Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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Spuro
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Spuro »

eabaker wrote:
Gojira9310 wrote:
edgaguirus wrote:The cameo by Emiko was also a nice link.
Though her being by herself kinda implies Ogata is dead and that's sad because the Heisei Series was seriously lacking in Akira Takarada (with the exception of Godzilla vs Mothra)
Doesn't she also still go by the name Yamane, suggesting that she may have never married?
Well that's even sadder.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Gojira9310 »

Kaiju-King42 wrote:
eabaker wrote:
Gojira9310 wrote:
Though her being by herself kinda implies Ogata is dead and that's sad because the Heisei Series was seriously lacking in Akira Takarada (with the exception of Godzilla vs Mothra)
Doesn't she also still go by the name Yamane, suggesting that she may have never married?
Well that's even sadder.
Considering Serizawa's last words were "Be Happy with Ogata, goodbye"...yeah, it really is sadder.

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Ivo-goji »

eabaker wrote:
Gojira9310 wrote:
edgaguirus wrote:The cameo by Emiko was also a nice link.
Though her being by herself kinda implies Ogata is dead and that's sad because the Heisei Series was seriously lacking in Akira Takarada (with the exception of Godzilla vs Mothra)
Doesn't she also still go by the name Yamane, suggesting that she may have never married?
I always assumed they married, but Ogata took her family's surname, as men sometimes do in Japan.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by edgaguirus »

She may also have gone back to her family name after her husband's passing.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Terasawa »

Toshiyuki Hosokawa was the actor originally cast as Prof. Kunitomo. According to his Japanese Wikipedia page, he was hospitalized during production due to complications from diabetes. He withdrew from the role, which was then given to Saburo Shinoda. Shinoda had played a different character in Godzilla vs. Mothra. (He was also Ultraman Taro.)

Hosokawa had the part long enough to appear in the second teaser... which probably wasn't very far into production. All the drama unit footage looks like it was shot specifically for a trailer.



The trailer was eventually updated after Shinoda took over the part.

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by HighFlyers77 »

Vs Destroyah is 1 of only 2 Godzilla movies to bring a tear to my eye. I really do enjoy vs Destroyah. While it’s not the best movie Godzilla wise, it is still extremely entertaining and a great finale to the Heisei series (my personal favorite).

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Chrispy_G »

Basically....until I went online and read about the movie, I had NO IDEA that the Godzilla seen at the end was Junior revived.

For whatever reason my childhood brain always just kind of assumed that it was a phoenix like situation where Godzilla was simply reformed and birthed out of his own ashes type of thing. Nothing in the movie itself ever made me overtly think it was a revived Junior.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by JAGzilla »

Chrispy_G wrote:Basically....until I went online and read about the movie, I had NO IDEA that the Godzilla seen at the end was Junior revived.

For whatever reason my childhood brain always just kind of assumed that it was a phoenix like situation where Godzilla was simply reformed and birthed out of his own ashes type of thing. Nothing in the movie itself ever made me overtly think it was a revived Junior.
:lol:

I wonder how often this kind of confusion happens. I read all about the pre-2014 Godzilla movies online before seeing a lot of them, so I knew things like this going in and have never given their on-screen portrayals a second thought. I'll have to actually pay attention to that scene next time I watch GvD.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by szmigiel »

It is the same with Destoroyah death. It doesn't die due to some killing blow, weak-spot, or some master plan to lure it into a trap. The plot is done with Destoroyah so the freeze weapons which had zero effect on the aggregate stage, now brings it down to it's death. Fans have to come up with a theory that is the going from extreme heat to cold combo that kills Destoroyah. There is nothing stated in the movie what really finished off Destoroyah. In the movie they aren't even that worried about Destoroyah as a threat he is more of an annoyance, Godzilla blowing up or melting seems to be the only thing that is important.

You never really see Godzilla Jr transforming into the Godzilla we see at the end of the movie. So it being Godzilla regenerating after melting down is just as likely. According to a lot of fans Burning Godzilla regeneration was on overdrive, and he was cut in half and healed instantly, so why not comeback from melting down. From what was presented in the movie both outcomes are just as likely.

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

szmigiel wrote:It is the same with Destoroyah death. It doesn't die due to some killing blow, weak-spot, or some master plan to lure it into a trap. The plot is done with Destoroyah so the freeze weapons which had zero effect on the aggregate stage, now brings it down to it's death. Fans have to come up with a theory that is the going from extreme heat to cold combo that kills Destoroyah. There is nothing stated in the movie what really finished off Destoroyah. In the movie they aren't even that worried about Destoroyah as a threat he is more of an annoyance, Godzilla blowing up or melting seems to be the only thing that is important.
The italics of "the plot is done with Destoroyah" is so true unfortunately. It bothers me how Destoroyah is built up throughout the film, beats Junior, and then does well against Godzilla, until a few attacks from Godzilla send it into retreating, and Godzilla goes meltdown. One scene Destoroyah is sweeping Godzilla Junior and then the adult, the next minute Godzilla begins to wipe the floor with Destoryah. It's kind of anti-climactic.

