Episode 200: The Godzilla Mega Monster Special

== Show Notes ==
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== Films Discussed ==
* Godzilla movies
** Godzilla (1954) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Godzilla Raids Again (1955) Dir. Motoyoshi Oda
** King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Invasion of the Astro-Monster (1965) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) Dir. Jun Fukuda
** Son of Godzilla (1967) Dir. Jun Fukuda
** Destroy All Monsters (1968) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** All Monsters Attack (1969) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) Dir. Yoshimitsu Banno
** Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Dir. Jun Fukuda
** Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Dir. Jun Fukuda
** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) Dir. Jun Fukuda
** Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) Dir. Ishirō Honda
** The Return of Godzilla (1984) Dir. Koji Hashimoto
** Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Dir. Kazuki Ōmori
** Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Dir. Kazuki Ōmori
** Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) Dir. Takao Okawara
** Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) Dir. Takao Okawara
** Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) Dir. Kensho Yamashita
** Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) Dir. Takao Okawara
** Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) Dir. Takao Okawara
** Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka
** Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) Dir. Shusuke Kaneko
** Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka
** Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) Dir. Masaaki Tezuka
** Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura
** Shin Godzilla (2016) Dir. Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi
* Son of Kong (1933) Dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack
* Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman (1943) Dir. Roy William Neill
* Ultra Q (1966) Dir. Hajime Tsuburaya - TV series
* Ultraman (1966-1967) - TV series
* What's Up Tiger Lily? (1966) Dir. Woody Allen
* Frankenstein Conquerors the World (1965) Dir. Ishirō Honda
* King Kong Escapes (1967) Dir. Ishirō Honda
* Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Dir. Frank Oz
* Gunhed (1989) Dir. Masato Harada
* Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) Dir. Shusuke Kaneko
* Godzilla (1998) Dir. Roland Emmerich
* Versus (2000) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura
* Azumi (2003) Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura
* Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
== Discussion Notes ==
* 200 episode milestone!
* Why do our hosts love the big guy?
** Will: as a kid they're "so bad they're good"
*** His epiphany at Godzilla 2000: they're fun!
** Justin: everybody loves destruction and giant lizards
* The secret to a good Godzilla movie?
** Get good directors who want to direct these types of movies
* Godzilla (American version - Godzilla: King of the Monsters)
