Hey everybody, welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast. We are your hosts, Vincent
Hannum, Matt Levine, and we are talking about all our favorite monster movies, The Good,
The Bad, and The Downright Campy, and asking if they stand the test of time. Traditional
Kaiju creature features, space invaders, the supernatural, and everything in between. All
strange beasts are welcome here. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zack Linder and the Zack Pack,
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Within the uncharted depths of waters surrounding a group of islands off the 50th parallel lies
man's most formidable challenge. The awesome awakening of prehistoric monsters long before
extinct. Savage and deadly, their one hope is to rule our planet as they once had thousands
of years back. Giant against giant, the ultimate battle, Godzilla versus Megalon. Science was
battled and powerless. A terror stricken humanity knew that it was on the brink of total destruction.
A once proud civilization now had to place its trust and hope in Godzilla and his powerful
ally, robot man. In concert they would fight this evil in a duel to the death. Battling
by day, battling by night, it was more than a race against time. This war was an all out
effort, whose ultimate purpose was to save our planet from total destruction. Now came
the moment of truth, the ultimate battle. Titan against Titan, giant against giant in
the most spectacular battle yet. You'll see it all in Godzilla versus Megalon.
Well everybody, we have a very special episode today, very special guest. We are discussing
Godzilla versus Megalon with Max Hannum, who is kind enough to pinch hit here for Matt,
who is still taking a bit of personal time. Again, he's great, he's doing alright, but
we look forward to his return as soon as he is ready. Hey Max, how you doing?
Oh, I'm doing great, how about you?
Not too shabby. This is a daytime recording. Usually Matt and I record at night, but I
happen to have the day off. You do as well. So we're doing this at 12 o'clock high noon.
It's noon for you, you know.
Right. Where are you calling in from today?
Oh, I'm in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Ooh, how beautiful is it this summer?
It's pretty hot. Still beautiful. I was up at four o'clock this morning just because
the house was hot. So I woke up to get a glass of water from the kitchen and I was just looking
out the window. The sun was rising, beautiful pink sky, mountains in the background. Absolutely
beautiful.
Okay, well, I'm jealous. The view from my backyard beyond the fence is an alley with
some trash cans and squirrels doing God knows what in the trees. I don't know, they're like
really chatty this morning just chasing each other around.
That's so and sort of fun.
Who knows? For those of you listening, we are dropping this episode on August 10th.
So if this is August 10th, I don't know, I just thought the date would be helpful because
me and Max are going to talk about upcoming releases and and other bits of news. So if
you're listening to this far in the future, just know timing is important here. Max, I
want to share with you some some interesting feedback we got from your last episode with
Camp Kaiju, which was the cold skin episode.
Oh, I'd love some feedback.
Yeah, well, we posted a poll through the podcast. So listeners, wherever you're listening to
your podcast, if it's on Spotify, especially look for a poll that will accompany each new
episode. And this poll was let me pull it up. Which franchise should Max cover on Camp
Kaiju? Because if you recall, Max, we talked about a potential new series where you deep
dive into a to a franchise. Right, right. Yeah. So to the listeners, I threw out some
options. We have Hellraiser, Hellraiser and Bergman, the Scorpion King. Tremors or the
Howling. Hmm. So we had two voters. Thank you for voting. We appreciate the the participation
there. But it was a tie. So we had one vote for Hellraiser and Bergman and one vote for
the Howling franchise. Hmm. Well, how many movies are in the Howling franchise? Let me
look that one up. But since it is a tie, I don't think you're committed to either one
right now. I think it's dealer's choice. You know, I'm going to go out on a limb and say
that the Howling franchise pales in comparison to 40 something Bergman films and then the
what 10 or 11 Hellraiser movies. So that one is a little bit more manageable to start.
Hey, I I'm OK with that. Let's do it. I've only seen the first Howling, but there are
12345678 entries in the franchise. It's more than I thought there would be. Yeah, same
from 1981 to 2011. Oh, there's going to be some bad ones, aren't there? Yeah, we have
titles like Howling to your sister is a werewolf, Howling three, the marsupials, Howling six,
the freaks. And then the last one is the Howling reborn. It's like the same time period as
Hellraiser. And I know the depths that Hellraiser went through is Clive Turner related to Clive
Barker. No, that's not how names work. Never know. No, it's not. OK, well, I haven't seen
any of them, so that would be interesting. Get a fresh take. You should watch the first
one, not the third one. The marsupials. Yeah, I've been to Australia. Yeah, I don't know,
man. Yeah, it does take place in Australia. OK, it's not a max episode without mentioning
Hellraiser at least. Yeah, it seems to be a theme. OK, but what we're here today to
discuss is Godzilla versus Megalon. And before I get to that, I just got to say thank you
to all of our listeners for hanging out. Please rate and review this podcast wherever you
listen. That is the best way to spread the word of this show. Our numbers are really
good. They've always been tracking up in the three years we've been recording Camp Kaiju.
But hey, we're looking we're ambitious here. We want to expand our reach, pull in new listeners,
new friends, and your help goes a long way with that. You can send us listener comments
at Camp Kaiju at gmail dot com, our Facebook page or our Instagram, and we'll feature those
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you're one of the hosts, you can leave us a voicemail at 612-470-2612. Just tell us
about your favorite monster movies and we'll feature that on the show. You can check out
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a Patreon at Patreon.com slash Camp Kaiju for discounts, priority comments and access
to any live events. And we want to thank our patrons, Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous
patron and Peggy for your support. All right. Since last time, our last episode was King
Kong versus Godzilla and our trivia with Naomi. But since then, we have some news in the Kaiju
verse. So the next Monsterverse film is now slated for a 2027 release. Max, are you in
hot anticipation for the next installment of the Godzilla and Kong adventures? I need
to see the latest installment because I saw the one from a couple of years ago. That was
great. I enjoyed it. Fun time. But I haven't seen the latest one. Well, I think it is.
So I want to see how the quality is. Is it still fun or is it just, I don't know, cashing
in on the success of the previous ones? Totally. I think both. I think and I think that's okay.
It could be a bit of a cash grab, but still be fun. I think it's marginally better than
Godzilla versus Kong. Okay. Well, that's good then. Because I had a fun time with the last
one. So I know I saw the posters all like 4th of July themed and whatnot. And that was,
I don't know, kind of reminded me of the promotional material for Godzilla versus Megalon. Well,
yeah. So the new, which is keeping in line with the overall vibes of the Monsterverse
movies, which really lean into the Showa era camp and just big dumb fun. Yeah. I think
that's why ultimately, yes, I am excited, but I'm holding my excitement in check because
I don't want to overhype something in my mind. And then it'd be a letdown. Yes, I agree with
that. Although I feel like even the worst Godzilla movie is still great. Like I still
want to watch that. Because there's so many bad, I mean, bad is a strong word. There are
so many less than entries in the franchise. Yeah. I mean, I think you can say bad. But
bad doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Yeah, some people think Godzilla versus Megalon
is one of the worst movies in the franchise. Well, I mean, if you want to get into it,
we can get into it now. No, no, no, we'll hold off. We'll hold on. All right. All right.
