Showa Gamera, anyone?

[therealmccoy]

It was pretty much your run-of-the-mill sci-fi monster flick. I think they could have made the movie much better if they had come up with a more "realistic" way of getting rid of him than the space capsule, which was dumb. But with the later movies he gained kind of a personality. Kind of like Godzilla post-Destroy All Monsters, where he became a hero with an attitude.

[Tamura]

I think the uncut version of BARUGON is more boring than GIANT MONSTER GAMERA.

[therealmccoy]

I think the uncut veresion of BARUGON is more boring than GIANT MONSTER GAMERA.

The only thing that really pissed me off about that one is that Gamera isn't even in most of the movie. He gets frozen almost as soon as he shows up, and doesn't thaw until almost the end. Then, he beats Barugon in about ten minutes. I thought they could have at least had Gamera getting beat up in the meantime, with the military pounding Barugon and making him weaker so Gamera could beat him, but that's just my opinion.

[Jomei]

I love all the Show Gamera films, but then again, I also really like Godzilla vs Megalon, so I'm not one to shy away from the cheesy elements in kaiju films.

[therealmccoy]

Cheese is a necessary part of sci-fi. What fun would being a sci-fi fan be if there weren't silly movies out there (like Gamera) to pick on?
Has anyone seen the ads for the new MST3K vs. Gamera set? It's been years since I've seen that show, but I remember it being really funny. It will be even funnier to see Gamera get roasted on that show (because he sure was asking for it).

[DrKaiju1954]

By far,my favorite era of the Gamera series.All the movies are cool but the Showa Gamera are just classic

[therealmccoy]

I can't really think of any of those movies that I actually hated. I wasn't a big fan of Viras or Guiron, but I didn't hate them. I just got through watching a bunch of them and they are still not getting old.

[Biollante]

Bumping this thread because my Mill's Creek Gamera double feature comes in the mail tomorrow. This is actually my first venture into the Gamera series (Never had the VHS tapes as a kid) so I'm excited.

[EikoHarvey]

You're gonna have fun

[therealmccoy]

You won't be completely dissapointed, that's for sure.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

You won't be completely dissapointed, that's for sure.

Only partially disappointed? That's all I ever expected from the Showa Gamera films!

[Biollante]

You won't be completely dissapointed, that's for sure.

So I didn't completely waste my money?

[therealmccoy]

Hell no! It's just insanely stupid fun. Which ones did you get?

[Biollante]

The Mill's Creek Gamera: Guardian of the Universe/Gamera 2 Attack of the Legion blu ray.

[Jomei]

The Mill's Creek Gamera: Guardian of the Universe/Gamera 2 Attack of the Legion blu ray.

Not Showa, but I still think you'll enjoy them. Surprised you didn't get Gamera 3 too, though.

[tymon]

^Mill Creek's G3 isn't available until this fall, unfortunately.

[Biollante]

So I finally sat down and watched Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed. The SFX is good, the suits look fantastic, and the plot is really straightforward, albeit absurd.

My main issues with the film were that the human characters didn't feel very fleshed out and Gamera came off as a bit of a pushover (Which he made up for by slamming Gyaos out of space). Still, excluding Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante I felt the film was a far more entertaining experience than the Godzilla Heisei series.

Also the Blu Ray picture quality looks great, no extras is a bummer though.

[Gojira-Fan]

The only showa Gamera movie I have seen was the first one...and it's not a very good movie.
I do really enjoy the two others I have seen (Gamera 2 and Gamera: The Brave).

I also have something to comment. In the first Gamera movie, they actually talk about nuking Gamera (when he first attacks that factory). This comes as a big surprise to me because I thought that sort of thing was taboo in Japan (nukes were generally always avoided in Godzilla movies). Anyone have an answer to this?

[therealmccoy]

I don't know much, but I think it just had to do with the poor writing of that movie, which pretty much all of the Showa entries suffered. I mean, at least in Godzilla '84 they tried everything else before they refused to use nukes. As soon as a giant turtle showed up and stomps a few buildings, they want to go nuke-happy? I could be wrong, but that is just my opinion.

[wataru]

So I finally sat down and watched Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed. The SFX is good, the suits look fantastic, and the plot is really straightforward, albeit absurd.

My main issues with the film were that the human characters didn't feel very fleshed out and Gamera came off as a bit of a pushover (Which he made up for by slamming Gyaos out of space). Still, excluding Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante I felt the film was a far more entertaining experience than the Godzilla Heisei series.

Also the Blu Ray picture quality looks great, no extras is a bummer though.

No, Gamera's suit is fantastic. The Gyaos puppets and suits are crappy.