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My Year with Godzilla

Garp

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BONUS: 'The King Kong Show' [1966] [TV]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Inspiration for Toho's 'King Kong Escapes'

I'd never heard of this show before, never seen it and, if not for the Toho connection, wouldn't have been curious to watch it otherwise. It's a run-of-the-mill Saturday morning kids cartoon. The animation is a mixed bag, ranging from crude and basic (Professor Bond looks the worst) to surprisingly intricate, albeit usually briefly. Voice work is passable, very much in line with the Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials. The pilot is similar to the 1933 original film, with Kong scaling the Empire State building with damsel in hand. The rest of the episodes are self-contained stories, with Kong extricating young Bobby Bond from some scrape, usually on Mondo Island (AKA Skull Island in some episodes), though they also venture to the North Pole, Egypt and San Francisco. Dr. Who (not the one I grew up with) is the main villain - a short, mad scientist with a malformed head - who wants to rule the world, either with Kong or in spite of him. The DVDs I purchased teased the episode with MechaniKong but didn't show it; MechaniKong and Dr. Who will both reappear in the spin-off film 'King Kong Escapes'. The episodes are short, colorful, easy to follow and probably would entertain the little ones when the internet is down.
 

bionicbob

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so @"Garp" ...

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTzkzRSC8Cw[/video]

...getting excited yet?  :D
 

Garp

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I am, although I'll probably skip it at the cinema and wait for it to come out on blu-ray at the end of the year, to fit into my schedule. When I first decided to do a year-long Godzilla-thon, I didn't even realise there was another film coming out, so it's been a happy coincidence.
 

Garp

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WEEK 17: 'King Kong Escapes' [1967]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Features Kong, Godzilla's nemesis, plus Gorosaurus, who returns in 'Destroy All Monsters'.
Sub or Dub? Dub

Kong returns. And escapes!

I had high hopes for this one. Kong vs a Kong Robot, featuring a Bond girl, based on a Saturday morning cartoon. All the elements were there, right? Ah, not so much...

An American-Japanese submarine crew are forced to seek out Mondo Island to repair their vessel. There they find the legendary Kong, who takes a swift liking to the cute Ship's Doctor (Linda Jo Miller, dressed like a drum majorette, for some reason). Meanwhile, evil Dr. Who has crafted a MechaniKong to mine for Element X, a precious mineral. When the highly radioactive substance screws with the robot's innards, Who decides he needs the real thing. Kong is captured, but will he... escape?

The film starts well. The model work here is excellent throughout, possibly the best so far. The submarine, the hovercraft - and a lifesize replica - look fantastic. An early brawl between Kong and the Gorosaurus is fun, too, with Kong displaying his signature move of ripping the poor monster's jaw open. The Kong suit is OK, and although some animation is attempted with the mask (the eyelids move), Kong's face is a letdown.

The film has obviously been influenced by the Bond films. Not only does Mie Hama appear (late of 'You Only Live Twice') but there's a two-way radio hat and a very Bond-Villian-type lair. Hideyo Amamoto is pure ham as Dr. Who, and Rhodes Reason (great name!) is a poor Bond substitute. Akira Takarada fares best as the second-in-command, and Mie Hama is lovely to look at. 

The climax at the Tokyo Tower is pretty good, but it seemed too little, too late. The plot is too flimsy to support the non-action scenes, with nothing much of interest occurring to the human characters when the kaiju aren't around. It's a shame, as the effects are worth seeing nonetheless.
 

Neglify

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Film 17 - King Kong Escapes

The best episode of Dr. Who I've ever seen.

3.5/5
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Mighty Peking Man' [1977]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Hong Kong's King Kong
Sub or Dub? Dub

Hong Kong explorers set off to the Himalayas in attempt to capture the legendary Yeti, AKA Mighty Peking Man. As disasters begin to add up and thin their numbers, our last man standing Johnny (Danny Lee) finds not only the giant ape but also a beautiful jungle girl (Evelyne Kraft) who has been raised as a child by the monstrous primate. He persuades them both to return to Hong Kong, but luck continues to elude them.

