Here's the bumper intro to the flick when it made its premium cable channel debut on
STARZ! , about ten years ago on Saturday ,July 7, 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOiSU36_WTUI almost missed this flick when
G2K made its its debut in the cineplexes. It didn't show up in my usual movie house that I regularly attended, and I was a wee bit down in the mouth about it that summer. Luckily, my mother who was visiting my grandmother at hospital the Sunday after Labor Day around that time, and ran into my cousin. Who was also a G-Fan as well. He had just taken his niece and nephew to it at the local theater. My mom relayed the news when she got home, and that rainy night I zipped up there to see it. I was a little let down to see I was the only one attending it at the time, but enjoyed seeing my third Godzilla film on the big screen(
G85 & Tri-Star's take were the ones that came before). And I have to say rather enjoyed the experience. Although, that giant purple question mark on the theatrical version(
THE END ?[/b] was horrid, and am glad to see it was stricken from the home release, along with the cable version. Probably the sentiment of seeing the flick in the theater does contribute to my continued enjoyment of the flick, and I do agree it does tend to drag a little bit when all the attention is pointed at the UFO. Also I do agree that the underwater CGI Godzilla is sub-par, but sap that I am, I always give it a little leeway since Toho's effects department was still just getting their feet wet with the technology. But that same leeway shrunk a a bit later when I saw the Gaos swarm at the end of GAMERA 3, and saw what they were capable of doing on a smaller budget. Also love the Big-G's rampage throught that small neighborhood in the film's opening. To get out of the town that I saw the flick in, there's this bridge I had to cross, and it overlooks a power transformer just like the one where Shinoda was observing Godzilla's trashing the power plant. I can't help thinking of the scene everytime I pass over that bridge. Also until I saw this flick, the G-Design that I thought was the gold standard of suit design was the one that appeared in the bulk of the Heisei Series. I just love how this bugger seems a bit more, spiney skinwise. The huge spines with their violet trim is also a nice touch as well. And I enjoyed that either the flick's writer, or director decided to have them be something of a liability in combat when they get stuck in the building during the Big-G's fight with the saucer. One other detail that I appreciated, but sadly didn't get too much use, was that Godzilla's claws had never looked more sharper before. I'd love to see him in a battle with another monster ,and gauge some nasty scratches into them like two cats fighting it out.
Too bad Toho didn't follow this up with a direct sequel. I wanted to se what happened to some of the surviving characters in [b]GODZILLA 2000. Would Shinoda be offered the late, but still a bit of an asshole Katagiri's position as head of the CCI ? And would he able to put the
Godzilla Prediction Network(GPN) behind him ? Or more likely, would the job go to Katagiri's assistant, Miyasaka ? It would've been interesting to see where that characterwould've progressed after him growing a spine in the course of the first flick, and end up taking charge of the whole CCI operation.