GODZILLA-THON #26 - Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

Man, do I hate that poster. The poster for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) looks incredible next to this, and that was previously the worst of the series. Now, admittedly, I have no clue who the chick in front is; and it's very likely she's some sort of major star in Japan. Perhaps Toho saw her as a big draw to bring in younger fans. I don't know. What I do know is the only selling power any Godzilla film should ever need is Godzilla, not the latest flavor of the month. Am I making too big a deal of this? Probably. Godzilla has a fairly solid design this go around, and Kiryu/Mechagodzilla is all revamped and adapted to modern technologies. That should be enough to get people interested, no?

Again, I find myself surprised by a Millennium series entry (I'm beginning to think I need to re-evaluate my stance on it as a whole, though it's still my "least" favorite) because this was yet another retcon of the series. Once again, the timeline has been restarted from 1954, when the first Godzilla was killed. A second Godzilla has been wreaking the usual havoc across Japan for some time, not that the movie gets into any sort of specifics. After a bout with the JSDF in 1999 that saw heavy casualties, a decision was made to construct a robotic adversary to save the people of Japan from Godzilla. In a semi-ironic twist, the JSDF decides to build the mechanical body on top of the original 1954 Godzilla's bones. I know what you're thinking, and just forget the bones evaporated at the end of Gojira. This new technological titan is dubbed Kiryu, Japanese for Machine Dragon. Kiryu's outfitted with all the latest in heavy artillery, with a special weapon called Absolute Zero, which can freeze anything instantly before crushing it to dust.

The film begins to pose some interesting philosophical questions when Kiryu and Godzilla have their first encounter. Although taking down G is extremely difficult, Kiryu more than holds its own... until Godzilla lets out a distinct roar. Immediately, Kiryu is flooded with memories transferred from the skeleton of G54 that lies within its metallic carriage. As Godzilla retreats to the sea, Kiryu goes haywire and launches a full-on assault that more or less levels the city. It only stops because the power ran out after an hour of the kind of city-leveling action that gets Michael Bay harder than a rock. Go ahead, make the pun... The JSDF does some maintenance work on Kiryu, but some people feel it would be best to leave it be. A young girl, who seems way smarter than she likely should be, suggests Kiryu has a right to life just as anything else on this earth. It should befriend Godzilla, not fight him. Naturally, the JSDF doesn't see it that way so they launch Kiryu to once again fight G. The battle is spectacular, ending with - you guessed it - the Absolute Zero. As is tradition, Godzilla meets it head-on with his atomic fire breath. And as is also tradition, that's usually grounds for major damage to both parties.

Kiryu not only makes for a worthy opponent to Godzilla, but also a great character on its own. I really dug the concept of using Godzilla '54's bones as a literal skeleton upon which to build his robotic equal. The idea of a bio-mechanical Mechagodzilla is novel. I love that the bones still contain some energy, a life essence of sorts, and it adds a layer of autonomy to what is supposed to be a completely human-controlled mech. Thoughts flood its memory banks in waves, unleashing instant emotional outbursts that are uncontrollable. It's truly some of the most introspective stuff ever included in the series. Thankfully, this film isn't the last we see of Kiryu, either.

Interestingly, Titanosaurus was originally going to make an appearance by helping out Kiryu during the big brawl. That never came to be, but it would have been nice to see that old shrieking dino get another appearance in the series. Though, truthfully, I was never a huge fan of it. 

Godzilla is once again more or less back to his Millennium series self. The Big G of GMK was strictly a one-off, special event type of deal. The KiryuGoji suit created for this film had a smaller head than those used for the first two films of the Millennium series. They also fixed those jacked up teeth that made Godzilla look like Austin Powers' father. His scutes were reduced in size enough not to look insanely jagged and needlessly humongous, and the coloration was returned to a bone white finish. Speaking of color, G was done up in a charcoal grey once again; no more green for this guy. I wish the suits for the first two Millennium films looked this good. It's still not my ideal look for the Big Guy, but taking into account all of the other designs used for this series I'd certainly place this one in second place behind GMK. His atomic breath is also back to blue. Even though he breathes flame a lot throughout the film, the way the filmmakers get his scutes glowing and that little hint of fiery death appears in his mouth just before an explosive burst is expertly done.

The human element is less important to this story than the questions posed by Kiryu's creation. I mean, really, what else are the humans doing in this Millennium series other than trying in vain to find a way to kill Godzilla. Constantly. And they always fail. You know what this series has been sorely lacking? Aliens. Both the Showa and Heisei era films used aliens as a central plot device on more than one occasion (I'm counting Space Godzilla as an alien). Aliens have traditionally added a unique conflict for the humans to deal with, while Godzilla had his hands full with a battle or two. The only time it's interesting to see the military desperately look for ways to off Big G is when it's for a solo outing. The universal questions wrought by Kiryu's creation certainly spill over to our human characters, requiring a great deal of understanding and reasoning on their part. But mostly, they're just trying to kill Godzilla. Is this all that much different from nearly every other entry in the series? Not exactly. The army has always tried to vanquish Godzilla. Maybe after 25 films it's just a bit tiring to see them scrambling for outrageous new ways to kill the Big Guy.

Scoring duties for this entry fell upon composer Michiru Oshima, who also worked on Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) and this film's sequel, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003). If you read my entry for Megaguirus, you'll know I wasn't terribly fond of the music there. Oshima's work is a bit improved for this film, but there has yet to be a Millennium series score that's had any effect on me. Mostly, I just can't stand the "theme" given to Godzilla in these movies. I put theme in quotations because it's just a couple of low notes meant to signal his arrival, nothing iconic by any means. I'd rather hear recycled Ifukube scores than listen to the forgettable scores found in each Millennium entry. Only GMK broke the mold and tried something different, but even that has a cold, digital feel that couldn't match Ifukube on his worst day. The music works well enough for the films, and that's my problem. Godzilla's iconic themes, the unforgettable leitmotifs we all know by heart, are timeless. You hear those cues and you know what it's from. Nothing in the new series of movies comes close to matching the emotional response the classic themes produce. Am I being overly critical? I doubt it.

Director Masaaki Tezuka claimed they had no intentions of making a direct sequel to this film while producing it, yet it just happened to come together naturally after the success of this entry. With 1.7 million admissions, this was the second most successful entry of the Millennium series; makes sense Toho would want to give audiences another go-round with the same characters. And, hey, why not add in an old favorite while we're at it...  

GODZILLA-THON #25 - Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

First off, kudos to the Millennium series for finally nailing a poster. The art for the last two entries was about as bland as the series had ever gotten, so seeing a return to form automatically gives me additional hope.

The easiest way to forget how...well, forgettable the last two Godzilla movies were is simple: watch Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The Japanese clearly hate brevity as much as Godzilla hates making a quiet entrance, so from here on out it'll be referred to as GMK. Once again, the Millennium series is rewriting history, bestowing upon G yet another new origin story to go along with his new look and the new looks of his co-starring monsters. Writer & director Shusuke Kaneko came to the series as a veteran of Godzilla's "competition", the titanic terrapin, Gamera. Kaneko helmed all three of the Heisei era Gamera films for Daiei Films. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'll say it again but I have only seen, like, one Gamera movie that I can kinda recall. I did watch a few of them as a kid, but very little of those viewings stuck with me. As a kaiju fan I sort of feel like it's my duty to remedy that, so at some point I'll be buying all of Shout!'s DVD releases and more than likely reviewing them here. My point in all of that was to say I don't know what type of sensibility Kaneko brought with him to the series. Maybe Gamera is steeped in all of this ancient mythology and ritual that pervades GMK.

In this universe, Godzilla appeared once in 1954 and died as the result of the Oxygen Destroyer. When a monster the Americans mistakenly think is Godzilla attacks New York City (one of the best lines in the series for obvious reasons), the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) meets to discuss the possible return of the real Godzilla. A nuclear submarine goes missing shortly thereafter, and a glimpsed Godzilla is the culprit. Meanwhile, a truck driver who survived a recent earthquake claims to have seen Godzilla as the monster responsible, but it was really Baragon. And some kids who were partying at a lake are nearly killed by larva Mothra making landfall. An old man who appears wise on these matters determines that Godzilla is the physical embodiment of the soldiers killed during the Battle of the Pacific in World War II; their souls lashed to Godzilla's skeletal remains making him whole once more. The only way to defeat him is by summoning the Guardian Monsters - Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. We already know Baragon is ready for action since he was the first monster spotted, and judging by his lack of a credit in the film's lengthy title it's safe to assume he won't be winning the battle. But, man, does Godzilla ever stomp a mudhole in his ass before decimating his corpse with a blast of atomic fire. The military sends whatever they can at Godzilla. Nothing has any effect whatsoever, except maybe pissing him off more. Mothra, newly hatched from her cocoon, finally gets in on the action along with a fresh-off-ice King Ghidorah. The pair battle it out with Godzilla in the city, losing quite spectacularly. In fact, Ghidorah gets beaten so badly that Mothra has to sacrifice her life in order for it to absorb her energy and be revived. This leads to a massive melee between the now fully-grown King Ghidorah against Godzilla, once again ending in Ghidorah being destroyed. With all the guardians defeated, the only person left to face Godzilla is the JSDF captain who's commandeering a submarine with missiles capable of blasting a gaping hole in Godzilla... which one does, and when G goes to fire off his atomic breath - POOF - he vaporizes instantly. But that big heart of his keeps on beating, deep in the ocean depths.

