Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

Each monster has their role in this battle. Rodan is the strategist; Godzilla is the muscle; Mothra is the secret weapon, held back, but still key to the fight.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by miguelnuva »

We all took about how Bad Godzilla got done in this film but I have to feel.for Ghidorah as well. All the punishment he dishes on Godzilla and Godzilla doesn't stand down and shows no signs of weaking.

I just imagine saying

"Why the hell won't this guy die?"
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

miguelnuva wrote:We all took about how Bad Godzilla got done in this film but I have to feel.for Ghidorah as well. All the punishment he dishes on Godzilla and Godzilla doesn't stand down and shows no signs of weaking.

I just imagine saying

"Why the hell won't this guy die?"
Honestly early Showa Godzilla got the shit kicked out of him a lot. Frequently on the receiving end of JSDF traps, electrocuted by Kong, barely won against adult Mothra and got webbed up by her children, and by far took the worst beating from Ghidorah out of the three.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by eabaker »

Almost like the storytellers didn't want to present the outcome of every conflict as a foregone conclusion!
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Showa Gojira »

miguelnuva wrote:We all took about how Bad Godzilla got done in this film but I have to feel.for Ghidorah as well. All the punishment he dishes on Godzilla and Godzilla doesn't stand down and shows no signs of weaking.

I just imagine saying

"Why the hell won't this guy die?"
I love the growth Godzilla goes through in the early Showa films. You can tell Godzilla is used to being the top monster and it shows in Raids Again when he beats Anguirus without ever being in danger of losing the fight. Then in King Kong vs Godzilla he fights a crafty opponent who is able to use his weakness against him and even match him in strength after the lightning comes into play. He beats Mothra when he's finally able to land a hit on her, but her children manage to frustrate and eventually incapacitate him. Then in this film he clashes with Rodan who is a far faster and more intelligent fighter, as well as King Ghidorah who is bigger and more powerful than him. I feel like by this point he starts to realize that raw strength alone isn't enough especially when there are mightier monster than him out there.

He starts using rocks like King Kong did in this movie, he begins to fight with better technique in Monster Zero onwards, and after uniting with Mothra and Rodan he starts fighting alongside and leading other monster allies. He goes from a straightforward brute to a skilled fighter and leader becoming far more badass by the time of the 70's films.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Voyager »

I heard an interesting interpretation of the film. This guy basically says that Godzilla represents the US while Rodan represents the Soviet Union, and King Ghidorah represents Nuclear War.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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VoyagerGoji wrote:I heard an interesting interpretation of the film. This guy basically says that Godzilla represents the US while Rodan represents the Soviet Union, and King Ghidorah represents Nuclear War.
Ghidorah was Japan's fear of China with Morhra being Japan was what I've always heard.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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miguelnuva wrote:
VoyagerGoji wrote:I heard an interesting interpretation of the film. This guy basically says that Godzilla represents the US while Rodan represents the Soviet Union, and King Ghidorah represents Nuclear War.
Ghidorah was Japan's fear of China with Morhra being Japan was what I've always heard.
I’ve heard that KG represents China too, but that was dismissed by Ishiro Honda.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by eabaker »

GtTHM is not an allegorical film by design. Like pretty much every movie in this genre, it is rooted in a tradition of Japanese art and storytelling which is fixated on their nation's destruction and recovery - a tradition which pre-dates WW2, and is most likely due to the area's propensity for natural disasters. And popular storytelling of that time throughout much of the world was heavily colored by Cold War anxieties. So, given its subject matter, it makes sense that even a relatively light-weight genre entry like GtTHM would end up suggesting commentary on increasing international armament. But it's not a movie that offers up 1:1 real-world analogies.

Although the Rodan-as-Russia/Godzilla-as-America idea does interestingly correspond to the nations they're respectively sent to in DAM.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Omegazilla »

I like this one, more so than the it's immediate sequel. It was essentially the first "kaiju brawl" movie with multiple major monster characters fighting each other as a major plot point and introduces one of the most iconic monsters in the Godzilla franchise. The whole aliens from space controlling Ghidorah gets really old, really fast, but here it at least was somewhat original.

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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by UltramanGoji »

But there’s no aliens controlling Ghidorah in this one, he’s on his own.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by HedorahIsBestGirl »

I'm not usually one to waste a ton of time on fan theories but I have always wondered if the Xiliens were controlling King Ghidorah in this film. After their first invasion attempt failed, they tried a different tactic the second time around; they ingratiated themselves to humanity, got control of Godzilla and Rodan -- the only ones who could defeat Ghidorah -- and then they abandoned the benevolent facade, confident that no force on Earth could stand against them.

Obviously, this is just a fan theory with no direct evidence in either film but it's part of my ""headcanon"".
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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Considering the intelligence of the Xiliens, it's not a bad theory.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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I've seen people try to support that particular theory using the "Ghidorah was always one of their weapons" (or however it's phrased) line in Monster Zero, but I always took that line to mean, "Ghidorah was already under their control when we first arrived on Planet X."
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by miguelnuva »

I wouldn't say Planet X had Ghidorah as much as they were watching the events of GTTHM. The way I see Planet X was after Ghidorah for a while and when they were ready to go after him he gets beaten by Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan.

Knowing that Mothra would never fall for their trap they instead remove Godzilla and Rodan from the equation. There is only a couple of ways Planet X could get control of Ghidorah and then know he lost to Godzilla and Rodan.

Either they were controlling Ghidorah from the start of they knew of Ghidorah and had been watching Earth for a while. I like them attempting to go after Ghidorah and then Godzilla and Rodan threw a monkey wrench in the plans better than they always had Ghidorah.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Omegazilla »

I like how this movie started the whole "supposedly highly advanced aliens that don't possess anything impressive other than having a monster or two."

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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

Omegazilla wrote:I like how this movie started the whole "supposedly highly advanced aliens that don't possess anything impressive other than having a monster or two."
I think you're thinking of Invasion of Astro-Monster, friendo.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by JAGzilla »

Anyway, the flying saucers they used to effortlessly capture said monsters and the technology used to mind-control them... I would regard those as being fairly impressive.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

The alien technology was quite impressive.
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King Ghidorah power question.

Post by Locutus »

In 3 headed monster we know the Venusian lady says that within a day Ghidorah turned Venus into a "dead world" destroying the Venusian civilization.


My question is, did Ghidorah only destroy Venus civilization (buildings and cities) or did he completely annihilate all life on Venus surface? Seems a bit vague with how it was wordes. Ik decades ago Venus was thought of to be earth like, is it possible Ghidorah reduced the original earth like Venus into the barren wasteland that rains acid as we know it?

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