A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series

[king_ghidorah]

[Legion]

[king_ghidorah]

[Benjamin Haines]

[gila-monster]

The book is called a critical history, not an illustrated history. Pictures aren't mandatory in a book that is essentially essays on all the films, and then some. Also, I wouldn't imagine paying for the rights to use any useful pictures would have been worth it for something like this, as the price of the book would go up not only because of the pictures, but because of extra pages. However, I am a bit sceptical on picking this up, simply for his notoriety for error.

[MouthForWar]

Some of the best books on the genre (like Galbraith's "Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films") are picture free. Even Steve Ryfle's "Japan's Favorite Mon-Star" is LARGELY picture free, and that's probably the best book ever written on the series.

[Legion]

[king_ghidorah]

[kpa]

[Drax]

Aside from a few typos and the odd time I disagreed with the author, this was a wonderful intellectual discussion on the films and the cultural influences that moulded the films into what they became, based on contemporary zeitgeists.

You guys looking for production histories and pretty pictures are reading the wrong book; Kalat's essays are juicy reading for someone interested in approaching Godzilla films from a critical theory perspective. I only managed to read the first chapter of In Godzilla's Footsteps because I had to return it to the university library, but I think I'll just buy it. I love collecting these pieces of knowledge dancing.

[TripMasterMunky]

[Gohi]

[kiryugoji04]

Been wanting this for a couple of years ever since getting to flip through a friend's copy and finally managed to get one reasonably cheap when my girlfriend and I were at his house last week and discovered he accidentally purchased two copies somehow! It's not perfect but it's an erudite, well-articulated take on the material. Even when I don't 100% agree with some of Kalat's criticism, I love reading books that take a more scholarly (and net-positive!) approach to the genre. I really enjoy the deep dives into the minutia of the films' productions, even if sometimes I wish those dives were deeper still. The old criticisms of the book being completely devoid of photos make sense if you really wanted this to be a single, end-all Godzilla book, I guess(?), and while that was one of the main aspects that made me avoid many of these excellent books as a child/teenager, as an adult(?), I now see that as unrealistic to me given the expense of licensing stills from Toho. It's also, to me, unnecessary. As a deep-dive, scholarly addition to a much more comprehensive library, it's fantastic.

[lhb412]

I should really pick this up. Loved Kalat's articles when he wrote for the TCM blog (including some new Godzilla-related ones), as well as his commentaries for Criterion's Godzilla release.

As is, the only in-depth book on the series I've read is Ryfle's book! It'd be great to have a big, genre-encompassing book now that kaiju movies are more popular than they've been in decades.

[kiryugoji04]

[lhb412]

My dream for an English language kaiju book is... two books: one a coffee-table style thing full of stills, concept art, etc. with input for Toho, Kadokawa, Tsubruaya and anyone else; the other just a big fat book of articles and essays on various subjects with multiple contributors.

In my mind the books would be companions to each other, with the first laying out the chronology, studios, the big names behind and in front of the camera, and other meat-and-potatoes facts whole the second book is about going in-depth on things: info on the making of the films, interviews, criticism...

[Gman2887]

[lhb412]

Just received Kalat's book as an early birthday present and in the half hour I've had it in my hands I've jumped to different parts and I can already say that I love it.

[lhb412]

FYI, the paperback version of this book has come out recently. It's real good!