Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

For discussion of Toho produced and distributed films or shows released from 1980 up to 1998 (includes Gamera 3)
Post Reply
User avatar
Shoopwoop17
Interpol Agent
Posts: 402
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:06 am

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Shoopwoop17 »

Watched this for the second time (I believe) last night, and I really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how fast Rodan seemed, and I'm also surprised this Mechagodzilla doesn't get more love. It's pretty badass, and it's theme is fantastic. Also this and Spacegodzilla are the best Heisei Godzilla looks, don't @me.

My biggest issue with the film is the depiction of "Pteranodon". The fact that they find a Pteranodon skeleton and then an egg that is bigger than said skeleton only to assume it's a Pteranodon egg is...a stretch at best. Also they call them flying dinosaurs, but that doesn't surprise me. But I enjoyed it.

Question: are the Mothra twins at the ESP school just supposed to be two girls who work there?
Last edited by Shoopwoop17 on Sun May 02, 2021 5:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Check out my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atxspider/

It is mostly Spider-Man themed, but I'd love to talk cosplay, lightsaber commissions, and countless other topics.

User avatar
eabaker
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 13758
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 6:16 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by eabaker »

Shoopwoop17 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:30 am Question: are the Mothra twins at the ESP school just supposed to be two girls who work there?
Yeah, that was just supposed to be a little in-joke (like having Tadao Takashima taking a jab at Masahiro Takashima in the same scene). I've always found it more distracting than funny.
Tokyo, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world.

User avatar
Shoopwoop17
Interpol Agent
Posts: 402
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:06 am

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Shoopwoop17 »

eabaker wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 1:05 pm
Shoopwoop17 wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:30 am Question: are the Mothra twins at the ESP school just supposed to be two girls who work there?
Yeah, that was just supposed to be a little in-joke (like having Tadao Takashima taking a jab at Masahiro Takashima in the same scene). I've always found it more distracting than funny.
My friend was convinced it was supposed to be them because the Heisei films try to be so consistent. But thats good to know, I'll definitely pass that along!
Check out my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atxspider/

It is mostly Spider-Man themed, but I'd love to talk cosplay, lightsaber commissions, and countless other topics.

User avatar
JAGzilla
Sazer
Posts: 11817
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:45 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by JAGzilla »

I'm rewatching this right now, for the first time since 2013. You know, I feel like kind of an asshole... I've griped a lot about the Heisei battles over the years, but it occurs to me that I'd only ever seen most of them in low definition TV broadcasts with crappy TV speakers. Watching the Blu-ray now, with a sound bar boosting the bass? It's a whole different experience. Godzilla vs. Rodan was legitimately cool like this, with each roar and impact shaking the room, and Ifukube thundering over it all. I really need to finally leave my teenage cynicism behind and give all of post-91 Heisei a fair rewatch. It's been too long.

I do wish the Blu-rays didn't have the damn dubtitles, though. The human side of things is much more watchable without the atrocious dub, but if you know any Japanese at all the inaccuracy of the subs is distractingly obvious.
"Stop wars and no more accidents. I guess that's all I can ask." -Akio

User avatar
shadowgigan
Futurian
Posts: 3090
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:11 pm

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by shadowgigan »

It's not a terrible film. Been a while since I watched it. A lot of fun parts spliced in with monotonous boring scenes. Baby Godzilla was and is awesome to me. Don't care what the haters say.

User avatar
JAGzilla
Sazer
Posts: 11817
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:45 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by JAGzilla »

I wouldn't really call any of it monotonous, honestly. It moves along pretty quickly, with monster action taking up a huge percentage of the screentime. A lot of that action is beam-spamming, yes, but it's actually executed fairly well in this movie. Some of the beams are just ineffectual lights and sparks that run together and leave no impact on the monsters or viewer, but then you do get some impressive, hard-hitting weapons like the Shock-Anchor Cables, Plasma Grenade, and Red Spiral Ray. They're cool to see in action. And then Kawakita did make an effort to include some melee combat in this movie. It was stiff and generally not up to Showa standards, but it was there fairly often, with decently cool moments like Rodan pecking Mechagodzilla's eye out or Godzilla stomping and tail-whipping MG while he was down.

The human characters are unremarkable, with Miki and Azusa being the only ones you can connect with at all, and then not much. Aoki with his goofy pteranodon fixation stood out but wasn't terribly interesting, and everyone else was just there to fill a necessary role and/or spout exposition. But the movie was so blatantly uninterested in doing anything with these characters in favor of focusing on the monsters that it doesn't really matter. I didn't feel like I was missing anything, if that makes sense. Godzilla vs. Kong, for example, was obviously gutted. Something more was planned for characters like Ren Serizawa, and it was taken away in favor of maximum action. This movie just didn't feel like it ever had a plan beyond maximum action, and was just doing what it was meant to do. It was bare-bones, but in a harmless, tolerable kind of way.

And it's brought up all the time, but it always deserves to be reiterated that Ifukube brought his A game to the table. Mechagodzilla's theme is straight incredible, and while I never thought much of it on previous viewings, the strange, haunting theme used for Baby Godzilla and especially the end credits really stood out to me this time, too. It does a good job of encapsulating Heisei Godzilla. There's awe, fear, mystery, tragedy, hope... this song kind of says it all.
"Stop wars and no more accidents. I guess that's all I can ask." -Akio

User avatar
LegendZilla
Sazer
Posts: 10355
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:57 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by LegendZilla »

Does anyone think this movie could’ve benefitted from utilizing the Mechagodzilla design from the poster?