** One of three in the series where new footage was added by American distributors
* Godzilla Raids Again 
** Features a fast Godzilla in some scenes thanks to a camera operator mistake
** Released in America as Gigantis the Fire Monster
* King Kong vs. Godzilla
** Originally pitched as Frankenstein vs. KIng Kong by Willis O'Brien
*** Idea was 'borrowed' to create this film
** The first playful comedic outing for Godzilla
* Mothra vs. Godzilla
** Will: this is "one of the perfect Godzilla movies"
** What are the basic human plots of Godzilla movies?
*** You need a journalist, a kid, a scientist, a military person, and sometimes a greedy person trying to make money
** American cut adds in America helping take down Godzilla
** Justin: prefers subs over dubs, though dubs are important to get kids to watch
* Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro-Monster
** Monster team up movies with Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah
** Ghidorah has a peace settlement between the monsters, with Mothra presiding
** Invasion goes to space, and has a dancing Godzilla!
* Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
** Introduces director Jun Fukuda to the series
*** A modest and competent craftsman who wrote most of the Godzilla films he directed
** Originally meant to be a King Kong script
** Transition from expensive city-scapes to Pacific island sets
** Godzilla smashes planes to surf music!
* Son of Godzilla
** Introduces Minilla, the big guy's sons
** Will opines on the beauty of the alpha Godzilla lovingly raising his beta son
** Features two amazing foes - a giant tarantula and a giant praying mantis
* Destroy All Monsters
** Toho going out with a bang - ten monsters battle it out!
** Set in the far flung future of 1999 on Monster Island
** Turns out it's pretty boring
* All Monsters Attack
** Features a Minilla dub that our hosts love
** Very depressing footage of real-world Japan
** Contains a lot of recycled footage, creating a morphing appearance for Godzilla
* Godzilla vs. Hedorah
** First and only Godzilla outing for director Yoshimitsu Banno
** Updates the genre to the 70s - groovy music, psychedelic effects, animated sequences
** Banno's work angered producer Tomoyuki Tanaka so much he wanted it erased from history
** Godzilla flies!
* Godzilla vs. Gigan
** Fukuda returns for a microbudget stock footage romp
** Features Gigan, a giant robotic chicken with knife arms and a laser visor
** You can see the Godzilla suit visibly falling apart on-screen
* Godzilla vs. Megalon
** Considered for many years to be the worst Godzilla movie
** Entered the public domain in the 90s for a brief window
** Silly and cheap, and includes Ultraman rip-off Jet Jaguar
*** Features the undersea kingdom of Seatopia
*** Also includes Godzilla sliding across the land on his tail!
* Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
** Fukuda's last Godzilla film
** The franchise is now fully in it's decline, only regarded as child fare
*** Ultraman and Ultra Q were providing kaiju action on TV, eating into movie interest and sales
* Terror of Mechagodzilla
** Ishirō Honda's last Godzilla film, end of the Shōwa era
*** Attempt to marry the 70s tone with Honda's earlier films
** Story covers an alien invasion and a cyborg love story - and has nudity!
** Awesome Godzilla entrance, great monster battles
*** Will: "This is pure cinema"
* The Return of Godzilla
** Erases all prior films from the chronology barring the original
*** Not that the canon was that strict to begin with
** Returning actor Raymond Burr refused to do the comedy bits and ad tie-ins
*** Took his acting role very seriously
** The American cut features a Soviet sub firing a nuke at Japan!
*** Thanks right-wing New World Pictures owners!
** First Godzilla theatrical outing in 15 years in America
* Godzilla vs. Biollante
** Justin explains 'Godzilla Stockholm Syndrome" - not all outings are great, but you get enough fresh stuff in a movie and it just works
** The Heisei era films featured less monster brawling, more energy blasting
* Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
** A wacky and wild time travel space adventure
*** Goes full Bill & Ted by the end
** Series chump King Ghidorah gets an upgrade to Mecha-King Ghidorah
* Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
** The series begins to blur for our hosts at this point
** The Gamera series is now taking up more of the kaiju space at the box office
* Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
** Came out same year as Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, and has the same plot!
** Heavily marketed as the movie where Godzilla dies
** Darkest of the 90's outings
* Godzilla 2000: Millennium
** Last Japanese Godzilla film to receive widespread American release
** Holds a special place in Will's heart as he saw it in theaters
** English dub ends with the line "Maybe Godzilla is inside each one of us"
* Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
** Last time the series would create a new monster
** Godzilla busts out his wrestling moves again!
* Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
** Considered the best outing of the Millennium era
** Toho reboots the series by bringing in Gamera director Shusuke Kaneko
** Evil Godzilla is powered by the souls of the dead killed by the nuclear bombs!
* Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla & Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
** Rehashes of older stories
* Godzilla: Final Wars
** Biggest budget Godzilla movie at $20 million - and the biggest flop
** Turns out it's a lot of fun!
*** Godzilla faces off against ten monsters, including the American Godzilla!
** Justin: it's "a love letter to the Godzilla films", "a sugar rush"
* Shin Godzilla
** One of the best - and most atypical - of the series
** Justin recommends pairing with the '54 original film and Godzilla vs. Hedorah
** Wil: "feels like the first truly post-9/11 Godzilla movie"
** A genuinely scary appearance for Godzilla
== Listener Letters ==
* What are the most emotional scenes in the Godzilla series?
** Death of Godzilla in Destoroyah
** Death of Dr. Serizawa in the original
** Godzilla leveling a city area with his fire breath in Shin Godzilla
** Godzilla sparing the last humans on the planet Final Wars
* Who's bettrer: Godzooky, Minilla, or Godzilla Jr.?
** It's Minilla!
* Do you ever get tired of Godzilla's roar?
** Nope, love it!
== Post-Outro Discussion ==
* A lovely Godzilla song
Category:Episodes
Category:Godzilla