Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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mikelcho
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by mikelcho »

Oh yeah, I remember that picture from DAM from way back. That one was always one of my favorite publicity stills from the film.

If only there really was a scene like that in it...that would be great!
Last edited by mikelcho on Mon Apr 13, 2020 7:58 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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HedorahIsBestGirl
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by HedorahIsBestGirl »

My favorite thing about that still is how the only two kaiju that Ghidorah is attacking are Manda and Varan; two of the only three who didn't fight him in the actual film. Like, I've got a nuclear dinosaur up in my faces and a giant pterosaur about to divebomb me, but fuck this snake and this lizard in particular.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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HedorahIsBestGirl wrote:My favorite thing about that still is how the only two kaiju that Ghidorah is attacking are Manda and Varan; two of the only three who didn't fight him in the actual film. Like, I've got a nuclear dinosaur up in my faces and a giant pterosaur about to divebomb me, but skreeonk this snake and this lizard in particular.
Actually, I think King Ghidorah's aiming at both Kumonga and Manda, as well as Varan (who's another dinosaur, btw, not a lizard).

And there's actually two nuclear dinosaurs up in his faces: Godzilla on one side and Minilla on the other (with the son doing his father real proud, I might add).
Last edited by mikelcho on Mon Apr 13, 2020 7:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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HedorahIsBestGirl
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by HedorahIsBestGirl »

Yeah, and Manda isn't a snake, either. He has stubby little arms and legs. I was making a joke.
The wisest words ever spoken on TK: "When I Saw The Showa Movie's white My Friend's They seid WTF is This Your showing Me to Men Fighting In suit's they found At party city Butt when I Showed Them The Heisei film's they thoght They where pritty fun To Watch"

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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HedorahIsBestGirl wrote:Yeah, and Manda isn't a snake, either. He has stubby little arms and legs. I was making a joke.
Ah. pretty good there.

I forgot to mention that, technically, Manda's a four-legged sea serpent, That, I think, is very different from a snake.

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by LamangoKaijura »

I still think they should have kept the Varan and Rodan vs Ghidorah aerial fight in the final film.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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LamangoKaijura wrote:I still think they should have kept the Varan and Rodan vs Ghidorah aerial fight in the final film.
GASP!

I didn't even know that was gonna be a thing! The more I learn about this movie the more it becomes a missed opportunity (like not being able to use King Kong).

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Or heck, if the Monsterverse lives long enough let Legendary do it.

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by LamangoKaijura »

Living Corpse wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Or heck, if the Monsterverse lives long enough let Legendary do it.
We wouldn't have any of the Toho Kaiju besides the ones Legendary already has rights to, since Toho, for some reason, has all their monsters as separate trademarks.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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LamangoKaijura wrote: We wouldn't have any of the Toho Kaiju besides the ones Legendary already has rights to, since Toho, for some reason, has all their monsters as separate trademarks.
Yeah I always wondered is that a Japanese thing or a Toho thing? Did Daiei do that with Gamera monsters before Kadokawa bought them? Does Kadokawa Daiei? Like do some Japanese companies do that and others do it more like western companies where everything is under one copyright?

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Tighten up the story? DAM is pretty narratively lean as it is; what is it that you feel needs tightening up?
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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eabaker wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Tighten up the story? DAM is pretty narratively lean as it is; what is it that you feel needs tightening up?
DAM did a lot of telling to me instead of showing. We're told the monsters are everywhere destroying everything but the world didn't seem that bad off even when the 4 monsters attack Tokyo.

That's another small switch I'd do as well. Varan should have attacked Tokyo instead of Manda.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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miguelnuva wrote:
eabaker wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Tighten up the story? DAM is pretty narratively lean as it is; what is it that you feel needs tightening up?
DAM did a lot of telling to me instead of showing. We're told the monsters are everywhere destroying everything but the world didn't seem that bad off even when the 4 monsters attack Tokyo.
I'd call that expansion more than tightening up. ;)
That's another small switch I'd do as well. Varan should have attacked Tokyo instead of Manda.
Interesting. I feel like Manda brings a unique visual element and method of destruction to the sequence. I don't really see how Varan would have contributed anything as distinctive. At least not with the resources available.
Last edited by eabaker on Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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eabaker wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:
eabaker wrote:
Tighten up the story? DAM is pretty narratively lean as it is; what is it that you feel needs tightening up?
DAM did a lot of telling to me instead of showing. We're told the monsters are everywhere destroying everything but the world didn't seem that bad off even when the 4 monsters attack Tokyo.
I'd call that expansion more than tightening up. ;)
That's another small switch I'd do as well. Varan should have attacked Tokyo instead of Manda.
Interesting. I feel like Manda brings a unique visual element and method of destruction to the sequence. I don't really see how Varan would have contributed anything as distinctive. At least not with the resources available.
Varannis just really there for what it would have represented. Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and Varan all had solo films so in a way seeing those 4 would have been like a swan song.

DAM was suppose to end the kaiju era and those 4 were the start in a way.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by szmigiel »

DAM is a very tight narrative as it is, the only tightening up you can do is, trimming down the laser cutting scene on the moon, and integrate the fire dragon saucer into the battle royal a bit better. What it could use is more focus on the SY-3 crew as actual characters.

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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miguelnuva wrote:To this day DAM is the only Godzilla movie I wish Toho would do a remake of. Tighten up the story, have all the monsters do something, with Today's effects and if they took more than a year to work on it I think DAM could live up to it's monster party nickname.
Not sure I would want to see a modern-effects driven remake as much as a throwback sequel that incorporated the newer villains introduced in the 70's films. The one thing that doesn't quite land as much in hindsight is having King Ghidorah as the sole villain at the end. Even disregarding the films that followed (given that nobody could have predicted the future), the inclusion of Ghidorah as the menace had already been done a couple times already.
Check out the PG version of my short film, "Destroy All Sisters".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNVCmLaqznA&t=1s

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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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Dumb question: was able to catch the dubbed version of Destroy All Monsters on Comet tonight, and I noticed that Dr. Otani had this peculiar quirk of taking multiple long pauses in the middle of sentences. Was this present in the original performance, or was this something that had to happen due to the dub? I had wondered if it was supposed to convey the effects of the Kilaak mind control, but I couldn't recall any other controlled characters with that speech pattern
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by Terasawa »

I’m pretty sure it’s just a quirk of that particular English script/performance.
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Re: Talkback Thread #9: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Post by Crazy Jim Films »

eabaker wrote:Interesting. I feel like Manda brings a unique visual element and method of destruction to the sequence. I don't really see how Varan would have contributed anything as distinctive. At least not with the resources available.
Agree on that one. That shot of Manda crawling across the monorail track is pretty awesome.
Check out the PG version of my short film, "Destroy All Sisters".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNVCmLaqznA&t=1s

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