Talkback Thread #6: Invasion of the Astro Monster (1965)

[Space Hunter M]

I remember seeing GvsMonster Zero for the first time on TBS "Super Scary Saturdays" (man, those were the days ). However, the entire scene of Godzilla & Rodan fighting KG on Planet X (along with some key character development scenes of the astronauts and Xiliens surrounding these same scenes) was completely cut for time. So for years I never even knew of this battle scene, and was blown away when I watched the uncut film years later Anyone else who had a similar experience?

I actually managed to get a copy of this edit or something similar (it's 16mm). I guess the closest analogue for me would be finally seeing Gamera vs. Barugon uncut or the unedited version of Sea Monster after seeing the TV version so many times.

[Goji]

TNT's Godzilla marathon on President's Day of '94 also cut out the Planet X battle. The only reason I was even watching was because I had practically worn out my crappy EP mode VHS copy, and was attempting to record the movie onto a higher quality tape. Obviously, the plan back fired, haha.

[Rody]

I never missed the first fight, but my original recording of the film missed the entire beginning, so for me the movie "started" right when Glenn & Fuji leave to return to Earth.

[Great Hierophant]

You would think that instead of cutting the Planet X battle, they could have made more judicious monster cuts such as the Godzilla-shie and the stock footage from Rodan.

[Space Hunter M]

You would think that instead of cutting the Planet X battle, they could have made more judicious monster cuts such as the Godzilla-shie

That's exactly what the German version, Befehl aus dem Dunkel does. They cut a TON of monster footage, actually. The final battle is cut to ribbons.

[edgaguirus]

That's disappointing. The final fight is short, but has a few good moments.

[GodzillaFanatic2001]

That's exactly what the German version, Befehl aus dem Dunkel does. They cut a TON of monster footage, actually. The final battle is cut to ribbons.

That's pretty ironic considering the trailer for that version is actually longer than the Japanese trailer!

[Great Hierophant]

The German distributor put some real effort into the trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJh1JQv0NlU

(West) Germany's treatment of Godzilla has always been of interest to me, they rank high in foreign countries in terms of appreciation for the Godzilla series in some ways.

[Shobijin]

I could imagine how great the script read for this film, or how it could be a non-Godzilla film since it is a hard sci-fi story. I liked the characters (especially Glenn, the inventor, and the sister) and, of course just looking at Kumi Mizuno.

But the execution is lacking, IMHO. Just seeing Rodan and Godzilla look like toys floating around is jarring. (Transporting giant monsters kinda exposes them, see King Kong on the raft). The alien costumes were lame. Mind-controlled Ghidorah is a lesser threat and an unfortunate trope starter for him here. Godzilla's dance always makes me laugh and it is cute, but doesn't fit the tone of the movie. The human + alien scenes are too long (way too many space scenes) and the final battle has a horrible ending. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was slightly better due to Mothra and the fight scene, although the plot and acting was worse.

[eabaker]

The alien costumes were lame.

Now that's just crazy talk...

[Goji]

So, which of these movies do you actually like? Because so far, all I'm really seeing is a lot of unflushed dumps in various threads.

[Kaiju-King42]

So, which of these movies do you actually like? Because so far, all I'm really seeing is a lot of unflushed dumps in various threads.

Based on what I've seen, he likes Gojira, MvG, and maybe GTTHM.

But who knows, maybe he just doesn't really care for the Showa era.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

This one is in my Top 10 Favorite Godzilla movies. I adore this film to death. Everything from the memorable character, the catchy and amazing Soundtrack, the great suits, this film just nails everything I like in a Godzilla movie perfectly! Easily my 3rd favorite Showa film.

[LegendZilla]

May I ask what theories you have on as to why the peculiar creative decision was made so that Ghidorah will emerge out of the water as opposed to Rodan and Godzilla? Could've it been that the general Japanese public was just getting used to the idea of Godzilla being a good guy and the thought of him emerging triumphant times in a row would be a but too much for them to handle?

[edgaguirus]

It was likely just to show that Godzilla and Rodan had won and Ghidorah was retreating.

[Godzillian]

How did the Japanese Government not know Godzilla was in the lake? Godzilla walking too the lake would be hard to miss and it's not the ocean people would've found him eventually

[edgaguirus]

In the Showa era, there didn't seem to be that much effort in surveillence towards kaiju, unless they were attacking.

[Great Hierophant]

Maybe they could have tracked Godzilla and other monsters, but maybe all the money to track them went to rebuilding the cities and infrastructure destroyed by the monster attacks.

[Ivo-goji]

How do you track monsters in the 1960s?

All Godzilla would need to do is move at night and stick to rural areas. Even if he left prints everywhere, coordinating search times to examine the evidence and sorting through eyewitnesses is tough work.

[Stevo_1985]

At nighttime or not, kinda hard to miss a giant lumbering monster strolling through the countryside. Someone would have seen him. It's not known how deep the lake is though. Maybe it opens up at the bottom and runs out to the ocean.