a horse! Good times for Baragon!
Finally, thanks to a surviving witness, people start to realize that
Baragon and Frankenstein are two separate creatures.
Dr. Bowen and friends are making one last sweep of the woods in
hopes of finding Frankenstein, when Kawaji reveals his plan is to blind
Frankenstein and take his heart and brain. That seems nice and all, but
when he demonstrates his chemical bomb he is going to use to blind the
monster, it arouses Baragon, who apparently is displeased by chemical
bombs being hurled at him. They make a run for it, but of course, the girl
falls down. Before it’s too late, Frankenstein arrives on the scene and
begins wrestling Baragon!
Amid the scuffling, Dr. Kawaji is injured, but Frankenstein takes
the time to save him and give him back to Bowen and Togami, showing
there is no hard feeling for wanting to extract his brain and heart.
Baragon retreats during all this, but pops out of a mountainside
elsewhere and goes to attack a village; but Frankenstein jumps in just in
time once again and the battle continues. Baragon is more annoyed this
time and starts breathing a fire-like ray in retaliation. Frankenstein has
apparently forgotten his long-established fear of fire, and picks up a couple
of torches to aid in his Baragon battle. They don’t stay in his hands long,
and soon a forest fire erupts.
Soon flames surround them, but Frankenstein doesn’t let this
deter him, as he lifts Baragon high above his head (despite his much larger
body mass) and twirls him around, then throws him on the ground and
chokes him out. He raises his arms in victory, then a volcano opens up
underneath him and he and Baragon’s body go under.
THE END!
 Overview:

This film definitely has a unique flare to it compared to many other

Toho films. Toho doing a film about the Frankenstein monster is an
interesting take, and all the more so because he becomes a giant and fights a
kaiju. At first thought on hearing about the film, one might wonder how or
why is Frankenstein’s monster in Japan, but that’s explained rather
ingeniously with its ties to Nazi Germany in World War II and then the
atomic bomb.
We also get an impassioned performance from Nick Adams… one
of the American actors who always seemed to at least make it look like he
was enjoying himself in these films; although maybe that was due in large
part to his female costar?
The overall effects are a bit muddled. Nothing is outstanding, and
a few things are downright poor. The miniature horse and wild boar being
prime examples: not utterly lifelike. The same goes for some military units,
where some appear better than others.
As is almost always the case for Toho films of the era, however,
the miniature buildings and set pieces are once again top tier. The scale of
things is smaller than is typically in Godzilla films, but that doesn’t throw
off the set building crew.
My biggest complaint is for a film called Frankenstein Conquers
the World, I was disappointed that at no point in the film does Frankenstein
conquer the world. Very misleading.
 Recommendation:

It’s fun, it’s unique, but it isn’t the best. If you are a fan of
Frankenstein and want a slightly more down to earth film, give it a watch.
If you want to see Baragon in a larger than usual role, here is your chance.
Beyond that, it’s not really required viewing, but certainly not bad.

Final Score: C+
 Godzilla VS the Sea Monster, 1966
[AKA: Ebirah: Horror of the Deep]
[AKA: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas]
[From Around the World: Frankenstein and the Monster from the Sea,
Germany]

“Its too bad Mothra has no alarm clock.”

Origin:

This film began its life as a Toho King Kong film, entitled King
Kong: Operation Robinson Crusoe. It was sadly not meant to be, as the
Kong handlers didn’t think the film was fitting for their star, so Godzilla got
the gig instead. Toho would go on to produce King Kong Escapes the
following year. It’s a shame, as it would have been neat to see Kong
interact with another Toho mainstay in Mothra, but alas, it was not meant to
be. It does become obvious at various points in the film that Godzilla was a
last minute substitution, and script alterations weren’t always bothered with.
Godzilla VS the Sea Monster is the first Godzilla film I ever saw.
Thank goodness for Grandpa Munster hosting Super Scary Saturday on
Saturday mornings on TBS, or who knows where I would have ended up in
life?

Synopsis:

We get opening credits after the title card, and I believe those
weren’t present on VHS copies back in the day.
Some kind of soothsaying woman says that Yata is not dead.
Well, I’m happy to know that, I suppose. Apparently the mother of Yata is
seeking out her son who was lost at sea. Everyone tells her he must be dead
except this medium.
Well, everyone except her and Yata’s brother, Ryota. He is trying
to get another rescue boat to look for him, but they refuse. However, a
poster for a dance marathon promises that the winner will get a boat! All he
has to do is be the last man dancing and he’ll win a sail boat of his own to
go rescue his brother somewhere in the ocean! Talk about a foolproof
plan! Well, it’s already been going on for three days, so he can’t join. A
couple guys who finally gave up give him a ride to the beach to at least let
him look at some boats there.
They randomly decide to board a boat to get a good look at it, and
it turns out the owner is sleeping in a bunk with a gun. Instead of shooting
them or at least making them leave, he invites them to spend the night, but
they have to leave first thing in the morning. Japanese hospitality, eh?
The next morning, they awake to discover they are in the middle
of the ocean. It seems Ryota decided to take them out to sea. We also
discover the rifle was only a toy, so that explains why no one was shot. As
they sail, they listen to the radio, and hear a report that the yacht they are on
was stolen by a bank robber. So the owner wasn’t there after all, just a
stowaway bank robber! Good times! As it turns out, none of the others
know anything about sailing a boat, so they are forced to let Ryota do
whatever he wants.
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed! The
helm breaks, and they are definitely in trouble… then they see a giant red
claw reaching out of the water. Things aren’t exactly looking up. The claw
crushes the boat, but they make it out and manage to get washed onto the
shore of an island.
They climb a cliff side and find a big machete at the top, which
freaks out one of the guys because he assumes it belongs to cannibals for
some reason. They trek on and find some fruit trees, and after a wonderful
meal of island fruit, they look back out to the water and see a white boat
patrolling. They are hoping to be rescued, but the boat doesn’t seem to
notice them. They continue to traverse the island, and find a big mysterious
looking militaristic base. The ship they had seen earlier pulls into a port,
spraying weird yellow stuff into the water the entire time.
Off of the ship comes many island natives, apparently captured by
this military group to use as slave labor. It is the terrorist group Red
Bamboo, we’ll find out later. A few of the natives make a run for it, and are
shot at by a mounted machine gun and armed guards. A couple of them get
to a tiny raft and make it out over the water, but the evil red claw pops up,
this time with the rest of Ebirah, the Sea Monster! Basically, he is a big red
shrimp monster. He skewers the escapees and has a nice snack.
 One female slave ran into the jungle instead of the water, and she
encounters the shipwrecked Japanese guys. She runs at first, but eventually
they decide to get along. She oddly speaks perfect Japanese (well…
English, in our case). A guard hot air balloon spots them, and soon they are
all under fire. They manage to hide on a narrow cliff, the numerous armed
guards assuming they jumped into the ocean, and are either drowned or
eaten by Ebirah.
A storm blows in and the group hides in a cave. The native girl
prays to Mothra, as most people would do in this scenario. Discovering she
is from Infant Island, Ryota gets all excited and asked if his brother Yata is
there. It seems he is! Obviously they have other problems to tend to now.
We get a glimpse of Infant Island, where a praise and worship
service in honor of Mothra is going on. Even the Mothra Fairies are there,
being tiny and singing in front of the well-choreographed dance routine.
The twins were re-cast and don’t look much like the originals—but this is
the last time they’ll show up in the Showa era.
As they are discussing their plans, the group looks down and sees
Godzilla is sleeping in the cave. You’d think this would’ve been obvious
sooner, but ah well, better late than never.
They venture out and find a big terrorist military-like installation
before them, and ingeniously carry a bush in front of them to sneak up to
the door, which the criminal of the group of course knows how to pick the
lock of. They enter, and it looks like the hideout of an evil James Bond
villain inside. A few sliding doors later, and they find their way into a
laboratory. Inside is a nice stash of bowling pin looking smoke bombs.
They spy on some scientists working in the lab, and discover that
the place is being used to make nuclear bombs! Not really the best thing for
a terrorist group with a secret island base to be making. As they attempt to
crawl out, multiple armed guards greet them. The castaways use smoke
bombs to get outside and attempt some classic getaway tactics, but
eventually they are spotted and shot at. One is captured, one gets his foot
stuck in a hot air balloon’s rope and floats away, and three escape.
As the three question their future, they hear an interesting sound:
Godzilla’s heartbeat!
The captured guy is thrown in with the Infant Island natives,
where he discovers just what they’re doing; they are being used to make the
yellow liquid that keeps Ebirah at bay when the Red Bamboo sail around.
 Back on Infant Island, Mothra is still being praised (there
apparently isn’t much else to do there), but Ryota, who lands from the
balloon ride, interrupts the service. His brother Yata is there! They are
reunited, and it feels so fine!
The decision is made to wake up Godzilla. That’s what I do when
I run out of options. Yoshimura, the safe cracker, doesn’t want to do it, but
finally is talked into it. They rig up the sword they found earlier with some
wire, and wait for lightning to strike!
The enslaved natives get the bright idea to throw out the yellow
liquid and make a fake batch. On Infant Island, Ryota and Yata go back to
help the slaves, and are told by the Mothra Fairies to build a large net, but
are not told why. As they row back, a big storm blows in…
Lightning strikes the wired sword, and Godzilla gets an electrical
jolt. He blinks, waking up! He claws out of the mountainside, and
immediately goes into the ocean to confront Ebirah! What kind of titanic
violence can we expect? They throw a rock back and forth at each other in
extreme beach volleyball! Eventually Ebirah throws it too hard and it hits
one of the Red Bamboo structures. Godzilla, perhaps angry that their toy
was thrown too far away, lights up the lobster with an atomic ray, then the
two of them begin pummeling each other. Ebirah eventually flees, and
Godzilla goes back to the island.
Back on the island, the Yoshimura is explaining how they need to
set up more traps, and just then Ryota and Yata show up, hanging upside
down, caught in one of the previously set traps. They plot to free the island
slaves, and are split up when soldiers start shooting at them.
Dayo is chased up a mountain, but Godzilla pops up, and the Red
Bamboo flee. Godzilla uncharacteristically seems to take an interest in
Dayo, but it isn’t really much of one, he soon sits down and falls asleep.
Just when you think it will all go smoothly… the GIANT
CONDOR shows up and attacks Godzilla! Godzilla’s greatest foe! Will the
King of the Monsters be dethroned!? Well, it turns out Giant Condor isn’t
flame resistant, so it is a short-lived battle. To celebrate, Godzilla seems to
scratch his nose? I assume that was a pop culture homage from back in the
day that most of today’s audience will not understand what it is in to
reference.
Then Red Bamboo fighter jets show up! They really are a well-
financed terrorist organization. A few of the jets seem to simply fly directly
into Godzilla, and the others don’t fair much better. It is enough of a
distraction for Dayo to be rescued, though.
After wiping out the Red Bamboo Air Force, Godzilla strolls over
to the military complex, where he is bombarded with some artillery, but it
doesn’t really seem to bother him. He runs into some power lines that he
doesn’t seem to want to cross, but forgetting he has atomic breath, smashes
his way through with a rock. No one will notice this part was written for
King Kong.
“Set the nuclear time bomb on automatic, immediately!” Well,
that doesn’t sound good, but that is what the leader of Red Bamboo wants.
They press the button, and the countdown begins! Yoshimura, Yata, and a
bunch of recently rescued natives all run in, and are confronted by one of
the scientists who threatens to blow up the island immediately; but then
Godzilla steps on the base and the scientist is covered in debris. He warns
them the bomb will go off automatically in two hours, though.
The Red Bamboo guys who have survived Godzilla’s onslaught
escape via their big white boat. As you may recall, the natives had
switched out the anti-crustacean yellow liquid with an artificial version,
thus Ebirah smashes the boat, and ends the Red Bamboo threat.
Godzilla is on shore, and apparently wanted to do it himself! He goes into
the water to face the horror from the deep yet again!
In the laboratory, the guys are trying as hard as they can to reach
the deactivation button on the nuclear bomb, but the button keeps
dropping. Such a jerky way to set up the bomb, Red Bamboo. I mean
really. With twenty minutes to go, they give up and run back to meet up
with the natives, who are hard at work building their net as they were told.
Back on Infant Island, Mothra has finally heard enough singing and seen
enough dancing, and takes to the sky!
Godzilla and Ebirah’s battle reaches its end as Godzilla tears the
crustacean’s claws off. That’s about the meanest thing he’s ever done, I
think. He enjoys playing with the claw for a bit, as Ebirah retreats and
Mothra flies overhead.
Mothra reaches her people, but Godzilla has decided he isn’t
friends with Mothra anymore, so he shoots an atomic ray at the insect.
Mothra lifts off, blows some dust around, and knocks down Godzilla with a
wing slap. Mothra then grabs the net of islanders and takes off!
 They yell at Godzilla to run away from the island, and of course,
Godzilla always listens to what people in nets carried by Mothra say! He
takes a big flying leap into the ocean just as the nuclear bomb goes off!
The island is engulfed in flames and sinks into the ocean. They
wax poetic about nuclear arms a bit, and spot Godzilla swimming away.
We close with a shot of Mothra flying towards Infant Island.
THE END!

Overview:

Godzilla doesn’t get to visit Japan for the first time in his career.
Having the bulk of the movie take place on an island was an interesting
choice, one that Toho apparently liked, because the trend continues in the
next Godzilla film, Son of Godzilla. This is a fun movie, the castaways are
likeable, and the villainous Red Bamboo gives off a James Bond SPECTRE
vibe (the jazzy score by Masaru Sato also exudes the feel of a 1960’s spy
thriller). As was said, Godzilla is subbing in for King Kong, and he doesn’t
seem like himself. The sets are built to a scale making him seem smaller,
and he interacts occasionally with the humans, which is definitely not his
style.

Recommendation:

Godzilla is a little off his game here, and Ebirah and the Giant
Condor don’t put up a worthwhile fight. If you like Connery-era James
Bond, this one might be for you. Beyond that, it’s inoffensive but not a
must-see.

Final Score: C
 The War of the Gargantuas, 1966
[AKA: Frankenstein’s Monsters: Sanda VS Gaira]
[From Around the World: Frankenstein: Duel of the Giants, Germany]

“We were sunk by a hairy, big giant!”

Origin:

Frankenstein Conquers the World was so great, it got a sequel!

Well, kind of. In Japan, this film was billed as a sequel, but they changed
things up in the American version and called the monsters “Gargantuas”
instead of “Frankensteins.” A shame, really, but in the end it is still the
same movie, just with references to the previous film removed. This was
another US co-production, with Russ Tamblyn filling the role of American
doctor in Japan. Originally the dismembered Frankenstein hand from the
other film grew into one of the monsters while Frankenstein got really
hairy, but instead they are just new creatures.
This was another one that made it to Saturday morning on TBS, so
I was fortunate to see it at a young age. It’s just a tad bit creepier than the
average Godzilla film, since there is direct dining on humans here, which
isn’t really typical Toho type antics. The wonderful song sung in the film,
“The Words Get Stuck in my Throat,” would go on to be performed in a
Scooby Doo cartoon (Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated), so today’s youth
can get a taste of great quality in song writing.

Synopsis:

Henry G. Saperstein presents… a boat in the ocean, during a

storm! An octopus tentacle creeps in to attack the man steering the boat. It
pokes around a while, and eventually grabs the poor guy, and it is as if we
are getting a preview of the future classic film The Goonies, as he shouts
“Hey, you guys!” and the monstrous creature lets go, as it is suddenly
embroiled in conflict with a gross, hairy Gargantua! After a quick beat
down of the octopus, the Gargantua turns his attention to the boat, and
smashes it into pieces.
The War of the Gargantuas title card comes on screen! Credits
roll over the dark, stormy ocean.
The officials make a quick call to Dr. Paul Stewart, who has dealt
with Gargantuas before. He had captured one five years ago, but it got
away before many tests had been done. Dr. Stewart arrives to meet the lone
survival of the decimated boat, who mumbles something about a giant arm.
Later, when he is more lucid, he says that as the men tried to swim to shore,
the Gargantua picked them out of the water; their clothes washed ashore
later, and were all chewed up. Oddly, they are not overly bloody, but that’s
how it goes I suppose.
Dr. Stewart and his assistant insist to a big press conference that
the Gargantua they had previously had in captivity would never live in the
ocean and sink boats, and certainly not eat anyone. We get a flashback to
the baby Gargantua, who was apparently a playful fellow who never did
anyone any harm.
Soon after, another fishing boat is destroyed by a giant green
hairy man. He even pokes his head up on some shore and plenty of
witnesses see the weirdo.
Dr. Stewart and crew hypothesize what the creature could
possibly be. Dr. Stewart thinks it could just be a mutation of existing
animals they already know. Well, okay then… I’m sure plenty of currently
documented animals could produce a giant green hairy man. They also note
that sightings have been happening in distant areas that match the
description, so they worry perhaps there are two of the creatures!
Not too long thereafter, its good times in Japan! A Gargantua
pops up from the ocean and approaches an airport. Things are promptly
smashed up, and eventually a woman is grabbed from a building, whom the
Gargantua makes a tasty treat out of, then casually spits out of the clothes.
Once again it is as if the film is forecasting the future, this time, the video
game Rampage. Suddenly the clouds part in the overcast sky and the sun
shines through, which disturbs the monster and he hightails it back to the
water.
Despite mounting public pressure, and an airport being destroyed,
Dr. Stewart insists that his Gargantua wasn’t responsible.
 It is now time to go to the happening nightclub. Everyone’s
favorite song “The Words Get Stuck in my Throat,” is performed live on
stage. Good fortune for us all, as the lights are turned down during this
romantic ballad, and Gaira has no qualms showing up and grabbing the
singer. Sadly, the lights are turned back on, and the beast drops the woman
and runs off.
This gives the officials the bright idea to have the people of the
city turn on all their lights and open their shades, to keep the monster away.
They comply, and it seems to do the trick. They track his trajectory towards
the mountains and send out the Self Defense Force to meet him.
The military has something new up their sleeve, that will become
a Toho Kaiju film mainstay: the maser cannon makes its debut! The exact
scene even becomes a mainstay through a couple more Showa era films, but
I digress. They begin with artillery barrages, which seem to injure the
creature more than typically does in this genre; his fur even ignites into
flames. Gaira pushes through the pain and makes it to the front line, where
he begins grabbing tanks and hurling them into nearby houses with
surprising accuracy.
Finally the masers mobilize into position, and the military readies
the attack. A couple of helicopters attempt to distract the beast while final
preparations are made, and get knocked out of the sky. Apparently the
temptation was too great to fly that close to a monster, even though a safe
distance wouldn’t be hard to keep.
Finally lasers start going off and the maser cannons begin their
barrage! Gaira tries to hide behind some trees, but the masers cut them
asunder. The Gargantua flees to the water, which is now electrified. The
beast is wounded and bloody, and falls to the ground. Suddenly a second
Gargantua appears! It is the brown colored Sanda! He picks up his brother
and guides him away. The military doesn’t bother trying to attack it, for
whatever reason.
Dr. Stewart finds a gross green hairy clump, and takes it to a lab
for analysis. He asserts that the creatures may not be brothers as we know
them, but that cells from one could produce another, so now there is
concern that destroying the creature could only cause them to multiply.
While out searching the area, Dr. Stewart and Akemi are met with
fleeing singing hikers. They have just seen Gaira and are not pleasantly
surprised. The doctor and Akemi make a run for it as well, but Akemi,
being… you know… a girl… falls down a cliff side and is dangling from a
branch. Just as she falls, Sanda makes the save! She is returned to Dr.
Stewart and Brownie roams away.
As the military plans to destroy all Gargantuas, Sanda returns
home and sees a pile of human clothing beside Gaira. This makes Sanda
angry! As any of us would do when angry, Sanda pulls out a tree and
attacks Gaira with it. The war of the Garganuas is on! Well, sort of. Gaira
runs away, flailing about and smashing some houses, and escapes to the
ocean.
Plans are made to destroy both creatures, although Dr. Stewart still insists
Sanda is harmless. That night, while Dr. Stewart and Akemi are plotting a
way to save the brown Gargantua, the sirens go off as Gaira has made his
triumphant return to the city. Soon after it is discovered that Sanda is
headed there as well, hopefully for a more exciting skirmish than last time.
The doctor and Akemi try to hide in a Tokyo subway, but Gaira puts his
gross hairy arm down an entranceway and gropes for them. There is plenty
of room in the subway to stay away from the entrance, but Akemi randomly
decides to run towards the entranceway and ends up in the palm of Gaira,
just as Sanda shows up! Gaira decides there will be time to eat Akemi later
and rolls her back down the hole, and goes to meet his brother.
There is biting and shoving into buildings, as the two tussle about
the city streets. Due to their more humanoid form compared to the average
Toho kaiju, the battle pacing is quicker and feels a little more like a
professional wrestling match, which clearly is a good thing.
It appears that the masers are running behind schedule, but a
bunch of tanks roll through Tokyo’s streets, and open fire on both of the
monsters, as well as the buildings nearby. The battle continues, some
chunks of building smashing the tanks, and finally we see that the masers
are on the way!
The Gargantuas take the fight to the waterfront, and finally the
masers show up and start blasting away at the two troublemakers. The
lasers obviously are hurting the monsters but they are still more interested
in fighting each other regardless. Eventually they roll into the harbor and
the start taking apart some boats, the maser cannons still taking shots at
them.
The military helicopters have had enough of these shenanigans,
and fly above the beasts, then begin dropping a massive number of bombs
on them. Having bombs exploding on your head is bad enough, but they
manage to trigger an underwater volcano that is conveniently located right
where the monsters are slugging it out. Still completely enthralled with
their struggle, they continue their wrestling as the lave forms around them
and they go to their deaths.
Dr. Stewart asks if both monsters were confirmed dead, the man
he is talking to tells him: “No living thing could have survived.”
THE END!

Overview:

This is a really fun movie. The Gargantuas are a different type of

monster than what we are used to, and have a little more personality. The
sets are great and much more consistent than Frankenstein Conquers the
World. It’s nice to finally have the maser cannons showing up, and their
laser attack holds up great. Russ Tamblyn does lack some of the
enthusiasm that Nick Adams had, but he isn’t bad in his role.
Occasional rumors of the Gargantuas being revived would pop up
from time to time, and at one point they were slated to battle Godzilla, but
so far it hasn’t happened. We can always dream.

Recommendation:

War of the Gargantuas is a great movie that showcases another

side of Toho’s work. It’s all top notch except for the musical number, but
that enters “so bad, it’s good” territory--definitely worth a watch.

Final Score: B
 Son of Godzilla, 1967
[AKA: Monster Island’s Decisive Battle: Godzilla’s Son]

“We don’t need any publicity.”

Origin:

Godzilla had accomplished a lot by this point in his career, so why

not have him become a father? No one knows how the egg showed up on
the island, but we can all agree that the son of Godzilla, Minilla, is the best
kaiju ever! Okay, so most people hate him, but Minilla got to appear in
three films in a row. It was clear by now that children were making up
more and more of the viewing audience, thus Toho suits decided it was time
to give Godzilla a child. If there is one thing kids love to watch, it’s a
single father raising a baby.
I talked my dad into buying me the VHS tape of this from a bin of
videos at the now defunct Hill’s Department Store as a kid. A happy
moment, indeed.

Synopsis:

A plane is flying through a storm, and suddenly the radar is

knocked out due to interference. Suddenly, they spot Godzilla outside, and
barely avoid him. After they change their course, the interference goes
away, and they determine it is coming from Sollgel Island nearby. Godzilla
seems to be heading that way, and they surmise something is calling
Godzilla to that location… and we get a title card!
SON OF GODZILLA!
The credits roll over footage of a tropical island. Soon we see a
couple of guys walking around, and they arrive at their small research
base. They call in some status reports, then take up arms briefly as they
hear a freaky sound from the jungle. Whatever it is passes them by.
Next we are at the main base, where a couple of guys are starring
at monitors. One of them compares volunteering for this scientific study to
be like being in a concentration camp. Well, okay, that’s appropriate, all
right. Suddenly their monitors start buzzing and the radar picks up
something headed towards them. They rush out and join a few other men,
all staring up at a plane approaching. The UN is the only organization that
knows they are there, so they think maybe some supplies have arrived, but
instead a nosy reporter, Goro Maki, parachutes out.
The reporter insists on staying until he gets a big story, but the
science crew wants him to leave the island. They realize it won’t be easy to
get him back to land, so they decide to let him work for them in the kitchen
and doing laundry. Once again a sound comes from the jungle, and they see
a couple of glowing eyes. It’s a giant praying mantis--more or less human
size. They fire a few rifle shots at it and it retreats.
Goro has taken to his cooking duties, and heads outside the camp
to gather some “Sollgel spinach” so the crew can have fresh vegetables.
While he is out, he spots a native girl swimming in the water. She sees him
and dives underwater, but doesn’t resurface.
That night at dinner, the crew makes references to their experiments, which
seem to have to do with controlling the weather. Goro asks if they intend to
freeze the island, and what they can do to help the native girl, but they insist
they searched the entire island and no one is there. The lead scientist finally
explains that they are trying to control the weather so they can turn overly
hot places like this island into a place that crops can easily be grown, to
solve the world’s hunger problem.
Soon after, the conditions are right for the experiment, and the
crew goes into action. As they prepare to begin, they notice the reporter is
missing, as he has gone out to find the girl. They sound an alarm, to try to
get him to return, but the experiment begins without him returning. They
blow up a balloon in the air and start spraying silver iodide into the sky.
The temperature begins to rapidly decrease. They move on to the next
phase, which for whatever reason involves radiation exploding in the sky.
Suddenly, interference from the center of the island cuts off their connection
to it, and they can’t detonate when planned, so instead of freezing, they got
a nuclear storm with winds and acid rain.
Apparently Goro returned in time, because after the acid rain has
passed he is out taking pictures with the professor. Suddenly they spot a
giant praying mantis, but now its more Godzilla-sized than man-sized.
Apparently the nuclear storm agreed with them.
Three of the giant praying mantises, or Kamacuras, as they are named,
converge on one spot, and begin hitting at it with their pointy praying
mantis claws. An egg rolls out!
Meanwhile, they have a meeting on whether they should continue
or not, and most are in favor. One guy is starting to get a little mutinous,
though. Apparently the heat knocked out their radio, so they can’t contact
anyone to pick them up, anyway. We hear some whispers between the high
ranking officials that the radio is fine, they are just lying so they can
complete the experimentation.
They hear something outside and everyone rushes out--Goro
notices a shirt that was on the line is gone. They shine a light into the trees
and see the native girl, who quickly disappears into the jungle.
The Kamacuras are out, hitting on the egg still. This is a long
process, I guess. In the dub, the experiment leader comments that Goro
named them Gimantis, as in Giant Mantis. Finally the egg starts to crack!
The son of Godzilla rolls out! He is not going to fair well against three
giant insects at this point in his life.
Back at the base, the man who was sick of being on the island
runs out with a rifle, acting all crazy. They chase after him and try to pull
him back in, as he obviously has flipped out. He gets to the shore before he
stops, and just then Godzilla arrives! He seems to come to his senses and
returns to the base.
Godzilla strolls right through their main base and pretty well
demolishes it. He continues on to rescue his child. The crew realizes now
that all the interferences problems they have been having were due to the
baby calling his father. Godzilla makes fairly quick work of the
Gimantises, incinerating one with fire right off the bat, and performing
some body slams. After frying a second one, the remaining Kamacuras
realizes it’s probably time to get out of there, so he makes his exit.
Godzilla then lumbers away, leaving his son behind. The native
girl creeps out of the jungle, and makes weird noises towards him. He
seems to enjoy that, and she offers him some fruit, causing him to wag his
tail. She tosses one in his mouth, but then Godzilla comes back, and she
scurries away. Godzilla offers the child his tail. He climbs on, and
Godzilla gives him a ride to his island hideout.
The native girl returns to her secret cave, to find that Goro has
fallen in there. She throws a knife at him to welcome him. They talk, and
she reveals her name is Saeko (Well, the dub tells us Reiko).
Back at the base, they are surveying the damage from Godzilla,
and discover that this time, the radio really is out of order! HA! That’s
what you get for lying. Goro brings Saeko to the camp and introduces her
to the science crew. Then the remaining Kamacuras shows up to cause
problems. They shoot at it and it meanders away. They decide to move
their base of operation into the cave Saeko has been hiding out in, where it
will be cooler and less monster invasions.
Godzilla’s son, Minilla (Minya in the dub), is trying to entertain
himself by kicking a rock around and using Godzilla’s wagging tail as a
jump rope. Good times.
The lead scientist is reading the notes from Saeko’s father, who
had been researching on the island before his death, and discovers the man
had encountered a Kumonga (Spiega in the dub). No one can tell him what
that is, exactly. Suddenly most of the crew has come down with a high
fever. Saeko tells the team that there is some “warm, red water” on the
island that will make everyone well. Unfortunately, its in Godzilla’s lair,
and they must pass the sleeping Kumonga to get to it. Goro laments how
with all these creatures, this is a “Monster Island.” If only he knew. It’s
decided that it’s worth the risk, and Goro and Saeko venture out.
Godzilla has decided it’s high time his son start learning what it
takes to be a monster, and Goro and Saeko arrive just in time to watch.
Education is important, kids. Godzilla shows off his atomic breath, and it
freaks out his son. Being the good father he is, Godzilla threatens to hit
Minilla when he doesn’t try his own atomic abilities. All Minilla can
muster is a smoke ring. On the second try, Godzilla stomps on his tail, and
this gives him the ability to shoot an atomic ray of his own. Godzilla is
pleased and goes back to sleep. He sleeps a lot in this movie. Minilla is
pretty stoked with his new found ability, and cuddles up to his father for the
night. Goro and Saeko take some of the Kool-Aid looking water and return
to base.
Furukawa goes crazy for the third time, and grabs a rifle and starts firing
randomly. The professor gets hit in the arm, but it doesn’t seem too
serious. The professor finally decides that once the radio is fixed, they will
give up on the experiment and return to Japan. I guess getting shot will do
that to a person.
 He next day Saeko ventures out to collect some herbs, and runs
into Mr. Kamakuras. It chases after her and knocks her unconscious. She
does her weird noise thing before she is out, and Minilla shows up to
attempt a rescue. His atomic breath has gone back to smoke rings, but it
seems to annoy the giant insect at least. Kamakuras is not amused and
knocks him down, which causes some rocks to slide down and awake
Kumonga. Well, that’s unfortunate.
While the Gimantis is sidetracked, Goro rescues Saeko from the
area. Minilla keeps backing up from the monster, but finally Godzilla
arrives onto the scene. Atomic fire to the face and the bug flies away.
Kumonga takes this moment to rise from the ground and crawl up the
mountainside towards the humans. He spits some webbing at them, which
they can’t seem to cut through with a knife, but the heat from a lighter
seems to cut through easily enough. The giant spider traps them in a tiny
space and starts poking around inside with one of his legs. They dodge
some additional webbing, and climb up the crevasse and make it back to the
camp.
Kumonga apparently likes to be a jerk, and spins his web right
outside the cave the team is camping out in. He even decides to kindly
poke around inside with one of his legs. They did manage to get the radio
working again, at least, but they need to set up an antenna outside for it to
do them any good. Saeko knows of another secret tunnel that goes out to
the shore, so they go out that way to set up the antenna. Minilla comes to
watch, acting bored.
Bored Minilla ventures around in the area, until he comes face to
face with Kumonga. All the scuffling outside causes rocks to start falling
inside the cave base. The professor, being called “the professor” on the
island, knows what to do in cases like this. He instructs the crew to attempt
the experiment one more time, in hopes of freezing the monsters so they
can escape. Meanwhile, word reaches them from the radio that a ship is on
its way to rescue them.
Minilla has now been completely encased in Kumonga’s web;
things aren’t looking too good. Then Kamacuras randomly shows up,
distracting the spider. He decides he might as well kill him, too, and
promptly wraps him up.
All the science experimenting going on awakes Godzilla, who
begins rummaging around the island, searching for his son. He arrives just
in time, and nails Kumonga with a rock. Kumonga is no slouch, and
manages to get Godzilla onto the ground and starts coating him in
webbing. With the use of atomic heat, he eventually manages to free
himself, but Kumonga pokes him in the eye with his… spikey poke thing
that he has in his mouth.
The science experiment has been a success! It begins snowing on the
island, as the crew boards a life raft and heads out to sea.
Amid the snow, father and son continue the battle with the giant
spider. Minilla’s atomic breath seems to be working again, and after further
scuffling, Kumonga seems to have had enough. Godzilla and Minilla do
what all father and sons should do, and ignite the evil giant spider on fire
together.
Minilla struggles to make his way through the ever-deepening
snow, so Godzilla takes him in his arms and they apparently hibernate (or
die!).
A submarine pops up out of the ocean near the rubber raft the
science team is on, and they are rescued. “When the snow melts, Godzilla
and his son will probably live on that island,” states Goro. Presumably this
becomes Monster Island, although it’s never stated outright. “Good bye,”
says Saeko, with a wave.
THE END!

Overview:

The tropical island setting is still fun, even though we just

experienced it with the last Godzilla film. Unfortunately, no Red Bamboo
terrorists show up, unless the whole science crew is secretly working for
them, hoping to manipulate the weather for their gain. Or not. In any
event, the island setting looks great. We are used to great cityscapes, but
they nail the tropical island setting as well.
Minilla is greatly reviled, but possibly since I had seen Godzilla’s
Revenge and Son of Godzilla at such a young age, I’m immune to the
hatred. Sure, he’s silly looking, and not really needed, but that’s the route
Toho decided to take, so I’m willing to go with it. Minilla’s interaction
with the island girl is odd, but his interaction with Godzilla is entertaining,
in my opinion at least.
 The Kamacuras puppets are impressive looking creatures.
Kumonga a bit less so, but still isn’t a bad looking kaiju. Minilla simply is
what Minilla is, but the Godzilla suit is lacking here. Taste in rubber
monster suits is certainly subjective, but this is probably the worst looking
at least in my opinion.

Recommendation:

This is one of only two Godzilla films that have Minilla in a major
role, and Manilla is not for everyone. The movie is fun, but if a weird
looking, goofy acting baby Godzilla is too much for you to handle, this can
be avoided. Otherwise it’s a fun watch for what it is.

Final Score: B-
 King Kong Escapes, 1967
[AKA: King Kong’s Counterattack]
[From Around the World: King Kong on the Island of Terror, Finland]
[From Around the World: King Kong, the Giant of the Forest, Italy]

“Go on, you idiot ape!”

Origin:

After what would become Godzilla VS the Sea Monster was nixed
as a King Kong film, Toho got to work on drafting this film. It is loosely
based on the Rankin/Bass animated series of the era, and was in fact co-
produced with them. As a result, American actors Rhodes Reason and
Linda Miller star alongside Japanese actors Akira Takarada, Mia Hama, and
Eisei Amamoto.
King Kong Escapes made an occasional television appearance in
my childhood. It was always a thrill to see a mechanical King Kong.

Synopsis:

Right off the bat, we start with a submarine doing its thing
underwater, and soon the title card…
KING KONG ESCAPES!
The credits continue on over the submarine crew going about
their tasks. Lieutenant Susan Watson enters a room on the submarine where
Commander Carl Nelson and Lieutenant Commander Jiro Nomura are
looking at a picture of a gorilla. Susan thinks this is dull, but Jiro points out
that this particular gorilla is 60 feet tall. Apparently King Kong is just a
legend as far as they are concerned, but they’d like to check it out. So
apparently the original 1933 King Kong and King Kong VS Godzilla are not
part of this continuity. They have photos of unexplained giant stairs and a
big cave, that Kong is said to have built, on Mondo Island.
Suddenly we are at a snowy evil hideout—it has a nice homey
Bond villain feel to it. Mechani-Kong is being built inside! Dr. Who
(probably not the one you are thinking of) is building it as per his
partnership with Madame Piranha and her quest to obtain Element X. King
Kong is apparently a great digger (because that is what we all know gorillas
to be good at), so a robotic duplicate will be just as effective!
Mechani-Kong is raised on a platform to the North Pole’s surface,
and starts lumbering around. Dr. Who goes on to talk about how great
Element X is. Apparently it is highly radioactive, and once Madame
Piranha has it, her nation will be a nuclear superpower and be able to rule
the world!
Mechani-Kong enters an icy cave, and starts his task. He is
supposed to be just like that great digger Kong, but he just starts dropping
bombs everywhere, which I assume Kong doesn’t do. I’ll also note that
even if we assume Kong IS really a good digger, it might be more efficient
to build a drilling machine instead of just a duplicate of Kong, but alas, Dr.
Who does what he wants. It goes well for a couple minutes; Mechani-Kong
just sort of falls over, then. Dr. Who explains that the magnetic mass has
destroyed his circuits. Should’ve seen that coming. They go back to the
drawing board and work on shielding the circuits.
The submarine we began with suddenly starts having problems.
A rockslide has damaged the rudder, so they surface for repairs. The
original intent wasn’t to even land on Mondo Island, they just liked talking
about the giant gorilla there. Now they have no choice.
Carl, Jiro, and Susan board a hovercraft and venture out onto the
island. A wild man on top of a hill starts yelling at them. He is telling them
not to enter. He claims they are trespassing in King Kong’s home, all while
waving a stick around. Not to be deterred, Carl and Jiro venture deeper into
the jungle, leaving Susan with the hovercraft.
Gorosaurus, apparently being a big fan of hovercrafts, waltzes
onto the scene to greet Susan. She starts screaming, for whatever reason,
and Kong is awakened. The dinosaur and gorilla bellow at each other
briefly, but then Kong is distracted by Susan, probably because she is a
blonde. He picks her up and is quite pleased. Gorosaurus approaches, so
Kong puts Susan in a tree and the two start fighting.
Gorosaurus is fond of doing kangaroo kicks, and knocking Kong
down. It works a few times, but eventually Kong catches on and gets the
dinosaur onto the ground, where he begins pounding on it. Gorosaurus
stops moving, and Kong pounds his chest, then goes to pick up Susan
again. After she yells at him a bit, he puts her down, but then Gorosaurus
bites Kong’s foot. The crew escapes in their hovercraft before further
misadventures can claim them.
As the craft approaches the sub, a big snake comes after it. Kong
has finished off his dinosaur foe again already, and hurls a rock at the
snake. The snake is annoyed, but keeps pestering the hovercraft. Kong
dives into the water and begins wrestling the snake, letting the crew make it
back to the submarine.
Once inside, they prepare to escape, but the rudder isn’t quite
fixed yet. Kong has dispatched his snake and started poking at the sub.
Kong starts knocking on it, waiting for someone to come out. Susan insists
on going, even though Carl doesn’t want her to. She talks to Kong like he’s
an idiot, and he stops badgering the ship… but decides to pick her up
again. After some protesting, King Kong seems to understand what “no”
means and returns her to the sub.
Commander Carl Nelson cancels the rest of the mission, and
returns to the UN. The world is shocked to hear of Kong and the dinosaurs
roaming around on the island. The same crew is going to return to Mondo
Island for further study. One of the reporters present at the conference is
Madame Piranha in disguise. She reports to Dr. Who that her country will
extend his time limit in getting Element X, and they plot to get King Kong
to do their bidding in place of the robot.
Dr. Who dispatches a fleet of helicopters to Mondo Island, and
King Kong exits his cave to see what all the fuss is about. They begin
dropping gas bombs at him, and he uproots a tree and waves it around in
protest. Eventually, it’s too much for him, and he passes out. They play the
giant claw game and grab Kong’s wrists and ankles. The wild old man with
a stick runs up and yells at them, but Dr. Who smiles, informs him that
Kong is his now, and shoots him three times. Kong is then airlifted onto a
huge cargo ship and taken away.
Carl Nelson and crew arrive on the island, and see signs of the
ether bombs used to knock out Kong. Then they find the dead wild man
with a stick. But wait, he isn’t dead! He begins muttering to them. He tells
them, per Carl’s translation, that an oriental skeleton, a devil, with eyes like
a gutter rat, kidnapped Kong and took him away into the skies. Then he
finally dies for good. Carl immediately knows it could be none other than
Dr. Who.
 Meanwhile, at the North Pole! King Kong is imprisoned in a
massive cage. He comes to and sees his robotic double across the room,
and blinks in shock. Dr. Who goes over his plan with Madame Piranha of
how he will hypnotize Kong to do their bidding. They also plot to trick
Carl, Jiro, and Susan into being captured as well. The more the merrier!
Dr. Who’s men pose as members of the Japanese Self Defense
Force, and claim to Carl, Jiro, and Susan that Kong is headed towards Japan
and they need their help in stopping him. They don’t trust this JSDF crew,
but go along. Instead of going to Japan, they are flown to the North Pole.
A shiny, colorful, flashing thing is put in front of Kong for a
while, and that is apparently all it takes to hypnotize him. He stands there,
docile, while they implant speakers near his ears so Dr. Who can
communicate with him. King Kong understands English very well for a
giant ape. Dr. Who tells him to go into the mine and dig up Element X, and
he gets right to it. After a while of digging, the glowing Element X is
visible, but then Kong randomly starts to nod off. He apparently is
narcoleptic.
Dr. Who is enraged, and starts yelling commands. Kong starts to
wake up, and rips the speakers off his ears! He is angry, and starts
rummaging around wildly! Fortunately they have a giant cage-like door
that slides down and keeps him in the mine, so the mad scientist base is
safe.
Just then Carl Nelson arrives, along with Jiro and Susan. Dr.
Who is all excited, and shows off his Mechani-Kong. They refuse to help
Dr. Who in his evil schemes (which you wouldn’t think would be a surprise
to the mad doctor), and he locks them up in a prison cell.
Not long after, Nelson is taken from the cell and brought to Madame
Piranha’s fancy apartment within the base. Every evil terrorist lair needs a
seduction room, I guess. They share some fancy alcohol, and Madame
Piranha tries to seduce Carl into taking Dr. Who’s place and working for her
and her nation. Carl doesn’t give in, so Dr. Who bursts in and sends him
away again.
Back in the jail cell, they joke about how it can’t possibly get
worse, when Dr. Who comes back and takes Carl out yet again, wanting to
play chess with him. Then Dr. Who messes with the thermostat and turns
the cell’s temperature to zero. The evil doctor demands cooperation or he
will have them freeze to death.
 Carl still won’t cooperate, so Dr. Who goes back to the cell and
tries to bribe Jiro and Susan into helping him instead. They refuse. Jiro is
shackled and Dr. Who is about to disfigure Susan’s face, to prove a point,
when Kong finally breaks through the big door keeping him in the mine!
Dr. Who and his goons run out, leaving the key, and Susan frees Jiro while
the enemy is away.
Kong gets out of the base and starts tromping around outside in
the snow. Mechani-Kong is dispatched to stop him. Kong starts swimming
away.
Jiro and Susan meet up with Carl, and Madame Piranha shows up
and offers everyone alcohol! Dr. Who barges in once again, and recaptures
the three escapees.
King Kong is swimming to Tokyo (of course), and Dr. Who
makes preparations to transport Mechani-Kong there to finish off Kong.
Madame Piranha is against this, not wanting innocents to die, but Dr. Who
will have none of this silly sentiment.
Carl, Jiro, and Susan are all shackled in the cargo ship
transporting the robot gorilla, but the Madame comes in and frees them all
yet again. She admits that her country was trying to do the wrong thing.
Well, clearly. She insists on staying behind, but the other three escape off
the boat.
The military is on the verge of attacking Kong, but Carl Nelson
rushes into the command center and talks them out of it, insisting they may
be able to calm him down. They are willing to give peace a chance, and
Susan runs to Kong. He lifts her, and he seems to be calming down, but
then Mechani-Kong shows up, and he has no problem smashing things for
no good reason.
Susan tries to talk Kong out of fighting his robot double, but he
will have none of it! He puts her down and runs into battle. Mechani-
Kong, dastardly cad that he is, shines light at Kong and he seems to really
hate it. They begin wrestling, and it is indeed a great display of
athleticism.
Eventually Mechani-Kong grabs Susan and begins climbing
Tokyo Tower. Dr. Who broadcasts to Kong that if he goes away Susan will
be safe, but he’ll drop her from the tower otherwise.
Inside Dr. Who’s base of operation, Madame Piranha walks in
with a gun, telling the doctor he is going to die. Dr. Who knocks the gun to
the ground, and they begin scuffling for it. Eventually a shot is fired,
wounding the Madame.
While Dr. Who is sidetracked, Kong begins climbing the Tokyo
Tower in his attempt to rescue Susan. The robot drops Susan eventually,
but Kong is below and catches her, then sits her on the tower. He continues
his climb after Mechani-Kong, while Jiro begins climbing the stairs of the
tower as well, to reach Susan. They begin to climb back down once he
reaches her, and it goes well at first, but eventually as the two giant beasts
reach the top of the tower, it begins swaying dangerously.
Back in the command center, the wounded Madame Piranha
makes one last attempt to stop Dr. Who, and pulls out some wires from the
massive control panel. Dr. Who shoots her twice, and she is no more.
Mechani-Kong no longer has anyone in control, and falls off the tower,
landing in a heap of twisted metal and explosions.
Dr. Who orders his evil boat to return to his base, but Kong is
coming towards it, with Carl, Jiro, and Susan driving behind him! Susan
yells at Kong to get the ship, and he does what he is told! Kong reaches the
large boat and starts tearing it apart. Dr. Who is crushed by equipment in
the control room, as water pours in. Kong pounds his chest and is quite
happy.
King Kong, having completed his task, starts swimming home to
Mondo Island. Susan calls after him, but Jiro and Carl stop her, and Carl
wisely states, “I think he’s had enough of what we call civilization,” as
Kong swims off into the sunset.
THE END!

Overview:

King Kong VS Godzilla was interesting, getting the chance to see

Toho’s take on the classic giant gorilla. King Kong Escapes has Kong
scaled back closer to his traditional size, and the plot, vaguely based on the
cartoon, has a more American-style vibe to it. Dr. Who is a fun, over-the-
top villain, and you almost expect Sean Connery’s James Bond to run in
and stop him. The Kong suit, while still not exception, is much less painful
to look at than Toho’s previous attempt. Gorosaurus is an effective take on
a more traditional looking dinosaur for once. I for one am happy he would
return the next year for Destroy All Monsters. Mechani-Kong admittedly is
silly looking, but that is indeed his charm.

Recommendation:

There is lots of fun to be had with this movie. Who doesn’t want
to see King Kong’s continuing adventures? Well, if you don’t, maybe this
one isn’t for you, but really, it’s worth a watch.

Final Score: B
 Destroy All Monsters, 1968
[From Around the World: Frankenstein and the Monster from Space,
Germany]

“I’ll turn up the sound, so you can hear the monsters dueling to
the death.”

Origin:

Godzilla had a good run, but at this point, Toho decided it was
time to retire him. This would prove to be a reoccurring theme for Toho
Studios, but this would be his first proposed retirement—although in this
case it only lasted a year and he didn’t miss out on his regular film cycle.
The last couple of films had been put together on a lower budget, and the
setting placed on a tropical island to save costs on building tiny cities. It
was decided that the King of the Monsters would be given a grand farewell
with a cast of many pre-existing Toho monsters and a big budget with lots
of city to destroy.
This is it! Destroy All Monsters was the holy grail of my
childhood. Through my younger years, I valiantly sought after this movie,
but it wasn’t shown on my available television outlets, nor was there a
home video available. As time went on, the most wonderful miracle
occurred! The local Hollywood Video got the newly released VHS tape of
Destroy All Monsters. My lifelong goal was finally met, and I was at long
last able to see what I had been dreaming of for years.