We'll get back to that. I'll hold my thoughts. Okay, hold your thoughts. So Max, if you want
to watch Godzilla Kong, the New Empire, it is streaming on Max at this time. So have
at it. And then this week in Monster Movie history, the first two weeks of August, we
have some movies celebrating some anniversaries. Any titles there jump out at you? The blob.
Yeah, the 1988 blob was released in August of that year. I watched that for the first
time about six months ago. Oh, absolutely loved it. Yeah, right. It was way better than
I thought it would be. And love the effects. Like I love that era in film history, where
it was like pretty much the peak of practical effects. Only a few years before all the digital
effects started coming into play. So I don't know, it's just so visceral. Couldn't agree
more. Yeah, it is a movie that I have touched on briefly in on Kamkaiju, but it deserves
its own full length episode. Sure. Yeah, I'd love to do that. We talked about the 58 blob
last season, which is great in its own way. But like you say, the 80s were peak practical
effects. Yes. Yeah. Other films released in August in history, Kaiju films, we have Space
Amoeba from 1970 directed by a Shiro Honda. We have Frankenstein Conquers the World from
1965, another Honda film. Those movies, Max Space Amoeba and Frankenstein Conquers the
World compare and contrast. Space Amoeba is one of those movies I would say is a quote
unquote bad Kaiju film. But Frankenstein Conquers the World, I hold in high regard. It is one
of the best Kaiju films I've ever seen. So check those ones out. Yeah, I haven't seen
Frankenstein Conquers the World. Yeah, let's check that out. A rocket ship to unexplored
planets captured by unknown powers. Yawg, monster from space. You are powerless against
me. Irresistible terrorizing monster. We have merged ourselves into the giant crab of the
jungle turtle. The unconquerable, the unbelievable. Yawg, monster from space. In the ocean's unfathomable
depths, a gigantic manlike creature appears. From the fiery depths of the earth comes a
prehistoric mastodon of destruction. Never before has the screen known such heart stopping
terror. Starring Nick Adams. I feel he's very important from a scientific point of view.
I'd have to cut off a leg or an arm. Doctors, I won't let you conduct this test. Frankenstein
with the strength of a thousand men and every man's need for affection that makes him a
willing captive. The chain hurts you. The new scoop of the century. The horrifying touch
of a severed hand with a life of its own. The terrifying force of a monster that dwarfs
man's tallest structures.
Bring us up to speed in the year 2024. We have some upcoming releases. Alien Romulus
comes out next week on August 16th. We have a trailer for Nosferatu, Robert Eggers, and
Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, the sequel to Tim Burton's really beloved film coming out next
month.
So you know how I was reserved for the new like monster verse movie that's like for 2027?
I'm the exact opposite for Nosferatu and Alien.
You're on board 100%.
Yes. I'm not saying all the alien movies are great, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the newer
ones that have been released, mostly because it almost like pared down and simplified things.
Because by the time you got to like the fourth alien film, it was just getting really bloated,
I felt like. And I'm glad they've gotten away from Ripley as a character.
Oh, okay.
I mean, I enjoyed that character and her journey, but I just felt like we were retreading ground.
Yeah, right.
So with this newer stuff, they're going different direction. Quality is hit or miss for people,
but I just enjoy some nice, simple, like slasher-esque alien action.
Yeah, like a return to basics. This is a horror movie. It's like the original is a horror
movie. You said the word slasher. I think that's apt. The film is directed by, or sorry,
Romulus is directed by Fetty Alvarez, who did the Evil Dead remake in the past decade.
Oh, I love that one.
Right. So I think Alvarez has an eye for the genre and like how to.
Yeah. I mean, what I loved about that Evil Dead remake was it was a serious horror movie,
if that makes sense, but it still felt like it was connected to the franchise. So if he
could do anything remotely as good as that Evil Dead remake, then it should be a home
run.
I think people are hyped for it. Okay, coming up on Camp Kaiju, we have The Mummy. That
will be our next episode, the 1999 version, and we're going to have Naomi Osborne back
with some trivia for you all. Later on this episode, we will reveal the trivia winners
for King Kong versus Godzilla. So thank you all for participating in that. Max, you will
be back for The Mummy.
I almost watched The Mummy's hand like two days ago. Oh, we switched and watched Bram
Stoker's Dracula.
I do love The Mummy's hand, but I was really just kind of I don't know. I was just really
impressed by Bram Stoker's Dracula. I think Coppola does like some really interesting
things.
There's a lot of a lot of great stuff in that movie. A lot of not so great stuff. Overall,
good movie.
Yeah, it's like, oh, wow, cool. It's like, this is great. Oh, this is bad. Right. And
then in September, we're going to talk about the film Possession, which Matt said had said
in our season in our season preview is a quote, hard our film. So watch what the lights on,
I'm sure. But then we're going to bring Planet of the Apes, the 2001 version, which is not
scary and kind of dumb. But I think it's worth looking into. Is it though? No. But I can't
hide you got to talk about the good, the bad and the campy.
Well, you know, I was pleasantly surprised. I did a similar thing with AVP. Oh, yeah.
I was pleasantly surprised at my reaction to rewatching that movie. Yeah. So you never
know. Exactly. Yeah. Mm hmm. Let's talk about Godzilla versus Megalon, which a lot of people
do call a bad movie, but we're here to see it in maybe different light, maybe talk about
it a little bit more critically. Maybe there are things going on beneath the surface that,
you know, when you look past all the all the mess, you can see some glimmers of talent
and choices and you're like, oh, OK, I see what you're doing here. Max, what's your personal
history with this film? Well, this is the Godzilla film that we both grew up on. Indeed.
We had a tape of it, watched it over and over. Mm hmm. So I was having flashbacks to those
younger years while watching it from the very first image of the the boy in that ridiculous
boat thing at the very beginning. It's so yeah. Like, what is that thing he's on? It's
so inefficient. Like, I don't know if it was an actual product or they just made it for
the film, but it wasn't doing anything. Like, how do you even get out there on that lake?
