Favorite Godzilla Era

[GalacticPetey]

Gonna go with Showa. This was when the ideas were fresh. New monsters and concepts were constantly being made. Heisei isn't all bad. Biollante is one of my favorites and I find King Ghidorah and Destoroyah enjoyable. Heisei also had pretty good music. As other people in the thread said, the Millennium series had the neat idea of every movie being stand alone. This would've allowed many unique ideas. Sadly, they never followed up with that. That ebing said, I find 2000, Megaguirus, and GMK, and Against Mechagodzilla to be enjoyable.

To simplify:

Showa
Heisei/Millennium (Tie)

[LiquidG]

Showa, don't get me wrong I acknowledge that its not completely perfect, and it did go down hill but I feel it took longer for this to happen than the other series and even the less than stellar entries are enjoyable ( save for Raids again and DAM)

Second would be the Heisei series. this era started off very well. The first three films are absolutely great. but with Godzilla Vs Mothra came the degradation of this series. GvsM isn't the worst thing ever but coming right after Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah its just embarrassing. the next two films just get more worse with each entry, Destroyah broke the cycle of awfulness but event It was a pretty mediocre compared to the first three. so as a whole the series doesn't hold as well next to the Showa series.

The Millennium Series. Only one film in this entire era I feel was a genuinely great Film, GMK stands out like a diamond in a pike of nuts and bolts, Godzilla 2000 is okey, Megaguirus is pretty lackluster, the Kiryu Saga was pretty okey. but really all of them look like Coppola masterpieces compared to Final Wars.

[Rody]

Allow me to separate the franchise by decade as I choose favorites:


The 1960's era takes the cake without a challenge, in both quality and quantity, with a total of 8 films including gems such as Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and Son of Godzilla. Really, the only lackluster entry of the bunch is All Monsters Attack, and that one still deserves credit for being an interesting (and arguably successful) experiment.
...And I'm not even mentioning all of the non-Godzilla sci-fi films Toho pumped out during this era!

The 1950's era gets second place for Gojira, of course - although Godzilla Raids Again has some merit. However, I think the non-Godzilla entries - Varan, Rodan, and The Mysterians - deserve mention for being remarkable experiments and for paving the way to the 60's masterpieces.

The 1970's era comes close behind the 70's era for how utterly wild and entertaining its films are. Although the overall quality of the films became shakier, the crews still put heart into their efforts and gave us 5 very memorable movies, for better or worse.

Perhaps predictably, the Showa era as a whole maintains top position. A good portion of these movies were how I was introduced to Godzilla, and many of them have aged more gracefully than the more modern films. Speaking of which:

The 1980's era gets the next ranking spot. Godzilla vs. Biollante was another film I grew up watching, and is a very solid effort with the best special effects of all the G movies since (save maybe Tokyo SOS). Godzilla 1985 is a decent effort as well, though I have yet to see the original cut. These two films manage to be much more engaging then the following films.

The 2000's era comes next. I find myself liking these movies less with each film, but GMK and G2K are still fairly good efforts in spite of sloppy production, and Megaguirus deserves mention as a "so bad it's good" movie. The Kiryu Saga, I only watch for the effects - and I'm hesitant to revisit Final Wars.

At the bottom of the list, we have the 1990's era, which, upon revisiting, I found to be very lackluster - and to think these were once my favorites. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is the only one I particularly like; the other 4 are a mixture of terribly dull and amusingly mediocre. These films have not aged well.


I have given my input. Bye!

[eabaker]

The 1950's era gets second place for Gojira, of course - although Godzilla Raids Again has some merit. However, I think the non-Godzilla entries - Varan, Rodan, and The Mysterians - deserve mention for being remarkable experiments and for paving the way to the 60's masterpieces.

When I discuss these eras, I'm always taking the non-Godzilla entries into account. Otherwise, you're really only looking at a fraction of the picture.

[Gamera vs Rodan]

[Part of it is that Millennium felt like they just kept trying to reboot the franchise over and over whereas Heisei really felt like a series, each one gives me a somewhat different flavor of Godzilla while keeping a pretty consistent aesthetic, pacing style, action style, etc. With Millennium Godzilla's breath will change color, his suit will look different, his alignment will change rapidly and despite all that the films don't stand out from each other as well as Heisei's for me and I think it's partially the too many opponents problem, I actually really liked that Heisei was mostly 1 vs 1 and changed who he fought with each installment.

