Discussion of custom viewing orders/groupings for the G-film eras

[GodzillavsJason]

I actually have an idea on doing a fan edit of doing these in a condensed (Hopefully 3 hours at the most) Neo-Noir edit. I'll have to find the list of what exactly I'm doing with it, but I can tell you that it completely omits King Kong vs Godzilla and Godzilla's Revenge. Plus, condensing some of the films to a few seconds for montage purposes.

Meaning, think of this as an overview of the Showa yet an AU at the same time which I'm hoping to start working on once my desktop gets repaired.

[Chrispy_G]

The stuff that happens to Ichiro is simply beyond the scope of mere daydreams. Given that Ichiro's mind demonstrably leaves his body, and we see that he is physically unconscious when for instance being held by the two kidnappers, the logical conclusion is that Shinpei's machine works. This accords with the technology seen in the rest of the Showa series; recall that two films ago we had a weather control experiment create super mantids, and three films later we get a size shifting robot.

That's an interesting argument...I suppose it might be easier to look at the Showa era and say 'Hey, just accept all of this insanity, absurd technology, and complete ant-physics as reality and deal with it'....then it would be to start looking at it in a sort of "Okay, these films are all goofy and unrealistic, but these few here are TOO goofy and unrealistic, so ignore them"

[LSD Jellyfish]

Showa gets sliced into two.

Early Showa:
-Godzilla 1954-Destroy all Monsters

Late Showa
-Godzilla's Revenge/AMA-TOMG (zone fighter?)

There's clear distinctions between the early Showa and latter Showa series:

-While the first half does have Godzilla in heroic moments he is still mainly a villain or anti hero at the best. Beginning with AMA/Godzilla vs Hedorah Godzilla is unconditionally a hero.

-With the exception of Ghidorah the majority of Godzilla's foes are relatively simple and really just big animals or other earth monsters, like Anguirus, Kumonga, Ebirah, Rodan, and even Mothra. King Ghidorah was a big deal specifically because he was a space monster. The latter half has aliens galore and all the monsters in the second half are controlled by an alien race, save for Hedorah, and the majority are extraterrestrial. Monsters like Gigan, Mechagodzilla, Hedorah and even Titanosaurus can all be easily said to be more powerful then a majority of the early Showa Monsters. There's definitely a power creep and the monsters get more complicated. Even Titanosaurus, the simplest of the Latter Showa era kaiju had special abilities with his wind power, and fighting style.

-While of course early Showa still appeals to kids, and second half had dark and violent moments, I think it's undeniable that the latter half was more directly and transparently aimed at kids. AMA/GVH/GVM all have child leads.

-And yeah, if we include the larger Toho continuity, there's no other non Godzilla films after Space Amoeba.

-With evolving styles and techniques the later Showa era visually and technically looks different from the early Showa era. Compare Godzilla vs Hedorah to Godzilla raids again. Or even Terror of Mechagodzilla to Godzilla vs Mothra.

DAM was also supposed to be the final entry in the series, so in a sense yes it was the end original end and that's why it's the grand finale to the first Showa series. TOMG is a finale in its own way, with Godzilla fighting two very powerful foes alone,

[Chrispy_G]

Excellent points, although Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla and Terror of MechaGodzilla, in a sense, feel like they are returning a bit more to the aesthetics of the first Showa era. It feels more like Godzilla being territorial and sort of an antihero who is taking out threats to himself as opposed to an out-and-out 'savior of humanity'. He's played a bit more straight. No flying, conversations with other monsters, sign language with giant robots, no outlandish 'super moves'

vs MechaGodzilla feels like a bit of a transitional film out of the 'Silly' sequence of AMA-GvMegalon, with Terror of MechaGodzilla feeling a good deal like an earlier Showa film in some respects. Underlying tragedy of the Titanosaurus being a 'peaceful' creature naturally, but mind-controlled into an evil monster...and killed by Godzilla as a result. Like the original film, you have a character committing suicide to help save the world. Human characters feel a bit more 'within' the action as opposed to just watching battles play out

[Zarm]

I'm getting ready to embark on a grand-rewatch of the Showa era with my wife (in a few months' time)- or at least, the Showa Godzillas plus the original Mothra and Rodan. Don't have an unlimited budget, after all. For most of them, it will be our first time watching the Japanese versions, so that will be an experience.

That said, I'm giving this a little bit of a bump (particularly the 'viewing order' part) because, at present, the plan is to do them all chronologically- save the 'DAM at the end' bit that I've seen suggested elsewhere on the site... but I would love to see it if anyone did have an alternate viewing order to propose, or that they enjoy.

[eabaker]

Over on the Monster Zero forums, there was a thread a year or two ago in which people posted some interesting custom viewing orders. I'd go check them out again myself, but I haven't logged onto the board in a long time, and I don't want to get hooked on two boards at once again.

Went I did my grand viewing of the entire Toho kaiju canon (minus Gorath, because I didn't have a copy at the time), we went with chronological, but that was as much an academic choice as an aesthetic one.

[kamilleblu]

I don't have a problem with the usual order. All of the films are set in the year in which they were released. Minus Destroy All Monsters of course, as the events of said film are specifically stated to take place in 1999. The stock footage and bizarre antics don't mess with the timeline at all. And since Godzilla vs Gigan comes before DAM in-universe, you wouldn't even run into the "revived" Ghidorah problem. Also keep in mind that Godzilla spends six years away from civilization between Monster Zero and Hedorah. That's plenty of time for him to encounter and befriend the second Anguirus. If Rodan can raise Baragon off-screen, then why not?