Synopsis:

We start right out with a shiny gold glittery title screen! It’s in
Japanese, but the subtitles tell us it’s time to…
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS!
Okay, then. The year is 1999. That may be awkward. The
United Nations Science Committee has a base on the moon, and rockets go
there on a daily basis. Yes, awkward. The Moonlight SY-3 is apparently
one of these rockets, and gets showcased to us right away.
The opening credits roll, with shots of the earth rocket base and the
spacecraft and all sorts of wondrously high tech equipment from the year
1999.
We pick things up again, and see that the UNSC has set up a base
at Ogasawara Island. The surface of the island is now called Monster Land,
and all of earth’s monsters are captive there. A helicopter gives us a tour
and we see Godzilla, Rodan, Anguirus, larva Mothra, and Gorosaurus. If
any of them try to leave the island, there are mechanisms in place, using
SCIENCE, which restrains them peacefully to the island. Seems
uncharacteristic of most of them, but we get examples of Godzilla and
Mothra starting to leave and then turn away. Rodan has a longer leash since
he likes to fly around, but a magnetic shield keeps him within certain
parameters.
The helicopter lands inside the control center, situated
underground. The moon base makes a call to the island, as Captain Katsuo
Yamabe wants to check in with Kyoko Manabe. He worries something
funny is going on near the moon base, but they lose their connection before
the conversation is complete. Suddenly the island base starts to fill with
poison gas! Everyone passes out.
On the surface of the island, gas clouds billow as well. The
monsters are all engulfed as well. The UNSC is worried that all contact has
suddenly been lost, and Dr. Yoshido tries desperately to get a hold of
someone there. He normally is stationed there but was away at the time of
the apparent attack. They watch on some big screens as the island starts
crumbling apart.
Suddenly an emergency broadcast comes from Moscow! Rodan
is there, destroying the Russian capital! Then a report comes in from
Paris… a monster is digging up the ground under the Arc de Triomphe. It
is oddly Gorosaurus. Clearly his tiny tyrannosaurus arms are made for
digging. We soon learn that Mothra has been pestering China, Manda has
gone to London, and they report Baragon in Paris, not Gorosaurus. Oh
well. What with all the digging I suppose.
Then a great news bulletin… Godzilla has just arrived in New
York City. Well, that’s a first. He begins setting the city ablaze.
 Back on the moon, Moonlight SY-3 is dispatched back to the
earth. The monsters don’t stand a chance! As they head back, they see a
flying saucer near the moon, so they disregard their initial order and follow
the UFO. Unfortunately, the UFO vanishes, so the SY-3 returns back to
earth.
It lands at the Monster Land control center to investigate what
craziness is going on in there. All the computer terminals seem to be on,
but the place is empty. Suddenly Kyoko and Dr. Otani stroll in. They are
both talking all monotone and alien like. So… that might be a problem.
Dr. Otani asks for their cooperation, and explains the monsters aren’t
running wild on their own, very unlike Hulkamania is prone to do, but they
are being controlled. The doctor and Kyoko lead them to be introduced to
the creator of the remote control system. It is none other than a woman
wrapped in aluminum foil! Should have seen that coming. She is a Kilaak,
from some unseen planet. They don’t mean any harm, but they must wipe
out some of civilization to reduce resistance to their rule. She proves to be
both punch proof and bullet proof.
The Moonlight SY-3 crew attempts to take the doctor and Kyoko
out with them, but the room starts filling with the gas previously seen, and
the rest of the Monster Land crew comes in and attempts to subdues the SY-
3 crew. There is much poison gas, scuffling, and laser blasting. The SY-3
crew seems to have no qualms gunning down the Monster Land people, but
they really have little choice. They manage to escape, and though Kyoko
was lost amid the gasses, Dr. Otani is with them.
Back in Japan, Katsuo and Dr. Yoshido attempt to interrogate Dr.
Otani, but he has no desire to cooperate with them. Dr. Yoshido informs
him that UN soldiers stormed Monster Land and re-secured it, but all the
crew and the Kilaak woman had disappeared. While Katsuo and Yoshido
step aside briefly to confer, Dr. Otani casually gets up from the sofa and
strolls over to a large window, which he proceeds to open and drop out of.
Well, it kind of looks like a mannequin drops out of it, but either way, when
the other two rush to the body, D. Otani is lying there dead.
Kyoko walks out from behind a rock, with a few armed guards.
They begin to kidnap Katsuo and Dr. Yoshido, and take Dr. Otani’s body
away, but then the police arrive and foul everything up. There is a brief
shootout, but the Kilaak sympathizers are outmatched and run off. Before
they go, one tries to cut something out of Dr. Otani, but Katsuo stops him.
 Later, Dr. Otani gets an autopsy! They notice something odd
behind his ear, which is roughly where the bad guy was trying to cut him.
They remove it, and the lead doctor wisely states that it is not a hearing aid.
Upon further research, it appears to be some type of “new metal.” They
hypothesize it is some type of radio transmitter, which lets the aliens control
both people and monsters! They come to that conclusion rather quickly, but
it’s better than sitting around and waiting for monsters to destroy the earth.
A villager discovers an odd stone, and it is discovered stones like
this have been placed all over the world. Dr. Yoshido explains that these act
as relay stations that are controlling the monsters all over the world. He
also warns that the Monster Land employees are still under alien control
and could be among us.
They are broadcasting images of the Monster Land crew all over
the media, and police are checking people for the markings of the
transmitter behind their ear. Kyoko exits a subway and runs into one of the
police checkpoints, but they don’t see the mark on her so they let her go.
As she walks away, air raid sirens go off! People panic and race to shelters.
Rodan is here! Kyoko smiles up at him. I would, too. Godzilla arrives in
Tokyo as well. Monster convention! Manda soon slithers onto the scene,
despite being more of a sea creature than most.
The military is displeased with this foolishness and dispatches
military units, and also has many missile batteries scattered throughout the
city, it seems. The military appears to be hitting more buildings and
causing more damage than the monsters, but that is par for the course.
Well, Tokyo, you made it to 1999, that is quite the
accomplishment in a world full of kaiju that really like to attack Japan.
Katsuo is told by his commanding officer that they believe the
Kilaaks have set up an underground base near Izu while all the attention
was drawn to cities around the world being under attack. He is instructed to
take the Moonlight SY-3 underground to investigate this matter. It
apparently is as versatile as Gorosaurus.
Just then Kyoko waltzes down the stairs. She tells them once
again that if they give up, the monsters will return to their island, but until
then they will keep destroying cities. Katsuo has had enough, and grabs at
Kyoko. She struggles, but he rips out her ear rings, apparently tearing the
lobes, because there is a lot of blood. It is the same type of control device
that had been implanted in Dr. Otani, but in ear ring form. She is no longer
under alien control, but doesn’t have any memory of what went on while
under Kilaak command, so is unable to give them the exact location of the
alien base.
The military, along with the SY-3, converges where Godzilla is
hanging out, assuming that’s as good a place as any to find the Kilaak base.
Anguirus strolls into the area as well and joins Godzilla in smashing
military units. The humans are outmatched, and begin to retreat.
As the military units pull back, the Moonlight SY-3 crew spot a UFO once
again, and follow it as it heads towards Mt. Fuji. Rodan shows up behind
the SY-3 and chases them off, but they now strongly suspect the Kilaak base
is at Mt. Fuji.
A large troop of soldiers go to Mt. Fuji, and once again are chased
off by Godzilla. Katsuo and a couple others discover a cave, and soon
discover it is where the Kilaaks are hanging out. Their suspicion is soon
proven correct, as a group of Kilaak tin foil women appear in front of them.
They ask for surrender once again, and are offered the role of slaves. The
men refuse, and the women vanish again. They continue deeper into the
cave.
Back in Monster Land, the base has been repurposed and Dr.
Yoshido, Kyoko, and a large staff are hard at work in figuring out how to
free the monsters from Kilaak control. They discover the aliens have
hidden a control unit on the moon, so once again the Moonlight SY-3 is sent
there to take it out. They land in a crater and are immediately under attack
by a bunch of flamethrowers. They quickly disembark in a ground unit, and
use it to shoot their way into the base. This causes the flames to stop and
the Kilaak base falls into disarray.
Inside, they find weird sliming creatures crawling around on the ground,
and Katsuo wisely deduces that these are the Kilaaks. They could only
survive in high temperatures, he hypothesizes, and once the wall was blown
up, they shriveled up into weird things due to the cold. They see the control
unit, and get to work removing it so they can take it back to earth. Easier
said than done, and probably more time than necessary is given to them
trying to cut the stupid thing so they can fly off with it. At least each
cutting sequence has some peppy music that plays. At last they succeed!
The Kilaak signal is gone!
Soon back on earth, they discuss how the Kilaaks will become
dormant in low temperatures, and require temperatures into the thousands
of degrees to become active again. While this is conversation could go on
for hours, Godzilla once again plods onto the scene in Tokyo. Dr. Yoshida
tells Katsuo that they have perfected a new control device and now the
humans control the monsters.
The military arrives at Mt. Fuji, to be on stand by, as the monsters
all converge there. First Minilla arrives, which the reporter narrating for us
at first thinks is Godzilla. That’s kind of a letdown, but its short lived as
Godzilla comes right behind him. Mothra and Anguirus aren’t far behind.
The fun continues, as Manda and Baragon poke their heads out from behind
some scenery. That’s about all they are going to amount to from here on
out, though. Gorosaurus arrives, with Kumongo, and Varan glides in.
Rodan lands near Godzilla, and it seems they are ready to attack the Kilaak
base.
Then something arrives from outer space. Flames form King
Ghidorah before our eyes! He can not be controlled by the humans, but the
Kilaaks don’t have this problem. He circles around the other monsters, and
finally lands. This seems a little unfair.
Everyone (who is mobile, not the lazy bums Baragon, Manda, and
Varan) gangs up on Ghidorah, complete with Kumonga and Mothra
spraying silk. After some scuffling, Ghidorah tries to fly off, but Anguirus
bites onto his neck and goes with him, however he is soon dropped to the
ground. Ghidorah lands on him and seems happy with himself, but the
numbers are still against him. Godzilla and Gorosaurus go in together,
Godzilla holding the space dragon down to earth while Gorosaurus does a
kangaroo kick to his back. Anguirus returns to the fray as well and starts
ripping on Ghidorah’s already bloody neck. Godzilla starts stomping on
another neck, and the poor head on the end looks like its coughing up
blood. Two heads are down and out, and Minilla fires off a smoke ring at
the remaining one. It encircles it, and then it, too, falls to the ground.
The battling monsters seem to be celebrating, as Kumonga and
Mothra go back to their silk spewing a bit more, then Minilla climbs and
stands atop Ghidorah’s back, the enemy monster lying motionless.
It seems all is done, but then a “burning monster” flies in from
space! It crashes through a building, and Rodan immediately sees what’s
up and goes in pursuit of it. The burning monster destroys the Monster
Land base, but everyone evacuated in time.
The Kilaaks contact the humans again, and promise more destruction. The
lead Kilaak claims all will be burned to the ground with fire if they don’t
comply. Godzilla calls her bluff, as he apparently has found the Kilaak Mt.
Fuji base. Kilaak television goes off the air, as Godzilla kicks their wall in.
Everything starts exploding all over the area, and King Ghidorah’s body
falls into the earth. The Kilaaks vanish into their useless forms as their base
is no more.
Katsuo once again lifts off in the Moonlight SY-3 to take down
the burning monster. They fire missiles at it, as it tries to burn its way into
the ship. They go into evasive maneuvers, trying to get it off of them. It
finally does so, and it is revealed that the Fire Dragon is actually just a
regular UFO. They shoot it down, and the Kilaak threat is over.
Later, all is well, and Dr. Yoshido is giving Katsuo and Kyoko a helicopter
ride over Monster Land. They smile down happily at multiple monsters,
including the helpful ones, and also Baragon, who doesn’t deserve any
credit, the bum. Manda is no better, but also slithers around a little. They
even catch a glimpse of Varan, who kind of looks like he is waving as he
glides off.
Finally, they look down and spot Minilla and Godzilla. Kyoko
waves to them as the other two smile, and we pan back and get a long shot
of the island.
THE END!

Overview:

Right off the bat, I have to say that Destroy All Monsters doesn’t
quite live up to the hype. While I didn’t go in expecting all monsters to be
destroyed, a little more monster action would have been nice. The cast of
kaiju is great, but a few of them don’t do anything other than stand around
and mug for the camera, and the big final battle is short and a clearly unfair
handicap match of all the active monsters VS King Ghidorah. Sure, who
doesn’t want to see Ghidorah get his butt kicked? Still, it would have been
nice to let Ghidorah have a team of minions of his own and make it more of
a fair fight. This film does of course predate most of Godzilla’s rogue
gallery, as Hedorah, Gigan, Megalon, Mechagodzilla and others were still at
least a couple years away.
 That being said, it’s still a great film. The monster attack in New
York City and Tokyo are both a lot of fun, and apart from the scene
involving cutting something with a laser going on too long, most of the
human drama is fun. The miniatures are as good as ever, and the suits that
get in on the action are nice—of course, the monsters that didn’t do
anything were stationary on account of their rubber suits being in bad
shape, but their inaction and hiding behind rocks hides this from the viewer.

Recommendation:

Quintesential Showa classic! Destroy All Monsters is definitely a

must see, and a great way to end the first wave of Showa films.

Final Score: A
 All Monsters Attack, 1969
[AKA: Godzilla’s Revenge]
[AKA: Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monsters Giant Attack]

“Stand tall! A bum like that will always try to put you down!”

Origin:

Godzilla’s planned retirement was short-lived. This film was

quickly produced to be part of a children’s film festival, and as a result is
the first Godzilla film targeted completely towards children. The new kaiju
action in the film only makes up a small part, as entire battles are lifted
from Son of Godzilla and Godzilla VS the Sea Monster, plus a few shots of
random monsters from Destroy All Monsters.
We also meet Ichiro, the first child protagonist in a Godzilla film.
The film itself doesn’t make things completely clear, but it implies that this
movie takes place in “the real world” and Ichiro is simply a fan of Godzilla
films (it would seem primarily Son of Godzilla, but he must have watched
Ebirah a lot, as well), who simply dreams of visiting Monster Island. It
would explain why so much of what he sees is stock footage, and most
people he talks to don’t seem really sure what he is rambling about when he
goes on about Godzilla and friends—a feeling all young Godzilla fans had
growing up when they rambled about random kaiju—leading one to assume
these aren’t real world monsters who have threatened civilization multiple
times.
This showed up on TBS Saturday morning when I was very
young, and I saw it without ever even having seen Son of Godzilla, so I had
no reason to believe it was stealing footage from that. I was still confused
as to why parts of the Sea Monster showed up again, though. Even better, it
was hosted by Grandpa Munster and they did voice-overs of Godzilla and
Gabara with stars of the NWA, cutting promos on each other. Godzilla’s
Revenge was in the package of Godzilla films that both TBS and TNT
enjoyed airing on a regular basis back in the day.
 Synopsis:

We open with a jazzy musical number as the title card tells us

GODZILLA’S REVENGE and we get lots of stock footage of various
monsters from over the years. It’s a fun little tune.
From there we go to industrial Japan with lots of traffic and trains
and factories billowing out smoke. Ichiro, a little boy, is walking around
town with his little girl friend when suddenly Gabara, the lead bully, and his
gang of lesser bullies push them aside and run past. Ichiro and the girl just
ignore this, and continue on their way. Suddenly a car’s tire screeches, and
he tells the girl it sounds just like “Minya” (as he refers to Minilla). His
vocalization of Minilla sounds is nothing like the screeching tire or the
actual sound that Minilla makes.
On his way home he passes his father, who works at the train yard.
Ichiro is excited as he finds a radio tube lying beside the road.
“Is anything wrong with your little kid?” a coworker of Ichiro’s
father asks him as they are on their smoke break. What a nice question.
His father denies it, and says its because he is alone a lot, since he and
Ichiro’s mother always have to work late. They are sidetracked by a story
in the newspaper about bank robbers who stole 50 million yen.
Ichiro continues his journey home with the little girl, and he wants
to go into an abandoned warehouse behind a fence. The girl tries to stop
him, but he continues in anyway, but is stopped as Gabara’s gang jumps out
of hiding. One little kid goes “EEEEE!” at him for some reason. Gabara
demands the radio tube and the gang cheers.
Ichiro finally gets to his apartment building, where he stops to visit
his neighbor who looks after him, a toy inventor named Inami. He is
working on a computer that asks Ichiro if he would like to go to the moon.
There is even a still from the moon surface from Destroy All Monsters on
the computer screen, and a bunny sticker. Ichiro says it’s neat, but he’d
rather learn about Monster Island, where Godzilla, Minilla, and Rodan live.
He also confides in the inventor that Gabara is bullying him. Inami tells
him he has to stand up to bullies like that, but Ichiro bemoans he is so much
smaller than his adversary.
Ichiro goes to his own home, where he has a snack and watches
some television. When he first turns it on there is a news story about the
bank robbers, but he finds that boring and turns the station, where Herbert
and Geraldine are talking of their love. Ichiro is disgusted and turns off the
television entirely, and goes to get his own home made computer (that looks
more like a crappy radio) and asks it where Monster Island is. “You take a
jet to get there,” he gathers.
Suddenly we see a jet taking off! Ichiro is on board! It appears to
be full of Caucasian people for some reason. Everyone else on board
vanishes, and even the cockpit is empty. Monster Island is on the horizon
but in a flash Ichiro is suddenly transported there.
Before his eyes Godzilla is fighting “Gamakarov” as Ichiro calls
the enemy creature, which is actually Kamacuras, the giant praying mantis
(culled from Son of Godzilla). Ichiro’s name for the creature sounds more
like a Russian spy. The battle ends quickly, and Ichiro climbs a tree and
sees “Brosaurus” as he calls Gorosaurus, and also Manda and Anguirus.
“Guy, look at that!” exclaims Ichiro, as the famed Giant Condor
arrives to attack Godzilla, exactly as he did in Godzilla VS the Sea
Monster. The battle ends quickly, and suddenly Ichiro is pursued by
Kamacuras. The chase is short as Ichiro falls (in slow motion) into a deep
pit. Kamacuras looks in, but seems to lose interest quickly and continues
on his merry way. Ichiro attempts to climb out with little success, when
suddenly a vine is lowered down to him. He grabs a hold and is pulled out
by none other than Minilla!
“Hey! Come on over here, I won’t hurt ya!” Minilla says
cheerfully. Minilla is human size here, and able to speak, oddly enough.
Ichiro goes over to talk to him. After a short talk Gabara shows up—not
the human bully, but the giant monster version who torments Minilla! As
they watch the monster, an alarm sounds and wakes Ichiro.
We transition to the toy inventor answering his phone. It’s Ichiro’s
mother, and she won’t be able to come home until tomorrow, so Inami
pledges to care for the boy. He goes over and checks on him, where he is
sleeping on the floor next to his horrible computer. Inami invites him over
for dinner, where they will have sukiyaki.
Before dinner, Ichiro goes out again, where he meets and runs from
Gabara and his gang yet again. He ends up going to the abandoned
building, which is in pretty shoddy shape inside. He finds some random
vacuum tubes in a box and is really excited. He hears a noise and goes to
investigate, and eventually finds a pair of dirty headphones, as well as a
wallet. Ichiro leaves the area, having pilfered enough treasure there, and we
see the bank robbers peek out of a hiding place. Ichiro apparently found
one of their wallets! What sounds like an air raid siren goes off, and Ichiro
runs out, leaving the lead robber to chastise his lackey for losing his wallet.
Ichiro returns home, where an old car for sale is sitting out front.
In what would surely be a great marketing campaign for any used car
dealer, he hops on the bumper and says, “Used car, for sale! Very cheap!
Very good!” and begins pulling on the door handles. The man taking care
of the car sale runs out and stops him. He is a cranky fellow.
The lesser robber shows up, searching for his wallet, and the
cranky guy tries to sell him the car. A police car goes by, sirens blaring,
and the robber is spooked and leaves quickly. “Well, all right!” says the
man selling the car in a very annoyed tone.
Ichiro and Inami are having dinner, and the inventor tells the boy
he can be his assistant and test out his new toys. Ichiro is quite excited, and
begins shoveling food in his mouth. Inami tells him not to eat too much too
fast, as he won’t be able to sleep tonight. Just then two policemen who are
dressed more like construction workers just barge in and tell Inami he
should lock up the car outside (It’s his car for sale, but the other man is
apparently in charge of selling it). We see a disembodied gloved hand
begin crawling and hear a voice tell us “Support your local police” over and
over. The policemen chuckle good-naturedly and walk out. I’m not really
sure what just happened.
That night, Ichiro is magically transported back to Monster Island!
He begins searching for Minilla, but instead Gabara shows up and begins
chasing him. The chase amounts to little, but Ichiro loses the evil kaiju and
runs into Minilla again. Nearby, Godzilla is going into the water to
confront Ebirah, of course courtesy of stock footage.
Godzilla wins the battle, just like he did before, and travels back
into the jungle, where we switch to footage from another film as Kumonga
shows up and clearly they must battle, Ichiro and Minilla still watching it
all. Minilla tries to pitch in with a smoke ring, but it is of little usefulness.
“Now do you like that, Weirdo?!” Minilla taunts. Godzilla overcomes, and
Ichiro and Minilla dance and chant that they won.
Alas, the victory is short lived, as Gabara shows up to pick on
Minilla. Ichiro wants them to run away, but Minilla says he can’t, or his
father will think he is a coward. Minilla magically grows to monster size
and goes on the attack. It is short lived, and soon Minilla shrinks back
down and the two cowards run away.
They reach safety, and suddenly jets fly overhead! They fly in
formation to attack Godzilla, via the power of old film! No clue is given as
to what nation they hail from, but I suppose it doesn’t matter, as they are
invading the sovereign soil of Monster Island. Godzilla makes quick work
of them and beckons his son towards him.
Minilla doesn’t want to, but is convinced. He grows once again,
and Godzilla puts him through the paces, teaching him how to breathe fire
by stepping on his tail, just as we’ve seen before. Ichiro is pleased with this
progress, but is then grabbed from behind by a plant monster!
Ichiro wakes up to find himself being grabbed by the bank
robbers! They have broken into his apartment and are kidnapping him.
They get the wallet back from him, and take him back to their abandoned
warehouse hideout. One of the robbers goes out to hijack the car for sale,
while Ichiro transports himself back to Monster Island.
He arrives just in time to see Minilla getting thrashed by Gabara.
It’s not pretty. Fortunately Ichiro is there, and topples a rock onto Minilla’s
tail, allowing him to blast Gabara in the face with atomic fire. Suddenly
Minilla develops agility and dodging skills, and Gabara looks like a fool
trying to grab him. Godzilla shows up, and Minilla tries to get him to help,
but instead his father pushes him back out to finish the fight on his own.
Father of the year!
The pressure of having his father watching is too much apparently,
and suddenly Minilla starts to perform badly, as Gabara begins
electrocuting him with his strange electrical powers. Godzilla has had
enough, and intervenes with some atomic fire. Minilla retreats temporarily
to get some advice from Ichiro, and using his plan, Gabara seems to be
down for the count! Father and son celebrate over the fallen kaiju.
Suddenly Gabara us up again, and goes right for Godzilla!
Godzilla pulls out some wrestling moves and before long Gabara has had
enough. Ichiro cheers and crosses his arms, to wisely intone, “That Gabara
has lost again,” and “Go home, Gabara! You are a loser!” Godzilla reaches
for Ichiro suddenly, and Ichiro awakes in the criminal lair.
The robbers have determined that they will use Ichiro as a hostage
to make sure they get out of town safely. They load him up in the stolen
car, along with their moneybag, but the car won’t start. They exit the car to
try to get it running again, when in the backseat, Ichiro has a vision of
Minilla appear before him and tell him to not be a coward. He unties his
bonds and escapes! The robbers go after him, but he bites one of them and
returns into the building, criminals in pursuit.
Hijinks ensue, as the robbers try to hunt down Ichiro. Outside,
Inami is wondering around for some reason, and finds his car running in
front of the old building, with a bag of money that certainly isn’t his in the
front seat. He goes off to contact the police.
Inside the building, the robbers are desperately pursuing Ichiro.
Ichiro is quite cunning, and tricks one of the robbers into falling into a hole
in the floor, leaving him injured. The remaining robber, who seems to be
the brains of this operation, spots Ichiro and goes after him with a knife.
Ichiro imagines that it’s the evil monster Gabara and sprays fire
extinguisher on him, holding him at bay long enough to get away.
Finally the police show up out front. Ichiro runs out frantically, the
non-injured robber in hot pursuit. They arrest him as he exits. The other
robber looks out stupidly, and tries to casually walk away, but the police see
him and arrest him as well. Imani tells Ichiro he will take him home, but
Ichiro begins crying because his parents aren’t there. Imani comforts him
the best he can and tells him he will take care of him.
The next morning, Ichiro’s mother is actually home! She
apologizes for not being there for him, as he runs off to school. After he is
gone, she begins weeping. Ichiro makes his way outside, where a bevy of
paparazzi are waiting for him. They snap pictures and ask him if he was
scared in there all alone. Ichiro tells them he wasn’t alone, but that Minilla
was with him. With that, he leaves, and Imani explains to the reporters that
Ichiro looks up to the son of Godzilla.
Ichiro catches up with his gal pal, and they are confronted once
again by Gabara and his gang. This time, Ichiro has had enough, and takes
down the gang’s leader. With that, Ichiro marches to the motorcycle parked
in front of a billboard where a man is painting, and begins honking the
horn, as Gabara had dared him to the day before. The man on the billboard
loses his balance and falls, spilling paint on his face, and then chases after
Ichiro, who has begin a life of crime.
Ichiro runs by his father working on the train (quite long hours he
works there), and tells him the man is chasing him. His father stops the
man and calms him down, while Ichiro runs on and meets up with Gabara
and his gang, who he is apparently best friends with now.
THE END!

Overview:

Well, then. There are two ways to look at this film. It’s either
terribly stupid with loads and loads of blatant stock footage, or it’s a
delightful children’s fantasy film. It won’t please everyone, but if you take
it for what it was intended to be, it’s a fun little movie. I will say, it is odd
to see that the moral of the story is you should beat up a bully, then
vandalize some guys bike and make him fall and spill paint, and then you
get to join the gang that was bullying you. If only we had a modern day
adaption to find out how to deal with cyber bullies.
Toy inventor Inami comes off as a caring neighbor who really
wants to help out Ichiro, a stark contrast to the other major Toho role Eisei
Amamoto, the villainous Dr. Who in King Kong Escapes.
I myself loved this movie as a child, but once I discovered how full
it was of stock footage and was old enough to realize how silly it all was, I
really hated it and considered it the worst Godzilla film ever. Then I got
older still, and began really enjoying it for its absurdity. I can’t say its
really a good film, and I don’t think I can give it a high score, but if you
have the right mindset going in, it can at least be a fun film.

Recommendation:

Have a random young child hanging around the house? Show

them this movie! Otherwise, tread lightly.

Final Score: D
 Latitude Zero, 1969
[From Around the World: U 4000: Panic in the Deep Sea, Germany]
[From Around the World: Where the World Ends, Spain]

“You’re a monster!”
“No, I’m a genius!”

Origin:

This was an interesting experiment—the film was shot entirely in

English, with the Japanese cast members learning their lines phonetically.
Clearly geared to an American audience, but I don’t think it ever caught on.
Cesar Romero is always fun, if nothing else. This also marks Eiji
Tsuburaya’s final science fiction film, which may not have been the
grandest way to go out.
No exciting story of searching this out for my entire youth,
unfortunately. I wasn’t aware of it until a few years ago, and tracked down
an overpriced and out of print copy of the DVD just for this review. It was
totally worth it.

Synopsis:

The opening credits begin, globe spinning behind them. It’s

strange to see so many English names. A ship is out to investigate a fast
current, in hopes it will help in submarine travel. It lowers a tiny
underwater pod into the ocean. On board are Dr. Ken Tashiro, Dr. Jules
Masson, and reporter and photographer Perry Lawton. As they go lower,
there is an unusual disturbance on the sea floor, and all sea life has
disappeared! The large ship up top begins pulling them up right away.
They are too late, though, as the volcanic ground erupts and the tiny ball
they are in gets tossed around and breaks loose from the line attached to the
boat on the surface. It tumbles into a deep chasm in the ocean. The
volcano looks impressive, and even has lightning bolts in it for some
reason.
 Later, we see divers reaching the underwater vessel, whose three-
man crew is all lying around unconscious; Lawton oddly enough appears to
only be in his underwear. The divers hook the pod up and it is drawn into a
nice looking submarine (the pod is yellow, the submarine is not,
regrettably).
Two of the men wake up in a clinic-like room, and are
immediately greeted by a scantily clad blonde. Dr. Masson is in another
room, still being treated. The two men walk into the control room and the
captain, Craig Mackenzie, welcomes them to the Alpha. As Lawton’s
reporter instincts kick in and he tries to get the captain to explain what
nation they are from (he insists they are neutral and don’t represent any
world power), Dr. Tashiro discovers a plaque on the wall stating that the
Alpha launched June 21, 1805. Lawton and the doctor find this a little hard
to believe.
The blonde comes back in (she is more than a hair color—she is
Dr. Anne Barton), and tells the captain they have to go off their route and
get help for Dr. Masson, or he won’t make it. Captain Mackenzie gives the
order to head towards Latitude Zero. Dr. Tashiro is a bit concerned because
no map has any land in that location.
Meanwhile, somewhere else under the sea! The evil (judging my
his laugh) Malic, and his lover Lucretia, sees that the Alpha has left the
volcano region. Malic orders a submarine of his own, the Black Shark, to
destroy the Alpha. Malic is apparently not a fan.
The Alpha manages to outmaneuver the attacks from the Black
Shark, even managing to avoid heat-seeking missiles by releasing an icing
agent. The Alpha also manages to create a ghost image of itself to distract
the enemy. They are prepared for anything, it seems. Finally, the Alpha
gets away, escaping into a magnetic field that protects Latitude Zero that
only a select few ships can get through, and Malic orders the Black Shark to
return to its home of Blood Rock. Sounds like a nice place.
Captain Mackenzie goes on to explain that Malic is an evil genius
that likely would have taken over the world a hundred years ago if Latitude
Zero didn’t continue to foil his evil schemes. Mackenzie and Malic were
students together way back then.
The Alpha finally docks at Latitude Zero, which is an underwater
futuristic utopia. Lawton immediately starts snapping pictures, as Masson
is loaded into an electric ambulance and driven away, Dr. Barton going
along as well.
As Dr. Masson is recovering, Captain Mackenzie shows Dr.
Tashiro and Lawton to their lodging (which has lots of diamonds lining the
plants for some reason), and show them how they can order food that will
show up at their room. After the captain leaves, Lawton discusses his
suspicions with Dr. Tashiro. The Captain had revealed many well-known
people who were presumed dead were now living down here, and he thinks
they were kidnapped and brainwashed. Tashiro thinks this is a dumb theory
and wants to hear none of it.
Malic has more evil deeds to accomplish, and has the Black Shark
go after a vessel with Dr. Okada and his daughter on board. The Latitude
Zero group is observing all this. Apparently Okada has developed a way to
make people immune to radiation—evil forces wanting it so they can make
their own people immune and wreak havoc on the rest of the world.
Malic more or less politely asks Dr. Okada for the formula, but he
refuses to give it up. Being a patient fellow, Malic is willing to wait and
leaves the doctor and his daughter for the time being, and goes to thank the
female captain of the Black Shark for bringing the doctor to him. She
wants a special reward: alone time with Malic! Well, who wouldn’t?! He
agrees and takes her to a special room where they can be alone, and leaves
her there, telling her he will return shortly. He pushes a button outside and
she is trapped in a cage, and Malic returns to his business. Not totally sure
what the point of that was, but it certainly was entertaining.
Malic goes back to prod at Dr. Okada, and Lucretia pushes a
button that reveals a couple of awesome giant man-sized bat creatures. He
tells Okada that he will leave him with the monsters for now, and in twelve
hours if he doesn’t give up the formula, he will remove his brain and dissect
it from his memory bank. He is serious about all this, apparently.
Dr. Okada has a homing device, and activates it. Malic is aware
of this, and is pleased, wanting the Alpha and its crew to come to his
hideout. The plan had been to take Tashiro, Masson, and Lawton to the
surface, but that will have to wait, since Okada must be rescued! Of course,
the three guys will go along for the ride.
Clearly, before they can go on this quest, they must take the Bath
of Immunity. Mackenzie tells them it only lasts for 24 hours. No one really
explains what the bath is supposed to do beforehand, but as they exit, a man
comes up and shoots them. Apparently it makes them bulletproof. Good to
know.
Malic demonstrates his skill to the Okadas, revealing a lion and
big vulture in separate cages. Something good is bound to happen here. He
puts good use to the Black Tiger’s captain, and extracts her brain, putting it
in the lion, and tossing the lion brain.
Meanwhile, Captain Mackenzie has his team suit up in fancy gold suits that
have jet packs, gas guns and lethal lasers and all sorts of great stuff. They
depart the Alpha and begin their rocketing into Blood Rock.
While the crew is struggling up the rocky terrain, Malic gets to
hacking off the wings of the giant bird, and soon has them attached to the
lion with a human brain. To make things even better, Malic has it grow
three times its regular size! Yay, science!
The Alpha crew sojourns on, running into rodents of unusual size
that seem keen on following after them, and make their way through an area
littered with skeletons and toxic yellow gas spewing from the ground.
Koubo, the big burly man of the group, steps in a bubbling purple liquid,
and his foot is badly burned. Blood Rock just isn’t nearly as hospitable as
the name suggests.
Just as Malic is about to cut into dr. Okada’s head, the Alpha team
arrives! The bat men start attacking them and in all the chaos Malic
accidently stabs Lucretia, killing her. Malic is angry now, and orders his
bat beasts to kill the invaders, but they are easily shot out of the sky with
lasers and stabbed and beaten to death. Lots of normal sized bats join in on
the attack as well, and Malic runs off during all the confusion.
As they release Dr. Okada from his bonds, Koubo points out that
Lucretia has disintegrated into a pile of dust for some reason.
Dr. Barton surfaces the Alpha and Dr. Okada and his daughter are
dropped off. The crew goes to jet pack after Malic, but he has gotten
onboard the Black Shark and begins firing at them! They go into their
submarine to withstand the assault.
Things seem bad for the Alpha, but Captain Mackenzie has yet
another trick up his sleeve. The submarine takes to the air! Malic tries to
shoot it down with his ship’s laser cannon, but the flying sub is too difficult
of a target.
Flying Lion with Lady Brain has been observing all this, and
apparently is not pleased with Malic, and swoops in to attack him! It
dodges some laser blasts then tears into the Black Shark, bringing an
avalanche of rocks from the nearby mountainside down on it as well! The
submarine explodes, as does Malic’s base on Blood Rock.
Back at Latitude Zero, everyone is happy! Lawton snaps some
photos of Masson and Tashiro hanging out with other residents of the secret
utopia, and has written a story to publish about all this craziness. He asks
Captain Mackenzie when, if all the great developments that are going on at
Latitude Zero are for the good of humankind, will they be released to the
general public. Mackenzie tells him it can only happen when all of
mankind is living in harmony. With that, Lawton is ready to go back to the
surface world.
We then get some terrible pictures of wars and genocide and
starving children. Thanks Toho, that’s just the pick-me-up this movie needs
to end on.
A military ship, out to rendezvous with a landing space capsule,
picks up Lawton, and he tells them that Tashiro and Masson chose to stay at
the bottom of the ocean, as well as all the other great scientists that were
thought dead. The crew all laughs at him. The captain of the ship comes
in, and he looks just like Captain Mackenzie, and shares the same last
name. Someone brings in the film from Lawton’s camera, and he shows it
to this new Mackenzie.
There is nothing at all on any of the film. Then he remembers he had taken
some of the diamonds from the planters in his room, and pulls them out—
now he just has a bag full of dirt. Malic’s twin comes in to have Lawton
escorted to sickbay.
A telegram comes in from a bank, stating that Lawton has been
sent 600 karats of diamond, which would be held there until his return to
the mainland. They get readings in on where the space capsule they are out
to find has landed; its coordinates are longitude 176, and latitude… zero.
THE END!

Overview:

That was certainly interesting. I think most viewers are going to

either love it or hate it. It screams campy 1960’s sci-fi, and feels much
more like an American film than the typical Toho variety. The cast seemed
to be enjoying themselves, Cesar Romero especially really hamming it up.
It’s either the best or worst of both worlds of campy 60’s American
cheesiness and Toho’s science fiction of the same era.
The effects, as you should expect by now, are great overall. We get
lots of great lasers and explosions. The giant bats are a little weird looking,
but the flying lion makes up for it.

Recommendation:

Like campy science fiction adventures with over the top villains
(and heroes, for that matter) and nonsensical plots? Then this one is for
you! If not, you’ll hate it!

Final Score: C
 Yog, Monster from Space, 1970
[AKA: Gezora, Ganimes, Kamoebas: Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of
the South Seas]
[AKA: Space Amoeba]

“These fiends are going to destroy us, then try to overpower the
earth!”

Origin:

Yog would be the last non-Godzilla kaiju film we would see from
Toho for quite a while, as the Japanese economy was beginning to take a hit
and Toho could no longer afford so many effects pictures. The budget cuts
would be felt in the Godzilla franchise for the rest of the decade, but this
film does a good job with what it has to work with.
The international title and the only DVD release we’ve had in the
United States is Space Amoeba, however I took too long to pick that up and
haven’t taken the opportunity to pay exorbitant fees for an out of print film.
I do, however, have the Yog, Monster from Space VHS tape that I bought
from a friend. The video tape has a different dub than the more recently
available DVD, so your mileage may vary, but the bulk of the film remains
the same.

Synopsis:

We open right up with a shot of the three monsters of the film

standing around and the title Yog, Monster from Space! Then quickly we
see the launch of a shuttle into space, the Helios 7, as it goes off to Jupiter.
As it nears its target, weird cosmic glowing mist attaches itself to the craft.
Unfortunately, the craft is lost in space.
A photographer on a plane, Taro Kudo, happens to look out a
window and see it crash landing into the ocean. His magazine wants
nothing to do with his rantings, but a woman, Ayako, hires him to go take
pictures on a Pacific “island paradise.” Her company wants to turn it into
an island resort, but they need lots of beautiful photographs to sell the idea
to investors. Also going along is a scientist, Dr. Miya, because, as you
would expect, there are some reports of monsters in the area, and he wants
to investigate. FOR SCIENCE! Kudo points out that the island is located
exactly where he saw the Helios 7 land.
A couple of guys are already on the island doing some research,
when Gezora, the giant cuttlefish, attacks and kills one of the two. The
survivor rushes to tell the islanders, and they seem to take it well,
explaining Gezora has been angered.
Kudo and his group arrive on Selga Island at last. An islander
meets them and tells them their god doesn’t want them here and they should
go home. They of course don’t listen, and get to work. Along with the
woman that recruited Kudo and the scientist, another man from the boat
joins them, Obata. He is kind of odd acting, claiming he planned to go off
on his own once they reached the island, but due to the monster attack
decides to join with the group. They are met by the survivor of Gezora’s
attack, Yokoyama, but he warns them this is a bad idea.
The group goes into a cave, and they get a glimpse of the strange
blue glowing stuff that was in space, and the water attacks them,
seemingly. It washes ashore the watch of Gezora’s victim. Yokoyama runs
out and drives away, stranding the others. He drives back and starts
packing his bags, no longer able to take life on the island, but Gezora will
have none of this foolishness and invades the hut. Yokoyama is no more,
but at least he doesn’t have to worry about island life any longer.
Riko the islander witnessed the whole thing, and is acting all stoic
and barely speaking, with strange marks on his body and a freezing cold
temperature. They don’t seem too concerned with Riko, though, and start
searching around for Yokoyama. During the search, Kudo spies Obata
stealing resort plans, but Riko’s lady friend shows up, concerned about
Riko’s catatonic state. She allows them to move into their hut, and Dr.
Miya is going to try to help Riko.
That night while the group is gathered around Riko, Kudo
casually confronts Obata, who confesses he is working for a competing
resort agency. It’s a cutthroat business apparently.
The next day, Kudo and Dr. Miya go scuba diving, while the
island witch doctor tells Riko to not associate with these dirty outsiders.
Under water, they find the crashed space craft, but as Kudo is
photographing it, Gezora swims up. It grabs at them, but they retaliate with
knives and harpoons. Eventually Gezora unleashes black ink into the water,
and the two explorers manage to escape.
Not too long after, Gezora shows up on land, causing islanders to
flee in terror. The witch doctor does not flee, however, and goes over to
pray to the monster. Gezora does not wish to be prayed to, and tosses the
witch doctor aside. Works for me. Gezora goes back to smashing huts.
Not really a very exciting setting to destroy things, but he works with what
he has.
They begin plotting to destroy Gezora, and decide fire should do
the trick. The islanders have some gasoline and rifles, so that will have to
do. They spread out some gasoline on the ground and begin firing the
rifles. Once Gezora is on the gas soaked ground, they ignite it, and poor
Gezora goes up in flames. The injured, smoldering sea creature crawls
away and collapses into the ocean.
The blue misty stuff has had enough, and exits Gezora’s body,
going off to find a new host.
Exploring the island, the group finds an abandoned World War II
depot full of ammo and fuel. They rest easy now, knowing they are
prepared in the event Gezora returns.
Later, Obata is out in a little boat in the ocean for some reason,
and suddenly is tossed overboard as a giant crab monster pops out of the
water! It is named Ganimes, for anyone who cares. There is more shooting
and running as it makes its way on to land. Kudo manages to shoot out one
of its eyes. Ganimes chases Kudo and Ayako up a mountainside, and being
a particularly clumsy giant crab monster, ends up falling over the cliff’s
side. It seems wounded, or at least stuck on it’s back, and as it turns out is
right next to a pile of explosives. Kudo does what anyone would do in this
situation, and opens fire, detonating the explosives and roasting the poor
crustacean.
Once again, the mysterious blue junk floats out of the body, but
no one seems to notice. Obata comes to, having washed ashore, and
suddenly sees the strange blueness coming towards him! It absorbs into his
body; and soon he hears a mysterious voice telling him that his mind has
been taken over, and this alien force will soon take over the earth.
That night, the islanders have a big party to celebrate the death of
all the monsters, and it seems they are playing the same music that was used
to worship King Kong back in the day. Cheaper than writing a new song, I
guess. Suddenly Riko becomes normal and starts talking again! He says
that Gezora retreated when a flock of bats came out, and Dr. Miya suddenly
recalls that when they were scuba diving, Gezora retreated when a school of
porpoises went by. Thus it’s concluded that sonic sound waves will injure
the giant monsters! They begin the next logical step—searching for bat
caves.
Obata returns, and is acting all mysterious, what with being
possessed by a space alien. He is trying to burn all the bats! Kudo sees
what is going on and tries to stop him, but is picked up and thrown onto
some rocks! A crowd of people come out, and Obata stares at them while a
mysterious voice tells them how earth will be taken over soon. Riko tries to
choke him to death, but it has no effect. Mystery Voice goes on to explain
that they now control another giant crab as well as Kamoebas, a giant
turtle. Ayako pleads with Obata not to destroy the bats, and to throw off the
power of the alien mind control. Obata stands there, looking as if some
internal conflict is going on, but then the giant turtle shows up and distracts
everyone.
Obata lights up the cave, but continues to try to fight the alien’s
mind control. He throws aside the barrier blocking the bats in the cave, and
they escape the flames. Obata then runs off into the jungle, and Kudo sadly
states all they can do now is pray for him. I would think they could at least
try to go after him, but apparently not.
The bats are making a lot of noise, and it’s driving Ganimes and
Kamoebas crazy! It breaks the alien mind control, but the two great kaiju
have nothing better to do, so they begin fighting to the death!
The battle goes on for a while, and it’s interesting to see a more
animalistic battle compared to the usual more humanoid ones Godzilla and
friends have in this era. We never get to really see the answer of who wins
in giant crab versus giant turtle, as per usual a volcano opens up beneath
them, and they meet a fiery, molten lava end.
The group sees Obata on the other side of the volcano. Kudo tries
to go over there and rescue him, but Dr. Miya stops him, saying Obata is
doing what he must do to force the aliens to lose control. Will standing
near the heat make them leave him alone? We never find out, as Obata
jumps into the volcano. Dr. Miya wisely states: “He did what he had to do.
Killing the last alien, he saved mankind.”
 A ship approaches the island, apparently having seen the volcano,
the crew is rescued!
THE END!

Overview:

This film isn’t spectacular, but it does its job. It’s a little sad,
seeing it and knowing that it marks the end of Toho’s science fiction golden
era. Godzilla would go on to star in five more films as the decade went on,
but many of the usual Toho contract actors were no longer around and the
budgets were drastically reduced. The “feel” of the movies going forward
is a different style. Eiji Tsubaraya had passed away by this point, and Ishiro
Honda’s role was diminishing.
All that being said, the monsters aren’t bad to look at. Beyond that
there are little special effects to speak of, with the exception of some
exploding huts and the end volcano. The plot feels like its painting by
numbers at this point, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing we prepare our
hearts and minds for the psychedelic wonderland of Godzilla VS Hedorah.

Recommendation:

Destroy All Monsters is a more fitting end to the era, while this
movie isn’t bad, it’s hardly required viewing.

Final Score: C
 Godzilla VS Hedorah, 1971
[AKA: Godzilla VS the Smog Monster]
[From Around the World: Frankenstein’s Battle Against the Devil’s
Monster, Germany]
[From Around the World: Hedorah, the Toxic Bubble, Spain]
[From Around the World: Godzilla Monster Frenzy, Italy]

“Let’s sing and dance while we can! Come on, blow your mind!”

