Talkback: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

[edgaguirus]

I like his first appearance, looming over the submarine. It gives a feeling of his might and strength.

[Pkmatrix]

Terror of Mechagodzilla has always been one of my least favorite Godzilla movies.

As a child, I found the movie bland, dull, colorless, hard to follow, and completely uninteresting. About the only saving graces were Godzilla, Titanosaurus, and Mechagodzilla themselves who were just delightful every time they were on screen - and as someone who watches movies for the plot, this was almost unforgivable and not nearly enough to save the film. Last time I went through and ranked the movies in 2014, it ended up at #28 out of 30 (just above Godzilla Final Wars and Godzilla's Revenge).

Yes, at the time I honestly liked D&E's Godzilla over ToMG. My opinion was that low of it.

Well, I finally got around to giving this one another chance. And, I now have a higher opinion of it. Not MUCH higher than before, but at least it's not a bottom five movie for me anymore.

What I like:

- Good story overall, and IMO the natural next place to go with the story for a GvMG'74 sequel. The first movie was about a group of characters stumbling across this sorta secret war between INTERPOL and the Black Hole Aliens. So, naturally, this one begins with and revolves around that conflict: there's no mystery here, we're introduced to INTERPOL and the aliens almost immediately.

- Good action. There's plenty of gunplay and giant monster mayhem here, and after the smaller scales of the previous two movies this one feels much bigger in comparison with all the destruction and property damage here.

- Soundtrack is good! Not as fun as the previous film's, but catchy and memorable in its own way.

- Dr. Mafune is a wonderful character and Hirata gives a great performance for him, IMO. ^_^ I like the concept of him having been a scientist who discovered Titanosaurus prior to the other monsters appearing, ridiculed and shunned for his claims, and now twenty-something years later is a bitter old man angry not just at what they did to him but because considering all the times Godzilla has appeared NOBODY came to him before Ichinose to apologize and say, "We're sorry, you were right all along." Imagine being Mafune watching that news broadcast of Godzilla's first big attack on Tokyo and saying to himself, "See? Believe me NOW that there are still dinosaurs living in the sea? I bet they'll be calling begging for my forgiveness in a week, tops." ...And the phone never rings.

- The FX work is good for the most part and, in some places, a bit more ambitious than what they did for the previous one.

Unfortunately, there's a lot I still don't like. The film still feels colorless and dry, I really feel like Honda was half-hearted in the direction, and everyone other than Hirata put in really forgettable performances (which, to be fair, is due to every character besides Mafune being bland and unremarkable). I don't dislike the movie, but rather than living at the bottom of my list it now lives somewhere in the middle.

[eabaker]

As much as I like/borderline love the movie (it's not in my top 10 Godzilla flicks, but it hovers just below), I can't really argue with most of your criticisms, and they're a lot of the same reasons that I didn't really care for it when I was younger (though the crappiness of the Americanization was also very much a factor there). The plotting is at times haphazard, the pacing is awkward, and most of the characters aren't very engaging.

But the colorless, dry feel - the thing that turned me off the most for years - has in a sense become part of what I like most about it. I certainly can't push "dry and colorless" as reasons that anyone else should like the movie, and I can't really remember what it was that brought me around, or when exactly it happened. I guess it was that same as my reevaluation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One day, something in the movie's vibe suddenly... vibed with me.

Elsewhere in this thread, I and others have used words like "funereal" and "elegiac" to describe the movie's tone (and this informs the script, the performances, the music, and the color palette), but to someone who finds it off-putting or boring, that could just sound like an excuse or a cop out, or could exactly summarize why they don't like it.

As Mechagigan pointed out above, also, a lot of this doesn't seem to have been entirely by design; Toho wasn't treating this as "the end of an era." But, as the series was in decline, the sense of this movie as a weathered, barely legible tombstone might be something that happened very organically.

[BoulderFaceplant]

Has anyone compared the English version on the Classic Media release to the Japanese one? Thinking about showing this to a friend, so a dub might be better because we just got done watching three subs in a row.

[Goji]

Has anyone compared the English version on the Classic Media release to the Japanese one?

I'm not sure what it is exactly that you're asking. The runtime and content is 99.9% the same as the Japanese version. The U.S. TV version was uncut except for a shot of Katsura's fake breasts, which only lasts for a couple of seconds.

[edgaguirus]

I believe it also cut out the part where Katsura shoots herself.

