(Original Title: "Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daiketto"
-Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas-)
AKA: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
-Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas-)
AKA: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
December 17, 1966
SON OF GODZILLA
I cannot talk about this movie without telling the odd tale of how it came into existence.
Before 1967's 'King Kong Escapes' came to be, Toho had a much different idea about how to use Kong for another movie.
A young man desperate to find his brother lost at sea steals a yacht with 2 other tag a longs and a bank robber. The yacht is wrecked on an island by a large crustacean named Ebirah. The island is later revealed to be under the control of a terrorist group using inhabitants of Infant Island as slaves. Our heroes meet up with an escaped native girl and discover King Kong sleeping in a cave, they plan to awaken Kong to help fight the terrorists and Ebirah, while the Infant Islanders pray to Mothra to come and save them as well.
A young man desperate to find his brother lost at sea steals a yacht with 2 other tag a longs and a bank robber. The yacht is wrecked on an island by a large crustacean named Ebirah. The island is later revealed to be under the control of a terrorist group using inhabitants of Infant Island as slaves. Our heroes meet up with an escaped native girl and discover King Kong sleeping in a cave, they plan to awaken Kong to help fight the terrorists and Ebirah, while the Infant Islanders pray to Mothra to come and save them as well.
The film was to be titled: Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah. (I could add a snarky remark, but I think that speaks for itself)
It could've been great, but unfortunately Rankin/Bass passed on the idea on the basis that it didn't match up with the cartoon show. Rather than scrap the idea entirely, Toho reworked the story a bit and eventually replace King Kong with Godzilla.
Aside from changing the title, literally the only change made was replacing Kong with Godzilla. This is evident in a later scene in which he takes a peculiar interest in the native girl Dayo (Kumi Mizuno).
There's nothing really special about Ebirah, he's just a big lobster. He can barely stand up to Godzilla's atomic breath. There are some moments where we get to see both of them tussle underwater which is kinda unique. For a creature that spends most of his time underwater, we don't get to see much of that. We would see more of it in later films though. Now of course having the actors actually fight inside the suits underwater would have been a huge risk, thanks to a set with a blue filter and clever lighting, it did the trick in creating the illusion of being underwater.
Mothra spends most of the movie asleep (or as a matte painting) as the Infant Islanders constantly pray to her to come to their aide.
This would be the last time the Shobijin would appear in the Godzilla Showa series, this time played by the singing duo known as "Pair Bambi".
Unlike the past entries which had an interesting human cast, no one in this movie stands out. The characters are pretty much blank slates and you wont remember anything about them. You may remember that one of the terrorist leaders looks like Dr. Serizawa from the original, but that's only because it's the same actor, Akihiko Hirata, in a different eye patch (in fact, if you've been paying attention you'll notice a lot of actors from previous movies coming back to play different roles.) Even if you flip over to the american version, the only thing you'll remember about the characters is that one of them has a voice so annoying you want to chainsaw your ears off.
Filling in for Akira Ifukube, Masaru Sato's score sounds like it came right out of the 60's Batman show or a James Bond movie. There's one particular moment in which a bunch of planes come to attack Godzilla and this silly swing music starts playing. All that's missing are a bunch of onomatopoeia's popping up randomly.
To me this is one of the lesser Godzilla movies. By this time, the series was being geared more towards children. The human story isn't too deep but it does move at a fast pace so as not to get too boring. The best way I can describe Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is to liken it to your average anime filler episode. Under the new direction of Jun Fukuda, who would direct 5 of the original Godzilla movies, we don't have a movie with the depth of the ones directed by Ishiro Honda, but Fukuda definitely doesn't know how to make a boring movie.
There's nothing really special about Ebirah, he's just a big lobster. He can barely stand up to Godzilla's atomic breath. There are some moments where we get to see both of them tussle underwater which is kinda unique. For a creature that spends most of his time underwater, we don't get to see much of that. We would see more of it in later films though. Now of course having the actors actually fight inside the suits underwater would have been a huge risk, thanks to a set with a blue filter and clever lighting, it did the trick in creating the illusion of being underwater.
This would be the last time the Shobijin would appear in the Godzilla Showa series, this time played by the singing duo known as "Pair Bambi".
