Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by GodzillaDude »

This is one of my favorite Showa Godzilla films but one minor problem I have is how weak Anguirus seemed to be. I know Mechagodzilla is much more powerful but they could've at least had Anguirus show up at the end to help Godzilla and King Caesar.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Guardian7 »

Anguirus was likely limping off to heal. He got nearly as busted up (and virtually in the same manner) as he did in GRA.
I doubt an injured Anguirus would have been of much help except as target practice.

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by GodzillaDude »

Guardian7 wrote:Anguirus was likely limping off to heal. He got nearly as busted up (and virtually in the same manner) as he did in GRA.
I doubt an injured Anguirus would have been of much help except as target practice.

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Yeah I know but still I just wish that wasn't his last appearance in the series.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by HedorahLives »

I'm half and half on this one. On one hand, I like the majority of the monster stuff, from Angurius' early role to the refinery battle and then the final confrontation. The rest of the story? Bleehhh.. The usual tired senseless stuff about invading aliens, government agents, defacto civilian heroes, etc...The whole thing with King Seezar's statue was tired and that kaiju himself was pretty lame. One of the lesser Showa entries and bettered in roughly every way by its sequel. Extra points with introducing Mechagodzilla though.

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by godzillafan »

baragon was suppose to be in this movie but didnt make it in the movie due to low budget
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Goji »

godzillafan wrote:baragon was suppose to be in this movie but didnt make it in the movie due to low budget
Didn't have anything to do with the budget. Anguirus' role was originally meant for Baragon.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Ethan »

Poor Anguirus though. It's a relief that Destroy All Monsters takes place afterwards because we know he recovered from his wounds; guy's too likeable.

Also, I love how Mechagodzilla contrasts both his Showa films by being shiny in this film and rusty in Terror of Mechagodzilla.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Chimpbot »

This flick suffers from a problem which initially began in Gigan, was exacerbated in Megalon and continued through the end of the Showa series. Much like many of the fights seen in Dragonball Z, they occur in rocky, barren, remote areas. There are four movies in a row where monsters are sent to destroy human civilization...yet the big sloberknockers conveniently occur in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, I know; some of the other Godzilla flicks had fights under similar circumstances. King Kong vs Godzilla, for example, featured a fight on Mt. Fuji, but it did eventually spill over into a highly populated area as the fight reached its climax.
By the time Terror of Mechagodzilla rolled around, we already had three movies featuring some form of alien or alien-like civilization sending a monster to destroy humanity where the end battle takes place in a safe, nondestructive environment.
Half of the fun of these types of movies comes from watching cities crumble as two or more monsters smack the crap out of each other. The last four Godzilla flicks simply did not deliver in that regard.

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Goji »

Chimpbot wrote:This flick suffers from a problem which initially began in Gigan, was exacerbated in Megalon and continued through the end of the Showa series. Much like many of the fights seen in Dragonball Z, they occur in rocky, barren, remote areas. There are four movies in a row where monsters are sent to destroy human civilization...yet the big sloberknockers conveniently occur in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, I know; some of the other Godzilla flicks had fights under similar circumstances. King Kong vs Godzilla, for example, featured a fight on Mt. Fuji, but it did eventually spill over into a highly populated area as the fight reached its climax.
By the time Terror of Mechagodzilla rolled around, we already had three movies featuring some form of alien or alien-like civilization sending a monster to destroy humanity where the end battle takes place in a safe, nondestructive environment.
Half of the fun of these types of movies comes from watching cities crumble as two or more monsters smack the crap out of each other. The last four Godzilla flicks simply did not deliver in that regard.
It all came down to the budget in the 70's. Miniatures are expensive as hell..and after building new monster suits, it just wasn't in the budget for a lot of these films during this time. At least TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA has that fantastic scene of city destruction, which is one of the best scenes.

Also, most of the final battles in the 60's took place outside of cities too..just saying.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by TokyoVigilante »

My main problem with the later Showa era sets was just how cramped some of them felt. Gojira-Gt3hM the monster scenes took place in (seemingly) wide expanses of areas. The sets in GvsMG and especially in ToMG just feel small and it sorta' loses the grand scope that the battles from KKvsG and Gt3hM had.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Chimpbot »

NSZ wrote:
Chimpbot wrote:This flick suffers from a problem which initially began in Gigan, was exacerbated in Megalon and continued through the end of the Showa series. Much like many of the fights seen in Dragonball Z, they occur in rocky, barren, remote areas. There are four movies in a row where monsters are sent to destroy human civilization...yet the big sloberknockers conveniently occur in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, I know; some of the other Godzilla flicks had fights under similar circumstances. King Kong vs Godzilla, for example, featured a fight on Mt. Fuji, but it did eventually spill over into a highly populated area as the fight reached its climax.
By the time Terror of Mechagodzilla rolled around, we already had three movies featuring some form of alien or alien-like civilization sending a monster to destroy humanity where the end battle takes place in a safe, nondestructive environment.
Half of the fun of these types of movies comes from watching cities crumble as two or more monsters smack the crap out of each other. The last four Godzilla flicks simply did not deliver in that regard.
I guess this would be a bad time to say that only three of Toho's monster-flicks-involving-monsters-beating-each-others-heads-in have their main event battle take place in a city: Godzilla Raids Again and War of The Gargantuas, and even this fight is carried out to sea, and King Kong Escapes.

