Talkback: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

[ThunderScore]

The prologue is laughable and should remain as a supplemental curiosity instead of part of the main film. Doesn't help that all presentations of the UPA TV version suck to some degree.

Opinions aside, definitely. It doesn't match the movie that well (as in, the movie doesn't need it), and it's inaccurate anyways.

While I haven't seen it in a minute, I don't remember it being that inaccurate. It's very much simplified version of Godzilla's path to becoming a hero.

I like the voice over; he's sounds appropriately creepy, and it is heard over the actual scenes from the intro to the film, not just in the Opening Montage.

[Lain Of The Wired]

I also thought it was cool its like a rundown of Godzillas history, along with a BEST OF collection of badass scenes

[LegendZilla]

To this movie's credit, it does have a pretty intriguing human story by Showa Godzilla standards.

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

How many different English versions of this film are there? By my count, there's at least 5:
-The International cut
-The UPA TV cut
-The original "Terror Of Godzilla" cut by Bob Conn
-The VHS print of Terror of Godzilla that's missing a title card completely
-The VHS print of Terror of Godzilla which has a new video generated title card which was introduced in the 80's, I think.

Are there any others? I didn't include any overseas English versions of these films, since I have no idea how many of those there are. I've heard of one Bob Conn cut which has the title card where it is located on the international/UPA print, over the explosion, which I've never seen, and I've heard of one which has the UPA prologue thing attached to the Bob Conn cut? Are any of those two actual versions of the film, or are they false? Seriously, how many different versions of this films are there?

[Ivo-goji]

Someone made a remastered version of the prologue with more appropriate footage.


Anyway I like this one a lot. Terror of Mechagodzilla is a considerable improvement over the other lackluster films that make up the later half of the Showa series. It had better effects and a darker, more complex story than the previous Mechagodzilla film and in my opinion serves as an excellent closer to the original series.

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

Someone made a remastered version of the prologue with more appropriate footage.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://m.yo ... NTZPbMQ_WA

Not exactly sure if this is meant for me, but if it is, in my list I was only counting official versions of the films, not fan made versions.
Still, I always like watching that version of the intro, it's pretty cool.

[Ivo-goji]

Not you in particular, everyone.

[Dannybeane]

I'm a fan of the intro. I don't care if the suits don't match, I'm used to it in these films with water suits and stock footage and all. Its a solid summary of the series up to that point for people who haven't seen many of the showa Godzilla films.

[Lain Of The Wired]

Someone made a remastered version of the prologue with more appropriate footage.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://m.yo ... NTZPbMQ_WA

Anyway I like this one a lot. Terror of Mechagodzilla is a considerable improvement over the other lackluster films that make up the later half of the Showa series. It had better effects and a darker, more complex story than the previous Mechagodzilla film and in my opinion serves as an excellent closer to the original series.

Except all the 70's films are pretty memorable and considered classics in the series

[PineappleProducer]

While I'm part of the camp that prefers Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, I will admit Terror of Mechagodzilla isn't too shabby. When I was younger, I didn't care much for it at all, but of course back then, all I was interested in was the monster fights, so I skipped most of the movie anyways. Years later, after actually watching it, I still didn't care much for it. I didn't really like the human characters all too much and I didn't like the aliens nearly as much as I did from "vs. MG". After watching the Japanese release a year or so ago, I warmed up to it a little more. I decided to watch it again a few nights ago, and my thoughts on it are continually becoming more positive. There's still some things I don't like - I still prefer the aliens from the previous film, I've grown to like (most of) the human characters in this one, but I still prefer the previous film's cast. Dr. Mafune is alright at times, but I'm just kinda "meh" about him. I wish the aliens reverted back to apes when they were killed, and I wish Mechagodzilla did a little more. But I find myself warming up to this film more and more with each viewing. It's certainly a different beast from it's predecessor, that's for certain.

[GalacticPetey]

This one has always been nostalgic for me. One of the first Godzilla movies I watched. Still in my top 10 to this day. Godzilla was badass, Mechagodzilla was cool, and so was Titanosaurus. The music kicks ass to. Even as a kid, I can remember being invested in the human characters which is a good sign.

Godzilla's first entrance in this movie is still one of my favorite Godzilla scenes. So cool.

[Ivo-goji]

Someone made a remastered version of the prologue with more appropriate footage.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://m.yo ... NTZPbMQ_WA

Anyway I like this one a lot. Terror of Mechagodzilla is a considerable improvement over the other lackluster films that make up the later half of the Showa series. It had better effects and a darker, more complex story than the previous Mechagodzilla film and in my opinion serves as an excellent closer to the original series.

Except all the 70's films are pretty memorable and considered classics in the series

Everything after Godzilla vs Monster Zero is either very controversial (Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs Hedorah) or is considered roundly inferior to the earlier Showa films in terms of effects and storytelling (Godzilla vs Megalon, Godzilla's Revenge). While those films are enjoyable and definitely have their fans, it would be hard to call them classics. The Mechagodzilla dulogy boasted much better effects than preceding films and arguably more thoughtful writing. They definitely didn't have any stockfootage mock-ups or annoying little kids to bog them down.

[Axine]

This is probably my favorite film from the Showa series. Loved the cast of characters and the monster fights were some of the best. I felt the film had some of the best storytelling out of all the Showa movies. Great film!

[edgaguirus]

There is more depth and character conflict in this film than the previous. G vs MG is a great film with its adventure and spy like action, but ToMG has better developed people to go along with the action.