Unlike the past entries which had an interesting human cast, no one in this movie stands out. The characters are pretty much blank slates and you wont remember anything about them. You may remember that one of the terrorist leaders looks like Dr. Serizawa from the original, but that's only because it's the same actor, Akihiko Hirata, in a different eye patch (in fact, if you've been paying attention you'll notice a lot of actors from previous movies coming back to play different roles.) Even if you flip over to the american version, the only thing you'll remember about the characters is that one of them has a voice so annoying you want to chainsaw your ears off.
To me this is one of the lesser Godzilla movies. By this time, the series was being geared more towards children. The human story isn't too deep but it does move at a fast pace so as not to get too boring. The best way I can describe Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is to liken it to your average anime filler episode. Under the new direction of Jun Fukuda, who would direct 5 of the original Godzilla movies, we don't have a movie with the depth of the ones directed by Ishiro Honda, but Fukuda definitely doesn't know how to make a boring movie.
(Original Title: "Kaiju-to no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko"
-Monster Island's Decisive Battle: Son of Godzilla-)
December 16, 1967
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Jun Fukuda would return to direct the 8th movie, if you didn't already know that these movies were being aimed at children, well strap yourself in because this movies is gonna make you learn that really fast!
On a remote island, a team of scientists are working on a weather control device that will help benefit humanity. After the first experiment goes wrong, it mutates the giant praying mantises that live on the island and causes them to grow bigger and they unearth a giant egg which hatches a baby Godzilla. Yeah, this island has giant mantises on it and we haven't even gotten to the giant spider. Meanwhile, Godzilla himself arrives on the island having been called by his son.
We've already had 'Son of Kong', 'Son of Frankenstein', 'Son of Dracula' and the 1959 Bob McFadden hit 'Son of the Mummy' (Google it). So why not give Godzilla a bouncing baby boy of his own?
The titular son goes by the name of Minilla (or Minya) and his inclusion has caused something of a divide in the fandom. People either love to hate him or simply tolerate his presence. I can see why, his design has been likened to either the Pillsbury Dough Boy or Gary Coleman and his cries can be a little ear grating. But to me I don't hate the little guy, I think Minilla is kind of adorable and many of the scenes with him interacting with Godzilla are just so enduring.
By now, you're probably sitting there wondering just how Godzilla birthed a child...have fun with that.
By now, you're probably sitting there wondering just how Godzilla birthed a child...have fun with that.
Minya was portrayed by Masao Fukazawa (Also known as 'Little Man' Machan) who used to be a professional midget wrestler. The Godzilla suit was made to be taller than normal and did not fit Haruo Nakajima, so the duty of acting in the suit went to Hiroshi Sekita, who previously wore monster costumes for Ebirah, Gorosaurus, Mechani-Kong from 'King Kong Escapes' and Sanda from 'War of the Gargantuas'. Nakajima did wear the Godzilla suit during Godzilla's first appearance when he emerges from the water. As for the suit itself, it looks weird, definitely not the best look for our boy. The face appears like it was placed in a vice and left there for a few days.
As for our giant praying mantises called 'Kamacurus' and the giant spider 'Kumongua', those are all large puppets on moved by piano wires and they actually look really good. The way both monsters move is pretty believable and that is a great achievement considering that one of these puppets is a freaking spider! An eight legged creature who's legs need to be meticulously moved a certain way to be convincing which must have been a serious challenge.
You'd probably be hard pressed to remember the characters names (with maybe the exceptions of Goro and Saeko), but at the same time the human story doesn't bore and is actually rather interesting. The plot about the weather control machine being used to benefit mankind reminds me of Captian Nemo's motivations from the 1961 film version of 'Mysterious Island.'
I don't think Son of Godzilla is top 10 material for the series but it's still a cute and enjoyable film. This is probably the best way to start younger audiences on the series and If your heart isn't warmed by the final moments, I think there may be something wrong with you.
I don't think Son of Godzilla is top 10 material for the series but it's still a cute and enjoyable film. This is probably the best way to start younger audiences on the series and If your heart isn't warmed by the final moments, I think there may be something wrong with you.
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...
I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff.
Thanks for reading!
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