Did they just drop him and say good luck? Right. Did they just push him off and he just
floated out there? Or was it an actual product that works? But they for filming purposes,
just I don't know, anchored him. I don't know. Very weird. But I've got a lot of nostalgia
for this movie that I mean, I'm sure a lot of people do. Right. Which we'll get into
the availability of this film was widespread in the States. Right. How do you see it since
you were a kid? No, I've watched clips of the final fight since I was a kid. But I haven't
seen the whole movie. So in reality, I was kind of watching it for the first time, as
far as like, I don't know, paying attention to the story or characters or anything. That's
awesome. Did you watch the sub or the dub version? Oh, see, I watched the Criterion
Blu-ray. Same, same. And I thought I set it to the Japanese audio with English subtitles.
But I think what I did was I turned it to the English audio and no subtitles because
that's what played. And once it started, I was like, well, I'm here now. And since that,
that's the version I grew up watching, I decided to just let it ride. I think that's okay.
I did some research. There are no discernible differences. The well, the minor differences.
Well, I don't know. So there's the US release, which cut three minutes. But on this Blu-ray
on the Criterion, I actually I watched the Japanese language version. And then I kind
of like watched bits and pieces of the English language version just to see if there were
any difference in the cuts and the editing. There were no differences that I could tell
on the Criterion DVD. Now, if I watch this old VHS that I have, that might be where you
see the cuts. Yeah, I did watch that version of it because I found it online. And it was
well, that website claimed it was in the public domain, which it's not. Right. Which is why
it was on there. But I did watch it just to see how they cut things out. It's all mostly
with that truck scene where you can see some some like nude pinups. Yeah, which I do not
ever remember. So I think right. The VHS we grew up watching cut the nude pinups and there
was some mild swearing that was cut from the US release as well. Yeah. So I did watch that
edited version just to see how they changed it because I didn't really remember. And that
whole scene is just cut and it's just the last line. Oh, interesting. Of well, I guess
it's none of our business what we are doing with this crate and why we're dumping it in
the lake. That's it. That's so indicative of like the entire script though, where it's
just like, oh, well, we're we have this giant robot, or we have jet Jaguar. But like, we
don't know why they built jet Jaguar. We don't know where this funding comes from. Like,
we know nothing about anything really, any characters. It's all very surface level. Right.
Like you read the synopsis or the character descriptions. And none of that's in the actual
movie. That's true. All right. So the two main characters are three main characters.
You've got these two adult men and a small boy. And in my mind, it was like, okay, they're
friends. And I don't I couldn't remember where the kid fell into it. But the description
of the characters are Yeah, they're two friends. And the boy is the younger brother of one
of them. Right. It's not even in the movie, unless I missed it. But it's a it's halfway
through the movie. It's mentioned that Rokuro, the little boy is the young is the kid brother
of Goro. Oh, yeah, I must have missed it. But like, I wrote a note, like, what is their
relationship? And then a halfway through, it was revealed to me, I was like, Oh, okay,
that would have been nice to know at the start of the film. Yeah. I mean, the whole script
is like that, where there's just details missing or vague, but you kind of get what's going
on. But it leaves a lot to the viewer to just make a decision on what's going on. Which
that's a really interesting point. Let's put a pin in that. Let's talk about the cast and
crew, which we're already kind of doing a little bit. But then I want to read the brief
synopsis of this film from the VHS that we had. It's from what's this called? Burbank
video. It's the edition where Godzilla and Megalon are fighting atop the Twin Towers,
which totally makes sense. So on the back of this, it says the most enjoyable of this
now classic series Godzilla and a robot are the superheroes, while Megalon and his companion
Gigan are the supervillains. This film is also notable for the sea topians and underwater
race who do battle with the monsters. Angered by recent nuclear tests, the ruler of an underwater
world sends a monster to destroy Tokyo. Godzilla once again proves that evil cannot prevail
in this clash with supervillain Megalon. Okay, that took a little liberties with the with
the story. But basically what happens, I mean, that's pretty much the entire written script
right there. Yep, the Kuda gave his cast that synopsis and said, just improvise everything.
We got this. All right, this is the scene where you send Megalon out. Okay. Not far
from the truth. But who is for Kuda and who are some of the talent behind the screen behind
the camera on this movie. So this is his fourth Godzilla film. He's directed five total in
the Showa era, including the previous Godzilla versus Gigan and the subsequent Godzilla versus
Mechagodzilla. He was a contract director who helmed a number of crime films for Toho
in the 60s. Yeah, the film was produced by Tomiuki Tanaka, of course, who did every film
in the franchise, essentially. Well, up until the 90s. And then this is where we get into
some of the some of that difference between story and script. So the story is by Shinichi
Sekizawa. He how he penned a number of Godzilla films and kaiju films in the 60s. He had a
reputation for lighter scripts. But the production, the prep for this movie was really rushed.
So Sekizawa only had the story. And he said to Fukuda, you take the screenplay because
I am out of time. I can't write this. So Fukuda hastily wrote wrote the screenplay for this
movie. You could tell this was a very pared down production. Things are shot very flatly,
it seems. Just a stand over there. We're just gonna have the camera here. There's a few
scenes where it's much more dynamic. But you can tell what it is like. I just stand on
top of the hill over there. Okay. Right, right. One of the more fun scenes in the movie is
the car chase. And it's fun because it starts getting really ridiculous towards the end.
Yeah, like they're going down an impossibly steep hill. It's like, is there someone actually
driving that car down that hill? Because kudos to whoever that driver was. Yeah, I have notes
about that car chase. screeching tires on dirt. Yep. Like what? That's what I mean.
Like there's you see the cars go down that hill or do some stuff. And then after all
that, you see the motorcycle pop up again, because they weren't gonna have the motorcycle.
Right. Do that same thing. That car chase is an example of what I think. Ultimately,
this movie to me is not a bad movie so much as it is a purely campy movie. Because those
kinds of choices, you could say are bad, but they actually, I think, enhance the enjoyment
of the film. They don't distract really. Right. And to me, it's a lot of the problems I have
are from it being constrained with the production realities of it. Exactly. Right. And we'll
get into the production history in a little bit. Right. Music by Rishiro Manabe, who also
did the music for Godzilla versus Hedera. We have special effects by a man named Turu
Yoshi Nakano, who took over the special effects department at Toho after Subaru died in 1970.
So all this to say is we have the Showa era, but we have two eras within the Showa era.
We have the 50s and 60s, which was Honda, Fukube, Tsuburaya. And then in the 70s, those
guys are out of the picture more or less. And we have a new director. We have a new
visual effects director. We have a new composer. And I think when we talk about the 70s Godzilla
movies, the general consensus is that these movies are lesser than that. They are very
cheap and rough around the edges. So I don't know what that says about the talent behind
the camera, but it's probably more to do with the studio politics of it and less to do with
the abilities of all of those involved. Because you can only do so much if you're not getting
the support you need. Because if you only have three weeks to shoot, yeah, obviously
they're going to rely on all that stock footage that they had accrued.
