Toho Kingdom

I just got the dvd of this at the store last week (now that they finally got a shipment of Godzilla films). A really fun movie, not my favorite but it was entertaining. Gigan is awesome, what interesting an original kaiju design. The whole manga artist vs the cockroach aliens trying taking over the world story was great. Also my buddy Anguirus was in it.

RodanRedux wrote:I just got the dvd of this at the store last week (now that they finally got a shipment of Godzilla films). A really fun movie, not my favorite but it was entertaining. Gigan is awesome, what interesting an original kaiju design. The whole manga artist vs the cockroach aliens trying taking over the world story was great. Also my buddy Anguirus was in it.

I agree. I loved this movie as a kid, and probably still would now. The use of Ifukube's music, even if it is stock music, really adds something.

I don't know if anyone had already done this or not. but here is a pretty decent image of the flash from Gigan's forehead (I assume they were suppose to put an optic beam travel line in it originally - or at least that is what I have read).



The frozen image looks pretty good. It does indeed look like something is going to happen from that spot on his forehead.

Cool pic that I am sure everyone will enjoy.

Still would have been cool to see a beam of that intense lighting (such as in the pic) striking Godzilla (more than likely Anguirus!).
So based on the Movie poster... Is he suppose to fire a beam?
I know he never has (and GFWs showed him using what maybe was a tribute to this lost ability) which is too bad.

Great character. He did a lot in the time he was around and was probably for his period one of Godzilla's most consistent foes.

Some people hate this movie!! With a fury passion. But I, like some, have considered this my favorite Godzilla movie ever.

Give your opinion on the movie and why you hate it or love it.

There's people who hate this movie?

It's a good film, it's just extremely silly is all

I love it because it's so charmingly terrible. Odd considering that Fukuda's entries are usually just unpleasant to watch...I guess it's because he was told to emulate Honda's style for this film. And oh, did he ever fail!

Yeah it's one of those so bad it's good type situations. Theres too much stock footage in it though and that's the one thing that drags it down even lower...but I still love it!

I've heard many complaints about Fukuda's film's...but "unpleasant to watch" is definitely a new one. I think the general consensus is probably quite the opposite, regardless of the quality of his films.

I have to agree though that GIGAN, specifically, is just one of those "it's so bad, it's good" movies. MEGALON is also in that category for me personally.

It's a medicore film that just reuses the same "aliens controlling monsters try to take over world" plot that was first used in Astro Monster. The special effects are bad and the fight is too reliant on stock footage of better special effect sequences that just reminds me that I am watching a Dark Age of Godzilla film.
And I don't like it.

Godzilla vs. Gigan is a film that's "so bad, it's good." I personally enjoy the film for how silly it is. It also tries to bring back the classic Honda/Tsuburaya days of the 60's but ends up having a more comic-book feel to it (Which IMO doesn't hurt the film. It makes it stand out from other Godzilla films). This is my personal favorite scene(s) of the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMDyWH_ZmE

Same reason that SyFy Original Movies are still in business- the cheese factor.

Goji wrote:I've heard many complaints about Fukuda's film's...but "unpleasant to watch" is definitely a new one.

Oh, I've made no attempt to hide my contempt for that hack. I have no qualms whatsoever about calling him the worst director in the entire series. Godzilla vs. Gigan is his only contribution that I even watch anymore, and I do so merely to laugh at it for its consistent hokey incompetence (helped immeasurably by the hilarious dub job).

I like this movie, not my favorite, but I do enjoy it. I think Gigan got a really good introduction in this movie. The stock footage doesn't get on my nerves at all.

As much as I love all of Fukuda's Godzilla films, I can understand a bit where Mini G is coming from. Fukuda would definitely win no awards for his directing abilities (which may come off as sounding pretentious coming from me seeing as I'm clearly no film director, but the varying degree in quality when "comparing" his work to Honda's is easy to notice for anyone familiar with these kind of films). Personally, I think he's far from the worst director in the series because his films were actually entertaining, regardless of how "bad" they were. The same can't be said about most of the stuff from 92'-95', MEGAGUIRUS, or dare I say even GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN to some extent (Sorry Mini G, that is NOT meant to be a stab at you, I know it's a personal favorite of yours).

The guy's work was laughable compared to Honda's contributions to the genre, but at the end of the day, I still have fun watching his films, and that's really what it comes down to (We are talking about Godzilla films, after all, not classic Kurosawa )

I hate this film.................JK I love it This film gets a ton of flack for the use of stock footage but to me thats part of the charm of this film. Its one of my favorite Godzilla films and the stock Akira Ifukube music is pretty good and though the acting left something and effects left something to be desired but the film was so damn goofy that I didn't care and also Gigan's design was pretty awesome and the monster battles in the film are pretty enteraining. This film as a whole is pretty damn entertaining if you just accept it for what it is. Just stating my opinion thats all

The soundtrack in this film is definitely the highlight. While, yes, it is stock, its almost a best-of Godzilla soundtrack. The movie theme during the credits is great, but the end credits suck because of the singing. The one theme before the space monsters arrive is the best soundtrack ever. The soundtrack kept this movie from sucking too much more (even though I love this movie) like in Godzilla Vs Megalon, where almost EVERYTHING sucks except for the Godzilla kick at the end, that's freaking epic

Indeed. It's like Akira Ifukube's greatest hits or something It's fantastic, and a lot of the themes actually fit the scenes they accompany quite well.

Yes, Godzilla vs. Gigan's stock score is strangely effective.

Tyler wrote:I think if you were working with what Toho had in the '70s you'd have difficulty making a good movie too.

Well, I guess I'd agree if Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Terror of Mechagodzilla hadn't turned out so much more satisfying than any of Fukuda's films from the same era...but I find those two films to be overwhelmingly better in all aspects.

And as I've said ever since I joined Toho Kingdom: my opinions are my opinions, and I would never begrudge someone else a different opinion. Franchise discussions become boring when people insist on thinking the same way about everything, which is why I have no reservations about noting what I like and dislike and encourage others to follow suit.

@ Legion1979: even if they have crappy arguments, they either like or hate the movie and there isn't much you can do about it...