What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
- eabaker
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
I've got to go with Showa as well, for basically the reasons that CrimsonBloodX and Rando Yaguchi gave. The quality and the sophistication of the storytelling was more consistent than at any other time in the series' history, and the sheer number of entries and the relative freshness of the genre lead to incredible creative variety. Also, my personal aesthetic tastes tend to run towards movies of the 60s and 70s anyway.
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- Yojimbo
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
I will be following the crowd here by saying Showa, albeit for slightly different reasons. I tend to like it the most for its visuals, monsters, tone, and creativity. I am not quite sure how to put my finger on it, but the miniatures, sets, and suits made back then seemed to be made with a lot more flair and creativity. The same applies for the monster designs; even the worse ones on the list had a lot of character and creativity. I swear, they just don't design monsters like they used to, for better or worse. There were definitely good monsters made after the Showa era, but it had the best and most creative ones, if you ask me. I will say that I think the Showa era starting faltering after Destroy All Monsters; even if it added cool new monsters, the actual stories suffered, if you ask me, only getting better with the Mechagodzilla movies. There is also the fact that there was a clear lack of budget with the latter day Showa films, which was especially apparent in Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla VS Gigan. In the end, though, I think the creativity of the first era shines through.
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
While I have favorites in each era, I’m a huge fan of the Monsterverse. They take what works about the monsters in previous movies and expand it in ways that tie to mythology and crazy sci-fi in the latter half of the movies. It feels like a little bit of everything, which weirdly works for me, if that makes sense.
Reignited... and hopefully less weird this time around.
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- Ronin
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
This was difficult as I enjoy both the Show and Heisei periods equally, and I would agree as I have also enjoyed Monsterverse Universe very well. I did pick Heisei mainly due to it including some of the best model work, Return of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Biollante, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II which are some of my favorite Godzilla films, and while some of them used quite a bit reputition on their soundtracks, I feel the Heisei soundtracks are much more complete and done. I will say that this period also holds a special place in my heart since I was able to get the videos of these films (Japanese versions with subtitles) way back in 1996, after getting them either via a company in California or a cousin who lived in Japan. After seeing certain scenes in magazines in 1994-1995 (not to mention the articles which came out about Godzilla's death in Destroyah), I spent much time obtaining the films.
I will admit that out of all the eras, the Millennium and Reiwa eras I feel are the weakest. That is not to say the films are bad, I just don't enjoy some of them as much (such as the anime films and the colossal mix-up of Final Wars which could have been an excellent film, but it got bogged down by too much Hollywood influences, and monsters and fights which lasted too short of a time). Hopefully we will see more films in the near future (live-action) either from the Monsterverse or Toho which will give the Reiwa period much more power.
I will admit that out of all the eras, the Millennium and Reiwa eras I feel are the weakest. That is not to say the films are bad, I just don't enjoy some of them as much (such as the anime films and the colossal mix-up of Final Wars which could have been an excellent film, but it got bogged down by too much Hollywood influences, and monsters and fights which lasted too short of a time). Hopefully we will see more films in the near future (live-action) either from the Monsterverse or Toho which will give the Reiwa period much more power.
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- Keizer
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Godzilla Era And Why?
I prefer the Showa era. The main reason is that those are the movies I saw growing up, but they also have some great films. The level of creativity they had produced interesting kaiju and stories. They also had skilled actors/actresses and music scores to highlight those stories.
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- Jermobooka
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Re: Favorite Era
I’ve had a change of heart
Decided to binge some Showa era recently and...yeah, it’s tied with the MV for me now. The monsters, action, characters, plots, diversity, uniqueness...it really has everything going for it
Seeing the Showa era all over again makes me realize just how underrated it is and how overrated the Heisei era is. I mean, the creativity really went down the shitter after vs. King Ghidorah
Decided to binge some Showa era recently and...yeah, it’s tied with the MV for me now. The monsters, action, characters, plots, diversity, uniqueness...it really has everything going for it
Seeing the Showa era all over again makes me realize just how underrated it is and how overrated the Heisei era is. I mean, the creativity really went down the shitter after vs. King Ghidorah
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Re: Favorite Era
Yes... Yes! You’re being converted!Jermobooka wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:15 pm I’ve had a change of heart
Decided to binge some Showa era recently and...yeah, it’s tied with the MV for me now. The monsters, action, characters, plots, diversity, uniqueness...it really has everything going for it
Seeing the Showa era all over again makes me realize just how underrated it is and how overrated the Heisei era is. I mean, the creativity really went down the shitter after vs. King Ghidorah
Criterion Collection? I used it to binge Showa, too.
