Godzilla, Kong, Gamera & Co.: The Kaiju Mega-Thread

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Kai "the spy", Nov 3, 2021.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    It's a cliche that "the humans don't matter in kaiju movies," but the truth is that the best kaiju movies and shows are the ones with the most engaging human characters. And a full-on TV series would have to be more character-driven than a movie, for both narrative and budgetary reasons.
     
  2. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don’t know about that… Apple shows have looked pretty good so far
     
  3. captainkirk

    captainkirk Commodore Commodore

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    Prehistoric Planet was Apple and that had tons of creature VFX shots and they all looked incredible.
     
  4. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    I just learned that Teruyoshi Nakano passed away on Monday last week at the age of 86.
    [​IMG]
    He was assistant SFX director under Eiji Tsuburaya from 1959 until Tsuburaya's death in 1970, on such Toho films as "Secret of the Telegian", "Gorath", "Matango", "Atragon", "Frankenstein Conquers the World", "War of the Gargantuas" and "King Kong Escapes", as well as the Godzilla films "King Kong vs. Godzilla", "Mothra vs. Godzilla", "Ghidorah, the three-headed Monster", "Invasion of the Astro-Monster", "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep", "Destroy All Monsters" and "Godzilla's Revenge".
    On those last two, due to Tsuburaya's illness at the time, Nakano was pretty much the proper SFX director, but leaving the title in the credits to Tsuburaya in his master's honor.

    After Tsuburaya's death, Nakano took over as Toho's main SFX director on movies like "Submersion of Japan", "Prophecies of Nostradamus", "ESPY", "The War in Space" and "Princess from the Moon". For the Godzilla series, he directed the FX scenes for "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster", "Godzilla vs. Gigan", "Godzilla vs. Megalon", "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla", "Terror of Mechagodzilla" and "Return of Godzilla". He also directed the SFX scenes for Toho's superhero TV show "Zone Fighter", which included guest appearances of Godzilla, Gigan and King Ghidorah.
     
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  5. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Sure, but they're still not going to be able to do things on the scale of the $100,000,000+ movies. I'm sure we'll get Titan action, but it's probably not at the same level of what we've been getting the movies.
    I'm just saying we shouldn't go into this expecting King of the Monsters or Godzilla vs Kong every week.
     
  6. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I know we won’t be completely Kaiju. As long as there is some and the humans do a serviceable enough job to move the story along, I’ll be happy.
     
  7. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    History of Godzilla toys 1966-1977:
     
  8. DarrenTR1970

    DarrenTR1970 Commodore Commodore

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    I had the Godzilla and Rodan from the "Shogun Warriors" line of mecha, with the flying fist and the atomic "breath". I also had the Six Million Dollar Man Bigfoot/Sasquatch action figure at the same time. So, I would do Goodzilla vs. Bigfoot fights either outdoors or in my playroom.
     
  9. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Last edited: Nov 7, 2022
  10. marillion

    marillion Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Ah the golden age of action figures. I, too, had the Godzilla Shogun figure, along with one of the regular Shogun Warriors. Had some epic fights with those.

    My favorite figure at the time was Baron Karza, which was held together magnetically and had fists that shot out from the arm. I think I still have him in a box somewhere. I have to be honest that until I looked it up a few years ago, I had no idea that his origin was with the Micronauts comic series, which I wasn't familiar with as a kid. I guess my folks just thought I'd like it for Christmas one year. LOL.
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Shogun Warriors was a bizarre toy line. It was mostly a bunch of giant robots from Toei anime shows, plus Leopardon from Toei's live-action Spider-Man, plus Godzilla and Rodan from Toho, and later even the Varitank from Gorenger, Toei's first Sentai series -- all slammed together because American kids wouldn't know the difference. (I think the Transformers started out the same way, as two or three separate Japanese toy lines lumped together under a single title in America.)

    And the name "Shogun Warriors" is gibberish, since "Shogun" is Japanese for "General." All warriors can't be generals. Indeed, generals usually don't do the actual battling at all, just the strategy and orders. I guess they picked the name to ride on the coattails of James Clavell's 1975 best-selling novel Shogun, figuring American audiences would recognize it as something Japanese even if they didn't know what it actually meant. Well, I guess it's no worse than the gibberish English names they use in a lot of Japanese productions.
     
  12. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Oh, I didn't realize the actor from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was Kurt Russell's son. Wow -- Russell started out in the late '60s as a child star, now he's acting with his adult son.
     
  14. captainkirk

    captainkirk Commodore Commodore

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  15. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    Anyone remember the Godzilla vs. Hedorah short produced and released last November for the annual Godzilla Celebration in Japan? Well, this year will see a new animated short title Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex, which just released a short teaser:
     
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  16. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    And his old director might be in the mix too
    www.gamespot.com/articles/john-carpenter-is-teasing-something-godzilla-related/1100-6507764/

    a screening or digital release of Gorgo vs. Godzilla, an unreleased fan film that a young Carpenter made before he became a known director in Hollywood with hits including Halloween, Big Trouble in Halloween, and The Thing.

    Tiny zilla'
    www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/xlhu7p/a_micro_godzilla_the_size_of_a_grain_of_rice/

    Nov. 3!
    https://www.cbr.com/godzilla-against-mechagodzilla-us-theatrical-debut-godzilla-day/
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2022
  17. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    Looks like Americans can celebrate Godzilla Day this year with a proper Toho Godzilla on the big screen:
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    A fairly mediocre film, but with a kickass heroine.
     
  19. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    Well, turns out the John Carpenter Godzilla project is him hosting a live stream movie marathon on Godzilla Day:

    Funny enough, two of the four movies don't actually feature Godzilla.
     
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  20. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    But the two that don't were two of my favorites as a young kid of 8. I love both Rodan and War of the Gargantuas - "The words get stuck in my throat...":rofl:;)