While I prefer Heisei over Millennium overall (mostly because of how utterly awful I find the last 3 Millennium films), I actually vastly prefer the continual rebooting of the Millennium films over the pointless continuity of the Heisei films. I think a lot of why the Heisei films went downhill so fast (in the opinions of most fans) is because of the restrictions created by the need for consistency from movie to movie.

Where do I find your source for the bolded part? As far as I can tell Destoroyah is among the most beloved entries in the franchise.

[Lain Of The Wired]

As far as I can tell Destoroyah is among the most beloved entries in the franchise.

I hated it....

[eabaker]

^^^I have no single source, what I have is decades of discussions with other fans in person and on message boards and opinions published in magazines and books.

Yes, Destroyah is reasonably well regarded by a notable contingent of the fandom (at least relative to its three immediate predecessors), but I'd certainly be surprised to see it rank in the top ten on a poll with a large representative sample.

[UltramanGoji]

Thanks a lot, NSZ. I bought all these guns for nothing!

OT: When I first posted in this thread, I said that Showa was my least favorite. Looking back on the whole franchise (had a marathon recently), Showa is now #1 with Heisei and Millenium coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

[Gamera vs Rodan]

^^^I have no single source, what I have is decades of discussions with other fans in person and on message boards and opinions published in magazines and books.

Yes, Destroyah is reasonably well regarded by a notable contingent of the fandom (at least relative to its three immediate predecessors), but I'd certainly be surprised to see it rank in the top ten on a poll with a large representative sample.

Just googling best Godzilla films gives me plenty of peoples lists that have Destoroyah in them, it also gives me lists with Final Wars in the top 10, it's a fan base that has really diverse views on the franchise since the franchise is so long, I'm really not taking your word for it on this one and I'm kind of sick of people claiming the fandom at large feels a certain way to back up their views.

[LiquidG]

As far as I can tell Destoroyah is among the most beloved entries in the franchise.

I hated it....

I don't hate it, but I don't have a lot of love for it either, the final battle with Destroyah and the heart braking ending is the only parts of the film I find that are genuinely great. Though a part of me will always have a bit of nostalgia for this one, never will forget the first time I saw it, cried like a dumped prom queen.

[MDK]

VS Destoroyah has a reasonable fanbase. It's just that TK is filled with people who prefer the Showa series. Hell, It's safe to say the Heisei series is the overall majority favorite when it comes to kaijuu forums. Look at the biggest and most active kaijuu forums. Sunstone, Godzilla-Movies, and Toho Kingdom. Only in one of those forums the community prefers the Showa series.

[MDK]

Look at the biggest and most active kaijuu forums. Sunstone, Godzilla-Movies, and Toho Kingdom.Only in one of those forums the community prefers the Showa series.

Because we have the best tastes!

Probably.

[LiquidG]

VS Destoroyah has a reasonable fanbase. It's just that TK is filled with people who prefer the Showa series. Hell, It's safe to say the Heisei series is the overall majority favorite when it comes to kaijuu forums. Look at the biggest and most active kaijuu forums. Sunstone, Godzilla-Movies, and Toho Kingdom.Only in one of those forums the community prefers the Showa series.

The thing is i don't think the Showa series is perfect, it's not, it's still my favorite of the three eras but it had its fair share of stinkers, and i don't think the Heisei series is completely garbage, not by a long shot, I just feel that after King Ghidorah the series as a whole went down hill, they could have been so much better, especially considering the awesome ideas and concepts they had, I feel the Showa series took longer to fizz out when it came to freshness and execution.

[MDK]

VS Destoroyah has a reasonable fanbase. It's just that TK is filled with people who prefer the Showa series. Hell, It's safe to say the Heisei series is the overall majority favorite when it comes to kaijuu forums. Look at the biggest and most active kaijuu forums. Sunstone, Godzilla-Movies, and Toho Kingdom.Only in one of those forums the community prefers the Showa series.

The thing is i don't think the Showa series is perfect, it's not, it's still my favorite of the three eras but it had its fair share of stinkers, and i don't think the Heisei series is completely garbage, not by a long shot, I just feel that after King Ghidorah the series as a whole went down hill, they could have been so much better, especially considering the awesome ideas and concepts they had, I feel the Showa series took longer to fizz out when it came to freshness and execution.

