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

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

Post by Voyager »

I got a question that’s been in my head for a while. How did King Ghidorah become so popular? Why did Toho decide to reuse him over and over? Was this movie that successful?
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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Voyager wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 7:18 pm I got a question that’s been in my head for a while. How did King Ghidorah become so popular? Why did Toho decide to reuse him over and over? Was this movie that successful?
Combination of a few things I believe.

1. Conceptually the idea of a three-headed space dragon just sounds cool and is cool.
2. Ghidorah came out during the space craze. US was sending people to the moon, sci fi series were all the rage so this and its sequel were quite timely.
3. Ghidorah's suit was quite durable and thus could be reused a lot.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by edgaguirus »

Legends of Orochi may also play a part, though I agree with all 3 reasons.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Terasawa »

Voyager wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 7:18 pm Was this movie that successful?
According to Ryfle and Godziszewski, it "was the fourth-highest-grossing domestic movie of the 1964-65 season," which they call "the biggest to date for Japanese movies."
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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What would it take for Toho to make a monster as popular as the big five again one day? Any factors anyone can think of?

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

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LegendZilla wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:03 pm What would it take for Toho to make a monster as popular as the big five again one day? Any factors anyone can think of?
Have to be a kind of creature to offer a unique type experience that compliments the Godzilla mythos. Also debut in a movie that is successful as Toho wants it to be so they don't immediately give up on the idea.

Toho are the kings of developing cold feet.
Last edited by godjacob on Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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LegendZilla wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:03 pm What would it take for Toho to make a monster as popular as the big five again one day? Any factors anyone can think of?
Make a monster movie, give it to a good writer and director, give them time to develop the film and then don't immediately cross it over with Godzilla. Or make it Godzilla's opponent and have him need Mothra and Rodan to help fight.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by JAGzilla »

No one is going to approach the Big 5 in a single movie. They'll have to succeed in that debut movie and then be brought back and succeed again, several times over many years. It's a long, slow process that may or may not even be possible in today's cinematic landscape.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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Unfortunately, there is no formula for lighting in a bottle.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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JAGzilla wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 3:45 am No one is going to approach the Big 5 in a single movie. They'll have to succeed in that debut movie and then be brought back and succeed again, several times over many years. It's a long, slow process that may or may not even be possible in today's cinematic landscape.
My chain of thought was if they have a great debut film it would spawn sequels or if they had a good fight with Godzilla Toho would start turning out more films with the new kaiju.

Godzilla Mothra and Rodan followed the first path while Ghidorah abd MechaG did the 2nd.

I wonder in theory if Shin could be made a 6th member by being spun off from Godzilla?
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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The last of the big 5 were introduced almost 50 years ago. Crazy that Toho hasn't been able to add to those ranks. Biollante, Space Godzilla and Destroyer have been popular but have stayed one-hit wonders ever since their debut films.

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

Post by eabaker »

Guys, this is a really interesting topic of discussion, and I'd love to see it continue, but we're getting off topic for this thread. I'm going to create a new thread for it in General Toho Films.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by canofhumdingers »

I watched the Japanese cut of Ghidrah again today. I’ve got to say, I’m not sure I still subscribe to the “the American cut fixed the herky-jerky day/night/day editing problems” idea that I see (and have mentioned myself) as a common comment on the two different cuts. Yes, the American cut reduces the number of times we switch between day and night scenes. But there’s not really anything nonsensical about the editing of the Japanese cut (not that I noticed this viewing at least).

The film does indeed switch pretty rapidly from day to night and back multiple times. But it didn’t strike me as a mistake but more so just showing the time of the story passing. Basically the events are stretched out over a longer period of time (maybe a week or longer? I didn’t keep count) as opposed to happening over the course of just a handful of days (as the American cut would imply).

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

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The American version (despite my nostalgia for it) RUINS entire scenes by butchering Ifukube's score. The way they destroyed Godzilla and Rodan arriving in Yokohama (removing the cast reacting to the explosion outside, Godzilla going from in the water to on land to in the water again, the removal of the shot of the assassins in the fleeing crowd and the complete removal of the score) negates anything good you could possibly say about the US version.

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

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canofhumdingers wrote: Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:07 am

The film does indeed switch pretty rapidly from day to night and back multiple times. But it didn’t strike me as a mistake but more so just showing the time of the story passing. Basically the events are stretched out over a longer period of time (maybe a week or longer? I didn’t keep count) as opposed to happening over the course of just a handful of days (as the American cut would imply).
I imagine there would have been a day or three between when the plane exploded and the time the minister noticed the resemblance between the prophetess and the princess.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

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Legion1979 wrote: Tue Sep 13, 2022 10:04 am The American version (despite my nostalgia for it) RUINS entire scenes by butchering Ifukube's score. The way they destroyed Godzilla and Rodan arriving in Yokohama (removing the cast reacting to the explosion outside, Godzilla going from in the water to on land to in the water again, the removal of the shot of the assassins in the fleeing crowd and the complete removal of the score) negates anything good you could possibly say about the US version.
Yeah I definitely prefer the Japanese cut. Maybe even strongly prefer it. But I still love the American dub too. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe something more. But I still have a very soft spot for most original US dubs, including this one. I’ve always preferred this dub’s pronunciation of “GHEE-dra” over any other English pronunciation (I particularly dislike “ghi-DOOR-uh”). Plus we get gems like the Mothra fairies’ line, “Oh, Godzilla! What terrible language!”

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

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canofhumdingers wrote: Tue Sep 13, 2022 1:33 pm I’ve always preferred this dub’s pronunciation of “GHEE-dra” over any other English pronunciation (I particularly dislike “ghi-DOOR-uh”).
Yeah, "GHEE-dra" is about the closest most native English-speakers are going to get to Japanese pronunciation without self-consciously affecting an accent.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by godjacob »

I I like "ghi-door-uh" personally, just came off as natural to me. "Ghee-dra" just never won me over I don't know why.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Voyager »

I always pronounced it ‘GHI-door-uh’, or even sometimes ‘GHI-dur-uh’.
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Re: Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

Post by Spuro »

Ghi-DOOR-ah for life! Everything else is heresy. :P
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