This is a trashy film, but it's so entertaining. The editing is chaotic, with ultra-rapid cuts, and the effects are poor overall. Mighty Peking Man's mask clearly shows the eyeholes, and the back projection and blue screen work is appalling. The model work gets better as it goes along, or else I was less discerning, but I thought the buildings at the climax were an improvement over what had assaulted my eyes thus far. There's a tasteless attempted rape scene, and plenty of red-spattered action in the first act - so much that there isn't any time to catch your breath. But none of that matters.

All that matters is Evelyne Kraft as the Sheena-like Samantha, the jungle girl. Seemingly orphaned as a 10 year old, she survived with the help of Mighty Peking Man plus her mascara and lip gloss. Kraft is gorgeous here, barely contained within the skimpiness of her animal skin bikini. She has a special bond with our ape, of course, but also with the other beasts of the jungle. Barely a montage can go by without her swinging some hapless big cat around or smooching it's heavily-medicated head. I can't say much for her acting skills - in fact, no one stands out in this film - but she is a mesmerizing presence, no doubt.

Samantha eschews Johnny's attempt to dress her like a hooker, apparently, and maintains her bikini costume throughout her Hong Kong sojourn. The third act then plays out like every other King Kong film, with the usual results. It's altogether ridiculous but surprisingly watchable. The best Kong rip-off so far.
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Yeti, Giant of the 20th Century' [1977]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Yet(i) another King Kong rip-off

If kaiju movies have taught us one thing, it's that if we find a monster frozen in ice, we should leave it alone and not try to defrost it.

Alas, the scientists in 'Yeti, Giant of the 20th Century' - an Italian production by way of Canada - do not heed this wise advice and so we are left with this turgid 'King Kong' rip-off. Technically, the giant monster in this film is not a gorilla but a yeti, but it basically boils down to the same thing. There's a man in a furry suit who goes on a rampage in front of dodgy blue screen effects to rescue the human girl he loves.

Beyond the bad effects, this film commits the worst sin of any monster movie: it is extraordinarily dull. I fell asleep at one point and awoke to find the furry-suit-man playing yoyo with an elevator full of people. I had missed how he had got to that point, and I didn't care. Later on, I believe furry-suit-man was being implicated in a murder he didn't commit. I was hoping the film would take an interesting turn, maybe like an episode of 'The Fugitive' or have a courtroom scene a la 'Perry Mason'. But no. Nothing so fun. By the end, I was rooting for a tall building to show up so the Yeti could fall off it and put us all out of our misery.
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Gamera vs. Gyaos' [1967]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Daiei's answer to Godzilla
Sub or Dub: Sub

So long, Gamera the indiscriminately destructive force of nature. Hello, Gamera the children's friend and world's hero.

Gamera secures his good guy status right from the getgo by saving a village from an erupting volcano. However, the volcano also awakens the prehistoric Gyaos, he of the two throats. This strange bodily structure enables him to emit high-frequency sound, which appears as a yellow ray that acts like a laser. Will modern science - with their high-speed rotating restaurants and fake blood - beat the new threat, or will good old-fashioned monster power win the day?

Despite not being a fan of the monster-as-hero storyline, this is a pretty good Gamera entry. Daiei take a couple of ideas from Toho - Gyaos has similar supersonic wind power to Rodan, and is repelled by light like the Gargantuas - but add their own level of craziness. Defeating Gyaos by making him dizzy - surprise! - fails, and I assume their efforts to produce artificial blood to attract the monster is to make the film more kid-friendly. There is a lot of kaiju blood on screen here, but tastefully colorful - mauve for Gyaos and turquoise for Gamera.