This film drew a lot of controversy amongst fans due to Godzilla's portrayal, which is wholly different than any iteration that had preceded or followed. He's looks like a pissed off demon, more or less; brought to life by the dead. To emphasize this, director Shusuke Kaneko had his eyes made up with no pupils, giving Godzilla a blank, horrific visage. That wasn't nearly the only change to his look, though. The Millennium Goji design was entirely scrapped. Godzilla had a modern, stylized appearance that retained his essential features. The black-and-bone dorsal spines were back, looking more like his classic spines and less like the aggro design used for the last two films. His color was back to charcoal black; no more green. The suit itself, dubbed the SokogekiGoji, was intended to be a modern interpretation of the classic '54 design with cues taken from the Heisei series suits, too. I think Kaneko really nailed the appearance, making this the most ferocious, menacing Godzilla seen in the series, period. He's an evil beast, practically indestructible and able to outmatch and outwit any foe with relative ease. The movements of Godzilla are much more aggressive than usual, especially his quick stride which leaves a wake of devastation due to his hefty, thick legs.

Some fans also had concerns with Kaneko's reinterpretation of Godzilla's classic foes Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon. In order of ire, Baragon got a nice contemporary facelift to his design, but fans rightly complained about a lack of any heat ray powers. The only power Baragon does have is his ability to burrow, which isn't too helpful against a hyper-aggressive Godzilla. Mothra has a more angular design, with more pointed wings and elongated legs. Her coloration is also more vivid than ever before, with a kaleidoscope of color under the wings. Her super power this time around is the ability to fire these tiny pellets that apparently have the effect of knocking Godzilla right the fuck out. Finally, we get to King Ghidorah, who underwent more changes than either of the other two. He's smaller. He's not very powerful. He gets his ass handed to him three times. Ghidorah's heads have been updated, but it's not for the better. This new design doesn't elicit the same sense of sheer terror the Ghidorah of old could muster up; this guy just looks like Godzilla could wipe the floor with him. And he does. Once Ghidorah is revived for the second time, he comes back as a fully-grown 1,000 Year-Old Dragon... not that it does much good against Godzilla.

Again, I really didn't have a problem with any of these changes. We're on the TWENTY FIFTH movie in the series; a little shake up of the status quo is a good thing. It certainly helped this entry stand out as one of the most original and inventive of the series. It shows more ambition than most entries can claim, too.

On the topic of ambition, did you know Kaneko originally wanted the three guardian monsters to be Varan, Anguirus, and Baragon. As usual, Toho wasn't seeing enough dollar signs with any of these choices so they insisted Kaneko bring some of the top draws into the fold. Baragon managed to survive the extermination; I wish they'd gone with Anguirus instead. He hadn't been seen in a film since Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - almost 30 years ago. Also, I just got a little sad realizing we never got a Heisei incarnation of him. I would have loved to see him be re-imagined for a more modern series. Speaking of long absences, Varan's last appearance was in 1968's Destroy All Monsters! But, yea, sure, let's just keep on using the same monsters we always fall back on, right Toho?

The film's score was composed by Kow Otani, another noob to the series. His work is easily the best of the Millennium series. There's a mystical quality to the compositions, adding to the rich mythology laid out on screen. It's downright ethereal at times. Electronic beats underscore much of the tension, elevating the action on screen without becoming too techno or robotic. Otani achieves a nice balance by adding in orchestral pieces over his beats, allowing the score to encompass both contemporary and classical cues.

GMK is a solid G film, no question. Godzilla is his perhaps the most menacing he's ever been, raining down fire and death everywhere he turns. More than that, his overall design is just a thing of beauty in an evil, twisted kind of way. The inclusion of multiple monsters puts the film over the top by allowing fans to see numerous battles throughout the course of the film. Godzilla fights each monster at least a couple of times, all of which are done with stellar choreography and realism thanks to modern suit technology.

I'd always considered GMK to be the only star of the Millennium series, but a recent re-evaluation of all these films has proven to me that I was wrong, because the follow-up to this film produced a wonderful one-two punch that, frankly, should have ended the Millennium series as a whole. But then they had to go and make Godzilla: Final Wars, which I have always loathed. I am actually quite anxious to watch it again, however, before that can happen we've got two rounds to go with Mechagodzilla!

GODZILLA-THON #24 - Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

I know that most G fans point to All Monster's Attack (a.k.a. Godzilla's Revenge) as the worst entry in the series, but if someone asked me that same question I'd more than likely point to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). As a Godzilla film, it is lackluster in nearly every way. It's just going through the motions, killing time (and too much of it at that), and ultimately it adds nothing of value to the series. At least Godzilla's Revenge has a kitschy '60s thing going on that makes it a fun, if not slightly laborious, watch. The same can't, or ever will be, said of this film.

Keep in mind, though, that even if I'm beating this entry into the ground it doesn't mean it's all terrible. No Godzilla film is outright terrible. And before you say "GINO", I've already made it clear that film isn't considered canon by myself or most other fans. If there's anything I can give the Millennium series credit for, it's that nearly each entry tried to do something unique with the Godzilla mythos. Godzilla 2000 re-imagined him as an eternally-regenerating force of nature. This film posits that the original Godzilla never died in 1954. He just retreated back into the ocean, only to return later in 1966 to feast on nuclear power. As any fan knows, in 1966 Godzilla was sleeping in a cave before battling it out with a giant shrimp. So essentially this film is retconning the entire history of the films. Bold move.

After a string of Godzilla attacks dating back to '54, Japan has abandoned nuclear energy programs out of fear. The JSDF has decided they want to be rid of Godzilla permanently, and they devise a weapon, Dimension Tide, that produces mini black holes with enough energy to draw in Godzilla, trapping him for eternity. Their experiments cause an ancient dragonfly to enter our world, where it lays an egg that a young boy finds and eventually discards down a sewer grate. The egg turns into hundreds of smaller eggs, eventually hatching Meganulon, small larva-like insects which are loosely based off of the creatures in Rodan (1956). They invade the city and molt on the side of a building, turning into adult Meganula. Godzilla enters the city and gets into it with the swarm, eventually using his atomic breath to decimate nearly the entire population of them. The few that remain have siphoned enough energy off of Godzilla to inject a waiting cocoon with it, one that eventually opens up to reveal the queen Megaguirus. She looks a bit like Battra in winged form. And, once again, this kaiju has some of Godzilla's abilities because his energy was used in its creation.

Godzilla and the flying Megaguirus fight it out over the city. It never really looks like Megaguirus gets the upper hand because Godzilla just takes every hit and keeps on coming. Eventually, Megaguirus goes in for a paralyzing strike only to get chomped on by Godzilla's massive gnarled teeth. And that, my friends, is the end of that. The remainder of the film deals with the Dimension Tide being fired upon Godzilla, and it looks like he's sucked up into the black hole during a tremendous explosion of energy. But the film's final moments strongly suggest he just got blasted deep underground.

I'll admit to enjoying this entry marginally more than the first time I watched it, but the fact remains it is kind of a slog to get to the end. Megaguirus just isn't a very good enemy. The Meganula look terrible since they're nearly all done with CGI. Megaguirus looks decent enough in final form, though it isn't nearly as memorable as nearly every other monster in the series. Hell, even Gabara is better, and Gabara sucks. It's just boring. And lazy. Once again, we've got a monster that has used some of Godzilla's cells/power/energy to try getting up to his level. At least some of the others seemed like a real threat; there's just no way a big bug like Megaguirus was ever going to inflict any real damage on G. The film even says as much when Megaguirus is dispatched early enough for the military to inflict the film's final blow. The real problem with the film is that it's just so lackluster. It's needlessly long, with most of the human element either uninteresting or... well, it's just not very engaging.

The retconned history was a nice though, though. I can admit that much. The insertion of Millennium Goji into the classic '54 film for a scene or two was well done. I really do give these Millennium films credit for thinking outside the box in some instances. Godzilla 2000 already established he's just a force of nature with no real origin being given, and future installments seemed to relish in the ability to retell Godzilla's history as they saw fit.

Toho used the same MireGoji suit for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, with only minor alterations being made. Most notably, the coloring was now a lighter shade of green (the last time he'd be painted this color), and his dorsal spikes were a light purple. I have never liked the purple spikes. Ever. The black-and-silver are synonymous with Godzilla's classic look; you just don't fuck with that, however, I will admit there are a few instances where I think they are insanely awesome in a very ridiculous kind of way.

Music this time around was handled by composer Michiru Oshima, a new player to the series. It's a decent effort overall, though it still retains much of the video game-esque cheesiness that Godzilla 2000 suffers from. Nothing composed here is terribly memorable; the film only seems to feel genuine when Ifukube's themes are being called upon to add the true gravitas a Godzilla score needs. You've got to remember that, until the Millennium series, nearly revery Godzilla film was scored by either Akira Ifukube or Masaru Satoh. And those two produced some phenomenal work that no composer is likely to ever match. Things got a little better with the next entry, but overall this Millennium series is sorely lacking in good themes.  

But like I said, they've got originality. And this next entry is undoubtedly one of the standouts of the series.

GODZILLA-THON #23 - Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)

After a "lengthy" absence of a whopping four years, Godzilla was set to be revived by Toho in an effort to capitalize renewed interest in seeing the "real" Godzilla.

Oh, yea, I guess I should mention this was released immediately following America's inaugural, disastrous attempt at making a Godzilla picture. Director Roland Emmerich's film was a critical disaster on every possible level. Despite the fact that it somehow managed to turn a tidy profit, the universal hatred projected towards Godzilla (1998) cemented the decision that no sequel plans would move forward. Plans had been drawn up for a trilogy of films, the latter two of which would never come to fruition. And if you've ever read the synopsis for the proposed Godzilla 2, be SO THANKFUL it never happened.