Legion1979
Justiriser
Posts: 15857
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:45 pm

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Legion1979 »

LegendZilla wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:24 pm Does anyone think this movie could’ve benefitted from utilizing the Mechagodzilla design from the poster?
No, not really. If the script was the same it really wouldn't have mattered what Mechagodzilla looked like. It still would have been a laser-spitting, walking tank with no personality.

User avatar
LegendZilla
Sazer
Posts: 10355
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:57 am
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by LegendZilla »

Legion1979 wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:33 pm
LegendZilla wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:24 pm Does anyone think this movie could’ve benefitted from utilizing the Mechagodzilla design from the poster?
No, not really. If the script was the same it really wouldn't have mattered what Mechagodzilla looked like. It still would have been a laser-spitting, walking tank with no personality.
At least he would've looked more intimidating.

User avatar
BiitoreinGoji94
Ronin
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:04 pm
Contact:

Which Movie Had a Fly Pinned to a Wall?

Post by BiitoreinGoji94 »

I may not be remembering this perfectly, but I do remember a scene in a Heisei film where a guy throws a tack or a pin and it punctures and fly in the air and pins it to a wall. Which movie was it?

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: Which Movie Had a Fly Pinned to a Wall?

Post by Terasawa »

That's a deleted scene from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

User avatar
BiitoreinGoji94
Ronin
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:04 pm
Contact:

Re: Which Movie Had a Fly Pinned to a Wall?

Post by BiitoreinGoji94 »

Terasawa wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:42 am That's a deleted scene from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.
Thank you.

User avatar
LSD Jellyfish
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 14254
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:57 pm

Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Terasawa wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:42 am That's a deleted scene from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.

1:30

I initially approved of this as a separate topic, and now that the film has been found, merged with the film itself.

I think it's interesting that Godzilla vs. MG2 has so many deleted scenes. Hmm.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Sat Aug 21, 2021 2:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Terasawa »

It's probably not a whole lot more unused material than the other Heisei Series films. Most of the released deleted material for the other films has been limited to the SFX side, but it seems pretty clear that at least RoG and GvSG had a fair amount of drama-unit footage go unused.
Last edited by Terasawa on Sat Aug 21, 2021 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

Legion1979
Justiriser
Posts: 15857
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:45 pm

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Legion1979 »

Well that's the Heisei series for ya, where the only thing that mattered were the special effects and the monsters.

User avatar
LSD Jellyfish
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 14254
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:57 pm

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Terasawa wrote: Sat Aug 21, 2021 4:43 am It's probably not a whole lot more unused material than the other Heisei Series films. Most of the released deleted material for the other films has been limited to the SFX side, but it seems pretty clear that at least RoG and GvSG had a fair amount of drama-unit footage go unused.
Not that it would “fix” the movies, but I saw a deleted scene with Miki interacting with Baby Godzilla in MG2. I wonder for something like GVSG if the deleted scenes would help or hurt the story at all.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

User avatar
Voyager
Keizer
Posts: 7828
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2019 12:34 pm
Location: On a boat

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Voyager »

I’d say it’s my favourite post-91 Heisei film. It’s fine and I like the score.
Image
For Emperor and Empire!

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Terasawa »

LSD Jellyfish wrote: Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:55 pm
Terasawa wrote: Sat Aug 21, 2021 4:43 am It's probably not a whole lot more unused material than the other Heisei Series films. Most of the released deleted material for the other films has been limited to the SFX side, but it seems pretty clear that at least RoG and GvSG had a fair amount of drama-unit footage go unused.
Not that it would “fix” the movies, but I saw a deleted scene with Miki interacting with Baby Godzilla in MG2. I wonder for something like GVSG if the deleted scenes would help or hurt the story at all.
I can't say I fully comprehend the dialogue in the MGII scenes (because, as far as I know, they've never been subtitled), but they all seem pretty expendable to me. Like the early scenes with Aoki struggling to fit in at G-Force -- they wisely cut those and got the same idea across in no more than a couple of minutes using a fast-paced montage. While the Baby & Miki scene (for example) might add some valuable characterization for Miki, it probably also hurt the pace of the film. Also, all the Godzilla movies from '84 to '01 run about 105±3 minutes, which is certainly not coincidence. I think the editors probably had to sacrifice a lot of characterization in these films to deliver the goods (primarily monster action), keep the film moving right along, and meet the likely-enforced run time.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

Legion1979
Justiriser
Posts: 15857
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:45 pm

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Legion1979 »

Which is funny because so many Showa movies had great character scenes and monster action, and those were generally about 15 minutes shorter.

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: Talkback Thread #20: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Post by Terasawa »

While I don't think as lowly of these films as you do, I do think the blame goes mainly to the directors and perhaps also the screenwriters, who let the films down by not finding more efficient ways to develop plot and characters simultaneously. I mean, surely they knew that their movie would run no more than 108 minutes and that a solid chunk of that time would be devoted to the monsters.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

Post Reply