AKA: Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
July 24, 1971
A year passed since 'All Monsters Attack', Ishiro Honda had stepped away from the series and Toho needed new ideas to try and keep the series afloat. Yoshimitsu Banno would step in to write and direct what would ultimately become one of the strangest Godzilla movies by far.
Instead of nuclear annihilation, this movie serves as a metaphor for pollution. A strange tadpole monster from outer space begins to feed on Japan's numerous sources of pollution and mutate into a more dangerous beast. Now it's up to a scientist and his son to figure out a way to stop this Smog Monster before even Godzilla becomes outmatched.
The 1970's was definitely the time when the monster designs started to get the most outlandish and Hedorah is pretty out there. He's basically a walking glob of sludge and acid that goes through several different forms. Hedorah was played by Kengo Nakayama, he would later change his name to Kenpachiro Satsuma. All of the Hedorah suits were heavy and bulky, making natural movement very difficult. Thanks to some mentoring by Haruo Nakajima and his own perseverance, Satsuma powered through it and gave us one of the most unique monsters in the Showa rouges gallery.
That was especially during an incident where he had to have an emergency appendix removal while he was STILL in the Hedorah suit!
This movie was made to address the serious air pollution problems in Japan at the time, particularly in the city of Yokkaichi. Whether or not it succeeded is debatable.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah is a movie that screams "experimentation", its success or failure is really for the viewer to decide. As a whole, the movie itself isn't bad. If you can get past some of the more bizarre elements you may find yourself enjoying this one, even in an ironic way.
After the film's release, many of Toho's higher ups hated the movie and even Tomoyuki Tanaka, the one who enlisted Yoshimitsu Banno, felt that it ruined Godzilla's reputation. So Banno was fired from Toho and the rest is history.
But Banno wouldn't be out of the Godzilla movie game so easily. He lobbied for years to make a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah and he came damn close in 2005 with a project called "Godzilla 3D to the MAX," in which Godzilla fights a monster similar to Hedorah called Deathla (ooh, so edgy!) After countless delays, the project would be canceled and Banno would instead be brought on as an executive producer for Legendary Pictures' 2014 Godzilla film.
On May 17, 2017 Yoshimitsu Banno passed away at the age of 86. He would receive posthumous credit for work on 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' and the upcoming 'Godzilla vs. Kong', the former of which contained a dedication to him.
The 1970's was definitely the time when the monster designs started to get the most outlandish and Hedorah is pretty out there. He's basically a walking glob of sludge and acid that goes through several different forms. Hedorah was played by Kengo Nakayama, he would later change his name to Kenpachiro Satsuma. All of the Hedorah suits were heavy and bulky, making natural movement very difficult. Thanks to some mentoring by Haruo Nakajima and his own perseverance, Satsuma powered through it and gave us one of the most unique monsters in the Showa rouges gallery. That was especially during an incident where he had to have an emergency appendix removal while he was STILL in the Hedorah suit!
This movie was made to address the serious air pollution problems in Japan at the time, particularly in the city of Yokkaichi. Whether or not it succeeded is debatable.
Even if you're not a Godzilla fan, after watching this movie for the first time, anyone will react to it in a manner similar to: "What the **** was that?!" From the funkeriffic score from Riichiro Manabe, the weird animated segments to the many disturbing moments scattered throughout the film (this was meant for kids right?) Around the time you get to the nightclub scene and the dancers start wearing fish masks, you might wanna make sure you didn't ingest anything hallucinogenic.
This movie also contains one of the more infamous moments of the whole series, where Godzilla does...something you don't see everyday. Fans will know what I'm talking about and there's really no other way I can describe it.
This movie also contains one of the more infamous moments of the whole series, where Godzilla does...something you don't see everyday. Fans will know what I'm talking about and there's really no other way I can describe it.
After the film's release, many of Toho's higher ups hated the movie and even Tomoyuki Tanaka, the one who enlisted Yoshimitsu Banno, felt that it ruined Godzilla's reputation. So Banno was fired from Toho and the rest is history.
But Banno wouldn't be out of the Godzilla movie game so easily. He lobbied for years to make a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah and he came damn close in 2005 with a project called "Godzilla 3D to the MAX," in which Godzilla fights a monster similar to Hedorah called Deathla (ooh, so edgy!) After countless delays, the project would be canceled and Banno would instead be brought on as an executive producer for Legendary Pictures' 2014 Godzilla film.
GODZILLA VS. GIGAN
(Original Title: "Chikyu Kogeki Meirei Gojira tai Gaigan" -Earth Attack Command: Godzilla Against Gigan-)
AKA: Godzilla on Monster Island
March 12, 1972
Godzilla vs. Hedorah was not the breakout hit Toho was expecting to bring the Godzilla series out of its current rut. It was decided to bring the series back to a more traditional sense. The results were mixed.
A manga artist gets a job at a new park called World Children's Land, a place dedicated to monsters from around the world, complete with a life size Godzilla tower. However, not all is as it seems. It turns out the people behind this park are really aliens bent on bringing perfect peace to this planet, by destroying it with the mind controlled Ghidorah and Gigan and ruling it. The earths only hope lies in the hands of Godzilla and his trusted ally Anguirus.
