Genre: Kaiju, Fantasy
Director: Jun Fukuda
Starring: Jet Jaguar? JET JAGUAR!
MST Season: 2
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
Japanese kids, don’t do drugs. If you do then another Godzilla vs. Megalon will result, and really one is enough.
This movie is probably what most think of when they think of the Godzilla franchise, for better or for worse. It’s probably pointless to convince people otherwise that the franchise has merit beyond a flimsy premise providing an excuse for a giant rubber suit rumble at the tail end (though that certainly is part of the franchise appeal). I do stress that at least the original film is worth checking out for most cinema lovers. But chances are if you see Godzilla vs. Megalon first then chances are that even if you were to see a superior specimen of this series, such as Godzilla vs. Mothra, the aspects of Megalon would probably stick out more.
I’ve been an avid Godzilla fan for about thirty years now, and I can safely say from the bottom of my heart that this film is one of the worst in the series, possibly topped only by Godzilla’s Revenge.
Godzilla vs. Megalon was born out of a contest Toho Studios held for children to create a new heroic character, and the winner would have their idea turned into a movie. The winning child created Jet Jaguar, a robot that could grow to Kaiju size and fight monsters, not much unlike a cybernetic Ultraman. A movie featuring Jet Jaguar fighting Megalon was put into production, but at some point the decision was made to add Godzilla and Gigan into the mix to hopefully increase box office revenue.
Godzilla’s popularity was waning with the public, though he still got children to buy tickets. Godzilla was even a regular guest star on the children’s Toku series Zone Fighter, and that’s probably the best way to describe Godzilla vs. Megalon, less of a Godzilla movie and more of a feature length episode of Zone Fighter. From my experience, Godzilla vs. Megalon seems to be most highly thought of by Toku fans, those who enjoy the likes of Zone Fighter, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai.
And of course there are also people who like it because it’s a goofy bad movie.
The storyline features the underwater kingdom of Seatopia seeking revenge on mankind for their endless nuclear tests (because nuclear tests always lead to poopie like this in these movies) and sends a giant cockroach named Megalon to kill all humans. They kidnap a robot named Jet Jaguar to help guide the monster for some reason, but Jet Jaguar gains temporary sentience, grows to monster size, and fights Megalon. The Seatopians call for aid in the form of the space monster Gigan to help destroy Jet Jaguar, but Godzilla comes ashore to bring the ultimate tag team showdown.
The film definitely panders to children quite a bit, with a Saturday morning sensibility. As someone who loves Godzilla and casually watches Toku I can’t really argue with what soft appeal it has. But even when I was a kid I knew there was something not that great about this one. And if myself as a child didn’t like it, that’s some proof that it failed at its ambition.
The Episode
Often cited to be the first great episode of Mystery Science Theater, I find myself disagreeing with the majority. I can definitely see where the love stems from because the final act monster battle has a killer run on riffs, but the episode runs far too ho-hum until that point for me to consider it anything that great. While the riffwork has great lines sprinkled about (“Today Seatopia...TOMORROW BROADWAY!”) I find wanting a little more from an episode that just has Joel and the Bots making engine noises for minutes at a time during car chase scenes. But when the monsters are on-screen we get one hell of an upswing in riffing, ramping up faster as the brawls start. They get a lot of usage out of sports commentary, while giving the creatures personalities of their own as a side gag. It’s a steady parade of laughs that comes a little too late in the game.
The host segments are all classics, with the recreation of an Orville Redenbacher commercial taking top praise. Even the many years after those commercials faded into the last it holds up with it’s deliciously dark writing. The episode is also home to the kooky and bizarre “Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy,” a faux TV series that amuses with its daffiness. Also of enjoyment is the Invention Exchange which finds Joel and the Mads swapping homemade Halloween costumes, all of which are really neat.
The high points of Godzilla vs. Megalon make me wish I thought it was as brilliant as everyone else seems to find it. Personally it’s about half-brilliant and a bit of a slog getting to its best moments. But by ending on such a wild high that it whets the appetite for more Kaiju films down the line, including another Godzilla movie climaxing the season and revisiting Gamera the following year. And why wouldn’t we? As Crow so eloquently states in the opening…
“Whenever they test nuclear bombs it’s always the monsters that suffer.”
Let us laugh at their suffering.
Good
The DVD
Godzilla vs. Megalon was (briefly) released by Rhino via Volume 10. However, they had failed to secure the rights to the film itself and the entire volume was pulled and rereleased in the future with the Giant Gila Monster instead. It’s a shame, because the presentation was great. Video was clear and the audio was solid. This popular episode of the show really shined with an official disc.
The only special feature was a photo gallery of behind the scenes photos. Nothing mind blowing, but pretty neat.
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