TALKBACK #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

[MekaGojira3k]

[The Real McCoy]

[Dr Kain]

[Legion]

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Tyler E. Martin]

[Irish Gfan]

[mbozzo]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Giganfan]

I still prefer to call this one Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster! It's alot more fun than simply referring to it as "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla". The 1993 movie can have that title, as the entire Heisei series is often referred to as "the VS. series" anyway. In any event, we all know who the REAL MG is!

[MekaGojira3k]

I used to call this one Cosmic Monster....but Cosmic Monster brings to mind far different imagery than MechaGodzilla does.


Besides, the 1993 film doesn't deserve that title.

[Goji 84]

Oddly enough, Toho re-released this film under the Cosmic Monster title briefly when it aired during Sci-Fi channel's "Tokyo Under Siege" marathon in 1994. It even used the same font as the international version. My guess is that Toho wanted to gain-back ownership of that title, since their had been many unauthorized releases of that version on VHS.

[MekaGojira3k]

[lhb412]

Anyone have a screenshot of the Bionic Monster title, by any chance?

[Goji 84]

[The Real McCoy]

I remember seeing a program back in the nineties called "Monsters of the Rising Sun" hosted by Patrick Macnee. Cosmic Monster was one of the movies he showed. It was weird; I'd never heard of this and I thought I was watching a new Godzilla movie.

[Giganfan]

"Monsters of the Rising Sun" on the Sci-Fi Channel, hosted by Patrick Macknee (sp?): Monday - King Kong vs. Godzilla, Tuesday - King Kong Escapes, Wednesday, Godzilla On Monster Island(under that title), Thursday, Godzilla vs. Megalon and Friday, Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster

Damn, thoe were the days!

[heroforhirerob]

[jellydonut25]

[heroforhirerob]

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[Giganfan]

This movie is why Jun Fukuda is the man! He brought his own, frenetic, fast-paced, confident style to the Godzilla series, and it is never more evident than in Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster. When you put the seventies Godzilla era in perspective, it looks like this; Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster is the "groovy" experiment of a would-be "up-and-coming" auteur (it's still alot of fun), Godzilla On Monster Island is a pastiche, cost-cutting attempt at returning the series to "normalcy" (much obliged, David Kalat), and Godzilla vs. Megalon is basically bargain-basement production values that bows to the success of the television super-hero craze of the time (Still love it though!). And to this day, the only true "claim to fame" of Terror of Mechagodzila is that it was the last-ride for director Ishiro Honda (AGAIN, nothing wrong with that lol!). By contrast, Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster feels as if Tanaka just said "okay, let's just hunker down here, and get back to trying to a make good film". In any event, it atleast allows director Fukuda and composer Masaru Sato to bow out gracefully.

This movie is just so cool to me! I mean, you get to see "puppy-eyed-Goji" from Godzilla vs. Megalon being exceptionally cruel for a few minutes! How fun is that?!!

[MekaGojira3k]

This is definitely my favorite Fukuda film and my favorite of Sato's Godzilla scores.

I honestly feel like this is a better film than TOMG. While that has some remnants of the Honda charm and the return of Ifukube it never really manages to have the amazingly fun blend of scifi and fantasy this film and really much of the toho library has.