The biggest fault of this movie comes from the fact that Godzilla vs. Gigan feels very much like a copy and paste movie. Most of the score is comprised of Ifukube tracks featured in previous Toho monster movies. There's a much more egregious use of stock footage in this film than any other film in the series. Even the plot point about alien invaders mind controlling the monsters was getting a bit tiring at this point.
The fact of the matter was, Japan's film industry as well as their economy in general was in a bad state at this time, which forced the film makers to cut corners wherever necessary. It definitely shows with the monsters used in this movie. The Godzilla suit, after being used in now 4 films in a row looked tattered and ready to be trashed. The only new monster constructed for this movie was Gigan.
I need to stop for a minute and talk about how much I FREAKIN' love Gigan. I will always love Godzilla but if I had to pick a favorite monster besides him, it would absolutely be Gigan. He is by far the most outlandish monster ever conceived by Toho. He looks like a weird chicken, dinosaur hybrid with giant hooks for hands and a buzz saw in his torso. And did I mention he's an alien cyborg? Gigan is so ridiculously badass and awesome and I love him!
Gigan was played by Kenpachiro Satsuma, fresh off his role as Hedorah. Gigan is also significant for the fact that he is the first monster to ever make Godzilla bleed. Oh yeah, Godzilla gushes blood in this movie. This movie was meant for kids!
Gigan was played by Kenpachiro Satsuma, fresh off his role as Hedorah. Gigan is also significant for the fact that he is the first monster to ever make Godzilla bleed. Oh yeah, Godzilla gushes blood in this movie. This movie was meant for kids!
The scenes between the monsters are fine for the most part, but again the problem is most of the scenes where the monsters fight and attack the city. They contain way too much stock footage, featuring obvious footage from 'Destroy All Monsters', 'Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster' as well as various other Toho films. Because of this, Godzilla awkwardly changes appearance, shots filmed during the day are darkened to try and match the original footage and if you look carefully some monsters make unintentional cameos (*cough*Mothra*cough*)
One thing that weirds me out about the original monster footage is that there are a few moments where the monsters just stand around and do nothing. The fights themselves are ok, but they seem to be shot slower than usual.
This movie would be the last time that the late Haruo Nakajima would ever wear the Godzilla suit. After the death of Eiji Tsuburaya, he started to lose the enthusiasm and energy he once had for suit acting.
While the monster action is kind of mixed, the human story is actually quite interesting. This has by far one of the most unique gathering of characters, a manga artist, his black belt girlfriend, a woman looking to save her brother imprisoned in Children's Land and a hippie. I found the characters and the story to be very engaging and they can be very funny sometimes. I will say that when you do actually find out what the aliens are, it is a bit silly.
While Godzilla vs. Gigan is one of the lesser films in the series, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. Even with the overuse of stock footage and the slower paced monster action, I still find the movie very entertaining. I just wouldn't put this above some of the other films.
One last thing to mention, when this movie was released in the United States in theaters and on television it was retitled: "Godzilla on Monster Island." However, not including stock footage, only 54.14 seconds (I timed it) actually takes place on Monster Island. Later releases would be titled 'Godzilla vs Gigan', but that got me thinking that the title "Godzilla on Monster Island" would make far more sense for 'All Monsters Attack'. It works better than "Godzilla's Revenge."
Plus isn't it nice to know that a movie with swearing and monsters gushing blood will still get a G rating in the US?
I will never take complaints against the PG-13 rating seriously as long as that is a fact. I get that it was a different time, but come on...
GODZILLA VS. MEGALON
March 17, 1973
In 1972, a contest was held at an event sponsored by Toho and Tsuburaya Productions where kids could submit monster designs to be featured in a movie. The winning design was a robot that would be the inspiration for the main character in this movie, at least until they decided that the character couldn't hold a movie on his own, so they added Godzilla to the mix.
Fed up with nuclear weapon testing destroying their home, the citizens of the undersea nation of Seatopia steal a robot to guide their monster god, Megalon to the surface to wreak havoc. After the robots inventor regains control of the robot, they instruct it to call for Godzilla to turn the tide of the upcoming battle.
Megalon himself interests me as I can't decide weather he is one of the most silliest looking monsters or one of the most unique. I guess you'll have to make your own judgement about a bipedal beetle monster with giant drills for hands. His personality ranges from your typical monster looking to smash everything in its way to a child throwing a tantrum. This would be Megalon's only film appearance but he would make prominent appearance in several Godzilla video games.
Godzilla himself was given a brand new design after the last suit had pretty much fallen apart. Now fully embracing his new role as a superhero character, his look was designed to give a more friendly demeanor than the previous suits. I really like the look of this suit and I'm glad they kept it for the remaining films of the Showa series.
Aside from his brief appearance at the beginning of the movie, Godzilla doesn't show back up again until the 45 minute mark. And even then it takes him a while to get to the final fight. Like Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla feels like a side character in his own movie.