So, seizing the opportunity to capitalize on fans' rabid enthusiasm to see the real Godzilla, and not some big iguana imposter, Toho began to develop what would be the first of the Millennium series of films.  

Let me get this out of the way first: I am not a very big fan of the Millennium series. For me, much of the charm & fun found in the series died with longtime producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. I know not every single film under his guidance turned out to be a rousing success critically or commercially, but his lordship over every facet of the films imbued them with a quality that can't be summed up in words. The essence of what made his previous 22 films so revered has been lost to a new generation of filmmakers. And I get that. These things happen all the time. It still doesn't change the fact that there is a missing element to the Millennium films that I hope future series may be able to get back.

This time around, Godzilla isn't given much of an origin. In fact, I don't think he's given one at all. Japan considers him to be a literal force of nature; an unstoppable creature they're just going to have to deal with. The Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN, basically just two guys and a little girl operating out of a ramshackle apt.) are studying Godzilla in order to better understand how he operates. This entry almost plays out like another inaugural solo outing, with the Japanese Crisis Control Center finding an ancient UFO deep underwater that reacts to changes in light, which appears to be its main power source. Godzilla arrives on the scene (in spectacular fashion) and does battle with this extremely stereotypical saucer. The fight drives Godzilla back under the sea, and the UFO flies around town a bit before landing atop Tokyo's Opera City Tower. The CCI notes that it's siphoning all of Tokyo's data out of the tower. Godzilla returns to once again shoot the UFO with fire and hope it blows up, but this time the aliens absorb some of Godzilla's own DNA (not again...) to create Orga. Orga looks like a rock with two claws. Despite this, I still think he's a pretty cool new monster for the series. Anyway, he's only in the move for around 11 minutes before Godzilla absolutely decimates him.

It's hard to believe that this film was made only four years after Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), yet it has such a different feel in every way. Again, I mostly chalk this up to Tanaka's absence. Another reason for the different feel has to do with the advent of CGI technology, something I'm sure Tanaka was trying to resist. Many shots are clearly using CGI to compose environments for Godzilla to stomp around. The alien UFO is entirely computer-generated, and it also looks so laughably bad. It's just a big silver bean, floating through the city. Godzilla is even brought to fully animated life via CGI in a couple of shots, a first for the series (not counting his meltdown last time around) and something that would only be used more frequently in further films. There is still plenty of miniature work to be seen, so don't worry that it's all been replaced just yet. Godzilla gets plenty of tangible stuff to smash.

As per usual, a new series means a new Godzilla. Millennium Godzilla, called the MireGoji for this entry, is a radical departure from the Kawakita era suits, and even further removed from the Showa depictions. Designed by Shinichi Wakasa, nearly every facet of Godzilla's design has been overhauled. Most obvious are the new spines; they're enormous. Jagged and twisted, these new spines are nearly 100% larger than any previously seen and border on parody they're so outrageous. But they work. The incredible scale given to them does make Godzilla look even more fearsome. He'll need that extra edge since his size has been greatly reduced from the 100m he enjoyed during the Heisei era. Millennium Goji is only around 50m tall, putting him in line with most of the Showa era height scales. Godzilla's scales are very prominent, looking more sculpted than organic. And his teeth look terrible, with every other other tooth getting the incisor treatment, making him look like a snaggletoothed beast. And he's green! For the first time ever, Godzilla was painted a darker shade of green. People have said he's green for years, all because of the original film's poster, and now he finally is green. It's a far cry from the iconic look he enjoyed during the Heisei series. Godzilla only repped this suit for two entries (this film and the next) before undergoing another drastic makeover for GMK.

I think most fans would agree they got his atomic breath done right. Godzilla's spines light up to a flaming gold color before flames start to appear in his opening mouth, then a ferocious blast surges forward to positively annihilate anything in its path. The effect is a tad on the overkill side, but that also seems to be what this new Godzilla is all about.

It wouldn't be an official Godzilla rebirth if an American studio didn't come in and chop up the film, right? After Sony's 1998 film failed to excite audiences, they decided to try marketing the real deal. The film was re-edited to run seven minutes shorter than the Japanese cut, with most alterations being made to tighten up the pace. No major footage of G was excised. The studio spent around $10-12 million dollars promoting the thing, and it ultimately earned around that much back at the domestic box office. Not a smash by any means, though no Godzilla film has ever been a blockbuster. Hopefully, all of that changes with the upcoming 2014 film.

The score blows. Sorry if you like it. Takayuki Hattori, who previously handled scoring for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), is back. And so are the lame, video game-level themes he loves to employ. A few of Akira Ifukube's classic themes are thrown in for good measure, but the majority of the track is forgettable background noise. Bummer.

Don't think it gets better from here, because Godzilla vs. Megaguirus is up next and that, if I recall, is the worst film of the Millennium series and possible of the entire series overall.  

GODZILLA-THON #22 - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Godzilla dies.

Again.

But this time it has so much more emotion behind it. When the first Godzilla died in 1954, he was a creature that we had only spent a single film with, and his death seemed important to restore a harmony to Japan's way of life. The second Godzilla, who appeared in Godzilla Raids Again, lasted right up through the end of the Showa era. When Godzilla made his triumphant return in 1984, this was intended to be the start of a new timeline, with a new second Godzilla, serving once again as a direct sequel to the original film. We've spent a great deal of time with this guy, and his iconic visage has become the de facto look for how many people perceive Godzilla. He embodies everything pop culture describes him as, from his impressive stature and gargantuan bulk, to the sleek look of his head and the ferocity of the triple "maple leaf" fin rows. He's fought man, his plant clone, alien monsters, his robotic clone, Mothra, his space clone, and, now, finally, he faces a certain death. Right from the start, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is a dark, brooding film that entirely eschews any camp. Godzilla is returned back to his initially intended state, that of a revered beast who is to be held in awe with equal parts wonder and terror. He is death incarnate - literally - because his expiration means the destruction of the planet as we know it. As if the threat looking from G wasn't enough, there's also his latest, most massive foe yet - Destoroyah. Or Destroyah. Or Destroyer. Toho loves to mess with spelling. This new baddie, born of the famed Oxygen Destroyer, poses an immediate threat to an already-critical Godzilla. Little Godzilla returns here, too, though now he's absorbed enough radiation to be Godzilla Jr. He looks an awful lot like Dad, just smaller. The film combines numerous, big scale monster battles with true emotion, resulting in one of the best films of the entire series. Toho pulled out all the stops to make sure Godzilla's farewell was a memorable one.

Birth Island, home to Godzilla and his son for the last few films, has been leveled in the wake of a nuclear attack or accident, the film never really says. Godzilla is presumed missing, but he soon shows up in Hong Kong, sporting glowing lava-like spots over a majority of his body. His attack is devastating, leaving a wake of rubble and bodies before his exit. The JSDF hires Kenichi Yamane, grandson of Dr. Yamane from Gojira (1954), to figure out what's going on with Godzilla His response: Godzilla is a living nuclear reactor, and his rate of nuclear fissure is increasing with no signs of slowing. Once G reaches 1200 degrees Celsius, he will experience a meltdown. Intense heat will vaporize the atmosphere, eventually causing the death of every living creature on the planet. The JSDF immediately orders the launch of the Super X-III, which is equipped with a freezing weapon to hopefully diminish the heat released by Godzilla's combustion. As this is occurring, scientists discover that microbial lifeforms have begun to appear near the site of the original Godzilla's death, creatures seemingly fueled by the remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer. These parasites soon escape the lab and wreak havoc, eventually evolving into numerous air & land forms. When Destoroyah proves too much for the military to handle, Godzilla Jr. appears to do battle for the first time. He manages to defeat his crab-like land form and aerial form. Godzilla appears soon after, still burning red hot from the internal fire raging within. But Destoroyah isn't done, revealing his final form - a massive, bipedal kaiju with powerful abilities. It knocks Godzilla down before snatching Jr. away and dropping him to his death. Distraught and full of discomfort, Godzilla fights back and unleashes his unbridled fury against Destoroyah, eventually annihilating the beast thanks to help from Super X-III, before a final, emotional meltdown claims his life.

I'll be honest, this movie is kind of hard to watch if you're a serious G fan. It's one thing to know Godzilla was taken out by a device man made to destroy him as quickly as possible, thus minimizing any pain. But to see Godzilla burning from within, lashing out only because he's in such physical pain, gives this film a real sense of gravitas that few other entries have shown. The feeling of helplessness and the sense of mortality apparent in Godzilla are palpable, dripping off the screen with real weight. He's in agony right from the start, and it only continues to get worse with Jr. dying and a lengthy gauntlet of battles against Destoroyah's many forms before he finally succumbs to internal temperatures and melts. That's a tough scene - seeing those signature spines drips away like hot wax, watching his iconic face slide off as he fights with every fiber of his being to remain King. The combination of those images alongside what is easily Akira Ifukube's best score in years, is a cause for reflection on the series that stirs genuine emotion.

It's not all sad, thankfully. Although Jr. appears to die at the hands of Destoroyah, the radiation released by Godzilla's death at the end of the film was siphoned into Jr.'s lifeless body, and before the end credits roll it is revealed that he has been born anew! Ready to live up to his father's legacy as the new King of the Monsters. For the first time, a child of Godzilla's was portrayed as a true mini-Godzilla, taking on his father's trademark appearance, mannerisms, and able to fully utilize his atomic breath. Because he audience was able to see him as a true successor to the throne, his death had much more impact. Plus, it didn't hurt that both Godzilla and Miki sold it hard when Junior bought the farm. I'm glad the film was able to end on a positive note by showing Jr. alive and ready to assume his place.

