Who Hates Heisei?

[JAGzilla]

All right, citizens of TK. We all know that our forums are infamous for being a wretched hive of Heisei haters. But are they? The time has come to put this oft-repeated claim to the test.

For the sake of accuracy, I'm referring strictly to the post-'91 films: Godzilla vs Mothra, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla, and Godzilla vs Destoroyah. These four are the controversial ones, while their three predecessors are more solidly in the 'popular' camp.

For my part, I love them, warts and all. I bash them a lot (not always seriously) for their many glaring flaws, but I still have a ton of fun watching them. Heck, the flaws even bring their own brand of charm.

[Jermobooka]

It’s not that I dislike them. They’re all “Decent” to “Good” for me. They just could’ve been so much more.

If the Heisei Godzilla series was as good as the Hesei Gamera trilogy, I’d be with the hype. But as they actually are, the hype seems undeserved (especially considering GvD).

[Legion1979]

What a productive thread...

[eabaker]

Keeping an eye on this thread...

But, personally, as someone who would likely be deemed a "Showa elitist," I do enjoy the later Heisei movies (with one exception).

[ShinGojira14]

I like a lot of aspects of the Heisei series, but I still recognize most of them as bad movies. The writing was almost always all over the place and the films never had a damn clue what they wanted to be.

[shadowgigan]

I voted flawless just because. In reality, I can acknowledge their flaws, even though I love them.

[Terasawa]

I voted for "like," but my opinion is more complicated than that. Suffice to say, however, I don't hate any one of the Heisei Series Godzilla movies, nor do I think they're bad movies.

Biollante is the only one I'd consider a conventionally-good movie. (I think it's also a top five Godzilla movie. None of the rest even sneak into the top 10.) I view the other six Heisei films the same way I do most Godzilla movies, i.e., they're all pretty average movies overall, neither "good" nor "bad". They're either too flawed or not exceptional enough for me to consider them good movies; but on the other hand, they're still competently-produced, workmanlike films made with studio resources and talent, so they don't quite meet my threshold for bad cinema.

But most importantly to the original question, I genuinely enjoy all seven Heisei Series Godzilla movies. On average, and as a unit, I watch them about as frequently as I do the Showa films (again, when lumped together).

[Voyager]

I like GvB, GvKG, GvMG2, and GvD. That's 4/7. Enough to say I have a positive view, even if it's only 'like'.

[edgaguirus]

I enjoy the majority of the Heisei era. Of the 4 mentioned, there's only one I try to avoid.

[Spuro]

I uphold The Return of Godzilla as one of the best in the franchise, and I really like vs Biollante and vs Destoroyah too, in spite of their flaws.

The others? Um...

You all probably know my feelings on vs King Ghidorah. I am not a fan of that movie, and strongly consider it to be the worst written entry in the franchise.

vs Mothra isn't good either, but it doesn't annoy me or make me cringe in the same way that GvKG does, so I tend to rank it higher. It's watchable. I can enjoy it when I'm in the right mindset.

vs Mechagodzilla 2 is almost better than GvM... the biggest thing holding that one back is my utter and complete disdain for Pterandodon Guy, who was probably my least favorite character in the franchise before Harou of Anime Trilogy fame entered the picture. The monster stuff hits some pretty good emotional and narrative beats, though.

Do I need to say anything about vs Spacegodzilla? That one is probably even worse than GvKG is.

And then we got the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, if we're including that. Eyiyiyi.

[LegendZilla]

I am in the crowd who considers GvD, a flawed, yet satisfying end to an era. Unpopular opinion I know.

[Breakdown]

I am 100% biased towards the Heisei series because I grew up with it and the Showa era. That said, it's overall my favorite era tied only with Showa by the tiniest margin. Godzilla 1985, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah and Godzilla vs Mothra were some of my nostalgic childhood favorites. Godzilla 1985 in particular had a tremendous impact on me as a kid, as it was the first time I ever saw Godzilla depicted as a villain and many, many tears were shed at the Mt. Mihara scene.