Origin:

Times were changing at Toho studios. A hip new director was

given the chance to direct a Godzilla film. Yoshimitsu Banno tried to
incorporate a message of halting pollution, which is all well and good. The
unfortunate thing is the film plays out like a drug trip, and probably loses
the intended message because the viewer is left wondering what in the
world is going on.
A key difference in this film, apart from the drug induced
hallucinations, is this is the first time Godzilla isn’t just defending the earth
because he lives there, he is outright a good guy super hero who comes to
save the day when Japan is threatened by a toxic sludge monster.
A local grocery store with video rental had this in stock when I was
a kid, so I was introduced to it fairly early on. I remember being very
confused by all the weirdness in this one. Upon writing this, I went back to
watch this film for the first time in a number of years. I recalled it was kind
of strange, but figured most of the LSD-based accusations other Godzilla
fans on the internet were leveling at it were overblown. Nope. Turns out it
was a lot crazier than I remembered.
This is the last Toho film that had two dubs done on it. The one on
VHS and that was in theaters back in the day (known as Godzilla VS the
Smog Monster)has been replaced on the modern DVD and blu-ray releases
with another (known as Godzilla VS Hedorah). The only notable difference
I could ascertain was the opening “Save the Earth” musical number is no
longer in English as it once was, which is unfortunate.
 Synopsis:

We get a Toho Company logo, followed by a wonderful view of

smokestacks right in front of Mt. Fuji. We get shots of more garbage, then
the eyes of Hedorah peeking out of murky water at us--suddenly
GODZILLA VS HEDORAH splashes across the screen.
Then the musical number begins. A Japanese woman sings in
Japanese to us, with lots of images of gross garbage and pollution behind
her, including a hacked up mannequin.
Our story begins as some kid (Ken) in short shorts is playing with his
Godzilla toys in his yard. A big Godzilla and a little Godzilla get to go
down the slide, and a King Ghidorah is hanging around nearby.
As the family sits down for lunch, Ken’s father, Dr. Yano, is
delivered a weird looking fish by a surly old fisherman. It looks like a big
tadpole, basically. Later, during lunch, a news report comes on the
television about a couple of ships being destroyed by a strange monster, and
Ken sees that it is a bigger version of the tadpole creature that had been
brought to them earlier.
Dr. Yano goes diving amongst the garbage of the sea to attempt to
figure out what this new life form is. While he is underwater, Ken spots the
red eyed creature peering at him from the water. It takes a flying leap at
him, but Ken ducks down and holds up his knife, cutting it down the
middle. The creature retreats back into the sea.
Under the sea, Dr. Yano is confronted by the creature as well—
and we cut to him in bed being interviewed about what happened. Half of
his face is horribly burned. The kid has named the multiple little evil
creatures “Hedorahs.”
Then we get a cartoon of Hedorah drinking out of a tanker boat
and smog billowing out of smokestacks behind him. It will be the first
cartoon of a few that we get in this film. Very strange, indeed.
While Ken is dreaming of Godzilla coming to burn away all the
garbage in the ocean, Dr. Yano is doing some experimentation on the
strange Hedorah fish. He discovers it is actually a mineral, not a normal
living creature. He also discovers that if he allows the seemingly dead
thing to rehydrate in polluted water, that two smaller pieces of it will join
together to create a larger creature. They worry that all the little ones in the
sea will join together to create a giant monster. Certainly that could never
happen in the Toho-verse!
Meanwhile, there are far out and groovy happenings going on at
the nearby disco! A singer on stage performs a bit of a remix of the
opening title song, but it still isn’t translated for us. As she sings, we are
treated to a big and mean looking Hedorah crawling up onto the land for the
first time, crawling on all fours. He goes to inhale from the top of some
smokestacks. Delicious, delicious smog. He grows even larger before our
eyes as he gains sustenance from the pollution.
Ken’s dream comes true as Godzilla arrives in Japan, mad about
all this garbage! Hedorah glares in his direction, not happy to be
interrupted. Hedorah can suddenly now fly (but then who can’t fly in this
strange film?) and goes towards Godzilla. They scuffle on the ground a bit,
but Godzilla’s claws rip through the other creature, and he picks it up and
twirls it around, causing gooey black slime to splash over the innocent city
residents’ homes. Some even makes it through windows and kills some old
men playing cards. Thanks, Godzilla.
Back at the disco, people are dancing around with giant fish
masks on, when suddenly Hedorah interrupts the festivities by sliming into
the place. Apparently offended by the music, he slimes right back out, but
leaves a cat drenched in sludge.
Back with all his body parts outside, Hedorah faces off with
Godzilla once again—Godzilla wiping his nose at him. I’m sure this is an
homage or parody of something that was popular at the time, but I don’t get
it. After another nose wipe, the Smog Monster launches some goopy, acidic
sludge at Godzilla and burns his shoulder. Godzilla is annoyed and knocks
Hedorah to the ground, ooze coming out everywhere, then attempts to
incinerate him with atomic breath, which oddly causes electrical charges all
over the putrid beast. Godzilla attempts to stomp him out for good, but
Hedorah takes a flying leap into the ocean. Godzilla pursues, but
apparently can’t track him down.
Now, a cartoon of a factory destroying trees with big metal
hands! Hedorah flies in and lands atop the factory, and apparently eats it
and flies away.
From there, we get a somewhat lengthy and sciency explanation
from Dr. Yano all about how Hedorah works, feeding off of smog and
pollution. He even explains how Hedorah came to earth from outer space
by hitching a ride on a meteor. “It probably came from a sticky, dark planet
far, far away. Now, go to sleep.”
Ken and his uncle and girlfriend are riding a roller coaster when
Ken sees Godzilla in the distance. He knows this clearly means Hedorah is
nearby as well, so he calls his father right away, who instructs him to get his
mother and go home. While on the payphone, a huge explosion knocks out
the glass and cuts the phone line. Ken goes running. Hedorah has now
developed the ability to take flight, and flies overhead, spewing his toxins.
He enjoys a tasty gas plant, and then decides to eat a big pile of cars stuck
in a traffic jam.
Godzilla has had enough, and goes to confront the Smog Monster
again. He’s annoyed that his punches are futile against the mushy creature.
Hedorah flies away, and his toxins spewing forth are apparently stronger
now, reducing people beneath to skeletons, which Ken has to run through
on his way home.
Cartoon time! Anti-Hedorah oxygen masks are now on sale!
People walk around with them on, then apparently die. These are weird
cartoons.
We get a news report of the dead piling up in the streets! “So far
1,600 people have been killed, while the number of people injured exceeds
30,000.” “Dead bodies are reportedly piling up in the streets.” We haven’t
heard about that kind of thing since the ’54 original.
Dr. Yano’s younger brother knows just how to handle the
situation. He tells the disco club how they will get a group of a million
young people and throw a big party on top of Mt. Fuji, before Hedorah gets
to it. This seems a sound and logical means to defeat the monster.
On some news program, a random “expert” is explaining that pure oxygen
may destroy the creature. Then we get lots of little screens full of… all
sorts of things. People demanding they do something about Hedorah, a
baby crying in sludge and muck, stock footage of Godzilla, a laughing
skull; all sorts of wonderful images. Juxtaposed with all that is Dr. Yano
experimenting on one of his tadpole-like fragments of Hedorah, discovering
that electricity will dry out the creature and kill it. Trippy.
Fortunately for everyone, the big party on Mt. Fuji is underway.
It starts out in black and white and everyone is mopey because only one
hundred people are there instead of a million, but with a strum of a guitar,
we are colorized again, and they decide they might as well sing and dance
because they will all be dead soon anyway. With a cheer, they do just that.
Hedorah flies over Dr. Yano’s house, coating Ken’s Godzilla toys
in ooze and killing the flowers and interestingly enough the fish--a little
reminiscent of the Oxygen Destroyer test way back in Godzilla, King of the
Monsters.
The Mt. Fuji party is interrupted by Godzilla’s roar. I’m sure he
wanted to sing and dance, too; but Hedorah is there as well. Hedorah now
walks upright, and is pretty darn huge, appearing to be bigger than Godzilla.
Dr. Yano gets on the phone to the military and asks about the
giant electrodes he asked them to make to kill Hedorah. They aren’t nearby
and will need to be transported. It is nice of the military to do what some
random scientist asks, though.
Hedorah burns Godzilla yet again, transforms into his flying form
in a weird flash, and flies away. The party-goers start throwing torches at
him, and he obliterates a large portion of the party-goers. Fortunately Ken
and his uncle survive this, and finally Godzilla intervenes yet again, with
his atomic breath sidetracking Hedorah from killing the rest of the party.
Hedorah reveals he has a powerful red laser he can shoot from his
eye, and takes Godzilla down. He picks him up and flies him away to a
nice hole, where he proceeds to bury him in black sludge. Hedorah actually
laughs at Godzilla as he writhes in pain in the muck. I think that’s a first
and last for the series.
Fortunately for everyone, the two big electrodes are all ready to
go, they just have to lure Hedorah between them. That should be no
problem, though! Godzilla, meanwhile, attempting to mount a comeback,
rolls down a mountainside with Hedorah and they end up knocking out the
power lines headed to the electrodes, so… well… they are kind of
worthless.
Well, now that they are useless, Hedorah shows up to go and
stand not too far from but not quite between the electrodes. Dr. Yano orders
the military to use their headlights to try to lure Hedorah forward,
regardless of the lack of power source. They are working furiously to
reroute the power, though. At the rate the Smog Monster is slowly edging
forward, they have plenty of time. Ever so slowly and padding out the
running time of the film, after some distractions Hedorah finally gets in
front of the electrode panel. The military guys are still yelling about getting
power to it, but from out of nowhere, Godzilla’s atomic ray blasts the
electrode and powers it on! It is unclear as to why Godzilla’s atomic breath
suddenly has the ability to power electronic devices, but it saves Japan, and
inevitably the world, so I guess it’s a good thing.
Hedorah is lying in a heap, and Godzilla punches into it and pulls
out two big yellow balls. Testicles? Eyeballs? Eggs? We never find out.
Standing in the way of the electricity, he powers it again, and the balls fry to
ashes in his hands.
Hedorah sure seems dead, so Godzilla starts to walk away, but a
smaller flying Hedorah emerges from the burnt shell and tries to retreat.
Godzilla, not wanting to be outdone, grabs his tail and uses his atomic
breath as jet propulsion to follow after the other monster.
Yes. Godzilla flies.
He apparently is quite the speedy flyer, and crashes into Hedorah,
taking him down. Godzilla is not happy with this creature, and proceeds to
lift him high in the air and beat him into the ground repeatedly.
One of the military guys happily tells their general that they have
power now! The general is annoyed it took so long. Godzilla picks up the
Smog Monster and flies him back to the electrodes, and they get to use their
conventional power to fry Hedorah yet again. After one blast a fuse blows.
“Why can’t anything go right today!?” wails the general. Godzilla shakes
his head, annoyed, and lights it up again with his atomic ray.
This time, Hedorah is reduced to not much more than a pile of
dirt, with a bit of goo inside. Godzilla begins furiously ripping the pieces of
him apart and throwing them across the countryside.
Godzilla feigns that he is about to attack the military, and they
recoil in horror, but then he turns and walks back to the ocean. Ken yells
goodbye to Godzilla as he trudges away.
We get the ominous message of, “And yet another one?” and a still shot of
another Hedorah peeking out of the water and…
…THE END!

Overview:

There you have it. A few others might be in contention, but I think
this probably takes the prize of strangest Toho film. As odd as the little
cartoon interludes and trippy disco scenes are, Hedorah is a convincing
looking kaiju. The various designs look good and for the most part
Hedorah moves with the slimy heft that it looks like he possesses. Lots of
goop and slime is thrown around, which is to be expected under the
circumstances.
A big take away is the human carnage in this film—something that
has been ignored since early in the series, and wouldn’t really be dwelled on
again for quite a while. The news reports bodies piled in the street, and we
see people disintegrated into nothing but skeletons from Hedorah’s toxic
fumes.
Director Yoshimitsu Banno was promptly banned from ever
directing a Godzilla movie for Toho again; as the brass wasn’t fond of his
strange take on things. Banno would resurface in recent years, shopping
around a new Godzilla project that was to be a 3D Imax short film, which
never materialized, but he was able to get an executive produce credit on
Legendary’s 2014 Godzilla.

Recommendation:

This is one of those really strange films that you should probably at
least see once and decide for yourself if you’ll ever go back to it again. I
can’t say it’s a personal favorite, but it sure is unique.

Final Score: C
 Godzilla VS Gigan, 1972
[AKA: Godzilla on Monster Island]
[From Around the World: Frankenstein’s Hell Brood, Germany]

“I think it stinks!”

Origin:

We have another strange entry here, although not quite so much as

Godzilla VS Hedorah. The budget problems become all the more obvious
as anyone with a keen eye will recognize significant portions of the monster
action is cut from previous films. It’s unfortunate, but Toho’s options were
simply limited at this point, and using old footage of effect shots that looked
good was the choice they made instead of subpar budget effects. The old
footage is inserted as carefully as possible that some of it will sneak past
you, although you’ll occasionally notice an older Godzilla suit or the sun
suddenly being out when it had been night time a moment before.
We get to see a little more of Monster Island this time, and we get
the impression that Godzilla hangs out there with his monster friends in
their spare time. It’s reminiscent of the Monster Land in Destroy All
Monsters, so assuming this all exists on the same timeline, maybe that’s
what Monster Island will become by the year 1999.
This was yet another film that was readily available on VHS by the
late 1980’s. My brother and I received this as a gift from our mother for
getting good grades on our report cards. Score! This is the incentive based
education that would turn the tide in failing test scores across the nation.

Synopsis:

We are greeted by Godzilla, who roars and breathes atomic fire

into our face! Title card: GODZILLA VS GIGAN!
The credits play out over footage of lots of random computers and
machines. After that, we see multiple comic book panels, because manga is
cool. It seems Gengo is trying to sell his comic idea to a publisher. He is
making up monsters of homework and too strict mothers, but the comic
boss thinks it stinks and throws him out. His girlfriend sends him to the
theme park World Children’s Land.
Gengo pitches his stupid ideas again, and the man interviewing
him seems to like them and he is hired. The plan seems to be to have
monster-themed attractions at the park, and then they will wipe out all the
monsters on Monster Island. Apparently the people running World
Children’s Land have a lot of clout and access to very powerful weapons.
Gengo returns the next day with his sketches, and is hit by a
woman quickly running out of the building. She drops a tape in the
collision, but runs off, not noticing. Gengo points his new boss and his
goons in the wrong direction as they exit the building, going after her, and
picks up the tape she dropped.
Gengo explores around the building a bit, and even answers a
phone and uses a funny voice for reasons I’m not entire sure of. He is told
to walk into the office next to the room he is in, and is greeted by a young
looking man who is the chairman of the company, which is shocking to
Gengo.
The chairman goes on a rant about how the woman who stole the
tape is an enemy of peace, and must be stopped! They really enjoy all their
ranting about peace.
As Gengo leaves that night, he is accosted by the girl and by a
hippie with a corncob wrapped in foil, which Gengo thinks is a gun. Gengo
is a schlub and passes out. They bring him back to his home and revive
him. The girl explains that her brother is a computer technician who was
working for the World Children’s Land, but had gone missing. He had
written into his diary that those tapes were vital, which is why she broke in
and stole it.
Godzilla Tower is revealed. It’s something of a headquarters for
the World Children’s Land, and apparently will be a good stand-in for
Godzilla once they obliterate him. The girl’s brother is there, being forced
to work on their machines. Suddenly all the computers light up, and the
chairman states that the action tape must be being played somewhere.
Far away on Monster Island, Godzilla magically hears it!
Godzilla beckons Anguirus over and tells him to go check out what is going
on. Yes, they speak. It’s great.
 Gengo and his two friends, the enemies of peace, attempt to do
background checks on the chairman and his right hand man. They uncover
that the Children’s Land only takes donations with no strings attached, and
is headquartered in Switzerland, which the Corn Cob Hippie thinks is very
suspicious. Their research also reveals that the chairman died a year ago,
and according to the priest they talk to, was an idiot, incapable of running
an organization. His lackey was his English teacher in school, who had
died in the same accident with him. So, that’s kind of weird.
Back at Godzilla Tower, the chairman puts in “the tape of peace”
and is asked by the kidnapped computer technician Shima, “Peace for
who?!”
Meanwhile, the Japanese military is dispatched to meet Anguirus
as he comes ashore. They first shine some lights on him, and start
shooting. They apparently didn’t get the message that Godzilla and his
friends are in full-on super hero mode and only there to help. Anguirus
cries dejectedly and swims back home.
Gengo confirms Shima is in the tower, but is thrown out by the
director, who first gives him a pack of cigarettes with a creepy grin on his
face. The director and a couple of goons track him to his home, where it is
discovered Gengo is working with the hippie enemies of peace. They are
about to shoot them when Gengo’s girlfriend comes in and beats them all
up. From there, Gengo and crew rush to the military and demand that
Godzilla Tower be raided, who aren’t entirely sure if they should take the
word of some random weirdos.
Another tape is played at the Godzilla Tower, and King Ghidorah
and Gigan begin to make their way towards earth… specifically, Japan.
Gengo and his girlfriend go inside in an attempt to rescue Shima,
but are tragically captured. We get the big reveal that the chairman,
director, and their crew are all aliens from another planet. They polluted
their planet to death (apparently they have many earth-brands available
there, as we get some stock footage of busy city streets), and the dominate
species there died out. This crew survived, however, and went off to take
over earth, using dead bodies as reciprocals to hide their alien selves. Just
then the lights go out, and the emergency lighting reveals that all the aliens
have the shadows of cockroaches! This of course doesn’t make any sense,
since they are clearly hiding INSIDE human bodies, but alas.
 Ghidorah and Gigan near the earth, and the Japanese Self Defense
Force is dispatched via stock footage.
Gigan is quick to get to land and start smacking building around.
Ghidorah opts to stay in the air and rain down lightning from the sky, much
like the Japanese military; he does this via stock footage. Gigan reveals
someone decided to give him a buzz saw running down his belly, and he
cuts a building in half instead of just smashing it with his hooker hands.
The military finally arrives and goes to work, bombarding the evil killer
kaijus from outer space, going so far as to use maser cannons exactly in the
same fashion as they did in War of the Gargantuas. The outcome is a bit
different this time, though, as Ghidorah starts lighting them up after Gigan
falls behind the treeline.
As Gigan and Ghidorah are destroying a refinery on the shore,
Godzilla and Anguirus swim on up and make it to land, ready to start a tag
team battle of death and destruction!
Meanwhile, Corncob Hippie and Shima’s sister go into action on
their plan to free the others from Godzilla Tower. A giant balloon and
zipline later, everyone who isn’t a cockroach is safely outside of the tower.
The balloon pops and the alien cockroaches quickly destroy a fleeing car…
which none of the film’s protagonists happen to be in. The aliens think the
ordeal with the humans is over with, as the humans go off to further hinder
alien efforts at world domination.
Lots of monster action later, the good kaiju seem to be holding
their own for quite a while, but Anguirus has a tendancy to become a
punching bag, and eventually Gigan is having his way with him as Godzilla
struggles in stock footage with King Ghidorah. Gigan does a fly by on
Godzilla that cuts a deep, bloody wound in his shoulder and knocks him to
the ground, which causes him to stumble closer to the Godzilla Tower.
Godzilla is shocked at first at the sight of such a handsome devil
looking back at him, but then the aliens begin firing their super powerful
laser beam from the Tower’s mouth. Godzilla goes down right away,
unable to stay on his feet under the constant barrage.
Anguirus, always wanting to prove himself useful, rams his face
into Gigan’s buzzsaw. …?
The military is finally helping Gengo and crew, and they load up
the Godzilla Tower elevator with TNT and cover it all with a big illustration
of the Enemies of Peace Crew, which once the door opens, the wise
cockroach aliens open fire on, causing the tower to explode. The human
body outfits disappear and the cockroaches, lying in flames and rubble,
lament that things had been going so well, but had now gone wrong.
Ghidorah and Gigan are no longer under alien control, and stand
around looking kind of confused, but they still dislike the other kaiju and
continue the assault. Godzilla gets rather bloodied and has his head poked
in with Gigan’s claw. Ghidorah thinks this is great, and flips Godzilla’s
prone body through the air, where it collides with the remains of the
Godzilla Tower, which for no particular reason revitalizes the King of the
Monsters!
Godzilla gives Gigan a lengthy pummeling, and after a while we
see Gigan is just starring at what is going on instead of helping. Angurius’s
face has apparently reconstructed itself, and he sneaks up on Ghidorah and
takes him to task… or tries. It doesn’t amount to a lot, but Godzilla makes
the save and soon the fiends from outer space are on the ropes. After a few
spiny Anguirus back slams into Ghidorah and some trademark bodyslams
from Godzilla, the two monsters fly off.
Gengo and crew celebrate, and Godzilla and Anguirus head back
to sea, as everyone yells “Goodbye” and waves to them. Godzilla turns in
slow motion quite dramatically, and roars.
Then we get a song no one bothered to dub into English.
THE END!

Overview:

As Godzilla movies spin into the Japanese economic crash of the

1970’s, it gets harder to score them. On the one hand, they are full of short
cuts and stock footage, but on the other… they are incredibly entertaining.
It comes down to personal taste. I hesitate to call a movie like Godzilla VS
Gigan, “so bad, it’s good,” because there really is some great new stuff
here, but the silliness and stock footage have to be taken into account.
Prior to this film, Godzilla has certainly teamed with other
monsters, but this is the first time it really felt like tag teaming. Some
people hate that, but clearly my taste in films isn’t entirely mainstream, and
I find it charming. A lot that King Ghidorah does is compilations of stock
footage, but Gigan is all new, and there are some impressive shots of him
taking down the city and beating on our heroes. There are some other
contenders, but the human action in this film may just be my favorite in the
series.

Recommendation:

This is an absolute personal favorite, but clearly not for everyone.

If you like silly superhero Godzilla with hilarious human hijinks, this is the
epitome! If you don’t, well… I feel sorry for you.

Final Score: C+
 Godzilla VS Megalon, 1973

“Destroy the earth! Destroy our enemies! Rise up! Go on,

Megalon!”

Origin:

Another year, another Godzilla film. Many would consider this to

be the low point of the series. This is true from a budgetary standpoint, but
some (myself included) would argue that the film does still manage to
succeed at being greatly entertaining. The plot is a basic rehash of most of
the recent films, except instead of alien invaders, they are invaders from
beneath the sea, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Atragon (or
Latitude Zero, but that was just one flying lion monster).
Robert Dunham returns to Toho to play the leader of Seatopia.
You may remember him from such films as Dogora, where he played the
American diamond investigator. We also have the honor and privaledge of
meeting Jet Jaguar in this film. Jet Jaguar was the product of a children’s
contest to design a hero for a film, which practically guarantees it will be
good. Jet Jaguar was originally planned to be the star, but ticket sales were
failing enough as it was, so Godzilla was added to the cast to bolster the star
power.
This was an early VHS pickup for my family. I believe my brother
bought it from Value City Department Store. At this point, we had not yet
seen Godzilla VS Gigan, so Gigan was new and exciting to us and we were
unaware of the considerable amount of stock footage that was taken from
the most recent film in the series. For our purposes today, we have moved
beyond the many VHS copies that flooded the market, and are watching the
shiny and fairly recent DVD release of the film.

Synopsis:

In the first part of 1971, underground nuclear tests were carried

out! Everyone loves nuclear tests. It was apparently a powerful bomb,
because even on far away Monster Island, they are feeling the effects.
Rodan flaps his wings sadly, Anguirus randomly walks into a hole; it’s a
bad time. Godzilla roars in various directions as things blow up and
mountains collapse. Suddenly the title appears in an explosion!
GODZILLA VS MEGALON!
Actually, we only see that in subtitles, with nice Japanese
characters giving us the title. Credits roll, also in Japanese, among the
many explosions.
Some kid in short shorts is on a little paddle boat thing in a lake,
while two guys, the boys uncle, Goro, and friend Hiroshi, look on. They
appear to be enjoying some Fanta. Suddenly, there is an earthquake. They
call out to the kid, Rokuro (but the dub sounds like Rocks-on), as a big
glow appears in the lake. A whirlpool develops, as the water starts to drain
out! Fortunately, the guys had the foresight to bring a grappling hook.
They pull Rokuro to safety as the lake drains completely.
The trio drives home, listening to a news report on the radio about
the many deaths due to the earthquakes and such, but we never get to
actually see any of that destruction (we actually don’t get to see any other
people hardly, the city is a ghost town throughout the film!). They lament
how all land will end up being destroyed by this carelessness and be
submerged into the ocean. We even get to think back fondly to Atragon as
they mention the Mu Empire having met this fate. They also mention
Lemuria, but we don’t care about that silly place.
They arrive at Goro’s crazy house. He is an inventor, and
apparently a terrible (or incredibly awesome?) interior decorator. They are
greeted by a couple of intruders when they enter. Even the weird cubes
hanging from the ceiling won’t save them now! The apparent burglars run
off, but Hiroshi manages to get a hold of a button from their coat.
The thugs drive off, and Hiroshi hops back into his car to go after them.
Goro investigates his lab, which has been ransacked. Fortunately
his robot is still standing. It’s a mess, but nothing seems to have been
stolen. Rokuro finds some “funny powder,” which Goro wisely identifies
as sand.
Hiroshi has been tracking the bad guys for a while, but they
finally throw some kind of fire bomb out at the road, which causes him to
lose them.
 Hiroshi returns to the house, and reveals the button he got, and
GASP! It’s the same color as the sand!
We then get a quick montage of Goro working on his robot, Jet
Jaguar. It seems it is nearly complete! Soon after, Hiroshi stops by to visit,
and Rokuro drives away on a tiny motor bike, far too small for even a
child. Jet Jaguar is activated and starts moving around. We get the big
reveal that the burglars had planted a bugging device and hear the entire
thing. They also grab Rokuro off the road and leave his stupid tiny bike.
The crooks bring the kid back, and use him to let them in, then go
around shooting gas at everyone, knocking them out. They take control of
Jet Jaguar!
We see the wonders of Seatopia, a land under the sea. They
dance around in plastic dresses with pointy hoods there, apparently. There
leader, a hairy guy in a toga with a Megalon tiara, gives a rousing speech to
his people! The jist of it is, after three million years of peace, they have no
choice but to go to war, due to the nuclear tests from the surface which have
already destroyed a third of their country. They will unleash Megalon to
destroy the surface dwellers! So… wait… the people on land have wiped
out one third of their nation, and they’re the bad guys? Well, okay. It takes
lots of yelling at a glowing rock, but eventually Megalon has enough
cajoling, and bursts out of the rock, and begins his flight to the surface
world.
Rokuro and Goro wake up bound in a metal trailer, apparently
being hauled somewhere. One of the Seatopian agents is riding along with
a couple truckers, hired to drop the metal box in the lake. Rather odd and
out of place, a nude pinup is behind them.
Seatopian controlled Jet Jaguar exits the lab, and goes flying off
somewhere.
Back in the lab, the other Seatopian gives Hiroshi a crash course
on their plans for world domination, when Hiroshi breaks free and beats the
tar out of the enemy. He rushes out to find Goro and Rokuro. This results
in a mildly entertaining chase scene, as Hiroshi evades another car and a
motorcycle. Highlights include driving down stairs and the motorcycle
rider getting covered in paint.
Megalon has finally reached the surface! Jet Jaguar, still being
used nefariously, guides Megalon to Tokyo, so he can get to smashing and
blowing things up. The military is dispatched to meet the new kaiju threat,
and the city is evacuated—all from old stock footage!
The Seatopian agent riding with the truckers who are going to
dispose of Goro and Rokuro pulls a gun on them when they say they aren’t
going to drive there anymore since Megalon showed up. They don’t take
too kindly to this and hurl him out of the truck, where he rolls down a rocky
hillside, and looks to be dead. The truckers dutifully continue their hired
mission to dispose of the big box, though; even though they killed the guy
who hired them. Just as the box is about to fall off the back of the truck and
into the lake, Megalon shows up nearby! Hiroshi arrives and the truckers
end up stealing his car. Megalon breaks through a dam while Hiroshi tries
to rescue Goro and Rokuro. Finally the metal box slides off the back of the
truck, but Megalon hits it, knocking it away.
Hiroshi runs off and finds his two friends unconscious near the
box, but quickly revives them and they are more or less okay.
Finally, Megalon has wondered into the stock footage district, and
the military unloads on him. For the second Godzilla film in a row, we get
the War of the Gargantuas scene with the masers cutting through trees.
After this it finally gets to go into retirement for a few decades. Megalon
soon reduces the military to rubble with his lightning ray that comes from
the horn on his head, which looks suspiciously like King Ghidorah’s ray.
Goro goes to the military, and they figure they will give his idea a
try. They apparently are rather desperate, if any weirdo can walk up and
start making suggestions. Anyway, he has a communicator that if in the
right range, he can take back control of Jet Jaguar. The plan is to have him
fly to Monster Island to alert Godzilla of this tomfoolery going on in Japan.
With the simple command of “Get Godzilla, you’ll find him on Monster
Island,” Jet Jaguar flies off.
The Togo guy in Seatopia is displeased that they have lost control
of Jet Jaguar, and makes a call to Nebula M to see if they can borrow Gigan
to help out. I like how all these various enemies of earth apparently have
each other on speed dial and lend each other monsters in times of need.
Megalon is upset that Jet Jaguar flew away and left him alone.
He starts jumping around and acting really weird. Fighter jets arrive,
because the JSDF doesn’t like their pilots. Megalon of course has the
ability with his lightning ray to shoot them out of the sky, but for the most
part they fly in close enough range that he can knock them out of the sky
with his drill hands (which become Gigan hands in close ups).
Rokuro and Hiroshi are doing their part to save the world by
raiding a model store and “borrowing” an airplane model.
We finally get our first look at Godzilla since the movie intro. Jet
Jaguar lands in front of him, and does some fancy sign language stuff.
Godzilla nods his head knowingly. Jet Jaguar flies off, and Godzilla jumps
into the ocean to swim after him.
Megalon has gone back to blowing up buildings, again via stock
footage. Good special effects are good special effects, though; even if they
are recycled.
Rokuro and Hiroshi return to Goro’s house, and trick the
Seatopian guy inside to come out, where Rokuro proceeds to throw the
model plane into his nose. Hiroshi and the Seatopian struggle, and Rokuro
does a weak looking swing on one of the hanging cubes that knocks the guy
out. Goro gets home just in time to find the agent lying on his floor. They
try to take the bad guy with them, but he struggles too much for their taste
so they leave him behind, and drive off to see what the monsters are up to
and keep track of their robot. The Seatopian runs out soon after and gets
crushed by a rock.
Jet Jaguar lands, gives them a thumbs up, and flies away again.
Goro explains that Jet Jaguar “programmed himself,” a feature he had built
into him. Well, okay then.
Jet Jaguar goes to taunt Megalon, and grows in size to be as tall as
the other monsters, because robots can do that, obviously. He walks up and
slugs Megalon in the face. Goro later explains that he programmed himself
to do that as well.
Megalon and Jet Jaguar tussle about for a while, more or less at a
stalemate, but then Gigan flies onto the scene and the two of them trounce
the bizarre robot man. The beating goes on for a while, then Godzilla
shows up and strikes a pose. He helps up Jet Jaguar and they shake hands,
and then begin the tornado tag team action.
The battle seems to be going in the good guys’ favor for a while,
but the enemy begins to mount a counter attack. Gigan threatens to behead
Jet Jaguar, but Godzilla uses his atomic ray to knock him back. As Godzilla
tends to the injured robot, Megalon surrounds them in a ring of fire. Could
this be the end of our heroes!? Gigan and Megalon clap and hop with glee.
When all hope seems lost and it appears Godzilla and his robot pal will be
confined to a ring of fire forever, Godzilla hops on Jet Jaguar’s back and he
flies them out of the ring.
Once out of that predicament, the battle sways back in Godzilla’s
favor, as Jet Jaguar knocks Gigan into a bridge and Megalon is down and
out. The robot even breaks Gigan’s arm, which is a little meaner than
usual. Gigan has all the bad luck, his death in a television series looming
not far in his future.
We are then treated to the iconic moment of Godzilla sliding on
his tail to kick Megalon in the face—twice! Megalon is then lifted high in
the air and slammed onto the ground multiple times.
Gigan flies off, and Megalon returns beneath the surface of the
earth, never to be seen again.
Godzilla and Jet Jaguar shake hands again (nice that Godzilla has
assimilated our customs like that), and Godzilla trudges off.
Jet Jaguar makes his way back to Goro, Hiroshi, and Rokuro.
They thank him for his kindness to humanity, and he shrinks back down to
his original size. They try talking to him, but he doesn’t listen. Goro tries
his communicator once again, and now it works. Apparently, he un-
programmed himself and gave his control back to his inventor. Mighty nice
of him.
We are treated to the exciting Jet Jaguar theme song as the group makes
their way home, Rokuro riding on Jet Jaguar’s shoulders.
THE END!

Overview:

Godzilla VS Megalon is clearly a movie with the goal of

entertaining children, and those of us with childlike minds, and in this it
succeeds. The two guys and a kid are fun enough, although nothing
matches the greatness of Robert Dunham presiding over Seatopia. There is
too much stock footage to ignore, but the original effect shots, though few,
are done well—particularly Megalon destroying the dam. Jet Jaguar just
doesn’t really make any sense, but as is often the case, that becomes his
charm.
 Tragically, the Showa Gigan would meet his demise shortly after
filming Godzilla VS Megalon. He made a cameo appearance on Zone
Fighter, an Ultraman style television show produced by Toho, where
Godzilla frequently guest starred, and King Ghidorah as well. Zone Fighter
murdered poor Gigan, but at least we would get a new and improved Gigan
in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars.

Recommendation:

If you don’t like “so bad, it’s good,” this isn’t for you. If you want
to just have a fun time watching something ridiculous and often stupid, then
you’ve found what you’re looking for!

Final Score: C-
 Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla, 1974
[AKA: Godzilla VS the Bionic Monster]
[AKA: Godzilla VS the Cosmic Monster]
[From Around the World: King Kong VS Godzilla, Germany]

“This material can only be space titanium!”

Origin:

It was realized things were deteriorating a little too much for the
franchise, so Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla was given a bigger budget than the
last couple entries. While this film is hardly hard-hitting drama, there was
also an uptick in the level of seriousness compared to the last couple
movies. It certainly remains child friendly, and aimed primarily at that
demographic, but it takes itself a little bit more seriously.
In my early days, after being denied purchase of this movie at a
video store, a local drug store (I still miss you, Phar-Mor) had the case for
this film sitting out on the rental shelf. I was ecstatic! Upon trying to rent
it, we were told they only had Godzilla VS Gigan. So why did they have
the Mechagodzilla box?! WHY?! What a horrible thing to do to your
paying customers. I fortunately received a tape of this movie soon
thereafter, though.

Synopsis:

The film opens with a snow covered rocky terrain, and Anguirus
roaming around and roaring. Then a rock starts flashing a lot and explodes,
and Godzilla’s name flies towards the viewer multiple times, and finally we
get the title card…
GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA!
The opening credits roll with calming music and scenic photos of
Japan, presumably Okinawa, where the film takes place.
The movie begins with some tourists watching an Azumi princess
do some ritual dance, when suddenly she sees a vision of King Ghidorah
and all sorts of destruction. That’s a little frightening. Two brothers are
present, and check on her. They are Masahiko and Keisuke Shimizu. The
girl’s grandfather, an old priest, rushes to her as well. They are a bit
worried by her prediction, but can’t do much about it, so they go on their
way.
Masahiko does some spelunking, and stumbles across some
strange glowing metal.
Keisuke goes to work, where he is part of a crew excavating, and they have
just found a strange cave. It has murals painted on the wall from ancient
Okinawans. A woman shows up, and Keisuke thinks it’s a reporter, but it
turns out she is an archeologist sent to investigate. Her name is Saeko
Kaneshiro. Inside, they find paintings and a little statue of King Caesar—
the Guardian of the Azumis. Legend says that when people from the
mainland came to conquer Okinawa, King Caesar appeared to defend the
royal family of the Azumis.
Saeko continues studying the Azumi prophecies at Shuri
University. “When a black mountain appears above the clouds, a monster
will destroy the world.” That’s my kind of prophecy! As she does her
research, a mysterious man clad in black and wearing an evil black ring
spies on her.
Keisuke runs into Saeko again on a plane to Tokyo. She is taking
a King Caesar statue to Dr. Wagura, an expert on such things. When she
mentions the doctor’s name, the mysterious dude joins in on the
conversation, as he had the seat in front of her on the plane. He claims to
be a reporter (or scandal hunter). Suddenly everyone in the plane is
shocked to see a cloud formation that looks like a black mountain.
Prophecies are coming true! What a day we live in! Saeko recites the next
part of the prophecy: “But when the red moon sets and the sun rises west,
two monsters will appear to save the people.” Well, that’s a nice prophecy
if I’ve ever heard one.
Keisuke rides with Saeko to Dr. Wagura’s house, but then gets out
and knocks on the door. She is confused as to what he is doing here, and
probably thinks he is some kind of creep, but Dr. Wagura answers the door
and is happy to see him! We discover that the doctor is actually his uncle,
and was expecting him. They all have a laugh and it would be the perfect
place to freeze frame and end the film.
 Meanwhile, Masahiko has taken the strange piece of metal to
Professor Miyajima to try to figure out what it is. After running some tests,
we are told, “this material can only be space titanium.” Clearly. Just then
an earthquake hits. Japan needs to move somewhere more stable.
Dr. Wagura and Saeko are studying the artifacts late into the
night, and just as Saeko goes to make coffee, a wild man with a gun jumps
in. This isn’t the same mysterious man as earlier—this one has a mustache.
He demands the artifact, but just then Keisuke enters and struggles with
him. Saeko runs off with the artifact, under commands from Wagura. The
intruder seems to win the struggle, but runs off. The “reporter” from earlier
looks on from outside and smokes a cigarette.
Meanwhile, there are lots of explosions and a rock floats around
strangely! Godzilla pops up and starts making weird noises! Well, it
certainly looks like Godzilla. Back at the Azumi shrine, the old man is all
riled up about Godzilla appearing, and he laments that only King Caesar
can stop him, but they don’t know how to get him to rise up again. Then he
starts shouting at Godzilla. “Oh, Godzilla! Destroy the people of Japan
who once tried to conquer the Azumi tribe! You will be the instrument of
our revenge!” So… I don’t know, the guy seems confused as to what he
wants, exactly.
“Godzilla” gets to work smashing some buildings. Up from the
ground comes Anguirus (because Baragon called in sick that day).
Anguirus tries to stop the rampaging, but as usual, he gets trounced. He
does manage to knock off some fake skin to reveal Godzilla’s metallic
center, though. Then he has his jaw broken and bleeds everywhere, before
running away.
Keisuke drives to Professor Miyajima’s, and observes Godzilla
VS Anguirus on the way. He stops and gets a larger chunk of strange metal,
which the professor immediately identifies as space titanium. They all
venture out to take a look at the cave the metal was first found in, as well as
possibly get a better look at Godzilla, but before they go Keisuke and
Masahiko marvel at the professor’s home made pipe. It’s strange looking.
He says it’s made of metal and contains a stratacrom. At least, I think it
contains a stratacrom. The DVD subtitles helpfully leave that word as
“???” so that’s the best I can do. Anyway, it can emit a magnetic wave
when the halves of the pipe are separated. Everyone needs a pipe like that!
 Godzilla has arrived at a refinery, and is blasting away. His
atomic fire is yellow and makes a strange sound; it still blows stuff up,
though. The group arrives to observe. Godzilla approaches a warehouse,
and Godzilla pops out of it. Clearly we all know this is the real Godzilla
here to stop his robotic double, but why was he in a warehouse? We never
find out, and no one in the car seems to find it odd.
Watching the entire scene unfold on monitors in an evil lair is a
group of aliens responsible for the whole thing. Their leader is smoking a
cigar.
The monsters battle and it becomes more obvious that one is a
robot, as chunks of fake flesh get torn off by the true Godzilla. A couple
blasts of atomic fire, and the aliens decide to unveil Mechagodzilla. With a
flip of a switch all the fake Godzilla scales are gone and Godzilla is face to
face with the evil cyborg from outer space. The rainbow lasers from
Mechagodzilla’s eyes are apparently too much for Godzilla, who retreats to
the water, leaving a trail of blood. Mechagodzilla is damaged as well and
must return to the base for repairs.
The group plans to return to Okinawa. The professor states that
he is sure Mechagodzilla is being controlled by a space man. I like that he
speaks with such confidence on matters such as these.
Back at Team Wagura, the doctor seems to have figured out
where to find King Caesar. It’s so easy to lose these giant monsters.
“When the sun rises in the west, then place this statue on the sacred shrine
above the gate of Azumi Castle.” Seems easy enough. Keisuke muses how
both prophecies mention the sun rising in the West, and how that simply
isn’t possible.
In Space Man Secret Base, the chief as he is called (he looks
neither Native American, nor running CONTROL), instructs Agent Number
One to steal the statue as soon as possible. Apparently they are listening in,
and don’t want King Caesar to foul things up.
Keisuke and Saeko take a cruise ship to the shrine, to try to be
inconspicuous. The so called “reporter” is on board as well.
Professor Miyajima, his daughter Ikuko, and Masahiko are
exploring the cave that Masahiko had previously found the space titanium
in. The cave houses the secret entrance to the space man base, and they are
captured. The lead space man approaches them, and tells the professor they
have been waiting for him for a long time. When asked who he is, he gives
us his formal title: he is none other than Commander for conquest of Earth,
from the third planet from the black hole, outer space. He explains
Mechagodzilla must be repaired quickly or they will fall behind schedule in
their conquesting. We wouldn’t want that. He asks the professor for help,
since he had previously won a Nobel Prize, he must be a smart guy. Maybe
back in the 1970’s they didn’t hand those out like candy the way they do
now. Miyajima refuses, as you would expect. So, Commander Chief has
his daughter and Masahiko taken to the execution room. The professor
seems to be reconsidering the offer.
The wounded Godzilla has come ashore somewhere not
identified. It’s storming badly, with lightning all around. Godzilla stands
and takes multiple lightning strikes. Never seemed like something he liked
in the past, but now he has apparently evolved and absorbs the electrical
power, glowing and sparking.
On the cruise ship, Keisuke believes they are being watched.
While Saeko sleeps Agent Number One (the guy with a mustache who
attacked earlier) breaks into her cabin, and searches for the King Caesar
artifact. He gets it and returns to his cabin, where Keisuke surprises him
and gets his rematch. Keisuke tries to get information from him, but he
pulls a knife, and Keisuke ends up shooting him in the face in self defense.
Disturbingly, this causes the agent’s face to morph into a strange green ape
face. Okay. Why not? The agent runs out with Keisuke in hot pursuit.
They fight through some deck chairs and eventually the agent gets the gun
back and is about to shoot his foe. Before he can kill him, another gun goes
off and the agent falls over the side of the boat; unfortunately the artifact
goes with him. The “reporter” walks by innocently and makes some weird
comments. Arriving in the port, it is revealed that the real statue was
locked in the ship’s safe the entire time, and the one that went overboard
was a fake. Playing tricks on Saeko is hilarious, apparently.
Professor Miyajima makes quick work at repairing
Mechagodzilla. He knows all about his space titanium, that’s for sure. The
professor demands that the aliens keep their word and release his daughter
and Masahiko, but instead they lock him up with the other two. I thought
for sure they could be trusted. Once they are locked up in the cell together,
steam starts filling the room and a heat lamp turns on, as the aliens plan to
scald them to death, instead of just shooting them.
 Keisuke is concerned that his brother and the others haven’t been
seen for a while, so he goes to check out the cave, and finds the professor’s
fancy pipe on the ground. As soon as he grabs it, a space man shows up
with a gun. The “reporter” shoots the alien. Finally the reporter reveals he
is really an Interpol agent, named Nanbara. He forces the alien to lead them
into their base. They beat up some guards and steal their outfits, and get
their allies out of the cell before they die in the steam bath.
As they leave the base, they find a bomb planted in their car,
which is unfortunate, but then they see that the moon is red. The
prophecies continue to come true! The aliens saw the car blow up, so at
least they think they are dead now.
One group goes back into the base to try to stop Mechagodzilla,
while the other takes the King Caesar artifact to the Azumi Castle. The evil
space men meet them at the castle, though, and try to take back the artifact,
but they are shot by Tamura, yet another Interpol agent. He is Nanbara’s
partner. They place the King Caesar statue in its special place on the castle.
…and then the sun rises in the West. Always a good sign.
Apparently it is just an optical illusion caused by the sun reflecting on the
statues eyes. I don’t know, but we’ll call it the fulfillment of prophecy, just
to be safe. Part of a mountain explodes and King Caesar is slumbering
inside.
Mechagodzilla launches once again, this time with the mission of
killing off King Caesar before he awakes. He is a really sound sleeper,
apparently. The Azumi priestess starts singing and dancing. I was worried
with no Mothra we wouldn’t get any prayer to a giant monster, but now I
can rest easy. The song ends and King Caesar is ready to go!
The robot and the weird giant dog lion thing get right to punching at each
other. King Caesar has the ability to reflect Mechagodzilla’s rainbow laser
back at him, so the robot switching to using missiles, which don’t reflect so
well. The Azumi kaiju isn’t doing so hot, but then Godzilla pops up on
shore!
Mechagodzilla doesn’t do too badly of a job holding off both his
adversaries for a while, shootings lasers and missiles all around. He even
turns on his fancy shield that seems to singe Godzilla’s hand when he tries
to punch through it. Mechagodzilla then really unloads--the missile fingers
are cool, but there are even missiles launching out of his knee caps. They
really went all out here, and we can’t forget the rainbow eye lasers and less
colorful chest laser. Soon massive wounds are spraying blood all over out
of Godzilla’s neck.
Godzilla then remembers his new found electrical powers, and
turns himself into an electromagnet, knocking missiles away from him and
pulling all metal objects towards him. Yes, even space titanium!
Mechagodzilla tries to fly away but Godzilla’s magnetic pull is too great.
Finally the robot is down on the ground, and Godzilla tries to hold him
down, but it fires up its thrusters and starts to lift Godzilla into the air. King
Caesar finally does something useful and starts pounding on the evil robot.
Finally Godzilla had had enough and rips off its head.
The professor, Interpol agent, and Masahiko stormed back into
the base and were quickly captured. It’s all part of the plan, though, as they
escape while everyone is distracted watching the monster battle, and when
the moment is right, they kill off the room full of space gorillas. The
computers all start exploding, thanks to the fancy pipe with super powers.
The entire base starts exploding along with the computers, so they rush out.
Mechagodzilla is doing the same thing outside, exploding into
tiny little fragments of space titanium. Godzilla, having enough of this
craziness, heads back out to sea, while King Caesar goes back to his hole in
the mountain and lets rocks fall around him, sealing him away once again.
The King Caesar statue is also put back where it belongs, and the
old man tells us at last the Azumi people can live in peace. We get a
closeup of the statue to close out.
THE END!

Overview:

You can tell the budget was improved here, and lots of that went to
explosions, it seems, as Mechagodzilla has quite the arsenal. King Caesar
is a little bit shabby looking, but Mechagodzilla is nice and sleek. All the
pyrotechnics flying out of and around Mechagodzilla is truly impressive.
The plot feels a little more traditional than the last few films, which is a
nice return to form after the strangeness recently experienced.

Recommendation:
 This is certainly a fun film, with amped up special effects. If you
are only going to watch one Showa era Mechagodzilla film, I prefer the
next one, but this is still a lot of fun.

Final Score: B
 Terror of Mechagodzilla, 1975
[AKA: Mechagodzilla’s Counterattack]
[AKA: Terror of Godzilla]

“They mocked me… well now they’re going to eat their words!”

Origin:

Here we are at last… the final film of the Showa era! Terror of
Mechagodzilla is really a great film, but by this point Godzilla was
oversaturating the market, and this would go on to become the least
successful Godzilla film to date. The writing was on the wall, and Godzilla
would go into a nine year hibernation before returning to film again.
This film is also the result of a film writing contest, although most
would agree what we got here was better than what was spawned by the
contest that gave us Godzilla VS Megalon.
When I was a child seeing this film for the first time, I was
expecting Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla. I had heard it was released under
multiple titles, and assumed Terror of Mechagodzilla was one of them. I
was wrong! I borrowed the VHS tape of this film from a family friend, but
it wouldn’t be long before TNT would start doing Godzilla marathons at
regular intervals which always featured this movie.
We’ve discussed how movies have been cut and edited for US
distribution in the past, but Terror of Mechagodzilla has bit more unique
history. It actually had two versions released in the States, one heavily
edited to get a G rating, and another that only removed a brief topless fake
body. The heavily edited one somehow managed to be the one put into
television packages and released on home video. After years of this cruel
practice, Classic Media attained the distribution rights, and after a cheapy
release of the cut version, put out a great boxset including the [mostly]
uncut version.

