First time you saw the G films? Where, when and how?

[Legion]

Ok this thread title could use some explaining. Basically how did you first see each Godzilla movie? Do you remember the specifics of how you first saw it? Where were you? Was it on video? DVD? In a movie theater? What were your first impressions? Whether it was just yesterday how, when and where we saw each Godzilla movie. Here are my stories, each listed in order of film release. I hope you enjoy the read, and I'm looking forward to reading what all you guys have to say.

As an aside, I got into Godzilla full time in 1986 and by 1989 I had seen all the Showa films. Just setting the time frame.

Godzilla 1954: My parents insisted I saw this film long before I saw any of the others and that I didn't respond to it at all. I don't remember that. When I did finally see this movie for a second time it was after I had already seen several other Godzilla films - probably sometime in 1987. I saw this one via the old Vestron Video that we rented from a local Rite Aid (before Blockbuster became a monopoly). However I really didn't appreciate the movie at all until I was much older and finally saw the Japanese version.

Godzilla Raids Again: Weird story with this one. Back in the 80s my local syndicated station (WPIX, later WB) would show monster movies every Saturday on the "Morgus Presents" show. Morgus was a creepy mad scientist who would host lots of old monster films, many of which were kaiju movies. Godzilla Raids Again was one of the later Godzilla movies that I had yet to see. However, a scheduled airing of the film was replaced by an airing of Rodan and I remember having to wait several more weeks before they actually did air it. I don't recall liking this one much either, and it bothered me to see Angilas so brutally killed by Godzilla. Toho had reissued the movie by the time this aired so I didn't see this one with it's original "Gigantis the Fire Monster" title until I got ahold of the Video Treasures tape a little while later.

King Kong vs Godzilla: I caught this one on another syndicated station (WWOR, which would later become UPN) on Thanksgiving weekend along with King Kong Escapes. I remember being really sick that weekend, and this film brightened my day.

Godzilla vs the Thing: Don't remember much about this one other than my grandmother having taped it one weekend and - in an effort to find a copy of the film on VHS at the local video store - I accidentally picked up the original 1961 Mothra thinking it was the same film. At that point I thought all Japanese monster movies had Godzilla in them. Rude awakening, that. Like the original Godzilla, I didn't really like this one til I was old enough to appreciate it.

Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster: I don't remember this one ever airing on TV in the mid-to-late 1980s. I saw this one thanks to a public domain VHS tape. I loved it at the time, and I still have a soft spot for the American version no matter no inferior it is to the Japanese original. Next to Destroy all Monsters and Godzilla vs the Smog Monster this was one of my favorite Godzilla movies growing up.

Monster Zero: This was the second Godzilla I ever remember seeing. I caught this one about a half hour in one Saturday on (you guessed it) another local station. I don't remember much of it - and I didn't see it again until I got the Paramount video years later - but I do remember tuning in just as the Xian saucers were retrieving Godzilla and Rodan. Having never seen Rodan before I wondered why they were pulling a big rock out of the mountain side. This was my first exposure to King Ghidora, and I LOVED him.

Godzilla vs the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla: These two I saw at the same time thanks to a friend of my father who was nice enough to tape them off of cable (TBS I believe) since my family wouldn't have cable until I was in high school. I don't remember liking Sea Monster much at the time but I adored Son of Godzilla. In fact, I remember being very upset at the ending the first time I saw it. Today the ending still brings out a little internal emotional response in me.

Destroy all Monsters: Probably the fourth or fifth Godzilla movie I ever saw. This aired on the local WNYW station a few years before it became the FOX network. On weekends they'd show "The Drive-In Movie", which had a neat little neon logo and a very catchy saxaphone tune. I saw several Godzilla movies this way, but Destroy all Monsters is the only one I still actually have on tape after all these years, sandwiched between the ALF pilot and an episode of Small Wonder. I really, really hope the tape never wears out, but I know some day it will. Upon seeing it for the first time it instantly became by favorite Godzilla movie - despite not knowing who half the monsters even were. It's still my favorite to this day.