Yeah. So this is directly related to where we're at in Japanese cinema in the 1970s.
It was not the preferred media for adult filmgoers. TV was. And especially with the tokusatsu
genre, you look at Gamera, you look at Godzilla on the big screen, but then you had TV shows
like Ultraman and Zone Fighter. This kaiju cinema was definitely a kids genre at this
point.
Right. And this, I mean, with the very prominent child protagonist. Exactly. You can see where
their minds were at. Kid orientated productions. You know, it might be like hand waved of,
oh, that doesn't matter. Kids don't care about that.
Which that's a really interesting point about movies made for children. I think you can
do that really well and smartly. And you know, there's lots of examples of smart kid movies
with emotional depth and heart and quality and quality. And then you have movies that
just completely talk down to their their audience. And I don't know. I first of all, as an adult,
I hate those movies. And then if I was a kid, I'm like, oh, give me give the kids more credit.
Those simpler movies that, you know, quality suffers because it's for kids. Children age
out of that really quickly. So if you have a movie that is quality, that is also for
kids, then I don't know, a person can enjoy that movie longer. Right. They grow up with
it. It changes as they grow older. Right. Because I mean, we were watching movies when
we were kids. Yeah, we watch kids movies. Sure. But then we were watching just adult
movies by the time we were 10. Right. And that just shows that, you know, kids are interested
in more than just stuff for kids. Exactly. You know, our favorite one of our favorite
movies is Jaws. We were watching that. That's not a kids movie. But Spielberg, he does focus
on children in that movie, which I think is he does in all of his movies. But like, that's
an example. That's a good. That's a good example of, you know, as a child, there are still
characters you might be able to relate to. And a father figure and right. I mean, yeah,
there's stuff that kids can attach to. But it also I don't know. I mean, we were probably
excited to be like, Oh, we get to watch a real movie now. Yeah. So yeah, I just feel
like it's very short sighted to just think of something as a product for kids and not
give it the attention that it deserves. Totally agree. We'll talk about kids more in a little
bit. In real life, children were kind of central to a large part of this movie. But our quick
cast and it is a quick cast. There are nine speaking roles. And I'm only going to give
you like four or five of them. But there are no extras in this movie, which I didn't realize
until after I watched it. I was like, Oh, yeah, like, your cars are on barren streets.
There are no cityscapes really. And that's just, again, indicative of this threadbare
budget. And I assume all the crowd scenes were reused footage. I think so in hindsight.
Yeah. Yeah. So we have Katsuhiko Sasaki. He plays Goro, who is an inventor. He invents
the and builds the Jaguar character. Sasaki later appeared in Terror of Mechagodzilla
by Alante King Ghidorah. He is a veteran of the franchise. He's also got a just a long
career. Oh, yeah. I mean, in general. Yeah, like he's one of the actors in this that I
think his career still going. I think he he does the voice dubbing in for for Japanese
releases of a lot of American films. Right. He does a lot of voice acting, anime, video
games, and then yeah, a lot of dubbing for Japanese audiences. His kid brother is played
by Hiroyuki Kawasa. The character's name is Rokuro. Kawasa was actually the kid protagonist
in Godzilla versus Hedera from a couple of years prior. Yutaka Hayashi plays Goro's friend
and an ace race car driver named Jinkawa Hiroshi Jinkawa. And then I think the star, the true
star of Godzilla versus Megalon American actor Robert Dunham, he plays Emperor Antonio of
Seytopia. This guy, I don't know, go read his Wikipedia page. That's a life. Yeah, that's
where I pulled off this information. He had lived in Japan for 22 years. He was a he was
a Marine, but he was in other Toho films, kaiju films, Dogura, the space monster and
the green slime. But he's looking fabulous in this movie. In his toga. Yeah, tights,
body hair, his tattoos. He's just a 70s man. Emperor Antonio. What a name that is. We Yeah,
for Antonio. What? And then another notable cast member is Shinji Takaji. He plays Godzilla.
And he this is the first film without Harter Oh Nakajima in the suit, which is notable.
Okay, production backstory, we've already talked a lot about where Japanese cinema where
it was at this time. You could see this in the overall budget of Megalon. We have worn
out rubber suits at this time, we have a reliance on stock footage, a minimal use of cityscapes.
Megalon like the final kaiju battle takes place in an open field. Other films of this
at this time played from the same rulebook. But then the children, this is really interesting
component. So in 1971, Toho and Super Eye Productions sponsored a contest for children
to design a new monster to be featured in the next Godzilla movie. And this kid Masaaki
Sano, he came up with the idea for Jet Jaguar. So there you go. If it looks like a children
made him up, it's because one did. You know, I like Jet Jaguar. Who doesn't fight me on
that? He's great. He does kind of stand out. I don't know when looking at all of the kaiju
in Godzilla, he does have his own unique aesthetic, it seems like almost like a different franchise,
like wormed its way in. But it's not it's not like a pre existing thing, even though
it kind of feels that way. Well, it's because it is Toho also jumping on the Ultraman bandwagon.
Right. But that's what I mean. And I think it is a nice character to have and to just
like, yeah, let's just let's let's pull them out. But I don't know, it probably speaks
to the threadbare aspect of the script. But when he's introduced, it's almost like he
is a pre existing character. Right. There's no backstory. That's what I'm saying. There's
no backstory. Like, oh, yeah, you know, Jet Jaguar. Who doesn't? Right. I don't know.
It's Yeah, it creates an interesting vibe that I don't know. Was intended. But it kind
of works. And I think Jet Jaguar and the character Megalon have both grown in popularity since
this movie's release. They haven't been featured in a whole. Well, they haven't been featured
in a feature length film since this movie. But they are very popular in the comics in
little short films. Godzilla singular point. The anime on Netflix, Jet Jaguar is a main
character. So yeah, yeah, much love for JJ there. All right. Now the release and legacy
of this film is wild. It was mostly the US marketing and release
and popularity where I don't know why but toe decided that this was going to be the
movie that like the Godzilla movie they were going to heavily promote in the US and they
did and it made a lot of money and became popular, very popular. And it also had a huge
popularity with in the home video market. Why? Why? Why did it have such popularity
in the home video market? I don't know. Tell me. Because it was thought to be in the public
domain. Oh, right. Yeah, I did come across that. Yeah. I did mention that earlier, where
it was posted on a website for public domain works. And then there's a bunch of people
in the comments of that. This isn't actually in the public domain. But it wasn't until
the 2000s when toe got their act together and reign that in. Because yeah, it was never
in the public domain. It was always a derivative of the toe of the toes copyright. But in the
American release, that little word copyright was not on the print, right, which therefore
is actually important. Right. But in this case, not needed since it is a derivative
of a copywritten work. Yes, it was pre existing. Right. But what also gained a bunch of popularity
was it appearing on Mystery Science Theater. Exactly. Yeah, consequently. Yeah, I'm sure
a lot of people are in the same situation of us having a lot of nostalgia for this movie.
