Godzilla vs. Megalon

***Godzilla vs. Megalon*** (*ゴジラ対メガロ Gojira tai Megaro*) is a 1973 kaijū film directed by Jun Fukuda. It was originally going to be a stand-alone movie titled *Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon*, but the producers were concerned that the movie would flop and thus decided to add both Godzilla and Gigan into the plot.

The movie is widely considered to be a guilty pleasure by many *Godzilla* fans.

## Plot

One year has passed since the invasion of Earth by the aliens of Space Hunter Nebula M was foiled by the combined efforts of Godzilla and Anguirus. The Seatopians, a race of humanoids who live under Earth's oceans, are angered by humanity's constant nuclear tests and decide to destroy them by unleashing their beetle-like god, Megalon. They also steal a humanoid robot called Jet Jaguar to guide Megalon in his genocidal campaign.

Eventually, Jet Jaguar’s own creators regain control of the robot and use it to get help from Godzilla. When the Seatopians learn about the humans' counterattack, they contact the Space Hunter Nebula M aliens to assist them by sending in Gigan. This climaxes in a colossal tag-team battle: Godzilla and Jet Jaguar facing off against Megalon and Gigan, with the fate of Earth at stake.

## Bad Qualities

1. Lazy usage of stock footage, not unlike the previous movie and *All Monsters Attack*.
2. Both Godzilla and Gigan are barely seen until the latter half of the film, as elaborated above.
3. Blatantly obvious and cheap-looking special effects; some of them are borderline hilarious, such as Godzilla's tail-slide dropkick on Megalon.
4. **False advertising:** One of the American posters shows Godzilla and Megalon fighting on top of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, but this never happens at all in the movie.
5. Godzilla's design comes across as cute rather than intimidating. One reviewer criticized his design in this movie (officially known as MegaroGoji) as being "crossed with Kermit the Frog".
6. Terrible acting.
7. The annoying child character can bring up bad memories of Ichiro Miki from *All Monsters Attack*.
8. Even though this movie is heavily catered towards children, a picture of a naked woman could clearly be seen in the back of a truck during a scene where two men are driving.

## Good Qualities

1. Jet Jaguar's theme song is **incredibly catchy**, and he's become a popular *Godzilla* character in recent years.
	* Jet Jaguar is also AngryJoe's favorite *Godzilla* character.
2. Megalon has become quite popular among kaijū fans.
3. The scene where Megalon destroys a dam has some very impressive special effects.
4. Godzilla dropkicking Megalon. **It has to be seen to be believed.**
5. Great soundtrack, including the aforementioned Jet Jaguar theme song.
6. The *MST3K* episode is one of the show's all-time classics.
7. Moviegoers that went to watch the film when it first premiered in the United States would get a free comic based on the movie itself as part of a consumer campaign.

## Reception

*Godzilla vs. Megalon* is widely regarded as one of the weakest entries in the *Godzilla* franchise, but a lot of people, including critics and fans, seem to enjoy this movie and refer to it as a *"So Bad, It's Good"*-type of film. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 38% "rotten" rating based on 8 critics.

Jet Jaguar and Megalon also both appeared in the video games *Godzilla: Trading Battle*, *Godzilla: Save the Earth*, *Godzilla: Unleashed*, the 2014 *Godzilla* game published by Bandai and the mobile game *Godzilla: Kaiju Collection*. Megalon has appeared in *Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse*, the prequel novel to the anime film *Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters* (2017). In this novel, Megalon attacks several west coastal nations in Africa in between February and December 2012 and disappears for an entire decade before returning between January and April 2022, attacking South Africa, which causes an estimated 300 million to 400 million people to leave the African continent and move to both Europe and the Middle East. In the sequel novel *Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla*, he reappears in the year 2029, but this time wreaking havoc upon India and Pakistan and later moves to the Philippines and Japan, where he is killed by King Caesar in a brutal fight.