Godzilla's Revenge: This one was one of the last Showa Godzilla movies I saw, sometime late in 1988 or early 1989. This one aired on the Morgus show and since the film itself was so short the Morgus host segments were longer than normal. It was unbearable since I just wanted to see more Godzilla. I loved it at the time and I still get a big kick out of it.

Godzilla vs the Smog Monster: I think this one may have been the third Godzilla movie I ever saw. Like Destroy all Monsters I saw it on the Drive-In Movie on WNYW. I was obsessed with it for a long time and today I'm still fascinated by every aspect of it. It's trippy as all hell, off beat, insane, odd, bizarre and just plain weird and I loved every damn second of it. I still do. And when I was a kid I wanted that giant Bullmark Godzilla sooooo badly.

Godzilla vs Gigan: This is the Godzilla movie I thought I'd never see. By the middle of 1989 I had seen every Godzilla movie. But at the time this one was considered a lost film. That is, until New World Video put out the international version in 1989. Maybe it was the mere fact that it took me so long to see it but I loved it despite all it's flaws. It's still high on my list of favorites.

Godzilla vs Megalon: I got this one via the Goodtimes VHS from The Wiz (remember them?) Sadly the tape crapped out before the big battle, which annoyed the living hell out of me because I had never seen Gigan before and I was dying to. Thanks to that atrocious Jim Harmon book (which didn't caption any of it's photos) for a long time I thought Zone Fighter, Spilar and Wargilar were Jet Jaguar, Megalon and Gigan. Hey, back then good info was hard to come by.

Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster: Another one I saw via the "Drive-In Movie" but in this case I saw it a little later than most of the others. I loved it for a variety of reasons. I was fascinated by the graphic Mechagodzilla vs Angilas fight (even though I didn't like seeing Angilas get hurt), the music was enjoyable and I couldn't get enough of that King Seasar song.

Terror of Mechagodzilla: Aside from G'54 (which I don't remember) this was the first Godzilla I ever saw back in 1986. On a whim my grandmother taped it for me one Saturday afternoon and I remember walking into her house just as Godzilla popped up for the final battle. I was instantly hooked for life. This airing also had the original prologue attached to it and believe it or not I still have a copy of the original tape this was on. Like the tape with Destroy all Monsters I know one day the tape will stop working and I'll have to throw it out. I keep an original Japanese poster for the film right above my computer monitor because of how significant the movie is to me.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll come back later and talk a little about the Heisei and Millennium films after you guys take a shot at this thread. Anyone up for it?

EDIT: For anyone who is interested, here is the "Mogus Presents" opener:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3CXvj6ksh2Y

And here is a clip from the show itself:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pR8BG1iBlMs&feature=related

And here's are two versions of the "Drive In Movie" logo:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LaxMpLvOS0g
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rz7MDtDv6fA&feature=related

[Kaiju Nexus]

Uh, seriously?

Dude, I was like 7 or 8 by the time I'd seen every showa film. It's a blur. lol.

[Legion]

[Kaiju Nexus]

[lhb412]

Yay, fun!


Really, really early in my life (Im 20 years old now, so this was early 90s, probably 1992 but maybe '91) I walked into the room of my two cousins after having to spend the night at their house. This was possibly when my parents won tickets to see U2, but maybe it was a different time. The two were watching King Kong vs. Godzilla and it was the scene were Godzilla was attacking the train. I asked them what it was and they told me the title. I was a big fan of Kong because I had the 1933 movie on tape and it was a favorite... but in that moment I traded up.


When I got home I asked my dad why we didn't have any Godzilla movies and the next day he came home with the Goodtimes VHS tapes of King King vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Megalon. I apologize to Megalon fans, but the film didn't make a huge impression compared to the other. Megalon was brownish and a bit cheap while KKvG (that abreviation sounds like a real bad STD) was the colorful spectacle.