And it probably being a prominent Godzilla film in their memory. Mm hmm. Yeah. So like
there is a silver lining to blatant disregard for creative laws and copyright. Yeah, one
could argue. Yeah, it was just Oh, what we were mentioning about the the cover with Godzilla
Megalon, the US poster for it had them on the Twin Towers in New York purely for promotional
marketing. It's a great, great piece of art. It is it calls to mind the poster for the
1976 King Kong, which I definitely believe the Megalon distributors were capitalizing
on there. Mm hmm. There was also this is so fascinating. This is going to be the only
time John Belushi and Saturday Night Live is ever mentioned on this podcast. But NBC
aired the film in prime time in 1977. And get this. They only had an hour time slot.
So they cut the film down and already 80 minute film. They cut it down to 48 minutes to accommodate
commercials. But John Belushi hosted the program in a Godzilla suit. Man, I would love to
see that cut totally because it might be better with John Belushi in the in the program. I
mean, it's not going to hurt. Well, I mean, there's barely anything in this script. So
there's probably a lot that can be cut out that doesn't matter as far as the story goes.
So I don't think it's a travesty of an edit, probably. No, not at all. I have looked into
this NBC airing and I don't think it exists. Like on message boards and things. People
are sad that this this the copy of this program doesn't exist anymore because I would love
to see John Belushi in this thing. And that's a little bit before, you know, people had
VCRs and could tape it. Right. Exactly. Just before to. Yeah. Well, yeah. So big legacy
in the West. However, in Japan, it was a total box office bust. And it was actually the first
Godzilla movie to sell less than one million tickets. So not popular, at least at the time.
I don't know what it's what it's like now. I know Jet Jaguar is very popular. So maybe
maybe there's some more love for this film in Japan. Well, it could. And this is pure
speculation. So let me know if I'm wrong. It could be anybody going back to watch it
now might not recognize that there's a lot of reused footage or they're watching it,
knowing that it's way more campy than, let's say, quality. Yeah. Like the frame of mind
is so important to when you watch it. You have to know what you're getting into. Exactly.
Like you're not going to go to show era Godzilla movies and expect something from the 80s,
you know. Yep. Like hey, say Godzilla. Yep. They pretty much all turned very campy. Very
quickly. Yes. Which is what the monster versus now doing started off very serious. And now
it's yeah, it's that's a much better change. Godzilla 2014. It was 2014. Right. Yeah. That
movie's hard to watch. Well, I actually disagree. But let's save that conversation for another
time. Well, fair enough. Okay. All right. This is our favorite part of the show. We're
going to get to our sponsor break. And with it, Menia's mailbox. We're going to send a
note down to Mr. Peter Laurie before you get started. Oh, Pierre run this down to him.
Will you thanks and you're going to hear from Peter Laurie talk about the unknown by director
Todd Browning. So enjoy this break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about Godzilla
and Megalons themes, the form and the aesthetic. All right. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach
Linder in the Zach pack powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate
home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers. Reach out
to the Zach pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach pack on social media and contact
the Zach pack for investment opportunities. Links in the bio. And Menia's mailbox is
brought to you by Patreon. Become a patron and your comments are tops. Max, we have a
comment here from Abogado John, Abogado John on our YouTube page. This is from our cat
people episode, which was released back in June. And Abogado John says, damn it, not
a movie, just chatter. He was looking for free movies on YouTube, which is fair. But
if you see Camp Kaiju, if you see an episode of ours on YouTube, it's just going to be
audio. It's just going to be this podcast. But the episode for cat people ran one minute
and sorry, one hour and 10 minutes. So if I'm looking for cat people from the 40s and
I see that runtime, I'm also going to think, yeah, that's probably the movie. That's true.
Yeah. I see your games trying to trick people. Yeah. So, you know, we're not trying to trick
anybody. It's just a podcast. So Abogado John, I hope you enjoyed the podcast. But I don't
get that impression. Well, we will read more next time. Please send us your own thoughts,
questions, comments, any grievances you have with Camp Kaiju. Let us know. And we'll feature
those comments on the show.
Before Karloff and Lugosi stalked the screens, the movies were no less monstrous. These frightful
figures lurked in the expressionistic shadows and danced in the macabre moonlight. They
laughed and they cried. They fooled the sensibilities of honest, decent folk in the age of silent
pictures. These gruesome fools nonetheless cried out with a savage humanity that took
the breath from all those who witnessed the devilish delights. For in the silence, no
one can hear you scream. Or if you are me and this infernal podcast, I am Peter Laurie
and you may know me from such movies as The Raven and Osnick and Old Lace. You may be
wondering how on God's green earth you are hearing my handsome voice when I have been
dead these 60 years. Well, well, well, well, let me tell you about a couple of rat bastards
named Matthew and Vincent who have unilaterally decided I would be the perfect host for this
segment. I'm flattered but outraged. The sooner I fulfill my audio obligations, the sooner
I may return to the afterlife. So welcome to Silent But Deadly. This week we discuss
oh, what is this? Oh, how thoughtful. Thank you, Pierre. Ladies and gentlemen, I have
just been visited by my only friend I have in this insufferable recording booth in which
I live out the pangs of my resurrection. He has given me a note from my tormentors that
reads Silent But Deadly is brought to you by the mysterious old radio listening society,
a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the Golden Age of radio.
How nice. Another sponsor. Will no one save me? This week we discuss another Todd Browning
picture called The Unknown from 1927. This movie stars the man of a thousand faces, Lon
Chaney in a trademark story of physical deformity. Chaney plays Alonzo the armless, a circus
performer without arms who falls in love with Ninon played by Joan Crawford who has an aversion
to the physical touch of men. The plot thickens when it is revealed that Alonzo does indeed
have his arms and is a murderer on the limb and if that weren't enough, he has killed
Ninon's father. The only clue tying Alonzo to the murder is his double thumb which has
left its telltale print on the dead man's neck. In effect, Alonzo has his limbs actually
amputated before Ninon can learn the truth and hoping she may love a man who cannot hold
her. Does it work out for Alonzo? Oh, positively not. Ninon overcomes her fear of masculine
embracing and falls for the strong man of the troupe. Devastated and now without arms,
Alonzo meets his tragic end. The Unknown was a weaning collaboration between Browning
and Chaney with both men playing to their strengths. The Unknown foreshadows themes
of the outcast scene in Browning's 1932 film Freaks and Chaney delivers another memorable
portrayal of a sympathetic villain. Perhaps, however, it is Joan Crawford who delivers
the most poignant performance. We are only left with our own perceptions as to the nature
of a dramatic relationship with men. Overall, The Unknown is a far less famous movie than
other Browning and Chaney pictures but it is indeed worthy of our attention. Next time
on Silent But Deadly we will discuss another long Chaney movie called He Who Gets Slapped.