The Godzilla suit used for this film, the DesuGoji, was actually the same MogeGoji suit used in the previous film, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, except that special effects supervisor Koichi Kawakita removed many sections of the suit and added in tiny red, orange, and yellow bulbs to simulate the burning glow of Godzilla's fiery flesh. The suit also had a mechanism installed that allowed for steam to be released as Godzilla lumbered around. This provided G with a striking appearance, one that likely caught many fans off guard. While there had been numerous suits used over the years, Kawakita really took this one over the top by adding in the molten glow. For the first time ever, Godzilla was rendered entirely via CGI. The scene in question comes right at the end, as he melts down. That would have been a difficult effect to achieve through Toho's usual processes, and on screen it works just fine for the moment. Godzilla wouldn't be fully realized as a CGI creation until 1999's Godzilla: 2000. And before you even mention the '98 film... don't.

Akira Ifukube returned to deliver his final score for the series, and it's easily one of his best. Hardly resting on his impressive laurels, Ifukube weaves some of Godzilla's most classic themes into a dark, brooding score that portends the cataclysmic ending to come. I absolutely love Godzilla's theme when he first appears in Hong Kong. No longer do the music cues sound triumphant in signaling Godzilla's arrival; there is an ominous tonality used to convey that this is a gravely serious matter. There isn't a bad piece of music during the entire running time, and it all culminates in one beautiful, ethereal sendoff for the Big G. Ifukube's "Requiem" is nearly four minutes of the most stirring, emotional music heard in the series. Now that much time has passed and the film can be placed in a greater context, fans realize this isn't just a requiem for Godzilla, but also for the classic series as fans had come to know it as a whole. Never again would Ifukube provide a score.

Nor would longtime producer Tomoyuki Tanaka oversee another Godzilla film again. Tanaka died less than two years after this film was released. He had been there since the very beginning, shepherding the series along every step of the way, ensuring there was a standard of quality to be met with each release. I'm not saying they were all gems, but Tanaka had a vision for the series that was superseded by no one. With his death, and the death of Ifukube close to a decade later, all of Godzilla's "fathers" were gone. The legacy that Tanaka left, however, will never be forgotten because Godzilla is an enduring symbol that will never be forgotten. The two are inextricably linked for eternity.

This was supposed to be the final Toho Godzilla film for some time, with his resurrection not set to occur until his 50th birthday in 2004. Plans were already underway for an American studio to give Godzilla a big budget rebirth on foreign soil, leaving his Japanese legacy to cease with his death here. But, as we all know, that 1998 disaster led to a universal disinterest in any sequels, leaving Toho with the option of making another film sooner than they ever expected. Less than one year after Emmerich's fiasco, Godzilla would be reborn for a new millennium, with a new suit, and an entirely new creative team set to handle his history.

GODZILLA-THON #21 - Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

After Toho decided not to kill off Godzilla for his "40th Anniversary" film, the series continued on to what was actually the Big G's 40th Anniversary film proper: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Let the weirdness of that title soak in for a minute before realizing this isn't the series jumping the shark. In fact, high and lows all taken into account there hasn't been a single Godzilla film that truly jumped the shark. Godzilla eats the shark. SpaceGodzilla sounds like a horribly ridiculous idea, but then you think back to the sixth entry - Invasion of Astro-Monster - to be reminded that Godzilla (and Rodan) was taken literally into space to fight King Ghidorah on a barren, rocky planet with what is presumably a hostile atmosphere. Then, suddenly, this idea of a Space Godzilla doesn't sound so out there. Oddly enough, this was a concept that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka had been kicking around since the '70s! Though I haven't really touched upon it yet, most fans are probably aware that Godzilla has had lots of potential adventures drawn up in the conceptual stage of development, with many, many possible foes never leaving the drawing board. Some manage to get resurrected down the line, like Megalon. SpaceGodzilla is actually a pretty rad villain, with an imposing final form once he's out of Super Mega Crystal Mode. This entry also features a couple of returns - last year's Baby Godzilla is growing up so fast that he's now Little Godzilla; and the robot Moguera, who hadn't been glimpsed since 1957's The Mysterians makes a triumphant return looking a bit more contemporary.

Despite the roster of big hitters, the film itself is unusually disengaging for Godzilla. Some Godzilla cells make their way into space - either via Mothra after her battle with Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Mothra: Battle for Earth, or from Biollante, who is now presumably just floating around in the cosmos - finding their way to a black hole, where intense levels of radiation transform them into... SpaceGodzilla! Which, really, is just a giant wad of crystals with a little Godzilla somewhere near the center. It's an eye-catching look. Meanwhile on Earth, the Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF) are trying to attach a transmitter to Godzilla's head so that Miki Saegusa can control his mind. It fails, but soon after the JSDF learns from the Cosmos (remember those little twins princesses?) that SpaceGodzilla is approaching and only Godzilla can stop it now that Mothra is on a space adventure. When SpaceG lands on Birth Island, attracted to the radiation there, it begins to attack Little G. Big G shows up soon after, but SpaceG manages to knock him out before imprisoning Little G in a crystal cage thing. Godzilla reawakens and is unable to free his son, so he sets off for the mainland to fight SpaceG. He arrives to find that SpaceG is using a building from the Fukuoka Nuclear Plant (geez, never thought that name would be universally known, right?) to siphon energy. Godzilla and SpaceG have a massive battle, one that comes to include Moguera when the giant robot is sent to aid Big G. It helps G gain the upper hand, at which point he then blasts the ever-lovin' shit out of SpaceG with his fancy new Spiral Fire Ray, totally annihilating his black hole brother.

Let's talk about what this film gets right, because I honestly don't even feel like taking a lot of time to address the wrong. The design of SpaceG is very inventive, looking very much like an otherworldly version of Big G. Unlike Biollante, SpaceG is infused with many more direct elements of G's signature look, making him look like a true cosmic clone. His space-faring crystalline form is wholly outrageous, with these unnecessarily massive crystals somehow helping him fly through the universe. Once he lands and transforms, that's when we get a good look at his mobile form. Kawakita went with a menacing appearance, with these large shoulder crystals giving the creature a serious bulk to throw around. The face is very similar to Big G, but there are some extra deadly teeth surrounding the mouth. SpaceG also has some powerful special powers that make him quite the adversary. He's also got some psychic abilities, like being able to move Little G with only his mind-ray-thing, but it's not a power he overuses. The battles against Godzilla are fierce, and it really seems like things could end in a stalemate until Moguera comes along to give G the edge.

I've never been the biggest fan of Moguera because it's just a robot with no personality. It's like getting excited when the Super X-III debuts in the next film, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. I like the monsters, not the mechs. Still, I will admit to always liking the Moguera design, which is a bit like the endoskeleton for a mechanized penguin or something. Robots have a history of going down hard in just about every Big G film, and while Moguera is no exception he definitely gets some good blows in there and makes a mark in the climactic fight. The fight against SpaceG in space is kinda cornball, even for this series, but the events at the film's end prove its inclusion in the film wasn't a total waste. Interestingly enough, it was originally supposed to be Mechagodzilla (whose remains were used to construct Moguera here) who teams up with Godzilla to fight and defeat SpaceGodzilla. Now that would have been an awesome showdown. Toho, apparently, felt that MechaG was too strong, so the fight would've seemed uneven. To that I say: writing. Write it so that everyone is evenly matched then! Geez, how hard would that have been? Well, actually, looking back at how Toho has notoriously ignored needed script rewrites and given incorrect abilities to other monsters, it's not a big surprise.

Baby Godzilla has grown up into an anime version of Minya, now called Little Godzilla. He is undeniably cute, but he'd probably be more at home in an anime series than a Godzilla film. He just looks too cutesy and his eyes are friggin' huge. Still, he isn't annoying and his peril at the hands of SpaceG gives Big G even more incentive to pound his celestial copy's body into the ground. Little G spends most of the film stuck in a crystal prison, so it's not like he's all over the movie, trying to ruin it with his adorable face and funny mannerisms. Unlike Minya, this is a baby that has an arc over the final three films of the Heisei series, growing and maturing under his father's watchful eye, paving the way for a major moment before the series' close.

You know the drill by now - new film, new suit. Even if it appears to look just like the old suit. Godzilla's new digs, dubbed MogeGoji, was a little bit bulkier than the previous suit, with wider shoulders and clear proof that Godzilla does not skip leg day at the gym. Gone was the pronounced ribbing on the neck, but the face remained virtually unchanged from before. One major change that suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma surely must have loved was the new cooling system that finally allowed the person inside to feel slightly more comfortable. 

That's the good. The bad is the film's plot, which is barely there and entirely uninteresting. Something about JSDF trying to once again control Godzilla via Miki's weak-ass brain waves. Why? Alien mind control I can accept, but humans have blown it practically every time. Just give it up. Even when it does work, it doesn't seem like Miki is actually controlling G's movements all that much. And, again, it's not an interesting storyline. The monster activity is frequent and fun to watch, but everything else in between lags. So far, most of the Heisei films have been punctuated by some stellar monster battles with a dearth of engaging plot lines. I've never felt as invested in any Heisei film as I did in any single Showa era production. Maybe that's because Showa ruled my childhood. The Heisei films are still a great deal of fun more often than not, but aside from Gojira (1984) none have really sucked me in with a solid premise.

Remember earlier how I mentioned that Akira Ifukube handled all of the Heisei scoring duties from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) onward with one exception? Well, this film is that exception. Takayuki Hattori takes over scoring duties here, delivering the cheesiest, lamest, cringe-worthy score of the series yet. Not all of it is outright terrible, with some cues carrying a Masaru Satoh influence, though more often than not what we get is real Mickey Mouse kind of stuff. It sounds like the soundtrack to a cheesy fantasy videogame. The music never reaches the level fans have come to expect after hearing so much stellar work from Ifukube and Satoh. It simply exists alongside the picture, keeping the pace. Music should take on more of a life than it does here. I'm actually listening to the soundtrack now as I type this and it is just horribly lame in many places. In others, it's simply serviceable. 