Anywho, the video rental stores (a few Mom and Pops and occasionally a Blockbuster) provided me with lots of video goodness from then on. Rodan was an absolute favorite of mine and I remember the creepiness of King of the Monsters as well as having something of a revernce for it because it was the first. I rented the original dub of Smog Monster from the same little shop as the first two (I also remember being absolutely perplexed by a video of "Spectraman" I rented there. For some reason this shop put their kid movies in the little back room where stores would typically put stuff like pornographty and snuff films. They also put the scary horror video covers in front so I had to close my eyes during many trips here. I was kind of like Indiana Jones getting the idol, you know?) I got Godzilla 1985 from Blockbuster several times and since that movie recieved a wide distribution it seemed every store had that tape (except the aforementioned place). That cover on the box was soooo cool to mine little eyes. I got Monster Zero from a store which I realize now was a front for gay prostitution. I only remembered the scene on Planet X and Ghidorah flying away at the end... and a lot of guys trying to not look nervous.

...wow, this is a bit raunchy for childhood remembrances ain't it?

The next video I actually got was King of the Monsters, which I got for a birthday.

Of course, this was around the time that TNT showed Godzilla movies all the time and I saw Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Ghidorah TTHM and Iremember seeing Godzilla's Revenge and Terror of Mechagodzilla only once during that channel's Godzilla marathon. For years I psychologically knew there were two Mechagodzilla films; Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and that other one I don't remember much about. Cartoon Network began showing the HB animated show as well. Oh, and I once watched Sea Monster all the way through on Disney channel back when Disney was a premium network that would troll itself for free for a few days to get you interested in buying it.

I taped both Godzilla vs. Gigan (as Godzilla on Monster Island) and King Kong Escapes off a premium channel like HBO or Showtime... and dad taped over them with football!

I rented Godzilla vs. Biollante around 1997, scared the pants off me but I was glad Godzilla survived the volcano at the end of G1985.

In the late 90s GINO came out and I got the Godzilla Compendium and I began actively searching out the films to own and made the switch from innocent little kid fan to adult-type fan that I am now (I know, only 10 years old and already spoiled of my innocence). Bought the VHS copies of all the aforementioned ones I didn't already have (Except for Smog Monster which I taped), ADV's Destory All Monsters tape, bootleg subtitled copy of Godzilla Raids Again, Sony began releasing the rest of the Heisie films, ect. I taped a horrendously edited Godzilla vs. The Thing off a local channel which was giving up free GINO movie tickets then got the Simitar VHS a year or two later.There was a moment where I had 'em all lined up on my shelf.

...then Toho decided to made more!

[kpa]

Great idea for a topic!

I’m too you to have caught most of the movies when they first played theaters, and too hold to see most of them for the first time on video. I grew up near Philadelphia in the 1970s, and Japanese science movies and shows were regularly aired on local TV stations. Before I reached kindergarten age I was familiar with Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Ultraman, and Gamera.

That makes it difficult to have specific memories of the first time I saw many of the Showa films… I do remember watching movies like GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS and RODAN, but I also recall that I’d already seen them. As far back as I can remember many of those films are there.

Here’s what I do remember…

GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER: I’d wanted to see this movie ever since reading about it in Famous Monsters and Monsters of the Movies back in the early 1970s. Around 1986 GIGANTIS finally returned to TV syndication and I was able to catch a late night broadcast.

KING KONG VS GODZILLA: I have great memories of seeing this one when I was 4-5 years old. It was playing one night on the “Late Late Showâ€

[RaptorG]

Well Let me see about mines:

Godzilla King of the Monsters: Well to be honest I watched this on TV and creid when Godzilla died at the end (hey was a young kid). didn't see it until 1991 I think.

Godzilla Raids Again: I caught this one on the Disney Channel late on night in 1993, I beg my Mom to let me see it even though I had school in the next morning.

King Kong vs. Godzilla: This is one of the ones I have never really saw until 1999. It was the hardest for me to fine or see, I have only seen it in books and though hearing about it from friends.

