I'm New To The Godzilla Franchise

[hammysammy59]

Ha, that class sounds fun as hell. That kind of experience makes me glad my girlfriend suggested showing her niece and nephew some Godzilla movies. It's always fun to watch Godzilla movies with first-timers of any age, but kids especially seem to "get" Godzilla, and have no problem suspending disbelief for the sake of a fun story.

[Living Corpse]

Although I remember seeing many of my classmates completely shocked when the "American Godzilla" lost to the "Japanese Godzilla" in mere seconds. Although my teacher did warn the class when pausing the scene when Godzilla arrived in Sydney. "The world hates pseudo copies and false imitators, and many will see first hand that Godzilla feels the same way." After the short encounter he took a few photos of his shocked class.

I wanna meet your teacher just so I can high-five him for this alone.

[Tyler]

The original Japanese Godzilla is being shown in TCM this June so maybe you could catch it. If not there's a Criterion release of it out now.

It's probaby not the most creative suggestion but I think you should watch the films in order if you can. Not all of them are connected so it's not a big deal, but I think it helps to understand how the character has changed throughout the years.

[hammysammy59]

Watching them in order is a cool idea, and I'd love to do it someday.

I gave my girlfriend a quick crash course with some Godzilla essentials:

Gojira
Mothra
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster

I think that was a pretty good, abbreviated way to get acquainted with the series.

[Space Hunter M]

While I would recommend King Kong vs. Godzilla as a starter, the far superior Japanese version is legally unobtainable here, so you're best off with Godzilla or Mothra vs. Godzilla instead. Oh, and welcome of course!

[DagarahX]

While I would recommend King Kong vs. Godzilla as a starter, the far superior Japanese version is legally unobtainable here, so you're best off with Godzilla or Mothra vs. Godzilla instead. Oh, and welcome of course!

What the hell? King Kong actually fought Godzilla? Alright I'm seriously going to check out that film! But, what entry is that film? I don't want to head into it blindly if there's a previous film before King Kong vs. Godzilla that helps set it up. I'll be ordering the Godzilla Criterion Blu-Ray in a few minutes through Amazon, with prime shipping I'll be able to get it by Thrusday.

[Living Corpse]

King Kong vs Godzilla is surprisingly early on in the series, it's the third film.

[Rody]

One nice thing about the Godzilla franchise is the generally loose continuity, especially in the Showa series (1954 - 1975). You can watch pretty much any film without knowing what came before.

[JAGzilla]

And here I thought King Kong vs. Godzilla was the one film in the series everyone knew about. Apparantly not. Well, that's one I'd highly reccomend. It was my first G movie, and instantly made me a fan.

As Living Corpse said, it's the third movie in the series, after Gojira ( AKA Godzilla: King of the Monsters) and Godzilla Raids Again (AKA Gigantis: The Fire Monster.) It mostly stands on its own, though, so the other movies aren't really required viewing. I've only seen the American version, though; there might be some differences to the Japanese version. Not really sure.

[Kaiju-King42]

One nice thing about the Godzilla franchise is the generally loose continuity, especially in the Showa series (1954 - 1975). You can watch pretty much any film without knowing what came before.

Except for Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, and maybe Godzilla vs Biollante.

[Space Hunter M]

I've only seen the American version, though; there might be some differences to the Japanese version. Not really sure.

Although it's been partially done before, I'm writing an in detail, scene-by-scene comparison of the two versions right now.

[DagarahX]

The third entry? Must've been a huge hit since Kong is pretty much a iconic cash cow like Godzilla.

I've been reading up on a lot of the monster bios upon the website, and I have to admit that there's plenty of information that has to be absorbed. Never expected Frankenstein's Monster to be given a giant monster role through and as suggested here in this thread by hammysammy, I will give it a look see.

Now are there any Godzilla films that I should have an open mind about when eventually taking a shot at them? I know that every movie franchise has its up and down films (Superman and Tremors come to mind somewhat), so do Godzilla has its share? I don't want to just watch one of those films then decide that its bad, I want to give it a fair shot, but while knowing what I'm in for.

