Talkback: Atragon (1963)

[therealmccoy]

The first time I saw it I wasn't impressed; and I don't watch it often, but it's slowly creeping up my list of good evening flicks. I don't think it's a bad movie, and I didn't mind Manda not really being used that often. As a matter of fact, I think he worked fine in the movie, because like you said, Tohosaurus, it wasn't a monster movie. And I actually preferred his design over the Destroy All Monsters design.

[Gojisan866]

Was a Japanese cut of this ever released in the U.S.?

[The Dark Uniter]

Well, it's been released on home video by Media Blasters so you can get it for 14 dollars or less.

[Kyono_Rei]

The props were also obvious toys, and many plot holes stood out. The most noticeable one: a primitive civilization with nothing but earthquake-inducing machines, a serpentine dragon, and spears to fight with. This is a war that any modern civilization would dominate.

I can't agree here. They seemed at least as advanced as regular humans.
They have modern-looking submarines (rthat can dive deeper than american nuclear subs at that), have destructive laser beams, some sort of "flying bombs", wetsuits that seem superior to regular human ones, they mastered geothermal power, they posess small but very powerfull explosives similar to plastique, have technology that allows them to heat up various objects at will and last but not least they have a device that can cause earthquakes.
I wouldn't call all that "primitive".

True, their palace guards carry spears, however I see them as the equivalent of human police carrying nightsticks. I think these are just the "law and order" guys of Mu, not its army.

[therealmccoy]

I always wondered that myself. Maybe it's because the Japanese name "Atragon" isn't pronounced as "Atragon" in English, whereas "Go-ten-go" was the same in either language. Maybe it was just easier to call it Gotengo.

[nectarsis]

Atragon as the original, Go-ten-go as another version (class of ship vs. particular ship)?

[therealmccoy]

Atragon as the original, Go-ten-go as another version (class of ship vs. particular ship)?

Well, "Atragon" was the name given to a particular class submarine (I can't exactly remember what the model number was). "Gotengo" was tacked on later in the movie for some reason.

[TokyoVigilante]

I thought Atragon was just the AIP dub name for the Gotengo.

[Space Hunter M]

Of all the different machines to appear in the Toho films, the Gotengo has to have one of the most diverse and at times confusing selection of names. The original novel of Undersea Warship, written by Shunro Oshikawa (March 21, 1876 - November 16, 1914), in many ways foreshadowed the Russo-Japanese war but included the fictitious element of a drill-shaped submarine-like ship named the Denko-tei (Lightning Bolt). When Toho released their film Atragon in 1963, the name of the ship was changed to "Gotengo", meaning Roaring Heavens. However, Toho's international dub changed the name of the film and the ship to "Atoragon", a blending of the names atomic and dragon. When AIP acquired the license in 1965, they redubbed the English audio and shortened the name to simply "Atragon". Decades later, the Super-Famicom game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters featured the sub as a secret character, this time called the "Gouten". In 2004, for Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, the Gotengo would be redesigned as the original instrument of Godzilla's imprisonment. It was at this time that the ship went through a English name change, as Toho began to use Gotengo as its official English title. Oddly enough, for the video game Godzilla: Unleashed, the ship was again briefly referred to as the "Atoragon".

[Rody]

Pardon my head exploding...

[Goji]

I thought Atragon was just the AIP dub name for the Gotengo.

You're right, it was.

ATORAGON is the title of the international version. I'm guessing the back and fourth between "Atoragon"/Gotengo" has to do with MB's subs being a little off, but who knows. Honestly it's been quite a while since I've watched the film.

It is random how Toho went from using "Gotengo" in FINAL WARS, and then back to it's original English name of "Atorogon" in 2007 with G:U. Kind of reminds me how the dubbing scripts for the 70's films switch between "Angilas" and "Anguirus" (or I should say "Angweerus") a couple of times.

[Legionmaster]

It is random how Toho went from using "Gotengo" in FINAL WARS, and then back to it's original English name of "Atorogon" in 2007 with G:U.

I imagine that had more to do with Pipeworks than Toho.

[Goji]

^ But that must have been approved by Toho, I would imagine. I just find it odd that Pipeworks would go with the spelling of the international name of the Gotengo, which has never been seen on any of the versions of the film released here. It's a bit random.

[JVM]

On the topic of Gouten, wasn't there a ship in one of Toho's space films called that, that happened to look similar to Atoragon?

[James23873]

Wasn't there a scene in the english version where they were talking about a secret project called atragon, but no one knew what it was, only to be revealed as the Gotengo later? Haven't scene the movie in a long time.

[Goji]

^ Which English version? There are two English dubs.

[James23873]

^ Which English version? There are two English dubs.

Oh, I don't know. Well is there a scene like that in any of the two versions? I remember watching it a long time ago and getting the impression that the project name was atragon, while the machine itself was gotengo.

[Goji]

If it was on the DVD, it was the international dub. AIP originally released the film here in the states with dubbing by Titra sound (which unfortunately isn't available anywhere on home video).

[o.supreme]

Glad to see one of my little contributions to TK get some referrence (I wrote the "Whats in a name" entries for Gotengo & Goten). I originally had them all as one large entry but after several discussions with Arbok, he convinced me (which I appreciate now) why these should be 2 seperate entries. It can be quite puzzling, but researching the original Japanese names and source material did help. Most confusion comes from the english translation/renaming. If you can get past that, it makes much more sense.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

like Ghidra or Ghidorah