Mothra vs. Godzilla: When I saw this when TNT was having there monster movie thing. I only caught it when I saw mothra and some Japaneses People, I decided to just watch. To my amazement, Godzilla showed up under the ground.

Ghildorah: This is the first Godzilla movie I have ever seen, I just though that there were Dinosaurs fighting while a Three Headed Dragon came and fight them. I never really knew King Ghildorah's name until 5 to 6 years later when my friend told me about it. His name for me at the time was just the THREE HEADED DRAGON

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero: I loved this movie, It was one of the TNT Monster movie special that was shown back in the early 90s.

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster: I have only seen the end where Godzilla fights ebirah. I have a bad luck catching this film. I forgot how I saw this movie though?

Son of Godzilla: is the third Godzilla movie I have ever seen, I believe this was when My father started Hating Godzilla. From then on I had to beg my mom or watch Godzilla movies in hiding.

Destroy all Monster: This was the hardest movie to find. I found this movie at best buy in 1999 and bought it. It was the first time I seen it as well, Too bad it was the non extra ADV video on.

Godzilla Revenge: I sat and enjoyed this movie, I only started to hate it when I reached 14 years old and found how kiddy this movie was.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah: I caught this on the Sci-Fi, this was also one of the hardest movies I was trying to find. I didn't see it until 1998 when everyone was in the Gino phase.

Godzilla vs. Gigan: The secound Godzilla movie I have seen. I love this master pieces of a movie. (hey I was a kid )

Godzilla vs. Megalon: I can't believe I used to sing the ending Song from this movie, My god This movie was one of the movies I caught in the TNT monster movie special.

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla: I never knew there was a Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla. I have only seen Terror of MechaGodzilla and when I first saw this movie I was like WTF? I saw this movie from a friends house during the Gino phase.

Terror of MechaGodzilla: I liked this movie, It was the 4th Godzilla movie I've seen I think. I think this is when I started to think there was around 100 Godzilla movies that was out there and I wanted them all.

[RaptorG]

Godzilla 1985: I actually thought this was the Final Godzilla movie. When I first saw this movie I loved how Godzilla's look changed. It was for the first time that I seen the "Bad Guy" side of Godzilla. All of the Showa movie I have alway seen Godzilla as a Good Guy, even in Mothra vs. Godzilla too. I guess the 70s Godzilla movie can brain wash a kid huh.

From then on movies in the 90s were just a ghost until they started to appear in stores like K-mart, and best buy. everything else is history I guess.

[Xenorama]

my first Godzilla movie was also my first King Kong movie, back in 1971 or so, in the theater. then i saw SMOG MONSTER on tv in late 72, and that was followed by GODZILLA'S REVENGE and DAM.

by the time VHS happened, i'd seen all the Showa movies on tv or the big screen.

David (older than KPA, it seems! )

[Legion]

Great posts everyone.

I suppose I'll talk about the rest of the series now:

Godzilla 1985: I saw this one after I had already seen a bunch of the "good guy" Godzilla movies. I might have actually seen the film's television premiere because I remember the TV spots being a very big deal. Both Dr. Pepper commercials aired during the movie and "Bambi Meets Godzilla" was shown before it. Unfortunately I didn't like this one at all as a kid and the first time I saw it the ending made me hysterical. The movie played Godzilla's defeat to be so incredibly sad that as a little kid I simply lost it. Today the ending is as lame as hell (Godzilla is the bad guy, why is everyone crying?) but what did I know back then? I was 7.

Godzilla vs Biollante: I wasn't aware of this one until I ran across a mention of it in some horror magazine sometime in 1990. Soon after I was lucky enough to find a murky-looking bootleg of it at a nostalgia convention nearby. It was the first time I had ever seen a Godzilla movie in it's original language. I was thrown a little, but I got into it.

