213-Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

Film Year:  1966
Genre:  Kaiju, Science Fiction, Adventure
Director:  Jun Fukuda
Starring:  Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chotaro Togin, Hideo Sunazuka
MST Season:  2

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

One of my least favorite Godzilla flicks, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster tells the tale of three nitwits who steal a boat and claim it’s “a gift from God.”  The irony is that they unknowingly steal it from a criminal, who also tags along because he’s stuck with these clowns.  Their mission:  to find one of their lost kin, who had vanished at sea without a trace.  Attacked by a sea monster, they wash ashore of an island which is taken over by soldiers bent on world domination.  On the run for their lives they find that Godzilla is slumbering on their island and decide to awaken him to scare off the soldiers and the giant sea creature that’s keeping them on the island.

1960’s Godzilla productions are usually a gas, but Sea Monster is the exception, not the rule.  This film offers some colorful sets and neat monster battles, but the script is sorely lacking.  Plot is confused with coincidence and it struggles to skip from one scene to the next as quickly as possible without genuine flow to get from point A to point B.  The idea that the criminal would let these morons spend the night on the boat with him is ludicrous.  The main character’s brother is lost, and he eventually finds him by snagging his damn foot on a balloon, floating away helplessly, and landing on a separate island landing right in front of his brother.  The script to this movie is bizarrely stupid.

That said, virtues of the production are present.  Production values are beautiful, and the characters are likable enough.  Godzilla himself is fairly well realized, better than he was in Godzilla vs. Megalon at any rate.  There are moments where the weakness of suitimation sinks in (there is more than one moment where we can see water plugs in the Godzilla suit’s air holes), but for the most part the monster scenes couldn’t be more fun.  And while the plotting is terrible, the story is breezy and diverting.

What it boils down to is that while it has its fun elements, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is by no means a good movie, even if you’re looking at it by Godzilla standards (in other words, down with the kaiju crowd and fully embracing the rubber costumes).  It could have been great, but instead it just kind of dwindles its bright moments.

The Episode

I know I’m in the minority, but I enjoy this episode more than Godzilla vs. Megalon.  I found Megalon a bit too lopsided, with all the best riffs being made during the finale while the first few theater segments kind of drag on.  There’s a much steadier riff-pace in this one, plus Sea Monster just in general is a more enjoyable movie.

To an extent, it feels as if Joel and the bots are enjoying the movie much more as well.  They needed the monsters to be present to kick into high gear with Megalon, but with Sea Monster they pick up the cornball tone and settle into a cornball groove.  Because of this they play off the human cast much more successfully, which makes for a more glorious whole instead of just one glorious segment.  The movie itself blends well with the riffing, and it never really comes off the worse for it.  You’ll definitely not be reeling in pain based on the movie selection this week.

There’s a fairly cute running gag where our crew doesn’t know the title of the movie, because they missed the opening credits.  It’s a fairly odd beginning because we spend about a minute with empty theater seats when the movie first starts.  I remember hearing rumors on this site that this might have been because they didn’t have proper rights to riff on the credits, since they took footage from Son of Godzilla.  As time goes on I find this unlikely for several reasons.  First, it’s so early on in the series that I don’t believe that they looked deeply enough into film rights that they questioned whether or not they had the right to riff an [i]opening credit sequence.[/i]  Second, it’s been documented since then that Comedy Central secured the rights and the folks on the show just went through screener copies and told the channel what movies they wanted.  Third, Toho Company Ltd, who own the rights to Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla (as well as Godzilla vs. Megalon), didn’t have as much control over US distribution as they do now, and the show would have only had to do business with an American distributor, which explains why these movies appeared on the show at all given how protective Toho is with their Godzilla character.

Ultimately, I believe the reason they missed the opening credits was because they thought it would be funny.  And it is pretty funny, to be honest.  It’s a riff on getting to a movie late for whatever reason.

The host segments add a hint of flavor to an already delicious dish.  The best segment is the catchy Godzilla Genealogy Bop, which chronicles the thunder lizard’s family tree.  The space madness sketch has some laughs, and there are a lot of cool drawings in the final sketch.  The Invention Exchange is a simple delight, as Joel and the Mads invent new types of guitars that look really neat (Joel’s is mind controlled while the Mads’ are made of squeak toys).  Probably the closest to a dud is the visit from Mothra, which is neat but never really takes off.  Mike does the voice of the giant moth, but his turn as Gamera next season is much more memorable.

All things considered, I have to go against the grain on this one.  Not only is it the better of the two Godzilla episodes, I think it’s kind of obviously better.  I guess there’s something to Godzilla vs. Megalon that I’m just missing, but as it stands I’m very happy with my opinion on Sea Monster.  But given that these two episodes are both high points of both the season and the series, it’s a shame they were never able to tap into this well again (the closest we received was a Rifftrax for the 1998 Hollywood Godzilla film, which is hilarious but just not the same as these early movies).

Classic

The DVD

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is one of the eleven episodes that weren't released on DVD.  As a consolation the episode's host segments were released on the "Satellite Dishes" disc of Shout Factory's Volume XXXIX.  It looks like the video on this one is in lackluster shape.