TALKBACK #13: Godzilla vs. Megalon

[Russzilla]

[Silver Kamen]

[jellydonut25]

^dude get your story straight instead of just constantly responding to every post...

You had JUST been saying you think Megalon is awkward and wouldn't work in a movie and now you're saying he's cool.

Either elaborate more or say nothing. This "yeah [insert three words]" stuff isn't adding to the conversation

[Silver Kamen]

[MekaGojira3k]

I really love Megalon's design. I'm also a huge fan of his tendency to hop around.

[Russzilla]

[TylerPreston20]

[Arislan]

Just finished rewatching. I can tell why it was one of my favourites as a child.

As a grown-up, though...wow. Just wow. So much wrong with the movie, or is it just that I've lost the ability to see it through child-like eyes?

It's interesting to me that even at 8 or 9 I knew that I was looking at stock footage. I guess that my favourite TV show "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" taught me about stock footage very early, since it used so much of it.

I'm not sure where Gigan came from. Something called the Starhunter Universe? So the Seatopians were in touch with the giant cockroaches of the previous movie? The difficulty comes from watching "Godzilla vs Gigan" in Japanese and then "Godzilla vs Megalon" dubbed in English.

I really liked the way the Ibuki home looked, again an artistic influence from Peter Max.

[Benjamin Haines]

I think that's just a translation gaffe. "Nebula M Spacehunter" became "Starhunter Universe M."

[heroforhirerob]

Just watched this again last night after not seeing it for a long while. It truly feels like an Ultraman episode that they padded with a bunch of extraneous footage just to get it to feature length. Uses just as much stock footage as Godzilla vs. Gigan did. In fact, this film also uses stock from Gigan!! All rather sloppily done....they don't even try to disguise the hook hands in the plane sequence for example. Megalon himself looks ok, but the execution and overdone anthropomorphic behavior lessens the cool factor. The dam destruction is the best SPFX sequence in the film and it does look pretty good. Overall, there's a reason why I haven't watched this one in years. It's simply not that good. I've watched many individual episodes of Ultraman which were way, WAY better than this. That said...this is still better than Final Wars...sadly.

[Jorzilla]

Godzilla vs. Megalon has boobies.

NSFW

http://i.imgur.com/UyV0mov.png

[jellydonut25]

[eabaker]

More kid-friendly than Son of Godzilla or All Monsters Attack?

[jellydonut25]

I'd argue more kid friendly than Son of Godzilla by MILES. Probably not All Monsters Attack though.

[jellydonut25]

So, this was a recent re-watch and....well...it's a terrible movie. But it's mostly fun, it has one or two actually totally decent scenes (specifically the dam scene is real good), and there's a lot of unintentional hilarity.

That said, I'm a bit surprised nobody ever really took Media Blasters to task for mediocre subtitling. Unless of course what I'm hearing has 'Seeshen" is actually how the Japanese pronounce "Goro".

It's in the bottom third for SURE, but elevated because it's so campy and I dunno....charming?

[Russzilla]

Always wondered why they included Angilas in the opening of the movie and that's it. He wasn't on screen for but a number of seconds. Why bother?

[CWSmith]

I've hated this movie since I was a kid. To me its tone is just TOO goofy. I love goofy Godzilla just as much as other people. GvsGigan and GvsMG are two of my all time favorites and I even like GvsHedorah, but man I just can't take this movie. To me it goes way beyond the others into kiddyville. The stock footage is awful too and where I liked the story enough in Gigan to overlook it, I just can't do that here. Plus the freaking music from Manabe sounds like it belongs in an Austin Powers movie. Just horrendous and takes all of Godzilla's gravitas away.

I do like parts though. The dam sequence, like everyone has said is a highlight. I also like some of the monster characterization in the end battle scene, like Gigan taking Jet Jaguar 'hostage,' Godzilla using a tree as a weapon, the Beavis and Butthead routine from Gigan and Megalon, and my favorite: the priceless expression Gigan and Megalon have when Godzilla and Jet Jaguar escape the fire pit of doom. Someone really needs to GIF that ASAP.

[walshiam]

Anyone who ranks this film high is trippin'. But, it's never boring.

[davezilla]

Awwww.....I always feel bad that this movie is hated so much. Godzilla vs Megalon was the first Godzilla movie I saw when I was 4 years old. I was completely enthralled by the monsters and the end fight. I was like...THIS IS SO AWESOME!

Sure as an adult now I realize the production is poor, there is a lot of stock footage and a lot of goofiness (exactly why the MST3K episode of it is so awesome) but at the same time I still love it. Sure not super high on my list but it is completely watchable to me any day and any time of the week.

[lhb412]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Russzilla]

[Hybrid Gojira]

I actually just bought the DVD...replacing my super old VHS version. This is one of those movies I hate and kinda adore depending on what part of the movie is on. I love Gigan. I think Megalon is pretty cool and the napalm ability is a unique and nifty power....and I even like the fights. Most of the non-kaiju stuff and very over the top tail slide I can do without.