Godzilla vs King Ghidora: If I hadn't discovered the Yaohan Plaza in New Jersey I wonder how long it would have taken me to find out about the rest of the Heisei movies. I saw pictures of Mecahaghidora in some Japanese books the summer of 1991, making Godzilla vs King Ghidora the first G film I was aware of before it was actually released. I didn't actually see the movie until the following summer when the Plaza's video store got a copy of it. I'm assuming it was a bootleg. All their movies were. Sadly, the Yaohan Plaza visit was the first stop on a weekend long trip to Atlantic City. It killed me that I had to wait a whole weekend to see this film.

Godzilla vs Mothra: Pretty much the same story as the last movie. I knew about the movie well before it was released and finally saw it thanks to the Yaohan Plaza's video store in the Summer of 1993

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and Godzilla vs Space Godzilla: This is where everything changed. I discovered the fanzine "Kaiju Review" just as Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla started production. For some reason though I didn't get the film until the Fall of 1994, thanks to a bootleg company who will remain nameless. By the time Godzilla vs Space Godzilla was in release I had discovered G-Fan. Again, I saw Space Godzilla in the summer of 1995 thanks to yet another bootleg (probably by the same company). I defy anyone who was a Godzilla fan in the 1990s to tell me they didn't own a bootleg of some sort back then. LOL

Godzilla vs Destroyah: By the time this one came out G-Fan was just getting extremely popular. There had already been one G-Con and more and more fans were entering the hobby and now had an outlet to discuss the movies. It was truly one of the best times to be a Godzilla fan. The hype for this one was insane and everyone was excited about it. There was no way I was waiting until the following Summer to see it. I ended up getting a theater boot mere weeks after the film's release. I really liked it then and I still pretty much like it now. The Heisei series hasn't aged all that well to be honest, but this one is still my favorite.

Of course by 1996 I had finally gotten the internet, and obviously with endless information at my fingertips it was easy to get up to the minute information on the newest Godzilla movies. I look at it as the end of an era.

Godzilla 2000: By the time this one came out I was in college, and having a rough time of it. My dad had passed away in 1997 and my mother had just gotten sick (she passed in 2003) so my interest in keeping up with Godzilla was put on the back burner for a while. Like many people I first saw the film when it was released over here in August of 2000. And I didn't really like it much, so I only saw it once. It was years before I even bothered to pick up the Japanese version. I still don't like it very much to be honest.

Godzilla X Megagiras: I was going through so much unpleasant stuff when this movie was first released that I just skipped it outright and didn't even see it until late in 2002, a full two years after it was released.

GMK: This one I had to see right away, because there was so much hype about it. It felt like this movie was going to be big, so I knew I had to see it ASAP. So I saw it via a theater boot in the Spring on 2002. It would be the last time I'd resort to a boot to see a new Godzilla movie, thankfully. At the time I thought it was the be-all, end-all of all Godzilla movies. It's been a few years and I still like it, just not as much as I did. But that's true of everything that wasn't made between 1954 and 1975.

Godzilla X Mechagodzilla: Picked up Toho's own R2 release of this one as soon as it came out.

Tokyo SOS: One of the coolest experiences in all my years in this fandom was the surprise screening of this movie at G-Fest in 2004. It was a fantastic surprise and a great way to see the film for the first time. It isn't perfect but for a variety of reasons it's my favorite Millennium film. I'm also glad I was able to share the experience with my sister, who accompanied me to the show that year before moving away mere days after we got back from the trip. Things change and life goes on. Too bad the next movie sucked so badly.

Final Wars: I'm going to go out and say that even though I probably could have gotten into that LA screening with everyone else who weaseled their way in I'm really glad I didn't waste the time and money doing so. Instead I just waiting until it popped up at a film festival in NYC in May of 2005. Meh. And then I saw it in a theater again at G-Fest that Summer. Of all the Godzilla movies I ended up seeing twice in a theater it had to be Final Wars, right? LOL

Mike (not as old as David or Keith, but getting there anyway)

[gojira_fan]

Godzilla 1954:
I saw this on TV in 1974 or 75 when I was 6/7, but it was KOTM. I remember TV Guide had a big two page advertisement for the film. There was some late night sci-fi or horror show that came on Friday nights out of Seattle I believe. At the time I was living in Washington.