Of course we know that the original ending had Godizlla defeat Destoroyah while melting down. But, it robs Godzilla of a final victory. Of course, we can assume that the JDSF didn't actually kill Destoroyah, as it's made of millions of microorganisms, but rather the nuclear fallout and heat of Godzilla melting down. One way I like to read into it, is that Meltdown Godzilla became way too hot for Destoroyah to handle, and Godzilla damaged Destoroyah. As a result, Destoroyah tried to flee, and the JDSF didn't kill it, but rather prevented it from escaping, and Destoroyah perished alongside Godzilla in the fallout.
You never really see Godzilla Jr transforming into the Godzilla we see at the end of the movie. So it being Godzilla regenerating after melting down is just as likely. According to a lot of fans Burning Godzilla regeneration was on overdrive, and he was cut in half and healed instantly, so why not comeback from melting down. From what was presented in the movie both outcomes are just as likely.
The entire later part of the heisei series features the growth of Godzilla Junior and gradually going from a peaceful little dino-buddy into a more adult Godzilla. Considering we literally see Godzilla's flesh melt from it's bones. Thematically Junior carrying the torch works, and so does the power.


Anyways, I watched this the other day, and damn it just suffers from boring characters. There's a real genuine threat that is established in Godzilla, but the film doesn't do a great job at keeping it a threat. They easily freeze Godzilla with the super x3, and once Destoroyah is built up it's treated as a tool to be used, and more as a pet. Destoroyah has some good build up, but it's squandered. The film has poor characters, good built up, and doesn't stick the landing.

I do think that the film deserves some credit for the structure and monster dynamics.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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I've never heard anyone speculate that Godzilla was supposed to have survived the meltdown at the end... It's Junior that's revived and there's a lot of behind the scenes information that supports it, although to be fair the movie isn't very conclusive.

Ifukube's score includes a rearrangement of Junior's theme that was supposed to accompany the final shot. I'm not sure why they didn't use that. Shinji Nishikawa also designed an adult Godzilla Junior but it was decided to just use the Desugoji costume with its lights off.

Takao Okawara by David Milner:
DM: I've heard that you shot several different endings in case the one you were planning to use prematurely got out. Is this true?

TO: That's just a rumor.

I was very concerned with the ending. I had to make sure that Godzilla died with dignity, and I was afraid that if I put too much emphasis on Godzilla Junior's resurrection, Godzilla's death would not be dignified enough.

DM: Did you consider using any other endings?

TO: Mr. Kawakita suggested that we show Godzilla die, have the ending credits roll, and then show Godzilla Junior. We tried that, but it left too much of a gap between Godzilla's death and Godzilla Junior's resurrection. One person said that most of the members of the audience would leave during the credits, so they would never even see Godzilla Junior.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

I think one thing they really failed at when it comes to portraying Destroyah's threat is that he doesn't seem to grow more powerful, despite his evolutions. Or at least it's not emphasized in a way that conveys a sense of dread like in Shin Godzillaor even Hedorah in Godzilla Vs. Hedorah. He never overcomes his weakness to extreme temperatures and they figure it out pretty quickly. Feels like if he won or got away G-Force could just spread the message of "If this demonic looking crab thing shows up just spam freezing weapons until it dies." It took a fuck ton of effort to take down Shin Godzilla and the combined might of Godzilla and the JSDF to best Hedorah.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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Horror.........

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Artist is Yamabuki Ryu

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/63258980

I don't think S.T.A.R.S. are beating this one.

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by edgaguirus »

Ryu is talented.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

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edgaguirus wrote:Ryu is talented.
I'm glad to find an artist who remembers the part with the man sized ones makes you forget you are watching a Godzilla movie and feels like you are watching a B horror film.

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by edgaguirus »

Yes. If you were to cut out the giant monster bits, edit and reuse some shots, and make a whole new ending, you'd have just that.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Jeff-Goldblum2 »

Why is Godzilla Vs Destroyah the hated movie of the franchise these days?

The Godzilla movie to hate use to be either Godzilla's Revenge or Godzilla 98.

Nowadays on the forum all you get is Destroyah is a useless monster, Godzilla Vs Destroyah is a horrible movie and similar comments.

Ages ago the movie was popular, people remembered Godzilla's death as a standout and liked Destroyah as a monster.

Have people gone too far in course correcting the past popularity of the movie to point out it's apparent flaws?

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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Terasawa »

Well, for starters, it's far from "the most hated movie of the franchise these days". There seems to be an increasing number of fans who don't enjoy it enough to overlook its shortcomings, that's all.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

I don't think its an unsalvageable movie, just that looking back there's stuff I think is very, very flawed and I earnestly don't think some fans are all that open to the idea that it is anything less than an all time masterpiece. And the hivemind mentality around vitriolically defending it at all costs grates on my nerves heavily. (At least outside of this website I've seen such behavior, mostly in the Facebook groups and Youtube)
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Re: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Post by SoggyNoodles2016 »

I feel like for years, the Heisei movies were the cream of the crop that could do no wrong. And now, like many "perfect" things, they are having a new reappraisal and they are not being anywhere close to that.

Most of all though, Destoryah is getting hit with this hard because for years it was built up as one of the best movies in the series, an awesome final battle, the tragic end of Godzilla and all. And now that it's not hidden behind VHS bootlegs and word of mouth, and people can see it's many flaws and stumbled executions, it's becoming more and more of a punching bag.
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