Gyaos looks better in the air or sea rather than on land or in close-up, but the models are cool, especially when being sliced in two. The kid is less annoying than usual child actors, and there's a moral about greed (spoiler: it's bad) to go along with the monster-on-monster battles. The film ends with a montage of Gamera's Greatest Hits from all three films and a catchy theme tune. Gamera won't take the place of Godzilla for me, but I'm sort of looking forward to what the crazy spinning turtle will do next.
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Kong: The Animated Series' [2000]
Is Godzilla in it? Not that I know of. Godzilla connection: Features Kong

This kids cartoon updates the 1933 story of King Kong, utilising cloning, the internet and shamanism. It's a strange brew that doesn't altogether work, albeit with the caveat that I doubt I'm the proper demographic to judge.

A young scientist, Dr. Lorna Jenkins, takes DNA from the deceased Kong in 1933 and, years later, mixes it with her grandson Jason's DNA, for unknown and unethical reasons. New Kong grows up on Kong Island and has a special bond with his 'brother'. Using a 'cyber-link' earpiece, Jason can disappear and get zapped into Kong's brain, ostensibly to control him better. The villain of the piece is the wonderfully named Professor Ramon De La Porta, who lost his hand in an early encounter with the young Kong and has a bionic prosthetic in its place. Having stolen another cyber-link, he frequently zaps himself into various jungle creatures, although his bonding creates new, mutant half-man, half-beasts for reasons I didn't catch. Adding to the mix are Lua, a jungle girl with shamanic powers, and Tann, son of a billionaire with a surfer-dude accent, acting as the comic relief.

I watched the first 5 episodes which follow an arc, setting up the backstory and featuring De La Porta's quest to steal some ancient stones. The first four episodes are set entirely on the island, but the fifth is the most interesting as they travel to New York, with new Kong suffering PTSD symptoms.

There are also two feature-length films that I tried to watch, but only got halfway with both. The first 'Kong: King of Atlantis' dispenses with De La Porta, as far as I could gather, as well as Dr. Lorna, and instead features shape-shifters from Atlantis. Bizarrely, this film is a musical, with Jason & Lua singing an early and terrible duet. The second film, 'Kong: Return to the Jungle' features early poor computer animation, but does bring back De La Porta, who is trying to steal Kong and the other prehistoric creatures from Kong Island for some other guy's theme park. This film also had a song playing over a montage, which is where I gave up on 'Kong: The Animated Series' for good.
 

Jrzag42

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I had no knowledge of that show, it sounds awful. Speaking of awful King Kong cartoons, will be checking out Kong: King of the Apes on Netflix? I tried watching the trailer for it when the show first came out, and I recall it looking horrible.
 

The Scribbling Man

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I didn't realise you were taking on serials as well! That's a lot of titan squabbling to withstand in a year. 

Your resilience fascinates me.
 

Garp

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Week 18: 'Son of Godzilla' [1967]
Is Godzilla in it? Yes
Sub or Dub? Sub

Oh, Godzilla, what have they done to you now?

Scientists working on climate experiments on Solgell Island (later Monster Island) find themselves as witnesses to the birth of a new Godzilla. Old Godzilla is drawn to him/her/it and tries to teach the youngling the Ways of the Godzilla. In the meantime, the radioactive experiments go awry, transforming the already overly-developed praying mantises on the island into kaiju (Kamacuras). Along the way, a giant spider (Kumonga) is awakened, finally giving Godzilla something useful to do other than babysitting.

This is a kid-friendly entry in the Godzilla franchise, and the poorer for it, I'd argue. The film is entirely island-based, with little opportunities for model-stomping. Even the battles are lacklustre, occasionally played for gags. Godzilla is secondary to the human story, which is fine, but also secondary to this usurping whippersnapper, which is not. Baby Godzilla (Minilla) is annoying but, hey, maybe the kids loved him.

In contrast, the Kamacuras and Kumonga are great marionettes and the few things on screen that kept my attention. The acting is serviceable (Beverly Maeda as Saeko, the orphaned island girl is given little to do, as is the wont of females in Toho films) although Yoshio Tsuchiya as the stir-crazy Furokawa is excellent. Toho stalwart Tadao Takashima is appropriately stoic as the Professor.