In 1978 when we were living in Germany there was a Saturday night show, The Fantastic Film was the translation I think. They used to show all of the old horror, sci-fi films. Granted they were dubbed into German but I saw alot of the films I used to read about. Anyhoo Godzilla was the film one night and it happened to be the original version. That was a real treat.

Godzilla Raids Again:
Didn't see this one until 1988 or 89 when it was issued on VHS by Good Times or whatever the name was. Of course it was the US version. Saw the original on the Classic Media DVD.

King Kong vs Godzilla: Saw this on TV one Saturday afternoon back in 1975 I believe. Finally saw the original version a couple of years ago

Godzilla vs the Thing:
Saw this for the first time on WTBS in 1988. Saw the original version for the first time on the Classic Media DVD.

Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster:
Saw this on TV in 1986 or 87 on WTBS. Saw the original on the CM DVD.

Monster Zero: Had the old Paramount VHS release. CM DVD was first viewing of original.

Godzilla vs the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla:
Both aired on WTBS in the 80's I think. Actually I may have had the VHS releases as well. Sony DVD's were my first viewing of the originals.

Destroy all Monsters:
I think I may have saw this in the theatre in the mid 70's. I know I stayed up late on a weekend in 1983 or 84 to see this film at 2:00 am on WTBS. I've never seen the original version.

Godzilla's Revenge:
Saw this on TV in 1976. Didn't really like it then and hasn't been a favorite. Finally watched the original on CM DVD.

Godzilla vs the Smog Monster:
Saw this during a triple Godzilla feature on WGN that aired Thanksgiving weekend of 1981 or 1982 I think. The Sony DVD was my first viewing of the original.

Godzilla vs Gigan:
I saw this in the the theatre in 1978 I think. It was under the title of Godzilla On Monster Island. Saw the original version when Sony released it.

Godzilla vs Megalon:
I think I saw this one in the mid 70's on Armed Forces TV when we lived in Germany. Have yet to see the original.

Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster:
Saw this in the theatre in the mid 70's. Sony DVD was first viewing of original.

Terror of Mechagodzilla:
Saw this on TV finally in 1985. The versionI saw did not have the opening prologue that was added. CM DVD was first viewing of original.

Godzilla 1985:
Went and saw this opening day in the summer of 1985. I had found out they were making it in an issue of Starlog. I remember Bambi vs Godzilla aired before it. Saw the original several years ago.

Godzilla vs Biollante:
Found out about this film in 1992 and had a friend record it for me when it aired on Cinemax in 1993 I believe. Have yet to see the original.

Godzilla vs King Ghidora:
Saw a feature about this and Godzilla vs Mothra on E.T. in 1992. Didn't see the movies until 1996. Still haven't seen the original version of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.

Godzilla vs Mothra:
See above.

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs Space Godzillaand Godzilla vs Destroyah:
By the time I was up to date on the films and and like Legion had my sources thru a bootleg company who will remain nameless. This was also the period when I discovered Club Daikaiju and found out in Starlog Magazine that Futureland Records was going to release all the Godzilla scores.

The versions I saw of those 3 films were the Japanese versions.

Godzilla 2000:
Saw this in theatres when it was released in the US. Have yet to see the original.

Godzilla X Megagiras, GMK,Godzilla X Mechagodzilla, Tokyo SOS and Final Wars:
Basically saw all these films when Sony issued them on DVD

[kpa]

[kidnicky]

[Dagarah72]

This is a cool thread Legion.

Godzilla 54 Saw it at about age 7 or 8. It was playing during a weeklong monster movie marathon on tv. I thought it was somber and sad, but would still watch it every time it came on tv.