I agree. I'm not saying that people think the Showa series is perfect. It's just that this forum has the biggest amount of Showa fans. (Which is a good thing and a bad thing.)
The kaijuu fandom should welcome different opinions. We shouldn't tear apart posts because they like a different era.

[Legion1979]

I'm also going to point out that just because a handful of message boards (even one as big as TK) prefer one movie, or a series of movies, doesn't necessarily mean that's what the ENTIRE fandom prefers. Worth pointing out that the member age on message boards tends to top off around 20-25, with many members being 16 or younger. These boards really don't give you want idea of what older Godzilla fans (guys in the mid-30s and higher) prefer. And from my experience of interacting with fans in that age range for a long time (you won't find them on boards, but FB is full of them), the Showa series seems to be the clear favorite. Considering the flashy nature of the Heisei series, as well as the superpowered monsters, is it really a surprise that the younger generation has latched on to these films? But to say the Heisei series is really the most popular, and to mention a handful of message boards that cater to a limited age group? Well, that's really painting the whole picture, now, is it?

And Destroyah being beloved? While I get that it's a nostalgic favorite that a lot of people are sentimental about because of Godzilla's death and everything, I wouldn't say it's THAT high on the list of fan favorites.

EDIT: fixed a few spelling mistakes, that's what I get for posting at 6am.

[Gamera vs Rodan]

I'm also going to point out that just because a handful of message boards (even one as big as TK) prefer one movie, or a series of movies, doesn't necessarily that's what the ENTIRE fandom prefers. Worth pointing out that the member age on message boards tends to top off around 20-25, with many members being 16 or younger. These boards really don't give you want idea of what older Godzilla fans (guys in the mid-30s and higher) prefer. And from my experience of interacting with fans in that age range for a long time (you won't find them on boards, but FB is full of them), the Showa series seems to be the clear favorite. Considering the flashy nature of the Heisei series, as well as the superpowered monsters, is it really a surprise that the wonder generation has latched on to these films? But to say the Heisei series is really the most popular, and to mention a handful of message boards that cater to a limited age group? Well, that's really painting the whole picture, now, is it?

And Destroyah being beloved? While I get that it's a nostalgic favorite that a lot of people are sentimental about because of Godzilla's death and everything, I wouldn't say it's THAT high on the list of fan favorites.

Yeah, well no one's surprised old people like old movies, kinda clear what correlation you can draw there that has nothing to do with quality. But, yeah, you've definitely painted the whole picture for us with your anecdotal evidence.

[Legion1979]

Yeah, well no one's surprised old people like old movies, kinda clear what correlation you can draw there that has nothing to do with quality.

I'm not talking about quality (though I probably could). This thread is about FAVORITES, and that's what I'm talking about. People are making blanket statements about what the entire fandom prefers without taking a second to consider that most message boards rarely contain members above the age of 25. There are Godzilla fans 30, 40, 50 years old and above with their own tastes in these movies, and I'm simply saying that, in my experience, a majority of them seem to prefer the Showa stuff. "Old people like old movies"? Really?

And come on, Living Corpse, I'm sure the mods are going to love that kind of instigation.

[Gamera vs Rodan]

Yeah, well no one's surprised old people like old movies, kinda clear what correlation you can draw there that has nothing to do with quality.

I'm not talking about quality (though I probably could). This thread is about FAVORITES, and that's what I'm talking about. People are making blanket statements about what the entire fandom prefers without taking a second to consider that most message boards rarely contain members above the age of 25. There are Godzilla fans 30, 40, 50 years old and above with their own tastes in these movies, and I'm simply saying that, in my experience, a majority of them seem to prefer the Showa stuff. "Old people like old movies"? Really?

And come on, Living Corpse, I'm sure the mods are going to love that kind of instigation.

I'm not a fan of the blanket statements either, that's why I said the fandom is really diverse in their tastes and pointed out plenty of people consider Final Wars one of the best entries if you look around online. The people I've spoken to in their 40s and 50s that have seen Godzilla films have pretty much only seen Showa ones because those actually got airplay when they were growing up on American TV. Even if they had seen the newer eras I'd wonder if they could put aside nostalgia to appreciate it, like I'm also sure most people in their 40s or 50s prefer Tim Burton's Batman films to Christopher Nolan's, just doesn't mean much to me.

[Lain Of The Wired]

Yeah, well no one's surprised old people like old movies,

Excuse you, I'm 18 years old, that hardly counts as "old".

[20th Century Boy]

I'm also 18 and I can see why Showa is the best series.