If Toho were purely attempting to reel in the kids, they probably succeeded with 'Son of Godzilla'. Parents dragged along to endure this one were no doubt left wondering what had happened to their Godzilla.
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Godzilla: The Original Animated Series' [1978]
Is Godzilla in it? Yes

I remember watching this series on TV as a kid, and what was foremost in my mind, for better or worse, was Godzooky, the baby Godzilla. So it seemed appropriate to give a few episodes a re-watch after 'Son of Godzilla' and compare the two.

I watched the first four episodes and I honestly I think that's enough to get a feel for this series. The series forgoes any backstory whatsoever. A team of scientists aboard the 'Calico' go around doing science stuff. When they get into trouble, Captain Majors presses a button on what looks suspiciously like a high-tech pager, summoning Godzilla. My 8 year old self accepted this premise without question, but 40 years later a few queries emerge.

I'm curious how this team domesticated Godzilla enough for him to be their personal pet-cum-saviour. Does he follow them around like a lapdog? He appears instantaneously next to their ship whenever he is paged, whether it be in the ocean or a river. What kind of science are they supposed to be doing? Is Pete, the young befriender of Godzooky, home-schooled?

The episodes follow a pattern: Godzilla is paged early on in the show, usually to save the crew, then at least once again towards the end to fight the giant beast. (There is always a giant beast or two.) Godzooky, unsurprisingly, is the comic relief who can either help or hinder the crew, and can summon Godzilla whenever the pager is lost or unresponsive. Captain Majors is the leader, looking out for the safety of the ship and her crew; Dr. Quinn is the main scientist who has a reckless disregard for human life in her pursuit of science; Brock seems to be the general assistant to everyone else.

The show looks cheap, with the characters interacting with as few other people as possible. The beasts just exist, without any attempt at explanation, and are rarely killed outright; they may be imprisoned in a cave or have their powers depleted instead. Godzooky shares some DNA with Minilla, being able to blow smoke rings and being largely ignored by Godzilla, although he has the gift of flight here. Godzilla has a few liberties taken with his design also. He is dark green, with one row of scales, has a guttural roar, breathes fire like a dragon... oh, and can shoot laser beams from his eyes.

As a kid I recall being indifferent to this show. It was on and I watched it because there were only 3 TV channels then and what else was I supposed to do? The indifference remains these long years later. It's not an abomination, but it's also not worth watching. It is only mildly entertaining and instantly forgettable. 70s Junk Food TV.
 

Neglify

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Garp you're really tearing it up this year. Soon you will earn the rank of Kaiju Master Hero. 

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Garp

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BONUS: 'Gamera vs. Viras' [1968]
Is Godzilla in it? No. Godzilla connection: Daiei's answer to Godzilla
Sub or Dub? Sub

It was bound to happen. Despite being seen as the red-headed stepchild to the behemoth that is Godzilla, I had been enjoying the exploits of the crazy spinning turtle known as Gamera. And then I watched this.

Aliens, intent on conquering Earth, are foiled by Gamera. They regroup and decide to deal with the big guy before tackling their master plan. Trapping him in a ray-bubble, they scan his memories and discover his weakness - his friendship towards all children. Thus, the aliens kidnap two boy scouts, brainwash Gamera and hold the world to ransom. But can the wily scouts find a way to free Gamera and save Earth?

This film starts off well. The design of the alien spaceship is unique and looks great - 5 black-and-yellow striped balls joined together. But this is largely where the good effects end. Viras itself looks like a cross between a grey squid and Beaker from the Muppets. The inside of the spaceship is minimal with the obligatory flashing lights.