[F4ZaTE_X]

Someone made a remastered version of the prologue with more appropriate footage.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://m.yo ... NTZPbMQ_WA

Anyway I like this one a lot. Terror of Mechagodzilla is a considerable improvement over the other lackluster films that make up the later half of the Showa series. It had better effects and a darker, more complex story than the previous Mechagodzilla film and in my opinion serves as an excellent closer to the original series.

Except all the 70's films are pretty memorable and considered classics in the series

Everything after Godzilla vs Monster Zero is either very controversial (Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs Hedorah) or is considered roundly inferior to the earlier Showa films in terms of effects and storytelling (Godzilla vs Megalon, Godzilla's Revenge). While those films are enjoyable and definitely have their fans, it would be hard to call them classics. The Mechagodzilla dulogy boasted much better effects than preceding films and arguably more thoughtful writing. They definitely didn't have any stockfootage mock-ups or annoying little kids to bog them down.

Yeah. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep through Godzilla vs. Megalon I didn't like.

[Space Hunter M]

i'm bringing the jokes™ to the new forums

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

I'm curious, has any one ever tried to see what the credits to the Anerican cut would look like if stretched to widescreen? I ask this because, during the credits, anytime text appears, the screen appears squished, as if they were originally in widescreen. Even the Toho logo appears squished. So I'm curious, has anyone ever experimented with stretching them to widescreen, to see how they'd look?

Prologue link in correct aspect ratio: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lqor ... shortfilms

[Terasawa]

I'm curious, has any one ever tried to see what the credits to the Anerican cut would look like if stretched to widescreen? I ask this because, during the credits, anytime text appears, the screen appears squished, as if they were originally in widescreen. Even the Toho logo appears squished. So I'm curious, has anyone ever experimented with stretching them to widescreen, to see how they'd look?

Prologue link in correct aspect ratio: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lqor ... shortfilms

I believe the freeze frame shots were squeezed as a general rule. Cropping the left and right sides of the frames would have affected only a few of the shots (most notably the close-up of Godzilla, or the monster's beams clashing). So instead of cropping some and squeezing the others, the editor/pan-n-scan operator squeezed all of them. Also, note that even the footage underneath the title card is squeezed.

The credits (text) are definitely composed for 4:3, and they look entirely wrong when stretched out to the OAR of the Japanese footage. Example:



The Toho logo, however, was squeezed because cropping it wouldn't have worked; most of the text would have been off-screen (mock-up below). As letterboxing wasn't a practice in 1978, the 2.35:1 English logo from Toho's international version was squeezed to 4:3. Interestingly, when this version was scanned and reformated to 16:9 for Monsters HD/Classic Media's DVD, the Toho logo was stretched back to it's original dimensions and cropped.



One last observation: the credits (text, not typeface), starting with "Starring", are identical to those in the Bob Conn theatrical release, although they're obviously overlaid on different freeze frames.

[Mechagigan]

One of the things I really love about this movie are it's surprisingly excellent shots, as I noticed many times during a re-watch.

The scenes of Titanosaurus and MG slowly wading through the city are so huge and powerful; MG's slow, calculated movements (especially head turns and arm jerks that coincide with the camera zooming out or around in some fashion) look so menacing and beastly; even human scenes, such as when a man is silhouetted by a large window, various shots of Mafune and Katsura, and the eerie looks at Katsura's inner workings are all very nice to look at and well-framed.

The dark color scheme helps this, as well. While GvMG was unashamedly bright and pop-y, ToMG dives straight for Honda's usual more serious, complex tone.

But it's not just that the plot is motivated by the villains here (as it almost always must be), it's that we don't have the usual sense of anticipation around Godzilla's arrival. Most of those movies are about a monster which Godzilla must defeat; the emphasis is on them in order to build them up as threats to be overcome. Here, there is no thread of, "Godzilla will come to save the day." Godzilla is a narrative convenience or even obligation here, but he's not an element on which we can depend.

Please excuse my quoting of a year-old post

Godzilla, in this film, almost strikes me as worn out and tired. He's easily tossed around by the lively Titanosaurus and gives in to MechaGodzilla's artillery much faster than before. Even his famous sudden entrance, simply appearing, as if he is to be expected, strikes me as that of a creature and a world that knows 'super' Godzilla will come to save the day... however, even if this weren't the Showa swan song, there are higher stakes based alone on Godzilla's more cumbersome nature throughout. He could die, and it seems as if he even came dangerously close. It makes his success all the more exciting and powerful, from an eager fan's perspective.

Godzilla simply isn't the quick, smart monster he sometimes is; he's old, even weak, especially compared to Titano and MG. It'd be a stretch to call the following idea intentional (despite Honda's seeming knack for underlying stories), but I am one for some unintended messages within a film. To ride with said stretch, perhaps Godzilla himself being less powerful and strong than usual could serve as an allegory for the Showa series' arguable, but critically continual ride south. He's not the beast he once was, and other fads - as well as the lack of interest in Japanese cinema - have simply drawn out his lifespan. If his final success was defeating MG once and for all, heading back out to his oceanic home to rest, perhaps ToMG's unique quality among it's lesser brothers can be drawn parallel.

I'm not saying and cannot defend that as being true, though I do feel Toho and the crew must have had a sense of agreement that Godzilla's days were waning (based on low ticket sales, etc). Regardless, it's a fun way to look at the movie with a slightly broader lens, even if that does involve some headcanon.

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

One shot of Titanosaurus in this film I've always loved. It's when he's walking towards the city for his first rampage, and we get a close up of his head, with this deep, dark blue sky in the background, with Titanosaurus making just his sort of snorting sound. For whatever reason, that shot has always stood out in my mind.