[Rodanex]

Apparently there's a metal band from Mexico called Jet Jaguar.

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Jet ... 3540380547

[Dr Kain]

Over the last few movies, Godzilla was been portrayed as a hero of children, he has suffered through battles of stock footage, and has dealt with some of the series’ worst musical scores to boot. As such, what does Toho decide to do for Godzilla in 1973? Make an even dopier looking Godzilla costume, team him up with an Ultraman rip off, and combine past annoyances into one mess of a movie.

Earthquakes have been occurring around Japan, causing the sea to sink into the depths of the Earth. Goro, his younger brother Rokuro, and his assistant Jinkawa are enjoying a nice day at the lake when one of the Earthquakes occur and they rush back to Goro’s lab to find out what is going on. After they arrive they discover there are some strange men who have torn apart the lab and left some sand behind. It is revealed the men are from an ancient civilization lost to the seas of time called Seatopia, and they have declared war on the surface world for fear of their own safety. Seatopia sends a monster to the surface, a giant kabuto beetle with drills for hands known as Megalon to destroy Japan. In the meantime, Goro had created a robot named Jet Jaguar who has somehow gained a will of his own and helps to summon Godzilla to Japan. Gigan also joins the fray to help Megalon battle Jet Jaguar and Godzilla.

“Godzilla vs. Megalon” has a really nice build up before it introduces the Seatopians, but when it does, the movie takes a turn for the worst. The plot itself is just overloaded with utter nonsense that it becomes impossible to even care about any of the characters. There was an interesting idea laid out of using one of the lost civilizations that are believed to have been swallowed by the sea, but Toho had no idea what they wanted to do with it, and instead, gave us a generic movie that amps up as much goofy camp as possible to cover for its shortcomings. Goro, Rokuro, and Jinkawa are as generic and uninteresting as they get, and the movie would make you think they are the only ones effected by what is going on. The military has very little to do here and they seem to just disappear after helping Goro get control of Jet Jaguar back. The Seatopians are just a joke to look at and they do absolutely nothing. None of them are given any sort of development so there is no reason to even care about their motives. All we know is they are attacking the surface to avoid them from being attack, but it is never explained why. Did the commander just wake up one day and say, “We are going to be attacked one day even though no one knows about us, quick, attack!!” Also, for being an underwater race, why do they have a giant insect as their monster? How do they even know about the alien galaxy to borrow Gigan from? Have they met them before? If so, when? There are just too many questions left open that could have been avoided had some thought went on before this movie was put into production.

Even the effects to the movie are pretty subpar. There is a large amount of stock footage used. During the scene when Megalon is battling against the military jets and he goes to swat them, it switches to Gigan’s claw knocking down the jets from the past movie. When Megalon is shooting the buildings with the electricity with his horn, it is Ghidorah’s lighting breath blowing up the buildings from “Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster” we are shown. In fact, the only time we see damage to a city is during this moment as the rest of the movie takes place in a mountain area. The footage shown when Godzilla is summoned to Japan by Jet Jaguar is his leaping off of the island in “Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.” There are constant jumps during battles and scenes to signify the footage was cut at that spot. Wires can be seen all over the place whenever the monsters are in flight. Gigan never once uses his chest blades. Even when Godzilla is sitting right on top of him. The music never seems to fit the scenes either and the horrific theme from “Godzilla vs. Hedorah” has returned. Why Toho felt the need to include the “Boing” theme into another movie is beyond me as it is just flat out terrible. It does not fit the mood of what Godzilla is supposed to represent, even in his campy kid hero days.

The designs themselves are a mixed bag. Gigan’s costume is just a reuse from the previous movie, so there were no changes done at all. Jet Jaguar’s looks is that of a creepily smiling robot. His color scheme fits him with its red, blue, orange, and silver, but he is clearly just meant to be a copy of Ultraman. On the other hand, for what Megalon is, he does looks pretty cool. I do not know why they felt the need to give him drills for hands when they already did that with Gigan the year before, but it works. As a big bug, his design is memorable. The worst atrocity is this new Godzilla costume. While the past costume was nothing to write home about, this incarnation easily takes the cake for one of the worst suits ever. Godzilla has large anime-like eyes and a cute friendly smile. It also does not help matters that the Godzilla in this movie is clearly a man in a suit rather than a monster. He does nothing to move like a monster, act like a monster, or even fight like a monster. The worst moment of the movie is when he slides on his tail to kick Megalon. Clearly Toho wanted a giant man in suit movie, but could only afford to do it as a Godzilla movie, and as such, it suffers majorly for it.

Overall, there is very little to like here. The characters are some of the worst the series has ever (and will ever) have. The villains are laughable, the monsters are an utter joke, there is still too much stock footage being used, and the theme song is very unpleasant to hear. There were some interesting ideas here that were plagued by a rushed script and a lack of a budget. Of course, none of that matters when this is one of the worst iteration of Godzilla to ever be seen on screen. This movie just down right blows and I gave it a 2/10 stars.