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Article:
7
Date: 5/18/08
Year: 1973
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
GoodTimes Home Video Corp. (1985) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| GoodTimes’
1985 release of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) is quite possibly the
first home video release of the movie. The box utilizes
the famous World Trade Center battle poster as its
cover. The sides of the case simply have the title
of the movie written horizontally near the top, and
again vertically down the side. The synopsis on the
back of the box opens with the utterly hilarious line
“Vivid special effects highlight this classic
monster fantasy with Godzilla, the giant, dinosaur-like
creature, returning to the screen for the sixth time.”
This VHS could very well be where Megalon’s
nickname originated as well, as he is described as
“a larger-than-life cockroach”. It should
also be noted that a couple seconds of footage have
been edited out of this release, namely when the two
Seatopian agents grab Rokuro and throw him in their
car and when the Seatopian agent gets crushed by a
falling boulder. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Video Treasures, Inc. (1986) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| The
front is a rather dull, red and gray design with plain
white text for the title and a black-and-white filmstrip-style
trim. The picture is not from Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) at all, but rather a shot
of the Soshingeki-Goji Godzilla suit (which is a weird
reddish-brown, but that just might be from the lighting/coloring
of the picture) from what I assume is Godzilla
vs. Hedorah (1971). Overall, it's a rather
lackluster cover.
The back continues the same boring red/gray/filmstrip
theme. The plot synopsis is pretty bad, beginning
with the tag line "Just when you thought it
was safe to go back in the water..." which
makes no sense whatsoever because, last time I checked,
this wasn't Godzilla vs. Jaws. While it
gets the storyline of Seatopia being sick of humanity's
continual atomic tests right, it says "We'll
(their typo, not mine), we can't let this happen,
so out of his resting place in Tokyo Bay comes Godzilla,
but this time, to save Japan," completely ignoring
Jet Jaguar and his summoning of Godzilla from Monster
Island. In fact, Jet Jaguar isn't referred to by
name at all, and is merely called "a Robot"
once near the very end. Gigan isn't mentioned once,
not even as Borodan, unless he was included in the
"Megalon and his friends" comment. The
synopsis ends with the humorous line, "The
world is safe again for atomic testing." |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Viking Entertainment, Inc. (1988) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| This
late 80's release features artwork of Godzilla standing
in the foreground of a random metropolitan backdrop.
Oddly, the Godzilla featured is more akin to his 1984
incarnation. With a greenish tinge and black fins,
this false-color saurian is firing a rather translucent
atomic ray. Also, there is a light blue aura all around
Godzilla (possibly an attempt at conveying his pre-beam
powerup).
On the back cover, there is a still of Godzilla
from his original movie. It is baffling as to why
a picture from another film is present. In fact,
if a passerby neglects to read the summary, this
cover more than inaccurately portrays Godzilla as
the villain! Concerning the blurb, there is little
to be said. It simply states, "Godzilla once
again proves that evil cannot prevail in this clash
with super villain Megalon". That’s it
and nothing else! Detail is sorely lacking... |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
United American Video Corporation (1991) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| For
this early 90's release of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973), the most glaring error
is right on the front cover. Instead of Godzilla fighting
Megalon, he's fighting Mothra, who isn’t even
in the movie! It is baffling as to why Mothra is on
the cover instead of Megalon himself (who is the main
villain of the movie)... but that isn't all! The artwork
of Godzilla and Mothra is just plain bad,
and the duo don’t even truly look like their
onscreen counterparts. Godzilla is blowing fire from
his mouth, instead of his trademark blue atomic ray.
Also, Godzilla oddly looks as though he is merely
sitting down while attacking Mothra. His color is
mostly green (including the fins), a far cry from
a truer to life charcoal grey hue that would more
accurately emulate the film. As for errors concerning
Mothra, she only has two legs instead of six. Mothra's
mandibles don't appear at all correct, and to boot,
she has fangs! Also, Mothra’s eyes weren't red
in any Godzilla film to date.
On the each side of the box is a small drawing
of a circle, in which the words "Horror Mania"
are written in a horrific style (partially
dark red and partially light red, with blood dripping
from the letters). There are also black spider webs
in the vicinity, and ghoulish yellow eyes flashing
through the night. It seems to connote that this
is in fact a horror movie, which anyone who has
seen the film will vociferously deny. The blurb
on the back is surprisingly accurate. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Vision Film Distribution Company (1992) Country:
Poland Category: Clam Shell |
|
The front shows off Jet Jaguar in all his glory,
but alas, there is nothing else except the line: "Monster
Against Monster for the Lost Continent of Mu".
This is clearly a mistake, for Mu was the lost civilization
featured in Atragon
(1963). Fortunately, the synopsis uses the correct
"Seatopia" instead. Concerning the blurb,
it pretty much reveals all; though strangely, Jet
Jaguar isn't mentioned by name. The word "cyborg"
is used, but this is yet another mistake,
as Jet Jaguar is a fully mechanized automaton. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Burbank Video (1993) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| Produced
in 1993, the Burbank Video release of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) features the famous poster
for the movie with Godzilla and Megalon squaring off
on the World Trade Center, a scene that sadly just
isn't in the movie. The background for the entire
box is filled with classic characters from Hollywood
with Godzilla, from Mothra
vs. Godzilla (1964), being the lucky foreigner.