Synopsis:
 Classic Media’s home DVD of Terror of Mechagodzilla was also
kind enough to attach the made for TV intro that originally aired with the
movie when it premiered. It doesn’t really belong here, and is full of errors,
but it’s a fun addition, although including it as an extra rather than as the
movie opening might have made more sense. It does give the jets attacking
Godzilla scene from Sea Monster a third appearance, to the thrill of many.
In a nutshell, it goes over how Godzilla first shows up, is really mean and
smashes things, and then eventually becomes a force for good—complete
with the dance on Planet X. It ends with insinuated that the aliens from
Planet X have unleashed Mechagodzilla.
…and we get the opening title, TERROR OF
MECHAGODZILLA!
The opening credits play over footage from the last film, Godzilla
VS Mechagodzilla, and we once again see Godzilla fighting Godzilla and
revealing that one is a robotic double. It goes through their next
confrontation, with no sign of King Caesar, and ends with Godzilla ripping
off his head and blowing him into tiny confetti.
We pick up the new story with a submarine out looking for the
remains of Mechagodzilla, as a mysterious woman watches from the shore.
The submarine crew is baffled as to why they can’t find any significant
Mechagodzilla debris, as they are sure they are in the right area. Alas, a
funny looking giant fin-tail starts flapping at the vessel! The giant tail
belongs to Titanosaurus, who stands up out of the water and bodyslams the
submarine!
Investigation begins into what could have destroyed the
submarine, as it didn’t explode, but was torn apart. They have a recording
from the sub captain, who yells for quite a while about it being a giant
dinosaur. That wouldn’t seem like much of a surprise at this point in
history, but the investigators all look grim at this discovery.
Aliens from the Black Hole are having a meet up. After
bemoaning the annoyance of earth travel, they discuss how they will exhibit
their power in Tokyo. The plan is to destroy it and rebuild it to suit their
convenience. Apparently their home planets are all being pulled into a
black hole, so it’s time to move. Also, I suppose that is why they identify
themselves as being from the Black Hole. The lieutenant tells the leader
that he has found an earthman that hates earthlings and will be willing to
help them.
 Professor Mafune was a brilliant biologist, and made wild plans
for how to colonize the undersea world, and this expanded into plans on
how to mentally control undersea creatures! He also started making claims
of finding a dinosaur, Titanosaurus, which he claimed to control. The
university thought he was crazy and fired him. I mean, who would believe
there could possibly be any giant monsters lurking around? It’s not like a
new one hasn’t showed up every year or two in Japan lately…
Interpol agent Jiro Murakoshi and biologist Akira Ichinose go to
the professor’s island home to investigate. A mute gardener has nothing to
say to them, but then his daughter, Katsura, greets them, telling them that
Dr. Mafune died five years ago. She even burned all his notes! They think
this is all very suspicious, but leave for the time being. She is, not so
shockingly, the woman who was overlooking Titanosaurus destroying the
submarine earlier.
As this goes on, Dr. Mafune, clearly alive and well, is toasting with the
Black Hole alien. He has reached a deal with them, it would seem. Katsura
comes down to tell him that Interpol was poking around, and he starts
laughing maniacally and saying how they are too late. I like this guy.
The alien promises them the perfect tool for his revenge, and
leads the Mafunes to the alien base hidden inside a mountain.
Mechagodzilla is revealed, currently being welded back together. The alien
leader, Mugal, greets the doctor and daughter, and welcomes them
onboard. He asks Mafune if they can use his skills to have Titanosaurus
help out. Suddenly an alarm goes off and it’s announced one of the
earthlings has escaped.
Outside, a man is running through the woods, with multiple silver
suited aliens in funny helmets running after. They run right by an open
sewer grate, and a worker looks out, perplexed. The escapee is surrounded
and gunned down not too far away.
Ichinose meets with Katsura, and reveals they have found a single Mafune
notebook that had been kept in the university’s archive. He wants her help
for further research, but she declines. He gives her the opportunity to join
in on the next undersea expedition to find Titanosaurus. She warns him that
it isn’t safe to go looking for the silly looking dinosaur. When Katsura gets
home she is chastised by her father, who has told her not to associate with
anyone. He thinks they have gone too far, and there is no return for them
anymore.
 Back at the Interpol office, Murakoshi is talking to the sewer
worker who was nearby for the murder. He reveals that the man had given
him a strange piece of metal before running off into the woods. It is
analyzed and revealed to be space titanium! The man who gave it to him
had a jagged scar on his throat and couldn’t speak, but spelled out that he
should contact Interpol.
Katsura calls to check on when the next submarine is leaving, and
Ichinose says it will be that afternoon. She tries to warn him, but the alien
lieutenant hangs up the phone, and lasers her in the head as she tries to
leave the home. Soon, she is sitting comatose looking in a chair, and the
alien reminds her of what is inside of her, and who she should thank for
being alive.
Flashback to Mafune’s younger days, where Katsura is helping
him in his lab! There is an accidental explosion, and Katsura lays on the
floor unconscious. Suddenly a bunch of burgundy-clad aliens march in and
carry her out. Mafune seems confused, understandably. They perform
emergency surgery on her, and sparks fly! They turn her into a cyborg to
save her life. She now says that vengeance, hate, and revenge are what
control her. That shot to the head apparently made her loyal to the aliens.
She sends Titanosaurus to take out the submarine, at the alien’s command.
Titanosaurus approaches the submarine, and the crew begins to
panic! The submarine turned on its sonar and Titanosaurus can’t stand the
supersonic waves! He appears to be in great pain, and the submarine
escapes. Back at Interpol offices, they are happy to know what hurts the
creature, should it cause them problems again.
Katsura goes undercover, acting all friendly and flirty, and gets
Ichinose to reveal the weakness of Titanosaurus, so that Mafune can devise
a method to protect him from supersonic waves. She questions her father,
asking if Titanosaurus will join the ranks of evil monsters like King
Ghidorah (okay, that makes sense), Rodan (hasn’t he been good lately?) and
Manda (has he even ever done anything?). We get to see some nice stock
footage of all three of them briefly at least, though. Dr. Mafune tells his
daughter that he isn’t taking orders from the space men, and if it comes
down to it, Titanosaurus will win out over Mechagodzilla. He decides to
send him out without his robotic tag team partner, just to show people not to
mock him and his crazy ideas!
 Katsura calls up Titanosaurus, and the military scrambles. They
prepare their supersonic wave emitter, but the wires have been cut! Katsura
is seen sneaking away. Tanks and jets fire on TItanosaurus as the
supersonic emitter goes in for repairs.
Back in the evil alien base, Mogal is surprisingly calm about Dr.
Mafune messing up plans. He says they will let Godzilla and Titanosaurus
fight to the death, assuming Godzilla will win, but be greatly weakened—
then Mechagodzilla can finish him off, and Tokyo will be theirs! They will
destroy it utterly, in fact.
The Japanese Self Defense Force aircraft arrive, and manage to
briefly set Titanosaurus on fire, which is kind of cool. He bests them by
jumping straight up into the air, and a number of them run right into him.
They really need better pilots, or better steering. TItanosaurus continues on
his rampage, when he gets blasted with atomic breath and falls comically
backwards. Godzilla is here! Titanosaurus is quickly back on his feet, and
after an epic face off, the two monstrous kaiju begin their grappling! It only
lasts a short time, as Godzilla outwrestles his foe and they both wander off.
Meanwhile, Interpol and Japanese military troops are closing in
on the alien base. Katsura sees them, and uses her cyborg eyes to flash
brightly at them, which stuns the troops briefly, but then they open fire. She
is hit, and screams for her father.
Ichinose and Agent Murakoshi discuss the matter of the
supersonic transmitter being sabotaged, but Ichinose refuses to believe
Katsura could possibly have anything to do with it. He leaves to try and
find her.
As it turns out, she is in the robotic operating room at this very
moment. Mogal and Dr. Mafune are overseeing her repair. Mogal gently
chastises Mafune for sending Titanosaurus too soon, but is surprisingly nice
about it for an evil alien bent on destroying the world. They agree to work
together next time.
Later, as Mogal and Dr. Mafune are starring at Mechagodzilla,
Mogal casually mentions that they put control of Mechagodzilla inside
Katsura, so that as Interpol closes in on their base, they can destroy it and
still fully control the mechanical monster. Mafune goes to weep over his
daughter and beg for forgiveness, as her robotic insides tick ominously.
Ichinose arrives outside Mafune’s house and a few armed men
quickly knock him unconscious and drag him inside. He wakes up to find
himself amid spacemen in their funny silver outfits and helmets, as well as
the Mafune family. He is shocked to discover Dr. Mafune is alive, after all,
but is quickly taken away and tied up. He asks who the aliens are, and
Mogal tells him, “The second coming. We’ve come to save this planet
earth from the earth men who are destroying it.”
Katsura activates Mechagodzilla, and he rises from the
mountainside. Interpol arrives just in time to shield themselves from
exhaust as it flies off. Fortunately, everyone is distracted inside, it would
seem, and they manage to sneak in and quickly find a cell of people the
aliens had enslaved. They rush them out just in time, as the base self-
destructs.
Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus arrive together in Tokyo, and get
to work blowing everything up. Mechagodzilla still has his complete
arsenal from the last time, a nice array of lasers and missiles, but not to be
outdone, Titanosaurus reveals that his tail opens up into a fin and he can
wag it quickly and create massive wind damage.
Just as Titanosaurus is about to step on a couple of kids, Godzilla
just sort of stands up into frame from nowhere, and stops him! They face
off again, but this time Mechagodzilla has the back of the red fin-tailed
monster. They work in unison, Titanosaurus keeping Godzilla at bay with
his hurricane tail, and Mechagodzilla unloading weaponry on him. Finally,
Godzilla is punted (he apparently is nearly weightless for a moment) some
distance away, but as Titanosaurus goes in for the kill, Godzilla hulks up
and beats him down. Mechagodzilla will have to do everything, it seems.
As Godzilla lifts Titanosaurus over his head, Mechagodzilla blasts him in
the back, and he topples over.
A little scuffling later, and Godzilla is thrown into a crevice, and
Mechagodzilla brings a mountain down on top of him. Titanosaurus is kind
enough to go over and stomp on the makeshift grave.
Good news, everyone! The supersonic oscillator has been
repaired! It is loaded onto a helicopter and flown to the heart of the battle.
It fires a little transmitter on a lance into the neck of Titanosaurus, and then
begins firing the supersonic ray at it. Titanosaurus goes wild!
Mechagodzilla is about to blow the helicopter out of the sky, but Godzilla
has fought back from his grave, and blasts the robot off his feet. Godzilla
and Mechagodzilla go at it just like they did last time they met (really, it’s a
lot of stock footage mixed in).
 Back in the control cave, Ichinose finally gets out of his bonds
and chokes out the alien lieutenant. In the process, his human mask is
pulled off, and we see he is an ugly guy underneath. No real explanation is
given there. Katsura holds a gun on Ichinose, but while they debate if she
will shoot him or not, Agent Murakoshi storms in and shoots her in the arm.
Godzilla, meanwhile, remembers what worked last time, and rips
the head off of Mechagodzilla. This time, the aliens were prepared, and a
big red light is underneath, that keeps the robot operational and can fire a
nasty laser that lights up Godzilla.
Inside the base, a shootout between aliens and Interpol is
ongoing, and Dr. Mafune takes a bullet to the chest. He calls out to his
daughter, and falls over dead. Ichinose cradles Katsura, and tells her even
though she is a cyborg, he still loves her and none of this is her own fault.
So sweet. She sheds tears, which proves she is human as far as he is
concerned. Then she asks him to kill her. He thinks this is crazy, but she
insists it’s the only way to stop Mechagodzilla. She grabs a nearby gun and
does it herself. Ichinose mourns.
Outside, Mechagodzilla sparks and stands motionless. Godzilla
hurls the robot through the air and incinerates it. Godzilla then turns his
attention to poor Titanosaurus. Mogal runs through the woods as Interpol
tries to fill him with bullets, which apparently don’t harm him. He jumps
into the water and soon a group of three spacecrafts emerge, making their
escape. Godzilla blows them all out of the sky about as quickly as they
show up. Not the best escape plan, really.
Finally, Titanosaurus is beaten up enough and falls back into the
ocean, swimming off, never to be seen again.
Ichinose has brought Katsura out into a field, and his friend Agent
Murakoshi joins him, along with a few others. They gather around her as
they watch Godzilla swim off, and sad music plays.
THE END!

Overview:

So ends the era! I’m sure if this had raked in more cash they
would have kept churning out more Godzilla films, but it wasn’t the case.
There were a few planned kaiju films that fell through before being
produced, but Godzilla would remain dormant until his big re-introduction
in 1984. Between 1975 and 1984 we were treated to the Godzilla cartoon
and his run in Marvel Comics, so at least we weren’t completely without
new material.
As for this film, while it suffers from a bit of stock footage as
we’ve come to expect in the 1970’s, this is really a solid film. Titanosaurus
is kind of odd looking, but it’s a nice suit, and most of the original special
effects come off well. The exception to this being when giant kaiju bodies
are being flung around as if they are weightless—difficult to comprehend
quite while that seemed like a good idea. The human story in this one is a
tad melodramatic, but overall effective. Dr. Mafuni is fun, his daughter’s
demise is tragic, and the aliens claim to be the “second coming.” What
more could we want?
Godzilla swims off at the end as he has come to do in most films,
but this time the musical score has an extra sense of finality to it. This was
unlikely intentional, but it’s a fitting sendoff to the era of films that Godzilla
and Toho Studios is most widely remembered for.

Recommendation:

As long as you’ve got the relatively uncut version, this is a great

film and definitely one to give a watch.

Final Score: A
 Godzilla 1985, 1984
[AKA: The Return of Godzilla]

“Godzilla… I was hoping I’d never hear that name again.”

Origin:

Even Godzilla isn’t safe from dark and gritty reboots! The King
of the Monsters is always ahead of the times! Here we get not only a “dark
and gritty reboot” before it was cool, but also a sequel to an older movie
that ignores multiple films that occurred in between, decades before Bryan
Singer would do the same bridging Superman II to Superman Returns (Poor
Richard Pryor and Nuclear Man, erased from continuity)!
There were a few VS battles for Godzilla proposed after Terror of
Mechagodzilla, but then focus shifting to remaking the first film. It took a
few years, but we eventually ended up with this movie. Much like
Godzilla, King of the Monsters, there are some cuts and edits to the
American version, and Raymond Burr once again gets spliced in.
Godzilla VS Biollante would be produced five years later, but for
quite a while, this was the last film available in the United States, and those
not in the know had no idea Biollante was cooked up, as it’s video release
took a few years and wasn’t exactly available on every street corner. We
borrowed the VHS tape when I was considerably young, and I assumed that
nothing more came of Godzilla after that. Even by the mid-90’s, this was
the film I would show my “skeptical” friends, because the much more
modern setting was impressive at the time, even if t was already a decade
old. Unfortunately, as of this writing, Godzilla 1985 has not have a home
media release of any sort since the VHS tape.

Synopsis:

Cool opening credits in this one. Akira Ifukube did not compose
the score, which would ordinarily be a bad thing, but Reikiro Koroku does a
great job. Cool flame effects as the credits roll and reveal the title of the
film. “Godzilla” is written in the same font that we would see many a time
on home video releases back in the day.
We now go 100 miles south of Tokyo, to what looks a little like
the S. S. Minnow getting battered about in the ocean. The crew loses
control of the boat and its being run aground, but one of the crewmen spies
a strange movement among the rocks of the nearby island and looks freaked
out, cue Godzilla roar!
We cut to a close up of reporter Steve Martin’s hand over his
eyes, as he apparently was re-living a past horror. He looks down and sees
a ceramic snake thing on his desk.
Back near Japan, a man finds the shipwrecked boat and begins
looking around inside for survivors. He finds a decomposing body
manning the radio. He goes into the crew’s quarters and slips on some
slimy white substance on the floor. I don’t know. I don’t want to know.
More dead bodies are in the bunks, but upon checking the lockers he finds
an unconscious survivor! As he is trying to revive him, a big sea louse with
the apparent ability to fly hovers around and lands itself on his chest, with
ill intent. The battle is short lived, however, as the survivor has awoken and
hacks the thing with a butcher knife.
Outside, they wait for a helicopter, as the survivor tells him of the
giant thing he saw coming out of the rocks on the island.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mitamura speaks morosely of
Godzilla being sighted again. He, naturally, fears he will attack Japan once
more. He and his advisor decide they will keep it a secret until it becomes
necessary to do otherwise.
The man who rescued the shipwrecked survivor (who’s name is
Kenny, we find out) is apparently a reporter named Goro Maki, and his
paper refuses to run his article because the editor feels it will cause a panic
among the people. He calls it “journalistic responsibility.” Take THAT,
freedom of the press! We’re going to seize your phone records, too, while
we’re at it! Oh wait, this is Japan, not America… my apologies. Goro is
sworn to secrecy. They even have to say that everyone on the boat died,
even though clearly the one guy survived. His editor tells him to keep
looking into it if he wants to. He recommends that he talk to a biophysicist,
Professor Hayashida.
Goro thinks this is a swell idea, and goes to talk to the professor.
The professor seems disgusted by the presence of a reporter. We find out
that Hayashida lost his parents to Godzilla 30 years ago, giving him motive
for his research into Godzilla related matters. A girl, Naoko, brings them
tea, and Goro is shocked to recognize her from a picture he has of Kenny
and his sister. I’m not sure why upon rescue he gave Goro that picture, but
so it goes. As far as she knows, her brother is still missing, even though the
professor she works for knows otherwise.
Goro ends up walking Naoko out of the institute, where he
casually mentions his disgust in the government keeping her brother’s
whereabouts a secret, when he is her only family member. Moments later
she somehow has found the government hideout Kenny is being kept in,
and they have a joyful reunion.
Deep beneath the ocean, we join a Soviet submarine. They
become concerned at an object that shows up on their sonar, and say
Russiany things about it. The captain gives the order to arm torpedoes.
They launch! Direct hits all around! No return fire, but the object is still
coming at them. And… impact! Sparks, flames, water flooding in, the
Soviet sub has it all!
We go to the Pentagon, which as we know is fully stocked with
Dr. Pepper vending machines. A general is walking down the hall being
briefed about all the crazy things going on. He thinks perhaps it’s a secret
Russian experiment. The ocean temperature is rising, currents are changing
“like Hollywood romances,” volcanoes are erupting, fishing posts are
disappearing, and sea louse are becoming huge! Perhaps this film was Al
Gore’s inspiration for his climate change movement.
The Soviets aren’t happy about the sub going down, and are on
high alert, while the American generals know nothing about what caused
their submarine to disappear.
Finally, the Japanese prime minister decides its time to come
forward with their knowledge about Godzilla, in an attempt to avert World
War III.
“He sunk a Russian sub single handedly, huh? I say put a
uniform on him and sign him up!” There is such wit going on from Major
McDonough at the Pentagon.
The Americans and Soviets have a summit with Japan and discuss
the best way to deal with the problem. America and the Soviet Union
agree: nuclear weapons are the answer! Yay! They both seem really eager
to have a reason to nuke Japan. Prime Minister Mitamura says Japan will
not make or allow the use of nuclear weapons. I also like that they dubbed
him to sound like Ronald Reagan.
The Soviets decide to secretly keep the nuclear option open.
Because, you know, it’s the 1980’s, and that’s what Soviets did back then.
Twenty-seven minutes in we finally get a good look at Godzilla!
He decides it’s a good time to take down a nuclear reactor. He enjoys
absorbing radiation for a bit, and then decides to follow a flock of birds
back to the water.
Elsewhere in the world, a robot dinosaur is stomping a weird
looking toy thing. A little kid is playing in his grandpa’s living room, and is
surprised by a military man who has just shown up. Grandpa Steve Martin
is called in as an expert to help the United States military deal with
Godzilla. I guess surviving his first attack makes you an expert?
The Japanese are discussing their own plan to attack Godzilla: a
top-secret weapon they have been working on, the aircraft Super X.
The professor is showing pictures of Godzilla’s brain to Goro,
Kenny, and Naoko, and he points out how his brain is very birdlike. They
conclude if they can duplicate the sound of birds chirping they can control
Godzilla’s direction. Soon the professor is in a meeting with government
officials, and it is being discussed that Godzilla can be tricked into walking
into an erupting volcano! Well, it’s an efficient plan, I suppose.
Back at the Pentagon, they watch some stock footage of
Godzilla’s first attack in the 50’s, and Steve Martin comes in and schools
them on how normal weaponry is useless. He also points out that 30 years
ago, they never found a corpse (it was disintegrated before our eyes, as I
recall).
A helicopter makes the delightful discovery that Godzilla is
headed towards Tokyo Bay. “This is not a drill,” the Prime Minister tells
the people of Japan, leading us to believe they have had Godzilla drills in
the past. Now that would be something. The Japanese Defense Force goes
into action, preparing for the pending giant monster arrival, as the civilians
flee the city.
Godzilla finally makes it to the bay, and we get the first time
modern jets get to go at him. Well, modern by 1984 standards; still a big
improvement from the first time he showed up. They volley missiles at
Godzilla but it seems to annoy him more than anything, certainly doing no
significant damage. Missile batteries from the shore begin firing as well,
but Godzilla maintains his steady progress.
Godzilla has had enough, and unleashes his atomic breath,
annihilating the attacking forces. Meanwhile, an EVIL SOVIET aboard a
Russian vessel is wounded in all this, and makes his way to the launch
panel to rain down nuclear hell upon the earth. At least that is what he does
in the American version of the film. He actually valiantly tries to STOP a
nuclear missile from launching in the original cut, but… umm… same
difference, right? Ah, the warm, fuzzy Cold War nostalgia!
Godzilla arrives in Tokyo, and it’s impressive how much the city
has changed since the last time he showed up. They scaled Godzilla bigger
for this outing, but still some buildings tower above him. A train is making
its way through town, and Godzilla grabs a car from it, as people fall
around inside in slow motion. A little odd, it’s the first particularly weird
effect since his arrival to the big city. It’s not too distracting, though, and
the ensuing destruction all around more than makes up for it.
A viewing party is going on at the Pentagon. “That’s uh… quite
an urban renewal program they got goin’ over there.” Thank you, major.
Your appropriate use of humor is appreciated in this trying time.
As Godzilla does his thing, a random bum is ransacking all the
empty buildings. He makes himself a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant, and
begins calling for the waiter. “Waiter! Take this away! The service here
stinks!” He looks out and sees Godzilla, and starts telling him to learn
manners.
From high atop a skyscraper, the Professor and his team of Goro
the Reporter and Naoko turn on their bird sound thing that attracts
Godzilla. He turns and makes his way in that direction, giving the military
the chance to begin using their maser cannons on Godzilla. The crew
decides it’s time to get out of the building, but the elevator is broken and a
metal door blocks the stairway.
The masers don’t seem overly effective, but they look cool at
least. The Prime Minister instructs the military to send the Super X to face
Godzilla. Godzilla will have none of this and blasts it full force as it nears
him, but its heat shielding protects it. The Super X launches flares into the
sky, and Godzilla, thinking they are pretty fireworks, looks up with his
mouth open in awe. They take the opportunity to launch cadmium missiles
into his mouth. At last, an effective weapon against the monster! Godzilla
falls over, taking a building or two down with him.
“Wonder lizard is down for the count!” the good major tells us at
the Pentagon. Steve Martin cautions that Godzilla may not be dead.
Finally, the Soviet nuclear missile launches from a satellite. Such
good timing! The Pentagon and Japanese officials begin scrambling. The
Japanese ask the Americans to try to shoot the missile down before it
strikes. The General says they can’t guarantee anything, but they will try.
If only Reagan’s Star Wars program had been implemented, this wouldn’t
be a problem.
While all this has been going on, Goro has been trying to get his
friends and himself out of the skyscraper. Finally a military helicopter
arrives, taking out a window and lowering Kenny in a harness to rescue
them. They get the professor out but then send Kenny back with their
equipment, leaving Goro and Naoko. There is too much air turbulence for
the copter to hang around.
Fortunately, the US missile is able to intercept the EVIL SOVIET
missile. Things begin going haywire at the Pentagon, but the major insists
it’s perfectly harmless; just the natural occurrence after a nuclear blast in
the stratosphere.
The Super X doesn’t handle it well and has to land. Suddenly
crazy lightning starts striking Godzilla, and he wakes up. Nuclear fallout
will do that, I suppose. The Super X switches to emergency power and
takes off. It launches an artillery barrage at the newly rejuvenated Godzilla,
but he seems unfazed by it. He has seemingly decided he has had enough
of the Super X and goes after it. The Super X, not to be quickly deterred,
reveals it can also fire lasers.
The helicopter bearing the professor and Kenny lands, and they
rush out to set up the giant radar dish loudspeaker that will hopefully
sidetrack Godzilla.
Inside the skyscraper, Goro and Naoko have gotten almost to the
bottom, but have to use a fire hose to climb down the last couple floors.
The random bum happens by and holds it steady for them. Were they trying
to go up before? I thought the problem earlier was they couldn’t get down
at all because of the metal door? Apparently that wasn’t the issue.
Godzilla finally topples a building onto the Super X, ending its
reign of terror.
 “Run for your lives! Let’s do lunch some time!” says the bum.
Goro and Naoko run one way, and the bum another. “You’re getting to be a
nuisance,” the bum tells Godzilla. Alas, in this cut of the film, the bum is
lost amid the wake of Godzilla’s destruction. He was a good bum, and will
be missed.
Goro and Naoko make their way through the rubble and
destruction, but Godzilla nears their area. They are about to accept their
fate, when the professor flips on the sound system and Godzilla stops and
heads in another direction, determined to find out what the weird bird sound
is all about.
Godzilla heads back into the ocean, towards the island that houses
the volcano, and back in the Pentagon, Major McDonough sips a
celebratory Dr. Pepper.
Godzilla comes ashore the island, and slowly approaches the
volcano’s edge. He peeks in. It looks nice and toasty inside, but probably
too dangerous to just walk into. The radar dish emitting a buzzing sound
that he finds so irresistible is on the other side, though. Decisions,
decisions. Walk around the volcano to the little sound effect, or just
stumble into the volcano? He lumbers a couple steps closer. Then a couple
more.
Perhaps Godzilla was second guessing his decision at this point,
but the military had planted plenty of explosives around the ridge, and
picked that moment to detonate them. Godzilla loses his footing and slides
into the volcano, letting out a painful sounding roar.
Goro and Naoko arrive overhead in a helicopter just in time to see
Godzilla’s demise.
Steve Martin gets to monologue, as he does so well. “Nature has
a way sometimes of reminding man of just how small he is. She
occasionally throws up the terrible offsprings of our pride and carelessness
to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an
earthquake… or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of man are often
dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now, Godzilla, that
strangely innocent and tragic monster, has gone to earth. Rather he returns
or not, or is never again seen by human eyes, the things he has taught us
remain.”
THE END!
Credits roll!
 Overview:

First and foremost, the effects are overall excellent here.

Godzilla’s new suit is definitely different then what we have seen before,
but it’s a great new design, and embodies the new direction the series was
going with in the reboot. Beyond that, the military, from random artillery to
the Super X, have a much more modern and realistic feel, not quite so much
like toys. Of course, now the film is nearly 30 years old, but there is clearly
a giant leap forward in quality from the last outing in 1975.
We are also treated to a much more modern downtown Tokyo
than we’ve ever seen before. Godzilla had to be made to larger scale in this
iteration due to how much Tokyo has grown up. The skyscrapers are
greatly detailed and crumble and burn as well as you could hope.
The plot is the weakest point of the film. While not bad, it’s not
terribly imaginative. Clearly the film exists as a recreation of Godzilla’s
first run in 1954, so expectations for a plot are limited. Still, since they
didn’t want to use the Oxygen Destroyer again (at least not yet!), Godzilla
had to be dispatched some way, and the volcano isn’t a terrible way to go
about it, but luring him by tweeting bird sounds leaves something to be
desired.
In this instance, we also put up with American inserts—
something that hasn’t had to be dealt with for quite a while! It’s nice to
have Raymond Burr back as Steve Martin. He adds certain gravity and ties
us to the first movie all those years ago. Some of his quotes border on
profound and it’s nice to have a re-occurring character. On the negative
end, the smart aleck military guy is clearly there for comic relief (and to
drink Dr. Pepper), and while there is certainly nothing wrong with comic
relief, most humor that is derived from him is of the “so stupid it’s funny”
variety, instead of his lines really being all too humorous. Now, this isn’t
always a bad thing, and its something that happens more often then not in
this genre of film, but in this case the overall mood of the film was much
more dire and it seemed out of place.
One could also question just as to WHY the military would rush
reporter Steve Martin to the Pentagon. The fact that he is the only
American who survived the attack in 1954 doesn’t inherently mean that his
experience will garner them the military tactics necessary to defeat the
monster, but I suppose it’s worth it for all the wise sounding monologuing
he does.

Recommendation:

At the end of the day, it’s an effective reboot/rebranding that

brought Godzilla back into the modern age and would launch the most
continuity heavy streak in his career—it also erases Godzilla as the friend
of humanity and reverts him to a force of nature. Great effects, a wonderful
musical score, and passable everything else makes this a must see.

Final Score: B+
 Godzilla VS Biollante, 1989

“To tell you the truth, I hope he shows up. ‘Cause if it’s just a lot
of bull, then I’ll be out of a job.”

Origin:

It took five years, but Godzilla got his next sequel. Once again,
Toho turned to its fans for a movie idea, and Shinichiro Kobayashi, a dentist
and occasional dabbler in writing science fiction, sent in this one. The
desire in this new Godzilla series was to introduce new monsters for
Godzilla to do battle with instead of dredging up old foes from the Showa
era. Biollante is certainly a unique way to go, but if you’re going to do
something new, you might as well make it original.
Godzilla VS Biollante didn’t make it to the United States until
1992, and it was another couple of years before it made it anywhere I could
actually find it. It made the rounds on HBO as well, but that was a beyond
my grasp. Before finding a videotape to buy, it showed up at the same
video rental store I was finally able to find Destroy All Monsters, and at last
I was able to see the newest (as far as we Americans were concerned at the
time) Godzilla film that Toho had to offer.

Synopsis:

We are treated to the various levels of a Godzilla attack, as the

people of earth seem more organized than they did in Godzilla’s past
incarnation.
Alert Level 1: Issued when any scientific, geological,
meteorological, or psychological evidence, except for the physical
evidence, of G’s activity has been confirmed.
Alert Level 2: Issued when G’s physical activity, such as voice
and movement, has been confirmed.
Alert Level 3: Issued when G has appeared.
 Alert Level 4: Issued when G would certainly land on a specific
site in Japan.
I appreciate they went to the effort to write all that out, but
abbreviate Godzilla’s name to “G.” It kind of reminds me of the terror alert
colors we used to have.
We the get a close up of Godzilla’s cells, which zoom out and
show us our favorite monster bellowing a roar, then the title, GODZILLA
VS BIOLLANTE, in nice stylized font, covers the screen, and his theme
begins to play.
Footage of Godzilla battling the military from Godzilla 1985
plays out, including his battle with the Super X. It closes with his fall into
the volcano, which we are seeing as news footage. The report ends, and we
see a hazmat crew along with military going through the wreckage of
Tokyo. One of them is excited to find some Godzilla cells! But wait, the
group that found them isn’t really part of the military, but a secret outside
group! They open fire on the actual Japanese military and a pursuit ensues,
lots of gunfire included. Godzilla cells are apparently a very valuable
commodity.
Just as the invading Caucasian-looking agents exit the area,
thinking they have succeeded in their heist, a man with a big gun and big
trench coat guns them down, politely says, “Well, thank you guys,” and
runs off with their treasure.
Dr. Shiragami gets a call that Godzilla cells are arriving at his lab,
and he and his daughter Erika go to make sure they are frozen properly.
It seems a Middle Eastern country called Saradia is financing Dr.
Shiragami. They hope he can use Godzilla’s cells to grow crops in the arid
desert. The Saradian man the doctor is talking to seems happy that this
would mortify the Americans. Diplomatic ties to Saradia don’t come up
often enough during Presidential elections in the United States. As they
discuss how great it will be to grow grain, an explosion rocks the building,
and they look out to see the main lab has been destroyed by a bomb.
Dr. Shiragami rushes in, fearing for his daughter, and discovers
that she died in the blast.
Five years later… Dr. Shiragami has continued his research, and
is talking about how he would like to talk to a rose to his friend Asuka.
Then he starts talking about how her father has a plan to collect the semen
of Nobel Prize winners, to produce future geniuses. Hmm. Already we are
venturing into unique territory. I guess they forgot that the last time people
went about trying to produce a superior race it didn’t go so well for Japan.
It was apparently due to the “conservative attitudes” that are fighting
against the master race of semen collection that caused Dr. Shiragami to
leave Japan for Saradia.
EVIL AMERICANS working for Bio-Major are listening into
this conversation. One is even wearing a red, white and blue hat.
Asuka and Miki Saegusa, a psychic who was brought in to help
talk to roses, depart. Miki will be a major player through the rest of the
Heisei era.
Later we see Miki at work. She works at a school for gifted
children; basically the X-men if their only ability was being psychic. They
have all been having the same dream lately, it seems, for the last week.
“Let us see what you dreamed of, okay?” the class is asked. They all cheer
and hold up their illustrations of Godzilla.
Well… that’s not foreboding at all.
The special military branch set up to deal with Godzilla and issue
alert levels is privy to this information from the nation’s psychics, and are
monitoring the volcano that Godzilla met his demise in closely. It has been
smoking a bit lately. Lieutenant Gondo hopes Godzilla DOES return soon,
so he isn’t out of a job. They go over all their up to date weaponry they
have just in case. Gondo tells a small Godzilla statue that the army is really
up to date. Oddly, it’s the design from King Kong VS Godzilla. They also
mention their newest weapon, which is still in production: Anti-Nuclear
Energy Bacteria.
Originally in development to eat nuclear waste in the case of a
meltdown or nuclear disaster of some kind, they hope it will be able to be
used as a weapon against Godzilla, but they will need to get a hold of some
of Godzilla’s cells to make it happen.
And then Mt. Mihara decides to erupt, causing earthquakes and
making roses in a lab fall over.
The doc decides he wants his daughter Erika to live forever! …
and what better way to do this then to cross pollinate the Erika-infused rose
bush with Godzilla’s cell? I challenge the scientific community to come up
with a better way to accomplish this task!
Alert 2 is sounded, as a helicopter spots Godzilla hanging around
in Mt. Mihara.
 Fortunately, Super X 2 has just been commissioned, and it is far
more advanced and powerful than the original Super X that Godzilla battled
last time he showed up.
Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria being in high demand, a couple of
very Western looking spies from Bio-Major are rummaging around in the
doctor’s lab, and are happy to discover some top secret documents
concerning the anti-nuclear bacteria. The sunglasses agent starts shooting
at them, but before everyone can get shot, giant plant tentacles start
grabbing at everyone and two of the three men are dispatched, sunglasses
agent managing to escape.
When the scene is discovered the next day, the Godzilla-Rose is
gone and there is a big hole in the wall. Dr. Shiragami fears he has made a
terrible mistake. No kidding.
Bio-Major is unhappy with the loss of their agents, and calls to
blackmail the Japanese government. If they don’t get the Anti-Nuclear
Energy Bacteria, they will detonate explosions on Mt. Mihara to free
Godzilla from his volcanic prison. They mean business, apparently.
The Japanese government decides to give up the Anti-Nuclear
Energy Bacteria, and just as Dr. Shirigami is discussing this, Miki runs into
the room saying something has appeared in the lake. It is a really big rose,
christened Biollante. “The spirit of a plant that appears in Norse
mythology.” He explains to those gathered around that it is, indeed, a
hybrid of his daughter, a rose, and Godzilla. Everyone thinks he is a crazy
weirdo.
Bio-Major getting what they want, they attempt to stop the bomb
detonation at the volcano, but Saradian Sunglasses opens fire at them and
stops it from happening, as well as stealing the prized bacteria.
A massive explosion on Mt. Mihara later, and Godzilla is free at
last. He looks happy to be reintroduced to the world. For those keeping
track, Alert 3 is issued.
Godzilla meanders off the volcanic island, and is met by military
battleships that go to town with their firing artillery. As one would expect,
Godzilla seems more annoyed than anything, and lights them up with
atomic fire.
Super X 2 is dispatched, and quickly reaches Godzilla. The new
version now has the ability to reflect back the atomic ray, and Godzilla
seems a bit taken aback by this new development, but continues his trek.
Eventually Godzilla’s constant bombardment on the Super X 2 is enough for
it to be forced to return to base. It had a good two or three minutes, though.
Biollante, it seems, has been calling out to Godzilla. Godzilla,
having stellar hearing, goes to meet Biollante, but it is not the romantic
encounter you would expect when I giant rose monster is involved.
Biollante quickly tangles Godzilla in her roots/vines/tentacles, which
subdues the king of the monsters until he remembers his atomic breath,
which seriously wounds the mean rose. Some of the tentacles have little
mouths on the end that spit acid, which isn’t really a trait of a rose or
Godzilla. Maybe a trait Erika had but wasn’t mentioned? Regardless, this
leads to a brief rally for the plant, but Godzilla eventually engulfs the entire
creature into flames, and little glittery pieces float into space.
Godzilla returns to the water, and the Super X 2 goes into the
repair shop. The resident psychic, Miki, is drafted to use her ability to
sense Godzilla’s location. An impressive assortment of defense force units
begins to amass, and it’s nice to not have the same stock footage of this sort
of thing that had lasted a decade back in the Showa era.
Miki not only can detect Godzilla, but also is powerful enough to
attract him to a specific location. Godzilla arrives and stares at her, as she
tries to delay him with her psychic methods, but alas she only succeeds
briefly, as the strain is too great and she passes out. Godzilla continues to
Osaka.
As Godzilla takes a pleasant stroll through downtown Osaka,
Super X 2 arrives on the scene, and once again engages Godzilla. It does
surprisingly well considering its opponent, but the fire shield has had it and
at last Godzilla destroys the aircraft. It turns out the Super X 2 was a ploy
to delay Godzilla long enough to get rocket troopers in place, who are
armed with Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria rockets. Godzilla takes a rocket
right in the mouth, as well as other hits, and returns to the sea.
Sadly, the bacteria doesn’t seem to be working. The military
hypothesizes that Godzilla’s body temperature is too low, so to remedy this,
they attempt to lure him onto giant microwave plates, which apparently
exist in Japan for weather experimentation. What nation doesn’t have giant
microwave-emitting plates lying around? Godzilla smashes them, and gets
shot at a lot, but the bacteria doesn’t seem to be taking effect. When all
hope is lost, golden glitter falls from the sky onto Godzilla, and with a
mighty earthquake, a less-rose and more Godzilla-like Biollante emerges.
Definitely one of the meanest faces you’ll ever see on a rose. This new and
improved Biollante is much more fierce then the first version, and two
monsters engage in battle once again. The violent struggle raises Godzilla’s
body temperature, and suddenly he staggers away, and falls into the shallow
waterfront.
Biollante, seeing Godzilla has been defeated, turns back into gold
particles, and floats away, this time a brief image of Erika appears in the sky
looking down on everyone. That was... odd. The Doc is shocked to see his
daughters image one last time, and takes a step forward, and is shot by the
Saradian Cool Glasses agent.
Kirishima drives after the agent in a jeep, and eventually
overtakes him, and they resort to fisticuffs. The agent pushes Kirishima
away, and is about to shoot him, when one of the remaining microwave
plates is activated, and he is disintegrated. No clever Bond one liner from
our hero, sadly.
Godzilla suddenly stands up and roars! The cold water has
lowered his body temperature and rendered the bacteria useless! Instead of
continuing his destruction, Godzilla decides to go back out to sea.
Everyone seems pretty happy now, despite the death of Dr.
Shiragami, and we close seeing his dead body on a stretcher, and his equally
deceased daughter Erika providing a voice over: “How long have we been
living in such an age? Maybe it started when man first stepped out of the
Garden of Eden, and left his innocence behind? Man would do well to
remember this day… forever.”
Indeed.
Credits roll (with a giant rose in space)!
THE END!

Overview:

Well, if you go into Godzilla VS Biollante wanting something

different, you definitely get what you desire. Both the new kaiju and the
plot are beyond the norm. Biollante’s final form, which takes on a more
Godzilla-like appearance, is a really powerful design, but the previous form
that is just a giant rose isn’t too threatening. Much like the Sea Monster
plot felt like an old Connery-era Bond film, this one feels a little like a
Bond film staring Timothy Dalton. Not many people view these films for
the human action, but there are some nicely played gunfights to be had
here. The new Godzilla suit is an improvement over the last, giving the
King of the Monsters a slightly cat-like appearance that he would maintain
through the rest of the Heisei films. All the effect shots are great, and the
Super X 2 is a nice step up from its predecessor.
You will find Godzilla VS Biollante high on the list of most
Godzilla fans’ list of favorite films, but it never really resounded with me
personally. Apparently it didn’t resound well with audience goers, either, as
it did not do well at the box office. Disappointed in returns, while they
wanted to create new monsters, it was decided to go back to old favorites
next time in hopes of bolstering sales.

Recommendation:

You get a weirder than usual monster with a strange plot and some
good action. Perhaps not mandatory viewing, but not a bad waste of time,
either.

Final Score: C+
 Godzilla VS King Ghidorah, 1991
[From Around the World: Godzilla: Duel of the Mega Dinosaur,
Germany]

“Take that, you dinosaur!”

Origin:

So, Godzilla VS Biollante not doing so well, we have a familiar

face (or three of them) returning in the form of King Ghidorah. Not to be
too boring, though, Ghidorah is given a completely new backstory that
involves crazy time travel. I don’t think I agree with their theories of time
travel, but if you can forget Back to the Future and let it have it’s own time
travel logic; it’s still a fun movie.
Not everyone thought the movie was so fun, however, as upon its
release, it was deemed too anti-American to be brought to the United
States. As you’ll see, the films portrayal of American soldiers during World
War II and what became of them wasn’t necessarily the greatest thing in
cinema history; still, the concern is overblown. I wave my American flag
as much as anyone, but understanding it’s from a Japanese film studio, I
don’t really find it offensive in the least, beyond their poor acting skills.
My stories of first seeing various Toho films are hardly the most
exciting things ever, but from this point on, they get less interesting overall.
In 1998 when the Tristar Godzilla was coming to theaters, all the “lost”
Godzilla froms from 1991 to 1995 were put out on videotape. I was older
and had a part time job, and along with that a little more expendable
income; so for the most part, I bought them! Thus goes the story of how I
came to see Godzilla VS King Ghidorah.

Synopsis:

2204 AD: a submarine is underwater, where it belongs! Its

spotlight comes across the dead body of King Ghidorah, who seems fairly
well preserved, considering. One of the three heads is missing, however.
We learn by submarine passenger that Ghidorah had fought Godzilla in the
20th century…
…GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH! Very nice flashy title card.
We go back to presumably the 20th century, as a UFO flies above Japan,
many people witnessing it and being quite shocked.
The next morning, all the papers are talking about it, and science
fiction author Kenichiro Terasawa is asked to cover the story. He isn’t
thrilled at the prospect because he wants to distance himself from his scifi
work, but he is interested in talking to some guy who insists he saw a
dinosaur.
We go there now! Some old guy in a museum is going on about
the dinosaur he saw years ago, and tells us such things as: “He’s close by,
and he watches over all of us.” The Santa-saur, perhaps? He says the
dinosaurs will come back and save us when the earth is in trouble. Finally
the police come and escort him away.
Later, he has settled down and tells the story. He was
commanding Japanese troops in 1944 on Lagos Island. Wrong side of
history there, pal. When the United States troops attacked, a dinosaur
showed up and defeated them.
Our psychic friend Miki is giving a briefing to the big table of
government officials, and she tells us that the UFO has headed out to where
Godzilla has been resting ever since his battle with Biollante.
Kenichiro is pursuing the possibility of dinosaurs still being
around and not extinct, like pretty much every scientist insists they are. A
professor gives him a copy of the famous newspaper clipping from 1977
when a Japanese fishing vessel pulled aboard what appeared to be a
recently deceased plesiosaurus. This professor believes that a dinosaur
could indeed have been on Lagos Island back in 1944. There are
discussions about what happened to Lagos Island to see if its still hanging
around, but they discover the island was used for an atomic bomb test in
1954, and that the dinosaur turned into Godzilla.
Meanwhile, the UFO has landed! Further panic ensues.
Kenichiro has managed to track down another Japanese survivor
from Lagos, Mr. Shindo. He denies it at first, but after the revelation that
the dinosaur later became Godzilla, he gives in, and gives them some
pictures from the island of the pre-Godzilla Godzillasaurus.
 As the military surrounds the UFO, it sends out a message that
they would like to meet with Japan’s leadership. Then three people beam
down from the aircraft--or at least a holographic projection of them,
because Toho wanted to play with hologram special effects. They reveal
that they are from the future, the year 2204, instead of aliens. The party is
made up of two Caucasian looking men and a Japanese woman (who
announces “I’m Japanese!” when she greets the group).
A meeting time is made for the Futurians to discuss matters with
the Japanese officials, and at the appointed moment, they just teleport in
instead of using a door. The time travelers explain that soon Godzilla will
cause a great nuclear disaster, which will set into action a chain of events
that will lead to the complete obliteration of Japan. Emmy, the Japanese
time traveler, has a book that helps explain their plan.
Kenichiro gets a phone call to come to the Prime Minister’s
office. Turns out, the book that Emmy has is a book about Godzilla that
Kenichiro is going to write in the future. I guess they aren’t at all trying to
avoid weird time paradoxes, here. Maybe they should just take a sports
almanac to 1955 while they’re at it. Anyway, the Futurians plan on going
back in time and pulling Godzilla from Lagos Island before the nuclear
tests. They also request the help of three experts from the current time,
psychic Miki, who is a member of the ESP Research Institute, nonfiction
writer of a Godzilla book in the future, Kenichiro, and Professor Mazaki, a
dinosaur expert.
The dream team boards the Futurian Mother Ship, and is briefed.
They are told that joining them will be Emmy and one of the two white
guys, who is actually an android, named M-11. Because, you know,
Terminator 2 had recently come out and been a mega hit, so you have to
have an android from the future. M-11 explains some random information
about time travel that some time travel fiction likes to use, about how they
can’t take Shindo back because there can’t be two of him in the same time
at once. I prefer the Back to the Future model of time travel, but I guess
Toho can do what it wants.
As they are preparing to depart, Kenichiro asks Emmy if his book
is a big seller. She tells him that actually hardly anyone even knew about
his book. Well, thanks Emmy, that makes me feel really good now, writing
a book about Godzilla films. Kenichiro is crestfallen.
As they enter the smaller vessel they are going to use to go back in time,
three flying Dorats greet them. “A new kind of animal.” They make
perfect pets, we are told. They have funny cute faces, but golden scales like
our old pal King Ghidorah, so that’s certainly not foreboding at all.
M-11 utters “Time warp,” and we get a funny time travel
montage.
We then go to 1944, where a couple US soldiers onboard a battle
ship (who are literally US soldiers stationed in Japan at the time of filming
instead of actual actors--and it shows) see the future craft fly over them and
head to Lagos Island. They decide not to report it. We all know it was the
Germans experimenting with flying saucers, not the Japanese, so why
bother, eh? “We’ll just keep it as our secret.” Not something that is usually
good to hear from a superior officer. Then he tells the man he can tell his
son about it when he is born… “Major Spielberg.” Heh.
The future crew is about to exit their ship, when they realize they
are under heavy bombardment. Landing right in the middle of World War
II in the South Pacific can do that, I suppose. The Dorats aren’t happy.
Emmy assures everyone the bombs can’t hurt their ship. M-11, being a
SUPER ROBOT, goes out to check things. His fast running is hilarious,
and difficult to put into words.
M-11 reaches the Japanese camp, where Shindo is giving a
rousing speech about how they will defend the Mother Land and defeat the
pesky Americans. Awkward.
The next day, the battle begins! It consists mostly of Japanese
soldiers rushing the entrenched American line and getting mowed down.
Suddenly, a roar and thundering footsteps silences both sides. It is, of
course, the Godzillasaurus. There are some similar characteristics to the
Godzilla we know and love, but much smaller and with much tinier spines
along the back, plus stubbier arms; similar to a Tyrannosaurus with a more
Godzilla-like head.
Everyone is shocked, but the US troops begin firing on the
dinosaur, who starts smashing their encampment and knocking trees into
them. The typical guns the soldiers are carrying don’t phase the creature,
but they radio in to the battle ship, which starts firing artillery; this tears up
the dinosaur fairly quickly. He soon collapses into a bloody heap.
The American’s celebrate! “Take that, you dinosaur!”
 The troops surround the fallen beast, who suddenly leaps to his
feet again, and quickly crushes the troops around him. He stumbles back
into the dense jungle.
On board the battleship, the crew can’t contact any US troops on
the island anymore, so they leave. What a great rescue operation guys.
Shindo and his Japanese troops gather around the dinosaur, who
has now fallen back to the ground, extremely wounded. Shindo gives a
rousing speech about how they will never forget how the dinosaur saved
their lives, and they hope he will forgive them for leaving. They leave him
for dead, not realizing some day this dinosaur will become Godzilla… and
apparently not forgive them for leaving him. Godzilla knows how to hold a
grudge.
They board their time machine again, and M-11 mans the controls
of the teleportation device, where he teleports the Godzillasaurus away.
They apparently dump him randomly in the ocean somewhere. The Dorats,
however, are secretly let loose and frolic away on Lagos. Hmm. At the last
second, Miki asks where they are at, but Emmy just orders M-11 to engage
the time warp.
When they get back to the Mother Ship in the present time, they
are told that Godzilla is gone from history, but now King Ghidorah has
taken his place! HA! That’s what you get for listening to weirdos from the
future. It was nice of Ghidorah to wait until they got back from 1944
before attacking anything for almost 50 years. Fortunately he is here to
make up for lost time! He flies ominously in silhouette over crowds and
starts lightning-blasting any building he doesn’t like! A businessman
shouts that he will get his revenge. Yes, I’m sure.
They finally put things together that the Dorats became Ghidorah
since they were on Lagos at the time of the bomb testing. The Futurians
have control over Ghidorah, and are having him level the entire nation, so
that they can rebuild it the way they want to.
Kenichiro listens to his voicemail and has one from his girlfriend
about how his as of yet unpublished Godzilla book will indeed be
published. …so he wrote a book about a monster that never actually
existed due to his time travel? Well, okay then, that makes sense. Emmy
comes to visit him, upset with her team mates, and confides that what they
had told happens in the future wasn’t true. Godzilla never destroys Japan,
but instead Japan becomes the most powerful nation in the world, and
begins buying up nations! A little ego there, Toho? So clearly, erasing
Godzilla from history and creating King Ghidorah to wipe out Japan is the
logical way to avoid this Japan-centric future.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Council is discussing their dire
situation, and they realize that the dinosaur from World War II is still
somewhere in the ocean, so clearly if they use their top secret nuclear sub to
bombard it with radiation, the dinosaur will still turn into Godzilla! Best
plan ever!? Again, everyone totally remembers Godzilla even though he
never existed. I just want to point that out.
Miki tells Kenichiro she still senses Godzilla, and not long after a
satellite picks up an image of Godzilla moving towards Japan!
Kenichiro and Emmy are off to do something and M-11 shows up
in a car beside them, and starts trying to grab Emmy. He ends up crashing
his car, what with not bothering to steer, and does his nifty Terminator run
after the car, and eventually reaches them and returns Emmy to the Mother
Ship.
While the other evil Caucasians from the future are discussing
matters, Emmy reprograms M-11 to be on her side.
Godzilla sinks the sub that went to radiate him! Hail to the King,
baby!
He makes it to shore, and is bigger and more powerful than in his
original form, due to the greater power of modern nuclear technology. The
Futurians dispatch King Ghidorah to deal with the issue. Shindo is all
excited to see his protector return.
They tussle around a while, but as they do so, Emmy, M-11, and
Kenichiro are sabotaging the Mother Ship. Their blowings up on board cut
off their control to Ghidorah, and Godzilla soon has him down, even doing
his traditional victory body slams. Poor Ghidorah even loses his middle
head when all is said and done.
The damaged Mother Ship is programmed to go back to its own
time when seriously damaged, but sneaky M-11 steals the smaller shuttle
from it to get Emmy and Kenichiro out, and uses it to teleport the Mother
Ship directly in front of Godzilla before it can travel through time.
So Godzilla blows it up.
Damaged two-headed King Ghidorah makes an escape attempt,
but Godzilla blows a hole in one of the wings and he plummets into the
ocean. The people are finally realizing that this new Godzilla doesn’t seem
particularly friendly, as the King of the Monsters lumbers off to start
destroying Sapporo, on route to Tokyo (because hey, that’s what he does).
The JSDF makes a valiant attempt to stop the kaiju, even using
masers for good measure, but the new and improved Godzilla doesn’t
particularly care.
Emmy and M-11 return to 2204 to salvage the body of King
Ghidorah, and revive it so he can be taken back in time to get rid of
Godzilla.
Godzilla makes it to Tokyo, and does his thing. He reaches
Shindo’s office building, and they exchange knowing glances, and then
Godzilla melts him with an atomic ray.
As Godzilla turns the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire, there is a
shiny flash in the sky and Super Robotic Mecha King Ghidorah arrives!
We see that Emmy is controlling MechaGhidorah from a little cockpit on
his chest.
They go at it, this new Ghidorah having some extra tricks up its…
collars? The robotic middle head has a different looking ray it shoots out,
and when it seems Godzilla has won, a bunch of crazy harnesses are
unleashed and MechaGhidorah carries Godzilla over the ocean, where a
well placed atomic ray brings them both splashing down into the water.
Emmy and M-11 escape in their shuttle, and soon return to that
dimension which has not been seen… escape into the future!
All is happy up on the surface, but then we get a glimpse into the
ocean where Godzilla triumphantly roars.
THE END!