I'm about to slap a baby if this segment goes on much longer. Oh, Pierre, you know,
perhaps you might send a note to... to... the outside world! If it had a mind, you could
reason with it. If it had a body, you could shoot it. If it had a heart, you could kill
it. Now, man is no longer the supreme being on this planet. The organism is growing at
a geometric rate. By all accounts, it's at least a thousand times its original mass.
Nobody believes me about what happened tonight. What did happen? You were there, you saw.
The last life form that hunts its prey. Predator. I want that organism alive. I think you ticked
it off. The blob. Terror has no shape. Now, let's talk about the themes. This is what
the movie is known for. It's deep thematic analysis. But, you know, go for it. What do
we got? The big thing that every Godzilla movie has is its anti-nuclear messaging. Does
it work for you in this movie? It starts... it's pretty strong actually with it. At the
very beginning. I mean, the whole premise is that this underwater underground civilization
sea topia became unearthed by nuclear testing in the Aleutian Islands. And then the characters
have a little bit back and forth of how could the Americans do this? Kind of like, what's
the world coming to sort of talk? And then it's just forgotten about. It's a little...
it seems a little obligatory. Yeah, like it was just, all right, we have these five things
we have to include in every Godzilla movie. Where do we fit it in? Exactly. Yeah. But
what's interesting is the sea topians, you know, they actually after I finished the movie
realized they're not a conquering force like a lot of like alien beings in Godzilla movies.
They're just simply defending their homeland, which I found really interesting. Again, the
movie doesn't actually care about exploring that. But you could imagine a version of this
movie takes itself maybe a little more seriously. And it explores Antonio and like what sea
topia actually all about and why, right, why they might be justified in sending Megalon
to the surface world. Well, I mean, Emperor Antonio in one of his speeches, he goes into
how these humans are doing this for the last time. Like, I'm not going to stand here and
let them destroy the planet. So it's almost like the trend of... it's like, you know,
diehard the terrorists or environmentalists. Yeah, well, I think that was also big in the
70s. Right. So when you read the back of like the synopsis from the back of the VHS, it's
like, oh, you got these supervillains. Are they supervillains? Not really. They're just
a differing perspective. They're not destroying out of necessarily malice. They're just trying
to probably save the earth. But again, much like the nuclear messaging, it kind of only
appears in that one bit of dialogue and then doesn't really come up again. Right. And I'm
like, oh, kind of a missed opportunity. Right. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could actually
connect with Emperor Antonio? It would be. I mean, I think the most interesting and compelling
villains are those you can sympathize with. It's the Magneto effect. Right. So, you know,
if they had like a full production cycle for this movie and it was maybe the 80s where
they're putting more of a budget towards Godzilla movies, this could have probably been like
one of the better Godzilla films with its initial concept. Yeah. It's due for a remake.
Well, maybe not a remake, but a sequel. Sure. Yeah. Or a return to Cetopia. The Cetopians
are still there. Like nobody. Everyone survived. Yeah, they were destroyed. So great. Yeah.
Let's bring back Emperor Antonio. Well, speaking of Antonio, what do you think? So in this
is very this is a very now interpretation of the film, maybe tongue in cheek, but also
not. I do want to give reverence to, you know, the LGBT community in what I have read in
various blogs have latched onto this film for a queer reading that I think is there.
I don't think it's not there with some of the characters. Oh, for sure. Come across
any of that, like in even in even while watching the movie, did any of that cross your mind?
So the opening scene is Goro and Junkawa just having a lakeside picnic. Totally innocent.
Nothing going on there. Nothing going on. But immediately my wife was like, are they
a couple? Oh, Emily watched it with you. Yeah. OK. OK. Well, I love this. Keep going. Keep
going. It was it was like an immediate interpretation of what's going on, because again, the movie
doesn't explore this, like what their relationship is. Right. And even then, oh, they're friends.
I mean, yeah, a lot of gay characters are just friends. Right. And because the movie
doesn't give us any details, it's completely left her own interpretation. But when you
think about like I I'll post the link to this really great blog from an LGBTQ reviewer.
But she she she points out Junkawa doesn't go anywhere. Like he doesn't have a family,
doesn't have a home. He's always there. He's always with Goro. He supposedly lives in this
place, too. So and then it's I think it's a totally valid interpretation of this movie.
Now, whether it's intentional or, you know, there's no budget for the movie, so. There's
just no other people at all. No women to cast in this film. Nobody out that no women auditioned,
apparently. That's not true. That's not true. I'm sure I'm sure women audition. I there
probably wasn't an audition process. It was like, who do we got? For this three weeks,
we have all these women. You know, we'll just we'll just cast you a setopian dancers. But
I still think it's a valid interpretation because so, yeah, you said there are no women
in the film, but there are. So they could have had some actresses in there. Yeah, like
any other Godzilla movie. So it it could have been an intentional choice. Either way, that
reading of the film is there. It's valid. Can't deny it. You can't deny it. And because
that you don't know that Rokuro is Goro's younger brother until halfway through, I'm
left thinking like, what are they? Parent figures? Is this an adopted boy? Like, I don't know.
Yeah. I mean, well, even if it is a younger brother, it doesn't mean they can't be parental
figures. Oh, I agree. They still are. Right. And I mean, what further goes into that is
like Jin Kawa, as you said, doesn't have a life in this movie outside of the two brothers.
Oh, and this was he doesn't have a home for all intents and purposes. They're all just
living together. Right. And this is a another bit of evidence in support of this reading
too, that I realized Goro and Jin Kawa create life through Jet Jaguar, which is the same
template as Bride of Frankenstein, where you have Henry and Ernest Thessager's character,
Dr. Pretorius. And and the queer reading of that film is there. Like, that's not a debate.
So I don't know, is Godzilla versus Megalon, the poor man's Bride of Frankenstein? Maybe.
Maybe. I think if you just watch this without knowing how limited production resources were,
100 percent. If you knew the production backstory, then you could probably think of some other
reasons. But again, they still made choices to make the movie the way it is and could
have easily not made those choices. Right. So. Yeah, I'm sold. Totally. Yeah, I agree
with that reading. And I think it's I don't know. It's a it's a really interesting fold
to this movie and where it stands within the history of Godzilla. Yeah, makes it worth
talking about a little bit. All right. Some form and aesthetics. I will say one thing
I latched on to was the music. Now, is the is the music the same in the Japanese audio?
