Canon-Strike XIII: Godzilla

[prinnysquad]

All three of them are great. Astro Monster is my favourite. The aliens storyline is class!

[Brad]

Thanks for doing this thread. Gonna watch them all in order. Well, I watched godhorra or whatever it’s called a few months back actually so I’ll skip that one.

[CMcK]

Getting a bonus at work so I’m having a treat -

[wakka]

I know I'm jumping the gun here but had to share, picked up this beautiful Godzilla vs Mothra Laserdisc set this week, just look at it.

That is so nice!

[Neon Ignition]

Movie 07 - Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Another entry to not feature the big guys name in the title, this seventh entry arrived the next year but wasn't originally intended to have Godzilla in it at all. Instead it would have marked the return of King Kong but the decision was made to swap the ape out for Godzilla leading to this battle between Ebirah, Godzilla and Mothra.




A horror?

[briareos_kerensky]

Ebirah is a monster so strong that humans will defeat it later in the series.
It's certainly one of the weakest entries in the whole franchise, especially after the previous two movies.

[QualityChimp]

Blimey, we're racing through them now, Neon!

There was 7 years gap between Raids Again and Mothra and there's a notable shift in the production.
Technically, they're all still Shōwa era because of the Emporer at the time, but they feel like different eras.

Mothra's okaaaay, but it's just a giant moth and a couple of tiny singing twins, innit?

I don't remember much about Ghidorah, so maybe I've not seen it?

Invasion of the Astro Monster is great!
I like the space scenes and the mystery of when they arrive there are already people on Planet X.
I love the plot where we totally trust these aliens because it looks like it's solving our monster issue and being totally altruistic to them and it comes back to bite humanity's bum.
Let's be honest, we probably fell for the plan because one of them aliens is smokin'...



I bloody love Ebirah, Horror of the Deep because it's so nuts.
So, this guy's brother is lost at sea.
He convinces his mates to enter a disco competition to win a boat.
There is a protracted disco competition sequence at the start of the film.
They don't even win the bloody thing!
So they head down to the docks to steal one.
They find that the boat is owned by a criminal.
They find out because HE'S on the boat, holding them at gunpoint!
Whilst at sea, they get lost and stumble across an island.
Before they can reach it, they're attacked by a giant claw! OMFG!
They make it to the island, only to discover it's run by terrorists!
They're making heavy water and a kaiju-repellent chemical.
Plus, they've enslaved all the natives.

All of this happens before we've even seen the big G!
Bonkers.

Ebirah is a pretty lame enemy, but I like how the battle is water based.
However, the G-Suit Operative, Haruo Nakajima, spent hours in the cold water and said:
“I worked overtime until about eight o’clock every day. I lived in the water! Generally, in the summer, everybody wants to go in the pool and play, but, when it comes to kaiju movies, it is totally different. Most of the scenes that they shoot in the water are not in the summer, but in the winter. In the middle of winter, shooting started at nine in the morning, going until noon, and then we’d take an hour off. But we’d go from 1:00 P.M. until around 5:00 at night. I needed to stay in the water all day in the suit, and shooting took a week.”

Other titles for Ebirah include:

• Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Great Duel in the South Seas (Literal Japanese title)
• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (United States)
• The Monsters from the Sea (Los monstruos del mar; Spain)
• Godzilla versus the Terror of the Seas (Godzilla contra el terror de los mares; Mexico)
• Ebirah, horror of the seas, versus Godzilla (Ebirah, terror de los mares, vs. Godzilla; Mexico)
• Ebirah, Horror in the Depths! (Ebirah, horror en las profundidades!; Colombia)
• Ebirah versus Godzilla (Ebirah contre Godzilla; France)
• Frankenstein and the Monster from the Ocean (Frankenstein und die ungeheuer aus dem meer; Germany)
• The Return of Godzilla (Il ritorno di Godzilla; Italy)
• Godzilla, King of the Monsters (Godzilla, uhyernes konge; Sweden)
• Ebirah: The Monster of Magic (EBIRAH - POTWOR Z GŁĘBIN; Poland)
• Mothra the Flying Dracula Monster (Motta het vligiende Dracula monster; Holland)
• Ebirah: Monster Island (Ebirah, canavarlar adasi; Turkey)

I have these films on VHS up the loft on this amazing triple-pack:

[Neon Ignition]

Movie 08 - Son of Godzilla
As part of the franchises annual turnover during this era, the next year saw Son of Godzilla arrive and pretty much do what it says on the tin. An egg is uncovered by mantis creatures and hatches with a baby Godzilla that the real one adopts. Under Godzilla's teaching, the youngster trains his powers until a monster spider called Kumonga awakens and attacks.




Son of Godzilla or a real Son of a....?

[Neon Ignition]

Movie 09 - Destroy All Monsters
The next year rolled around and this time Godzilla fans were faced with an event entry. Set in 1999, humans have settled their differences and live in peace with monsters confined to their own land. But once aliens take over the minds of the monsters they send them to assault human cities leading to mankind to battle to free the enslaved creatures, an action that leads the aliens to unleash King Ghidorah once more. With a total of eleven monsters in the film, this was once of the most straight forward battle films to date.




A Monster Movie?

[QualityChimp]

Son of Godzilla doesn't really work for me. Godzilla turns up to adopt Minya/Minilla, then acts like a bit of a dick. Apparently, there's even more cut material where he's hebutting him, stomping on him and the original ending has him flat-out abandoning him and swimming out to sea leaving Minilla to hibernate alone!

I think they were possibly aiming for the younger audience and the smaller budget meant it was another story confined to a tropical island with no city scenes. The enemies are all pretty floaty too, with no real heft, especially noticeable as this was a chunkier Godzilla suit than previously.

I quite like the bits with the scientists at the start and their little balloon experiment.

[QualityChimp]

Destroy All Monsters is great, though!

Finally back to the city-stomping formula, but this time, it's all over the world and it's fun to see famous locations getting mashed.

The story is wafer-thin and is basically Astro but with more monsters.
I think it's interesting that the best Godzilla films seem to balance human and monster screen time and this means the scenes of destruction are benchmark for the time, it's not one you'd re-watch for the plot, IMHO.

Love how all the monsters appear in it and the first appearance of Monster Island containing the kaiju in contentment, resulting in world peace in the far-flung year of 1999.
It's like The Avengers before The Avengers!

I quite like this suit too. Pretty feral, but starting to get better eyes.



This is the copy that I had of Son of Godzilla

[CMcK]

The big G is in da house!

[QualityChimp]

The big G is in da house!

Yeah, that's cool and all, but did you not see my VHS, mate?

Are the extras any good on these? I saw there was a Megalon release with a commentary track a few years back that's didn't get a UK release. Does each film have a nice mix of background info?

[QualityChimp]

Oooh, before I forget, some people have had issues with the packaging and discs falling through the glue behind the cardboard!

A few people have gotten creative and made their own cases:

[CMcK]

Yeah, that's cool and all, but did you not see my VHS, mate?

Are the extras any good on these? I saw there was a Megalon release with a commentary track a few years back that's didn't get a UK release. Does each film have a nice mix of background info?

I'll get a right look at it when I'm off. On nights at the moment. Don't know which film I'll watch first.