Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

It is commonly well known that to Toho, the Godzilla movies produced during the 1970s are ones that they would most certainly like to forget. Even Tomoyuki Tanaka admitted that much when he mentioned about Godzilla being the good guy was a mistake (and his infamous comments on Godzilla vs Hedorah).


The reason why I am writing something like this is because I was wondering that does the memory of what occured in the seventies impact any of Toho's decisions when it comes to the Godzilla series (meaning that they will never ever let such a case happen again and if it means killing off Godzilla for now then so be it).

I've been using this as comparison towards another franchise when discussing this particular franchise on another message board.

Please take your time to answer this.

I think Toho sees making Godzilla a "protector of the earth" was/is the wrong way to go. The movies simply cost too much money these days to cater to the children's-only crowd.

I do think Toho had the right idea letting popular, established directors take a crack at the franchise, putting their own spin on it as it were. It worked (as far as box office is concerned) with GMK, but didn't with the more expensive Final Wars (though I love it, in a different way, as much as GMK).

I actually think Toho made a mistake thinking just 'cause Final Wars tanked, that the public is sick of Godzilla. Though Final Wars didn't find it's audience (too outre', I think), I bet another by Kaneko would've done well. It's still a mystery to me why they didn't bring him back for more. They let Tezuka direct three, and two of those are two of the most lackluster G films of all time, imo (I like x MechaGodzilla).

Hmm.. I found Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 74 to be pretty memorable. I don't get where it's "Forgetable".

more kids in the US saw Megalon (due to the NBC showing) than any other Godzilla movie. it certainly was popular with the kids i knew. i'm glad Toho made those movies, those are what made me a Godzilla fan.

David

^ I too agree. Well.. Megalon isn't my favorite, but I like it a lot more than Final Wars. Actually Gigan and MechaGodzilla were the movies that made me a huge fan.

Hmm.. As for Big name directors with vision..

I dunno. It's a double edged sword.

In my opinion if they INSISTED on going with the Anime influences Final Wars had, they could have at least done it in a similar fashion like Big-O, Mazinkaiser, Tetsujin 28 Go 2004, or Giant Robo were able to pull off. You know, do a setting that's in the Future, but at the same time look like the world from the 60s.

Toho has been trying to ditch Godzilla's roots way too many times and for way to long. By the time the Hesei series began to pick up steam, Toho wanted Godzilla fans in Japan to completely forget about the 60's and 70's films, yet at the same Frikkin time rehashed enemy Monsters and plot elements from the VERY SAME FILMS. Now where was the logic in that? Now looking back in time, the 70's were a great time for Godzilla.
I can have more fun watching GODZILLA VS. GIGAN than let's say GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH anyday. Toho was smart (For once) in creating GFW in that 70's retro vein. It didn't hurt Godzilla as a character anymore than any other film, I don't care what anyone says. The decision to put Godzilla to bed has been a long time coming. GFW's box office take was just the straw that broke the Camels back. Noone at Toho knows what to do with him anymore, so they just put him away, Thank God. Hopefully, lots of people over there will be gone by the time Godzilla comes back around, so he as a character, and we as fans don't have to be dicked around anymore.