Overview:

The first thing that jumps out in this movie is all the flashy visuals.
The new Ghidorah looks nice, Godzilla still looks great, and Mecha King
Ghidorah is quite the sight to behold. The city is well constructed and the
various ray effects are spectacular. If this film was only going to be judged
on the monster action, it would rank even higher than the final score I’m
giving it.
The film starts to fall apart if you pay attention to the story,
unfortunately. As I said in the introduction to the film, I think the anti-
American sentiment is overblown and doesn’t detract from the movie, but
the time travel is poorly implemented. I love a good time travel story, so by
extention, I dislike a bad one. It just doesn’t make any sense. If their time
travel stopped Godzilla from existing, why does everyone, not just those on
the time travel expedition, have memories of him? Why did Kenichiro
write a detailed book about something that never happened? If King
Ghidorah was created in the atomic tests instead of Godzilla, why did he
apparently not do anything until the moment the time travels came back to
the present time? Why? WHY!?
We will never know. M-11 is a lot of fun, at least. Also, Miki
Saegusa returns again, as she would in every Godzilla film throughout the
rest of the Heisei run. Rarely did any character have a re-occuring role in
the Showa era, even though the same actors would turn up frequently. I
never found the psychic angle she plays up in all her films to be that
integral to the overall plot in most cases, but the continuity is still kind of
nice to have for once. Godzilla’s design also remains somewhat consistent
through the rest of this series of films as well, making natural changes from
film to film.
Akira Ifukube also made his triumphant return to scoring Godzilla
films here, instead of just a few of his older scores being recycled as they
had done in Godzilla VS Biollante. I love his work from the Showa era,
and while he samples some of his previous work throughout the Heisei era,
some of his new compositions were at the top of his game, even so late in
his career.

Recommendation:

Time travel plot=bad. The rest of the film really is great, some of
the best effects and kaiju action the series has to offer… plus a cyborg King
Ghidorah! Definitely worth a watch!

Final Score: B+
 Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth, 1992
[AKA: Godzilla VS Mothra]
[From Around the World: Godzilla: Battle of the Saurian-Mutants,
Germany]

“He didn’t want a big ugly worm that knows how to swim, he
wanted an egg!”

Origin:

King Ghidorah’s return was a success! This would mean more

returns of classic kaiju. This time, we got the return of a classic and a brand
new one, with Mothra and Battra. Really, though, Battra is basically just
“Evil Mothra,” but that’s okay. Leaving the series unadjusted for inflation,
this would still be the highest grossing Toho Godzilla film of all time.
I first saw this iteration of Godzilla facing off with Mothra when it
showed up on store shelves and I bought it in 1998. Just wait until the
2000’s when they films had an annual DVD release, such exciting tales of
first viewings.

Synopsis:

A meteorite flies through outer space, and enters the earth’s

atmosphere. Always a good way to start your day! It crashes into the
ocean, and we see an angry underwater Godzilla who gets shiny font
thrown over him!
GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH!
A typhoon breaks out, and the coastline gets destroyed as we get
to read the credits. A giant egg is revealed!
Elsewhere, the Japanese equivalent of Indiana Jones, Takuya
Fajita, is doing his thing, trying to get a little gold idol out of a temple. As
one would expect, once he has it in his hand, the structure starts to fall apart
around him. A few bricks look to hit him fairly hard, but he keeps moving,
as they are apparently foam. The floor and stairs under his feet start giving
way, but he makes it out just in time.
As he crawls out, relieved, he finds the barrel of a gun starring
him in the face. It’s going to be one of those days.
He is briefly in jail, but the Japanese government manages to get
him out, and to continue the good times for Takuya, they bring along his ex-
wife, who is also an archeologist. They had him freed to recruit him for a
special task. They want him to explore a specific island with his ex,
Masako, and Kenji, the secretary for the Marutomo Company. He initially
declines and is happy to serve his sentence, which is about to end, when he
is told that he has another fifteen years since he had destroyed an important
historical landmark. He changes his mind and joins the exploratory crew.
Under the sea, we find the evil caterpillar Battra, apparently riled
up by the meteorite.
The crew makes it to everyone’s favorite island destination, Infant
Island. They trek through the jungle, and have some exciting and comical
Indiana Jones-esque adventures, completely with a collapsing rope bridge.
Eventually they find a cave behind a waterfall, and journey
inside. They find old cave paintings, which of course have illustrations of
Mothra--Mothra fighting Battra, to be exact. Just then the sun shines in
through a window, which is the shape of the Mothra cross symbol. They
follow the direction it seems to be pointing, and exit the cave to find the
giant egg. As they investigate it, they are greeted by the Cosmos--The
Heisei version of the Mothra Fairies. They tell a weird story of a
past advanced civilization that was guarded by Mothra, where scientists
learned to control the climate, which “offended” the earth (they specify
Earth is a living thing and can be offended). Thus, the earth created Battra
to destroy all things harming the earth, but Mothra felt the need to defend
the earth despite it being offended. I don’t know, it doesn’t make a great
deal of sense; the point is, apparently it is all about to happen again, as the
earth is offended at all our cutting down of trees and pollution and such.
Something big is spotted moving in the water towards Japan of all
places. They momentarily fear it is Godzilla, but report from the crew on
Infant Island comes in, detailing what the Cosmos have told them, and they
discover it is Battra. The JSDF quickly moves out to meet this new threat.
Meanwhile, the Cosmos have agreed to do whatever it takes to
help the people of Earth, so the giant egg is loaded up on a boat and carted
off towards Japan.
Battra makes landfall. He is one ugly caterpillar. He plows
through some buildings and is greeted by a battalion of tanks. They open
fire, and Battra returns the favor, shooting purple lightning beams at them
from his eyes.
Meanwhile, the egg on a boat is disturbed as Godzilla pops out,
atomic breath first, from the ocean. I suppose it’s rare that Godzilla gets to
find an egg that’s actually big enough to feed him. Takuya tries to release
the egg from the boat to distract Godzilla, but Kenji isn’t big on the idea, so
they begin fighting. Takuya wins out, and Godzilla is happy to have a nice
treat.
Godzilla’s dinner plans don’t pan out, though, as the egg hatches
and Mothra, obviously in larva form, pops out. Godzilla does what anyone
would do upon seeing a newly hatched creature, and shoots a blast of
atomic ray at it, destroying the egg shell, but Mothra gets right to swimming
and biting Godzilla’s tail. Then the larva silk starts flowing. Godzilla
seems both disgusted and annoyed. Mothra rushes the King of the Monters,
Godzilla grabs him and appears to baptize the newborn, and things begin to
look dire for the giant bug.
Battra then comes swimming towards the fray… but whose side
is he on!? He starts throwing his purple eye lightning and yellowish-orange
horn lightning at Godzilla, then starts hacking at him with his horn. Mothra
decides to swim away, as Battra and Godzilla continue their feud
underwater. Eventually they stumble into a volcano and everyone assumes
that’s the end of them, because Godzilla didn’t just survive the same thing a
couple movies ago.
Then, because it just seems to be what has to happen when the
Mothra Twins are introduced, Kenji kidnaps them and runs off back to
Marutomo headquarters, where he hands them over to his boss who of
course plans to use them in advertising. I’m not sure why Japanese
businessmen don’t seem to understand they can’t just enslave people
because they are tiny, but at least they are consistent.
The Cosmos begin singing their little Mothra song, and far away,
Mothra hears this and begins swimming!
Marutomo soon reports the Cosmos are missing, and we discover
Takuya is apparently in possession of them and is trying to sell them to an
EVIL CAUCASIAN.
 Mothra continues the swim to Japan, even as the JSDF tries to
engage in battle. They rain down fire upon the bug, but Mothra is not fazed
and continues the swim.
Masako and her daughter are driving around with resident Toho
psychic, Miki, and suddenly she senses the Cosmos nearby! Soon, as
Mothra is creating havoc in the streets, Masako confronts Takuya for
stealing the Cosmos. Their daughter pleads with the Cosmos to get Mothra
to stop, and they agree. Mothra accepts the command, and begins heading
away (although making a new swath of destruction instead of going the
same way it came in). The military unleashes, and Mothra seems to be
wounded. The creature goes to the capital building and spins a cocoon.
The JSDF is polite enough to cease-fire during the entire process.
Wouldn’t you know it… then Mt. Fuji erupts. Godzilla pops out,
all full of vim and vigor. What a day, what a day.
The Cosmos sing the Mothra Song again, and the full moth form
of Mothra emerges from the cocoon, with lots of glitter and sparkles.
Battra has survived the volcano as well, and pokes out of the
water, and not wanting to waste time with a cocoon, transforms into a
winged version of itself in a big cool flash.
Fortunately, the military units were all mobilized for Mothra
already, so it’s simple for them to turn their attention to Godzilla. It is, of
course, also simple for Godzilla to make quick obliteration of them. They
send out some new laser shooting jets that are somewhat impressive to look
at, at least, even if their effectiveness is not an improvement beyond
traditional weaponry.
The angry insects meet in the sky over the city of Yokohama, and
begin dueling. So far Battra is the only one sporting any type of projectile
weapon, still going at it with purple lasers beams, and soon Mothra is down
on the ground. Godzilla’s theme music hits and he saunters into the area.
He is bathed in Battra lasers, and is knocked to the ground by a falling
skyscraper. The situation is only temporary, however, as soon he bursts out
of the rubble and begins throwing atomic beams around himself.
Mothra suddenly rejuvenates and takes to the sky, now revealing
the ability to shoot lasers from its antennae. Godzilla goes down again, and
Mothra lands across from Battra, and they seem to have a conference
(Mothra likes these kaiju conferences). They exchange some weird energy
sparkles, letting us know that friendship is magic, as the Cosmos sing their
Mothra song yet again.
Godzilla apparently is as tired of the song as I am, and is back on
his feet, coming towards the insect team. Mothra lets lose with the death
glitter, which seems to short out his atomic flame and bring Godzilla into
submission briefly. It is very temporary, and Mothra is knocked to the
ground again, with a giant ferris wheel about to topple over onto the bug,
but Battra swoops in for the save, and chucks the wheel at Godzilla, taking
him off his feet yet again.
The two flying moth things hover over Godzilla, lighting him up
with no end of glitter and sparkles and shiny things. Eventually Godzilla
seems down for the count, and the moths have another conference; Battra
goes to grab Godzilla to give him a ride, but Godzilla clamps his mouth on
Battra’s neck. He is not happy, it would seem. Mothra grabs Godzilla’s
tail, and the two monster moths take the mean dinosaur airborne.
Godzilla gets a ride over the ocean, then has had enough and
blasts Battra with his death ray, appearing to kill the creature. Losing his
wing man, Mothra can’t hang on, and lets go, both Godzilla and Battra
crashing into the ocean. Mothra flies a circle of sparkly glitter around the
spot, and the Mothra cross symbol appears.
The next day, Mothra is about to take the Cosmos home. Before
they go, the Cosmos give the people the great news that another meteor will
come to strike the earth in 1999. Battra had been waiting around for this,
and planned to fly out into space to stop it, but now can’t, being dead and
all. Mothra has kindly volunteered to do the same thing, after promising
Battra. Mothras always keep their word!
The Cosmos fly away to sit on Mothra, and say goodbye.
Everyone waves goodbye as Mothra heads out… into space!
We get a shot of Mothra flying slowly out in space, leaving a trail
of glitter.
THE END!

Overview:

The special effects remain strong as the Godzilla series chugs

along. From here on out in the Heisei series, there tends to be lots and lots
of various beams being shot back and forth, and while it does go overboard
at times, they really do look nice. The same sentiment goes to all of
Mothra’s little magical sparkles.
The Indiana Jones-style adventures in this film are entertaining, but
they do fall flat compared to what they are trying to mimic; much like M-11
in Godzilla VS King Ghidorah. He’s an interesting and likeable character,
but he’s no Terminator. I don’t think this film intended to be a remake of
Godzilla and Mothra’s first encounter, just a re-imagining for the modern
era, but they still work in the plot of trying to use the twins for monetary
gain. Even in the 1960’s it seemed a little far-fetched that anyone could
really get away with that. Thirty years later it seems even stranger.
Battra is an interesting addition to the Toho mythos. Unless you
count Mechagodzilla, who is clearly mechanical (his name tells us so!), no
monster has a similar but evil counterpart. I guess Mothra doesn’t either, at
the end of the day, since the two teamed up, but it was a dynamic I enjoyed
and wouldn’t mind seeing again.

Recommendation:

Each era of Godzilla films has a film with a strong focus on

Mothra. They are all good movies, but this one just might be the best. If
you’re a fan of Mothra at all, this is definitely worth a look.

Final Score: B
 Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla II, 1993
[AKA: Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla]

“Well, he looks inoffensive.”

Origin:

So it continues. Instead of just one classic kaiju returning we get

Mechagodzilla and Rodan! You could make the case that Minilla has
returned as well, but generally this son of Godzilla is considered to be its
own entity separate from the first. This is certainly a different
Mechagodzilla, though. Instead of being built by aliens and sent to earth to
cause havoc, this monstrosity is built by the humans as a means to combat
Godzilla and other marauding kaiju who might show up. We’re used to
aliens doing silly things, but it always seemed a little odd to me that the
humans would go to the effort to build a robotic double of Godzilla instead
of something more original, but taking into account that this is a movie and
not real life, it does look exciting on film.

Synopsis:

We open to a close up of Mecha King Ghidorah’s robotic head. A

group of scientists and military personel approach it. They use the future
technology to build first the Garuda, a big aircraft, but it is lacking. They
continue their work until they have the perfect Godzilla fighting machine…
Mechagodzilla!
We get the big reveal of Mechagodzilla and an awesome title
card!
GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA II!
The opening credits roll over some neat close-ups of the metal
monster, and then we get moving. We meet Kazuma, the guy who built the
Garuda, as he is being transferred to work for G-Force. He has been
selected to be one of the Mechagodzilla pilots, but for some reason his
superior officer is furious that Kazuma likes pteranodons.
 We get a training montage for Kazuma, and then cut to a Japanese
research team on Adona Island, where a giant egg has been found. Other
fossils in the area lead them to believe it’s a pteranodon egg.
Rodan shows up, because he loves science! When he arrives on
the scene, the egg starts glowing. Rodan flutters around, causing their
equipment and tents to be blown away. Godzilla decides to show up as
well, shooting his atomic ray at Rodan from beneath the ocean’s surface.
Godzilla ends up on the island and they battle it out. Rodan
manages some good hits and pecks, but Godzilla gets him in a chokehold,
and eventually the tide of battle turns. While they are fighting it out, the
research team loads the egg into their helicopter and hightail it out of there.
Kazuma is all excited that a pterandonon egg was found, and
rushes to get a look at it. He basically just strolls into the lab and starts
taking pictures. The lab assistant, Azusa, makes him leave, despite his
efforts to flirt with her. He pockets a random bagged prehistoric plant
sample on a table so he has an excuse to come back (it just fell in his
pocket…).
The professor’s research shows that the egg changes color over
time. I’m not sure why a professor was needed to figure that out, but there
you go. His theory is that it turns bright red when it is distressed, and
always turns red when Azusa leaves the lab.
Kazuma happens to sit by Miki, the Heisei series resident
psychic, and she senses the prehistoric plant is trying to tell them
something. Miki takes Kazuma to the psychic research center she used to
work at, and has a bunch of little kids do psychic readings on it. Apparently
the plant is emitting music. Somehow or another they translate this to a
computer, and start playing it. The egg seems to enjoy it, and begins
hatching. Instead of a baby Rodan, we get a baby Godzilla! He seems
friendly, though.
Unfortunately, the baby shower comes to an end quickly, as Miki
gets a psychic reading that Godzilla has arrived to town. The G-Force goes
on alert, and Mechagodzilla is launched. Kazuma is still away with the
baby Godzilla, so the team is annoyed and gets the backup pilot.
Mechagodzilla lands in front of Godzilla, and Godzilla looks on,
seeming a little confused. Before Godzilla even does anything mean,
Mechagodzilla takes off and begins hovering around, shooting a fancy
rainbow laser from his mouth at Godzilla. Then come the lasers out of the
eyes. This guy is giving the Showa Mechagodzilla a run for his money, but
I don’t see any missiles launching from fingertips or kneecaps. He does
reveal a plasma grenade launcher, though. It looks more like a super laser
than a grenade, but whatever it is, Godzilla ends up on the ground, writhing
in pain.
Fingertips still not shooting missiles, but missile ports on the
shoulders open up, and “paralyzing missiles” are fired at Godzilla’s body.
Godzilla tries to ward off this new enemy with atomic breath, but he is
coated in synthetic diamond and is heat resistant. Mechagodzilla launches
cables that embed themselves in Godzilla’s flesh and pulse waves begin
traveling down the wires, electrocuting Godzilla.
Suddenly, things start to go haywire inside Mechagodzilla. It
seems Godzilla still has some tricks up his sleeves, and is returning the
electronic pulses, sending them back up the cables and frying the robot’s
systems. Mechagodzilla is now frozen in place, so Godzilla gets up and
knocks it over. Godzilla seems to assume its dead and lumbers away.
It seems Godzilla is heading to Kyoto, where the baby Godzilla is
hanging out. Fighter jets and masers are dispatched to discourage him,
although it seems pointless after so many past failed attempts. I guess the
JSDF just likes pouring money on these projects. They shoot neat, shiny
lasers at least.
In the lab, Miki hypothesizes that the baby is calling to Godzilla,
but that they can stop Godzilla’s approach if they isolate the baby. There is
an underground cell in the lab that they surmise will block its psychic
connection, so they take it there. When Godzilla reaches the area, the baby
Godzilla’s eyes begin glowing bright red, which is kind of disconcerting.
Godzilla, however, can no longer sense the other Godzillasaurus, and heads
away.
Kazuma returns to G-Force, where he is demoted to parking lot
duty. All right!
The baby Godzilla is kept in captivity, and used for research. They discover
(through what I assume are friendly x-rays, and not invasive surgery) that
the creature has two brains, one where it would be expected, in the head,
but also one towards the tail. They develop a plan to take out Godzilla’s
second brain, which will render him paralyzed.
Kazuma has also been hard at work, and pushes for Garuda to be
retrofitted so that it can attach to Mechagodzilla and create a Super
Mechagodzilla!
Kazuma later brings a weird flying machine to the place Baby is
being kept, to show off to Azusa, but crashes it. While they are cleaning it
up, Miki shows up with some students from the ESP school, who have
learned the song of the prehistoric plant to sing to Baby. When they do, he
gets a sudden burst of power, and far away, beat up Rodan wakes up and
takes to the sky! He begins glowing all red and fiery, somehow absorbing
Godzilla’s radiation and getting a new power of his own.
The decision is made to lure Godzilla to a remote island, by using
Baby as bait. Miki is assigned to take care of him, as well as be on board
Mechagodzilla to help them locate his second brain.
While everyone is all busy preparing to kill off Godzilla, Rodan
shows up to the city, to remind people there are other kaiju to contend with.
He is back to his old tricks of flying over things really fast, causing
hurricane like winds. It seems Rodan sensed Baby was distressed and went
to rescue him, because he is dumb and thinks it’s his half-brother. Rodan
takes the metal capsule Baby and Azusa were being transported in, and flies
off. He even detours to fly over Tokyo Disneyland. Might as well see the
sights while you’re there.
Mechagodzilla is repaired by now, and is sent out once again.
Kazuma is in route with Garuda. Godzilla will have to wait, as Rodan is
now the one causing problems.
Rodan lands and starts pecking at the container. Mechagodzilla
shows up to stop his container opening ways. Rodan uses his new heat
beam power. Kazuma takes Garuda in to try to get Rodan away from the
metal box so that Mechagodzilla can unload on him. Once this is
accomplished, Mechagodzilla floors Rodan with the plasma grenade. The
Garuda is damaged amid all this as well, but Kazuma seems okay.
Mechagodzilla goes in for the kill, and Rodan was apparently
playing opossum. He flies up and begins pecking out the robot’s laser
eyes. A close range blast knocks Rodan to the ground again, and this time
he has a bleeding, gaping wound on his chest. No more of you, Rodan.
The G-Force crew arrives at the site of the metal box, and begins
extracting Azusa and Baby from it; and then Godzilla shows up. He seems
displeased.
Mechagodzilla goes to battle him once again. Garuda is still
down, and the plasma cannon is overheated, so they will have to make due
with rainbow lasers for now. Godzilla’s atomic ray and the rainbow laser
meet and explode, knocking Godzilla to the ground. I guess if making him
angry is your goal, mission accomplished. He gets back on his feet and
charges at his robot double, smashing a baseball stadium on the way. Soon
Mechagodzilla is lying on the ground surrounded by flames. Godzilla goes
over to kick him while he’s down and give him a few whacks with his tail.
Kazuma finally gets the Garuda in the air again, and begins
blasting away at Godzilla, distracting him from the damaged bionic
monster. It’s kind of like the trench run on the Death Star, except there is
no Death Star or trench, just Godzilla.
They manage to get Mechagodzilla back on his feet, and finally
the Garuda attaches onto it, creating the exciting Super Mechagodzilla
formation. Soon Mechagodzilla is in the air again, and all weapons are
fired! Godzilla flails around a bit, launching atomic breath haphazardly, but
not accomplishing a whole lot. Finally the plasma grenades are ready to
launch again, and Godzilla is down. To add insult to injury, they then fire
tranquilizer missiles, followed by more of Garuda’s laser cannons.
At last, the new super weapon can be used, and G-Crusher is
prepared! Miki reluctantly targets Godzilla’s second brain, and G-Crusher
launches! A couple of big hooks launch from Mechagodzilla’s wrist and
embed in Godzilla’s body, followed by electrical shock treatment.
Godzilla’s poor second brain is no more, and he falls to the ground.
Mission accomplished, Kazuma exits Garuda and flies to the
ground to be by the metal container housing Azusa and Baby, and they
finally are released. Baby seems angry that Godzilla is being blown up, and
shrieks loudly, which awakes Rodan. Rodan is barely alive, but manages to
flutter in on the fun, only to get shot down by Mechagodzilla and land on
top of Godzilla’s motionless body. Rodan becomes sparkly and glittery, and
transfers his life energy into Godzilla, causing Godzilla’s brain to grow
back!
Rodan finally dissolves away entirely, and now Godzilla’s spines
light up a bright red instead of blue. He is angry, and apparently now
endowed with FIRE RODAN POWER! Godzilla unleashes his atomic
breath at the annoying robot, and now it is a much more powerful red
beam! The synthetic shielding is melted and the robot is back on the
ground. Godzilla is relentless until the whole thing goes up in flames.
Fortunately, there is an escape system, and the crew manages to get out of
the wreckage.
Kazuma and Azasu have a tearful farewell with Baby, and he
looks sadly on as they fly off in a helicopter. Godzilla arrives on the scene,
and the big one seems to converse with the little one, but Baby is scared and
hides in the metal container. Miki uses her telepathy to communicate with
Godzilla and have him take Baby away to safety. Baby overcomes his fear
and comes out, and they roar at each other, as monsters do.
The two monsters head off into the ocean together, and the G-
Force watches, waxing poetic about if dinosaurs will have another age on
the earth after humankind has died off. Sure, why not?
THE END!

Overview:

I’ve always felt that this particular Mechagodzilla design is

probably the least inspired of all of them. The original Showa version has a
sadistic charm and the Millennium one is appropriately imposing. The one
here isn’t terrible, but truly dulls in comparison to the others. Like all
Mechagodzillas, though, he does certainly unleash a spectacular display of
firepower.
I’ve always been an advocate for as much Rodan as possible, so it
was good to see him again. He also comes in looking different than we’ve
seen him before, both smaller and a little more pteranodon-like. Apart from
just flapping his wings to blow things around, he also ends up with a heat
beam, as the Heisei era seems to want to add as many shiny beams as
possible.
Finally we come to the new baby Godzilla. Once again he is
inserted to appeal more to children, but the overall tone of this series is at
least mildly serious, so his addition seems out of place here and in the next
film. Rodan’s fascination with the youngster is explained to a degree, but it
still seems odd and poorly developed.
The little love story isn’t too hot, either. Kazuma can be mildly
amusing at times, but he’s just kind of a dummy and you don’t really care if
he crashes his flying robot dinosaur or not.
 I don’t want to sound too down on the movie, because the effects
remain top-notch, and this is one of Akira Ifukube’s best scores. All the
mentioned flaws really only take up a small part of the film and are easily
ignored for the most part. The revelation of Godzilla having two brains is
interesting, and an amusing contrast to the wonderful explanation of
Godzilla’s intellect in King Kong VS Godzilla.

Recommendation:

By no means is this a bad movie, but it’s middle of the road for the
Heisei era. If you’re a lover of Mechagodzilla and a tiny baby Godzilla,
take a look! You won’t miss much if you skip, otherwise.

Final Score: C+
 Godzilla VS SpaceGodzilla, 1994

“We can only speculate that it was some sort of huge monster.”

Origin:

It was time to try to come up with something original, so instead of

digging up a classic kaiju foe for Godzilla to battle, they opted to have him
face Godzilla… FROM SPACE! It’s a little silly, but it is a cool looking
monster and not the worst idea. We do get a new version of Moguera; this
time built by humankind and called MOGERA, instead of being a weapon
of the Mysterians. I’m not sure who exactly was clammering to see
Moguera again, but I certainly don’t mind.

Synopsis:

Space--the final frontier. A weird glowing crystal thing flies

around. Sort of looks like maybe a Godzilla silhouette in it. It crashes to
earth! Godzilla roars! We’ve got movie signs!
GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA!
As the credits roll, we see they are building a drilling machine
robot. It is MOGERA, fresh from a long vacation since 1957’s The
Mysterians. Now his name is a fancy acronym, though: Mobile Operation
Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-Type. So MOGERA is the easy way
to say it.
A meeting is going on, where they are discussing Project T; a plan
aiming to control Godzilla with the team of psychics. Project Telepathy, it
stands for, apparently. The MOGERA plan just involves killing Godzilla.
Toho’s resident psychic, Miki Saegusa, gets a bigger roll in this film.
Miki is wearing Mothra symbol earrings, and she goes deep into a
telepathic state apparently, and we see Mothra flying in space, and then tiny
Mothras flying around. I don’t know.
Meanwhile, a man is dancing on a boat. He (Kiyoshi Sato) and
his G-Force partner (Koji Shinjo) land on Birth Island and start climbing a
mountain. A guy shows up suddenly and they think he is going to knife
them to death, but instead he stabs a poisonous spider. Nice! It is their
contact, Major Akira Yuki.
Little Godzilla comes to stare at them. He is fond of the one guy,
apparently.
A meeting is held with footage of a NASA space station being destroyed by
large crystal shards. They wisely speculate that it had to be some sort of
huge monster.
Miki is sitting on a park bench, when her earrings glow, and a tiny
Mothra comes to visit her. It transforms into the Mothra fairies. They tell
Miki that a terrible space monster is going to attack the earth and try to kill
Godzilla. Then they disappear abruptly.
The major gets Kiyo and Koji hard at work on setting traps for
Godzilla, who visits the island often. He has a special bullet full of blood
coagulant, which if it hits a certain weak point, will kill Godzilla. That
seems oddly simple, but okay. They refuse to help him, since they are there
for Project T, which will control Godzilla instead of destroy him.
Space Godzilla is coming ever closer to earth, and weird crystal
things are poking out of the ground. It’s one of those days. The UN
requests Japan to use MOGERA to take out the giant crystal space monster.
Miki, Professor Chinatsu Gondo, and Evolution Biologist Susumu
Okubo go to Birth Island, to get to work on Project T. They don’t have to
wait long, as Godzilla soon shows up. Project T Team goes to work, while
Yuki takes his fancy little gun and waits for a chance to shoot Godzilla in
his weak point—his armpit. The Project T shoots an amplifier into the back
of Godzilla’s head, and Miki now can communicate with him.
It seems to work! Godzilla starts lumbering around as Miki tells
him to.
MOGERA meets SpaceGodzilla in space, and fires some lasers at
the strange creature. SpaceGodzilla retaliates with his own arsenal of crazy
lasers. MOGERA is severely damaged and loses control. SpaceGodzilla is
not amused, and continues on to earth.
Back on Birth Island, the Project T control unit starts to go nuts,
so they jiggle the controls and Miki is knocked unconscious briefly.
Controlling Godzilla was fine while it lasted. Miki then senses the
approaching space monster. Crystals on Birth Island start sparking up as
their boss approaches. Godzilla starts waltzing around again, no longer
under human control, and the G-Force guys who are more interested in
killing him than controlling him get to work. Miki and Professor Gondo
beg them not to, but the three men raise their guns to the King of the
Monsters, and then are overcast by a giant shadow.
SpaceGodzilla floats overhead and descends to the island in a
wave of flashes and sparks. Impressive entrance. Little Godzilla is curious
at this strange creature that resembles his father, so he wisely goes over
towards him to get a closer look. SpaceGodzilla is not as friendly as his
earth counterpart, and starts blasting at the juvenile creature. Godzilla isn’t
far, and soon arrives on the scene to defend his child. He starts in with the
stalwart atomic blasting, but SpaceGodzilla seems to have a crystal shield
that appears when blasted, and he unloads his own ray from his mouth.
SpaceGodzilla takes to the air, and continues his assault. Godzilla is
knocked down and Little Godzilla is levitated away and imprisoned in
crystals. Darn the New Age movement!
Yuki surprisingly seems to feel bad for Godzilla and says he has
had enough for today. The equipment for Project T is pretty much fried, so
it’s called off for the time being. Miki, Kiyo, and Koji stay on the island,
while the rest take a helicopter to the mainland.
Professor Gondo, upon returning, gives a presentation to the
council about SpaceGodzilla. It seems he clearly shares the same genetic
makeup of Godzilla, and must have been created when particles of Godzilla
were taken into space. She recounts that Biollante floated into space upon
defeat, which was genetically half Godzilla, and also Mothra went off into
space after her battle with Godzilla, and could have carried some of his
DNA along for the ride. From there it went in a black hole and was
exposed to exploding suns and such things. And that is how you get a
SpaceGodzilla!
Major Yuki is part of all the exciting meetings, and afterwards he
is asked to pilot MOGERA. He is the only one who can do it! Or do it
well, at any rate.
Miki has a conference with a tiny Mothra. Koji comes out and
tries to flirt with her, but she is angry at him because instead of wanting to
be nice and cuddle Godzilla, he wants to kill him.
Later that night, the cap is under attack! Koji and Kiyo get beat
up, and Miki is kidnapped! They contact G-Force and Professor Gondo
comes to pick them up. They are going to work with Yuki to get Miki back,
and she reveals that her brother and Yuki’s best friend was the Gondo
Godzilla killed in Godzilla VS Biollante. So that explains their obsession.
Anyway, it turns out Miki was kidnapped by the Yakuza, because they want
to use Project T themselves to control Godzilla. The Japanese Mafia
controlling Godzilla seems like it would be a good thing, but Miki will be
rescued, regardless.
It’s then revealed that Dr. Okubo was behind the Yakuza
kidnapping and is getting Miki all set up in the Yakuza secret lair. The G-
Force rescue team manages to get inside the building (wait… why is the
special Godzilla team tasked with a rescue from the Yakuza?). Things are
looking good on the Yakuza scanners, as we see Godzilla has suddenly
become alert.
All is not well in Japan, as SpaceGodzilla is floating around over
a city! Electronic devices go haywire as his strange psionic powers wreak
havoc. It pays off well for people in casinos, though.
G-Force guns are blazing! The Yakuza doesn’t stand a chance!
They have no real problem shooting up the entire area that Miki is shackled
to a bed in. An armed gunman takes cover behind Miki’s bed, turning it on
its side. Miki uses her telepathy to raise the bed, so Koji can shoot the guy.
What a great team they make! She mentions it’s the first time she ever used
her powers for something like that, but they all seem much less creeped out
by that than you would think—but then, they are preoccupied with
SpaceGodzilla’s arrival.
Dr. Okubo is working feverishly on the Project T equipment,
which is having problems due to SpaceGodzilla’s interference. Suddenly it
just blows up!
MOGERA is repaired and ready to go out and fight the space
beast, and Yuki, along with Koji and Kiyo, arrives just in time to lift off.
Fukuoka City isn’t having a nice day, as SpaceGodzilla lands and
starts tearing things apart. Giant crystals grow up all around him, and it
seems the creature has made a Fukuoka Tower its base of operation.
Godzilla then arrives in the nearby bay, and destroys some battleships
because… well, they’re there, and we can’t have that. MOGERA arrives in
the area at the same time. They are both converging towards
SpaceGodzilla’s tower, but Yuki suddenly diverts MOGERA from its
course and tries to head off Godzilla.
 Yuki opens fire on Godzilla, but Koji has had enough of his
insubordinance, and knocks him out. They regain control of MOGERA and
head back to SpaceGodzilla’s crystal palace of wonder. Apparently the
third crew member was just for show, as they don’t have any problem
piloting without Yuki.
MOGERA begins bombarding SpaceGodzilla with plasma lasers,
but the creature returns a heavy barrage himself. The spiral grenade
missiles seem to harm SpaceGodzilla more, though, and it seems
MOGERA may have a chance at success. MOGERA gets a little too
forward and tries drilling with its nose directly into SpaceGodzilla. The
space beast is wounded, but not pleased, and starts fighting back fiercely,
taking the robot down. Yuki wakes up and starts yelling at the other two
which seems to motivate them. They manage to fly MOGERA out of
SpaceGodzilla’s range.
Godzilla finally makes it there, and the beam wars begin.
SpaceGodzilla uses his psionic powers to float Godzilla gently through a
building. They continue to battle, as the MOGERA crew realizes that
SpaceGodzilla is using Fukuoka Tower to amplify his power. They take
MOGERA into “seperation mode.” I guess there was bound to be a mech
built in Japan that did this eventually. Half of MOGERA transforms into a
weird drilling jet, and the other half into a drilling tank. Hurray for
drilling! I wish Baragon was here to see this day.
Drilling Tank goes underground and takes out the tower that is
supercharging SpaceGodzilla from below, while Godzilla takes it up top.
The land MOGERA pops back up from the ground, and both halves unload
lasers on SpaceGodzilla, and then reunite as one to finish him off. Godzilla
and MOGERA are on either side of SpaceGodzilla, and unload all the rays
they can muster, and then Godzilla goes in for some grappling and biting.
MOGERA fires more missiles and destroys SpaceGodzilla’s big shoulder
pad crystals. Sadly, MOGERA loses an arm in the exchange and is
knocked to the ground again.
Koji and Kiyo abandon the ship, but Yuki, still being a crazy
maniac, goes out with a big gun to kill Godzilla for himself. Priorities,
people. He sees SpaceGodzilla is still causing problems, so goes back into
MOGERA and launches the battered craft into SpaceGodzilla. With the
space beast on the ground, Godzilla seizes the moment and starts unloading
more atomic blasts.
 I don’t think anyone bothered mentioning it before, but now there
is sudden concern that once Godzilla defeats SpaceGodzilla, he will
explode and wipe out the area. Godzilla either doesn’t know or doesn’t
care, so he continues at it. Suddenly, perhaps from absorbing so much
energy from SpaceGodzilla, or perhaps tapping into his Fire Rodan power
from the previous film, or maybe coming down with a nasty infection that
will spell his doom in the next film, Godzilla’s atomic ray becomes red and
more powerful.
SpaceGodzilla blows up, but Kiyo and the newly arrived Miki
and Gondo have taken shelter. Godzilla roars triumphantly. Miki stumbles
across Koji who had gone off to find Yuki. Both Koji and Yuki are all right
as well. Godzilla treks back to the sea, and Miki uses her telepathy to
remove the amplifier from Godzilla’s neck, so he can’t be controlled
again. Then the Mothra Fairies appear and tell Mike, “You’re mission was
a success. You saved planet earth.” Sounds sort of like the end to an old
Nintendo game, but it will do. They turn into a tiny Mothra and fly away.
Koji and Miki flirt awkwardly again, and he admits he no longer
wants to kill Godzilla. How sweet. She tells him to close his eyes and she
gives him a vision of Little Godzilla, now free from SpaceGodzilla’s
crystals on Birth Island. He tries to breathe fire, but can only manage little
atomic bubbles.
Koji and Miki walk hand in hand as a romantic sounding song is
played, but it is in Japanese so I’m not sure what is being said. They look
to Godzilla swimming away and the credits roll.
THE END!

Overview:

It didn’t seem possible, but the baby Godzilla got even stranger
looking since the last film! That is quite the milestone to celebrate.
Fortunately, things would turn around for him in the next entry.
SpaceGodzilla has a really imaginative design, and I personally like the
look of him, but the problem is the suit is so bulky he can barely move—
hence we get him mostly hovering around and shooting laser beams at
things. It looks nice, but isn’t exactly exciting after seeing it for a few
moments. As a result, the battle is mostly beam wars.
 A plot to kill Godzilla is certainly nothing new, but after all he’s
been through, it’s very underwhelming that the new method being used here
is a single magic bullet that has to hit him in the armpit. I do like the other
plot point, even if the execution was iffy, of a project to telepathically
control Godzilla that gets hijacked by the Yakuza. I would like to see that
revisited. The IDW comic series would do something like that with Mothra
in Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths by John Layman and Alberto
Ponticelli. I may not endorse this movie, but I do endorse that graphic
novel!

Recommendation:

A handful of good things going on here, but overall it’s a messy

plot and boring action. Don’t feel too bad if you skip out on this one.

Final Score: D+
 Godzilla VS Destoroyah, 1995
[AKA: Godzilla VS Destroyer]

“Our job is done now, Godzilla.”

Origin:

It was time to wrap up the Heisei series. Toho had made a deal
with an American studio to create a big budget Hollywood Godzilla film, so
now was the perfect time to end the current story arc and kill off the
Japanese Godzilla. That way the American version could go on to many
sequels without any confusion in the marketplace. I mean, obviously the
American film would be a huge success and spawn many sequels, right?
We’ll get into that in a few chapters.
Godzilla VS Destoroyah brought back characters and plot points
from the original film, and ties the whole story up neatly.
The recent films have had boring stories of my first viewing them,
since “I went to the store and bought them,” doesn’t captivate the
imagination. In the case of this film, I specially remember my brother
bought it for me, and wouldn’t let me watch it until he was available to do
so as well.

Synopsis:

A helicopter, carrying our very own resident Toho psychic, Miki

Saegusa, approaches Godzilla and Godzilla Junior’s home of Baas Island,
and found it to be a smoldering wreck. This is possibly not a great sign.
Later, a plane is taking off from a Hong Kong airport when it
suddenly spots Godzilla coming on shore. Godzilla isn’t looking too well,
as his body is streaked in red and orange with smoke and steam pouring
off. His traditionally blue atomic flame is now a fiery red. He goes about
tearing down Hong Kong.
We then get probably the coolest of all Godzilla opening titles,
with a neat explosion, a dropping Oxygen Destroyer, and fancy font…
 …GODZILLA VS DESTOROYAH!
Godzilla continues his rampage through Hong Kong as the
opening credits roll and Akira Ifukube’s final Godzilla score blares.
A Godzilla summit meeting is held, where they discuss Godzilla
and the implosion of Baas Island. They fear the demise of the island may
have set Godzilla off. They telecommunicate with a guy from Washington
who tells them of a Japanese college boy’s hypothesis about Godzilla. The
theory is that Godzilla’s heart is a nuclear reactor. Not sure why the kid
sent it to Washington instead of Tokyo, but that’s the way it goes.
As it turns out, this college student, Kenichi Yamane, is the
grandson of Dr. Yamane from the first Godzilla film. His sister, Yukari
Yamane, is a well known television reporter. He explains he sent his thesis
to the United States because G Center ignored it completely. So that
explains that. A representative from G Center wants him to join them now,
though, at this critical time. Kenichi turns him down initially, but the
representative gets a phone call from Miki; this spikes Kenichi’s interest,
and he agrees to join.
Yukari Yamane is doing an interview with a doctor who is
working with micro-oxygen. It has many benefits to mankind, but she
questions him about the possibility of it being weaponized. He admits that
it can penetrate any metal, but insists no one would ever want to do that. Of
course not.
On her way out of the studio, she is given a note from her aunt
Emiko Yamane, the heroine from the first film. She asks her to meet with
her right away.
Kenichi Yamane has arrived at G Center, just as Miki Saegusa is
contemplating where “Little One,” the son of Godzilla, could be. He hasn’t
been seen since Baas Island was no more. Kenichi thinks he could have
died in the destruction of the island. Godzilla absorbed the island explosion
and became stronger, but perhaps the young one couldn’t take it and
succumbed.
Emiko wants to talk to Yukari about the micro-oxygen. She tells
Yukari how it is almost identical to Dr. Serizawa’s invention in 1954. He
had said if it was weaponized, it would be far worse than nuclear weapons.
That’s why he destroyed his notes and sacrificed himself.
Yukari goes to visit the doctor, Kensaku Ijuin, who is working on
the micro-oxygen. He insists science can’t be stopped by the
sentimentalism of Dr. Serizawa. Yeah, science!
Godzilla is being monitored, and it is reported that he has too much nuclear
fission in his body. That certainly doesn’t sound like a positive thing.
Kenichi tells the group that Godzilla’s nuclear fission will continue to
increase until he finally explodes. It will be a bigger explosion than any
nuclear bomb could ever accomplish; it would superheat the earth’s
atmosphere and destroy the entire world. They run a fancy computer
simulation so we get to see what that would look like. It’s neat!
Workers in a tunnel under Tokyo Bay are confounded by a sudden
rise in temperature inside. It melts their elevator shaft and causes a
collapse.
Yukari is talking to Dr. Ijuin again. They seem to be hanging out
a lot these days. It turns out he took some soil samples from the location of
the tunnel incident—which just so happens to be the same location as where
the Oxygen Destroyer detonated and killed the original Godzilla in 1954.
A bunch of officials are gathered, listening to Kenichi’s theories
again. He says that they must not attack Godzilla. Killing him could cause
him to explode even faster. He surmises the only way to kill Godzilla
without the nuclear meltdown is to use the Oxygen Destroyer once again.
Later, his Aunt Emiko tells him not to pursue this, and that Dr. Serizawa
was right to not allow it to be used again.
The soil is being researched in Dr. Ijuin’s lab. A sign of life is
found in one of the samples, and later it’s discovered the beaker has a tiny
hole in it, meaning the life form has escaped! So tiny, what harm could it
possibly do? It apparently makes it to a nearby aquarium. A night
watchman is shocked to see all the fish in a tank disintegrate into nothing
but bones.
The Yamane siblings go to Dr. Ijuin to try to talk him into making
an Oxygen Destroyer. He thinks he can do it, but it won’t be easy. He says
if the device had been used on the ground instead of water, it would have
wiped out the entire city of Tokyo. Just then they are alerted to the
disintegrating fish incident, and rush to check it out.
Dr. Ijuin takes the tape from the aquarium to get a closer look.
They analyze a frame and find a tiny microscopic little red creature. He
hypothesizes it was a tiny creature present when the original Oxygen
Destroyer detonated. It somehow survived the blast and has been mutating
ever since. The creature is on the loose, and growing!
 Some time later, it seems a pleasant evening, when suddenly a
group of ten foot tall or so micro-oxygen Destoroyah creatures are cruising
around town, smashing a few things and taking up residence inside a
building. They are quickly spotted and the news crew arrives, including
Yukari Yamane, followed quickly by the police.
Troops converge on the building the Destoroyah babies are
believed to be hiding out in, and make a sweep. One drops out of the
ceiling and goes to work ripping up the men. They open fire, but the
creature spits out a deathly ray that does a number on anything it hits. More
Destoroyahs flood in and it’s clear the military is outmatched.
Dr. Ijuin shows up, warning the officials outside that they need to
get the men to stop the assault, but no one really cares what he has to say
and the fun continues. One of the creatures leaves the building and chases
away some officers shooting at it, then goes after Yukari. It corners her in a
police cruiser, but can’t seem to figure out how to get her out. He rolls it
over a few times and tears off some pieces, and even uses his death ray on
it. Finally the doctor shows up and pulls her out, and they run off, just as
more soldiers arrive to incinerate the creature with flamethrowers.
One threat averted for the time being, Godzilla shows up to dine
on some nuclear reactors. The Super X 3 is sent in. It’s equipped with all
sorts of great things, not the least of which is a freezing weapon that will
hopefully neutralize any kaiju opponent, and in the case of Godzilla avert a
nuclear meltdown.
As Godzilla wades closer to shore, the Super X bombards him
with its arsenal. Godzilla begins to ice over and slow down. With Godzilla
immobilized in ice, they begin firing heavy lasers at him, and the monster
topples over into the ocean.
Meanwhile, everyone is frolicking on the beach! Hurray!
Suddenly the ground starts shaking! Godzilla’s apprentice, Little One, has
arrived! He seems to be heading towards Godzilla. He has grown up and
looks much more like his father, just a little smaller and a bright green
instead of charcoal.
Kenichi Yamane goes over the stats on Godzilla’s meltdown;
apparently it will wipe out the entire earth once he blows, so that’s
something to look forward to.
The JSDF has rolled out some hi-tech freezing cannons, and
moved to meet the Destoroyahs. They greet them upon arrival, and seem
happy to battle the military. The freezing guns seem to be doing the trick,
but then readings start going off the scale and all the little creatures
converge into one giant Destoroyah. That is unfortunate. Dr. Ijuin
comments that it has the power of the Oxygen Destroyer, which is
unbeatable, and coins the name “Destroyer” for the creature, regardless of
the movie title calling him “Destoroyah.”
Kenichi Yamane tries to convince the officials to pit Godzilla VS
Destoroyah in hopes that Godzilla will be defeated before his meltdown.
They surmise if they can lure Godzilla Junior to Destoroyah and put him in
peril, that Godzilla will arrive to save the day. They don’t see any other
options, so the plan goes into action with the help of Miki guiding Junior,
and everyone within 200 miles of Tokyo is evacuated!
Hey, Destoroyah can fly now! He soars over the city blowing
things up willy-nilly. Junior quickly arrives and the two of them go to war!
Godzilla is bigger and stronger than before, but Destoroyah is no bum and
quickly has him down. Junior recovers quickly, and is back up knocking
the beast out of the sky with his own atomic breath. Junior is soon down
again, but manages to knock off a few extra Destoroyah limbs with his
breath right as Godzilla arrives onto the scene.
It seems Godzilla may be a bit too late, though, because as he is
lumbering through the water to the battle, Destoroyah impales Junior’s
chest and begins absorbing energy out of the bloody hole. Not counted out
quite yet, Junior rallies once again and knocks his adversary into a building,
but the wound on his chest doesn’t look too healthy.
Godzilla and Junior bellow to each other a few times, happy to be
reunited! The happy reunion is short lived, sadly, as Destoroyah stands up
again, this time mutated into a bigger and badder form!
The JSDF quickly dispatches the Super X 3 once again, still
loaded up with every manner of freezing weapons, to hopefully stop
Godzilla’s rising temperature. The prospect of battle seems to be increasing
his heat, and it’s only going to get worse.
Destoroyah takes to the air again, and uses his powerful Oxygen
Destroyer ray to knock Godzilla to the ground. He grabs Junior and flies
away, headed towards Tokyo Bay. Destoroyah then drops the young kaiju
unceremoniously onto a city block, and then blasts him thoroughly with his
ray. It’s too much, and Junior lays mortally wounded.
Now Godzilla is angry.
 You wouldn’t like Godzilla when he’s angry.
Miki stands before the fallen Junior, and states this is going to be
Godzilla’s last fight.
Godzilla and Destoroyah finally lock up, but before long Destoroyah has
the upper hand, as Godzilla’s temperature continues to spiral upwards.
Destoroyah unleashes a new weapon, some kind of laser blade, which puts
some nasty cuts on the King of the Monsters. Godzilla doesn’t flinch, and
blasts some atomic breath on his foe, causing Destoroyah to puke up all
sorts of putrid looking fluid.
Destoroyah is full of tricks, and comes apart into tinier versions
of himself. What a strange fellow. Godzilla dispatches them relatively
quickly.
Godzilla slowly approaches his fallen child, as the Super X 3
arrives to cool things down and avoid the meltdown. Godzilla kneels down
as the last of Junior’s life seems to leave his body, and then Godzilla’s body
starts sparking and glowing.
Before Godzilla can meltdown in peace, Destoroyah returns in his
large form and takes down his enemy! Godzilla’s temperature is
approaching critical, as he sparks and smokes all the more and his spines
begin to melt. All the freezer guns in the area begin to mobilize, as
Godzilla begins hammering Destoroyah with his now super-charged atomic
ray. At least he is putting the pending meltdown to good use.
Destoroyah can’t handle this, and attempts to escape, so the JSDF
turns their arsenal of freezer weapons on him instead. It’s enough to finally
defeat the monster, but time is out for Godzilla. They focus their freezing
array on him as his body hits the critical mass of 1200 degrees Celsius.
Godzilla literally melts before their eyes, but the weaponry is enough to
keep the deathly explosion at bay.
Finally, amid the smoke and fog, a silhouette is spotted. Godzilla
stands triumphant, and lets out a mighty roar!
Brief footage of the original film is shown, and the credits roll…
THE END!

