Showa Gamera, anyone?

[King Caesar]

Thanks to Goohead.com, I have been able to watch Giant Monster Gamera through Gamera vs. Jiger in original Japanese/subtitled.
Unfortunately, I haven't been impressed.
The Showa Gamera films are, in all honesty, boring. The pacing is poor, the actors lack any emotion, and the battles are very slow. It's a problem when even during the monster fights, you're thinking, "come on, get on with it."

It's so satisfying to watch MST3K pound these movies into submission though.

I must say, Gamera vs Barugon is probably the best one, without question. Dark, good character development, good acting, and some nice action. Gyaos is second best, and then it's a free-for-all from there.

[therealmccoy]

Thanks to Goohead.com, I have been able to watch Giant Monster Gamera through Gamera vs. Jiger in original Japanese/subtitled.
Unfortunately, I haven't been impressed.
The Showa Gamera films are, in all honesty, boring. The pacing is poor, the actors lack any emotion, and the battles are very slow. It's a problem when even during the monster fights, you're thinking, "come on, get on with it."

Oh, poo-poo-pa-doo.

Thanks for the bump, dude. I guess I'm just a hopeless fanboy, but those are the exact reasons I enjoy them They're just stupid fun. In your defense, some of the monster battles are lackluster. Several of them had a lack of Gamera action; Barugon is the worst in my opinion. Gamera gets sidelined very shortly by Barugon, and then shows up (I actually checked this the other day; though I might be off a little) literally with about twelve minutes to go and beats him.

And I'm not knockin' your opinion.

It's so satisfying to watch MST3K pound these movies into submission though.

I must say, Gamera vs Barugon is probably the best one, without question. Dark, good character development, good acting, and some nice action. Gyaos is second best, and then it's a free-for-all from there.

I want to get these so bad I can't see straight. It's just too expensive. If I really wanted to I guess I could watch them on Netflix though.

[King Caesar]

They don't have Gamera vs Viras or Gamera vs Jiger though. But they do have Gamera vs Guiron, which is so frickin funny (Cornjob, man...Cornjob). Gamera vs Guiron is really...REALLY bad. I actually think it may be worse than Gamera vs Viras. I mean, it makes you go WTF, somewhat clues you in, and then leaves you saying WTF with no hope of explanation. It's that bad.

[Goji]

JIGER and VIRAS never got the MSTK treatment. Presumably because Sandy Frank never re-released those two films.

VIRAS really bores me, but I really like the zaniness of GUIRON.

[King Caesar]

JIGER and VIRAS never got the MSTK treatment. Presumably because Sandy Frank never re-released those two films.

VIRAS really bores me, but I really like the zaniness of GUIRON.

And that would explain a whole world of things...

Guiron just...the battles sucked. All the monsters--even Viras--had more entertaining fight scenes IMO Guiron was just so damn lazy...on the bright side, we got to see Space Gyaos turned into sushi.

[Lord Gappa]

The Showa films were sub-par for me.
Gamera-6/10
Gamera vs Barugon-7/10
Gamera vs Gyaos- 7.5/10
Gamera vs Viras- 6/10
Gamera vs Guiron- 5/10
Gamera vs Jiger- 6/10
Gamera vs Zigra- 4.5/10
Gamera: Super Monster- 2/10

[Rody]

Oh, poo-poo-pa-doo.

Thanks for the bump, dude. I guess I'm just a hopeless fanboy, but those are the exact reasons I enjoy them They're just stupid fun. In your defense, some of the monster battles are lackluster. Several of them had a lack of Gamera action; Barugon is the worst in my opinion. Gamera gets sidelined very shortly by Barugon, and then shows up (I actually checked this the other day; though I might be off a little) literally with about twelve minutes to go and beats him.

And I'm not knockin' your opinion.

I certainly won't criticize anyone for liking these films; you're entitled to your opinion. I personally just don't get much enjoyment out of them. If I want stupid fun, I can search out some Ultraman.