Godzilla Raids Again Saw it on tv at about age 10. It was the Americanized Gigantis The Fire Monster and for a while I believed that Godzilla & Gigantis were 2 different monsters. I thought it was ok as a kid.

King Kong vs. Godzilla There used to be this program that would air in the California bay area called the Monstrous Movie on channel 44, a station from San Francisco. It would air every Saturday at about noon. That's where I first remember watching this. I loved this movie as a kid.

Godzilla vs. Mothra Ditto as above. I saw it under the title Godzilla vs. The Thing. I always loved Godzilla in this movie as a kid.

Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster Saw this at about age 11 on tv. This was one of my favorite Godzilla movies back then.

Monster Zero Saw this on a Saturday on tv on Channel 2, a San Francisco station. I loved this one, althought not as much as Ghidorah.

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster This was the first Godzilla movie I saw. I still have vague memories of watching it on tv. All I remembered was that he fought a giant lobster and there was a lot of rain. I didn't see it again until about age 12 when it aired on tv again. I loved it when I saw it later, thought Ebirah was the coolest crustacean.

Son of Godzilla Saw this at about age 13 when it aired on tv. First impressions were that Godzilla was butt ugly and the mantises were way cool.

Destroy All Monsters I didn't see this until my mid twenties when I bought a VHS of it. I'd been wanting to watch it since I was a kid and read Ian Thorne's book Godzilla Monster of the Rising Sun. For the longest time it seemed like the Lost Ark of Godzilla films. I loved seeing Manda in action during the attack on Tokyo, the final fight was funny, especially when Gorosaurus knocks Ghidorah on it's ass. I was disappointed that Varan & Baragon got so little screen time but shortly after I read about the film and found out why.

Godzilla's Revenge Saw this as a kid on tv at about age 11. I loved it for the footage of Godzilla and Manda from DAM.

Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster I finally got to see this at about age 13. Even though it was weirder than any other Godzilla movie I had seen before I loved it, loved Hedorah and all of it's forms.

Godzilla vs. Gigan Saw this on tv at about age 8 on a Saturday. Back then it would air as Godzilla On Monster Island. This was a childhood favorite.

Godzilla vs. Megalon This was the 2nd Godzilla movie I remember seeing at a very young age. I just remember some goofy monsters and a robot. I finally saw it later at age 12 late one night on tv and loved it, immediately loved Megalon!

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla Saw this at age 13. It played on tv one Saturday night at 10pm. I remember that day I went to a party at my sister's house and then made sure I came home early enough to watch it. I loved it, thought King Seesar was neat. It aired under the title Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster.

Terror of Mechagodzilla First saw this at age 7 on tv during a weekly monster movie marathon. It would play frequently on tv when I was a kid, and back then they showed it with depressing ending with Katsura shooting herself. Then in the later 80's when it started airing on tv and was available on VHS I felt jipped that they cut out that ending.

Godzilla 1985 Saw this on tv one night. It was the Americanized version. I enjoyed it. I didn't see the Japanese version until the mid nineties, which I enjoyed more.

Godzilla vs. Biollante I saw this in the early nineties on tv. It aired on Showtime. I thought Biollante was a cool kaiju.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla vs. Mothra 92, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Destroyah I saw these all in the late 90's when I discovered that there were more Godzilla movies that were made that I didn't know about. I ordered them all from some catalogue called Video Screams that had a bunch of hard to find, not available titles. I was hella excited. Thought Ghidorah was cheesy, but I did love MechaGhidorah, hated Mechagodzilla's design but enjoyed the movie, especially the Godzilla Rodan fight, enjoyed Mothra (especially Battra), thought Space Godzilla was a cool monster but the movie was goofy, I really enjoyed Destroyah, thought it was a great movie. I got to see them all in japanese with subtitles, except for Ghidorah, whose English dubbing only added to the cheesiness.

Godzilla 2000 Saw this at the movie theatres when it was released here in the states. I enjoyed it, although I thought the dubbing was corny at times. I loved Godzilla's new design.