Godzilla's next film of the Heisei series would be his last. The time had come to die. Literally. Toho even used the tagline "Godzilla Dies" for the next entry, which is one of the best in the series - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995).

GODZILLA-THON #18 - Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Just take a look at that poster for a second.

I've always admired that artwork. It's visually stunning on numerous levels. Godzilla, intertwined with his most legendary foe, engaging in a heated battle that appears to be even on both sides.

This was a mythical film for me as a kid. I'd managed to find a copy of Godzilla vs. Biollante for rental when it got a release here in the States, but finding this particular picture was much more difficult. Around the time of this film's release, I was spending a lot of time shopping at this local Japanese market, called Yaohan. It's since been completely renovated and turned into a Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace, but back in the day (early '90s) they had a KILLER toy store inside that sold everything Godzilla. Everything. I've got loads of ultra rare collectibles simply because my parents would always take me there after a dentist appointment (right across the street) and I'd blow every penny of my allowance on anything related to the series. One item I purchased was a small book related to this film. I'm assuming it's part synopsis, part behind the scenes info. I bought it because I was obsessed with Godzilla and this had lots of great color photos. Don't forget, I hadn't seen the "new" King Ghidorah yet, nor had I see Godzilla's latest look, so this was big shit in my mind.

Years later, once I finally saw the film it was about what I was expecting, maybe a little less exciting. It opens in the year 2204, when an underwater crew comes across the corpse of King Ghidorah, missing a head, who an unseen woman mentions had fought Godzilla and lost in the 20th century. Cut back to the present day (1992) and evidence of Godzilla reawakening after his battle with Biollante has been confirmed. Aliens from the future have come back in time to warn Japan that Godzilla will decimate the country, leaving it an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland. Their only hope: go back in time to 1944, when a group of Japanese soldiers on Lagos Island came across a dinosaur that helped save them from invading U.S. forces. That dinosaur, Godzillasaurus, would go on to become Godzilla when nuclear testing in that area mutated him. The aliens go back in time with a group from the present, but they curiously bring along three small creatures, called Dorats, that look an awful lot like mini-Ghidorahs. They arrive at Lagos and teleport a wounded Godzillasaurus back to present day, away from the island, before disembarking.

But the aliens also left the Dorats behind, and when they return to the future it's revealed that the Dorats received the radiation meant for Godzilla, turning them into King Ghidorah. Nothing can stop Godzilla from happening, however, and the aliens soon realize they dropped the Godzillasaurus body in an area where a nuclear sub went down back in the '70s. Godzilla is resurrected, and when another nuclear sub is destroyed and consumed by him, his size grows to larger proportions than ever before. Reborn and enraged, he begins to attack the city, no longer the protector the Japanese army thought he was back on Lagos Island. The aliens have Ghidorah under mind control, sending him to fight Godzilla. The battle is fierce, but Godzilla is able to blast off one of Ghidorah's heads and destroy his wings before dispatching of his corpse in the ocean. Concerned this new Godzilla will surely destroy the country, one of the aliens goes rogue and returns to the future to rebuild Ghidorah's corpse, leading to... Mecha-King Ghidorah. The huge brute has been upgraded, with a new robotic head to replace the missing one, metal wings, and a reinforced chest plate. The hulking behemoth, with Emmy, the rogue alien, controlling from inside, goes to war against Godzilla. The fight is just as rough as before, but even in a newly mechanized form Ghidorah just cannot overcome the power of Godzilla, and eventually the two tumble into the ocean, where it is later revealed that Godzilla survived while Ghidorah is now totally dead.

This film got some flack after its release because of the perceived treatment of Americans by the script. It's true that, as an American, it does appear to be anti-U.S. due to scenes of American soldiers being stomped by Godzillasaurus, as well as the fact that the evil aliens are all Westerners with the exception of Emmy, the one Japanese alien who defects during the film. You've got to see this from the filmmakers point of view, though. This isn't necessarily any different than we would have written it in America, is it? The Japanese would be the villains, or more likely the North Koreans today. I can't think of a reason why director Kazuki Omori would have shown Japanese soldiers being killed by U.S. forces in his - a Japanese director - film. It is a little odd that he chose to make all of the evil aliens American, especially since Toho has traditionally always used their own Japanese actors for such a role. That's the only possible tip-off that the film has some anti-American sentiment.

The original idea for this entry was to have Godzilla fight his most popular adversary ever - King Kong. The problem was that Turner, who owned the rights to Kong, wanted nine million dollars for the rights. Toho balked, and instead planned to have Godzilla fight Mecha-Kong, first introduced in King Kong Escapes (1967). Turner made the claim that the character was still too close to their Kong, so the only option was to bring back another popular enemy, namely King Ghidorah. It's really a shame things couldn't be worked out with Kong because it would have been amazing to see what kind of a new suit Toho would design for him, not to mention seeing the two of them battle using modern suit technology.

Godzilla looks more or less just as he did in Godzilla vs. Biollante, but special effect designer Koichi Kawakita did buff him out a little more by adding more muscle and increasing the size of the chest. Godzilla's head also looks slightly more aggressive and a fraction smaller. Once again, suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma portrayed Godzilla. He'd be wearing suits in the series since Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), where he played the Smog Monster. Since Gojira (1984), he's been the guy under the rubber, a job he would keep until the final entry in the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. 

Mecha-King Ghidorah isn't the movie's only robot. The aliens have their own android, dubbed M-11. And, man, is he ever corny. Robert Scott Field does a great job of giving M-11 virtually no facial expressions or sense of humanity. It's kinda creepy. But when he runs, the way the effect is done basically looks like he's power walking but moving quickly. You just have to see it. It's bad.

Godzilla doesn't make a proper appearance until there's 45 minutes left in the film. Until that time, the most we see is the footage of Godzillasaurus, which is admittedly very cool. I love how Kawakita was able to create a new monster that looked like a highly distilled version of the Big G. And Godzillasaurus is pretty damn admirable, too. Saving the Japanese soldiers and whatnot. He really puts his life on the line, with the eventual reward being that he's turned into a massive mutated nuclear monster who wreaks havoc on the coastline whenever he damn well pleases.

Once Godzilla and King Ghidorah meet, it's virtually a non-stop battle until the end credits. The fights staged here are big and impressive, with lots of heavy duty given to both suit actors. Particularly impressive are the miniatures, which are hardly so mini here. Skyscrapers tower over Godzilla in ways not see before, dwarfing him but still proving just as weak under his assault. When G and Ghidorah get going, the city gets leveled fairly quickly. Godzilla is more brutal than ever, really laying his all into killing Ghidorah. And he does it once again. Seeing one of Ghidorah's heads go flying off after a powerful atomic blast is awesome stuff. I really loved the look of Mecha-King Ghidorah, too, but he proves to be just as weak under the intensity of Godzilla's heat ray. There's not a whole lot that can withstand a head-on blast from him.

This film also marked the return of legendary composer Akira Ifukube to the series. His work hadn't been featured since 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, sixteen years prior. I'm a big fan of how Ifukube reworks some of his classic G themes, but adds more dread and emotional weight to the mix by using piano and other instruments played at a steady, lumbering pace. His opening theme in particular is haunting and foreboding, suggesting the great battle that is yet to come. Ifukube would stay on to compose the rest of the Heisei series from this point onward, save for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994).

The Heisei (or Versus) series maintained a steady pace following this entry, with a new Godzilla film coming every year until 1995. Next up, Godzilla would once again face off against one of his most popular nemeses, this one arguably the most benevolent of them all - Mothra.     

GODZILLA-THON #14 - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Godzilla was about to celebrate his 20th birthday, and what better way than with a new movie? Director Jun Fukuda returned for his last, and arguably best, entry in the series with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The plot would see the return of familiar conventions to the series, namely, a nefarious alien race trying to destroy Japan. This time around they got smart and decided to build a robotic duplicate of Godzilla, assuming a tireless, mechanized version of the big beast would easily defeat him. Toho allotted this entry a bigger budget than the previous films had to work with, a necessity that I'm glad wasn't ignored because production values had been slipping since the heyday of the early-to-mid '60s. The result of all their efforts is one of the best films the Showa series has to offer. All of the classics elements that made the series so much fun are present here, with multiple monster fights, a superb score from Masaru Sato, an engaging subplot with some truly bizarre aliens, weird songs sung by strange women, and Anguirus! Who basically just shows up to get his ass kicked.

Truth be told, this was one of, if not the, best film for me of all Godzilla's movies. Period. My rankings have wavered a bit in recent years (and they certainly are as I go through the entire series again), but fans seem to all agree that this entry was a highlight of the entire run. I remember spending an entire afternoon sitting on my Aunt May's floor, back in... 1988, I think, and watching my old VHS on a loop. I just couldn't get enough of it. It's a real pleasure to see that even as an adult, I find it holds up very nicely.

