Talkback Thread #13: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

[Gamera vs Rodan]

After Frankenstein Conquers the World did good business in Germany, German distributors decided Japanese monster films would sell better with "Frankenstein" in the title. The movies with "King Kong" in the title were designed to cash in on the 1976 remake of King Kong. It wasn't just Kong and Frankenstein, though. When Yongary was released in Germany with Godzilla in the title ("Godzilla's Death-Paw"). Gamera vs. Barugon became "Godzilla: The Dragon of the Jungle". One Kamen Rider film became "War of the Infras", and featured Inframan prominently on the poster. Of course, it's not really any different from American titles like "Godzilla vs. The Thing" or "Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster", aside from being more blatant, probably due to more lax copyright laws.

I guess thats exploitation-flick marketing for you. It's just trying to cash in on the viewer's lack of knowledge, but hey, I suppose that's one way to sell a movie.

As for Goro and Rex Dart, while I doubt they were actually supposed to be gay, I suppose either the writing was so rushed they didn't have time to flesh out the characters enough, or they allowed it to go unspoken as a sort of taboo joke. It's still funny either way, unintentionally or intentionally. But if Toho was worried about showing affection between males and females on screen (this has been discussed before) I doubt they would deliberately hint at a male-male relationship, especially since it would probably go right over kids' heads.

Going over kids heads is exactly why they could get away with it.

[edgaguirus]

Yeah. The movie was basically an Ultraman type flick with Godzilla added to help it sell. Characters were just a way to keep things moving.

[GojiLamb]

I really loved all the designs of the different kaiju except for one, and it is Megalon. Now I always felt like it was really just dumb that they added megalon it just seems like an unnecessary kaiju. I mean he never appeared again throughout the Heisei and Millenium series. Why didn't they just add hedorah, that would've been cool. It would have changed the plot. Still I would've watched that way more times than the actual one.

[Tohosaurus]

Hedorah would really change the plot, though, wouldn't it? The Seatopians would be controlling Hedorah then, or what happens with the Seatopians and the entire decision of them sending Megalon/Hedorah to the surface? I liked Hedorah in its movie with all the themes and strangeness surrounding it. Megalon almost makes sense (especially Jet Jaguar) in the crazy (crazy awesome) 1973 Godzilla outing.

[three]

no idea why the seatopians would call in Hedorah. he is the embodiment of everything they hate about our surface world, which is why they sent Megalon out in the first place.

to answer the question though: aliens probably saw this as an opportunity to take on Earth since Ghidorah failed, as did their plan to control Godzilla and Rodan to take care of us. obviously, this failure would not be taken lightly as their next attempt nearly worked, twice.

[eabaker]

They wanted to draw in audiences with the promise of an exciting new monster. It wasn't until the 90s that they started finding returning monsters to be more profitable than new ones.

[Godsteigman]

Say what you will about Godzilla vs Megalon, but it seems to be an iconic film - that has gotten exposure on both Saturday Night Live and MST3K !

And it will wind up getting a blu ray release from Media Blasters now that the legal issues are over. That will make it the 4th (not counting the 1998 Zilla) Godzilla movie going HD (even though Destroy All Monsters is OOP but could be back in print with the legal issues gone)

[H-Man]

I watched it this morning (the DVD got a legitimate Brazilian release recently, thankfully) and enjoyed it. I watched it for the first time back in 1991 when I got it for my 9th birthday. Back then, I enjoyed it. My liking it waned when I realized that Godzilla had almost nothing to do for 90 minutes. These days, I can sit back and enjoy a lot of the lively idiocy being thrown on screen, which makes it easier to swallow. I think I like the dub more than subbed version, since it has more nonsensical lines. Whatever. It was fun to watch.

[Legion1979]

Why didn't they just add hedorah, that would've been cool.

Because that would have made no f@cking sense.

[three]

Why didn't they just add hedorah, that would've been cool.

Because that would have made no f@cking sense.

it was already weird enough that JJ was in this movie, and that Gigan was yanked in from some old space buddies. question about that though: why DID Gigan come down to help out under orders? the seatopians were an advanced race but every time aliens show up with a kaiju, it's to conquer us humans. they seemed to have a good working relationship with the seatopians however, implying that the two have met and at the least the aliens weren't hostile despite Earth still being as valuable as it is now (or even more so since it hadn't been tainted with pollution or over - resourcing).

