Godzilla-gala (Part 2)

All right, NOW Heisei series.
(Sorry for the fake-out last time).


Godzilla 1985 (1985)

The film-

A reboot that ignores everything after the original 1954 "Godzilla".

Here, as with "Godzilla Raids Again", we have another replacement Godzilla, since, again, the original was Alka-Seltzer-ed by the oxygen destroyer.

Godzilla smashes Tokyo again, this time with more badass affects, and a scarier animatronic head for the suit.

The history-

HBO when it came out.


Godzilla vs Biolante (1989)

The film-

After a four year absence, in which I almost forgot Godzilla, they finally churned this one out.

So, here, Nu-Godzilla fights his first monster.
And, it's a fuckin' doozie!

Think Audrey II on steroids and crack.

Yes, some nutjob/idjit splices Godzilla's immortal regenerating cells with a flower, and creates a giant pissed off Godzilla-plant.

Godzilla gets messed up pretty bad by this thing, it's kind of disturbing if you grew up on this character.
Like seeing Big Bird get mutilated in an official sanctioned Sesame Street episode.

The history-

We didn't get this for awhile in the states, I rented it the first time, and watched it with Hyla and the gang in oh.. '95/'96, I think.


Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991)

The film-

Godzilla fights Ghidorah for the first time in this new universe, and he's got quite the origin this time around.

Time travelers from the future offer to get rid of Godzilla, so, go back in time, and prevent the Godzillasaurus from being thawed out and mutated by H-bomb tests in the 50's.

But, they leave behind little genetically engineered cutesie one-headead teddy-bear sized Ghidorahs, and they get mutated instead, and fuse into the 3-headed Ghidorah, so, Ghidorah takes Godzilla's place in history, and the (now revealed to be evil) time travelers have Ghidorah as a terror weapon, and Japan's lost Godzilla as a defense.

So, the Japanese government simply nukes Godzillasaurus with a modern nuke weapon off a submarine, and creates an even stronger and nastier Godzilla!

Godzilla fights Ghidorah, and kills his middle head.

But, the time travelers dig up his carcass in the future, graft on a bionic middle head, and put a cockpit in his chest to work it, and send him back moments after his defeat.

Godzilla wins again anyway.

The history-

Okay, this is messed up, but everything after "Biolante", was never released on home video in the states until the early 00's to cash in on the '98 Emmerich disaster.

I had nooo fucking knowledge of them, until stumbling upon, and buying, a paper-book Godzilla guide that had 'em all up to '95.

And, until the 00's, I had no hopes of them coming over here to our shores, so, I just pined away at the posters and descriptions in that book.
Now, you can get them on DVD, and Spike TV marathons them once in awhile.

I've seen them all now.
They're fucking great.
Would've worshiped them as a kid.


Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth (1992)

The film-

Mothra is back!

And...she hands Godzilla his ass like the first time....

The fairy girls are back too.

The history-

See "King Ghidorah".


Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993)

The film-

Godzilla's greatest villain returns!

A special anti-Godzilla UN taskforce is formed, and they salvage the tech from Mecha-King-Ghidorah, and use it to build Mechagodzilla.

Rodan shows up, and a baby-Godzilla hatches.
(They don't name it Minyah this time)

The government tries to bait Godzilla with Baby-G, but Rodan foils their plan, and heals him with some of his radiation, which also upgrades his flame to even stronger.

Rodan and Godzilla fight Mechagodzilla, and even an upgraded transformer-merged Super-Mechagodzilla.

A victorious Godzilla adopts Baby-G, and all is well.

The history-

Again, see "King Ghidorah".


Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994)

The film-

Okay, so, at the end of "..vs Biolante", Biolante dissociated into a cloud of pollen, and floated out into space.
(Course..the timewarps in "King Ghidorah", should have erased that, but, whatever)

Well, those Godzilla cells encountered a blackhole that mutated and cloned those cells into SpaceGodzilla, a giant blue Godzilla with glowing crystalline horn things, who immediately teleports himself back to Earth.

Godzilla, and a new robot, Moguera, team up against SpaceGodzilla, and ultimately prevail.
It's sort of an echo of the Jet Jaguar teamup in "vs Megalon".
Exept, Moguera looks more like a transformer type thingy with a beak face.

Baby-G sits this outing out frozen in SpaceGodzilla generated crystal, but is freed at the end.

The history-

Another ditto for "King Ghidorah".


Godzilla vs Destoroyah (1995)

The film-

Brings it full-circle back to the 1954 "Godzilla".

Turns out, the oxygen destroyer mutated random sealife into these spidery crab things, that merged, and grew into Destoroyah.

I'll spoil it, Godzilla dies.
But, we learn of his looming bad health from the start of the flick.

His heart, it turns out, is like a nuclear reactor, and, all the injuries, and regenerations, and over-powered recharges, from all the previous fights, have finally sent it into meltdown.

So, Godzilla faces his final fight, with his ultimate villain, doomed anyway.

In the end, he does melt down, but releases his energy to heal Godzilla-Junior, and turns him into the next Godzilla, rising pheonix-like from daddy's ashes.

The history-

A final ditto for "King Ghidorah".


Yeah, these were pretty good.
I dug 'em.

A shame I didn't get to enjoy them in the 90's.
I dunno what was up with that.
Did we have a falling out with Toho, or, Japan in general?
What was the deal?

Eh, whatever, it was resolved, whatever it was.

Up next, Millennium series.