Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

You're pitching a bunch of kaiju films against things like Blade Runner and Alien and Terminator and, if you want to get into television, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. No way.

Japanese sci-fi films are almost entirely garbage, and the classic monster films are the one big exception. They're an underrated art form, but come on...

But if you include Anime...the films you mentioned are on par with what the Japanese are doing. And as I mentioned....regarding the films of yesterday...that Japanese were almost always superior unless you can prove to me otherwise.

odd, i'll take THE MYSETERIANS, BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE and even THE H-MAN over all those movies you mentioned any day. they don't come across as "garbage" to me, and i reckon there will be a few others who agree with me.

almost all of Toho's 50s-60s pictures were A-list with great actors and directors.

David[/quote]

I think Ishiro Honda's films are great and I have enormous respect for Tsuburaya, but those are the classic monster films that I made an exception for. They also represent a very small portion of Japanese science fiction.

As for anime, how many truly great scifi anime are there? Akira is honestly the only film that comes to mind, while we can give mention to a few shows such as Nadia, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, etc. Still, the vast majority of anime also sucks.

And yes, the vast majority of films in America suck too, its just that the output is greater overall and there are more great movies from this side of the globe than the other.

Edit: I just wanted to add that V for Vendetta and Watchmen both blow Casshern out of the freaking water.

When it comes to the '50s and '60s films, I find it hard to rate one over the other. For me, Godzilla, Battle in Outer Space, Atragon, Rodan, Monster Zero, War of the Gargantuas and many others are right up there with Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, Them!, Creature from the Black Lagoon and the like. Both Japanese and American movies had this great sense of wonder to 'em back then.
In those days, the moon could have some lost civilisation hidden below its' surface, Mars was full of monsters, giant planet-killing space dragons roamed through the cosmic ether, highly-advanced beings held dominance over the Earth long before humans did, atomic radiation could create new life as well as destroy it and the rest of the universe was filled with unknown wonders and terrors. It certainly made for a lot of cool movies and shows to watch, that's fer sure.
As far as current stuff goes, I've paid very little attention to the Japanese side - save for various tokusatsu shows, Ultraman and so on. (not to mention bucketloads of anime ) And as for American shows, I enjoy the Stargates, Galacticas and the like, I'm not as crazy about 'em as the older stuff.
IMO the most enjoyable example of modern sci-fi on tv in recent years is Doctor Who, but that's British so it doesn't apply here.

Garasharp you touch on something I think is relevant here. Lately, well, since the 80's at least as Mouth has said neither country has really had with the exception of one or two, any worthwhile sci-films. For both countries it seems like the glory days are long since passed, but there are some films at least in the US thay give me hope that Sci-Fi may eventually find it's foothold again. Films like James Cameron's Avatar, Moon, Splice (fits in both the horror genre and sci-fi, as do most of the best sci-fi films for that matter) as well as hopefully re-kindeled glory of The Terminator and Star Trek franshises the future has the potential to be better that today...and perhaps...to boldly go...

Yes, SCIENCE has become a huge enemy of science fiction and in many cases, ruined it...


now, Starship Troopers...is a GREAT example of a modern movie in the old-style of though, that the stars hold unknown monsters and we will destroy 'em with super-advanced technology...and it doesnt try to get all bogged down in 'science'

It all depends. I don't think of whatever country something's from when I think of these things. Hell, I'm begining to not even mind genre anymore (good is good, whether it's about monsters or, say, 18th century England).


But while I think there is something fun about giant monsters smashing up model cityscapes and fighting each other, what really makes these movies is the talent involved. I don't think I would be a kaiju fan if it wasn't for Ishiro Honda and his team, and I wouldn't like the related genre films if it weren't for Shusuke Kaneko, Jun Fukuda, or... um, the guy who directed the Daimajin films.


In a related note, it seems to me that Fantasy/Science Fiction is unfairly maligned. There is, of course, a lot of crap in this genre, but it really is a great way to wrap reality around the story. It seems to me all of my favorite authors use fantasy or science fiction elements at least sometimes: Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain... hell, William Shakespeare has ghosts and witches and gods and sprites!