[eabaker]

Why didn't they just add hedorah, that would've been cool.

Because that would have made no f@cking sense.

it was already weird enough that JJ was in this movie, and that Gigan was yanked in from some old space buddies. question about that though: why DID Gigan come down to help out under orders? the seatopians were an advanced race but every time aliens show up with a kaiju, it's to conquer us humans. they seemed to have a good working relationship with the seatopians however, implying that the two have met and at the least the aliens weren't hostile despite Earth still being as valuable as it is now (or even more so since it hadn't been tainted with pollution or over - resourcing).

Seatopians: the secret villains pulling the strings behind every alien invasion in series history?

[three]

^ odd. maybe descendants like the half martian from GTTHM? speaking of which have you checked that out yet?

[eabaker]

^ odd. maybe descendants like the half martian from GTTHM? speaking of which have you checked that out yet?

No, haven't had the time just yet.

I was actually thinking that while the X-seijin were camping out under water in the build-up to Monster Zero, they could have made first contact with the Seatopians, and given them the technology that they then used to reach out to other space-based invaders. But a Chariots of the Gods? thing makes sense, too, what with the Easter Island association and all.

[three]

yea ancient aliens is what i've always figured was the "behind the scenes" part of the seatopian/alien relationship. what i found so weird though is that they [the aliens] are hellbent on conquering us, and apparently that's ALL of them that exist to our knowledge at the time in the Godzillaverse, so why are they showing mercy to this group of super advanced people? wouldn't they, in theory, WANT the seatopians dead, especially considering they have a kaiju of their own to call on in their defense?

i mean it might be more "lets let these guys duke it out and swoop in while they're both weak", which would explain why Gigan was pulled out (don't waste an asset in wartime) as the fight turned against the axis powers, but the seatopians seem to have known these aliens for a while. if they're hostile now, it's exclusively toward the human race, and they have never minded the seatopians, despite them having the exact same valuable planet the aliens are gunning for in later films.

[eabaker]

I'm thinking that it's an "enemy of my enemy" situation. Get us surface dwellers out of the way, and then we'll see who can trust whom both above and below.

[three]

I'm thinking that it's an "enemy of my enemy" situation. Get us surface dwellers out of the way, and then we'll see who can trust whom both above and below.

that's what i'm saying it sounds like, but at the same time the seatopians called in the alien dudes (i can't remember who they are), which means they were on good enough terms long before the human nuclear issue came about. if what you think is true, and what i think is true, then the seatopians wouldn't dare even speak to their enemies and our idea doesn't float, yet they're pals.

[Godzillian]

yea ancient aliens is what i've always figured was the "behind the scenes" part of the seatopian/alien relationship. what i found so weird though is that they [the aliens] are hellbent on conquering us, and apparently that's ALL of them that exist to our knowledge at the time in the Godzillaverse, so why are they showing mercy to this group of super advanced people? wouldn't they, in theory, WANT the seatopians dead, especially considering they have a kaiju of their own to call on in their defense?

i mean it might be more "lets let these guys duke it out and swoop in while they're both weak", which would explain why Gigan was pulled out (don't waste an asset in wartime) as the fight turned against the axis powers, but the seatopians seem to have known these aliens for a while. if they're hostile now, it's exclusively toward the human race, and they have never minded the seatopians, despite them having the exact same valuable planet the aliens are gunning for in later films.

Maybe they worked out a treaty with them or were gonna work with them like the black hole aliens and dr. mafuna. They would take care of the surface world and kill Godzilla then the Seatopians would help them conquer the world.

[edgaguirus]

It's possible the Seatopians came from some other planet and settled in the Earth's oceans thousands of years ago. Our main characters discuss lands like Mu at one point, and aliens creating an undersea kingdom would easily create a myth on ancient Earth. The Seatopians seem very happy underwater, so they'd probably let the Nebulans have the surface once Megalon took revenge on humanity.

[Rodan]

Apparently never posted my thoughts in this thread, so here they are in one sentence: This is the only entry in the Godzilla series I struggle to enjoy on even an ironic level.

[ILL GREEN]

I mean [Megalon] never appeared again throughout the Heisei and Millenium series.

I think Megaguirus was supposed to be a neo Megalon of some sort. The hatchlings did look like him in color, eyes and the claws. At least thats what I thought when they were in the sewer. But Megalon is more of a cockroach than a dragonfly.