The real main character of this movie is Jet Jaguar, whose totally not an Ultraman ripoff. Though Ultraman comparisons aren't inappropriate being that Toho tried to use what worked for the Tsuburaya Productions series to try and get children off the couch and into the theater. Jet Jaguar is a pretty unique design and he has indeed earned his popularity among the fans. He even has his own theme song at the end of the movie.
Fortunately, while Jet Jaguar goes to get Godzilla, the Seatopions somehow have the aliens from the last movie on speed dial and ask them to borrow Gigan for their conquest. I mean, it's bad in the context of the film but come on, I'll take any opportunity to see my boy again.
Godzilla vs. Megalon once again suffers from the cut and paste method seen in the previous movie Godzilla vs. Gigan. There is one original set piece that takes place at a dam that looks pretty good, but every other piece of city destruction is taken from previous movies. The worst offenders of reused footage occurs when Megalon swats at attacking planes, when it cuts to the impact shots you can clearly see Gigan's hooks hitting the planes and a whole sequence taken from Godzilla vs. Gigan.
This movie is often considered to be one of the worst offerings of the series. From a technical and objective stand point, the movie isn't that great. The plot has very little meat on the bones. Our main characters are pretty stock and the sequences of events play out in a very simplistic matter. But at the same time, the movie does move at a pretty fast pace and keeps the interest of the viewer. But if you try and figure out stuff like how does Jet Jaguar program himself to grow kaiju size or why the Seatopions don't just go up and talk to the surface world to get their point across, I think you're just missing the point. This movie was aimed at children and it does do its job well. I can recall this being one of the very first Godzilla movies I ever owned on VHS and I loved watching it every single time.
As a matter of fact, this movie has a very interesting history here in the US. A company named CinemaShares went all out on the publicity for Godzilla vs. Megalon's theatrical release, including an infamous poster with Godzilla and Megalon fighting atop the World Trade Center in an attempt to lampoon the upcoming King Kong remake. In addition, the company also gave out buttons with the monsters faces as well as a short comic book adaptation. When the movie premiered on NBC prime time in 1977, it was hosted by John Belushi wearing his own Godzilla suit.
For a time, this movie somehow found its way into several public domain VHS releases and was one of 2 Godzilla movies to be featured on the popular TV series 'Mystery Science Theater 3000', but Toho stepped in and put a stop to that soon enough.
In many ways, this movie ended up being more popular overseas then it was in Japan. The film did not do financially well and it seemed that the franchise would only continue to sink lower before finally dying out. Something dramatic had to be done...
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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Fed up with nuclear weapon testing destroying their home, the citizens of the undersea nation of Seatopia steal a robot to guide their monster god, Megalon to the surface to wreak havoc. After the robots inventor regains control of the robot, they instruct it to call for Godzilla to turn the tide of the upcoming battle.
Godzilla himself was given a brand new design after the last suit had pretty much fallen apart. Now fully embracing his new role as a superhero character, his look was designed to give a more friendly demeanor than the previous suits. I really like the look of this suit and I'm glad they kept it for the remaining films of the Showa series.
Aside from his brief appearance at the beginning of the movie, Godzilla doesn't show back up again until the 45 minute mark. And even then it takes him a while to get to the final fight. Like Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla feels like a side character in his own movie.
The real main character of this movie is Jet Jaguar, whose totally not an Ultraman ripoff. Though Ultraman comparisons aren't inappropriate being that Toho tried to use what worked for the Tsuburaya Productions series to try and get children off the couch and into the theater. Jet Jaguar is a pretty unique design and he has indeed earned his popularity among the fans. He even has his own theme song at the end of the movie.Fortunately, while Jet Jaguar goes to get Godzilla, the Seatopions somehow have the aliens from the last movie on speed dial and ask them to borrow Gigan for their conquest. I mean, it's bad in the context of the film but come on, I'll take any opportunity to see my boy again.
Godzilla vs. Megalon once again suffers from the cut and paste method seen in the previous movie Godzilla vs. Gigan. There is one original set piece that takes place at a dam that looks pretty good, but every other piece of city destruction is taken from previous movies. The worst offenders of reused footage occurs when Megalon swats at attacking planes, when it cuts to the impact shots you can clearly see Gigan's hooks hitting the planes and a whole sequence taken from Godzilla vs. Gigan.
As a matter of fact, this movie has a very interesting history here in the US. A company named CinemaShares went all out on the publicity for Godzilla vs. Megalon's theatrical release, including an infamous poster with Godzilla and Megalon fighting atop the World Trade Center in an attempt to lampoon the upcoming King Kong remake. In addition, the company also gave out buttons with the monsters faces as well as a short comic book adaptation. When the movie premiered on NBC prime time in 1977, it was hosted by John Belushi wearing his own Godzilla suit.For a time, this movie somehow found its way into several public domain VHS releases and was one of 2 Godzilla movies to be featured on the popular TV series 'Mystery Science Theater 3000', but Toho stepped in and put a stop to that soon enough.
In many ways, this movie ended up being more popular overseas then it was in Japan. The film did not do financially well and it seemed that the franchise would only continue to sink lower before finally dying out. Something dramatic had to be done...
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!
https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/
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