TALKBACK #15: Terror of Mechagodzilla

[MouthForWar]

[lhb412]

[Goji 84]

[king_ghidorah]

Anyone else ever think MG is kind of lame? I mean, he's certainly a dangerous foe, but the only film that's ever really done a decent job of explaining a reason for a MG is the first film.

I kind of prefer Mechs that aren't the Mecha versions of anything. Moguera, Giant Robo, Mikazuki and King Joe.

MG just seems kind of uninspired when put next to KG, Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, Hedorah and Gigan.

[jellydonut25]

Well, the first film gives a SOMEWHAT plausible reason for wanting there to be a MG, and ToMG is a sequel, so it kinda makes sense. The Heisei version could just as easily have been a tank/plane/platformwithweapons. The Millennium version was based around the skeleton of the old Godzilla, so there again you have at least a somewhat plausible excuse, perhaps arguably the best storyline reason.

MG when done right, is pretty great, I think. Give him a little bit of personality, and it's a cool idea. Turn him into nothing but a tank that vaguely resembles Godzilla, and it's lamer than toast.

[kiryugoji04]

I love mechanical doppelgängers, personally. Stuff like MG93 is bland and dull but Mechanikong, Mechagodzilla, Metal Sonic, Darclops Zero, and similar creations tend to be pretty awesome. Generally they work best when they're intended for evil, though Kiryu is a bit of an exception to that rule.

[The Real McCoy]

[Goji 84]

[MekaGojira3k]

I was watching this today, and I felt like this film kind of had a Hammer Horror vibe to it. Is that crazy? I guess it's the way it's shot and the typical mad scientist plot. While I still prefer Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla to this film, this is still very decent on its own.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Giganfan]

Terror of Mechagodzilla never seems to get old for me. Every time I watch it, I am surprised at how much I really ennjoy it, because I always want to christen Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster as the best Godzilla movie of the seventies. The way I see it, this little sub-section of the series is one of it's shining moments, because you get both Ishiro Honda and Jun Fukuda, the two best Godzilla directors of all, each with their favorite composer in tow, Akira Ifukube and Masaru Sato, tackling the same subject-matter, the mighty Mechagodzilla! I would say in both cases, we are witness to some of the best work by both teams of filmmakers. I watched both movies yesterday, and while I would give a slight edge to Terror in terms of overall quality and grander sense of scale, Fukuda's wildly imaginative, comic-book/espionage/fast-action science fiction is nothing to thumb your nose at. I love both movies too damn much. Though, in the end, Terror of Mechagodzilla is easily one of my top five all-time favorite Godzilla movies, while Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster rests comfortably within the top ten somewhere.

Oh, and I LOVE the score for both movies. Sato's best Godzilla score by far, and one of Akira Ifukube's very best.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Knowing everything I do now, looking at the end of Terror of Mechagodzilla gives me the feeling of a long goodbye.

Between this and the previous, I still choose the previous. Clearer action and editing. Some of those jump cuts got sloppy in the Titanosaurus/Mechagodzilla battle. How did Godzilla get floored when he tried stopping Mechagodzilla from shooting those planes? An ear clap? He tripped? Don't know.

Giganfan really got it right when it came to the Godzilla directors though.

What I really like about these two films is how different the two productions are and you cant totally feel them just by looking at a few seconds.

Vibrant colors, and an action motif; Jun Fukuda.

Drab darker colors, personal story; Ishiro Honda.

[Gman2887]

[eabaker]

I suspect that a Tsuburaya Mechagodzilla would not have worked as well for me as Nakano's version. I'm having a hard time putting my finger on exactly why, but I guess I think Tsuburaya would have made him more active and animalistic, as opposed to the cold efficiency Nakano gave him.

Both movies feature what I consider the best monster action of the 70s flicks. I've never really cared for the human scenes in GvsMG, and the older I get the less they interest me, but the human drama in Terror is forever growing on me. The whole thing has such a funereal atmosphere, which kinda frustrated me as a kid, but which now puts it almost in my top ten.

[O.Supreme]

[eabaker]

That prologue really stuck with me, too, at an age when I was too young to make note of the exaqct circumstances. For years, I thought it was from Godzilla on Monster Island, and was confused by its absence when I watched that movie again as an early teen. When I first read that it had been attached to the TV prints of Terror, I was at once thrilled to find out exactly what I was remembering, and frustrated to realize I couldn't actually see it.

Big ol' gratitude to CM for putting it out there.

[MekaGojira3k]

I didn't see the prologue until I got the CM disc. It's neat, and I think it helped grasp my young cousin's attention easier than the regular cut might have (he gets a bit anxious when Godzilla takes a while to appear).

[Destroysall]

[Rodanex]

I feel like I'm the only one who likes the '93 Mechagodzilla.

[Rodanex]

I feel like I'm the only one who likes the '93 Mechagodzilla.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

You might be. I actually like MOGERA more than I do Heisei Mechagodzilla.

When it comes to a piloted hero Mechagodzilla, most people choose Kiryu over Heisei MG.

my MG of choice is Showa for so many reasons.

[eabaker]

While Showa MG is my preferred version, I'd take Hesei over Kiryu in a heartbeat, both the design and the movies.

Although, honestly, Terror is the only Mechagodzilla entry I'd even rank in the top 50% of Godzilla movies. I really don't think MG has been done much narrative justice by screenwriters.

[lhb412]

MG is awesome in the Showa series, with his two films serving as the finale.

I pretty much consider the original series to be the 'real' one, and everything past (good and bad) to be like a spin-off, so when I think of a particular kaiju's place on the awesomeness scale I'm pretty much just thinkin' of '54-'75.

This is why I think Mothra and the Shobijin are great characters, but if I take into account their incarnations in the last three decades they're near the bottom of the barrel!