Movie List
Monster Bios
Aliens & SDF
Staff of Toho
Actors
DVDs
Soundtracks
Video Games
Books
Comic Books
Toys
Animation
Television
Box Office
Pictures
Concept Art
Cutting Room
News
Release Dates

Articles
Reviews
Media

Forums
Search
Site Staff
Credits
Updates

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.
Credit: Inferno Rodan

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...

Credit: Kaiser Ghidorah

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.

Credit: Kaiser Ghidorah

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.
Credit: Megalon2005

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."
Credit: Monster Master

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.
Credit: Kaiser Ghidorah

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.

Credit: Leslie Hurteau

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!
Credit: Hank Xavier

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.
Credit: Godzilla63

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.

Credit: Shounen_Goji

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.

Credit: Michael Calhoun