The sides of the release feature the same background
with the title of the movie while the back features
a short synopsis and a nice picture of Godzilla standing
over a fallen and defeated Megalon (why they would
decide to use a victory picture over an actual battle
picture will probably never be known). One also has
to crack a laugh at the very first line "The
most enjoyable of this now classic series." |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Greatest Film Classics - Alpha Video
Distributors Inc. (1993) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| Distributed
by Alpha Video Distributors under the "Greatest
Film Classics" label in 1993, this is just one
of several Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) releases to grace the
1990's. The box has a pleasant complementary purple/yellow
color scheme with a film strip style front cover and
two stills of the title monsters posing. As a nice
treat to those jaded by the green-hued Godzilla's
of VHS yore, both monsters are surprisingly rendered
in their proper shades. As for blurb errors, there
is one comical one that stands out: "Atomic testing
in Tokyo, Japan is causing an uproar..." First,
it would be prudent to point out the absurdity of
testing nuclear weapons within the borders of
the Tokyo prefecture! Talk about a bad idea...
Second, the nuclear testing wasn't even conducted
by Japan in the actual movie! And yet, to add to the
weirdness, the concluding sentence features the all-too
painful words: "Godzilla conquers Megalon to
save Japan and the atomic testing goes on happily
ever after!" |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
GoodTimes Home Video (1996) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
| This
is GoodTimes’ re-release of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973). Facing off against Megalon,
Godzilla spouts a stream of flames from his maw instead
of his trademark atomic ray. Godzilla's face, from
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975), looms overhead (blurred).
At the bottom are the words, ‘It’s A Titanic
Tag-Team... Godzilla Style’. On each side of
the box is the title of the movie with slightly altered
coloration. At the rear, this release sports its own
tagline: ‘He’s Back! Godzilla. The Green,
Mean, Fighting Machine’. For crying out loud,
Godzilla’s grey! The summary of the movie (overlapping
a random, false color island scene) is surprisingly
accurate and has no obvious errors. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
HGV Video Productions, Inc. (1997) Country:
Canada Category: Slip Cover |
Megalon
stands ominously amidst lapping flames, against
the usual false-color stillshot from The
Return of Godzilla (1984) (a clone of Anchor
Bay's trademark style). There is not much to note
when comparing this to other VHS releases of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973); although there is one
thing worth mentioning: the blurb calls Gigan a
"flying metal creature", which paints
a somewhat inaccurate mental picture of the space
cyborg. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Filmax Home Video (1998)
Country: Spain
Category: Clam Shell
|
| Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) is no exception
to the beautiful covers Filmax has used for their
kaiju eiga releases. The theatrical poster is used
as a front, although the background with the kaleidoscope
effect is left out in favor of a landscape setting.
Sadly this is released under the ridiculous "Gorgo
and Superman meet in Tokyo" title, which was
the film's official title in Spain. This was done
to cash in with a tokusatsu show called "Supergiant"
which was dubbed "Superman" in Spain. Luckily
this was changed when the film was released on DVD.
The back cover is what you can expect from Filmax;
a short synopsis, some stills, credits and a poster
for the film. One aspect of which to complain, however,
is the way the cover was printed, as it looks over-exposed
on the front (though this might have been a problem
with this particular copy, as the other titles in
the collection don't suffer from such an anomaly).
It should be noted that Gigan never really got his
name right in Spain. In the movie he is called Gorgo,
and in Godzilla
vs. Gigan (1972) he was called Galien. There's
even a tagline which does correctly call him "Gigan",
which means he is addressed under 3 different names
on the same cover! |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) |
Company:
Front Row Entertainment, Inc. (1998)
Country: Canada
Category: Slip Cover
|
| This
particularly unique VHS release of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) was distributed
in Canada near the turn of the Millennium. The front
cover features a greenish-hued Godzilla (of an earlier
suit design) towering over a cyanotype city with his
two foes beneath him, and his one-time robotic ally
at the top left hand corner of the composite. Robert
Dunham (despite only appearing briefly in the
film) receives top billing at the bottom right hand
corner of the box, while a fantastically whispy synopsis
dons the rear. The blurb manages to find itself technically
devoid of factual error, which can sometimes prove
quite the feat for a Godzilla VHS from any era. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973)
and The Return of
Godzilla (1984) |
Company:
StarMaker/Anchor Bay (1996) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
The first thing you'll notice about this Anchor
Bay "double feature" 2-pack is the effort
taken to colorize the enlarged image of the 1984
Godzilla to a dark shade of green. Alongside this
somewhat blurred image of a green Godzilla are two
small images of textless posters of the included
films.
On the back, the cover contains a small, ambitious
synopsis of Godzilla's history as well as descriptions
for the two featured films. There are no noticeable
errors in way of the synopses. As per the theme
of the front of the cover, the back is cascaded
with a particular image of the 1984 Godzilla, standing
amidst nighttime Tokyo while a news chopper hovers
above. The image is well-placed, as the darkness
fits in well with the backdrop for the film descriptions. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973)
and The Snow Creature (1954) |
Company:
GoodTimes Home Video (1986) Country:
United States Category:
Slip Cover |
This is the 1986 GoodTimes double feature release
of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973) and The Snow
Creature (1954). The box art features the upper
half of the famous teaser poster, while the bottom
half features the mysterious outline of the "snow
creature" atop the Himalayas. The Snow
Creature (1954), while not a Toho movie, is
quite enjoyable nonetheless. All in all, it is an
interesting combination that somehow fits. |
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