In this entry, a woman has a prophetic vision that a giant monster (Ghidorah, inexplicably) will destroy a city. When a strange metal is uncovered, the men who uncovered it also find a warning about the signs that signal a monster is going to arise and destroy the world. The archaeologists take the artifacts they've found and go looking for answers. Meanwhile, Godzilla appears from Mt. Fuji and begins a campaign of terror, smashing Okinawa to pieces. His old buddy Anguirus shows up and starts attacking him, but during the attack a piece of skin is ripped off of Godzilla, revealing a shiny metal beneath... Mechagodzilla! Before he can inflict any more damage, Anguirus is beaten within an inch of his life, then Mechagodzilla brutally rips his jaw apart. Soon after, the real Godzilla shows up to see who crippled his buddy, leading to a confrontation where Mechagodzilla is fully revealed. He and Godzilla have a major battle, which ends when both sides use their beam weapon - atomic breath for Big G, laser beam for Mecha - resulting in a massive explosion that sends a damaged Godzilla into the water and short circuits Mechagodzilla's system.

While both monsters are out of action, Keisuke and Saeko bring a totem of King Caesar they found to a holy temple, hoping to have the beast awakened. Meanwhile, Prof. Miyajima (Akihiko Hirata) and others are captured by the aliens of the Third Planet from the Black Hole at their underground facility, where they try to force the professor to repair their damaged Mechagodzilla. Why space aliens would travel so far without a competent repair man is beyond me. Keisuke and a mysterious man sneak into the facility, freeing their friends, but Prof. Miyajima and two others decide to be recaptured in hopes of stopping the alien invaders. Keisuke and Saeko get the statue to a descendant of the Azumi clan, who has to perform an awesome sung prayer in order to awaken King Caesar. He awakens just as Mechagodzilla comes to attack, resulting in a fight between the two. Not long after, Godzilla - newly recharged thanks to absorbing the power of a lightning strike - arrives to help out his new buddy. The duo successfully smashes Mechagodzilla to pieces, stopping the foretold destruction of the world, before they each make an exit to get some much needed rest.

Godzilla has fought many foes throughout his history, but very few have had as much of an impact as Mechagodzilla. After his appearance here, he would go on to appear in every era of the series as an opponent. It's a damn genius idea, really. Having Godzilla face off against his equal, created by an alien race hellbent on destroying the planet. Mechagodzilla is a formidable enemy, with a vast array of attack options that do some real damage to Big G. His laser "breath" is probably on par with Godzilla's atomic flame, but then he's also got a chest cannon, missile fingers, and he can create a force field by spinning his head really fast. His introduction is one of the best in the series, totally legendary, giving him a suit of faux skin to look like Godzilla, fooling everyone into thinking he was the one responsible for the damage. And then dat reveal... One of my favorite moments in the entire series is when King Caesar and Godzilla are about to tag team Mechagodzilla, so what does he do? He takes an attack position, lines up his front weaponry on Godzilla and then spins his head around 180 degrees to combat Casesar, too. And once the action starts up, it's a frenzy.

The level of brutality was increased for this entry, too. While I'm not a big Gamera guy, word is that Toho felt their films needed to keep up with the blood quotient other daikaiju films had been showing. In addition to Anguirus' aforementioned jaw destruction - which shocked the living shit out of me as a kid - there are also a few scenes of Godzilla sustaining heavy damage. In one, Mechagodzilla unleashes his laser ray at Godzilla's neck, causing a crimson spray to emanate from his neck as if there were a friggin' hose in there. There's also a brief shot when Godzilla, after his first meeting with Mechagodzilla, is knocked into the sea after their beams explode, and blood bubbles up to the surface. The series had seen blood before in Godzilla vs. Gigan, but this was taking things up a notch. Personally, I don't find it necessary. These movies have played fine for years without getting gory, no need to start now. And that's coming from a hardened horror fan.

One of my favorite elements to this story has always been the aliens they used here. A favorite device of the '70s Godzilla films was not to only use aliens, but to have them be some kind of animal being in disguise - cockroaches, silver slugs, and, here, they look like rejects from Planet of the Apes when killed. It's a cool effect, watching their skin dissolve to reveal a purplish, gnarled gorilla-like face beneath. They've also got one of the most awesome underground labs ever, located in a famous cave that people can visit today. It's very much something you'd expect a Bond villain to utilize. I sometimes wonder if the Bond series had much of an influence on this series because some of the parallels are too obvious to ignore.

Godzilla got a minor facelift this time around. The MegaroGoji suit used in the previous film, Godzilla vs. Megalon, was given a new facial appearance, with the body remaining the same. Godzilla's brows were reduced a little, giving him more of a rough, almost bulldog-like appearance. The idea was to make him look less friendly than he had for the previous few films. The movie also is one of three to give Godzilla power through lighting, though this one is the most explicit. In both Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Gojira (1984), he's revived by a lightning storm - though in the latter there's a nuclear fallout that surely helped. Here, Godzilla, after being badly wounded fighting Mechagodzilla, retreats to an island (Monster Island?) where he absorbs electricity from a storm overhead, drinking in the electricity and causing his spines to spark furiously. Let's face it, Godzilla's powers have never been all that consistent outside of his atomic breath. I thought this was cool as anything when I was a kid, and that was probably all that mattered to director Jun Fukuda, too.

King Caesar made for a rad tag team partner. Toho took the most risks during this period, introducing many new kaiju to the series and making many famous along the way. Caesar is awesome because here was this huge dog/lion beast that can shoot lasers and he's all legendary and stuff. Some lady has to sing a song just to wake the guy up. But his character was firmly intertwined with the plot to this movie, making his inclusion in future films unnecessary. But, of course, we got him - along with many other faces that hadn't been seen in decades - in the final (as of now) Toho Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). I remember that being a rough watch the first time I saw it. I'm looking forward to reviewing it for this blog, but I doubt a second viewing will sway my opinion.

Mechagodzilla is just a flat out amazing villain. There's nothing bad I can say about how he's portrayed here, his first of five appearances against Godzilla. His design is iconic, almost as much as Godzilla himself. His attacks are brutal and swift. I love how special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano modeled his movements after Kabuki, giving him a stiff gait to his walk. It looks very robotic. 

Let's talk about how wonderful Masaru Sato's final score for this series truly is, because he created one of my favorites of the whole series. The main theme is slightly playful, with notes ascending and then descending in a simple pattern that'll get stuck in your head. He adds in some intrigue, action, a little suspense... it's a rousing track with many high points. As I mentioned before briefly, a prayer must be sung in order to wake up Caesar. This song has been one of my favorite pieces of music since I was a kid. Maybe it's in the delivery or the melody - I don't really know - but it stands out as such a great piece of music. I'm so glad Toho released all of those Perfect Collection sets so that I could finally own a couple versions of it in proper quality.

The American version of the film featured a few alterations for theatrical release, mostly involving the cutting of bloodletting and other violence. The title was changed to Godzilla vs. The Bionic Minster, but it had to be changed a week later when Universal, who owned the popular The Bionic Woman, threatened a lawsuit. So, the posters were pulled and the title changed to Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster. 

Godzilla would have one more showdown before exiting the '70s and ending the Showa era of his pictures. A decline in ticket sales, along with an energy crisis in Japan that affected TV and film productions, would see Godzilla off big screens for almost a decade. But before that, one more battle with his mechanical nemesis...

GODZILLA-THON #13 - Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla's return to the big screen may have come just one year later, but the production history behind Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) is quite a story. Toho decided to have a fan-submission contest (an idea that would come into play for Godzilla during his Heisei days) entered exclusively by children sometime in mid-to-late 1972. At the time, the plan was for the studio to select a new character design as a winner and then base a film around that character. The chosen entry was a robot, dubbed Red Arone, who looked a lot like Ultraman and similar robotic fighters. Toho made modifications to the design (to what degree is unknown) and rechristened him Jet Jaguar. Their plan was to have him fight Megalon, a villainous beetle who had been drawn up for consideration in Godzilla vs. Gigan, but was ultimately cut when the budget for that film proved unable to support more monsters. In a somewhat ironic twist, studio personnel concluded that Jet Jaguar would never be popular enough to carry his own movie, causing the project to be put on hold. Within a month, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka had the script rewritten to include Godzilla and Gigan, on opposing sides, and soon production was back underway. Funny how things work out.

This entry doesn't feature aliens from outside our planet but, rather, from within. The long lost civilization of Seatopia has been trapped underground for centuries, and man's undersea testing of nuclear weapons has been disturbing their society. Angered, they crack open a fissure in the Earth and release Megalon to inflict damage on the world above. Goro, an inventor with one of the coolest pads you'll see in a '70s flick, has made his most amazing creation - Jet Jaguar, a robot capable of flight, fight, and following directives. When Megalon is unleashed, Jet Jaguar is dispatched to Monster Island where he gives Godzilla the bad news on what's going down. The Big G hops into the ocean (courtesy of old Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster footage) and starts paddling his way to Japan's mainland. But Megalon is doing a lot of damage while we wait, so Jet Jaguar, in some magical way, attains autonomy, sentience, and the ability to increase his size exponentially. Yes, a robot manages to "will himself larger", as his inventor posits during the film. Really, who cares how it's possible. The movie needs him big so now he's big. Boom. Done. Jet actually holds his own against Megalon pretty well, delivering a flurry of powerful attacks that stun the beetle. But then Gigan arrives, and all of a sudden Jet Jaguar is beaten within an inch of his robotic life before Godzilla shows up and stomps a mud hole in two asses. Now we get the battle everyone has been waiting for, with Jet Jaguar and Godzilla tag teaming both Megalon and Gigan, the latter of whom bitches out and retreats to space, leaving his cohort to face this:

This, for the uninitiated, is Godzilla's infamous flying kick. Much like his actual flying abilities, as glimpsed in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, we never see him perform such a maneuver again. But, wow, would you look at that. Fuck the logistics of how this is even possible, we're seeing Godzilla delivering a flying two-footed stomp to Megalon's battered body!

