TALKBACK #12: Godzilla vs. Gigan

[Hybrid Gojira]

Gigan's flying was still better portrayed than any flying monster in the Heisei era.

[briizilla]

[Russzilla]

I never really gave any thought to how Gigan, Ghidorah, or even Rodan looked when they flew. I just accepted it then and now. But speaking of flying, this is one air scene with Gigan and Ghidorah that Toho got wrong as the perspective in size to the Godzilla Tower is just a bit off.

[Legion]

I always thought they just flew those two props around the tower. Turns out it was a composite shot all a long. Took me years to figure that one out.

[Russzilla]

[DannyBeane]

We need to compile a list of quotes from this movie. And by quotes I mean ever word spoken on film because its all magic.

[angilas]

"Hard b!tch" under his breath. And to think this film had a g rating.
"You cheeky pig"
"Almost as clever as he is stupid, a very curious specimen indeed"
"Hey Angilas...whadda you want?..there's something funny going on, you'd better check...OK"
"Haha, then its certainly someone else..no disrespect to the dead but fumio was the dumbest in his class"
"He must have thought it was a gun"
"Kubota..what went wrong..everything was going so good..going so well..kubota!"
"Shukra and mamagon"
His entire bs speel to kubota about why he was sneaking around to get his opinion on the prints for them is actually funnier in Japanese as he tries to sound like a made deluded genius.
And I don't know what's funnier. The next karate kid telling assailants with space guns to get out as she sees them fleeing in the dub or her being shocked at recognizing kubota in the original and suddenly stopping her assault.

Then kubota and fumios faces as they do their insect impression suddenly following the emergency lighting shadowy development debacle.
Coupled with their goons mistaking a manga painting for real people to be fired on.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

"Sir! The humans have escaped!"
"FOOLS! You must KILL them!"

This is my favorite dub of the Showa series. It's just so damn fun. I think the dub improves the original, mainly because of how over the top the acting is! Ted Thomas does a really good job as Secretary Kubota.

[Rodanex]

I agree. This is a rare dub that I actually do enjoy.

[Reaper G]

"Somebody kick me, kick me hard!"

[AsianAliens]

Hey everybody. This is my first post, but I care about that as much as you guys do.

I've always liked this movie a lot; yes, it does have overly noticeable stock footage, and yes, there is a gap between the plot and the fighting, but at the same time, I feel like that's apart of the films' charm. The plot is the definition of 70's Godzilla films; conspiracy, ragtag teams and aliens. The main character, the cartoonist, is appealing, and though his prominent creations (Mamagon and Shukra) were very contrived, I think they were meant to feel that way. The two other characters, the Hippies (for my lack of being able to remember foreign names), were goofy fun as well. The scene where the cartoonist mistakes the corn for a gun was one of the only times I've genuinely laughed at a Godzilla movie when it was trying to be funny. The reveal of the two aliens' being body-snatchers was well played, and gave an interesting back-story to the characters themselves. The other reveal of said aliens being large roaches was very corny, but at the same time, a lot of fun. The use of sound to control Gigan and KG was a cool idea, as well. The climax of the drawings covering the explosives was fun, and gave the villains a good send-off. The Kaiju were great; While Godzilla literally talking to Anguirus was odd, it fit with the Showa series' general wackiness. Gigan was excellent. His design was very menacing and creative, and his roar was very unique. King Ghidorah, while obviously having some technical issues, had a good role change by playing backup to Gigan. Gigan being swift and well-armed while King Ghidorah was slow and looming was a good pair, and showed good strengths that both monsters featured. Godzilla and Anguirus' team was cool, and I wish they were grouped together more often.

Overall, Like I said, I really like this film. It's not my favorite, but it's certainly in my top ten. The plot was cheesy-fun, the monsters were creative and very watchable, and overall, I think it's a classic.

[lhb412]

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

[H-Man]

The dubbed version is without doubt the best Godzilla movie.

[lhb412]

[AsianAliens]

"Children's Land? Is that some sort of a fancy name for a lunatic asylum? "
Clearly 'Children's Land' isn't the name of a theme park or a playground; It's the name of a Mental Hospital! What did you expect?

"Sumfin' Funneh Goin' on, you bettah Check!"
I didn't mind the talking scenes, but why did Godzilla and Angurius sound like Barney from The Simpsons? Haha.

[jellydonut25]

Barney? They always sounded like OLD men to me.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

Ted Thomas dubbed Godzilla there I think. Man, this movie is like old Kung Fu movies. HAS to be watched dubbed at least once.

[AsianAliens]

I think this movie may possibly have the best dub that has ever existed.

[Hybrid Gojira]

"Godzilla's strong again!"

Just finished watching this...it's one of those movies I like despite some obvious flaws. The human cast is great. Some of the stock footage is used very well - other times I wish they would have just cut the scenes all together. Ghidorah does very little during the battle except through stock footage and the performance has to be the weakest KG in the Showa era. Outside of the oil refinery scene, he basically stands there and does very little. The same is more or less true for Anguirus.

I do love Gigan- what a cool monster. I prefer Showa Gigan to the GFW incarnation. Overall it's a pretty fun movie.

[walshiam]

The stock footage is the only thing that killed it for me. I'm thinking of doing a cut of the movie minus the stock footage to make it more watchable.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[walshiam]

That's what I'm talking about. Those scenes with just Godzilla fighting Ghidorah from earlier films never should have been reused. Those are the ones I would target to edit out. The basic destruction scenes are not that much of a problem. The scenes with the monsters though are a problem because of the switching between night and day, the noticeable difference between the G suits, and for those in the know, just recognizing the footage from other films.

[KingKaiju]

A few things that I never thought of as a kid, but ponder about now that I'm 25:

1. How come they came out of crystals?

2. Is Gigan THEIR(the aliens') monster??


Edit: Also, Gigan's a total "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!". First thing he does when he runs into Godzilla and Anguirus? He proceeds to soccer kick him in the face, while continuously beating ass throughout the whole fight. That is, until the tower is destroyed. Still, Anguirus seriously gets his ass kicked here, ouch. I guess it doesn't help that Godzilla chose to go after King Ghidorah first. Poor Anguirus. And why did the aliens shoot the drawing of the characters? Were they that stupid? They can do advancdd math problems, travel to new planets, and control giant space monsters, but can't tell the difference between real and fake people?

[ebirahsmeg1]

One interesting tidbit that rarely gets mentioned regarding GvsGigan is that during production, this film had a different working title during the production:



Apparently, the film was originally titled Godzilla vs King Ghidorah: "Earth Destruction Directive This is obviously the traditional cast/crew production photo that is usually taken near the end of filming, and you can see the katakana for King Ghidorah and the kanji for "Earth Destruction Directive", so this would indicate that the title was changed to Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs Gigan rather late prior to being released...