Toho Kingdom

Discuss both different versions of Mothra from the Showa series, including the solo film, Mothra (1961).

When I was a little kid, I did not care much for Mothra. After all, how could a stupid moth keep beating up Godzilla time after time? But in my adult years, I've grown to taking a liking to Mothra. The original Mothra is one of the best non Godzilla kaiju films out there. Mothra vs Godzilla has become one of my favorite Godzilla films that's always in rotation. I don't care much for either of the Heisei incarnations. GMK Mothra was too wasp-like and void of character for me to really like. Tokyo SOS however, did a phenomenal job of bringing the character back to its roots. I don't care much for Tokyo SOS, from a story perspective. Its probably one of the films I've watched least. However, Eiichi Asada knocked the props for that film out of the ball park!

Mothra may not look tough, but it is a kaiju to respect. Mothra's benevolent nature is what makes the character interesting. We have a kaiju that loves and cares for humans, rather than just stomping on them for being in the way.

The 61 prop looked good. In 64, it was showing its wear, but that Mothra was supossed to be old.

Amongst the various official and fan list of powers and abilities, have the blue sparkles from the end of the original Mothra ever been quantified as a power? I assume that they could be a show of version of the glitter scales attack from The Heisei/Millenium era.

Then again, following the lead of The Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, it could be a random one off at it just because it looks good, having no defined function or subsequent reappearance.

I don't remember seeing anything like that.

As Mothra is flying toward the runway to retrieve the shobijin, unless I am misremembering

Mothra is probably the second most iconic monster after Godzilla, and with good reason. Her career kicks off with two of the best films in the genre, and her mythos are strange and memorable, incorporating pretty much every angle of spectacle film, from exotic colors and settings to music.

Unfortunately, and partly because her mythos are so weird and specific, she's not quite as flexible a concept as Godzilla. Most takes after the '60s have lacked charm or simply been incapable of topping the original version of the concept. It's hard to either do something too different with Mothra and still keep her interesting, or to repeat what's already been done and top or match the first take.

Thinking about it, the first Rebirth of Mothra movie is basically a remake of Mothra vs Godzilla, with Dehsghidorah in the place of Godzilla and the deforestation subplot in the place of Mothra's egg.

And Rebirth of Mothra III is pretty much a remake of Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster with time travel inserted into the plot.

Which leaves the second movie as the only unique direction for Mothra, though it does still rehash a lot of stuff from previous films.

Ivo-goji wrote:And Rebirth of Mothra III is pretty much a remake of Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster with time travel inserted into the plot.

Literally how is it a remake of GTTHM? The only thing it has in common is Ghidorah coming to Earth. Mothra doesn't convince other monsters to help fight ghidorah, nothing is at stake other then the kids ghidorah is going to eat, no other kaiju even appear in the film aside from Ghidorah and Mothra, time travel, no psychic princess warning about Ghidorah. It isn't even a spiritual remake. What makes you think it is even close to being considered close to a remake of GTTHM?

Godzillian wrote:

Ivo-goji wrote:And Rebirth of Mothra III is pretty much a remake of Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster with time travel inserted into the plot.

Literally how is it a remake of GTTHM? The only thing it has in common is Ghidorah coming to Earth. Mothra doesn't convince other monsters to help fight ghidorah, nothing is at stake other then the kids ghidorah is going to eat, no other kaiju even appear in the film aside from Ghidorah and Mothra, time travel, no psychic princess warning about Ghidorah. It isn't even a spiritual remake. What makes you think it is even close to being considered close to a remake of GTTHM?

By not mentioning what I said about the first Rebirth movie being a remake of MvsG, I assume you get what I meant there.

RoM/MvsG: old and weakened Mothra rises to fight a much stronger enemy and dies in the process, and is then avenged by its offspring. Both films play out in a similar way with regards to the title character, even if they aren't completely identical.

RoM III/GTTHM: King Ghidorah, a monster from space that depopulates worlds, attacks the earth. Mothra alone stands to oppose him, but is severely outclassed, forcing it to try a desperate plan while the dragon continues to wreak havoc. The plan doesn't work at first and Mothra almost gets killed, but unexpected help allows King Ghidorah to be defeated.

Now in Gtthm that plan is to convince Godzilla and Rodan to fight Ghidorah, in RoM III it's to travel back in time and kill a younger Ghidorah. The unexpected help in the former movies comes when Godzilla and Rodan finally show up to fight after initially turning Mothra down; in the latter film it's when the prehistoric Mothra cover the weakened Mothra Leo in silk so he can return to the future in a stronger form.
Also note how RoM III is the only film besides GTTHM where Ghidorah's MO as non-mind controlled free roaming world destroyer is intact.

I mean, these movies have tons of differences, yeah, but RoM III is still broadly similar in how it uses Mothra to GTTHM.

Mothra has always been seen as a hero. That does limit it somewhat. While Godzilla can play Villain and hero, Mothra is stuck as a good monster.

Ivo-goji wrote:

Godzillian wrote:

Ivo-goji wrote:And Rebirth of Mothra III is pretty much a remake of Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster with time travel inserted into the plot.

Literally how is it a remake of GTTHM? The only thing it has in common is Ghidorah coming to Earth. Mothra doesn't convince other monsters to help fight ghidorah, nothing is at stake other then the kids ghidorah is going to eat, no other kaiju even appear in the film aside from Ghidorah and Mothra, time travel, no psychic princess warning about Ghidorah. It isn't even a spiritual remake. What makes you think it is even close to being considered close to a remake of GTTHM?

By not mentioning what I said about the first Rebirth movie being a remake of MvsG, I assume you get what I meant there.

RoM/MvsG: old and weakened Mothra rises to fight a much stronger enemy and dies in the process, and is then avenged by its offspring. Both films play out in a similar way with regards to the title character, even if they aren't completely identical.

RoM III/GTTHM: King Ghidorah, a monster from space that depopulates worlds, attacks the earth. Mothra alone stands to oppose him, but is severely outclassed, forcing it to try a desperate plan while the dragon continues to wreak havoc. The plan doesn't work at first and Mothra almost gets killed, but unexpected help allows King Ghidorah to be defeated.

Now in Gtthm that plan is to convince Godzilla and Rodan to fight Ghidorah, in RoM III it's to travel back in time and kill a younger Ghidorah. The unexpected help in the former movies comes when Godzilla and Rodan finally show up to fight after initially turning Mothra down; in the latter film it's when the prehistoric Mothra cover the weakened Mothra Leo in silk so he can return to the future in a stronger form.
Also note how RoM III is the only film besides GTTHM where Ghidorah's MO as non-mind controlled free roaming world destroyer is intact.

I mean, these movies have tons of differences, yeah, but RoM III is still broadly similar in how it uses Mothra to GTTHM.

Both are real stretches honestly I just decided to focus on the ROM 3 first. This is just grasping at straws these films are barely like what you are comparing them too

Then we will agree to disagree.