Overview:
 And so ends the adventures of Heisei Godzilla. The ending is
rather ambiguous; we’re not sure if Godzilla somehow reconstructed
himself, or if the fallout revived Junior, or if it was all just an optical
illusion in the fog. The end battle is brutal and makes up for the lackluster
action of SpaceGodzilla. You really feel for Godzilla as his child is killed
before his eyes and his health rapidly detereorates.
The callbacks are also great. Aren’t callbacks always? We get to
see what Emiko Yamane is up to these days, and Dr. Serizawa is referenced
a few times, as well as a big focus put on the Oxygen Destroyer. Roughly
40 years later, it’s impressive to see the story come full circle and the
remnants of the 1954 Oxygen Destroyer detonation mutate into Destoroyah
and give him a dynamic final battle.
After all this, the Japanese Godzilla deserved to take a nice long
vacation, while the American Godzilla was free to take center stage, but as
we all know now, the original Godzilla’s retirement was short-lived. Before
we move on to the American Godzilla film, we get to withstand the Mothra
trilogy.

Recommendation:

Absolutely one of the best! Definitely a must watch—you have no

excuse to skip out on this one!

Final Score: A
 Rebirth of Mothra, 1996

“Mothra!”

Origin:

With Godzilla out indefinitely, Toho went to their second favorite

kaiju who hadn’t had a solo film since the early 1960’s. Mothra is back!
The Mothra trilogy is definitely aimed at children, and you get basically
what you’d expect. It might attract a slightly older audience than All
Monsters Attack, but it’s hardly top class kaiju entertainment.
The first two films in this series cropped up on VHS tape around
the time of the release of Godzilla videos in the late 1990’s, and I believe
my brother picked this one up for me as well. I was very curious as to
where a modern-day Mothra series would go, and took it to my fellow
kaiju-loving buddy’s house to watch. I can’t say that we were impressed,
but we were jaded teenagers at the time.

Synopsis:

We open with untranslated Japanese writing and Mothra sitting

amid a lot of glitter. The glitter forms a colorful rainbow over the moth,
then the Mothra Symbol appears and the word Mothra goes across the
screen! It’s replaced by Japanese text that I’m pretty sure says “Mothra” as
well, but the subtitle says…
…REBIRTH OF MOTHRA!
Meanwhile, in present day Japan, trees are being cut down! Take
that, trees! As they dig about, a big mysterious rock thing is uncovered!
Upon closer inspection, it looks like the Mothra symbol on top of the rock.
The workers begin poking at it with a screwdriver. We see what are
apparently three Mothra Triplets inside. Two are normal looking and one
looks evil. Mr. Goto pries off the symbol.
Back in the city, Wakaba and Taiki Goto are fighting over a book
when Mr. Goto calls his wife to inform her he won’t be coming home. He
ends up coming home anyway. He has brought home the Mothra symbol,
and puts it on a chain to use as a necklace for his daughter Wakaba.
The two good triplets are looking at the rock, and note that the
Seal of Elias has been stolen (so THAT’S what the Mothra symbol is
called!). This means bad things apparently.
The next morning, it seems Wakaba has super powers, apparently
being controlled by the evil third triplet, Belvera, who is riding a tiny
dragon, named Garu Garu. Things are flying around in the bedroom and
Taika is scared, but the parents are of course oblivious to this.
Later, Belvera comes to taunt Taika and have a dog chase him up
a tree, but the two good Mothra people, Lora and Moll, fly in on a tiny
Mothra and help him out. They are looking for their sister, who apparently
has taken over the Goto house and tied up Mrs. Goto. Tiny Dragon and
Tiny Mothra begin a big laser shooting chase around the Goto living room.
It seems Belvera has found the Elias seal, which I am led to assume means
bad things.
Finally, Belvera escapes out of the house, to go to Hokkaido where
the mysterious rock is. We see Mr. Goto arriving there, and just then a
weird rock formation pops up out of the ground! Back in the Goto house,
the Elias explain that for millions of years Desghidorah traveled around
destroying planets, but the Mothra Army had sealed him in the rock years
ago; but since the seal was removed he is now free! Time… to conquer…
EARTH!
Meanwhile, Belvera has mind-controlled Mr. Goto into loading
up a lot of dynamite to a bulldozer and ramming it into the rock formation!
Pretty devious for a kids’ film. Mr. Goto falls off before it collides and
explodes, though. Explosions continue for quite a while, and finally Moll
and Lora show up on a glider. They manage to get the seal back from their
evil sister, but it’s too late!
Desghidorah finally makes his appearance. He looks about what
you would expect a creature whose name is Ghidorah with a “Des” slapped
on the beginning to look; basically Ghidorah with a darker complexion,
different roar, and a couple extra legs.
The Elias go off to summon Mothra—and we get to hear “The
Mothra Song!” No surprise there, really, but this is set in an alternate
reality than the Godzilla films, so I thought perhaps we’d escape it. Mothra
is now old and near death, and on top of that, weakened from laying an egg
recently. Still, there is no other hope to stop Desghidorah, and a Mothra has
got to do what a Mothra has got to do.
The Goto family is making its way through the woods, when
Mothra flies overhead! Mothra is all about shooting laser beams! From
antennae, from her wings, whatever! Desghidorah actually has a pretty
good flamethrower, though, and fights back. Once Desghidorah is
motivated, old, decrepit Mothra doesn’t stand a chance.
Just then, the far away Mothra egg begins to hatch! The Elias are
worried it isn’t strong enough yet, but if there is one thing I know, you can’t
stop a caterpillar from attacking Desghidorah when it sets its mind to it.
The Goto kids are up on a mountain side watching Mothra die
basically, when Belvera rides up on Garu Garu. She manages to steal the
seal back from Wakaba (because the little girl is the best person to guard the
really important seal), but nearby dying Mothra shoots a laser at her and the
kids get it back. They get the bright idea of trying to heal Mothra by
holding the seal in her direction and praying, and it apparently works!
Baby Larva Mothra arrives just then as well, and quickly goes to
work spewing out weird silk webbing. For some reason it’s rainbow tinted.
Instead of just incapacitating Desghidorah by being white and sticky, and
seems to injure the monster as well. The success is short lived, though, as
the evil beast goes on the offensive against the tiny baby bug. Desghidorah
even takes some big bites that cause lots of gross fluids to come out and
make icky squishy noises.
Mommy Mothra has had enough and regroups, and shoots more
lasers! Baby Mothra is thrown to the ground, and rears up and also starts
shooting lasers! Laser gun on Baby Mothra’s belly! Who cares if it makes
sense, it’s a laser gun on an infant bug! Desghidorah stops with the cool
flamethrower and goes with big red lightning bolts!
After a short while, adult Mothra seems to have had it, and the
young one retreats. Belvera looks for it but it seems to have a cloaking
device, as we see it go invisible. This is very short lived as within about a
minute it’s back confronting Desghidorah again. Babies are so stupid.
Mother Mothra also comes back again, and tricks Desghidorah into
destroying a dam. A flood of water crashes into the evil space monster! No
word on the number of people drowned and homes destroyed.
While Desghidorah contends with the water, adult Mothra picks
up young Mothra and flies off. After reaching a safe distance, they drop
into the water. The older Mothra struggles a bit, then gives up and sinks
into the ocean. The young Mothra swims off to transform, according to the
Elias.
Desghidorah has charged up enough to take flight, so off he goes,
wantonly hurling blasts at things on the ground!
The baby Mothra finds a nice place to hang out, and the Elias
begin singing to him. These Mothras enjoy their songs. He begins spinning
his cocoon. Deer and monkeys watch the event unfold, for some reason.
Far away at the hospital, where the Goto family is hanging out in
the aftermath of Desghidorah, Wakaba can hear the singing, and alerts the
rest of the Goto family that Mothra is being rebirthed!
Back to Mothra, there is a glittery explosion of tiny colorful
moths, and the NEW and IMPROVED Mothra emerges! He looks a lot like
his mother. He heads out to avenge her death and save the world!
The Goto kids get all excited and run out of the hospital, even
though their parents tell them not to.
Mothra reaches Desghidorah, and they have a showdown in the
air. Desghidorah throws out his usual red lightning, but Mothra has some
cool new attacks of his own--a more powerful looking laser than his mother
had, and lots more glitter! Also he apparently can turn into lots of tiny
moths that fly and explode at Desghidorah. Oh, and sends huge waves of
energy and lightning from his wings I think. I’m not sure, it all happens so
fast with no explanation. The important thing is, this is one tough Mothra.
Desghidorah tries to counter and they meet head to head, which
results in a big flash and explosion and Desghidorah plummets to the
ground. He’s still alive, but seems rather wounded. Mothra flies straight up
above him, and big green rings of energies and lots of sparkly things rain
down on Desghidorah, who bursts into flames, then yet another different
looking big energy attack comes from Mothra, and Desghidorah either
explodes or is sent to hell or something. Then there is another big ray thing
that creates the Elias Seal and apparently locks Desghidorah away forever.
Godzilla and the rest of the Toho Kaiju Brigade should consider themselves
lucky that they only encounter the significantly crappier version of Mothra.
The Elias let their evil sister escape, and they explain to the Goto
kids that it’s because she is their sister and they still love her. You would
think having a monster try to wipe out the world would be crossing a line,
but apparently not in this case.
 Mom and Dad Goto lament the environmental toll that has been
taken on the world, and hope for a day when more people care about the
environment, but we soon see that isn’t necessary when you have this new
super powerful Mothra! As he is giving the kids a ride he throws green
glitter sparklies out everywhere, and the devastated forest grows back into a
lush green wonderland that is instantly populated by woodland creatures.
The Elias say goodbye to the Gotos, who just stare at them
blankly through the whole thing for some reason, but they wave as Mothra
and the Elias fly off, and finally shout “Goodbye!”
We pan up to the sky, and suddenly it becomes a crayon drawing
of a rainbow!
THE END!

Overview:

Well, okay then. If you take this film for what it sets out to be—a
wild adventure film for children, it really isn’t half bad. It also is barely
half good, but it isn’t half bad. I assume this was put together on a smaller
budget than Godzilla films, and I have to say the suits and effects are all
pretty solid. All of the lasers, lightning, beams, and glittery sparkles that
get thrown around really do look nice, even if they are in overabundance. I
complained that the beam wars got out of control in the Heisei era Godzilla
films, especially SpaceGodzilla, but they are going completely overboard
here. I was starting to get tired of it all, but then suddenly they would start
shooting another, different colored beam from another body part, and I
would find myself greatly amused at how another weird ability was written
into the script.
There is also further expansion of Mothra’s mythology, with all the
talk of the Elias and the introduction of the third evil sister. I found myself
a little confused by it all, but they were going all out to set up their own
fantasy world, which is commendable I suppose.
 Recommendation:

If you’re going into this as a seasoned adult, you probably won’t

like it. As a movie for kids, though, this is perfectly mediocre and at least
unoffensive. Do what you will with that information.

Final Score: C-
 Rebirth of Mothra II, 1997
[AKA: Mothra 2: The Undersea Battle]

“Okinawa’s a really weird island.”

Origin:

Not a whole lot to say here, other than that clearly we get another
entry in the Mothra series. Each one is probably a tad better than the
previous entry, so here we go into round two.
While my opinion on the last film elevated a bit after watching it
again to write this book, after my initial viewing I didn’t go back to it until
it was time to write a review of it. As such, I hadn’t bothered to pick up the
VHS tape of Rebirth of Mothra II, and only got the double feature DVD
containing the first two Rebirth films on one disc in preparation for this
book, so this was my first time seeing the sequel.

Synopsis:

We open with lots and lots of really glittery and sparkly Mothras
flying through space. I can’t image a better start to a film. We get the title
card!
REBIRTH OF MOTHRA II!
The Elias are watching Mothra swim around and play with
dolphins, having a grand time, but then they suddenly get a forboding
feeling, judging by their expressions.
Somewhere in the ocean, a couple fishermen are annoyed at the
amount of garbage in the water, when they discover a weird creature
hanging onto the boat. One of the men does the smart thing and pokes it
with a stick, and it spits what appears to be some kind of acid gunk in his
face.
We then have the fun of going back to school, where hijinks
involving a caterpillar are going on. Eventually it ends up down the
teacher’s shirt. School wasn’t like this when I was a kid. I think we met
our three main children of the film, though; two trouble making boys and
the girl they like to pick on.
Back to the ocean, we see that other weird little creatures are
popping out of the water and causing trouble. Shiori, the school girl from
earlier, comes home as two men are leaving her house, trying to hunt down
the weird creature they saw. A cat gets burned by a cigarette, which is of
course hilarious.
Shiori goes out in the woods to pick flowers, and finds the weird
hairy monster the two guys are after. She screams and runs off, but soon
makes friends with the thing.
The two troublemaking boys, Yoji (the fat one) and Kohei (the
nerdy one), encounter the girl, and of course get to bullying her right away,
but soon they see the weird creature, apparently called a “Gorgo.” I thought
he was a giant British dinosaur? Oh well. Our old friend Belvera shows
up, and wants the Gorgo! She is once again riding her Garu Garu, and
attempts to grab the creature, but the Elias show up once again, riding their
tiny Mothra, Fairy. Apparently Belvera wants the Gorgo because it will
help her get the treasure of Nilai Kalai. We should have seen that coming!
They manage to escape Belvera for the time being, but Yoji skins
his knee up pretty bad diving to catch the Gorgo. The other children are
concerned, but he insists it’s not a big deal; then the Gorgo pees on it. The
Gorgo pee heals the wound! All hail the Gorgo pee!
The two adults who were looking for the Gorgo are met by
Belvera, although they seem to just think of her as a talking bat (poor eye
sight, I guess?) and aren’t too extremely alarmed. They decide to capture
her, but she blasts them instead and makes them subservient to her.
The Elias tell the kids about the treasure of Nilai Kanai, and they
go home to research it, using their trusty Mac! We get to reminesce about
Atragon briefly, as they discuss the Mu Empire. Apparently that is where
the treasure was located, but is now of course at the bottom of the ocean.
Amid all this, the Gorgo and Fairy suddenly decide to have a conference,
and the Gorgo informs us that Dagahra has been unleashed! Much like
Hedorah, Dagahra feeds on garbage and pollution and nasty things like
that. It also started producing “Berems.” These are the tiny weird creatures
that have been bothering fisherman and such. Finding the treasure is the
only way to stop them!
We suddenly cut to Dagahra! He destroys a submarine.
 Japan’s answer to Bulk and Skull, the two guys that Belvera sent
after the Gorgo, attempt to break in, but only grab the cat instead. It
apparently attacks them and they retreat.
The children are off in a boat (they steal a teacher’s boat, one they
affectionately call “Hairy Wart.”), and they discuss what they will do with
the treasure money. Yoji will eat at McDonald’s EVERY DAY, and Kohei
will buy a new computer! They are clearly smart kids, at at all playing to
their stereotypes. Shiori, though, thinks they are stupid.
They reach the spot they are looking for, and see the ruins
underneath the water’s surface. The Gorgo jumps in, and lights shine out of
the water! It pulls in the kids, and they look like they are going down a
waterslide! Eventually they end up inside some kind of temple. Soon, the
entire temple rises out of the water.
Belvera and her goons arrive as well, with Dagahra swimming
nearby. Dagahra starts unleashing big energy bolts at the temple, but
fortunately it has a built in defense, as statue heads start shooting back.
The Elias fly off on Fairy and start singing the Mothra song! Of
course. Mothra is officially summoned!
Dagahra has arrived on shore somewhere, and starts destroying
things.
Inside the temple, the Belvera thugs come across Shiori and the Gorgo, and
grab her! The two boys are in hot pursuit. There is lots of running around
in mysterious, maze-like temple corridors.
Things are looking dire, as Shiori can’t be rescued and the city is
being destroyed, but then Mothra shows up! Mothra agitates some Berems
in the ocean then goes to the city. Dagahra isn’t pleased by this, and
launches weird projectiles from his shoulders at Mothra. They return to the
pyramid temple, and Mothra starts in with the rainbow lasers.
Meanwhile, Shiori and the Gorgo finally escape the goons, and
run off through the temple. The boys are still looking for her, and find a
Last Crusade style invisible bridge.
Outside, the kaiju battle still rages. Lots of lasers and big watery
explosions. It’s nice.
Inside the temple, the three children and one Gorgo finally reunite. The
thugs have become sidetracked by some pretty jewelry on the wall, and
decide to pry some off. That always tends to go so well, what a great idea!
 Dagahra went deep underwater to avoid Mothra’s lasers, but
suddenly unleashes a big nasty waterspout that seems to injure Mothra and
cover him with Berems. The Elias attempt to get some off, but he’s pretty
well covered and crashes into the temple. Dagahra seems pleased by this,
and drags the dying Mothra underwater. Dagahra goes off to do Dagahra
things, and Mothra manages to get enough strength to flutter on top of the
temple, but is definitely in bad shape.
Inside the temple, the goons have finally cornered the children
and Gorgo. The Gorgo manages to hop away, and the Elias confront the
thugs. One of them aims a harpoon gun at them, and are blasted by the
Elias in self-defense. With that, they decide to apologize and join the kids.
At least, they pretend to for a few minutes. Belvera and the Elias skirmish a
bit, and a wall opens up in the temple, and they are all friends again,
apparently. They venture in and get two big orange jewel things, but then
the door slides shut and they are trapped in the room.
Things start shining and flashing, and a weird lady appears in the
center of the room, and blasts one of the goons who is holding a jewel. It
turns out she is the princess of Nilai Kinai. She explains that they created
Dagahra, which turned out to not go so well for them. The
scientists were working on a secret treasure to stop the monster, when both
Nilai Kinai and the monster were lost undersea in an earthquake, until now.
It turns out the Gorgo is actually the treasure. Wow, what a great treasure.
Outside the temple, Dagahra has returned to finally put an end to
the wounded Mothra.
Inside, the boys put the jewels back and the door to the room
reopens, and they are able to escape, while the room falls apart around
them. One of the thugs is injured in the process, so they have the Gorgo
pee on him to heal him. Good, I was hoping we’d get to see that again.
They continue to run, eventually having to outrun a big fireball, and
Belvera shockingly helps them out by closing a door behind them to stop
the flames. How uncharacteristic of her. Finally they make it out.
Things are not looking great for Mothra, though. Suddenly the
Gorgo starts glowing and floats up and explodes, sending lots of glitter
down on Mothra! The Berems dissolve off the insect’s body! Mothra
suddenly transforms into Rainbow Mothra! Hurray! It’s pretty much the
same look, just much more colorful wings. Mothra flies off to battle
Dagahra once again, and now seems to be shielded from his blasts. Mothra
starts firing rainbow lasers down at him. The evil monster is distressed and
starts to swim away. Mothra parts the ocean, much like Moses and the Red
Sea, and children and goons, one and all, escape the temple grounds.
As Mothra pursues Dagahra, he suddenly transforms yet again,
this time into Aqua Mothra, which is kind of a neat looking moth-fish
hybrid. It’s not as dumb looking as it sounds. Mothra takes to the ocean
and continues the offensive. Mothra does the strange “turning into a bunch
of tiny Mothras” trick from the last film, and the tiny Mothras fly inside
Dagahra and take out his Berem producing glands. After this is done, all
the little Mothras teleport out and reform normal sized Mothra, and
Dogahra is lifted magically out of the water.
Aqua Mothra takes this opportunity to transform back into
Rainbow Mothra, and Dagahra’s body is hurled on top of the temple,
crushing it, and the whole mess explodes and descends back into the ocean,
where it belongs.
All the people make it safely to a shore somewhere, and watch
Mothra flutter around. The Elias come to check on them, and Shiori is sad
that Gorgo is gone, but the twins say to look at Mothra’s wing and imagine
that he’s there. Yeah, they didn’t just say, “Hey, Gorgo is fine, he’s on that
wing!” We just have to imagine. Poor Gorgo, certainly dead.
The princess of Nilai Kanai informs us, “Children of a new
civilization, the future of this planet is entrusted into your hands.”
Shiori informs us she has a gift from Gorgo in her hand, and
reveals she is holding a tiny little world…?
THE END!

Overview:

Much like the first of the Mothra trilogy, this is a standard

children’s magical adventure film. I like this one a little bit better, as the
whole undersea temple thing made me think of a lot of the random “kids
going on adventure” movies from the 1980’s. The effects are standard, and
the humor is actually a little better played out, for what it is.
The dub of the film clearly calls the creature with healing pee a
“Gorgo,” but in any other instance it’s called a “Ghogo.” I don’t think
anyone is losing any sleep over it, but it’s worth pointing out.
 Recommendation:

Much like the first Rebirth of Mothra, if you go in understanding

what it is, it does a good job of that. If you don’t want to see a children’s
movie, give this a skip.

Final Score: C
 Rebirth of Mothra III, 1998
[AKA: Mothra 3: Invasion of King Ghidorah]

“Aaarrggh!”

Origin:

Finally, Mothra gets a high quality guest star! King Ghidorah

arrives, complete with completely new origin, to the Mothra trilogy! It’s
nice to see him again, and this is actually probably one of his best looks on
film, although not his best movie. This is probably the best of the Mothra
Trilogy, though.
This is the one unlucky film covered in this book that has never
had a single VHS or DVD release in the United States. As of this writing,
I’m not aware of any avenue to view the film, but as I began this work it
was on one of the various movie streaming services, and I fortunately
watched it before it was removed. Perhaps it will return some day; we can
only hope.

Synopsis:

“As long as you live, you shall have hope,” we are told, and the
title comes on screen. As is the case with all of this series, we just get an
English subtitle, but the Japanese characters are nice and shiny looking.
Scenes of Infant Island are shown as the credits roll.
Belvera is at it again. She is in a temple of some kind, that has a
big triangle in the center, and she is listing off wisdom, courage, and love. I
don’t remember a Triforce of Love, but otherwise, I feel as if this is an
unauthorized Legend of Zelda film; before we can dwell on that, the good
Elias sisters, Lora and Moll, arrive on the scene. A shiny ball comes out of
the floor and has three tiny triangles floating around in it. Belvera
summons Garu Garu and flies off with the triangle ball. The tiny Mothra
named Fairy makes the save and knocks the courage and wisdom triangles
to the ground, but Belvera escapes.
 On the way out, Belvera says they can keep them, because they’ll
need it. The King of Terror is coming! Placed in the proper tiny dagger,
they become a nice sword. Unfortunately, the good sisters only have one
that will fit; they will have to trade with Belvera.
A meteorite is headed towards earth, but pieces break off in the
atmosphere and sends fragments throughout. A man drives his truck home
under the showering meteors and greets his family. His kids are trained, as
one of them brings him beer immediately. They all go out to watch the
many shooting stars. The main fragment sails right over their house and
crashes in a nearby forest, creating a nice circle of devastation.
Immediately there is a disruption in the magnetism of the area, and stuff
starts floating around.
Fortunately, nothing bad has ever come out of meteors with
strange magnetic powers landing on earth in a Toho film.
The next day, the parents go off to work and the two younger kids
go to school. The oldest son, Shota, is still clearly school age, but just
doesn’t want to go. His parents simply lament that they wish he would start
going again. That doesn’t sound like a normal way something like this
would play out, especially in a pro-education nation of Japan, but
apparently times have changed. Or the kid has horrible parents.
Moll and Lora fly to the site of the large meteor crash. Fairy tells
them that this has to do with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Whatever
killed the dinosaurs has come back in this meteor! Nearby, a classroom of
kids suddenly flies into a panic as the desks start moving around on their
own, and then all the children vanish into thin air. Only the teacher
remains, and Belvera shows up to utter “King Ghidorah.” Uh oh.
A weird shadow of King Ghidorah keeps flying over Japan, and
children keep vanishing. Didn’t know Ghidorah was such a creep.
A large media presence has descended where the large meteor
landed, and Shota sneaks into the area through the woods.
Fairy and the Elias sisters are hot on the trail of King Ghidorah.
They notice the lack of children, and seem to hypothesize that since he
killed off the dinosaurs millions of years ago, now he is taking children. I
don’t understand the connection, but he certainly does seem responsible; so
it’s time to summon Mothra. We get Mothra song!
King Ghidorah is finally making himself known, not just his
shadow, and starts taking down the city, doing considerable damage with
just wind gusts alone. Looks like a new Ghidorah suit for the film, not
drastically different but it’s a good build and has a meaner look to its faces.
Oddly he has more typical roars instead of his trademark sound, though.
Shota makes his way through the woods, and presumably at the
sight of the meteor crash there now stands a large glowing dome. It is, as
we would all hope for, full of children. The children can’t get out, and
Shota can’t get in. King Ghidorah returns to his dome, and looks at it. He
doesn’t really do much once he gets there. Maybe he is just waiting for
Mothra…
The wait is short, as Mothra flies onto the scene, and immediately
gets to shooting rainbow lasers, as any self-respecting moth would do.
Ghidorah takes some abuse, then lifts off to deal with this insect problem.
Mothra keeps firing lasers mercilessly, and after taking what seems to me to
be an unnecessarily long time, Ghidorah unloads his trademark lightning
breath. Who knew Ghidorah was so long-suffering and patient? The blasts
really do a number on the moth and King Ghidorah’s wings do a weird
sparkly red thing that makes a funny sound, then he lands right on top of
Mothra and starts slamming him around.
Fairy flies close to one of the Ghidorah heads and fires off a few
shots, and then Ghidorah looks deep into Lora’s eyes and apparently turns
her evil. She gets right to choking her sister Moll, and they fall off of Fairy,
as Mothra lies in smoking ruins amid the forest trees.
King Ghidorah seems to have finished his kaiju battling for the
time being, so he returns to the city to keep up with his destruction quota.
He goes to the school of Shota’s little brother and sister, Shuehei and
Tamako, and abducts all the children.
Belvera flies Garu Garu to the dome area, and it attacks them with
CGI tentacles. Why can’t all the bad guys get along? It seems to pull her
inside of it.
Shota found a place where he can look inside the dome, but the
tentacles go after him as well. Moll flies in on Fairy and wards it off,
rescuing Shota. Shota asks the Elias why King Ghidorah would want a
dome full of children, but she doesn’t respond. He asks “to kill them?” and
she just stares at him, so… probably that. King Ghidorah and the dome will
prepare you for anything strange thing you see I guess, but Shota doesn’t
seem too impressed with Moll riding a moth in front of him.
 Shota knows the area well, as he has wasted lots of time exploring
the wind cave, as he calls it. It’s an underground labyrinth that he thinks
will take them into the dome. He and Moll enter, but accomplish little.
Belvera encounters Lora inside the dome, but the possessed Lora
has no desire to be nice to her sister, and grabs the triangle thing to power
up her sword, and begins a sword VS dagger fight.
As King Ghidorah continues his massive destruction, Moll and
Mothra have a conference, and come up with the most logical plan under
the circumstances. Mothra plans to travel back in time 130 million years,
when King Ghidorah first came to earth, and defeat him when he was
younger and weaker. Time travel solves everything! Unfortunately, if
Mothra goes back to the past, she won’t be able to go back to the future.
Sorry, I had to get that phrase in there. Mothra will do what must be done,
and flies really fast (88 miles per hour?), while Moll sings.
Mothra transforms into Aqua Mothra mid-flight, apparently fish-
like moths are better at time travel. Mothra disappears, apparently
successful, and Moll falls off of Fairy to the ground, having drained all her
power to send Mothra back. She needs Lora back on the side of good to
balance out her power, and she thinks Shota can do it. She hands Shota her
dagger and then turns into a weird little crystal person. I don’t know why. I
don’t think anyone cares.
Things pick back up though, as Mothra flies around above the
prehistoric world, and sees some dinosaurs. They don’t look half bad--you
never know what you’re going to get with something like this.
Back in the modern time, Shota starts yelling at King Ghidorah,
trying to get him to abduct him so he can get into the dome and find Lora.
Ghidorah is not impressed with his rantings, and quickly has him
imprisoned. Suddenly things take a turn for the worse inside the dome, as
up from various points in the ground gross bubbling blueish-purple liquid
starts boiling up.
In the prehistoric era, a Tyrannosaurus Rex is biting into a tasty
triceratops, when young Ghidorah shows up and chomps him. Before he
can get to the other dinosaur, Mothra flies in with lasers blasting. Young
Ghidorah returns the favor, spewing a more fireball like projectile than the
usual lightning. Mothra doesn’t take well to the flames and starts to retreat,
Ghidorah in hot pursuit.
 Back in the dome, Shota has found Lora, and begs her for help.
Lora wants none of this and is about to cut Shota’s throat, which would
have been pretty epic, but Belvera, injured on the ground, instructs Shota to
look into Lora’s eyes. Shota says it was Moll’s last request, and that this
could be her chance to save all these children. It seems to break the spell.
Belvera seems to want to do something good for once, and asks Shota for
the other swords. She combines all three, along with the three triangles,
and says that it has created the Elias Triangle. Well, good.
While Mothra is still battling Ghidorah in the past, even knocking
off a chunk of one of his tails, Belvera is using her new weapon to attack
the dome and free the children. Sadly, Mothra is not fending too well
against Ghidorah, and is lying in a heap of flames and singed wings.
Somehow they know this is happening in the future, and Shota asks Lora to
help Mothra. Somehow her singing in the present helps Mothra in the past,
apparently. Rejuvenated Mothra once again goes on the attack, using lots
of sparkles and glitter. Mothra picks up Ghidorah and drops him into a
volcano, which erupts on contact. That should do it.
Present day King Ghidorah is not pleased, and tries to bite down
on the kids in the dome, but then vanishes into thin air, along with the
dome. Apparently he has been erased from the current time by being
defeated in the past. The children all yell and celebrate! Shota finds his
siblings amid all the happy children.
Mothra makes it out of the volcanic area, but is badly wounded.
In the present, Belvera and Lora find Moll’s crystallized body, but are
unsure of how to save her. In the past, Mothra’s body still lies motionless,
but a few prehistoric Mothra larvae approach it. They start spraying
rainbow silk over the giant moth’s body!
In the present day, King Ghidorah suddenly materializes again.
Strange. Apparently it is from the severed tail from long ago? Makes as
much sense as anything. Belvera and Lora fly off on Fairy to distract
Ghidorah. Giant Mothra did so well, the tiny one is obviously going to do a
lot against the evil space dragon. Just then, a rockslide uncovers a cocoon!
The prehistoric Mothra larvae had encased Mothra in a time capsule!
Mothra is now Armor Mothra! Shiny and metallic looking—as close to
MechaMothra as we are ever going to see, I think.
King Ghidorah swats Fairy and the two sisters down just as
Armor Mothra flies onto the scene. They exchange some laser blasts, but
Mothra now seems unphased by Ghidorah’s attacks. Mothra knocks off a
dragon wing, and after a few more beam exchanges, Mothra charges
straight through King Ghidorah, and the space dragon crystallizes and
explodes. That’s the end of THAT chapter!
Armor Mothra transforms back into regular Mothra. Belvera and
Lora return to Moll’s body, along with Shota and his siblings. Mothra tells
the Elias to use the sword on Moll. That sounds unnecessarily violent, but
instead of stabbing or hacking at her, they just hold it over her, and miracle
of miracles, Moll is restored! Mothra lets down some glitter and sparkles
for the occasion. You would think after all this Belvera would happily be
reunited with her sisters and all would be well between them, but she
mounts Garu Garu and flies off.
We then see tons of children running in a meadow and reuniting
with their parents. Finally Shota and his brother and sister are reunited with
their parents as well. He looks up and sees Moll and Lora on Fairy, who
once spotted fly off.
Finally, we see Mothra flying off, dropping glitter across our
view, and then the end credits roll!
THE END!

Overview:

Thusly the Mothra Trilogy reaches its end. The new King
Ghidorah is a pleasant surprise, although he just wanting to kidnap children
and keep them in a dome is kind of a strange turn for him. We also get
more nonsensical time travel, but it’s probably handled better here than it
was in Godzilla VS King Ghidorah. I’m kind of hoping Toho just tries to
avoid time travel from here on out.
At this point, we hadn’t seen a Godzilla movie since 1995, but
across the ocean, an irradiated iguana was about to have his day…

Recommendation:

The best of the bunch, in regards to this series. Standard kid

movie, but King Ghidorah makes it almost worthwhile for anyone to
watch. Almost. If you really love the golden space dragon, maybe give this
one a try.

Final Score: C+
 Godzilla, 1998

“What is this? The virgin lizard?”

Origin:

So here we are. I debated including this movie, as it is not a film

from Toho Studios, but opted to include it since it is referred to in later
Toho produced films and thus is part of Toho continuity.
As we discussed earlier, Godzilla was killed off in Godzilla VS
Destoroyah to pave the way for a big budget Hollywood Godzilla
spectacle. Rumors swirled around, at one point we came close to having a
somewhat traditional-looking Godzilla with a more mythical backstory take
on an evil griffin. Definitely beyond the norm, but it had potential to be
fun. It never came to be, though, and other Hollywood ideas were bandied
about for Godzilla.
Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich had reached success in the
field of summer blockbuster. They took the basic concept of War of the
Worlds and produced Independence Day, a big budget blockbuster with
state of the art special effects that was highly regarded. They had done a
great job revitalizing the “alien invasion” concept, so having them tackle
the classic concept of Godzilla and update it for the modern age with a new
story and cutting edge CGI and special effects seemed like a safe choice.
…what could possibly go wrong?
My Godzilla-viewing friend and I were super-hyped to see this in
theaters on opening day. Nothing could have kept us away from the big
screen!

Synopsis:

We start off with the opening credit over nuclear bomb testing,
and soon David Arnold’s excellent score comes in. We’re off to a great
start! French Polynesia is the target, and there are lots of iguanas there, it
would seem. I think intermixed is the same stock nuclear footage that was
hooked onto Rodan and other Toho films. We zoom in on an egg and the
film opens up.
A Japanese fishing boat is doing its thing in the ocean, when
suddenly alarms start sounding. Something big is heading right towards
them. A large claw rips into it, and the boat soon goes under.
Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos is in Chernobyl, testing the effects of
radiation on some earthworms. A helicopter lands nearby from the State
Department. His expertise is needed elsewhere.
A French agent, Roché, goes to talk to the loan survivor of the
boat disaster. He is highly radioactive. He asks him what he saw, and the
response is “Gojia.”
Nick is brought to a new “sample” to research by the military. He
complains he was taken away from his worm study, where he discovered
that a man-made accident caused the worms to grow a whopping 17% from
their regular size. He finally realizes that he is standing in a giant footprint.
In New York City, television news employee Audrey Timmonds
is having lunch with cameraman Victor“Animal” Palotti and his wife,
Lucy. They are mourning her getting turned down from a promotion by
their boss and head anchor, Charles Caiman. She did get hit on for her
trouble, at least. They see Nick on television during a story about the
strange goings on, and it seems she still has feelings for him. Hurray!
A fisherman on a New York pier has a bite! It is, of course,
Godzilla coming ashore. He jumps around and starts causing trouble!
Mayor Ebert (heh… with his aide, Gene) is having a press
conference about his re-election campaign, when suddenly the ground starts
shaking, car alarms start going off, and buildings crumble in the distance.
As the bedlam continues, Animal runs out to film! Cameraman to the end!
He survives getting a close-up, as everyone who was around watching
commercials in 1998 knows.
The military begins to mobilize, and Manhattan Island is ordered
to evacuate. The leading military man has the same thought many viewers
have when he is told the creature has vanished. How could that happen!?
We wonder the same thing, but it is kind of nice that the movie
acknowledges its own plot hole.
Caiman and Animal are off to do a news story, but Audrey tries to
tell her boss that she has an inside man. He doesn’t care, and rushes off,
and it seems she will go rogue.
The French agents continue their thing, hiding out in a secret van full of
equipment. Agent Roché has even managed to place a bugging device on
the mayor. One thing leads to another, and it’s discovered that Godzilla
could be using subway tunnels to move freely through the city. Dr.
Tatopoulos instructs the military to not try to catch him, but to draw him
out. Dump trucks full of fish are dumped into the street!
Finally, we get our first good look at Godzilla, as he climbs out of
the street, smelling the delicious fish. He also takes a good look at Dr.
Nick, and doesn’t seem to be impressed. His fish dining is short lived, as
the military opens fire. Annoyed, the beast tramples through the line, and
then apparently runs away, helicopters in pursuit. Godzilla runs and dodges
heavy machine gun fire and missiles. You have no idea how much it pains
me to type that. Eventually he manages to turn the tables and takes down
the copters, fortunately. The monster disappears again.
Nick Tatopoulos apparently thinks something is up, and goes to
buy some pregnancy tests. He runs into Audrey, and he takes her back to
his science camp. It is soon discovered that Godzilla is pregnant. Nick
explains he may produce asexually (Audrey points out “Where’s the fun in
that?”). The conclusion is reached that “he” is nesting. Nick rushes off to
the lab to confirm these findings. Audrey looks around, fondly reminiscing
over some old photos of her and Nick; then she finds a VHS tape labeled
top secret. It contains the survivor from the boat attack muttering about
Gojira and other such footage. She steals it, and prepares a story to go on
the news!
The news story runs, except Caiman steals the report. He does us
the service of translating “Gojira” to “Godzilla,” though, and explains it’s a
mythical sea creature spoken of in Japan. Nick realizes his tape was stolen,
but no one cares about his story, and the military throws him off the project
for allowing top secret information to be leaked out.
As Nick is leaving Audrey tries to apologize, but he taxies away
anyway. Animal pursues the taxi, which is probably a good thing, because
Agent Roché is driving it, and kidnaps him. He reveals his true identity,
and that he works for the French Secret Service. Apparently Nick is
working with the French now, rather he really wants to or not. Roché
reveals that France’s nuclear testing created the monster, and he is here to
clean up the problem.
 Animal and Audrey go to sneak into the subway so that they can
report on Nick’s saving of the day to make up for him getting fired. Nick,
Roché, and his fellow agents, disguise themselves as soldiers and make
their way into the restricted area. Soon Godzilla pokes his head into the
tunnel, and everyone understandably panics. The monster doesn’t seem to
really care about the people and goes on his way.
Godzilla returns to the surface and takes a walk through New
York City, heading to another fish pile, but he seems to sense it’s a trap and
leaves the area, the military opening fire regardless. Godzilla ignores the
small weaponry and dodges missiles instead of just taking the hit like we’re
used to, and soon takes a dive into the bay. After a brief skirmish with
some submarines, he is thought to have been destroyed. There is too much
runtime left to get our hopes up, though.
The group in the subway tunnel has found themselves in Madison
Square Garden. They uncover Godzilla’s nest of a ridiculous amount of
eggs, and begin setting explosives around them, as any reasonable person
would do. Before they can finish, they eggs start hatching. Oddly, the baby
Godzilla’s look more like a velociraptor than Godzilla, but so it goes.
The babies don’t waste any time; fresh from the shell they are
ready to chase down and eat anyone who smells tasty! Most of Roché’s
crew goes down quickly. He and his remaining crew decide to hold up and
send Nick for help.
Sadly, the remaining French crew doesn’t last more than a few
minutes beyond this.
Roché and Nick reunite, and just then Animal and Audrey crash in as well.
They end up in a media room and get a live broadcast sent out to warn of
the multitude of Godzilla babies. Nick pleads with the military to destroy
Madison Square Garden before it’s too late.
Realizing you only get so many chances to blow up Madison Square
Garden in a lifetime, the military goes into action. The group makes it out
just as the missiles launch and take out the Garden. The poor baby
Godzillas are no more.
We get another fake out ending, as the survivors trade witty
banter and Audrey and Nick fall in love all over again, but then Godzilla
shows up, and seems very displeased that there is a pile of his dead children
in front of him. They steal a taxi and are chased by their radioactive lizard
foe. They confer with the military and lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn
Bridge. The beast gets tangled in the bridge’s suspension cables, and is a
sitting duck for the military.
About a dozen direct hits from the missiles and Godzilla breathes
his last. Such a wimp, this guy; can’t take a few missiles without dying.
Everyone celebrates! Mayor Ebert wants to exploit the situation
for re-election, but his assistant Gene gives him the thumbs down and
quits. Sigh. Audrey gets the big exclusive interview with Nick and quits
her job working for Caiman. Animal discovers his tape is missing from his
video camera, and notices Roché is gone from the area. Roché calls Nick
and tells him he will send the tape back after he edits out a few identities.
We go to the flaming wreckage of Madison Square Garden, where
a loan egg remains. The camera slowly moves closer, and we see it crack, a
baby Godzilla soon roaring and sticking its head out!
THE END!
The credits roll! Puff Daddy! Then a song about dolphins!

Overview:

Well, then. That was something. As you probably know if you or

someone you love is a Godzilla fan, this film is not much-loved by the
fandom. You will get those who flat out hate it, and others who will argue
that it’s a bad Godzilla film, sure, but it isn’t horrible for a monster movie,
if you just pretend Godzilla’s name isn’t on it. I probably lean towards
that. It is by no means a masterpiece, but if you pretend the name
“Godzilla” isn’t on it (which admittingly is hard to do), it isn’t the worst
generic giant lizard movie. SyFy Originals have certainly been worse.
The opening is fantastic. The score and nuclear testing footage
really hypes you up. Then the first moments of the film continue. We see
the wreckage of a ship and a giant footprint reminiscent of the original
film. Once Godzilla comes to New York City, though, it all starts to come
apart.
We’ve been watching gleefully as Godzilla ignores missiles and
various bullets pelting his body, but now, beyond small arms fire, he runs
and hides and avoids such things. In the end, a handful of missiles take him
down. That is not the Godzilla we know and love. Where is the atomic
breath? Not in this movie, it would seem. Oh, and plus he apparently lays
eggs. Tons and tons of eggs. Plus his babies are raptors or something.
The cast tends to get a lot of hate as well, although I don’t feel they
did such a bad job with acting, they just had a lackluster script to act off of,
and they certainly aren’t miracle workers. Except maybe Hank Azaria. I
could see him pull off some miracles.
The hatred for this film was so great that back in the day the name
“GINO” was coined to refer to the Godzilla of this film, standing for
“Godzilla In Name Only.” That would do for a unique name for quite a
while, but Toho decided to include GINO in Godzilla: Final Wars, thus
cementing his place in history, but shortened his given name to just “Zilla.”
I suppose there is some joke about the “God” part being taken away
because he is so pathetic, but I don’t think that was ever the official
statement given on the matter.
This movie never got a big screen sequel, but it did manage to get a
Saturday morning cartoon which followed the exploits of the surviving
baby, who, unlike his father, had the ability to breathe nuclear fire. The
animated series is held in higher regard than the movie which spawned it,
but I’ve never personally gotten around to watching it, so you’ll have to
take the word of other members of the fandom on that.
The one thing Godzilla had going for it when it came out in 1998
was the very impressive visuals. Unfortunately, CGI that looked awesome
in 1998 doesn’t hold up today.
Good did come from this film, though. This finally got the ball
rolling on getting the remainder of the Heisei series onto video tape in the
United States, as well as numerous books about the classic Toho Godzilla.
Toho was not pleased with how the United States studio handled their
beloved monster, so immediately they went to work on bringing Godzilla
back for one more run.

Recommendation:

No reason to see this out of love for Toho, but hey, if you like the
over the top blockbusters of the 1990’s, you might as well watch this one,
too!
Final Score: D
 Godzilla 2000, 1999
[AKA: Godzilla 2000: Millennium]

“You really are an imbecile.”

Origin:

Toho wasn’t happy with how the American Godzilla movie was
received, so they raced into action, and managed to release another Godzilla
film of their own the following year. This would be the last Toho produced
film to make it to American theaters in mass release as of this writing.
Also of note, continuity is thrown out again. The Heisei era did a
good job of tying each film together, but other than the two Mechagodzilla
films, each Millennium film exists in its own little timeline, picking and
choosing what history it wants to acknowledge.
I was super-psyched for Godzilla 2000. I twisted the parameters
of school projects so I could make this upcoming film my topic. My kaiju-
viewing friend and I, still deeply wounded from the the 1998 Godzilla,
eagerly attended the theater to see the true Godzilla in the big screen. We
were two of four people that showed up that afternoon; the other two were
older guys with long hair and beards wearing black trench coats. That
didn’t matter, though, because all wrongs were about to be righted and at
last the world could live again!

