Talkback: Atragon (1963)

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Crimson_Raptor
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by Crimson_Raptor »

Space Hunter M wrote:
Main Site wrote:... When Toho released... Atragon in 1963, the name... was... "Gotengo"... When AIP acquired the license in 1965, they.... shortened the name to simply "Atragon". Decades later, the Super-Famicom game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters featured... a secret character... called... "Gouten". In 2004... the ship went through a English name change, as Toho began to use Gotengo as its official English title. ...the video game Godzilla: Unleashed, the ship was again briefly referred to as the "Atoragon".
Ah, but you forgot to mention the significance of the Original Video Animation of Super Atragon by Toho.

http://www.tohokingdom.com/anime/super_atragon.htm

How does this nomenclature fit into the history of Gotengo to Atragon and back again?
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by o.supreme »

^ Actually I didn't forget it. I think when the article was submitted to TK staff however this portion was edited out because they were trying for a more character driven entry than name driven. Even though the drill ship in Super Atragon shares the same name and a smimiliar story, I guess they are not supposed ot be the same "character" (or vessel if upi will). Recall as I stated earlier, I wanted the entries for Gotengo & Goten to be one, but the site staff decided on making it two. I wish the Anime portion of my entry would have stayed in, but It is what it is. The name variation of all things concerning Gotengo has fasinated me for a lnog time, thus the need to try to make sense of it all, even still, with everything on the table, it is quite confusing.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by eabaker »

My understanding - and I cannot for the life of me remember where I read this, but I'll check some of my reference books when I get home - is that the name "Atragon" was something Toho devised as an alternate name for Manda, thinking that English-speaking audiences would recognize it as a portmanteau of "Atlantis" and "Dragon," but that someone on the distribution end got it mixed up and applied the name to the ship rather than to the monster.

Like I say, I can't remember my source, so this information may be the fecal matter of Taurus.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by Goji »

^ I've actually heard that before too, but I can't remember for the life of me where..
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by Arbok »

eabaker wrote:My understanding - and I cannot for the life of me remember where I read this, but I'll check some of my reference books when I get home - is that the name "Atragon" was something Toho devised as an alternate name for Manda, thinking that English-speaking audiences would recognize it as a portmanteau of "Atlantis" and "Dragon," but that someone on the distribution end got it mixed up and applied the name to the ship rather than to the monster.

Like I say, I can't remember my source, so this information may be the fecal matter of Taurus.
That makes so much sense that I want to smack myself if it comes from a credible source. Do you know where the source for it might have been? Most everything I have read has stated it being a mixture of "Atomic" and "Dragon", and the atomic aspect was mentioned several times in a few markets ala this:

Image

When Toho went to dub the film, they called the ship Gotengo and called the Mu guardian by Manda, so both of their current names stand. However, they coined the name "Atoragon" for the film and it slipped its way into a name for the sub itself.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by Crimson_Raptor »

it may be in the of the earlier issues of G-Fan. Steve Ryfle may have penned it.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by eabaker »

Crimson_Raptor wrote:it may be in the of the earlier issues of G-Fan. Steve Ryfle may have penned it.
Yeah, I checked my books this weekend and couldn't find any references to this, so I suspect it was in G-Fan.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by Goji »

^ Are we talking about the "Atoragon" name? Because that's Toho's international title for the 1963 film, meaning they came up with it back in those days.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by eabaker »

Goji wrote:^ Are we talking about the "Atoragon" name? Because that's Toho's international title for the 1963 film, meaning they came up with it back in those days.
Yeah, we're all in agreement that Toho gave it that name, the question is just what Toho originally intended the name to refer to.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by o.supreme »

I wish G-Fan had an extensive on-line article referrence guide (more than the simple descriptions they have now). I have issues from #10-#100, but not nearly the amount of time needed to page through each one. Heck I can't even remember which issues contain articles & letters I contributed :lol: .
Last edited by o.supreme on Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Atragon/Gotengo - why two names?

Post by eabaker »

o.supreme wrote:I wish G-Fan had an extensive on-line article referrence guide (more than the simple descriptions they have now). I have issues from #10-#100, but not nearly the amount of time needed to page through each one. Heck I can't even remember which issues contain articles & e-mails I contributed :lol: .
Ditto. I have to check online to remember what issues I had articles/stories published in, and I have no idea which issues I had letters in.
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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by Arbok »

Rewatching this film (my habit when I update things for the site), one thing kind of stood out for me: why did they use the Mysterian command ship stock footage shot?

I realize it was meant to represent mankind's advance search for the Mu (which I don't feel was even needed, since we use conventional weapons against the Mu empire besides the Gotengo; in fact, showing the interstellar bases kind of undermines that the Mu are supposed to be advanced)... but why the Mysterians? Why not one of the ships from Gorath? Or did they really assume people had kind of forgotten The Mysterians by this point in time?
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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by Terasawa »

Maybe it was a shot that someone (Tsuburaya?) was especially proud of.
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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

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It was obviously meant to represent the U.N. ICS from King Kong vs. Godzilla.

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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by MaxRebo320 »

Space Hunter M wrote:It was obviously meant to represent the U.N. ICS from King Kong vs. Godzilla.
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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by Ookondru99 »

I like this movie. Wasn't really impressed when I first saw it, but after coming to terms that it wasn't much of a kaiju flick I've begun to appreciate it more and more with each viewing.
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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by Gamera vs Rodan »

I really liked this one. It had so many cool, different ideas going on. I can agree it could have used more action but what's there is well done.

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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by KaijuAlertSystem »

I really like the Atragon itself. I think it's a pretty neat vessel.

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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by H-Man »

Godzilla 1995 wrote:I can say something bad about this movie. I've tried time and time again, but I still find this film just...

boring. The action scenes fall flat, and all the destruction MU causes around the world is never shown. Those would've been great sequences, but we never got them.
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of this film, either. It's one of my least favorite Toho films ever, for the same reasons you mentioned.

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Re: Talkback: Atragon (1963)

Post by 20th Century Boy »

One of Toho's early golden gems. I love the musical score (which is one of Ifukube's most underrated scores) and the themes of nationalism. I didn't like the inclusion of Manda, though. The scene should've either been extended and had better significance to the plot, or just removed altogether.

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