Some of the fight scenes are marred by the occurrence of stock footage. Again, considering Godzilla was an afterthought to this picture, essentially co-starring in what is ostensibly his own movie, it's not unbelievable to think Toho would have used old footage to pad things out. The only problem, which is always the problem, is the suits don't match up.

Speaking of which, we get a new suit! And it was made in a week? Yep. Known as the MegaroGoji, special effects supervisor Teruyoshi Nakano had virtually no time to get his work done, leaving him with a mere seven days to give Godzilla a brand new set of skins since his last outing had the suit literally falling apart during the movie. I think he did an amazing job given the time constraints. The only hiccup reported was the eyes, which they were unable to get working properly during filming. That issue was corrected for a TV appearance Godzilla was set to make that same year. Godzilla was given a set of larger eyes, with a more pronounced brow, and a friendlier face. The suit itself appears to fit actor Shinji Takagi much snugger previous suits worn by actor Haruo Nakajima.

Godzilla vs. Megalon, despite it's notorious reputation for being one of Godzilla's weakest films, was one of the most-watched entries in the United States. Not in Japan, though, where it was one of only two Godzilla films to sell under a million tickets (the other being Terror of Mechagodzilla). In the U.S., however, it had a respectable theatrical release in 1976 thanks to an infamous marketing campaign which saw Godzilla and Megalon fighting atop the World Trade Center, just as King Kong did that same year. The following year, it had a cable premiere on NBC, hosted by John Belushi in a Godzilla suit, in a prime-time slot. The major downside to that presentation: the network cut the film down considerably so that it fit into a one-hour slot. Ouch.

Toho had been pitting Godzilla against an ever-increasing roster of memorable, unique monsters that fans have been admiring for decades. But none up to this point had proven to be quite as difficult as when he looked into the mirror. Up next, the Big G meets his robotic counterpart... 

GODZILLA-THON #12 - Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

After the "disaster" - according to producer Tomoyuki Tanaka - that was Godzilla vs. Hedorah, work was swiftly underway to produce a new Godzilla film that hewed closer to the tried and true formula. Rather than allow someone else new to the series to have creative control, Tanaka brought back director Jun Fukuda, who had already enjoyed moderate success with his two previous Godzilla pictures Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla. This entry, Godzilla vs. Gigan, would be the first of three pictures in a row he did for Toho. Gone were heavy messages and social commentary; this was to be a return to the plot lines that Tanaka felt worked best: alien invasion and mind control, featuring a roster of top monsters. The script went through a number of changes before deciding upon exactly who those monsters would be, with names like Varan and Rodan in the mix at one point. There was also talk of drafting some new kaiju into the fold, giving Godzilla some new adversaries to combat. Eventually, the screenwriters settled on having Godzilla team up with his old buddy, Anguirus, who just had a new suit made for 1968's Destroy All Monsters. On the opposing side, the golden space dragon, King Ghidorah, would be paired up with a new villain, the cybernetic, cosmic, cyclopean, curved-claw chicken from outer space, Gigan.

The aliens this time around are human-sized cockroaches who assume the form of people that have recently died. They operate a massive playground known as World Children's Land, where a massive Godzilla tower has been erected as the centerpiece control tower. Their plan is to use a series of "Action Control Tapes" to manipulate space monsters King Ghidorah and Gigan to destroy the Earth so they can inhabit it because their home world is dying. Gengo, a freelance artist who gets a gig with the company, stumbles upon one of their tapes and plays it, drawing concern from Godzilla and Anguirus on nearby Monster Island. After the two have a conversation - yes, a monster conversation - Anguirus decides to go investigate, drawing the fire of the military upon arrival. So, he takes off back to monster Island to let Godzilla know something is going down and Earth needs their help. Ghidorah and Gigan enter our atmosphere and promptly begin to smash everything in sight just before Godzilla and Anguirus arrive to challenge them. The fight eventually moves back to World Children's Land, where the aliens have concealed a massive laser inside the Godzilla tower. This weapon seriously neutralizes Big G, and just when it looks like he may be down for the count Gengo and his crew of hippie radicals send an elevator full of explosives up the tower, annihilating the controls and every alien inside. With the laser death ray compromised, Godzilla regains his composure, confers with Anguirus, and then proceeds to deliver a crate of whoop ass to both Ghidorah and Gigan, forcing them both to retreat back to the cold vacuum of space.

A chief complain about this film is that it relies too heavily on stock footage, which is absolutely true. This was Teruyoshi Nakano's second film as special effects supervisor after Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), but there was only so much he could do with the limited budget this film was afforded. It's confusing as to why so much stock footage was utilized because they clearly had the required costumes for the shoot. It isn't like Ghidorah was added in using the power of film editing; the suit was on set! There are clips from numerous productions spliced in, including Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Destroy All Monsters, and even non-Godzilla properties like Rodan and War of the Gargantuas. Needless to say, the fight scenes often appear to have been hastily cobbled together. It's bad enough to do this because Godzilla fans will immediately notice the suits aren't matching up between shots, but a couple fights foolishly use daytime footage during a nighttime battle, and no amount of color correction can fix such a glaring, gaping hole. And, again, Toho's actions here only hurt the film. The suits for all four monsters were on set, ready to shoot, so why not just do whatever you can with what you've got? The tag team battles that were shot for this film came off beautifully, featuring some of the best multi-monster mayhem since Destroy All Monsters. This would be the last time the SoshingekiGoji suit was used as the hero costume for a film, having previously appeared in the prior three pictures. The suit was in a state of disrepair, likely why so much footage was reused for this film, and in some scenes you can clearly see pieces of it are coming undone and looking a bit shoddy. Godzilla even appears to be sporting the eye injury he received from Hedorah.

Speaking of the battles, this is the first entry to show Godzilla bleed when attacked. Previous special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya resisted the urge to show open wounds, fearing it would scare many of the young children who had become fond of Godzilla. Nakano clearly didn't share the same sentiment - he had no qualms with temporarily blinding Godzilla in his fight against Hedorah, and here he allows Gigan to draw blood twice. Even Anguirus isn't safe, running headfirst (kind of a stupid move) into Gigan's power-saw stomach. Having seen the film dozens of times as a kid and an adult, I can see where both special effects men were coming from. It was terrifying to see Godzilla bleed when I was a youngster, my mind immediately drawing the conclusion that he was going to be killed since nothing else had made him bleed in the past. Now, older & wiser, I find it simply imbues the film with extra tension that hadn't been employed before. There's a dreadful sense that Godzilla & Anguirus might be defeated by these cosmic scoundrels, though in the back of our minds we all know nothing is taking Godzilla down.

This would be the final time that legendary actor Haruo Nakajima donned the Godzilla suit. He had been toiling away under every iteration of the suit since its inception, masterfully perfecting his craft to add a sense of graceful power to Godzilla's movements. The end of his tenure marked almost 20 years of embodying Japan's most famous monster.

Also making his final appearance: King Ghidorah, who would remain dormant on movie screens until his rebirth nearly 20 years later, in 1991, when he was once again pitted against Godzilla. 

Akira Ifukube "returned" to his scoring duties for this entry. "Returned" is in quotations because the entirety of his work is re-purposed from his efforts on other Toho films, not just pre-existing Godzilla tracks. Only the most eagle-eyed, hardcore fans would be able to tell, though, since Ifukube had a tendency to reprise his most common themes throughout the series, making it nearly impossible to know if a piece of music was new or old. Tanaka did state that he wanted this film to be a return to form for Godzilla, and using his trademark themes was a surefire way to see that happened.

Godzilla didn't continue his upwards ascent after this film as Tanaka had planned, because the next in the series is often considered one of the worst right alongside All Monsters Attack. Released the following year, Godzilla vs. Megalon is another entry that shoehorns Godzilla into a pre-existing story, uses stock footage, and is usually credited with the public's perception of Godzilla as a form of children's entertainment and nothing more. 

GODZILLA-THON #11 - Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

   

Godzilla entered the '70s with an anomalous entry in the series, one that brought with it a strong eco-conscious message. Now that the "Godzilla Dream Team" was permanently disbanded after the death of special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya, the onus of success was placed largely on the shoulders of producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. The next film set for production was Godzilla vs. Hedorah/Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971), to be written and directed by Yoshimitsu Banno. It was during the production of this film that Tanaka became seriously ill and was hospitalized, leaving the film's direction entirely up to the discretion of Banno, a complete neophyte to the series. His film posited that mankind's rampant pollution and wanton destruction of Mother Nature would come back to haunt us in the form of a huge nuclear shape-shifting blob from space, known as Hedorah. Only Godzilla, Savior of the Earth, would be able to stop it and prevent the annihilation of humanity. Strong messages aren't new to the series, since the previous entry, All Monsters Attack/Godzilla’s Revenge (1969), was about as ham-fisted as you can get with its anti-bullying sentiments. Unlike that film, however, Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster is lauded for its tonally unique take on the series… and for uncovering Godzilla’s greatest unknown ability: flight. This picture was not exactly subtle in delivering commentary on what is still a hot topic today. And, really, it's not even a bad film when you consider the entire litany of the series. But when Tomoyuki Tanaka finally saw it after leaving the hospital, he went berserk. Rumor has it that he hated the film so much that he swore Banno would never work for Toho again. And he didn't. Banno, on the other hand, was so excited by his work here that he immediately began writing a sequel that would have taken place in Africa, but those plans were scuttled as soon as Tanaka was back on his feet. Oddly enough, despite having been away from Godzilla for over 30 years Banno was linked to a 3D Godzilla project, tentatively titled Godzilla vs. Deathla - To The Max 3D, that would have been shown exclusively in IMAX theaters. Plans were soon scuttled when Legendary Pictures took interest in snapping up Godzilla’s rights, and through some minor miracle Banno remained on as an executive producer for Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014). If you listen closely, you can hear Tomoyuki Tanaka wildly spinning in his grave.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah starts off in a very meta fashion by showing a young boy, Ken (Hiroyuki Kawase), playing with Godzilla toys (I believe they're the Bullmark line) in the backyard, his house situated near the sea because his father, Dr. Yano (Akira Yamauchi), works with marine life. The action cuts over to a collection of sludge and debris floating in the ocean, one which Hedorah rises out of before flying off into the distance. The creature is reported to have attacked boats and factories along the coast, consuming massive amounts of pollution and oil to fuel itself and grow in size. Hedorah flies across the countryside, leaving a wake of choking death in its path. Godzilla shows up during a particularly gorgeous sunset, intent on fighting the monster, but Hedorah proves too resourceful and escapes Godzilla's grasp. Dr. Yano, now crippled after a run-in with Hedorah underwater, learns that he has a method to kill the creature by drying it out using electricity. The military sets up giant electric panels on Mt. Fuji, all they need is for Godzilla to get Hedorah in their path so it can be toasted. But Hedorah is able to take on many different forms, making it difficult for Godzilla to destroy such a slippery foe.