[Kaiju-King42]

The third entry? Must've been a huge hit since Kong is pretty much a iconic cash cow like Godzilla.

I've been reading up on a lot of the monster bios upon the website, and I have to admit that there's plenty of information that has to be absorbed. Never expected Frankenstein's Monster to be given a giant monster role through and as suggested here in this thread by hammysammy, I will give it a look see.

Now are there any Godzilla films that I should have an open mind about when eventually taking a shot at them? I know that every movie franchise has its up and down films (Superman and Tremors come to mind somewhat), so do Godzilla has its share? I don't want to just watch one of those films then decide that its bad, I want to give it a fair shot, but while knowing what I'm in for.

One film that comes to mind is Godzilla vs Hedorah. While it's a good film all in all, carrying strong anti-pollution messages and decent special effects, it can get weird at times. And I mean really, REALLY weird. I don't want to give anything away, but this film's weirdest scene is even titled "something you don't see everyday" in the scene selection! Despite the weirdness, however, it really is a good film once you know what to expect.

There's also Godzilla vs Megalon, which is, from a critical perspective, one of the worst in the series. However, that doesn't stop it from being a lot of fun to watch! Besides, if you can sit through Rebirth of Mothra 2, you can definitely sit though this one.

[The H-Man]

Godzilla vs Hedorah was initially disliked when released, but in the last 10 years or so it's gotten more appreciation. Destroy All Monsters is a big favorite with many, but does seem to disappoint others because the plot focuses on the human characters a bit too much. G vs Megalon and G vs Gigan are probably two of the poorest entries, they have a lot of stock footage from earlier Toho monster/sci-fi flicks because they were made with low budgets.

[Living Corpse]

Also be warned that Terror of Mechagodzilla, Godzilla 1985, and Godzilla vs Biollante are slower paced then most of the films.

[ゴジラ]

When you come across Godzilla's Revenge, don't be fooled by the title, but despite that misleading title and stock-footage, the film actually delivers in setting out what it was aiming to do. Well, to an understandable degree.

[Living Corpse]

When you come across Godzilla's Revenge, don't be fooled by the title, but despite that misleading title and stock-footage, the film actually delivers in setting out what it was aiming to do. Well, to an understandable degree.

And beware the Tri-Star's 1998 attempt to cash in on the franchise known as GODZILLA.

[JVM]

General consensus usually awards the worst films as each of the Millennium series excluding Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack which is a huge fan favorite, although be forewarned that some of the message is lost in translation, so the initial viewing may be a bit confusing.

The Heisei series is generally said to be (with the sole exception of Godzilla vs. Biollante) good ideas with a strong continuity, but hampered by poor pacing and dubbing. Biollante, however, is almost universally praised among the fandom as the shining star of the Heisei era. Your mileage will vary here though - some newer fans really launch on to the Heisei films.

The Showa series as a whole is pretty much universally beloved by all fans big and small. There's a handful of moments that may not translate the best, but overall, solid films, and by far and above the most popular work of the series.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

The Showa series' later films (1969 - 1974) are cheesy, kid-aimed, re-use footage and have low production values,

Cheesy? Hardly. Out of the entire Showa era, I can only think of three "cheesy" moments. Godzilla's dance in Invasion Of The Astro-Monster, Godzilla flying in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and Godzilla's tail slide in Godzilla vs. Megalon. Outside of that, there's really nothing cheesy about the Showa era.

Kid-aimed? Does that explain why every film made after All Monsters Attack has at least some gore in it? Like the skeletons and visual deaths of people in Godzilla vs. Hedorah? Or Godzilla's constant bleeding and very visually getting beat up in vs. Gigan, vs. Megalon and vs. MechaGodzilla? Or how about Katsura's sacrifice in Terror Of MechaGodzilla?

Re-used footage? Only Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Megalon do that, and even vs. Megalon does it sparingly.

Low production values? Eh, kind of. But as long as the story is plausible, handled well and told in a way that makes it feel like the film takes it's audience seriously, then production values could be as low as possible and you would still get a quality product.

[JVM]

I purposely ignored ToMG and noted as such. Besides that, fine, I'll amend the post.