Gojira tai Megaro (1973)

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Jun Fukuda (writer)
Takeshi Kimura (story)

Release Date:

April 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Underground horrors attack!

Plot:

The undersea nation of Seatopia sends the gigantic Megalon to destroy the world above - and it's up to Godzilla and a size-shifting robot, Jet Jaguar, to defeat him.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Megalon | Gigan | Jet | Jet Jaguar

Cast

Katsuhiko Sasaki	...	Inventor Goro Ibuki
Hiroyuki Kawase	...	Rokuro 'Roku-chan' Ibuki
Yutaka Hayashi	...	Hiroshi Jinkawa
Robert Dunham	...	Emperor Antonio of Seatopia
Kotaro Tomita	...	Lead Seatopian Agent
Wolf Otsuki	...	Seatopian Agent
Gentaro Nakajima	...	Truck Driver (as Gen Nakajima)
Sakyo Mikami	...	Truck Driver's Assistant
Fumiyo Ikeda	...	Man from Unit 1
Kanta Mori	...	Japan Special Defense Forces Chief
Shinji Takagi	...	Gojira
Hideto Odachi	...	Megaro
Tsugutoshi Komada	...	Jetto Jagâ
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gaigan (as Kengo Nakayama)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rolf Jessup	...	Antonio's Aide (Radio Operator in White)
Eisuke Nakanishi	...	Asuka Island Nuclear Test (Narrator)

Also Known As:

Godzilla vs. Megalon (USA)

Runtime:

USA:78 min | Japan:86 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:G | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Megalon was originally created to be the third evil monster (besides King Ghidorah and Gigan) in Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan (1972) (in its second draft, "Godzilla Vs. the Space Monsters: The Earth Defense Command"), but budgetary cuts nixed Megalon from that film altogether. While he was originally created to be an opponent for Godzilla, he was considered for the role of the lone villain of this film when it was planned as a Jet Jaguar solo vehicle ("Jet Jaguar Vs. Underground Monster Megalon"), before, ironically, Godzilla was written into the story along with Gigan.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of the film, Jet Jaguar walks away from the two young men and the kid, who run after him. Just before they catch up with him, there is a shot in which Jet Jaguar and the three others are standing still, then begin moving again. Obviously the actors were waiting for their cue. Although this goof was fixed in most later video versions, the recent German DVD edition still has it.

Quotes:

[Gigan flies along to enter the fray and aid Megalon against Jet Jaguar]
Rokuro 'Roku-chan' Ibuki: Oh! Gigan's come! Just look!
Hiroshi Jinkawa: Whose side's he on?
Inventor Goro Ibuki: The monster's of course!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Shin seiki evangerion: Hito no tsukurishimono (#1.7)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Megaro wo Yattsukero

How can a film so shoddy be so much fun?

Godzilla Vs Megalon is often regarded by Godzilla fans as the low point of the series. Indeed,in terms of conventional movie making,this is indeed a bad film. Stupid plot,zero characterisation,shoddy effects,awful music,you name it. There's even a brief bit where the actors stand still waiting for 'action'-obviously no one cared to edit this out. However,sometimes a bad film can be fun,and this is a case in point.

The film is so fast moving and action packed it's as if all the so-called 'dull'bits have been edited out. No slow build-up to the monsters here-the human part of the story is a constant series of vehicle chases,fights and kidnaps. The friendly flying robot Jet Jaguar has such a goofy charm that can't really dislike him,despite the shameless pandering to small kids,and Megalon and the previously seen Gigan really make a surreal pair of evil monsters. As with Godzilla Vs Gigan,the film is rife with footage from previous Godzilla films,but you have to almost admire the nerve in scenes like Megalon's attack on Tokyo,where all the exploding buildings are from the Ghidorah attack sequence in Ghidorah the Three Monster,the filmmakers almost getting away with it because Ghidorah's ray looks a bit like Megalon's. Oddly enough,the uncut version {many versions are badly cut} is surprisingly violent considering the target audience.

The phrase "so bad it's good"was made for this movie. Badly made in every way,and with no artistic merit whatsoever,but inspite of,or maybe even because of this,it's FUN!!!