Seriously, from KKvsG onwards city fights are only the short warm-up fights. Mothra vs Godzilla- first conflict happens on the coast, ends on an island; Ghidrah- the fights takes place in the plains; Monster Zero- same as before; Frankenstein vs Baragon- happens in the countryside again; Ebirah- happens on an island, with most of the fighting in the water; Son of Godzilla- again, on an island; Destroy All Monsters- fight happens at Mt. Fuji; Godzilla's Revenge- fights takes place on Monster Island; Space Amoeba- fight happens on an island; Godzilla vs Hedorah- two warm-up fights occur in the city, the main event at Mt. Fuji; Godzilla vs Gigan- fight initially starts out in Tokyo but gets carried out into the Nebulans’ area of operations; Godzilla vs Megalon- fight takes place in the countryside; Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla- first fight takes place in the country side, then a fight occurs in the city, then the main event happens in the countryside again; Terror of MechaGodzilla- first fight is in the city, the main even starts in the (wrecked) city but gets carried out into the countryside.

Really man, if you’re gonna talk smack, do it right.
You know, I've got to give this one to ya; a good chunk of the Showa flicks had the lions share of the fights take place outside of populated areas. I really had the Heisei and Millenium flicks in mind when I was writing that previous post; every single one of those fights, with maybe a handful of exceptions, takes place smack dab in the middle of a city. I know, this is the Showa board...but it was what sprang to mind as I was putting my thoughts to paper.

As for the Showa movies, a good chunk seemed to have a stronger emphasis on keeping the monsters in a city...for the most part. The last four, however, took place almost strictly in rocky areas. After watching them in order, it simply felt more...redundant than the previous ones.

Maybe I'm wrong.

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Crimson_Raptor »

Alright, so let's try to understand this. In this entire movie, why was the Japan Self Defense Force never mobilized?

They were for Godzilla versus Megalon the year before, so it could not have been a policy change. And they were mobilized the year after, in Terror of Mechagodzilla, against both Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla.

And Godzilla was shown on TV, so it's not like the news wasn't covering his doppleganger's rampage.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by JAGzilla »

This was one of the first G movies I saw, when I rented it back in '97 or so. The images of Fake Godzilla fighting Anguirus, and Godzilla and Seesar double-teaming Mechagodzilla to death are some of my earliest and favorite kaiju memories, though the movie as a whole didn't do much to stick with me.

I've only seen it once since then, in roughly '05 or '06. Caught in on SciFi at 3:00 AM. I kept falling asleep through it, so needless to say it didn't leave much impression that time, either. It's one of my top priorities to see again; my taste in kaiju movies has matured a lot since last time, and I'll be able to understand and appreciate it much more now.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Kubo »

This was one of my first Godzilla movies, so I was still getting used to the King of the Monsters. When it first showed the fake Godzilla, I thought it was the real one and the movie had messed up his roar...once I sorted that conundrum out, I really enjoyed the movie. When King Caesar showed up, I nearly flipped shit. I had just seen GFW and was on a KC fanboy tear, so seeing the Shisa in this movie was a delight.

Now, several years later, I still watch the movie eagerly. It remains one of my favorite in the Showa era and the series.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Goji »

You know, I have to question anyone who doesn't at least like this movie. Seriously, I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't enjoy it in some capacity.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

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Goji wrote:You know, I have to question anyone who doesn't at least like this movie. Seriously, I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't enjoy it in some capacity.
Yeah, while it's not one of my favorites, there is a lot there to enjoy. The original Mechagodzilla design alone is pretty much worth the cost of admission.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Rody »

In response to Crimson Raptor: I have no idea why we didn't see the JSDF during Fake Goji's attack on the city, although it's possible they were defeated offscreen. As for the final battle, my guess is they simply didn't show up in time.
Actually, that would make for an amusing after-scene: "The Japanese Self-Defense Force is HERE!--What? The battle's over already?!"

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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by eabaker »

Rody wrote:In response to Crimson Raptor: I have no idea why we didn't see the JSDF during Fake Goji's attack on the city, although it's possible they were defeated offscreen. As for the final battle, my guess is they simply didn't show up in time.
Actually, that would make for an amusing after-scene: "The Japanese Self-Defense Force is HERE!--What? The battle's over already?!"
Yes! Very much like the ending of The Monster Squad.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Crimson_Raptor »

Rody wrote:... it's possible [the JSDF] were defeated offscreen... for the final battle, my guess is they simply didn't show up in time.
Thank you for responding to my post, Rody. :huge:
What's weird is that just a couple years earlier, they knew about Anguirus breaking out from Monster Island, and set up a defense in the harbor. However, this time, Anguirus is in the icy Hokkaido northern area of Japan just wondering around, and eventually is disturbed by Mechagodzilla.

I'm guessing the Fake Godzilla was hidden the "flying" rock he was built in, but there may be a missing scene (of stock footage, lol) from when Mechagodzilla battles Anguirus until the late night of the oil refinery in Tokai, Japan 70 or so miles north of Tokyo, Japan.
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Re: Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Post by Tohosaurus »

Gotta love this move. Really one of my favorites and pretty much has been since I was young.
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