Despite my new avatar and sig, believe me, the Showa is still by far my favourite era for everything. Plots, effects, kaiju, designs, characters, cinematography (although it is closely contested by Shin), etc.
Last edited by Voyager on Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite Era
MonsterVerse for me, mostly cause it has some of my fav interpretations of classic Kaiju and some nice new ones. But I think each era has their own merit.
- Dynomy-DX
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Re: Favorite Era
Count me in on Team Monsterverse. While the other eras have their impact, I’ve grown most attached to the MV incarnations and stories. Millennium is a close second though.
Reignited... and hopefully less weird this time around.
I'm a guy with simple interests. Mostly revolving around monsters blowing up entire cities.
I'm a guy with simple interests. Mostly revolving around monsters blowing up entire cities.
- Jermobooka
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Re: Favorite Era
Yup. Really worth it! One of the best purchases I’ve made
Don’t get it wrong, the MV is still my favorite for a ton of reasons and edges out Showa, but only by a bit. I’ll never betray my era!Yes ...Yes! You’re being converted!
Despite my new avatar and sig, believe me, the Showa is still by far my favourite era for everything. Plots, effects, kaiju, designs, characters, cinematography (although it is closely contested by Shin), etc.
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- Terasawa
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Re: Favorite Era
Looking at just the Godzilla series, I guess the disparity between the Showa and Heisei series isn't as wide as I thought when I made my last post over a year ago. I mean, obviously I knew I liked the Heisei movies, but when I look at the average rating for each Godzilla series (based on my IMDb ratings), all of the series are pretty close together (however, Showa is still the clear champion).
- Showa average: 5.34
- Heisei average: 5.14
- Millennium average: 4.67
- Hollywood average: 4.75 (GINO and the three Legendary Godzilla movies.)
- Monsterverse average: 5 (The three LP Godzilla movies and KSI, because I think that's fair.)
- Reiwa average: 4.75 (I'm not a fan of lumping the disparate and unconnected Shin and anime films together, but that's "official," so...)
- Anime average: 4
- Average of the 36 Godzilla films: 5.06
Last edited by Terasawa on Tue Jun 08, 2021 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite Era
-Monsterverse and Showa
-Heisei
-Millennium and Reiwa
Each series has amazing movies so this was quite difficult to rank
-Heisei
-Millennium and Reiwa
Each series has amazing movies so this was quite difficult to rank
- Spuro
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Re: Favorite Era
1. Showa (Quality AND quantity! Win-win!)
2. Monsterverse (For the most part, just a ton of fun, with no stand-out horrible entries in my personal view.)
3. Millennium (50/50 in terms of good and bad movies, but the good ones here (GMK, G2K, GxMG) are some of my favorites, and the bad ones are still more fun than the average bad Heisei film.)
4. Heisei (The 80's films are great, but the 90s films really drag this series down – doubly so if one includes the Mothra trilogy.)
5. Reiwa (Shin is good. The anime trilogy marks my three least-favorite films in the entire series, and when that makes up 3/4 of your content, last place is a given.)
2. Monsterverse (For the most part, just a ton of fun, with no stand-out horrible entries in my personal view.)
3. Millennium (50/50 in terms of good and bad movies, but the good ones here (GMK, G2K, GxMG) are some of my favorites, and the bad ones are still more fun than the average bad Heisei film.)
4. Heisei (The 80's films are great, but the 90s films really drag this series down – doubly so if one includes the Mothra trilogy.)
5. Reiwa (Shin is good. The anime trilogy marks my three least-favorite films in the entire series, and when that makes up 3/4 of your content, last place is a given.)