'Gamera vs. Viras' makes no apologies for being a cheap kids movie. The kid actors are fine, with the weight of the film on their shoulders, but the reduced budget is the giant turtle in the room. Scanning Gamera's memories allows the filmmakers the opportunity to reuse a ton of footage from previous films. Then, having brainwashed him, they order Gamera to destroy certain parts of Japan - showing even more previous footage in the process. Wait, wasn't the first film in black and white? Makes no difference. Shove it in anyway.

A bright spark of originality in an otherwise recycled film is the glowing eyes effect of the aliens. It is genuinely creepy and must have wet some young seats back in the day. Overall, though, this is a disappointing effort. I stuck up for you, Gamera, and this is how you repay me.
 

Garp

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BONUS: 'Kong, King of the Apes' [TV] [2016]
Is Godzilla in it? Not to my knowledge. Godzilla connection: Features Kong

In the near future, baby Kong is saved from poachers and brought up by a bionics scientist and his twin sons, Lukas & Richard. For reasons unknown and unstated, Kong grows to be King-sized, becoming a worldwide phenomenon after he saves a family of hikers. However, whilst Lukas has a special bond with his 'brother', Richard is jealous of the attention that Kong gets, taking away from his own experiments with robotic dinosaurs. Richard wrongly accuses Kong of causing an accident which leaves Richard with a bionic eye and arm and a yen to get even with the massive primate. Later, when Kong is the star attraction of a new theme park on Alcatraz Island, Richard causes Kong to run amok. Will Kong be saved or destroyed by the authorities?

I watched the feature-length pilot of this show plus the first episode over a couple of nights. It was a slog. The animation is akin to recent Barbie movies (I have a 9 year old daughter; I am well-versed in the Ways of the Doll) and the story is atrocious. It seems to be a show written by committee. Unsure whether a giant ape is enough of a hook, the committee starting brainstorming other things that the kids love: robots? dinosaurs? Hey, robot dinosaurs! And Evil twins! And... invisible headquarters...

Again, I realise this show isn't meant for adults, but it is still bad. The characters are one-dimensional; you could switch their lines around and it wouldn't make any difference. For a kids show, there is surprising little humour. In fact, it is joyless. What's worse, it is soulless. There is no life here. There are odd moments of a ecological or environmental message thrown in, to give it some reason to exist, but otherwise it is flat and sad. Perhaps it improves as it goes along - it was given a second season, at any rate - but I have no desire for me or my family to find out. Of the three Kong cartoons I've watched, this is definitely the worst.
 

Garp

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Week 19: 'Destroy All Monsters' [1968]
Is Godzilla in it? Yes.
Sub or Dub? Sub

Monsters live in peaceful harmony on Monsterland (AKA Monster island), with scientists monitoring their every move, quick to retaliate with gases and sonic waves should they try to escape. However, when the system breaks down, the monsters scarper and head for various capital cities, doing what monsters do best: rampaging. When the scientists discover that the monsters are being controlled by an invading alien race called the Kilaaks, the race is on to sever the mind-link and save the earth.

'Destroy All Monsters' embraces the premise that 'more is better' and runs with it. Godzilla is present, of course, but is joined in a pre-Avengers assembly of recognisable characters: Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, Baragon and Minilla, as well as the less well-known: Manda, Varan, Kumonga and Gorosaurus. (Plus a surprise special guest at the climax.) Some amount to little more than cameos, but those that appear frequently get to enjoy some terrific destruction. The model work is truly exquisite here, with Paris, New York and Tokyo getting the best action sequences. Even the land-based vehicles - usually the least realistic in Toho films - hold their own. An incredible achievement.

The plot is very basic and the film slows considerably whenever it concentrates on the human story. There is little characterization, which is disappointing as the film is great otherwise. None of the acting stands out and there aren't any characters to really care about. They are there to interact with the monsters - for them or against them, whichever the story requires - and that is all. The aliens are also lacklustre, with nothing to distinguish them in either appearance or clothing. ('Gamera vs Viras' wins that particular battle.)

Still, despite these shortcomings, 'Destroy All Monsters' is entertaining as hell. With so much suitmation on screen, seriously, how could it not be?
 
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