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

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MogeGoji1994
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by MogeGoji1994 »

Was rewatching this the other night, and noticed a fun little detail during the final fight with Ghidorah. Mothra grabs onto his tail, and as a result, gets thrown around a bunch. She looses her grip, and goes in again to grab the tail. This time however, she wraps her tail around a big rock, so she no longer gets thrown around by his tail.

Its a neat little detail that I really like
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

In that fight, it feels like Mothra and Rodan were the once thinking tactically, while Godzilla was mainly providing the muscle.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by miguelnuva »

edgaguirus wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:57 pm In that fight, it feels like Mothra and Rodan were the once thinking tactically, while Godzilla was mainly providing the muscle.
Yeah Rodan was basically using Godzilla to take damage and draw Ghidorah's attention away. Rodan might even be smarter than Mothra atleast as fare as battle smarts go.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

I was just watching the last part of the fight, and you may be right. It looked like Rodan was calling the shots to Mothra, like suggesting the caterpillar use him as a way of elevating his web attack.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Follinollante »

Honestly my only complaint is Ghidorah's unbelievably anticlimactic defeat. He gets webbed and runs away. (I have a theory that Mothra's webbing is actually caustic or something, but that's a subject for another thread.)
Godzilla swearing, though: 10/10, best part of the whole dang movie.

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

Post by Legion1979 »

Nothing about Ghidorah's defeat is anticlimactic. What would you preferred to happen?

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

Post by Follinollante »

At least something along the lines of Ghidorah getting beaten up; like they could have wrapped him up in webs, let him fall down, then started whaling on him until he breaks free and flees. As it is (or as I remember), he just gets his heads tied together, which, for a Kaiju like him, is by no means enough to finish him.

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

Post by Follinollante »

To compare, in vs. Megalon, Gigan is defeated when JJ tosses him into the air and Godzilla blasts him with an Atomic Ray. Gigan running away at that point seems to me to be totally justified, unlike Ghidorah in GtTHM.

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

Post by JAGzilla »

Later movies and other media have built Ghidorah up to be something he wasn't in the original film. In 1964, he was an impending apocalypse as the hype and backstory imply... but he was also a bully and a coward. He was all too happy to kill and torment anyone weaker than him, and that was all he'd ever encountered. He'd never been in a fair fight in his life, and suddenly, up against the combined forces of Earth's monsters, that was what he was dealing with. Even if they might not have had the capacity to easily kill him, he was still facing a dangerous uphill battle, and he couldn't handle that. He panicked and ran, because that was who he was.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by godjacob »

JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:44 pm Later movies and other media have built Ghidorah up to be something he wasn't in the original film. In 1964, he was an impending apocalypse as the hype and backstory imply... but he was also a bully and a coward. He was all too happy to kill and torment anyone weaker than him, and that was all he'd ever encountered. He'd never been in a fair fight in his life, and suddenly, up against the combined forces of Earth's monsters, that was what he was dealing with. Even if they might not have had the capacity to easily kill him, he was still facing a dangerous uphill battle, and he couldn't handle that. He panicked and ran, because that was who he was.
I mean, this movie hypes up Ghidorah as a walking planetary apocalypse, if anything this film is the most guilty of presenting Ghidorah as one thing but his actual feats in the film itself don't do well to match up.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by JAGzilla »

godjacob wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:59 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:44 pm Later movies and other media have built Ghidorah up to be something he wasn't in the original film. In 1964, he was an impending apocalypse as the hype and backstory imply... but he was also a bully and a coward. He was all too happy to kill and torment anyone weaker than him, and that was all he'd ever encountered. He'd never been in a fair fight in his life, and suddenly, up against the combined forces of Earth's monsters, that was what he was dealing with. Even if they might not have had the capacity to easily kill him, he was still facing a dangerous uphill battle, and he couldn't handle that. He panicked and ran, because that was who he was.
I mean, this movie hypes up Ghidorah as a walking planetary apocalypse, if anything this film is the most guilty of presenting Ghidorah as one thing but his actual feats in the film itself don't do well to match up.
He was an apocalypse. If the monsters hadn't teamed up to fight him off, humanity and normal terrestrial life would have been screwed. No one ever said that he was the strongest kaiju, just that he massacred the Venusians. They don't appear to have had their own kaiju to defend them.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by StardustGenius »

I wish there were a few sfx sequences of the military trying to fight Ghidorah, but looking behind the scenes, and maybe even in-story I can see why there weren't any.

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

Post by godjacob »

JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 1:03 pm
godjacob wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:59 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:44 pm Later movies and other media have built Ghidorah up to be something he wasn't in the original film. In 1964, he was an impending apocalypse as the hype and backstory imply... but he was also a bully and a coward. He was all too happy to kill and torment anyone weaker than him, and that was all he'd ever encountered. He'd never been in a fair fight in his life, and suddenly, up against the combined forces of Earth's monsters, that was what he was dealing with. Even if they might not have had the capacity to easily kill him, he was still facing a dangerous uphill battle, and he couldn't handle that. He panicked and ran, because that was who he was.
I mean, this movie hypes up Ghidorah as a walking planetary apocalypse, if anything this film is the most guilty of presenting Ghidorah as one thing but his actual feats in the film itself don't do well to match up.
He was an apocalypse. If the monsters hadn't teamed up to fight him off, humanity and normal terrestrial life would have been screwed. No one ever said that he was the strongest kaiju, just that he massacred the Venusians. They don't appear to have had their own kaiju to defend them.
It's more there isn't much about Ghidorah that made him anymore destructive than other Kaiju on Earth. If it was given a scene or two of just absolutely flooring the military and more destruction scenes to highlight the dread it was causing before the fight it would've helped to sell the planet destroying terror he is hyped to be.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

The Ghidorahs seen in the ROM trilogy seem more apocalyptic. One feeds off the life energy of a forest, and the other kidnaps children.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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godjacob wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 3:33 pm It's more there isn't much about Ghidorah that made him anymore destructive than other Kaiju on Earth. If it was given a scene or two of just absolutely flooring the military and more destruction scenes to highlight the dread it was causing before the fight it would've helped to sell the planet destroying terror he is hyped to be.
I doubt even the filmmakers would disagree with this. But this was a resource intensive movie to begin with, and it came out in the same year as MvG. I imagine there just wasn't time or budget left for more city sets, military miniatures, and pyrotechnics.