Synopsis:

Tristar still has distribution rights, so we open with the white

Tristar horse running at us, then the Toho logo, a sight for sore eyes after
the last film.
A father (Shinoda) and daughter (Io), members of the Godzilla
Prediction Network Mobile Unit are setting up equipment out of their
station wagon, and have a reporter woman (Yuki) in tow. The little girl has
to translate the technical jargon that her father rattles off for the reporter, but
calls her an imbecile for not understanding.
 Elsewhere, Godzilla greets a man in a lighthouse by dropping a
boat at him. Before that, we get a close up of his eye that seems to be
ripping off the ’98 film, and the title “GODZILLA 2000” flies at us from his
pupil.
Godzilla goes about destroying a small fishing village, and
manages to cause a landslide that almost blocks the Godzilla Prediction
Network Mobile Unit from entering a tunnel, but they journey on, and find
Godzilla on the other side. They shut off the vehicles lights, and Godzilla
curiously looks right in their windshield at them. The reporter freaks out
and starts flashing pictures, and this angers Godzilla. Darn paparazzi, you
can hardly blame him. They reverse and make their escape, as Godzilla
continues on to the city, eventually taking out a power plant.
Meanwhile, a cute little submarine is checking things out in the
ocean, maneuvering through a forest of volcanoes, and finally finds the big
meteorite they were looking for.
The reporter is chastised by her boss the next day, because
Godzilla’s radiation caused the film to get foggy. …wouldn’t this probably
mean that the radiation would have ill effects on nearby people as well? No
one cares, apparently. She wanted to be reassigned to “real news” after
getting a photo of Godzilla, but her boss says they are no good and she has
to try again. Wouldn’t Godzilla be an important enough news story?
The reporter arrives at Shinoda’s Godzilla Prediction Network
headquarters, and the daughter hustles her to officially sign and join their
group, which includes her having to pay a significant entry fee as well as
following monthly fees! This little girl is on top of things. They barter
some agreement and she is part of the team.
Secretary Katagiri, of the Crisis Control Agency, and his team of
lackeys have a bunch of balloons attached to the underwater meteor and
raised to the surface of the ocean. It is a bit reminiscent of King Kong’s
lengthy balloon ride way back in 1962. Suddenly the speed which the
meteorite is ascending increases rabidly, and is flies past its balloons and
breaks the surface all on its own.
There is another Godzilla sighting! He is headed towards some
nuclear plants. Both the GPN and Katagiri are contacted, and head
independently to the scene. Katagiri orders the reactors to all be shut down
before Godzilla gets there.
 Katagiri arrives by helicopter soon after Shinoda drives up, and
we learn a bit about their past history. Shinoda had been a team with
Katagiri’s now-lackey Miyasaka, but Miyasaka left the team when Katagiri
established his. Shinoda wants to study Godzilla, Katagiri wants to kill
him. “In the meantime, he just levels Tokyo,” points out Katagiri. He has a
good point, realistically.
Miyasaka was left to observe the meteorite. Suddenly it rises out
of the ocean, and stands up vertically. Well, that’s weird.
Elsewhere, some mean looking tanks are on the move! “As we
know from experience, when Godzilla is attacked he advances instead of
retreats,” a wise army general tells Katagiri. It seems to be a knock on the
1998 Godzilla. The plan is to draw him to some super special mines that
will hopefully kill him. If that doesn’t work, they also have a new
experimental missile that the general guarantees will go through Godzilla
“like crap through a goose.” Poetic, but the test footage he shows of the
missiles is impressive.
Underwater mines begin exploding, and Godzilla surfaces! Was
that the super special mines? They didn’t seem to bother him in the
slightest, and no one makes a big deal about it. Ah, well. Multiple
helicopters sweep onto the scene, and begin bombarding him with rockets.
Godzilla doesn’t seem to care, and makes landfall. The tanks begin their
barrage, Katagiri looking smugly on, complete with cool guy sunglasses.
The tanks only annoy him and cause him to charge forward, as planned. He
hits another wall of mines, and the new missiles are launched. For once,
they seem to be getting somewhere! You can see the physical damage they
are doing to Godzilla’s body.
Back with Miyasaka on the boat observing the meteorite, he
suddenly makes the shocking discovering that the point of the meteor is
following the sun! He realizes this just in time for it to start crashing down
onto the boat he is on. We also discover now that the meteorite has weird
“Predator-vision!” and is analyzing the genetic makeup of the people on
board the boat. Anyway, just as it starts to crumple a radio tower on top of
the boat, it lifts up into the sky and flies away. Crazy meteorites these days.
The fighter jets arrive, and bombard Godzilla with rockets from
all directions. It’s an impressive showing from the military, something we
rarely see in Toho films.
 Now we see just where the meteorite was headed: to Godzilla. It
goes past him slowly, and Godzilla just kind of stares at it, as if he is
wondering what this giant turd is doing floating around the sky. It does its
Predator-vision thing on Godzilla, and sees that, by golly, Godzilla is just
the right genetic makeup for… whatever it needs something for. They stare
down for a while (which is weird since the meteorite has no eye), and
suddenly it fires a side cannon at Godzilla, knocking him far back and into
some poor building. Godzilla gets up again quickly, not used to that kind of
abuse, and begins charging up his spines to unleash his nuclear breath. The
cannon hole thing appears to be charging as well. They unleash their
powerful beams at each other, Godzilla gets knocked back again, but the
meteorite is thrown for a loop as well, and its revealed to have a silvery-
metallic looking center, appearing to look more like a UFO than a rock.
Miyasaka and Katagiri are meeting with the military, where they
discuss that this must indeed be an alien creature from outer space, which
gets its power from our earth sun. Could it be Superman!? Well, no. They
hypothesize that it crash landed into the ocean ages ago, and didn’t get any
sunlight until they discovered it and started to bring it to the surface. At
night, it just stopped moving again. They are impressed something could
do so much damage to Godzilla, who apparently disappeared after the last
blast he took.
Shinoda makes a truce with his old friend Miyasaka to use his and
Katagiri’s equipment to analyze a chunk of Godzilla’s skin that he found.
It’s discovered that not only is it hard to damage Godzilla to begin with, but
he has a super-regenerative healing factor. They name it Regenerator-G1,
because things like that need a neat name. Assuming Godzilla has always
had this ability in all the past films, it explains a lot. They hope that maybe
they can use it help humankind. They reminisce about old times when they
used to work together, and how Shinoda resigned from his university work
because he found it to be becoming too unethical.
The UFO/meteor is coming to life again! It breaks through the
“unbreakable” cables the military had put around it and takes off again, now
completely out of its rocky shell and officially a full blown UFO instead of
the meteorite hybrid. We get a great Perry White tribute as the UFO goes
past the news building and the editor shouts “Great Caesar’s Ghost!” The
UFO decides to rest atop City Tower.
 Computers around the city go haywire, as the UFO is hacking
ALL computers apparently, including primarily the City Tower Super
Computer. It’s not just reading it, literally all data will be GONE if they
don’t stop it! It will be the end of civilization! Clearly, the course of action
is to set off a bomb in the City Tower, but Yuki is inside!
Shinoda and Io manage to sneak past the major military presence
and tell Yuki she needs to get out, as Shinoda takes over her post in finding
out what the alien is after in its massive data collecting, and sending out the
other two.
Yuki and Io manage to catch up to the fleeing military, and ask
them to radio in to stop the detonation until Shinoda is out of the building,
but Katagiri tells them to proceed as instructed. What a jerk! He had
seemed more annoying than flat out evil up to this point. Yuki decides to
drive them back in hopes of getting Shinoda out in time. Katagiri is about
to press the button right on time to blow up the building, but Miyasaka tries
to verbally stop him. It only delays him a few seconds, and the to top of the
City Tower explodes! The UFO is annoyed and shoots a shockwave down
the rest of the building, Independence Day style. Miraculously, Shinoda
makes it out of harm’s way just in time.
Shinoda is annoyed, but goes back to his teamup with Miyasaka
and Katagiri. He explains that the UFO is after Godzilla so it can take on
his form. Just then, Akira Ifukube’s Godzilla theme hits, and Godzilla
comes up in the bay, ready to faceoff with the annoying UFO once again.
The UFO goes to sit atop another skyscraper, and big tentacles
come up through the street and wrap around Godzilla, dragging him
towards the alien object. After a while, Godzilla has had enough and breaks
out the atomic breath, causing the craft to regroup. The UFO unloads some
pretty powerful attacks and Godzilla is down for the count. The UFO
begins absorbing Godzilla’s Regenerator-G1, according to Shinoda. It lets
out its occupant, which comes out looking a bit like a walker from War of
the Worlds. It is the dreaded space monster, Orga! The Regenerator-G1 it
absorbed morphs it into an alien/Godzilla hybrid of sorts.
They begin their scuffle, and after Godzilla incinerates a chunk
off Orga with his atomic ray, we see that the absorption of Regenerator-G1
is working quite well, as it grows back almost instantly. Orga takes a big
bite into Godzilla’s arm and begins absorbing more Godzilla DNA, slowly
morphing more and more into a Godzilla clone, the jaw becoming more
dinosaurian, and spines starting to protrude on the back.
Eventually, Orga opens wide with a weird, scary mouth, and starts
to swallow Godzilla whole! The trademark Godzilla spines start to look
fully formed on Orga’s back and it looks like we are going to get an all new
Godzilla clone once Godzilla is eaten, but instead, Godzilla unleashes yet
another atomic blast and Orga is pretty much obliterated. Godzilla roars at
Orga’s charred shell of a body and it falls over into a heap. Nice work!
“Boy, that’s ironic,” Yuki points out, “It woke up after 60 million
years, and then Godzilla destroyed it the very next day.” Just then Godzilla
decides to pay attention to all the people watching on the rooftop! Shinoda,
Io, Yuki, Miyasaka, and other random military personally run away, but that
cocky Katagiri just lights a cigarette, and looks up. “I’ve never seen
Godzilla this close before,” he states. Shinoda tries to pull him back, as
Godzilla grabs the building’s edge, but Katagiri will have none of it.
He shouts, “GODZIIILLLLLAAAAA!” in as silly and
stereotypical a way as possible, and Godzilla brings down the edge of the
building, killing off Katagiri. He doesn’t care about the other people on the
rooftop, and goes on about his way, taking apart the rest of the city that’s
still standing. Miyasaka comments how scientists created Godzilla, and
have since been trying to destroy him. Io asks why does he come to save us
every time we are in trouble; her father wisely responds, “Maybe because…
Godzilla is inside each one of us.”
Wiser words never spoken.
A classic cut of Akira Ifukube kicks in and Godzilla unleashes
atomic hell on the cityscape as the credits roll!
…the theatrical cut had a hilarious big green “THE END…?”
graphic, but they cut that from home video releases.

Overview:

This seemed incredible coming off the heels of the 1998 film, but
viewing it again, it isn’t exactly a masterpiece. The new Godzilla design is
nice and mean looking, and the way he walks more hunched over looks
more animalistic. The updated atomic fire, already looking good in the
Heisei era, is even more impressive now. My only issue with Godzilla is
somehow his size seems to be smaller in scale to his surroundings than
before. Maybe it’s just my imagination. Orga, though, isn’t the most
exciting thing to fall out of the sky and fight Godzilla. He comes off as a
generic shape-shifting alien, which isn’t a terrible thing, but we never really
grasp just what he is doing. Maybe if he had been sent by Planet X we
could get to know him better.
The military has come a long way since last we saw them attempt
to thwart the Japanese Godzilla. In the end, they are of course
unsuccessful, but their attacks have a lot more power behind them this time,
although there is some bad CGI mixed in with the impressive effects.
I found much of the human interaction in the Heisei era to be very
lackluster and boring, but I will say in this film I was actually amused with
a lot of the bickering with Yuki and Io instead of annoyed.

Recommendation:

Not a perfect movie, but fun enough overall. It might not quite be
a must see, but if you’re enjoying the more recent films it’s one of the better
ones.

Final Score: B-
 Godzilla VS Megaguirus, 2000
[AKA: Godzilla X Megaguirus: G Extermination Strategy]

“Jeeze! What a stench!”

Origin:

Another year, another Godzilla movie! Here we have the same suit
that was used in the previous film, but as I’ve said, there is no connection
between the Millennium films. This could have probably tied in to Godzilla
2000 easily enough, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Godzilla 2000 is
probably happy about that.
We did get an original kaiju in the last film to battle Godzilla, but
not quite in this one. Megaguirus is an advanced form of the tiny little bugs
Rodan was eating in Rodan back in 1956, however the creature has been
completely redesigned and doesn’t have much in common with its original
form.
In an exciting twist, I got this from Amazon upon its release in the
United States.

Synopsis:

An old-timey newsreel! Nichiei News! Godzilla raids Tokyo!

We are back in Tokyo, 1954; except they’ve put the current Godzilla with
his neater looking atomic breath back in familiar scenes from the first film.
It’s a pretty cool way to start a film. In this reality, Japan moves its capital
to Osaka and begins to thrive.
Twelve years later, Japan has built its first nuclear power plant.
Godzilla returns from his absence and destroys it, because nuclear energy is
tasty. However, without nuclear power, the nation couldn’t keep up with
demand, and by 1996 new plasma-derived energy was developed.
After a boring 30 years, Godzilla comes to Osaka. He really likes
capital cities. A team of soldiers is running through the streets and seem to
have something up their sleeve. Their big secret weapon seems to just be
bazookas. Godzilla’s scale seems a little smaller than usual, and he is a bit
annoyed by the soldiers, but continues his way down the street, to the
industrial zone.
The lone female on the team wants to keep firing rockets, but she
is ordered to pull back. She argues with her superior, who ends up pushing
her out of the way of falling debris, sacrificing his own life. She gets really
mad and fires another rocket! The screen flashes and really awesome font
telling us GODZILLA X MEGAGUIRUS: G Extermination Strategy comes
on screen! Sony was kind enough to put dorky looking English font over it
to obscure a proper look at it, sadly.
Tokyo, 2001. A man is using his hi-tech mixing bowl to do
magic tricks for children at his diner. Single Female Soldier comes in and
recruits him for the Anti-Godzilla Command Unit. It seems the new, and
perfectly reasonable, plan to get rid of Godzilla is to fire a black hole at
him. Really. But they need the help of the magic cook to finish the
project.
The average viewer would find this chicanery too much to bear,
so fortunately Godzilla is detected off the coast of Japan to distract us from
this stupidness.
Meanwhile, some kid is called in to eat lunch, but instead he runs
off with his bug collection to show it off. He discovers the road is closed
off by the military, so being a normal kid in a kaiju film, he sneaks through
the woods to avoid the Marginot Line and discovers a huge military
installation has cropped up, and they are about to test their ability to shoot
black holes at things. Fortunately they put on safety glasses. A red button
is pressed and a neat looking orb thing is blasted at an abandoned
warehouse, and it disappears, leaving a crator. Hopefully there weren’t a
couple of bank robbers holding a child hostage inside.
The little boy is discovered, and the woman asks him if he can
keep a secret. This could all go significantly creepy, but of course it is just
about the black hole thing; but he isn’t even allowed to tell his parents.
They let him go back home, though, no additional bribery (or just killing
him).
That night, he is awakened by a giant dragonfly-like creature
going by his window. He runs outside and discovers a slimy egg, which he
takes with him when his family moves to Tokyo. Being the highly
intelligent kid that he is, he decides to dump it in the sewer. This will go
so, so well.
It seems the sewer water agrees with the egg, and it begins
multiplying. Sewers start backing up all over the area, and a bug monster
looks down on a couple of sewer workers as they investigate the matter.
Finally, the Meganulan have had enough playing nice, and go back to their
roots from Rodan, and start viciously tearing people apart. They quickly
mature from the crawling phase to the dragonfly phase, something that
didn’t happen back in 1956 when they hung out in mines.
Meanwhile, Godzilla is indeed confirmed to be off the coast, so
they launch their fancy jet, the Griffon, to head out and show Godzilla
what’s what. At least, that is what you assume is going to happen. Instead,
the Griffon drops off a couple of people (including our female lead) onto a
tiny raft. They go to check out a dead bug monster, but then Godzilla pops
up out of the water; literally right beneath them. The other man is pulled up
but Kiriko stays behind and takes a ride on Godzilla’s dorsal fins, which is a
first, and last, so far, in the series. One would think the monster’s radiation
would be a bit much for a person to just stand around amidst it, but here we
are.
The ride is short lived, but she manages to attach a transmitter to
Godzilla.
So then the city is flooded, apparently due to he Meganulans
causing trouble in the sewer. So it’s probably sewer water. Gross.
Anyway, they are now tracking Godzilla, and preparing to use
their black hole on him, which they are now calling Dimension Tide, which
at least sounds cool even if it’s a silly weapon. They can’t use it when he is
in the water, so they shoot at him in hopes of guiding him to small island
where they can shoot a black hole at him. We even get to see putrid CGI
Godzilla swimming in this sequence.
Meanwhile, the military has discovered the big mess of
Meganulan eggs and geso to destroy them, when they are met with a
building covered in already hatched dragonflies. They futilely shoot at
them, killing a handful but most of them fly off.
As fate would have it, just as Godzilla comes ashore on the island
and the Dimension Tide countdown begins, the hoard of dragonflies arrives
and blocks their shot. Godzilla shoots some of them down, and the rest of
them aren’t happy about it and attack him, while the military proceeds with
plans regardless of the insect invasion.
The Dimension Tide fires and we see why they had no money left
in their CGI budget to let Godzilla swim. Nice special effect though it is,
Godzilla is merely covered in rocky rubble rather than in a black hole.
Missed him by that much.
Many of the Meganulas are killed, but a few, who have TASTY
GODZILLA BLOOD in their bodies, go back to the sewers, where they
inject it into a super giant cocoon thing. Only good can come of this, like a
giant Meganulan…! Presenting Megaguirus, Queen of the Meganulon!
Hurray!
Megaguirus doesn’t mess around; she just chops buildings in half
with her wings as she flies by, then lands atop a tower and starts sonic
blasting everything by vibrating her wings at a super high frequency.
Godzilla decides to follow tradition and head to Tokyo. The
Griffon is there to meet him, and begins shooting away and dodging
Godzilla’s atomic breath. Before this amounts to much, Megaguirus flies
onto the scene and begins fisticuffs with the King of the Monsters.
Fortunately, the Dimension Tide has cooled down by now, and
they begin preparations to try to take out both monsters in one shot, but
Megaguirus’s furious wing flapping wreaks havoc on the military’s
equipment and they are unable to fire their black hole cannon.
The scuffling continues, and Godzilla doesn’t do as well as you’d
hope against a giant bug, but then, he’s struggled with Mothra over the
years. Eventually he has enough, after Megaguirus reveals a fairly mean
looking stinger, and does a sad and frightening looking body slam.
Megagurius is down but not out and quickly retreats to regroup;the next
time Godzilla encounters the creature it throws a nasty atomic fireball at
him.
Megaguirus eventually goes in with the stinger once again, but in
an inexplicably slow motion scene, Godzilla bites off the stinger as it
approaches, then engulfs the evil bug in flames.
Bad times for the Dimension Tide satellite, as its propensity to not
work properly continues, and starts to fall out of orbit. Godzilla is blissfully
unaware of this, and starts destroying the science institute. We then get the
dramatic reveal that plasma energy was still being developed there, and that
is why Godzilla showed up to begin with. Oh, snap! Science, you jerk!
Maybe some day Japan will learn and give up on science.
At the last moment, a plan is concocted where Kiriko uses the
Griffon to guide the Dimension Tide and enable it to score a direct hit on
Godzilla. Kiriko ejects into a swimming pool just in time. Alas, there is no
sign of Godzilla.
A while later, Kudo is back to his tiny robots and happy being a
civilian, when Kiriko shows up again to tell him that there has been some
strange seismic activity and they think it’s possible Godzilla escaped the
black hole. He turns down the offer initially, but the Marty McFly in him
gets the better of the situation, as he is accused of being a chicken. This
prompts him to join up again, and the credits roll.
But then we get a post credits scene!
A bunch of kids are milling around at school, and the kid from
earlier in the film is putting a bug collection away, when an earthquake hits
and we hear Godzilla’s roar!
THE END!

Overview:

This is the low point of the Millennium series (although some

would argue Final Wars gives it a run for its money), but it doesn’t do
everything wrong. Amid some horrible CGI, the Dimension Tide actually
looks really, really awesome. It’s really a shame that other effects didn’t
receive the same treatment and care.
The whole alternate history is a little hard to grasp as well. I see
what they’re doing and part of me likes the idea, but shifting the capital
around and creating a different economy than what we are used to seems
like a cumbersome way to come about a Godzilla movie plot. Speaking of
plot, like I said previously, the Dimension Tide looks incredible when it
launches; but it’s still a weapon that shoots a black hole at things. Literally,
it fires black holes. Just let that sink in. The Oxygen Destroyer was
dangerous enough, but resorting to that to off Godzilla seems just a little bit
absurd, even by Toho standards.
A highlight, or lowlight, depending on your view of these things, is
Godzilla’s body slam on his insect foe. As you should know by now, I love
the silliness of the Showa era, but other than that moment all the action had
been played more or less seriously with more animalistic battle techniques.
The sudden use of professional wrestling came out of no where, and I still
can’t decide if I’m horrified or delighted.

Recommendation:

Just not a good movie, don’t feel bad leaving this one off your
viewing list.

Final Score: D+
 Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out
Attack, 2001

“It’s like a monster convention here!”

Origin:

Another Millennium film, another completely different take on

Godzilla. We definitely venture far from traditional territory here, but I
think it’s in a good way. Shusuke Kaneko was given the directing helm on
this film, due in large part to his successful revitalization of Godzilla’s rival
from Daiei Studios, Gamera. Gamera had always been second fiddle to
Godzilla in terms of giant monster popularity, and after his first couple
movies attempted to be semi-serious, they went off the deep end and were
far more juvenile than Godzilla could ever dream of. Gamera hadn’t seen a
new film in fifteen years when Kaneko came along and starting in 1995
directed a Gamera trilogy that many consider to be on par with some of
Toho’s best work.
Godzilla was only doing lackluster at the box office, so bringing in
a guy who had proved himself in the genre seemed a great idea, and the
film we got, though not without its imperfections, is a favorite of many.
Kaneko desired to bring back some long lost kaiju to play the role of earth
guardians against Godzilla. His list included Anguirus, Baragon, and
Varan, but Toho balked and wanted some big names included, so instead we
got King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Baragon. I find that disappointing, as a
modern Varan would have been interesting, and Anguirus had been missing
in action for quite a while by this point. I love Ghidorah and Rodan, but we
have seen a lot of the over the years. At least we can take solace in
Baragon making the cut.
I had patiently waited for the home video or DVD version of the
recent movies before and after GMK, but I was so excited to see this film
that I ordered a DV-R from Hong Kong. I couldn’t even play that at home,
and had to go to a friend’s house to watch it. The picture quality was bad
and multiple audio channels were playing at once, but it was still a great
movie.
 Synopsis:

We open with a military official going over the events of 1954

(which is the only time Godzilla has ever appeared on this timeline), and he
even mentions the attack in New York City in 1998, a reference to the
stinky Godzilla from Tristar. Since then, other kaiju attacks have popped up
around the world. A couple of guys in the room whisper about it, doubting
the monster in New York was Godzilla, despite American claims.
Meanwhile, a submarine is checking things out in the ocean,
where some kind of disturbance has occurred. Suddenly the sub begins
rocking around and they get a nice view of Godzilla’s glowing spines… and
OPENING TITLE!
Fancy Japanese font gives us our movie title, but unfortunately
the US DVD thinks it’s a great idea to put a big ugly English title card over
it. Regardless…
…GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT
MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK!
A television crew is filming a docu-drama; trying to, at least. The
owners of the land chase them off. They apparently learned to Google and
discovered the program, Digital Q, was more about sensationalism than
fact. As the owners and crew argue, the earth begins to shake. Always a
good sign in a kaiju flick! It subsides, and the crew has talked the owners
into letting them continue, promising tourists will flock to the area once the
program airs.
That night, one of the owners is discussing how great this will all
be with who is presumably his wife, when a biker gang in silly outfits come
to terrorize them, and in the process destroy a little stone statue thing. That
can’t be good. The biker gang goes on their merry way down the road,
when in a tunnel, an earthquake hits and crushes them. Baragon pokes his
way out of the mountainside!
The Digital Q host, Yuri, is concerned why there was no recorded
earthquake in the area, and tries to convince her manager that something
more is going on there at Mt. Myoko. He isn’t interested.
The military is trying to clean up the mess at the tunnel, and
interview a witness. He insists that it was Godzilla, rather than Baragon.
Beggars can’t be choosers; at least we have a giant monster sighted!
Japan’s crime wave continues, as unruly teens break into a
convenience store and start stealing alcohol. While in the area, they decide
to destroy a silly stone statue, much like the other group. The jerks even try
to kill the store owner’s dog by drowning it, going to the effort of rowing
into the middle of a lake in a little boat. Larva Mothra, devout dog lover,
will have none of this, and capsizes them! …I didn’t actually see the dog
escape, but it had to, right?
Yuri’s friend Teruaki is familiar with an old legend of guardian
monsters, and thinks this may be what is going on at Mt. Myoko. He has to
bring home a drunk Yuri, and it is revealed that her father is none other than
Admiral Tachibana, who opened the film giving a talk to the Japanese Self-
Defense Force. The next morning they are watching the news and we see
that fortunately, the dog survived! However, the rowdy punk kids were
found dead, wrapped in cocoons. Mothra ain’t got time for no rowdy teens!
Yuri goes to interview a wild old man (played by Eisei Amamoto,
in his final screen role. You may know him from such films as King Kong
Escapes and All Monsters Attack!) who always talks about Godzilla coming
back, who is currently in jail for destroying a shrine (the thing to do these
days). He tells Digital Q to go to the place where Ghidorah is sleeping, and
wake him before it’s too late! The guy is ominous.
That night, another group of silly teenagers is joking around about
Godzilla, and how he would make a great pet, when suddenly the THUMP
of monstrous footsteps is heard and the house shakes. A few stomps and
the house is crushed.
Yuri and her Digital Q crew are watching the tape from earlier in
the day they made with the crazy old man in jail. He says that Godzilla can
indeed be defeated, but not by any weaponry of man, only by the guardian
monsters. He explains that Godzilla is driven by the many souls of the
Japanese killed in World War II. A unique take on things, to be sure. He
attacks because the Japanese people want to forget what happened… “They
have deemed it preferable to forget the pain and agony they inflicted on all
those people!” Good point, crazy old man.
Things begin to go poorly in general for humanity from there. A
helicopter is knocked from the air before the pilot can report what is going
on, and a man falls into a hole and is freaked out by the sleeping monster he
finds. Finally Baragon’s beautiful face comes up in the city street, and
starts doing cool monster things. Everyone keeps reporting that it’s
Godzilla, when obviously it’s not, but finally they start to get things
straightened out. It sounds silly, but it harkens memories of major real
world events when initial information coming in is often wrong and
confusing, the facts taking longer to surface. They begin referring to
Baragon as the red Godzilla.
At long last, Godzilla comes ashore! We get our first real look at
him finally, and he is, of course, a handsome devil. As he tromps through
the city, we get a heartwarming moment as he passes a hospital, and we see
a panicked girl inside, confined to her hospital bed. She breathes a sigh of
relief as Godzilla passes, leaving the building in one piece, and then his tail
swings in and demolishes the place. Godzilla is in full on troll mode for
today.
The King of the Monsters begins to charge up to unleash a
radioactive blast, and we soon see that it has been upgraded to atomic bomb
quality, producing a mushroom cloud and all.
Baragon, or should I say, Red Godzilla, seems to sense the arrival
of Regular Color Godzilla, and begins heading towards him for a
confrontation. Baragon couldn’t handle a giant Frankenstein Monster in the
past, but apparently he is feeling far braver now.
The two beasts finally meet, and all out kaiju combat begins.
Baragon does what he does best and digs a hole, trying to trick his foe, but
this advantage is short lived. We soon see why Baragon’s name wasn’t put
into the title of the movie with everyone else. Godzilla continues to prove
he is a big jerk by knocking Baragon into the helicopter that was providing
us with pro wrestling style play-by-play announcing of the battle. Baragon
seems to have had enough of this whole being a Guardian Monster thing,
and starts to climb away, but Godzilla will have none of it, and pours on the
atomic death ray. A second blast of that, and dear Baragon is pretty much
vaporized.
Somewhere in a big lake, Mothra has spun a giant cocoon. It
looks like a peanut.
Yuri takes her video camera and goes off on a bike after Godzilla to
broadcast live as the JSDF sends fighter jets to get knocked out of the sky
by an atomic blast and die.
Crazy Old Prophet Man, who escaped from jail when Baragon
knocked a hole in it earlier, has found his way into the hole the other man
had found earlier, and watches as King Ghidorah awakes. As Ghidorah
awakens, Mothra emerges in moth form from the cocoon in the lake.
Godzilla heads to Yokohama, where the surviving Guardian
Monsters Mothra and Ghidorah head as well. Mothra shows up first and
attacks Godzilla. The first pass isn’t that impression but on the return attack
Mothra starts shooting little stingers from her rear, which seems to irritate
Godzilla significantly. Realizing the giant moth isn’t just there to look
pretty, Godzilla unloads some atomic blasts, but Mothra is fast and avoids
them, numerous buildings around not being so lithe. Yuri gets knocked
down in the falling debris, but seems relatively okay.
Finally Ghidorah shows up. Very strange having Ghidorah play
the good guy, but here we go. He is smaller than normal, being awakened
sooner than the prophecy wanted him to be, but he’s still willing to bite
Godzilla’s arm and unleash some electrical shocks. It’s not long before we
see that we are dealing with a super tough Godzilla (that Godzilla who
needed Rodan and Mothra’s help to defeat Ghidorah back in the day was
clearly inferior!), and both the Guardian Monsters are knocked to the
ground and duly irradiated. Ghidorah is rendered unconscious, and just as
Godzilla unleashes a super atomic death ray, Mothra runs defense and takes
the full brunt of the attack.
The Admiral sees the opening, and they begin launching their
newest warheads at Godzilla; mean little fellows with drill tips that burrow
into the skin before exploding their payload. If the goal was getting
Godzilla’s attention instead of him just shrugging off any attempt by
humankind, then it was a rousing success. Godzilla turns and impressively
obliterates pretty much the entirety of military presence in the immediate
area.
As Godzilla lumbers towards the battleship that the Admiral is on,
flaming Mothra rises from the rubble and kind of makes an attempt to stop
Godzilla, but is vaporized. Little glittery Mothra pieces float towards
Ghidorah’s body, and fuse with him. King Ghidorah is not only
rejuvenated, but is back in proper full size form, ready to have a fair battle
with Godzilla. New and improved Ghidorah even has the ability to absorb
Godzilla’s atomic breath and launch it back at him, knocking Godzilla into
the ocean. Soon Ghidorah joins Godzilla in the water.
They see that Godzilla now has a gaping wound, so Admiral
Tachibana takes it upon himself to board a research submarine and launch a
fancy missile directly into the wound hole. Ouch.
Yuri has joined the military group that’s still surviving, and hears
what her father is doing and promptly freaks out. They talk via radio and
he insists he is the only one who is skilled enough to do this. “Don’t worry,
I’ll be fine.” Famous last words. The tiny submarine submerges.
Yuri gives a melodramatic newscast, then the bridge she is on has
its support taken out by Godzilla, and Teruaki struggles to pull her up.
Under the sea, after all that build up, Admiral Tachibana can’t
seem to hit the stupid gaping wound. That was anticlimactic.
As Teruaki and Yuri are struggling on the bridge, pieces from the
shrines we saw earlier fall and hit Ghidorah, vanishing in a shiny glow on
impact. The two fall in the ocean, Yuri apparently unconscious. Teruaki
grabs her and swims to safely.
Ghidorah, meanwhile, having been hit in the head with shrine
stones, is feeling better again, and exits the water, unleashing torrents of
lightning down on Godzilla. Thinking this is getting silly by now, Godzilla
has enough and unleashes a big atomic blast, this one apparently
unstoppable. Ghidorah is reduced to little bits, but then we get magical
images in the sky of Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, which then
absorb into Godzilla. I’m not really sure what happened there, but it makes
Godzilla go back underwater instead of blow up more city, so I guess that’s
a success on the part of the Guardian Monsters for now.
Meanwhile, the Admiral is still driving his submarine around, and
pilots it directly into Godzilla’s mouth, who takes the opportunity to
swallow the strange object. Wouldn’t you?!
I’m not quite sure what happens at this point; either the Admiral
has a vision of his daughter or Yuri has a vision of her father. I’m inclined
to think it was a shared vision between them both. Either way, Yuri tells
him not to let Godzilla survive.
Godzilla pops up out of the water right in front of where Yuri and
Teruaki are resting, and things look bleak. It is, however, an “Oh, snap!”
moment for Godzilla, as a missile tip makes a bloody exit from Godzilla’s
trapezius. Not one to let the little problems in life get him down, the angry
kaiju prepares to unleash atomic hell in Yuri’s general direction, but upon
attempting this, the blast goes out the wrong hole, missing entirely. The
horrible blast coming out his shoulder instead of his mouth apparently is a
painful thing, and Godzilla lets out a painful roar and falls back into the
ocean.
Not one to give up, he tries again, and things just aren’t mixing
well. Godzilla disintegrates in an atomic fury.
Not wanting to pull a Dr. Serizawa, Admiral Tachibana surfaces.
At Digital Q headquarters, they are happy Yuri is alive, but the
boss seems happier that they can do a special episode and get huge ratings.
He wants to interview the crazy old prophet, but one of the other staffers
informs him that he died long ago, and that he is no longer on the tape they
had recorded of him earlier. Freaky.
The Admiral and Yuri re-unite, kind of. He doesn’t want her to
get too close, since he may be radioactive (you think?). She salutes him,
and he says there are others: his colleagues, and the Guardian Monsters.
They both turn and salute towards the ocean.
Meanwhile, deep in the depths of the ocean, a giant heart lies on
the ground, and begins beating as the traditional Godzilla theme comes in
loud and strong.
Roll end credits as Akira Ifukube’s Godzilla March plays us out!
THE END!

Overview:

This film, affectionately (or for those who don’t like to say a long
title) referred to as GMK, is truly unique in that it’s really the only time we
get an all out total Hollywood Hoganesque evil Godzilla. When not the
over the top superhero, Godzilla, at the end of the day, is traditionally more
neutral than anything. Some films portray him as more of a bad guy than
others, but at his worst he just is lumbering around in the wrong place and
defending himself when the military or a giant moth attack him. In the case
of GMK, though, he’s just there to kill and blow things up. The explanation
is simple, though: it’s because he isn’t just a radioactive dinosaur, he is
possessed by the spirits of ticked off World War II vets.
Kaneko brought a similar feel to the Godzilla universe as he did to
Gamera. He really digs his earth guardians and pushes mythological or
spiritual themes over science fiction. I like the “scientific” approach
myself; but, yes, it’s silly science, it just comes down to preference. I will
say, though, after nearly 50 years, it was refreshing to have a drastically
different take on the King of the Monsters, plus a face turn for King
Ghidorah.
Along those lines, we are getting a compelling plot. Instead of
worrying about regenerating Godzilla cells or about throwing black holes at
things we don’t like, we get a much more down to earth story.
The special effects are significantly improved as well compared to
the first two uneven outings of the Millennium era. You can shake your fist
at a couple iffy CGI missile launches, and the first form of Ghidorah is
nothing to write home about, but beyond that, everything is very solid. The
new upgraded atomic bomb breath of Godzilla is very impressive. Baragon
actually walks on all fours instead of on hands and knees! A major
innovation in kaiju suits! Mothra looks much more reasonable in flight
than in the past, and better than Megaguirus from the previous film. My
personal favorite is a very impressive shot of Godzilla clearing a swath
through the military with his atomic breath, soldiers and weaponry flying
everywhere.
The movie does have a sense of humor, but scenes like the soldiers
being swept away and the girl dying in the hospital and the obvious
allusions to the atomic bomb set a certain tone that hasn’t really been felt
since the original film. Time and again certain segments of fans have
yearned for a “serious and dark” Godzilla film, and this is the closest we’ve
come so far. I openly admit that as far as I’m concerned, the best Godzilla
is a dancing super hero Godzilla, but this film sets out on a specific task to
set a different tone and knocks it out of the park.
I can’t claim it’s my favorite film, but it certainly is one of the best
made in the series. It hits on all cylinders, from story to action to a nice
original score that is capped off at the end by some classic Akira Ifukube.

Recommendation:

Highly recommended! Unique plot and great kaiju action makes

this a must see entry!

Final Score: A
 Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, 2002
[AKA: Godzilla X Mechagodzilla]

“It’s huge, and getting bigger by the minute!”

Origin:

Mechagodzilla is back, making his Millennium appearance! I like

his design here a lot, even if the Showa version is probably my overall
favorite. This film was originally set up to be the first of a trilogy, but we
only ever got one sequel, which is unfortunate; it seemed to be going in an
interesting direction. On the plus side, we get some cameos of long lost
kaiju.

Synopsis:

We begin with a military movement of some sort going on, in the

year 1999 (hey, Destroy All Monsters!). A typhoon hits the city, and
Godzilla comes along with it. The military rolls out to meet him, complete
with our good friend the maser cannon. On screen text informs us that this
is the Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF), which was established in Chiba in
1966. Its purpose: to defend the nation from monsters. Someone has to do
it!
The AMF team opens fire on Godzilla, sending a powerful
barrage of rockets, but today Godzilla is going to ignore them. Now its
time for the masers to go to work! The masers cut down some trees as they
fire on Godzilla, which brings back some warm fuzzy memories—but no,
they don’t stick in the War of Gargantuas stock footage. Godzilla is
annoyed, and unleashes his atomic breath towards the military. He even
stomps on one of their units, and we see the pained last moments of those
inside.
Godzilla roars, and… title card!
GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA!
As many of these releases do, they past obnoxious English translations over
the really neat looking Japanese text.
Next, we see a refugee shelter. A news report is on, and it
specifies that this is a new Godzilla, similar to the one in 1954. Interesting
to have it pointed out so clearly.
The Prime Minister gives us the overview of the story from 1954,
even mentioning Dr. Serizawa and the Oxygen Destroyer. It’s mixed with
footage from the original film as well as some new CGI Godzilla dying in
the ocean. We also see that Mothra and the Gaira from War of the
Gargantuas happened in this continuity. And hey, a mention of the masers
and a shot of that classic stock footage! Good job, guy that picks footage!
Interesting that Gaira gets a mention, Mothra, not so shocking. They call
Gaira a Bigfoot, though, instead of a Gargantua or Frankenstein.
A military tribunal is held, and Lieutenant Akane Yashiro, a
maser pilot, takes the blame, and is ashamed of her failure. She gets
transferred to a desk job.
A science lab has brought trilobites back to life! Well… kind of.
It’s basically a robot fused with ancient trilobite DNA, but it acts just like it
would if it were alive. Dr. Yuhara, the doctor who has created this method
laments that no one is listening to him and his ideas, and is promptly
recruited by the government for a special project.
He arrives at a meeting full of scientists and government personal,
and they reveal they have the skeleton of the 1954 Godzilla in a big water
tank. They want Dr. Yuhara to use his skills to create a bio-robot to fight
Godzilla, using the DNA of the original.
We get some montage of things going on, the building of the
robot, a new Prime Minister put into power, and random goings on with the
cast of the movie, and are skipped ahead to the year 2003.
Akane Yashiro is still working her desk top, but is approached by
a superior officer. They want her back! She is enlisted to work on the
Kiryu Squadron. This particular Mechagodzilla gets an actual name, hence
the “Kiryu.”
There is some unrest in Kiryu Squadron, as one of the members
blames Akane for his brother’s death, but the squadron leader shuts him up,
and then we get another montage; this time of the Kiryu Squadron doing
some military drills. Marching and crawling in mud under barbed wire are
the best ways to defeat Godzilla, after all.
 Akane goes to the commissary, where Dr. Yuhara’s daughter is
serving coffee. The doctor tries to flirt with her, with wonderful results.
The disgruntled squad member from before comes over to cause trouble, as
apparently Akane has been named Kiryu’s pilot. Yuhara tries to defend her,
gets pushed down, and Akane stops the assault. Poor doctor.
Father and daughter seem to get along with Akane, although she
doesn’t quite give in to his advances. He attempts to strike a deal that if
Kiryu can beat Godzilla, he will treat her to dinner to celebrate. If Kiryu
fails, as the creator, he owes her dinner for his failure. This guy is smooth.
Try this at home kids, it’s ingenious. Akane responds by making ominous
statements about a plant and walks away.
Just as Kiryu is completed and a big presentation of its
awesomeness is ongoing, Godzilla is sighted out in the Pacific Ocean.
They scramble the Kiryu Squadron. Instead of being awesome and just
flying around like the original 1970’s Mechagodzilla, this one has to be
hooked to big aircraft and carried around. Better than nothing, I guess.
Godzilla makes landfall. He barely gets to smash anything when
Kiryu is dropped onto the scene. They have a cool staredown, then Kiryu
starts bombarding the other guy with missiles and a maser ray. Godzilla
begins to back away slowly; something of a first. Kiryu is about to fire the
“Absolute Zero,” the super weapon sure to finish off the King of the
Monsters, when Godzilla roars, and everything goes to pot! The roar
activates some primal instinct in 1954 Godzilla, and the squad loses all
control over the mechanized weapon.
Godzilla is like “whatever” and swims away. Kiryu sits doing
nothing for a moment, then starts doing its own thing. Not really the best
thing for a big Godzilla robot loaded with weapons to do in a city. Missiles
and lasers fly as Kiryu lays waste to all around. I must say, it’s nice to see a
Mechagodzilla destroying a city again. I always knew it was its true nature.
The control ship Akane is in gets shot down, but the crew escapes
just before it blows up. She saves the jerky crew member who kept trying
to pick fights, because she’s all nice and heroic like that.
Back in the main control room, they conclude there is nothing at
all they can do to stop it, except wait for it to use up all its power, which
will take about an hour. So basically wait for the battery to run down.
Kiryu pretty much puts an end to the city they dropped it in, and
finally powers down.
It seems the people aren’t happy with their Prime Minister, what with
pushing a program that ended up destroying a city. There are calls for him
to resign, and for the Kiryu Project to be cancelled, but members of the
project insist they must go on and the problem can be fixed. Who cares if a
few cities are lost, as long as we end up with a mechanical Godzilla?
There is some deep philosophical conversations about life and
death (it seems Dr. Yuhara’s wife died in childbirth, refusing to abort the
child to save her own life, but both mother and child ended up dying,
leaving the doc and daughter Sara both wife and motherless), and after
boring us with that for a while, we see Godzilla waking up on the ocean
floor. He knows when to make an entrance.
Godzilla moves through Tokyo Bay, taking some missile shots
before lighting up the attacking jets with blue atomic fire. They never
learn, do they? Tanks and masers join in as he nears the shore, but continue
to prove useless, much like they did earlier in the movie when they said that
Godzilla is immune to such weaponry.
The leader of the Kiryu Squadron begs the Prime Minister to let
Kiryu out again, insisting it’s safe now. Sure, why not? The Prime Minister
gives the okay, and big aircraft carry the Mechagodzilla to Godzilla once
again.
Godzilla is closing in on a hospital, and Kiryu won’t make it in
time! BUT WAIT! Kiryu has a jetpack on that they would rather ignore
most of the time! To be fair, it probably expends considerable energy, and
they don’t have time to leave Kiryu plugged in over night during a battle
with Godzilla. The aircraft release Kiryu and it slams into Godzilla before
he can be a jerk and blow up the hospital. Godzilla recovers and the two of
them battle once again!
Kiryu has some great firepower, but eventually Godzilla begins to
dominate. Kiryu even stabs Godzilla with an electrical blade thing, but this
just makes him angry (you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry) and he
shoves his robotic double to the ground. In retaliation, Kiryu launches its
jetpack at Godzilla, forcing him back considerably. It sounds silly but it
looks better than it sounds. Kiryu soon resorts to throwing punches, and
I’m starting to feel like we’ve traveled in time back to the Showa era. It’s a
good feeling! Mechagodzilla grabs Godzilla by the tail and spins around a
few times, before hurling him across the cityscape. Now that’s a monster
fight!
 Unfortunately, the team of boring scientists sees that Kiryu only
has 45% of its power yet; it’s time to fire Absolute Zero and end this!
Godzilla will have none of this, however, and just as the superweapon is
about to launch, Godzilla hits the ground with his heat ray and the
mechanical beast flips over, decimating a nice section of the city.
Kiryu crashes to the ground, no longer taking commands from the
control ships. Akane takes it upon herself to board Kiryu and pilot it
manually. Seems like a good plan! This doesn’t help the lack of power left
in Kiryu’s battery, though, so the Prime Minister orders the power company
to reroute electricity to quickly supercharge the robot, blacking out Tokyo
in the process.
Just as Kiryu is back on its feet, Godzilla hits it from behind with
atomic breath. I’m not sure why everyone was ignoring Godzilla
throughout this process, but hey, the giant radioactive dinosaur is easy to
forget. This knocks Akane unconscious, but she has a vision of Sara, Dr.
Yuhara, and her Kiryu Squad teammates, and then wakes up yelling
“KIRYU! GIVE ME POWER!”
The jerky teammate who was causing trouble earlier crashes his
big Kiryu carrying aircraft right into Godzilla’s mouth to block his atomic
ray, and orders Akane to fire the Absolute Zero once again! A golden
opportunity to kill the jerk is passed on, as she pilots Kiryu to Godzilla and
knocks the aircraft out of his mouth, allowing him to escape once again.
Kiryu propels Godzilla back into Tokyo Bay, as we see the
Absolute Zero charging up, and suddenly the icy blast erupts from the sea!
It shatters and… Godzilla is standing there, looking annoyed; but
apparently disturbed enough by all this that he returns back to the ocean
instead of the city.
Akane exits Kiryu, and stands on its shoulder, watching Godzilla
swim away into the sunrise as the credits roll.
THE END!
…or is it!? We get a post credits teaser of Akane being reunited
with Dr. Yuhara and Sara, where the doctor brings up the bet he fabricated
where now he has to take her out to dinner. She refuses, but insists she
buys both of the Yuharas dinner some time. Father and daughter high-five,
and he exclaims, “I’m in!” Akane walks away, salutes Kiryu and finally
this time for real…
…THE END!
 Overview:

Another fine film here, thanks to director Masaaki Tezuka.

Mechagodzillas are always fun, and while I will always be partial to an
alien invasion using a robot Godzilla, this is the second best version. I’m
intrigued by the concept of using the original 1954’s skeleton to build the
machine around and infuse it with his DNA. Finally, a good explanation as
to why they must build a machine that looks like a mechanical Godzilla,
other than just for it to look cool.
I struggled to care too much about the people story here, but it’s a
fairly short film so those scenes move along briskly enough. Kiryu going
haywire and laying waste to a city more than makes up for any of that. The
final confrontation between Godzilla and his metal doppleganger plays out
great, it has elements of old school charm but is rooted in a more modern
fighting style.

Recommendation:

Really awesome monster design coupled with extensive action

makes this a must see! Plus we get stock footage of the masers cutting trees
from War of the Gargantuas!

Final Score: A-
 Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, 2003
[AKA: Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS]

“Whenever the symbol’s drawn anywhere, Mothra will appear

immediately.”

Origin:

Here we have part two in what was intended to be a trilogy of

Mechagodzilla films. Not only are we tied to the previous film, but also
this movie takes us way back to the original Mothra. It’s nice to be pulling
at all those threads from Toho history. Both Godzilla Against
Mechagodzilla and this film do a good job of setting up the final act of the
trilogy, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.