Godzilla x Megaguirus I picked up a boot copy of this at some dealer shop about a year after it's japanese release. I enjoyed it, thought it was a fun movie and more entertaining that G2000.

GMK Same deal as above, I LOVED it! Loved Godzilla's design, loved the sense of humor (the hospital scene), loved the monster fights, loved the characters. It's still a favorite.

Godzilla x Mechagodzilla & Tokyo SOS Picked up boot copies from the same dealer about 6 months after their initial release. I loved Mechagodzilla's new design but was not impressed with the first film. I enjoyed Tokyo SOS much more. I also didn't care much for Godzilla's new design.

Final Wars Saw this at the Roxie Cinema in SF as part of their Another Hole In The Head film festival. I enjoyed it, thought it was a lot of fun. I had already read a lot of reviews and knew that it was hated by many, so I didn't go in expecting a lot and that probably helped me to enjoy it more. I loved Godzilla, loved Rodan, Anguirus, Gigan, Ebirah & Manda. I was disappointed that Hedorah was on for about 10 seconds. I thought King Seesar's new look made him extremely ugly. I thought Monster X and Keizer Ghidorah were so-so. I didn't care much for Minya or Kamakuras. I also found Kumonga/Spiega to be plain looking.


Ricky

[godziwolf]

[walshbeme]

[mechagigan]

The first G film I can remember seeing is Godzilla Vs Smog Monster. This was airing late Saturday night, being hosted by a "ghoul host" by the name of Sammy Terry. Those living in Indiana back in the 80's probably remember him. I only recall bits and pieces, but it stuck in my mind. I think I was 6 or 7 y/o. After that, I recall seeing Megalon and possibly Gigan being aired on weekend afternoons. I also remember watching the UPA Godzilla films on TNT's Monster Vision. Those marathons were great! The rest of the G films I bought on VHS at a local K-mart. They used to have a LOT of G films on VHS. I remember getting Godzilla Raids Again, GKOTM, double pack of Gigan / Mechagodzilla, Sea Monster, etc... Most of these were the Video Treasures VHS tapes. At any rate, when the other films came out on DVD, I would pick them up on release day, or soon there after.

One last thing, I remember back when Biollante came out. I think it was HBO showing it and at the time, we didn't get the channel. So I tried to watch it all scrambled. lol. Didn't work, but it did peak my curiosity and I would eventually track it down.

[Andrew Nguyen]

For me, I saw many of the films when I was in the 2nd grade. Most of the films that I saw when I was younger was due to the fact that on KCAL, they used to have this program called Godzilla Theater back in the early 1990s.


The films that were on this program were these.

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.
Mothra vs Godzilla
Godzilla's Revenge
Terror of Mecha-Godzilla
Godzilla 1985


Now being a G-fan, I started going on a hunting spree for the rest of the films with my next one being Godzilla vs Megalon and then followed by Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla.

Also around that time, I also manged to get a hold of a VHS copy of Godzilla vs. Biolantte when one of the local video rental stores had it among its collection.

The next batch came with the films Godzilla Raids Again, Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.

After getting confirmation through G-Fan magazine, I started to hunt down the Heisei tapes with the first one being Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla II which was then followed by Godzilla vs. Destroyoah. I'm not sure about the exact order of how I got the rest of the Heisei tapes.

The next film that I got a hold of was Destroy All Monsters.

Next stop for me was Godzilla 2000 which I watched in theaters a few days after it was released here in America.

I would have to wait some time before I would get to watch the rest of the Millenium Godzilla series. First up was GMK which I got through a DVD via somewhat questionable means. Fortunately the surprising announcement came through that Sony was releasing legitimate copies of the Godzilla movies on DVD. I immediately got a replacement copy of GMK as a result.

While I saw GodzillaxMegagirus on the Sci-Fi channel, the rest of the films that were left were that I saw them on DVD when they came out here in the states.

[Gwangi]

[Mac]

[OtiGoji]