Last edited by Spuro on Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite Era
Tough call between Showa and Heisei, but I voted Heisei just for the sake of voting. I grew up watching both Showa and Heisei movies so that probably explains the difficulty in picking between the two. MonsterVerse would be third and everything else is meh.
Last edited by Breakdown on Thu Jul 08, 2021 6:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Favorite Era
Monsterverse. No time like the present
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Re: Favorite Era
Damn, lots of good topics in the general films thread lately!
1. Millenium. Literally the most formative Godzilla films and the ones that to me define the character are in this era. It's definitely a mixed bag but what works here WORKS and I love the experimentation everywhere else.
2. Showa. The era that started it all is still a classic. Showa films are the ones that still speak to me most and I love to discover, and I'm also a fan of the cinematography here the most.
3. Monsterverse/Reiwa. The Monsterverse really are getting more confusing and sloppy as they go on, I'll admit, but the kaiju characterization and the new reimaginings are both classic and new. The Reiwa era on the other hand (which honestly feels like it goes in tandem with the MV) has some of my favorite new takes but also some heavily flawed entries (you know which 300 meter elephant in the room I'm talking about) that weigh it down, as much as I like parts of then.
4. Heisei. Look, I like big parts of the Heisei movies, especially the first 3. But I will be brutally honest. A combination of somehow aging the worse of the films in the series, a barebones universe that just does not work for me, and years of being praised as the only Godzilla thing that can and should exist make this era not one I'm fond of.
1. Millenium. Literally the most formative Godzilla films and the ones that to me define the character are in this era. It's definitely a mixed bag but what works here WORKS and I love the experimentation everywhere else.
2. Showa. The era that started it all is still a classic. Showa films are the ones that still speak to me most and I love to discover, and I'm also a fan of the cinematography here the most.
3. Monsterverse/Reiwa. The Monsterverse really are getting more confusing and sloppy as they go on, I'll admit, but the kaiju characterization and the new reimaginings are both classic and new. The Reiwa era on the other hand (which honestly feels like it goes in tandem with the MV) has some of my favorite new takes but also some heavily flawed entries (you know which 300 meter elephant in the room I'm talking about) that weigh it down, as much as I like parts of then.
4. Heisei. Look, I like big parts of the Heisei movies, especially the first 3. But I will be brutally honest. A combination of somehow aging the worse of the films in the series, a barebones universe that just does not work for me, and years of being praised as the only Godzilla thing that can and should exist make this era not one I'm fond of.
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Re: Favorite Era
Showa and Heisei are tied for me. Showa has more amazing movies (mostly just because it has more movies lol), however I prefer Heisei’s overall storyline, so I’m just gonna say they’re even for me and that I absolutely adore both.
MV/Reiwa I choose to just mash together, and I’d have probably just had them tied anyway. As someone who likes KOTM and the Anime Trilogy, MV and Reiwa are in second place just because of how excellent Showa and Heisei’s best movies are, as the two eras bring some absolutely excellent reimaginings of beloved things and awesome new elements as well.
Millenium… sorry, it just gets the short end of the stick. GMK and G2000 are fire, but they don’t match Showa and Heisei’s heights, nor do they reach G14 or Shin Godzilla.
MV/Reiwa I choose to just mash together, and I’d have probably just had them tied anyway. As someone who likes KOTM and the Anime Trilogy, MV and Reiwa are in second place just because of how excellent Showa and Heisei’s best movies are, as the two eras bring some absolutely excellent reimaginings of beloved things and awesome new elements as well.
Millenium… sorry, it just gets the short end of the stick. GMK and G2000 are fire, but they don’t match Showa and Heisei’s heights, nor do they reach G14 or Shin Godzilla.
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- Justiriser
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Re: Favorite Era
Easy for me....
1) Showa
2) Heisei
3) Millennium
4) Monsterverse
5) Reiwa or whatever.
1) Showa
2) Heisei
3) Millennium
4) Monsterverse
5) Reiwa or whatever.
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- Samurai
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Re: Favorite Era
I think my favorite era is whatever I'm currently watching...