tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post3476330874765169052..comments2024-03-27T08:49:38.786-03:00Comments on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery: This Week in Geek (6-12/06/16)Siskoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-70012153473508906812016-06-15T09:34:42.383-03:002016-06-15T09:34:42.383-03:00(Incidentally, just ended up watching the Heisei K...(Incidentally, just ended up watching the Heisei King Ghidorah movie last Sunday night, and the Heisei Mothra movie last night, so I was definitely thinking of your top-10 list while watching!)Andrew Gilbertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604304361825660940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-9913740962644891292016-06-14T10:01:40.692-03:002016-06-14T10:01:40.692-03:00No surprise there!
I do agree that it would have ...No surprise there!<br /><br />I do agree that it would have fit the Manga element. I found it right away on YouTube by searching "Godzilla Gigan speech bubbles".Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-43990932993236149442016-06-14T09:46:16.340-03:002016-06-14T09:46:16.340-03:00True enough. I would have at least liked the visua...True enough. I would have at least liked the visuals retained, though- it's thematic to the film, and plus, I've never seen them. ;-) (I'm sure they are on youtube, but it's not the same). Just sad that a generation of moviegoers seeing this for the first time may have no idea about the original intent for that scene or its kooky uniqueness. Not a terrible loss for the pantheon of kaiju films, but in film-historical-context-preservation terms...<br /><br />Ah, well. (I did find the top 10 kaiju page; it appears we already conversed there, three years ago! :-) )Andrew Gilbertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604304361825660940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-40809468567867487622016-06-13T18:57:41.280-03:002016-06-13T18:57:41.280-03:00I've seen those clips on YouTube and I don'...I've seen those clips on YouTube and I don't like them. It's bad enough the kaiju are seen "talking", to have superimposed voices on them is too much. We can follow the action without a translation.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-60834492381001016692016-06-13T17:37:00.752-03:002016-06-13T17:37:00.752-03:00"Japanese dub, no "bubbles". I don&..."Japanese dub, no "bubbles". I don't know what the monsters say."<br />Really? I didn't know there was a third version (or what that particular cover went to, my bad). So they were just making standard kaiju noises at each other, when Godzilla 'dispatches' Anguiras to go and see what's going on? That's... crummy. Darned cheap exports...Andrew Gilbertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604304361825660940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-88014972405069992832016-06-13T17:13:28.549-03:002016-06-13T17:13:28.549-03:00You can always assume the DVD cover shown is the c...You can always assume the DVD cover shown is the copy I am watching. It's true in 90% of cases. Japanese dub, no "bubbles". I don't know what the monsters say.<br /><br />The cockroaches are as cool as you remember. As humans they're not great.<br /><br />King G is a personal favorite yes, because he's so squirmy and disgusting. Anguiras has grown on me a lot in the past few years; he's sweet. Mothra is my ultimate favorite though.... there's a list of 10 favorites Kaiju somewhere on this blog; use the search bar.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-72721356333803349522016-06-13T15:57:21.227-03:002016-06-13T15:57:21.227-03:00Ah, yes, vs. Hedorah- proud champion of the 'd...Ah, yes, vs. Hedorah- proud champion of the 'drunken lout' theme for Godzilla, as I heard one person describe it. That is... an odd one, no doubt about it. And surprisingly dark, what with the skeletons littering the street. Not my cup of tea- possibly my least-favorite- but amidst the general quality dropoff in the 70s, perhaps the strongest showing production-value-wise until the ending Mechagodzilla 2-parter. And that flying scene, with high school marching band music behind it... well, whatever else it is, it's memorable.<br /><br />Ironically, when i was young, vs. the Sea Monster was my least favorite, while vs. Gigan was my favorite. Nowadays, I largely agree with your assessment of the film's quality... though I retain a soft spot for Gigan as my favorite showa enemy (mostly based on nostalgia). All the points you make that point to his 'artificiality' are the points that made him stand out from the crowd and made him 'cool' to a ten-year-old. :-) (Incidentally, with a less-colorful redesign, he gets a pretty good showing in Godzilla; Final Wars, the 50th anniversary Godzilla 'swan song' in Japan (at least until this year's movie brings him back from a 12-year absence). Hedorah and Ebirah show up there too, in brief cameos; in fact, most of the showa monsters didn't appear again after their 70s premieres until that 2004 greatest-hits film. (Except for old standbys like Mothra and King Ghidorah, of course.)<br /><br />I assume, for On Monster Island, that you were watching a new release that has the original Japanese version? I have yet to see it- I haven't seen this one since VHS days, and an English dub. Notably, this is the only film where kaiju are explicitly scene conversing (though it's alluded to in another film, and appears in a dream sequence in a third). In the Japanese version, they talk by text popping up in word bubbles, it seems (fitting with the theme of the cartoonist protagonist). In the English version, they just overdub audible dialogue over Godzilla and Anguiras' roars. (Which is the version I've seen).<br /><br />And some random miscellani: <br />-The blood gets played up more in these latter 70s entries; it will also spurt prominently in vs. Mechagodzilla, the penultimate entry. <br /><br />-Are you referring to King Ghidorah a fan-favorite, or a favorite of yours? I know he is the former- though personally, my wife and I find him pretty dull as an antagonist. (Incidentally, Anguiras is her favorite kaiju).<br /><br />-I thought a few of the effects with the cockroach people were fairly clever, though that could be a nostalgia-filter over undiscerning childhood memories. :-)<br /><br />-You could kinda divide the Showa era into 3 periods- the first 2 B&W films, the 60s 'golden age,' and the 70s cheapies. Of the films generally available on DVD (since Mechagodzilla isn't readily available), these 2 are probably the best out of that final period. So, a good choice for sampling.Andrew Gilbertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10604304361825660940noreply@blogger.com