There's also the fact that it isn't hard to look at Ghidorah and see why he's a problem. He has a destructive ray like Godzilla's but he can rapid-fire spam it out of three mouths for 3x the destructive efficiency, plus he has Rodan's ability to fly and generate hurricane winds. He's the worst of both of them and then some. Mothra was ultimately what defeated him because she was the one who had things he didn't: a benevolent nature, and all-powerful caterpillar silk.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

So the latest slant on this wonderful film is that apparently KG wasn't "Apocalyptic" ( :roll: :roll: :roll: I guess this is the new buzzword of the month) enough?

*Cue up RLM's Mike Stoklasa's perfect ecapsulation of fans complaining about the Mandarin in Iron Man 3* :keizer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbsRfRmL5Kc

Sums up this "KG/Apocalypse" nonsense up in a nutshell. :xilian: :Superman:
edgaguirus wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:55 pm I was just watching the last part of the fight, and you may be right. It looked like Rodan was calling the shots to Mothra, like suggesting the caterpillar use him as a way of elevating his web attack.
Wow, after all these years, you guys are the first to ever notice this :lol: :P ;)
Follinollante wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 7:44 am At least something along the lines of Ghidorah getting beaten up; like they could have wrapped him up in webs, let him fall down, then started whaling on him until he breaks free and flees. As it is (or as I remember), he just gets his heads tied together, which, for a Kaiju like him, is by no means enough to finish him.
Yeah, they should have had Godzilla insult King Ghidorah's mom while he was down, and then have him get set on fire. :DragonBall:
edgaguirus wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 10:30 pm The Ghidorahs seen in the ROM trilogy seem more apocalyptic. One feeds off the life energy of a forest, and the other kidnaps children.
Um...yeah....how about we never mention anything from the Mothra trilogy in the same breath as this film again....*ever* :xilian:
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Legion1979 »

I'm getting really tired of people's opinions of the classic films being informed by stuff made decades later. Are we really playing this game where we can't appreciate "Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster anymore because of what happens in the godawful Mothra trilogy of all things.

Here's a better way to look at this movie in a way that might make the ending look less "anticlimactic". It's a film about a smart woman and two idiots who can't stand each other, but have to put their differencess aside against a common enemy. They get nowhere tackling the problem alone, but when they figure out how to work together they're able to become stronger for it and solve their problem. The Japanese title of the film is "Three Giant Monsters: Earth's Greatest Battle". The three giant monsters are the focus and get the character arcs, not Ghidorah.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by StardustGenius »

I think the movie's climax is great, and it ends just the way it should, though I can see why one would say its anticlimactic. The music and fight choreography telegraph the monsters overcoming Ghidorah. They built it up that way so only teaming up against Ghidorah could the monsters win. We get character tics from the monsters in both the script and in the tokusatsu segments, so it isn't like the end of the fight comes out of no where.

Also, I don't see why this Ghidorah isn't any less devastating as the ones from the movies that came afterwards. He trashed Tokyo quicker than Godzilla 54 did. I think Ghidorah in general is built pretty high as a foe. I think the only movie that made him a chump was GMK. Every movie appearance before that was pretty consistent. A strong foe who will ruin everything if nobody stands up to him. (Yes that includes the Mothra Trilogy!)
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by miguelnuva »

Ghidorah's defeat is so genuis to me because it along with MZ show Godzilla and Rodan can't manhandled him and they have to out think him. Rodan flying Mothra up high enough to web Ghidorah while Godzilla keeps him away is genus.

Also shows how desperate Godzilla and Rodan are when they try the same finish but there is no Mothra.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by shadowgigan »

godjacob wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 3:33 pm
JAGzilla wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 1:03 pm
godjacob wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 12:59 pm

I mean, this movie hypes up Ghidorah as a walking planetary apocalypse, if anything this film is the most guilty of presenting Ghidorah as one thing but his actual feats in the film itself don't do well to match up.
He was an apocalypse. If the monsters hadn't teamed up to fight him off, humanity and normal terrestrial life would have been screwed. No one ever said that he was the strongest kaiju, just that he massacred the Venusians. They don't appear to have had their own kaiju to defend them.
It's more there isn't much about Ghidorah that made him anymore destructive than other Kaiju on Earth. If it was given a scene or two of just absolutely flooring the military and more destruction scenes to highlight the dread it was causing before the fight it would've helped to sell the planet destroying terror he is hyped to be.
I actually agree with this. I adore the film, but it is not without its criticisms, and I totally agree this would have added to Ghidorah's "apocalpytic" nature.

Added in 37 seconds:
miguelnuva wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 5:45 pm Ghidorah's defeat is so genuis to me because it along with MZ show Godzilla and Rodan can't manhandled him and they have to out think him. Rodan flying Mothra up high enough to web Ghidorah while Godzilla keeps him away is genus.

Also shows how desperate Godzilla and Rodan are when they try the same finish but there is no Mothra.
But i also agree with this. So, as usual, my thoughts on a Godzilla film are contradictory.

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