After
all those Universal monsters, you really didn't think I was gonna skip this guy, didja?
Hmm, I kind of bemoaned in the long intro to
this one, that the 60's didn't have a famous monster.
Well, I think Godzilla carries it through pretty well.
Yep, that bridges the gap.
Anyway, The King Of The Monsters, Godzilla.
The Showa series...
Godzilla (1954)
The film-
A.K.A "Gojira". A.K.A. "Godzilla, King Of The Monsters".
Black and white, Gojira is a mix of man-in-suit, puppets, and stop-motion.
And, Gojira represents...The United States.
Very dark and moody, quite possibly my favorite.
Godzilla destroys Tokyo.
What more did you need for the first one?
The history-
Grew up on these, along with the Universals, and Hammers.
Man, I miss the USA and Channel 56 creature-features.
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
The film-
Since Godzilla/Gojira was dissolved by the oxygen destroyer in the first one, this is a second member of the Godzilla species, and this is the Godzilla that carries through until 1975.
Here, Godzilla fights his first monster, Anguirus.
And, Tokyo is flattened again.
The history-
Ditto "Godzilla".
King-Kong vs Godzilla (1962)
The film-
The first color Godzilla, and the first crossover battle since "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman".
Hmm, "King-Kong vs Godzilla", happened straight away as Godzilla 3.
Could've sworn it happened much later in the series.
Huh.
The US version is cut so it looks like King-Kong won.
All the drugs in meee! All the bugs in meee! How caaan I liiive without yooouu?
Bada badda dada bah-dah dadada!!
The history-
I made this tussle the central metaphor of my weird failed stab at...I dunno, a pop-psychology book, or something.
Covered this in "The Crumple Shit".
Although...if I pretended the suckage was intentional...I could package that bullshit up as a parody of a pop-psychology book.
Hell, what am I saying?
I could probably sell it as the real thing...hmm...
Anyway, also, double-ditto "Godzilla".
Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)
The film-
These two would be joined at the hip forevermore.
Mothra is Joker to Godzilla's Batman.
Peanut butter to his jelly.
Anyway, this!
The history-
Triple ditto "Godzilla".
Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster
(1964)
The film-
The first one where Godzilla switches from monster, to hero.
Here, Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan team up against Ghidra/Ghidora.
The history-
Quadruple ditto "Godzilla".
Godzilla vs Monster Zero (1965)
The film-
Aliens control Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah, and their name for Ghidora is "Monster Zero".
The Japanese military breaks the control, and Godzilla, and Rodan fight Ghidorah again.
The history-
Quintuple ditto "Godzilla".
Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (1966)
The film-
Godzilla fights a giant lobster thing, and Mothra shows up at the end.
The history-
More ditto.
Son Of Godzilla (1967)
The film-
A buried egg hatches out a baby Godzilla, Minyah, and Godzilla adopts it, and teaches it monsters skills.
They fight some giant mantis's and a giant spider that comes to eat the mantis carcasses.
The history-
More ditto.
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
The film-
Aliens intervene again, and all the monsters ever up 'til this point fight.
It's a muthafuckin' cataclysm.
No, those white things aren't image-file glitches, they're little name scrolls in Japanese of all the monsters.
The history-
More ditto.
All Monsters Attack (1969)
The film-
A.K.A. "Godzilla's Revenge".
The shittiest one of this series, and possibly one of the worst movies ever.
A clip show of other sequels, especially of "Son of Godzilla", and "Destroy All Monsters".
The monster fights are all daydream sequences of a little boy who gets picked on at school.
Minyah shrinks down, and speaks to the boy.
It's really stupid.
Words can't describe.
Even taking into account it's meant for kids.
The 60's go out on a whimper.
The history-
More ditto.
Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971)
The film-
A.K.A. "Godzilla vs The Smog Monster".
Here, Godzilla becomes Woodsy Owl, and fights the embodiment of pollution.
The fight is very much like "Godzilla vs Destoroyah", 24 years later.
Hey, with almost 30 of these fuckin' things, some shit was bound to repeat.
Hmm...now they need to update this one where Godzilla fights a giant radioactive climate-denialist. ;)
The history-
Ditto all those other dittos.
Godzilla vs Gigan (1972)
The film-
A.K.A. "Godzilla On Monster Island".
Godzilla, and Anguirus (from way back in "Godzilla Raids Again") team up vs Ghidorah, and Gigan.
Again, controlling aliens are to blame.
Godzilla communicates with Anguirus, and we hear them in English.
The only time Godzilla is heard to speak in the whole series.
The history-
Ditto that last ditto.
Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
The film-
Somehow, this one is in the public domain.
So...it's everywhere.
You can download it without getting in trouble, I'm sure it's on Youtube, toward the waning days of VHS, you could buy it for a penny, it's well.. everywhere..
I even had a copy of it kicking around for awhile.
MST3K did this one, and did jokes about it being public domain.
It's a good one.
Damned good entry point for new fans.
Here, Godzilla teams up with an android, called Jet Jaguar (who can grow to giant size) against Megalon (a sort of scarab beetle looking thing) and Gigan.
You got everything going on here that makes a Godzilla flick fun.
Even a deliciously corny song at the end.
The history-
Yeah, ol' Jet Jaguar was in my "crumple shit", rants too.
Again, so, so sorry.
Also another ditto for "Godzilla".
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)
The film-
King Ceasar, a dog/lion sort of thing based on Japanese legend is revived by a prophecy, and Godzilla suddenly goes bad, and hurts Anguirus, but then, the real Godzilla shows up, and burns off Bad-Godzilla's flesh, to reveal Mechagodzilla.
Then, King Ceasar and Godzilla manage to break Mechagodzilla.
As usual, by now, it's all an alien plot.
By now, Godzilla is totally Japan's superhero.
Quite a turnaround.
The history-
Yet another ditto for "Godzilla".
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
The film-
Picks up where the last one ended.
Godzilla takes on Titanosaurus, and Mechagodzilla in separate bouts.
In the human b-story, intrigue, and treachery are afoot.
As is usually the case.
But, did you ever really pay attention to that shit as a kid?
Anyway, the 70's fared better than the 60's.
Mechagodzillas were pretty kick-ass.
They went out on top this time.
The history-
"Godzilla", ditto #15.
And, bam, I was finally born, and in 6-7 short years would be able to appreciate these.
So, there's that big 50's to 70's stretch.
Ooof!
Up next, Godzilla: The Heisei series.
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