[HorrorScience] Godzilla VS Megalon (1973)

Reading time: 7 minutes

Qualification

Tai Megaro

Year

1973

Duration

81 minutes

Director

Jun Fukuda

Distribution

Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita, Ulf Tsuki, Gentaro Nakajima, Sakyo Mikami, Shinji Takagi, Date Hideto, Kenpachiro Satsuma

Script

Takeshi Kimura, Shinichi Sekizawa, Jun Fukuda

Today I will comment Godzilla VS Megalon (Gojira Tai Megaro in Japan), the 13th film in the Godzilla series and the third to last in the character's classic saga. The person in charge of directing this film is once again Jun Fukuda, who had already directed most of the last Godzilla feature films, being therefore one of those responsible for the low quality of the last films of the character that precipitated the closure of the series in 1975.

A large part of the Japanese public's loss of interest in Godzilla was that the series had become infantilized so as not to lose popularity to the turtle. gamera either ultraman, Toho's directors had long since decided to change the tone of the series while constantly reducing the budget, something that is noticeably noticeable in each film.

This film is one of the best known of the Showa era and it must have been one of the first Godzilla movies I saw. Godzilla VS Megalon It must have had a wider distribution than others in the series or perhaps its rights were undersold in a desperate search for money. That fame also makes many classify this movie as the worst in the series.

After new nuclear tests, the Seatopians (from a lost civilization that now lives beneath the surface of the Earth) decide to send a beetle monster called Megalon to the surface to teach humans a lesson for endangering his life and the entire planet.

[HorrorScience] Godzilla VS Megalon (1973) — Megalon doing what he does best

Meanwhile, an inventor named Goro, accompanied by his friend Hiroshi and his nephew Rokuro, spend a day at a nearby lake. The appearance of Megalon will cause an earthquake that will endanger little Rokuro and after saving him, Goro will decide to use one of his creations, the Jet Jaguar robot, to help. But several Seatopians catch them and steal control of the robot.

Jet Jaguar helps Megalon destroy the surface, but his creators have a plan to escape and regain control over his robot and use it to warn Godzilla. Upon achieving their goal, the Seatopians decide to ask for help from the space monster Gigan, thus causing a two-on-two confrontation.

Godzilla Vs Megalon It is a film that has everything bad seen in Godzilla VS Gigan one step further and above turns the original concept of the series on its head.

Let's recap, the first movie was about Godzilla being a huge animal that had been mutated by atomic bombs and that had turned him into a fearsome being. In this film, the Seatopians are the victims of the atomic bombs and send Megalon to the surface to avoid being destroyed by future nuclear tests, and Godzilla turns out to be the one who defends the humans and therefore the atomic bombs.

In other words, the critical message of the film's nuclear tests is totally in question, although well, it's not that that's very important, because not even the film seems to take it too seriously.

In general terms, the movie is laughable and ridiculous, the Seatopians look is hilarious (but I really like that they use Moais as if it were part of their culture or mythology). Megalon's appearance follows the path started by Gigan, mixing animals with metal parts and I have to admit that I like him a lot, even though he looks like a villain from the movies. Power Rangers either ultraman, and that is precisely what Jet Jaguar tries to be. The battle between the monsters contains some very stupid moments like Godzilla's flying kick and many others that are surprising how inappropriate they are (Megalon touching his “ass” to mock his enemies).

Technically we find that quite a few scenes from other films are used (mainly from War of Gargantuas and of Godzilla Vs Gigan) but at least it gives us quite a few new scenes in the final battle, even if most of them are ridiculous.

Y ahora voy a hacer un esfuerzo en decir algo bueno de la película, como que gracias a su simpleza total, los personajes humanos aparecen muy poco y casi toda la película son monstruos dándose porrazos de una manera más o menos divertida (o ridícula, depende como queráis verlo).

La película es un ejemplo perfecto de todos los errores que se han ido cometiendo en la serie, pero al mismo tiempo se convierte en una película de la cual te puedes reír de lo mala que es, y eso es lo curioso, aunque no hay nada más que destacar de ella.

Curiosities about the film:

El diseño de Jet Jaguar proviene de un concurso de dibujo que hicieron entre niños en 1972.
Godzilla y Gigan no iban a salir en esta película, ya que inicialmente el protagonista era Jet Jaguar y el enemigo principal iba a ser Megalon.
El traje de Godzilla para esta película se hizo en solo una semana, siendo el traje creado en menos tiempo de todos los usados en la serie.
Cuando esta película se emitió por televisión en Estados Unidos, lo hizo en prime time y el actor John Belushi se disfrazó de Godzilla para presentarla.

Cuando Megalon ataca a los aviones se puede ver perfectamente que es el brazo de Gigan el que los destruye. De la misma manera, durante la batalla final hay algunas escenas en las cuales pasamos del día a la noche rápidamente, debido también al uso de escenas de Godzilla VS Gigan.
En el cartel americano de la película Godzilla y Megalon aparecen encima de las Torres Gemelas, algo que no solo no sucede en la película, si no que ni siquiera tiene sentido debido al enorme tamaño de los monstruos.
El título español de la película Gorgo y Superman se Citan en Tokio se puso para aprovecharse de la fama de la película Gorgo (1961) y la serie Supergiant (que también se conoció como superman) debido a que la misma compañía tenia los derechos de distribución de las tres en España.