Oh, I don't know. OK, I know sometimes it can be different. Yeah. But it was a lot of
jazz flute, which I am not saying is a bad thing. It added energy and life to scenes
that didn't really have a whole lot going on visually. Well, see, that's interesting,
because in my viewing, I liked the score, but I didn't I didn't get enough score. I
didn't get it to enhance any of the storytelling or like really. At all. I don't know. I just
kind of fell and faded to the background. I mean, it really added a lot to that car
chase. Right. Like in moments, I think it's effective. The Jaguar theme is great. That's
a classic. And again, it feels like this was already a pre-established character that's
like making a guest appearance. Right. Right. It's like this is a Godzilla movie, right?
Why is Jaguar's theme so prominent throughout? Well, so it's a it's a longstanding rumor
that's not actually true in terms of evidence. But the rumor is that this was actually a
Jet Jaguar movie and they tacked Godzilla on at the end. And it does feel that way.
It does. It does. Yeah. Godzilla doesn't have as much screen time as Jet Jaguar. And Godzilla
is really only saved for the final third of the movie, I would say. But but there's no
evidence in the production notes that. Yeah, I was originally the case. I will say I just
assumed every special effects shot that didn't have one of the characters in the movie in
it was reused footage. Yes. Like with Megalon destroying the city. Yes. That was intercut
with King Ghidorah's destruction of the city in from Ghidorah, the three headed monster.
So I don't want to talk too much about that stuff, but the damn sequence was fun. Oh,
yeah, that is a noted standout in this film. Although there is a moment where Megalon kind
of gets like rushed through the dam. Yes. With the water. And it's just like, oh, yeah,
yeah. It kind of breaks the illusion where it's like. That's just a guy flopping around
in a suit. And I got that thought a whole lot during the final fight as well, where
they're just kind of rolling around on the ground fighting. It's like the fight choreography
could have been a little better. Oh, all right. I mean, I'm not saying that you're that it
couldn't have been. But I have a lot to say about that fight. Well, they just kept cutting
back to that. Yeah. And it's like, OK, we could probably cut five minutes out of this
fight. We just cut out the rolling around on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, and that
just enhances that camp factor in my mind of, yeah, just that total who? Yeah, very campy.
So we can go ahead to our breakdowns, because I think what I'm going to talk about with
the direction stuff are just some some notes that I can I can just talk about within my
own breakdown. So we have the good, the bad and the campy. Now, my good for this film,
I do like Fukuda's direction. My main thing with this film is that it is super low budget.
And yet I can see Fukuda doing things, doing as much as he can to overcome those limits
along with his cinematographer. So, for example, the kaiju are are standing in an open field.
That's very difficult in terms of conveying high do scale, because if you have a building,
you could see how tall that monster is. But if it's just three monsters standing in a
field, you don't really you lose that weight. However, Fukuda is shooting these moments.
He uses a lot of wide angle lenses. Is that it? Just wide frame. He shoots wide shots.
Yeah, wide shots. Thank you. And he's shooting a lot of them from below, which is like those
two ways. Are like his. I see those as his attempt to still convey some sort of scale.
Yes, he does the same for the human character standing on the what we're supposed to take
as the top of a mountain. Yeah, he's shooting them from below just to try to add some sort
of scale that isn't really there. My second example of that is the stock footage. These
this Ghidorah footage of the lightning bolts hitting the building. I think they're intercut
well because well, Megalon has the ability to shoot a beam very much like Ghidorah's.
Okay, so there was a choice there to say, you know, we're going to use Ghidorah's footage.
How can we make Megalon as like Ghidorah as possible? So I'm like, okay, well, I think
you pulled it off then. Oh, yeah, it was never a situation while watching the movie of that's
definitely older footage. If I watch this again with no knowledge of the production
history, I wouldn't even think of it. Exactly. And I didn't either until well, I've just
seen every Godzilla movie now. So now I can recognize footage from other movies. But if
you don't know, you don't know, you don't know, and you don't notice it. And I think
that's, that's a strength. Yes, the stock footage. So what'd you like about this movie?
Well, I mentioned the music. I really liked that. The final fight was a tag team match,
like a professional wrestling sort of vibe. Yeah, there's camaraderie on both sides. And
I like the intentional choice of, I don't know, making them much more human in their
responses. I mean, Judge Jaguar is humanoid robot. So his thumbs up. Godzilla, when he
enters the fight arena, his like arms are up. Oh my gosh. He's got a grand entrance
like he's walking into the ring. Yep. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It tells
a story. Yes. There's moments where the heroes are you think they're down and out. They got
the fire ring around them. They're really struggling. But then the tables turn. And
yeah, it's done really well. They start working together. Like getting comfortable, you know,
communicating better. And so that's to counter the criticism I gave of the fight choreography.
And then just rolling around on the ground. Because there is more of the good that I just
mentioned than the rolling around on the ground. And again, you cut like a little bit of the
rolling around out. And I think it'd be a much tighter, more fun fight sequence. Yeah.
Rather than bad. This is funny for me because the I don't again, I don't think this of this
movie as a bad movie, but just like a really campy movie. I think it's its weaknesses in
a weird way enhance the enjoyment of the film. But I will say that the script is like there's
there. It's again, very surface level that you don't know any backstory. You don't know
anything, which could enhance the, you know, your enjoyment of the film, depending on what
you're looking for in a Godzilla movie. I think I more importantly, for me, I do miss
city scapes, cities being destroyed model cities in these later Godzilla movies from
the Shoah era. And I do find the visual palette of this film rather bland and right, visually
uninteresting. Well, the lack of backstory that is not there for the characters and everything.
I mean, yeah, I could have come up with a whole bunch of stuff myself, but in reality,
mixed in with what you were saying, like the blandness, it was just boring in some parts.
Yeah. I just wasn't invested, which, you know, there's a lot of Godzilla movies that are
told that same trajectory, but I'm not gonna lie, I did those for like a minute at some
point. Yeah. But and this is a this is an hour and a half film less than and the fact
that it has some slow moments is unfortunate. Yeah, it's unfortunate. But it did. You know,
I dozed for about a minute, woke up just in time for the final fight. So I was all rested
and perfectly back in. So that's kind of a bad that turns into a good at least has a
silver lining. Yeah, yeah. So what are the things didn't work for you at this movie?
Well, oh, one big thing that I guess you can call it bad, but maybe this falls more into
the campy because I've given a fair amount of criticism. So I don't want to like retread
all that. So I'll just go straight to the campy. Okay, great. Which is all the very
obvious wire holding things up. Yeah. And I sorry, go on. And then I'll add to that.
And this also like the stiffness in flying, which this isn't a criticism of only this
movie or really a criticism. It's just a style of a lot of the Japanese media in this genre.