[eabaker]

I believe it also cut out the part where Katsura shoots herself.

That was cut out of VHS and Laserdisc versions, as well as the first DVD edition, but I'm pretty sure that's present in the Classic Media release.

[Mechagigan]

I believe it also cut out the part where Katsura shoots herself.

That was cut out of VHS and Laserdisc versions, as well as the first DVD edition, but I'm pretty sure that's present in the Classic Media release.

I know for sure whatever English dub I usually watch has Katsura's death... It also had the introduction. No nudity, though I'm not sure any dubs have that.

[GalacticPetey]

Older English releases of ToMG cut out her shooting herself as well as a couple other scenes that were violent. The Classic Media release (grey border) is uncut minus the breast shot. Assuming you have that version, and not the original barebones Classic Media release from 2002, you should be fine.

[Goji]

I believe it also cut out the part where Katsura shoots herself.

I'm not talking about the cut-to-hell Bob Cohn version of TOMG (Terror of Godzilla) that was prevalent on TV and VHS for decades (and released on DVD by CM in 2002). I'm talking about the 2008 CM DVD release that contained the nearly uncut TV version that disappeared after 1980. All that's missing from this version is shot of Katsura's fake breasts. Otherwise, it's the same (content wise) to the international and Japanese versions.

I know for sure whatever English dub I usually watch has Katsura's death... It also had the introduction. No nudity, though I'm not sure any dubs have that.

There's only one "dub" for TOMG. All three of the English 'cuts' use the same dub. It sounds like you're using the word "dub" instead of "cut", for whatever reason.

What you're describing is the (U.S.) TV version that's present on the 2008 CM DVD.

You won't see the (fake) nudity on either of the U.S. versions. The international version has only been released overseas, so it's only seen on the Japanese version on the CM DVD.

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this before, but there is actually stock footage from Atragon in this! It's during the destruction of the alien base: as it's blowing up, we get some very quick shots of the Mu power station blowing up. You can recognize the spherical domes (1) and the hexagonal shaped window (2) exploding.
1.

2.

[Zarm]

I guess it was that same as my reevaluation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One day, something in the movie's vibe suddenly... vibed with me.

Woohoo! This film, I can't talk about- one of my first, and it will be a LOOOONG time before my current marathon reaches that point and refreshes my memory- but, this, THIS I can comment on! It's always a (rare) pleasure to find someone else who appreciates Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

[eabaker]

I guess it was that same as my reevaluation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One day, something in the movie's vibe suddenly... vibed with me.

Woohoo! This film, I can't talk about- one of my first, and it will be a LOOOONG time before my current marathon reaches that point and refreshes my memory- but, this, THIS I can comment on! It's always a (rare) pleasure to find someone else who appreciates Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

We're members of a very small fan club...

[Zarm]

If only fandom were like pie, and that meant 'all the more for us...'

[eabaker]

There's a thread topic! "If fandom were a pie, how big a slice of each Godzilla movie would you be served?"

[Godzilla Lover101]

I guess it was that same as my reevaluation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One day, something in the movie's vibe suddenly... vibed with me.

Woohoo! This film, I can't talk about- one of my first, and it will be a LOOOONG time before my current marathon reaches that point and refreshes my memory- but, this, THIS I can comment on! It's always a (rare) pleasure to find someone else who appreciates Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Well The Motion Picture is my favorite film of the series, and TOMG is one of my top Showa films.

[Zarm]

Mwahaha- we grow legion!!!

(Seriously, though, your favorite? Mine too! That Goldsmith score, those gorgeous effects...)

[eabaker]

Watched the Saperstein cut last night for the first time since I originally got the DVD.

I remember seeing this version once on TV in the 80s, but then all I had access to for a long, long time was the cut-down VHS version (and later a subbed bootleg of the Japanese version).

Seeing that intro montage again is always a thrill for me, because it really stuck with me as a small child, but later on I didn't have any idea where I'd seen it. I know it's really just filler, but I can't help getting a kick out of it.

Alas, the dub is one of the worst for any Godzilla flick. They end up having to pause at such strange points in their sentences, in some cases it actually obfuscates the meaning of the lines.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

My favorite godzilla movie! 10/10

[Space Hunter M]

They end up having to pause at such strange points in their sentences, in some cases it actually obfuscates the meaning of the lines.

AND WITH A PARABOLIC LENS