Banno added many unique flourishes to this film to get his message across, including musical interludes and animated sequences. There are a couple of scenes occurring in an underground Japanese night club that are beyond psychedelic, with a tie-dyed woman wildly gesticulating on a table while her tripped-out band jams on stage. And there are exploding color visuals everywhere. It's like something out of an Austin Powers flashback, dripping in '70s expectations. The animated interstitials are used to explain how Hedorah has been evolving, showing the sludgy behemoth sidling up to factories and draining them of their toxic emissions. Again, out of place in a Godzilla film? Totally, but that's all part of what makes this entry such a fun oddity. The vivid colors also provide a stark juxtaposition to the grimy, polluted world Hedorah intends to produce.

Hedorah would be the first, but certainly not the last, adversary to take on different forms throughout the film. At first, it's nothing more than a big tadpole, but once the beast sucks up huge quantities of our toxic trash its size more than doubles to something able to combat Godzilla. The longer it sucks up our waste, the bigger it gets, eventually reaching a stage where it can fly and lift even the massive Godzilla off the ground. From there, Godzilla and Hedorah take the fight to land, and the garbage gargantuan morphs into fighting form for some hand-to-hand combat with the Big G. This is really the first Godzilla film where man and beast work together to defeat a common enemy, with Godzilla using his atomic breath to activate the malfunctioning electric ray the humans created to fry Hedorah. He's downright anthropomorphic holding Hedorah in his grasp, practically signaling for the men below to get this sucker cooked. Having grown up seeing Godzilla in his role as both protector and prime enemy, I think it's kinda cool to see him expressly choosing to win one for the people.

What isn't cool, though, is seeing him fly. Banno thought the film was unremittingly dark, and it certainly is, so when it came time for Godzilla to chase Hedorah near the climax he came up with two options - he runs, or he flies. Keep in mind, Godzilla had never demonstrated any ability to fly whatsoever because how the hell could he? Simple - he tucks his tail between his legs, fires up his atomic breath, and uses that flame as a means of propulsion. Wait, what? If the film's environmental message didn't already have producer Tanaka fuming, his head likely exploded when this infamous scene occurred. Thankfully, Big G Airlines were permanently grounded after this initial excursion.

While there were changes made to Godzilla's personality and abilities for this film, one thing that didn't change much was his suit. The same SoshingekiGoji suit used for the previous two films - Destroy All Monsters (1968) and All Monsters Attack (1969) - was employed for the bulk of filming here, though it's highly likely that another, older suit was used for the water scenes. Godzilla maintained a consistent look for more than a few films during this period, and while this design is usually never singled out as one of the best it encompasses all of the design features that made him iconic. As usual, Haruo Nakajima handled acting duties inside the suit, having perfected his craft to such a degree that Godzilla is able to display a wide range of motion. We only got one more film with the master, Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), before he bowed out of the series for good. There are only minor differences between the Japanese version of the film and AIP's edit for America. Other than the dubbing, the U.S. version added an English language version of the song "Save the Earth", which had been sung in Japanese and featured in Toho's cut. AIP also changed the film's title to Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. Toho has only made the international cut of the film available on DVD & Blu-ray, under the Godzilla vs. Hedorah title, meaning VHS tapes are the only means to watch the dubbed AIP version. This would be the final Godzilla film that AIP distributed in America, leaving further sequels in the hands of less capable studios.

GODZILLA-THON #10 - Godzilla's Revenge (1969)

Director Ishiro Honda, fresh off the success of the monster mash-up melee, Destroy All Monsters, returned the next year to helm this entry, All Monster's Attack (known as Godzilla's Revenge in America). Unfortunately, and quite surprisingly, it would be considered the series' nadir by a majority of fans. The film's biggest issue is that it is unquestionably a children's film, aimed squarely at kids, starring a kid. That isn't a death sentence in and of itself, but the loss of special effect supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya left director Ishiro Honda scrambling to get the effects work finished... himself! Since he was no expert in that field, the work done for this film was minimal, resulting in most of the Godzilla footage shown having been recycled from his previous three efforts. There's a positive message within the film that kids should hear - stand up to bullies, don't back down - but once you've past a certain age any appeal this entry may have had in your halcyon days is likely expired.

Ichiro is a young latchkey kid who spends most of his time alone, daydreaming about a better life. His current life is full of emptiness and bullies, but the bullies hurt the most because they terrorize him and make him feel humiliated. Ichiro's best friend is Shinpei, a toy maker and inventor on the outskirts of town who lets him spend time in his shop. When he gets to be alone, Ichiro fantasizes about being on monster Island, where Godzilla's son, Minilla, is the size of a small child and has somehow gained the ability to speak Japanese. And, uh, he can also change his size according to will. Don't ask. Anyway, Minilla has his own bully - a large cat-faced reptile monster named Gabara (also the name of Ichiro's bully). Try as he might to stand up to Gabara, Minilla always gets his little ass whooped. Luckily, he has Godzilla around to teach him the important monster things, like breathing fire. Ichiro is interrupted from his dreams by a couple of thieves who have stolen 50 million yen, holding him hostage until they can form a plan. Ichiro wills himself back to monster Island to get a final word of advice from Minilla, watching him defeat Gabara (with the help of Big Daddy G) and giving him the confidence to stand up to his own bullies. Ichiro breaks free and alerts the police, who arrest the robbers. The next day, we see Ichiro finally stand up to his schoolyard bullies and take them down, earning the respect of his peers now that he resorts to violence, too. Wait, what was the message again?

The film's biggest detriment is the lack of new Godzilla footage. It's even more frustrating because the fight between Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara is actually pretty good. Haruo Nakajima, still inside the suit since the original film, had become so adept at maneuvering inside of it that the fight choreography looks impressive. The movements look as fluid as ever, giving Godzilla is bit of grace he had been lacking before. The suit used here appears to be from Destroy All Monsters, which makes sense given how little it was needed for this film. That's another major downside of using stock footage from the three previous films: each suit had a different look. It is glaringly obvious when they switch from '66 to '67 to '69 and then back again. Hell, in some scenes the suit literally changes from shot to shot. No level of editing can change mismatched suits.

The storyline with Ichiro isn't all terrible. Following a kid around isn't an ideal plot for any of these films, especially one where it isn't exactly established whether or not Godzilla exists at all in the real world. But Tomonori Yazaki is a precocious little shit, curious about enough to investigate but he's never really annoying in his actions. He seems fairly reasonable, making his troubles with a school bully weightier because we don't like to see him abused. His lack of friends and a family life is what led to his overactive imagination, giving Minilla the chance to imbue him with some confidence. According to one of the adults at the end, Minilla is a god for children, and he gives them strength just as the gods adults pray to do for them. It's certainly a unique perspective to view these characters from. Thankfully they only went this route for one film.

All the footage we see of Ebirah, Kumonga, and Kamacuras has been recycled from their respective films. The only new footage is also populated by a new monster - Gabara. He's ugly. Oddly enough, other than his weird cat face he sort of looks and sounds like Titanosaurus, an antagonist that won't be seen until 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla. I can only assume maybe this suit was reused for his design? Either way, I'm grateful Gabara never showed up in another film because he's terrible. Even his special abilities - electrocuting things that he touches - is bizarre. But it does make for a funny scene when he zaps Minilla.

Scoring duties this time around were handled by Kunio Miyauchi. Akira Ifukube would return again later, and to be perfectly honest his talents would have been wasted here. Miyauchi reprises some of Masaru Satoh's themes (or they're literally reusing them here) from previous entries, and whatever work he himself contributed has a brassy sound to it. Not typical for a Godzilla film, but it works well for this installment. It's adventurous, whimsical, even a bit playful. Again, more of the James Bond type of sound that was popular during those days.

The score also gave us "Monster March", an annoying and mildly catchy Godzilla tune as howled by some Japanese youngster.

This would be the final film where Eiji Tsuburaya, one of Godzilla's "fathers" who designed all of the special effects up to this point, would be credited. His involvement here was non-existent, really, with Sadamasa Arikawa handling the set duties since Tsuburaya was too sick to perform. He died the next year, which may be part of the explanation for why Godzilla took that year off from films. Tsuburaya left behind an enduring legacy that will be remembered for generations, gifting us with some of the most memorable monsters to ever grace screens.

Following his most kid-friendly adventure yet, Godzilla would go on to become a savior for all sizes of people when he saved the planet from a flying bob of sludge in the eco-conscious entry Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.