[LegendZilla]

^One's ability to enjoy Heisei era all goes down to how young you were when you first saw the films. My first 90's Heisei film was SpaceGodzilla and I saw it in '98. A saw the rest when they were first released on VHS by Tristar. I had the luck of seeing them when I was still somewhat impressionable.

The younger you are when exposed to something, the easier it is to view with a rose-tinted nostalgic lens. As I said somewhere else, the older you get, the more difficult it can be to turn off your brain and have fun. Thus, you could easily spoil yourself over logic in your entertainment.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Again, the issue is how we group these films. When you say Heisei, are you referring to Godzilla vs. Mothra, or Godzilla vs. Biollante?

I love Godzilla 1984, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, about the same as various Showa entries (again that's a big wide category). The rest of the Heisei franchise has a lot of interesting ideas, but mostly pour/bland execution. Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is the best example of this. But I'd rather watch Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla over a lot of other movies everyday.

[LegendZilla]

Again, the issue is how we group these films. When you say Heisei, are you referring to Godzilla vs. Mothra, or Godzilla vs. Biollante?

I love Godzilla 1984, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, about the same as various Showa entries (again that's a big wide category). The rest of the Heisei franchise has a lot of interesting ideas, but mostly pour/bland execution. Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is the best example of this. But I'd rather watch Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla over a lot of other movies everyday.

Does a large part have to do with the fact the Heisei films tried to take themselves more seriously than the mid-late Showa era, yet trying to incorporate more fantastical elements just seemed more out of place in comparison to the past?

[darthzilla99]

My love for Heisei has fluctuated over the years. As a little kid, I loved all Godzilla films growing up and after the Tristar film, the post 1985 Heisei VHS started popping up in blockbuster rentals and in stores. During the post final wars period I hopped on the bandwagon hate of Heisei that got spread by Godzilla internet scholars. In more recent years I have begun to like them and even had friends who worked on film sets in high school and independent films compliment the miniatures work of Destroyah.

[JAGzilla]

What a productive thread...

It's a dumb joke thread to a point, yes. It does serve a functional purpose, though: anyone making statements about TK's general consensus on these films now has a source of current data to draw from.

[Chrispy_G]

Grew up when they were some of the 'newest' Godzilla films. Loved them then. As I got older I of course went through that hyper critical phase of the Heisei films.

But screw it, everything about those films are hyper nostalgic to me...but beyond that, the dubs are fun, I LOVE the scores and I unabashedly LOVE the laser-light show effects and all of the transformations, forms, and powerups the kaiju get. I actually tend to like the more 'stiff' mobility of the kaiju because creatures of THAT scale would be stiff and lumbering, and I think the energy beam battles as a solution for that actually makes a lot of sense.

Beam locks and power ups are the stuff of DBZ and there just aren't enough of them in the world.

We have Godzilla films with glorified wrestling matches, but I love the hell out of the Heisei films for what they are too. I find it harder and harder to hate any variety of Godzilla films these days, I can enjoy something about them all.

[Red-Death Gigan]

Godzilla 1985 & Godzilla vs Biollante pretty are great. I can live without the rest, honestly.

[edgaguirus]

[quote=LegendZilla post_id=1889964 time=1656546695 user_id=3897

The younger you are when exposed to something, the easier it is to view with a rose-tinted nostalgic lens. As I said somewhere else, the older you get, the more difficult it can be to turn off your brain and have fun. Thus, you could easily spoil yourself over logic in your entertainment.
[/quote]

That's true to some point. I grew up on the Showa films, so that might make me a "Showa elitist", and the only Heisei film that I could see on tv was Godzilla 1984. I later saw the rest of the Heisei era as video rentals, and I enjoyed the majority of them. I don't care much for vs SG, but I will watch it if I'm in the mood. They have no nostalgia for me, but I like them.