GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 "Godzilla 'Toho Champion

[klen7]

http://augustragone.blogspot.com/2014/1 ... 9.html?m=1

[Gohi]

Wow. I need this.
Should I get Heisei Godzilla Perfection while I'm at it? What do you guys think of that one?

[klen7]

I think its a bit over priced now in the secondary market. Your money might be better spent on the Heisei Godzilla Chronicle Book edited by Kawakita. Its about half the price and packed with images. The Gamera Perfection book is unparalleled.

[klen7]

I got my preorder in for this... i'll report back sometime in December

[ebirahsmeg1]

[ebirahsmeg1]

[ebirahsmeg1]

Quick update:

The store didn't have it, but it should be out on the shelves this Friday. Will try then...stay tuned!

[klen7]

I am definitely looking forward to this one. I have an order in through Amazon Japan so I think its supposed to be around December 8th

[ebirahsmeg1]

Due to my job, I wasn't able to make it up to Kinukuniya Book store in Shinjuku until early evening today. I'll post my thoughts later tomorrow or Tuesday, but from what I've scanned thus far, let's just say there might have to be some new admendments/adjustments to the usual spiel we have heard about the "Godzilla vs The Space Monsters/Revenge of King Ghidorah" unmade concepts over the years

[klen7]

This book is REALLY good. I'll post some pictures later, but I am very impressed.

[ebirahsmeg1]

Sorry for my delay in posting much about this book in terms of photos/reviews...once again, work has taken over my life. I'll *finally* have free time this weekend (my first days off in 2 weeks, lol) to write more. But Klen7 is right, this is a very good book...this year has rocked as far as G books are concerned.

[klen7]

I'm looking forward to hearing what ebirahsmeg has to say about the unused scenarios.












There are also plenty of interviews with various cast members. very cool

[ebirahsmeg1]

Thanks for posting the photos Klen7. Work the past few weeks has been ridiculously insane.



As already mentioned, this book is very good. In addition to tons of behind of the scenes stills, it focuses a lot on the "Champion" film festivals, something I've never really seen much information on. Apparently, there were Champion festivals for the spring/summer/fall/winter of each year throughout most of the 70s (1978 seems to be last year of the Champion Festivals). It has alot of publicity stills and interested Godzilla-related goods, color posters, and other Memorabilia associated with the films. To say Japanese kids who were Godzilla fans during this time period were extremely lucky and spoiled would be an understatement! As a child, I would have killed to see such cool items/memorablia for these films.

Here's a small page sample focusing on the 1971 Winter Champion Festival:





I also liked how this book interviewed past cast and crew members of these films.

The highlights include interviews with some of the more memorable actors/characters of this era of G films, such as Hiroshi Ishikawa (Gengo, the nerdy cartoon artist from GvsGigan, Mari Keiko and Tomoko Ai (both of whom have a little bit of MILF/GILF thing going for them, lol ), and Hiroyuki Kawase (who played everyone's favorite annoying kid characters from GvsHedorah and again in GvsMegalon). The main actress from Y of: Space Amoeba is also interviewed.






That is one of the things that puts "Champion Perfection" over the top of Heisei Perfection, as this book seems focused on the numerous different crew members and actors/actresses as a whole who contributed to this time period's films, while Heisei Perfection is mainly centered around one individual for the most part (you'll never guess who ).

In regards to the unmade projects, the book contains full scripts for Godzilla vs Redmoon / Godzilla vs the Space Monsters / Revenge of King Ghidorah / Giant Monsters Converge on Okinawa: Showdown in Zanpamisaki. "Meh, nothing new that already don't know" were my first thoughts. For example, Godzilla vs the Space Monsters (my personal favorite unmade project) had the usual synopsis involving Miko the alien Brain controlling KG/Gigan/Megalon as they square off against Godzilla/Anguirus/Maijun Tuol. I was initually disappointed in this section, as I hoped that some new, never before seen concept are would be present.

However, upon closer inspection of the Revenge of King Ghidorah script (which is basically nearly identical to what became the eventual GvsGigan), I saw this bombshell.




For those of you who can't read the katakana, the script shows that Godzilla/Mothra/Anguirus battling King Ghidorah/Gigan/Megalon. Now, up until this book, I've already heard numerous times that Godzilla/Rodan/Varan vs KG/Gigan/Mogu (a new monster)...no where else had I read the above monster line up was considered for this film. In fact, as far as I can tell, this book makes zero mention of "Rodan/Varan/Mogu" in regards to Revenge of King Ghidorah. Very fascinating indeed. I have a feeling that these unused scripts contain alot of interest tidbits that are just waiting to be translating. Damn, do I need to work on my kanji skills quickly!

Overall, one of the better books released this year (and this year has seen a ton of great books). A must have for those into collecting G-related books....

[ebirahsmeg1]

Not sure how this escape my attention, but for anyone interested in learning about what exactly is the "Champion Festivals" are, here's a nice summary article from TK:

http://www.tohokingdom.com/articles/art ... tival.html

[walshiam]

The printed material from this time period was simply beautiful. Back when I started collecting anything Godzilla, the posters were killer. Me and a few of my friends in Houston at the time would get loads of this stuff from pen pals in Osaka, one of which was a collaborator with Famous Monsters of Filmland. I still remember his name: Hajime Ishida. My personal pen pal was Toshiyuki Aota. The photograghy from these items were unmatched by anything released since that time and I regret having traded it away when I was a kid.

[lhb412]

The prop that casts the cockroach shadow!

mind... blown.

[canofhumdingers]

Just got this book today. It is awesome! I noticed on one of the pages about megalon there's a series of numbered pictures alon with associated numbered captions. Picture number two clearly shows the second Gigan suit under construction beside the original suit from the year before. I'd love to know what the caption says! Can anybody read it?