Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

by **megalon** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 12:15 pm

I really like this one.Yes,there are a great deal of flaws,such as the often badly inserted stock footage[the destruction of Tokyo is helarious as it goes from day to night to day,and Ghidorah goes from being really fierce to looking half-asleep],bit it is tremendous fun.The monsters talking is like the flying Godzilla form G V H,really silly but so wacky you can't help but like it.Sure,this film and others are a million miles away from the serious Godzilla films and offend some fans but many people,myself included,started off with these films.I loved cheering Godzilla as he defended Earth from evil aliens and monsters.This film is also memorabe for probably the longest Godzilla battle ever and it's great score,I know it's stock music,some of it from other G films but it makes for a great listen and themain title theme is truly rousing.

by **Xenorama** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 1:10 pm

by **madflavor** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 1:46 pm

the 2nd godzilla movie i watched in my life was this one, 1st being godzilla vs sea monster, but it had its moments, and gigan made godzilla bleed so it had a pretti intense battle.

by **Jiger X** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 4:55 pm

by **JordanGLC** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 8:30 pm

Wow. A lot of love for this movie apparently. In my opinion, it is the low ebb of the Showa series. I have to admit I haven't watched it in awhile, so maybe I'll dust off the tape and give it a look-see.

by **August** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 6:06 am

About the object in the showroom window -- its is indeed a mannequin. There are similar shots in movies like RODAN and MOTHRA.

Peace!

by **Legion** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 8:59 pm

by **CyHunter** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 9:23 pm

by **anguirus23** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 9:34 pm

by **Baragon** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 12:00 pm

by **Megazor** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:20 pm

by **Hybrid Gojira** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 11:26 pm

by **Xenorama** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:37 am

by **Shokara** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:57 am

by **musukogoji** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 2:28 pm

by **Stadawim** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 2:02 pm

Pros and cons. Pros and cons.

I like the 'bloodied' Godzilla. The wrathful Gigan with his buzzsaw and his distaste for Japanese life. But the design of the monster left something to be desired i thought. How awkward it must've been to walk around with giant claws for feet.

And monsters talking? Come on! :roll:

by **The Reverend Tegoth** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 7:57 am

Godzilla vs. Gigan (Dubbed in English, Brand New Starmaker VHS)

Recently I won an ebay auction for the old Starmaker videotape set of Godzilla films.

Since the only movie I owned in the set was Godzilla 1985, and since I hadn't seen the rest in ages I figured the set would be a cheap, fun time killer until I got around to buying the Japanese versions of the films.

My girlfriend and I watch the movies together (she's an anime fan and I got her into the Heisei series originally, but exposure to the other monsters in the X-Box Godzilla game made her more interested in seeing the Showa series as well) and her favorite monster is Anguirus while mine is Gigan, so I think you can guess which movie we watched first.

First, about the tape: This version is God-awful. While the dubbing is actually pretty good (surprisingly so), the overall quality is horrifying. The pan and scan makes it next to impossible to tell just what the heck is going on in many of the fight scenes, and the picture varies wildly between "meh" and "totally craptastic" as the film goes back and forth between original material and stock footage.

This film would have easily been a whole lot easier to watch with a better looking letterboxed picture, that's for freakin' sure.

Anyway, I found the movie to be good fun. Goofy, likable characters help make up for the unimaginitive alien invaders that never really manage to be anything more then two dimensional mustache twirling bad guys. You've got to love our ragtag group of heroes that consists of members such as the manga artist, the fat-and-constantly-eating-hippie, and the kung fu girlfriend from Hell.

Can't say I much care for the Godzilla suit though (or the return of that Son of Godzilla bloated cookie monster suit for the water scenes..... no offense to the board member Musukogoji - to each their own

). Besides the fact that the suit has a really.... awkward looking neck, it is visibly fraying apart during the film.

Likewise Ghidorah is looking kind of.... tranquilized. It's interesting to see how much better the effects crew of the movies in the stock footage were at utilizing Ghidorah then the effects crew of this film. I won't even get started on the stupid little toy Ghidorah they used for the flying scenes.

Anguirus just looked kind of "meh." I don't know if he also had a different "water" suit or not, but he tended to look better on the land scenes.

Gigan, however, was awesome, and everything I remembered him to be. A very cool design, and a very well done suit. Deserving of a much, much better movie.

As far as the fight itself, well what I could see of it was very cool. The Godzilla and Gigan one-on-one match up was just brutal. Lots of grappling punctuated by the occassional bright red spray of blood or blue spray of flame.

I also loved the Godzilla/Anguirus team up on King Ghidorah. Classic.

Overall, Godzilla vs. Gigan could be a fun little flick. Three things hold it back more then anything: The quality of the tape, the continuous and obvious use of stock footage, and the horrifying Ghidorah flying model. More then anything else it is these things that distracted me from the otherwise good time I was having with the picture.

So overall score (of this particular version of the film): ** out of *****

by **Shokara** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 8:29 am

Don't forget that Toho's widescreen, uncut international print of this movie will be shown on the Sci-Fi Channel Monday, January 19th, A.D.2004 (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday) at 10:00 A.M. Eastern (check your local listings).

by **GFan** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 8:37 pm

by **GiganX** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:40 pm

by **Legion** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:46 pm

by **Robert Saint John** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 2:15 pm

I've got to say, seeing a nice clean widescreen print does help make this film much more entertaining! It was hard to break away and go to work this morning.

by **Garasharp K7** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:51 pm

I know it's often mentioned that Gigan is a good monster in a bad movie, but I couldn't picture the monster in any other film than this one and 'Godzilla vs. Megalon' - except maybe on Ultraman, Spectreman and of course, Zone Fighter.

Gigan just wouldn't fit in a 'serious' feature at all, I think. He'd be right out of place in any of the '90's films or the current series. Could you imagine the contrived explanations used to show why the Japanese military have a one eyed, buzzsaw-bellied scythe-handed cyber-chicken at their disposal?
I'm not sure what it would be, but you can bet it would have something to do with G-cells...

by **CyHunter** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:55 pm

^^In my story, Gigan was created millenia ago in the image of a primitive "god"-figure to enforce compliance and fear into natives.

by **Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:02 pm

^^

In my Story Gigan was a creature employed by the Space Pirates Balban, to destroy Star Beast Taskfroce Gingaman, but was destroyed by the Combined efforts of Gingaioh, Ginga Rhinos, Ginga Pheonix, and Gotaurus.

*nod nod*

Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Godzilla Vs. Gigan

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