It's so satisfying to watch MST3K pound these movies into submission though.

I must say, Gamera vs Barugon is probably the best one, without question. Dark, good character development, good acting, and some nice action. Gyaos is second best, and then it's a free-for-all from there.

I definitely plan to see these. I've only seen one MST3K episode(the giant gila monster), but for the most part I liked what I saw.

[King Caesar]

^ Check out The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies too. That and Santa Clause are my two favorite MST3k's.

[Tyler]

I finally watched the Showa Gamera movies in their original Japanese forms aaand..

Gamera vs. Gyaos
Gamera vs. Barugon
Gamera
Gamera vs. Jiger
Gamera vs. Viras
Gamera vs. Zigra
Gamera vs. Guiron
Gamera: Super Monster

That seem reasonable? And yes I've been on a Gamera kick lately.

[therealmccoy]

I personally would have put Gamera The Giant Monster down further on my list, but everybody has there own tastes. The list looks pretty good. Although Supermonster isn't last on my list. I'm glad you finally got to watch them!

[King Caesar]

I've seen them all except for Gamera: Super Monster, so:
Gamera vs Barugon (because this one is actually good)
Gamera vs Gyaos
Gamera vs Jiger
Gamera
Gamera vs Viras
Gamera vs Zigra
Gamera vs Guiron

[therealmccoy]

I wish they'd had commentaries on all or most of the DVDs like they did on the first two. That was a pretty neat addition. I've never been a huge fan of commentaries, but it was kind of interesting. Although I don't know how the commentarie would work on Supermonster. It would probably consist of something like this:

"Welcome to the final Showa Gamera entry, Gamera, The Super Monster"

*Introduces all the characters here*

"Well, we've seen all this before, so goodbye!"

*Comments as the mic dies out* "Wow, this was a really shitty movie."

[Bentley]

Gamera is awesome and is the friend of all children.

[HikizuruBeat]

I love Gamera movies. Heisei are my favorite, but I still adore showa.

My Favorite Showa Gamera was probably vs Viras. I didn't care for Viras the monster, but overall I liked the movie.

[zilla103192]

I am watching Gamera vs Guiron ala MST3K right now.

<3

Still don't like showa movies as much as the newer stuff though.

[wataru]

Showa Gyaos > Every single Gamera villain monster.

[joe_momma_01]

I loved Showa Gamera as a kid. True it was the only Gamera at the time but I loved it! Can't say the sense of wonder and nostalgia that I get from Godzilla and Ultraman is there though. I watched The first Gamera the other day and it was pretty boring to me.

Gyaos has always been my favorite Gamera badguy.

[therealmccoy]

I was wondering if this topic would ever see the light of day again.

Showa Gyaos > Every single Gamera villain monster.

Gyaos certainly had more personality than any of his other opponents. That's probably a big reason why he's so popular.

[Kaiju-King42]

I have seen all but the first Gamera movies on Youtube. Now, I had noticed what had happened with Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and the Mothra trilogy when I saw them. I saw Gamera 3 and 2 first, and was extremely exited to see the awesome Gyaos make a comeback in the first Gamera. I came in with expectations that were a little too high, so naturally, I really disliked it when I first saw it. (That fat "balloon Gyaos" prop during the chase sequence through the streets ) Giving it repeated veiwings and now knowing what to expect, the film has grown on me, now four out of five stars in my book. With the Mothra trilogy, I came in with the lowest of low expectations, and ended up really enjoying 1 and 3. 2, not so much, but the point still stands. Come in with low expectations, and I enjoy the movie more. So this is what I applied to my first Showa Gamera film: Gamera vs Barugon.

4 out of 5 stars.

Of course, like the Gamera trilogy, I made the mistake of watching the best, first, but this time I never went into the others with high expectations like with Guardian of the Universe. I kept them low, and ended up enjoying even Zigra to some extent. The only one I really disliked was Super Monster.

[therealmccoy]

It should be an unspoken rule for new Gamera fans not to watch the Showa series with very high expectations.