Synopsis:

We get some shots of Kiryu being repaired, and then find

ourselves in a command center where a UFO is headed towards Japan. A
couple F-15s go to intercept the object. They can’t get a good look at the
object through the clouds, and it’s ignoring their radio calls. Suddenly one
of the pilots hears singing. Weird. The object turns and they get a good
look… it’s Mothra! They try to shoot the giant moth out of the sky, but
shockingly, they have no luck.
Fancy title card!
GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS!
A little boy, named Shun, and his uncle Yoshi are looking at a
model fighter jet, and Yoshi reveals that he has worked on numerous
aircraft for the JSXDF over the years. The boy goes to show the finished
model plane to his grandfather, but suddenly the house shakes. Grandpa
thinks it’s an earthquake, but then they hear someone calling out for “Mr.
Chujo,” who apparently is the grandfather. It is the tiny Mothra Twin Fairy
Shobijin Girls!
 It seems he was on the original expedition to Infant Island and
discovered the twins’ ancestors 43 years ago. It’s nice to see an old Toho
veteran actor back, and playing the same character to boot. The twins have
an important task for him: Godzilla’s bones must be returned to the sea! As
you may recall, the original Godzilla’s bones are inside Mechagodzilla
Kiryu. They explain if the new mean Godzilla returns, Mothra will defend
Japan. If the humans do not return Godzilla’s bones to the sea, Mothra will
declare war on Japan. Wow! Mothra doesn’t fool around! They look
outside and Mothra is sitting there starring at them. That’s a little
unnerving. Mothra flies off and leaves lots of glitter behind. The twins
disappear, but leave behind a little artifact with the Mothra symbol on it.
A press conference is going on at the Mechagodzilla
headquarters. The arm has just been repaired, but the Absolute Zero
weapon has not yet been fixed. We see that Yoshi Chujo is hard at work on
the repairs. Back to the press conference, it is reported that Godzilla has
not been seen since his battle with Kiryu. A reporter asks if the reason
Godzilla attacked last time was become it sensed the bones of the previous
Godzilla, which might explain the twins’ desire to have the bones thrown
into the sea.
The elderly Chujo apparently has some sway, as he has managed
to get a meeting with Prime Minister Igarishi. The prime minister denies
Chujo’s request to get rid of Godzilla’s bones, but agrees that perhaps they
had gone too far in turning the bones of Godzilla into a killing machine. He
thinks it isn’t worth giving up the nation’s defense.
The dead body of Kamoebas, one of our pals from Yog, has
washed ashore in Japan. The military surrounds it to clean up the carcass.
The man in charge even references Dr. Miya, crediting him with
discovering the creature on the island years ago. It appears to have a
massive wound, which led to its demise; likely from Godzilla.
An American submarine suddenly has a large object headed right
towards it. Before they can do much about it, things start shaking and
exploding, as Godzilla has claimed another notch on his belt.
Back at Mechagodzilla HQ, the head scientist repairing the robot
is asked about the Absolute Zero weapon, and he says he can fix it
tomorrow if they can get him the gigantic synthetic diamond needed to
repair it; however, the budget won’t allow for that. They discuss
dispatching Kiryu without the Absolute Zero, which is doable, but they still
have a couple weeks of testing to do.
Yoshi Chujo has taken the side of his uncle, and wants the
Mechagodzilla project abandoned, but this doesn’t sit well with Akiba,
Kiryu’s pilot, which causes mild fisticuffs between the two of them. Soon
Yoshi is summoned to a hearing, fearing repercussions, but instead Akiba’s
father, who is apparently a high ranking leader, apologizes to him. They
ask him about Mothra, and about what his uncle had told the Japanese
government. He asks if they are disbanding the Mechagodzilla project, and
they simply state if Mothra kills Godzilla, they won’t need Kiryu any
longer.
Godzilla finally makes himself known, surfacing near Japan, in
front of some battleships. They immediately begin an artillery barrage,
which Godzilla mostly ignores. He ends up submerging again, and taking a
few torpedo hits, but is none the worse for wear.
Back at Mechagodzilla headquarters, they’ve replaced the
Absolute Zero with the Hyper Maser. They do love their masers, that’s for
sure. They attempt to lure Godzilla to Shinagawa City, the location of the
last battle of Kiryu and Godzilla, as it hasn’t been rebuilt yet and that will
minimize damage.
The city is being evacuated, and Chujo learns Shun is missing!
He also sees that his little Mothra symbol that was left by the twin fairies is
also gone. He assumes Shun us up to something and rushes out.
Godzilla begins to come on shore. They spot that he still has a
wound on his chest from his last encounter with Kiryu, and they surmise
they can possibly use that as a weak point to kill him off for good. Godzilla
gets nailed with a flurry of powerful missiles, and soon tanks and masers
join in on the fun. Much like the last film, some of the advanced weaponry
actually seems to do at least mild damage to the monster, which I’m sure is
a welcome change of pace to the JXSDF.
The elderly Chujo is running through the city, and finally finds
Shun. Shun is setting up desks in the school parking lot, making a giant
version of the Mothra symbol. He does a surprisingly good job for some
kid. Mothra shows up as soon as it’s completed.
Mothra flies to meet Godzilla, and they have a happy reunion.
Gale force winds cause Godzilla to become disoriented, and then Mothra
grabs him and slides him into some buildings. Kiryu is put on standby.
 Godzilla is not to be outdone by a giant moth, and bites off a leg
or two. This causes Mothra to go into poison sparkly dust mode, and Chujo
points out to Shun that this is Mothra’s final attack, knowing it can’t defeat
Godzilla.
On a far away island, the Mothra Fairies once again are singing
the Mothra song. No other natives singing and dancing this time, though;
just a giant egg.
On the battlefield, there is a massive explosion, and Mothra is
clearly injured. The prime minister doesn’t want to let Mothra die
(although it seems a little late for that), so gives the order to launch
Mechagodzilla.
Mothra has finally run out of sparkles apparently, and Godzilla,
after missing once and taking out Tokyo Tower, tries again and nails
Mothra’s wing with atomic breath, rendering Mothra helpless on the
ground. Suddenly a flurry of weaponry hits Godzilla, and Kiryu lands on
the scene. Missile bombardment follows, and Godzilla roars in
aggravation.
After absorbing a fairly significant attack, Godzilla hits Kiryu
with one atomic ray and knocks it to the ground. Mothra comes in for the
save, but gets hit again and is down. Just then, the giant egg on the island
begins to hatch. Not one, but TWO Mothra caterpillars come out. The
fairies pray to them or something, and they begin the swim to Japan.
Yoshi drives around the destroyed city until he finds his uncle and
Shun. They are lying near a pile of rubble, but are alive.
Kiryu has gotten back on its feet and continued the attack,
knocking Godzilla to the ground a couple times, but another atomic blast to
the face and Kiryu is knocked down again as well.
Finally the Mothra bugs crawl onto the scene, and begin coating
Godzilla in their silk before he can put a finishing blow on Kiryu. Mother
Mothra and her two babies have a conference, then the mother shields her
babies from an atomic blast from Godzilla. This time, she is incinerated.
Mechagodzilla is out of commission, but Yoshi gets word of this
and rushes to the scene to repair the mechanical monster.
Fighter jets distract Godzilla while all this is going on. I’m glad
to see the pilots have improved since the earlier films where half of them
would just crash into whatever kaiju was causing trouble. The young
Mothras join in on the antagonizing, as well as some maser cannons.
 Yoshi makes the necessary repairs, and the pilots have control of
Mechagodzilla again. He can’t get out, though; but tells the team he made
it out okay so they will proceed.
Outside, the Mothras have been attempting to tie Godzilla up in
silk, but to no avail. Kiryu gets back on its feet, and faces off with Godzilla
once again. They push each other around a while, tossing Yoshi around
inside, and finally topple over the capital building. There is probably some
joke about Godzilla not liking Diets in there.
Kiryu suddenly reveals he has a secret drill hand, and jabs
Godzilla in the chest, then powers on the drill, making a big bloody mess.
The hyper maser comes online and blasts Godzilla in his new wound.
Godzilla falls once again. Mechagodzilla’s internal skeleton has flashbacks
to its earlier days in 1954 Tokyo, and stops moving. Wounded Godzilla has
no fight left in him, and finally the Mothras are able to cocoon up the
monster.
Suddenly the prime minister, sitting in the Mechagodzilla
command center, hears the voice of the Mothra fairies. “Human beings
should recognize their mistakes and correct them. It’s the only way they
can redeem themselves.” The prime minister instructs them to finish off
Godzilla, and then the Mechagodzilla will be scrapped.
Kiryu refuses, apparently. The weapons won’t operate. Old
Godzilla’s bones have taken control again, it would seem. The cyborg roars
and approaches the Godzilla cocoon. It clamps onto him, and launches
itself and its passenger into the ocean! I’m glad the 1954 Godzilla bones
know how to use a jetpack.
Yoshi is prepared to go down with Kiryu, but his team mates
won’t have it. The fighter jet shoots off the jammed door, and Yoshi
manages to escape just in time. The computer screen inside even tells him
goodbye, which is polite of it, despite it being a case of texting and driving.
Godzilla and Mechagodzilla crash into the ocean, and is declared
missing in action.
The Mothra Larvas swim into the ocean, back to their island,
twins riding on one of their backs. Yoshi and the Kiryu pilot are floating in
a life raft in the ocean, when they hear the voice of the fairies tell them:
“The souls of the dead can now rest in peace, in the cradle of eternity.”
The credits roll!
 It’s not over yet, though! Post credits, we see an apparently secret
science lab, where Godzilla DNA is being stored. We hear that a
bioformation experiment on an extinct subject is about to begin.
Ominous.
THE END!

Overview:

The prevailing rumor was that the next film would conclude this
trilogy for the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, having the modern Godzilla face
off with a clone of the original. I think that had potential to be especially
epic, but it wasn’t meant to be as Toho decided to switch directors and go
with a completely unrelated film instead.
Tokyo SOS is a good movie; the action is close to on par with the
last entry. Having Mothra involved isn’t a horrible thing, but it almost feels
like too much of the plot of the original Godzilla VS the Thing is mixed into
the last Mechagodzilla movie. Still, it was nice to reference the past, even
if it lacked some innovation.

Recommendation:

I wouldn’t put this quite on par with the last film, but it does add
Mothra to the mix, and is by no means a bad film. Definitely worth a
watch!

Final Score: B+
 Godzilla: Final Wars, 2004

“This is it. Empty your guns. There’s no turning back.”

Origin:

Toho decided to go in a different direction than the afformentioned

Godzilla VS Godzilla concept, and hired a hot new director, Ryuhei
Kitamura, who had recently had success with a crazy-exciting action film,
Versus. Kitamura pulled out all the stops in celebrating Godzilla’s 50th
anniversary—everything from long long forgotten kaijus to old actors from
the series (Akira Takarada, star of the original film, returns to play the UN
Secretary General) and even the super submarine Atragon (called Gotengo
in the film) returned to celebrate the occasion. We even get to see the huge
planet Gorath, which threatened to destroy the earth in the film of the same
name!
For Kitamura, it was a labor of love, mixing together all he loved
about Toho’s previous science fiction along with more modern science
fiction from the West, such as The Matrix and X-men. Trying to boost the
film’s popularity, he also cast, along with some familiar Toho faces, a well-
known MMA fighter, Don Frye, and a Japanese pop music sensation,
Masahiro Matsuoka.

Synopsis:

We open with the retro TOHO SCOPE logo and classic Ifukube
score; very nice. Soon we are on a snowy South Pole battlefield with
destroyed tanks and masers lying in Godzilla’s wake. The Gotengo
emerges from the ice and starts firing missiles. There are shades of
Godzilla Raids Again as Godzilla gets buried in ice and snow, hopefully for
good (of course!).
We then get a crash course in this film’s history, where monster
attacks were quite common. We get a brief look at some of the more rare
creatures, like Varan, Baragon, and a Gargantua. The Earth Defense Force
was formed to fight these kaiju threats, which has created the M-
Organization, a group of super powered mutants, basically.
The opening credits then roll, and it just might be the best part of
the movie. Kyle Cooper, who had done the opening titles for many well-
known Hollywood films, was hired to put this together. Intercut with the
credits we get the years scrolling up from 1954 and lots of quick cuts of
Godzilla over the decades, it’s all very well done.
The Gotengo is off the coast of Normandy! Manda the sea
serpent is doing naughty sea serpent things, and must be destroyed! The
captain is Colonel Douglas Gordon. Alas, Manda is frozen and then drilled
through by the vessel.
Then we go to the training center for Matrix films. A couple guys
spar for a while and then their superior comes in. It might be worth noting
that he is wearing a Nazi uniform without the swastika, and most of the
military uniforms in the film are the same, just with some palate swaps. He
tells one of the men, Ozaki, to report to him in ten minutes. After everyone
leaves, Ozaki’s sparring partner goes on a spiel about how the mutants exist
only to fight, not to help people. Hurrah for Brotherhood VS X-Men vibes.
Ozaki is told the mummified remains of a monster have been
found, and he is being dispatched to act as a bodyguard for a UN scientist
studying the creature. Fortunately, it happens to be a beautiful woman
scientist, Dr. Miyuki Otonashi.
The discovered creature is a cyborg—part animal, part machine.
It is well over 1,000 years old, and they deduce it has to be from another
planet. After further research, Infant Island comes up, and suddenly two
tiny voices tell Ozaki, Miyuki, and another scientist that the monster is
Gigan (who has some upgrades since his 1970’s appearance), and suddenly
the three of them are swept away to a cave on Infant Island, the twins
standing before them. Apparently 12,000 years ago, Gigan showed up on
earth, but Mothra was able to defeat him. Also of note, the same evil in
Gigan is in the mutants’ blood cells. That’s encouraging. The twins stress
that mutants can choose whether to be good or evil. Then, the three humans
are teleported back to the laboratory, now with a fancy talisman.
Newly elected UN secretary general, Naotaro Daigo is on a flight
from Japan to the United Nations in New York City, but Rodan flies by and
blows up the plane. It was a good career. Meanwhile, in New York City, a
pimp and a cop are having a really stupid showdown, as a wino watches,
but alas the ingenious comedy routine is stopped by Rodan flying over the
city and using his super wind gust powers to blow off their hats with
comical sound effects (and then it looks like they get blown up). Glass and
debris shower down into the streets, and Rodan take off again, leaving
significant destruction.
From there, the monsters start rolling in across the globe. Even
Zilla, the “Godzilla” from the 1998 film, makes an appearance in Sydney,
Australia. Didn’t expect to ever see him again, eh? King Caesar,
Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Anguirus make an appearance as well, none of
which had been seen for decades. The Karyu, a high-tech aircraft, is
dispatched to take out Anguirus, but he has developed the ability to roll in a
ball and bounce around since when we last saw our spiky friend.
The monster onslaught continues, as a hunter and his grandson
come across a human-sized Minilla, who even gets his Son of Godzilla
theme music. The hunter tries to shoot him, but his grandson stops him,
alas.
Ebirah comes ashore for the first time in his career, and begins
tearing apart a waterside plant, and demolishing some tanks along the way.
Fortunately the mutant team pulls up and goes to work. It takes lots of
bullets and fancy footwork, but they are able to take down Ebirah, and
make a hilarious quip about being a vegetarian (so therefore must kill giant
crustaceans?).
After causing mass destruction in various cities around the world,
all the surviving monsters suddenly vanish, and a UFO show up. UN
Secretary General Daigo teleports in front of the crowd of military gathered
around the UFO. He tells them that the UFO saved him from the exploding
plane and that they are not hostile. Daigo and a couple of officials are
teleported on board, and we see that the aliens are from Planet X, complete
with the awesome visors from Monster Zero! Hello old friends, we trust
your claims of peace. They did get rid of all the monsters for them, though,
so that’s good. The Xilian leader informs them that the planet Gorath is
headed towards earth, and will destroy it upon impact, but they will help us
focus all fire power on the correct point to destroy it—probably a better
idea than moving the earth out of its orbit to avoid destruction. Daigo is all
for it. He wants to move from the United Nations to Space Nations. I think
it sounds silly, not as catchy as Galactic Federation, but it will do.
 As much of the world rejoices in the Xilians now living among
them, there are those who are suspicious. Ozaki, Miyuki, and her sister
Anna notice that the secretary general no longer blinks. Hmmm. They go
to set up an interview with him to investigate this mysterious matter, and a
wild man attacks him, calling him a traitor. Ozaki fights the guy off, but
they manage to collect some blood from Daigo. Upon further investigation,
they discover that the UN Secretary General is not human.
Things keep getting worse, as they continue to investigate
matters, they discover that Gorath is a hoax, making it all the more clear
that the aliens are up to something. Ozaki goes to the only person he can
trust, Captain Gordon. You can always trust a guy with such a great
mustache.
After a shootout with a couple aliens disguised as humans, they
make an attempt to reveal on television that the secretary general is really
an alien during a live interview. Apparently the Xilians did not study up on
the man’s pet when they replaced him, because chicanery wins out as Daigo
doesn’t recognize the dog put before him is not his own, nor does he
remember his own dog’s name. The second in command younger Xilian,
sitting on the stage, thinks this is hilarious.
Just then Captain Gordon walks into the conference room and
throws an alien body in front of the group up on stage. The audience freaks
out for some reason. Gordon than shoots the secretary general for good
measure. This causes his head to split open and reveal his bug head! While
the Xilian leader starts to explain awkwardly, his right hand man shoots
him, and assumes command. The original leader wanted a peaceful take
over using trickery; the new guy wants to use monsters and use the people
as a food supply. After a brief skirmish all the Xilians teleport out of the
room, but unfortunately have taken control of the minds of all the mutant
soldiers in the room, except Ozaki who is special apparently. Gordon and
crew get away, and we even get a fancy motorcycle battle.
The Xilian leader is back in his UFO, and shouts Gigan really
loud. Gigan comes to life and gets to work at smashing. The Xilian leader
instructs all monsters to be let loose, and also dispatches countless alien
crafts from the mothership to go about shooting lasers at things.
Captain Gordon and the few remaining forces have regrouped in
their secret underground base, the only military installation not destroyed
by the Xilians. The Gotengo is there, and while some are discussing it is
there last hope, Captain Gordon corrects them and points at the South Pole.
He wants to wake up Godzilla. They worry he will just destroy the world,
but Gordon points out there is already no world left to destroy. Well, good
point, I guess. Also, Dr. Miyuki points out that Godzilla is the only monster
that doesn’t contain “M-base” in his DNA, which is what gives the Xilians
the ability to control the other monsters and the mutant soldiers. That’s
convenient, I guess. They are baffled as to why Ozaki is immune to the
mind control, but no one seems to care too much.
The Gotengo begins its launch protocols, and Captain Gordon
wisely states: “This is operation… Final War.” The craft launches as some
peppy music plays, and we can only hope the world will be saved.
As the Gotengo heads to the South Pole, Gigan attempt to
intercept the ship. Meanwhile, the agents sitting around at the South Pole
base are concerned that Godzilla is being woken up, but at least they are
wearing colorful shirts that look inspired by Son of Godzilla. The Gotengo
blows up Godzilla’s holding cell, and he immediately is ready to get to
work. First things first, he incinerates the base and vaporizes his two
captors. That was more important than paying attention to Gigan
apparently, who swoops in for the attack. Gigan finally uses his laser
beams and starts firing grappling hoops everywhere, pulling Godzilla
towards him. Godzilla will not take this tomfoolery and blasts off Gigan’s
head with an atomic ray. Well, that was quick.
The leader of the Xilians is angered by this, and receives a video
conference with Captain Gordon, who tells him, “Listen kid, there are two
you don’t about the earth. One is me… then the other is… Godzilla.” The
delivery of this line is great.
The Gotengo dodges a few atomic blasts and heads out of the
area, as Godzilla enters the ocean and follows after it. The ship leads him
to Sydney, Australia, where the Xilians unleash everyone’s favorite monster
from everyone’s favorite film, Zilla. Sum 41 even plays a song for us. The
two beasts roar at each other, Zilla dodges a blast, then gets knocked into
the Sydney Opera House. Godzilla promptly incinerates him. On to the
next victim.
The Gotengo leads the Godzilla parade on to New Guinea, where
he gets a warm greeting from Kumonga. The giant spider attempts to web
up the King of the Monsters, but Godzilla grabs a web and apparently hurls
him out into space.
 Later Kamacuras doesn’t do much better, being impaled on an
electrical tower.
Next on the Godzilla express he encounters Anguirus, Rodan, and
King Ceasar, all former allies. Alas, the Xilian mind control is too great,
and Godzilla doesn’t seem to have any qualms taking them on and out.
Godzilla does a nice bodyslam on King Ceasar, a nice reminder of the
Showa battles. The three once great monsters don’t stand much of a
chance, but Minilla, the hunter, and kid are nearby watching, and Minilla
gets all riled up watching, and lets out a smoke ring… then suddenly begins
to grow!
The Gotengo has reached the Xilian mothership. Hundreds of
tiny ships fly out to intercept, but the Gotengo unloads and somehow
manages to hold its own. Fortunately, one of the mutants has regained
control of his senses and sacrifices himself by flying directly into the core
of the mothership. It was a nice rip off of Return of the Jedi until he crash
landed instead of escaped, but it took out the shield so the Gotengo could
drill its way in. Seemed like a reasonable enough plan, until a bunch of
Xilians teleported their way in and killed off the crew except for the film’s
heroes, who were spared and brought before the enemy leader.
Good news, everyone! The Mothra Twins pray and finally
Mothra flies towards the area!
We see Hedorah thrown out of the water onto land, and promptly
impaled by Ebirah. I thought we already killed off Ebirah; apparently there
were two. Godzilla surfaces and incinerates both of them.
The Xilian leader tells the Gotengo survivors that it’s time for the
main event, and the last chapter of the Godzilla saga. We had established
that Gorath was a hoax earlier, but there certainly is some kind of meteorite
or something destructive headed towards earth. Godzilla spots it, braces
himself, and atomic blasts it out of the sky. It apparently was housing
Monster X, who now stands before Godzilla.
Monster X is a unique fellow, with somewhat humanoid features
and fights more like a kung fu fighter than anything Godzilla has
encountered before. It’s an interesting change of pace, I suppose. Before
they get too into it, Mothra shows up to help, and a newly upgraded Gigan
is dispatched to elimate the moth.
The Xilian leader drones on about boring things and mutants and
aliens and how they are related. Apparently Ozaki couldn’t be controlled
because he is a “Keizer,” a more highly evolved mutant. After explaining
all that, he reveals that he CAN control Ozaki after all, and does so. Ozaki
quickly beats up the rest of his team and has Gordon in a choke hold.
Miyuki jabs him with something and he regains control again. Fun while it
lasted.
Mothra and Gigan fight it out, and it all ends with flaming Mothra
slamming into a once again headless Gigan; it seems there is no more of
either of them.
Inside the mothership, it’s time for more fancy martial arts
fighting, as Ozaki and X spar. Outside, Godzilla takes Monster X down,
and instead of finishing him off, focuses his firepower on the mothership.
This causes havoc inside, and everyone starts kung fu fighting. They
manage to find the secretary general as well! I assumed he was dead.
Ozaki finally wins out over the evil leader, but then the
mothership self-destructs. So there’s that. Everyone manages to board the
Gotengo in time, though.
Outside, Monster X is mad now. He transforms into Keizer
Ghidorah as Godzilla looks on, confused. Basically, a four legged
Ghidorah. Finally, an enemy is able to take Godzilla down, if only
momentarily. Ghidorah clamps down on his neck and seems to be draining
Godzilla’s atomic energy. Ozaki knows just what to do. He dramatically
jumps into a seat and starts glowing, then the Gotengo starts doing weird
things and recharges Godzilla.
Godzilla, now back to full power, takes off the middle head and
tosses the enemy beast around. Finally, Godzilla tosses him into the air and
incinerates him with atomic breath. Godzilla then turns his attention to the
Gotengo. Uh oh. Fun while it lasted. He blasts it and sends it flying.
The crew exits the ship and look at Godzilla as he comes towards
them. It would seem that this would be the end of our friends, but suddenly
Minilla comes running across the destruction and extends his arms,
blocking his father’s wrath. The old hunter tells Godzilla he must forgive.
What a great life lesson for us all. Godzilla seems to agree and turns,
lumbering away, Minilla following after.
They swim off into the sunset, and Ozaki comments that it’s a
new beginning. However, I noticed in the Japanese version he says it’s the
beginning of a new war, so… something to look forward to, I guess. Rather
ominous. Fortunately our English dub spares us.
 End credits roll!
THE END!

Overview:

Okay, then. There are certain films that tend to be overwhelmingly

popular, like the original Godzilla film, or maybe GMK. There are those
that overall garner dislike, such as Godzilla VS SpaceGodzilla. Sure, there
are exceptions to every rule and there is someone to love and hate every
movie, I’m sure, but you get the idea. Godzilla: Final Wars is firmly in the
middle. I can understand both sides, as this film can be extremely fun but is
also extremely flawed. I think you know by now that I tend to enjoy the
goofier outings, and I have to say that while it hardly is a favorite of mine, I
really do enjoy this film for what it is.
I admit that the entire human story is just a big mess of crazy. We
have big martial arts battles and major plot points about mutants that clearly
are ripped from films that were popular in the half-decade or so before this
movie was made, and we have Don Frye who is a neat guy but not exactly a
great actor. If Capcom ever makes a live action movie of their old arcade
game Final Fight, Don Frye would be perfect for the part of Mike Haggar.
I’m just going to throw that out there.
I hesitate to call the monster action bad. It isn’t, and it is
entertaining, but while we all expect Godzilla to triumph in the end, so
many of the battles last a matter of seconds. We’re thrilled to see an old
favorite kaiju return, only to be instantly squashed by the King of the
Monsters. Monster X/Keizer Ghidorah at the end of the film is really the
only one who put up a fight.
I do appreciate the parts of the plot that are clearly direct homages
to previous Toho work, though. There is the obvious Invasion of Astro-
Monster tribute, seeing as how the aliens are from Planet X and dress
basically the same way as they had in the past, but it’s mixed with the “alien
bugs disguised as humans” plot from Godzilla VS Gigan. Take both of
those, and mix it with the aliens using mind control on the earth’s kaiju to
have them wreak havoc, with Ghidorah saved back as the final ace in the
hole from Destroy All Monsters. We hadn’t had an old fashioned alien
invasion since 1975’s Terror of Mechagodzilla, so it was much appreciated.
 This was the most expensive Toho-produced Godzilla film to date,
and the effects really are top-notch. So many of the kaiju only have a
limited time on screen, but the suits all look exceptional. The CGI isn’t
quite perfect, but it’s the best we’ve seen from the studio. The monster CGI
is pretty solid, and most of the various aircraft looking good, but there is a
surprising amount of air combat going on between the aliens and earthlings,
and some of it is a tad subpar.
Unfortunately, the movie just did not do well. It was said during
production that this would be the “last” Godzilla film, although we had of
course heard that before. If Godzilla: Final Wars had been a huge box
office success, I’m sure another movie would have been close on its heels,
but box office numbers were not so good, so Toho has remained true to its
word, and Godzilla entered his longest hibernation in history.
Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably know that
Legendary and Warner Bros. got a hold of Godzilla, and after a ten year
hiatus, Godzilla has returned to theaters, once again from an American
company. Will this be the starting point of a new American Godzilla
franchise? Will it cause Toho to get back in the saddle and begin producing
more films? Time will tell!

Recommendation:

This is an over-the-top blending of all sorts of genres, and it

definitely isn’t for everyone; but it does have a magnificent roster of
monsters. At least give this a shot!

Final Score: C
 Godzilla, 2014

“You have no idea what’s coming.”

Overview:

Well, once again, much like the Tristar film, this isn’t a Toho
Studios film, so including it at all is debatable, but since it carries the name
of Godzilla, and is the most recent release, I thought I’d briefly share my
thoughts on it. I won’t be doing a detailed synopsis for now, since I don’t
have a Blu-ray I can watch over and over again.
We originally had a release date of 2012 when Legendary/Warner
Bros. first optioned the rights to make a Godzilla film, but things got
pushed back until 2014, and here we are at last! My father and I went to an
advanced screening, along with my buddy Dan, and I must say I was very
pleased with the film overall.
I will get the nitpicks out of the way first: much has been said
about Godzilla’s design in this film. Is it better than 1998’s Zilla?
Absolutely! It is a tad bulky and stubby for my own personal tastes, but it
does definitely look like Godzilla. The film is just over two hours, and it
had an enjoyable plot, but after a great opening it does feel like things slow
down for about an hour, which is standard for many kaiju films, but I
couldn’t help but think things could’ve been sped up a little. Again, the plot
was engaging enough that I didn’t care too much, and Bryan Cranston is
always fun to watch.
Beyond that, I am incredibly pleased with all other aspects of the
film (except the lack of Godzilla dancing). His nuclear breath had a
familiar yet retooled look, and stole the show. I had seen the little toy
models of the MUTO creatures, and thought they looked boring and
strange, but in the movie I had no problem with them at all, they looked
great and were convincing adversaries for the King of the Monsters.
All the effects work was just perfect. I can’t think of a single scene
that looked “iffy.” Everything from the monsters to explosions to
destruction was fantastic. From there, you can go down the checklist; Great
musical score, some amusing nods to Toho’s past, and best of all, Godzilla
wasn’t as nefarious as the trailers made him out to be, but actually quite
benevolent. I was not at all expecting that, but was beyond pleasantly
surprised. As you clearly realize by now, hero Godzilla is my favorite, and
I did not think a modern adaption, especially one made by an American
studio, would ever venture down that road again.
So now, I guess we just have to wait for the sequel. We’re getting
a sequel, right? Director Gareth Edwards has stated he would like a
Destroy All Monsters style sequel. He may just be trying to get my hopes
up, but if that’s the case, we can only hope that a few familiar Toho faces
will get to make the journey over to join Godzilla.

Recommendation:

I did not think I would live to see the day that Godzilla was
applauded and cheered in a crowded movie theater; it happened at three key
moments in the film! Exactly what I want out of the first film in a new
franchise—highly recommended!

Final Score: A
 Thanks and Acknowledgements:

What began as something I expected to wrap up in a couple

months stretched out closer to a couple of years. Throughout all of this
experience, my wife has been surprisingly patient as it came to watching all
these movies and then the hours and hours editing and re-reading to work
things down to the final draft. I love you, Jessica!
Also, my dog Indiana, and to those dogs who have gone before
him, Mandy and Snuffy. Thank you for not eating my Godzilla action
figures, even though you enjoy growling at them and carrying them around.
To all my friends—you have endured much. Many of you,
sometimes consensually, sometimes not, had to watch many a Godzilla film
with me. If not, I’ve no doubt engaged in conversation with you about
giant monsters that you had no desire to take part in. So thanks Dan, Adam,
Justin, Nathaniel, Jeremy, Joe, Matt, Sam, Jen, and I’m sure others I’ve
annoyed along the way!
Extra thanks to Ryan; whenever I mentioned “I saw this with a
friend,” or “a friend of mine ordered bootleg-looking video tapes off some
guy on the internet,” it was him. We have fought the good fight for kaiju
acceptance side by side over the years. He also gave some creative input
and advice for the book you now hold in your hand.
To all my English teachers, especially Mrs. Rufener: Sorry for all
the typos, but thanks for the education.
Also big thanks to Aaron and my IC cohorts at www.helmsman.co
for some neat deisgn ideas that will hopefully replace the stock photo on the
cover in future printings of this book.
Thanks to my in-laws, John and Debbie, who put up with having a
very strange son-in-law. I managed to get them into the comic book
movies, but Godzilla never quite caught on. John passed away shortly
before the completion of this book, while I can’t claim to have converted
him to a Godzilla fan, he always attempted to show interest and ask
questions about the monsters on posters on my basement walls and figures
on a shelf.
Last but not least, to my family, my mother mostly patiently put up
with my obsession, but occasionally would watch Son of Godzilla with me
and bought me a few related toys as a child. My father is the one that got
me all excited about Godzilla before I had ever even seen a film, by telling
me stories of when he was a kid and seeing them in the theater. My brother
also enjoyed the films, and bought me a few of them over the years. He has
done a spectacular job of raising his children into loving Toho’s giant
monsters as much as I did at their age.
Special thanks, Mr. FF.
 Suggested Kaiju Resources:

There are many great works out there, these are simply the ones
I’ve been able to get my hands on here and enjoy. The absence of anything
doesn’t mean it isn’t great; I just haven’t gotten around to utilizing it myself
yet. I didn’t go into incredible detail in my book on behind-the-scenes
shenanigans and production, because these authors did such a phenominal
job that I couldn’t say much without ripping off their hard work.

Books:

A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, Second

Edition, by David Kalat

Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, by August Ragone

Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Big G,”

by Steve Ryfle

Monsters are attacking Tokyo!, by Stuart Galbraith IV, Yukarii Fujii, and
Atsushi Sakahara

The Official Godzilla Compendium, by J. D. Lees and Marc Cerasini

Audio:

Kyle Yount and crew over at the Kaijucast podcast do a

spectacular job. Check them out! Search for them on iTunes or visit:
www.kaijucast.com I didn’t discover the show until I was well into my
book, but the Daikaiju Discussions pulled me through some difficult times.

News, Information, and Discussion:

For the latest in kaiju news, there is no better source than Sci-Fi
Japan! www.scifijapan.com
 The Monster Zero forum was the first kaiju-related message
board I stumbled across in my early days of the internet, and remains the
only one I’ve ever been overly involved in. They now make their home at
Sci Fi Japan, just click on “Forums” and like magic you will be transported
there.

Finally, the best online resource for matters of all things Toho!
It’s an incredible wealth of knowledge! www.tohokingdom.com
 Toho Filmography Cast and Crew:

Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Directed by: Terry O. Morse, Ishiro; Produced by: Terry Turner, Joseph E.
Levine; Written by: Ishiro Honda, Takeo Murata, Shigeru Kayama, Al C.
Ward; Narrated by: Raymond Burr; Starring: Raymond Burr, Takashi
Shimura, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Haruo
Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography:
Guy Roe; Edited by: Terry Morse

Godzilla Raids Again

Directed by: Motoyoshi Oda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shigeaki Hidaka, Takeo Murata; Starring: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko
Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Haruo Nakajima; Music by:
Masaru Sato; Cinematography: Seiichi Endo; Edited by: Kazuji Taira

Rodan
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Ken Kuronuma, Takeshi Kimura, Takeo Murata; Starring: Kenji Sahara,
Yumi Shirakawa; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Isamu
Ashida; Editing by: Koichi Iwashita, Robert S. Eisen

The Mysterians
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Jojiro Okami, Shigeru Kayama, Takeshi Kimura; Starring: Kenji Sahara,
Yumi Shirakawa, Takashi Shimura; Music by: Akira Ifukube;
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi; Editing by: Koichi Iwashita

Varan the Unbelievable

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Ken Kuronuma, Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Kozo Nomura, Ayumi
Sonoda, Fumito Matsuo, Myron Healer, Tsuroko Kobayashi; Music by:
Akira Ifukube, Albert Glasser; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi, Teisho
Arikawa, Jacques R. Marquette; Editing by: Kazuji Taira, Rudolph
Cusumano, Jack Ruggiero

Mothra
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Frankie Sakai, Kyoko Kagawa, Hiroshi
Koizumi; Music by: Yuji Koseki; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi;
Editing by: Kazuji Taira

King Kong VS Godzilla

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, Yu Fujiki,
Ichiro Arishima, Mie Hama, Shoichi Hirose, Haruo Nakajima; Music by:
Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Atragon
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shunro Oshikawa, Shigeru Komatsuzaki, Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Jun
Tazaki, Yoko Fujiyama, Tadao Takashima; Music by: Akira Ifukube;
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi; Editing by: Ryohei Fujii

Godzilla VS the Thing

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Sanezumi
Fujimoto; Written by: Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Akaria Takarada, Yuriko
Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yu Fujiki, Emi Ito, Yumi Ito, Yoshifumi Tajima,
Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazake, Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka; Music by:
Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi
Koizumi, Akiko Wakabayashi, Haruo Nakajima; Music by: Akira Ifukube;
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi

Dogora
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Yasuyoshi Tajitsu, Tomoyuki
Tanaka; Written by: Jojiro Okami, Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Yosuke
Natsuki, Yoko Fujiyama, Hiroshi Koizumi, Nobuo Nakamura, Robert
Dunham, Akiko Wakabayashi, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, Seizaburo
Kawazu, Eisei Amamoto; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography:
Hajime Koizumi; Editing by: Ryohei Fujii

Invasion of Astro-Monster
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno,
Jun Tazaki, Akira Kubo, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Haruo Nakajima; Music by:
Akira Ifukube; Cinemtography: Hajime Koizumi; Edited by: Ryohei Fujii

Frankenstein Conquers the World

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Henry G.
Saperstein; Written by: Reuben Bercovitch, Takeshi Kimura; Starring: Nick
Adams, Tadao Takashima, Kumi Mizuno; Music by: Akira Ifukube;
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi, Sadamasa Arikawa; Editing by: Ryohei
Fujii

Godzilla VS the Sea Monster

Directed by: Jun Fukuda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chotaro
Togin, Hideo Sunazuka, Toru Watanabe, Toru Ibuki, Akihiko Hirata, Jun
Tazaki, Ikio Sawamura, Pair Bambi, Eisei Amamoto, Haruo Nakajima;
Music by: Masaru Sato

War of the Gargantuas

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Henry G.
Saperstein; Written by: Ishiro Honda, Takeshi Kimura; Starring: Russ
Tamblyn, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Kipp Hamilton; Music by: Akira
Ifukube; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi; Editing by: Ryohei Fujii,
Frederic Knudtson

Son of Godzilla
Directed by: Jun Fukuda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa, Kazue Shiba; Starring: Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo,
Bibari Maeda, Akihiko Hirata, Yu Sekida, Seiji Onala, Haruo Nakajima;
Music by: Masaru Sato; Cinematography: Kazuo Yamada

King Kong Escapes

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Arthur Rankin
Jr.; Written by: Takeshi Kimura, Arthur Rankin Jr.; Starring: Akira
Takarada, Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda Miller, Eisei Amamoto; Music
by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi; Editing by: Ryohei
Fujii

Destroy All Monsters

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Ishiro Honda, Takeshi Kimura; Starring: Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko
Kobayashi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kyoko Ai, Haruo Nakajima; Music by: Akira
Ifukube; Cinematography: Taiichi Kankura; Edited by: Ryohei Fujii

All Monsters Attack

Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Tomonori Yazaki, Kenji Sahara, Hidemi Ito,
Eisei Amamoto, Sachio Sakai, Kazuo Suzuki, Haruo Nakajima; Music by:
Kunio Miyauchi; Cinematography: Sokei Tomioka; Edited by: Masahisa
Himi

Latitude Zero
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Don Sharpe, Tomoyuki Tanaka;
Written by: Warren Lewis, Shinichi Sekizawa, Ted Sherdeman; Starring:
Joseph Cotton, Cesar Romero, Akira Takrada, Masumi Okada, Richard
Jaeckel, Patricia Medina, Mari Nakayama, Akihiko Hirata, Hitoshi Oomae,
Hikaru Kuroki, Linda Haynes, Susumu Kurobe, Haruo Nakajima; Music
by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Taiichi Kankura; Editing by: Ume
Takeda

Space Amoeba
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Fumio Tanaka, Tomoyuki Tanaka;
Written by: Ei Ogawa; Starring: Akira Kubo, Atsuko Takahashi, Yukiko
Kobayashi, Kenji Sahara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yu Fujiki, Noritake Saito, Yuko
Sugihara, Sachio Sakai; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Taiichi
Kankura; Editing by: Masahisa Himi, Eli Haviv

Godzilla VS Hedorah
Directed by: Yoshimitsu Banno; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written
by: Yoshimitsu Banno, Takeshi Kimura; Starring: Akira Yamauchi, Toshie
Kimura, Hiroyuki Kawase, Keiko Mari, Toshio Shiba, Haruo Nakajima;
Music by: riichiro Manabe; Cinematography: Yoichi Manoda; Edited by
Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Godzilla VS Gigan
Directed by: Jun Fukuda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Takeshi Kimura, Shinichi Sekizawa; Starring: Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko
Hishimi, Minoru Takashima, Tomoko Umeda, Toshiaki Nishizawa, Zan
Fujita, Kunio Murai, Haruo Nakajima; Music by: Danro Miyauchi, Akira
Ifukube; Cinematography: Kiyoshi Hasegawa

Godzilla VS Megalon
Directed by: Jun Fukuda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by:
Takeshi Kimura, Shinichi Sekizawa, Jun Fukuda; Starring: Katsuhiko
Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita,
Ulf Ootsuki, Gentaro Nakajima, Shinji Takagi; Music by: Riichiro Manabe;
Cinematography: Yuzuru Aizawa

Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla
Directed by: Jun Fukuda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka; Written by: Jun
Fukuda, Masami Fukushima, Shinichi Sekizawa, Hiroyasu Yamamura;
Starring: Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Reiko Tajima, Beru-Bera Lin,
Hiromi Matsushita, Goro Mutsumi, Akihiko Hirata, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji
Sahara, Shin Kishida, Isao Zushi; Music by: Masaru Sato; Cinematography:
Yuzuru Aizawa

Terror of Mechagodzilla
Directed by: Ishiro Honda; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Henry G.
Saperstein; Written by: Yukiko Takayama; Starring: Katsuhiko Sasaki,
Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, Katsumasa Uchida, Goro Mutsumi, Tadao
Nakamaru, Toru Kawai; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Sokei
Tomioka; Edited by: Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Godzilla 1985
Directed by: R. J. Kiser, Koji Hashimoto; Produced by: Tony Randel;
Written by: Shuichi Nagahara, Tony Randel, Lisa Tomei; Story by:
tomoyuki Tanaka; Starring: Raymond Burr, Ken Tanaka, Yasuko
Sawaguchi, Yosuke Natsuki, Keiju Kobayashi, Shin Takuma; Music by:
Reijiro Koroku, Christopher Young; Cinematography: Kazutami Hara,
Steven Dubin; Editing by: Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Godzilla VS Biollante
Directed by: Kazuki Omori; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Screenplay by: Kazuki Omori; Story by: Shinichiro Kobayashi;
Starring: Kunihiko Mitamura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Masanobu Takashima,
Megumi Odaka, Toru Minegishi, Manjot Bedi, Kenpachiro Satsuma; Music
by: Koichi Sugiyama

Godzilla VS King Ghidorah

Direcred by: Kazuki Omori; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Kazuki Omori; Starring: Kosuke Toyohara, Anna
Nakagawa, Megumi Odaka, Katsuhiko Sasaki, Akiji Kobayashi, Yoshio
Tsuchiya, Robert Scott Field, Kenpachiro Satsuma; Music by: Akira
Ifukube; Cinematography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi; Editing by: Michiko Ikeda

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth

Directed by: Takao Okawara; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Kazuki Omori; Starring: Tetsuya Bessho, Satomi
Kobayashi, Takehiro Murata, Saburo Shinoda, Akiji Kobayashi,
Kenpachiro Satsuma; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography: Masahiro
Kishimoto

Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla II
Directed by: Takao Okawara; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Wataru Mimura; Starring: Masahiro Takashima,
Ryoko Sano, Megumi Odaka, Shelley Sweeney, Yusuke Kawazu, Daijiro
Harada, Kenpachiro Satsuma; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Cinematography:
Yoshinori Sekiguchi; Editing by: Miho Yoneda

Godzilla VS SpaceGodzilla
Directed by: Kensho Yamashita; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Hiroshi Kashiwabara; Starring: Megumi Odaka, Jun
Hashizume, Zenkichi Yoneyama, Akira Emoto, Towako Yoshikawa,
Kenpachiro Satsuma; Music by: Takayuki Hattori; Cinematography:
Masahiro Kishimoto

Godzilla VS Destoroyah
Directed by: Takao Okawara; Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Kazuki Omori; Starring: Takuro Tatsumi, Yoko
Ishino, Yasufumi Hayashi, Megumi Odaka, Momoko Kochi, Kenpachiro
Satsuma; Music by: Akira Ifukube; Editing by: Chizuko Osada

Rebirth of Mothra
Directed by: Okihiro Yoneda; Produced by: Hiroaki Kitayama, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Masumi Suetani, Tomoyuki Tanaka; Starring:
Sayaka Yamaguchi, Megumi Kobayashi, Aki Hano, Kazuki Futami, Maya
Fujisawa, Kenjiro Nashimoto, Hitomi Takahashi; Music by: toshiyuki
Watanabe; Cinematography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi; Editing by: Nobui
Ogawa

Rebirth of Mothra II
Directed by: Kunio Miyoshi; Produced by: Hiroaki Kitayama, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Masumi Suetani, Tomoyuki Tanaka; Starring:
Sayaka Yamaguchi, Megumi Kobayashi, Aki Hano, Shimada Maganao,
Nonami Maho; Music by: Toshiyuki Watanabe; Cinematography: Yoshinori
Sekiguchi

Rebirth of Mothra III

Directed by: Okihiro Yoneda; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama; Written by:
Masumi Suetani; Starring: Megumi Kobayashi, Misato Tate, Aki Hano,
Koichi Ueda, Atsushi Onita; Music by: Toshiyuki Watanabe;
Cinematography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi; Editing by: Nobuo Ogawa

Godzilla (Tristar)
Directed by: Roland Emmerich; Produced by: Dean Devlin; Screenplay by:
Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin; Story by: Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin,
Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio; Starring: Matthew Broderich, Jean Reno, Maria
Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Harry Shearer; Music
by: David Arnold; Cinematography: Ueli Steiger; Editing by: Peter
Amundson, David Siegel

Godzilla 2000
Directed by: Takao Okawara; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama; Written by:
Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura; Starring: Takehiro Murata, Hiroshi
Abe, Naomi Nishida, Mayu Susuki, Shiro Sano, Tsutomu Kitagawa,
Makoto Ito; Music by: Takayuki Hattori; Cinematography: Katsuhiro Kato;
Editing by: Yoshiyuki Okuhara

Godzilla VS Megaguirus
Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama; Written by:
Wataru Mimura, Hiroshi Kashiwabara; Starring: Misato Tanaka, Shosuke
Tanihara, Yuriko Hoshi, Masatoh Eve, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Tsutomu
Kitagawa; Music by: Michiru Oshima; Cinematography: Masahiro
Kishimoto; Editing by: Yoshiyuki Okuhara

Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: All-Out Monster Attack

Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama, Hideyuki
Honma; Written by: Keiichi Hasengawa, masahiro Yokotani, Shusuke
Kaneko; Starring: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Masahiro Kobayashi,
Mizuho Yoshida; Music by: Kow Otani; Cinematogrpahy: Masahiro
Kishimoto; Editing by: Isao Tomita

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka; Produced by: Takahide Morichi, Shogo
Tomiyama; Written by: Wataru Mimura; Starring: Yumiko Shaku, Shin
Takuma, Kou Takasugi, Yuusuke Tomoi, Kumi Mizuno, Akira Nakao,
Tsutomu Kitagawa; Music by: Michiru Oshima; Cinematography: Masahiro
Kishimoto; Editing by: Shinichi Fushima, Shinichi Natori

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama; Written by:
Masaaki Tezuka; Masahiro Yokotani; Starring: Noboru Kanebo, Miho
Yoshioka, Mitsuki Koga, Tsutomu Kitagawa; Music by: Michiru Oshima;
Cinematography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Godzilla: Final Wars

Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura; Produced by: Shogo Tomiyama; Screenplay
by: Isao Kiriyama, Wataru Mimura; Narrated by: Koichi Yamadera;
Starring: Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Kane Kosugi,
Maki Mizuno, Kazuki Kitamura, Masakatsu Funaki, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji
Sahara, Masami Nagasawa, Chihiro Otsuka, Masatoh Eve, Jun Kunimura,
Akira Takarada, Tsutomu Kitagawa; Music by: Keith emerson, Nobuhiko
Morino, Daisuke Yano; Cinematography: Takumi Furuya, Fujio Okawa;
Editing by: Shuichi Kakesu

Godzilla (Legendary)
Directed by: Gareth Edwards; Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Mary
Parent, Brian Rogers; Screenplay by: Max Borenstein; Story by: David
Callaham; Based on: Godzilla by Toho; Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson,
Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David
Strathaim, Brya Cranston; Music by: Alexandre Desplat; Cinematography:
Seamus McGarvey; Editing by: Bob Ducsay