They were all doing similar stuff. So it has now become a trope and therefore is fully
camp at this point. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I didn't look at it and be like,
I can see that wire. Why isn't Megalon moving while he's drilling through the earth or flying?
It was more just Oh, that's fun. Yeah. Oh, one other thing that is not necessarily campy.
It was just really fun to watch. I forgot that Megalon moves around on land by hopping. Oh,
my god. I was like, what is he doing? I don't. Maybe it was because he's very bug like, and
they're like, well, you know, bugs hop. Yeah. But it was it was fun. And he's got three
different modes of transportation. He like flies, he hops, he drills. I love the character
design of Megalon. Yeah, we didn't even get into all that. And that much kudos to the
design team, because it was fun. I like his design. I wish he was in more things. Agreed.
So along those lines. So what I wanted to say was I want because we watch this criterion
blu ray high death. And I wonder if we don't see the wires as much in an old beat up tape
version of this film. You know what I mean? Maybe. But you also have to remember, this
wasn't shown in theaters on a VHS copy. But it also wasn't shown in the kind of high death
that we have today. Correct. But from my experience, when criterion does their like blu ray copies,
they're not bringing in over quality that diminishes the work. Okay. One notable terrible
example is, you know, the back to the future blu ray. Yeah, you can see all the like old
makeup and things. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't noticed anything like that watching criterion blu
rays. So I don't know if that's just me giving them too much credit, or if they're intentionally
keeping it lower or what have you. But I don't think it's because it's a blu ray that we're
seeing all this stuff. Okay. Like I would imagine seeing the zippers in costumes. Right.
But you I mean, you can kind of see some of the seams with Guy Gantz costume. But I think
that's more of the costume design that they went with and not the quality we're watching
it in. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. Well, the only way to know is to watch my VHS copy.
And I'll let you know. It's true. So my campy is related to this fight. This is like the
fight has such great moments of storytelling little moments. Godzilla's knocked down.
He's on the ground. Megalon shoots one of his napalm bombs out of his mouth. And this
little ball you can think of it as a grenade. I love that it rolls towards Godzilla's face.
And before it can explode. Jet Jaguar like essentially dives on the grenade, picks it
up and chucks it back at Megalon. And I was like, this is awesome. This is like, this
is what I want. I did note that moment as well. And another thing I thought about it
was why is this suddenly like a rolling grenade and not just immediately exploding on impact
like every other time in the movie? But I'm glad it did that because it is a fun little
scene. You can picture Jet Jaguar yelling grenade. Right. It's it does add to their
camaraderie and like you feel like they're a team, a real team by the end. Right. So
another another wonderful moment is Jet Jaguar is now down for the count and he's he's kind
of buried up to his neck and Gigan goes up behind him and like threatens to cut his throat
if Godzilla comes any closer. And it's just that just a little moment. It's adding to
character. It's adding to the tag team wrestling, you know, melodrama of it all. You're just
like, what? Yep. Yep. Gigan and Megalon are a good pair. Yeah, you could. They're they
feel like they're cartoon bad guys. Yeah. And they act all conniving and mean like,
right. Like schoolyard bullies. Yeah. It's like a combination of schoolyard bully and
mustache twirling villain. Yep. Great. And I love it. Visually. They work well together.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that was a good choice to bring Gigan back for this. Yeah. This team
up. Yeah. All right. That's all, folks. The last bit we have, we've got to give it a rating.
Does this movie stand the test of time? We have four ratings on Camp Kaiju. We'll start
from the bottom and go to the top. So we have it's not worth revisiting. It definitely does
not stand the test of time. It may be historically significant or just fun, but it does not stand
the test of time. We have there may be some antiquated moments, but overall it's great
and it stands the test of time. Or our final rating, it is a timeless classic. It definitely
stands the test of time. Max, where do you fall with Godzilla versus Megalon? I'm going
to say it's a timeless classic. It really stands the test of time. And that's because
you're laughing. I mean, I don't mean to be surprised, shocked and odd. Well, I say this
because watching the movie now is completely different from watching it when it was first
released. It has been given a new life the longer we are from its original release and
what original criticisms of the movie were. Because if you watch this movie in a vacuum,
it's just a fun campy movie. You put it on, yeah, you might like, it might lose your attention
for a little bit, but there's always something that brings you back after a few minutes,
whether it's Megalon destroying the dam or the city, or just you look up and suddenly
you're in sea topia and you're like, what is going on right now? Or that final fight.
So I think it, there was probably a time period where this was like at the very bottom and
not worth revisiting. But now looking back, if someone were to watch it, let's say they're
watching all the Godzilla movies or, and this just happened to be the first one they watch,
they're gonna enjoy it.
That's awesome. I love all that. I think all you have said is very legitimate. However,
I will say there are some antiquated moments in terms of character, human characters, and
the budget being so bare bones, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more effort
put into having some extras around having some more sea topia more. I don't need more
Robert. Well, see, this is this is the point can't be fun, because I would, some people
would say more Robert Dunham would be a terrible choice. I say more Robert Dunham would be
an excellent choice.
I would love to see him like riding Megalon. Yes, something there's did you notice his
tiara has Megalons head on it? I did. That was great. It was a nice little touch. Thank
you, costume department for coming up with that choice. I didn't have to do that. No,
but it's so good. I'm saying timeless classic. Well, I agree. It is a classic. And it does
stand the test of time. It is an overall rate. Example of the kind of camp Godzilla can represent.
Yes, I would definitely watch this first though, before any other ones. So you don't recognize
the stock footage. Right. That's a good point. Yeah. Okay. Well, next time on Camp Kaiju,
we will welcome Matt back to the show for arachnophobia. So that'll be coming at you
next Saturday. Quick turnaround there. And then we will see Max back here for the mummy
1999s the mummy and more trivia Naomi will be joining us as well. Matt Levine, gangs
all back, we're gonna get the band back together here. So stay tuned for your chance to win
some Camp Kaiju merchandise. And let us know what you thought about this episode, what
you think about Emperor Antonio and anything else we talked about. So thank you, Max. Appreciate
having you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So thanks for hanging out friends. Please rate
and review wherever you listen. You can also share this podcast with a friend. Send us
listener comments at campkaiju.gmail.com our Facebook page or on Instagram links in the
bio or Hey, if you'd like to be a featured voice on the show, leave a voicemail at 612
4470 2612. And please check out our website, Camp Kaiju podcast.com for more information.
Camp Kaiju is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with meanies mailbox music by Ben Cook
Belts. Thanks friends and until next time, stay campy. Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach
Linder the Zach pack powered by Coldwell banker Realty your source for real estate home rehab
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Oh. The hot dog. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey what?
Punch! Punch! Punch!
Don't cry, let's do our best!