Godzilla vs. Megalon
(ゴジラ対メガロ Gojira tai Megaro)
is a 1973 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Eizo, and the thirteenth installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series.
The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on March 17, 1973 / United States in April 1976.
*Dreaded Megalon from the undersea kingdom! A miraculous deathblow from the wound-ridden Godzilla!
(海底王国のすごいやつメガロ！傷だらけのゴジラ必殺のウルトラＣ！)
~Japanese Tagline
*Monster against monster for the lost continent of Mu
~ International Tagline
*GIANT AGAINST GIANT... the ultimate battle!
*Introducing ROBOTMAN
*Underground horrors attack!
*Titan against Titan! Giant against Giant, in the most spectacular battle yet!!
~American Tagline
Underground nuclear testing in the Aleutian Islands damages the undersea kingdom of Seatopia, whose angry inhabitants send their guardian monster Megalon to the surface to seek revenge on humanity. Inventor Goro Ibuki, his brother Rokuro, and his best friend Hiroshi Jinkawa find themselves caught up in the Seatopians' plan, as they plan to use Goro's invention, the robot Jet Jaguar, to guide Megalon. Goro manages to free Jet Jaguar from the Seatopians' control and sends him to Monster Island to recruit Godzilla's help. The stage is set for a colossal tag-team battle when the Seatopians recruit the aid of the evil cyborg kaiju Gigan from the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, with Godzilla and Jet Jaguar facing off against Gigan and Megalon.
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Screenplay by Jun Fukuda
Based on a story by Shinichi Sekizawa
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by Riichiro Manabe
Theme song "Godzilla and Jet Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch!"
Performed by Masato Shimon
Lyrics by Shinichi Sekizawa
Cinematography by Yuzuru Aizawa
Edited by Michiko Ikeda
Production design by Yoshifumi Honda
1st assistant director Tsunesaburo Nishikawa
Director of special effects Teruyoshi Nakano
Cast
Katsuhiko Sasaki as Goro Ibuki, inventor
Yutaka Hayashi as Hiroshi Jinkawa
Hiroyuki Kawase as Rokuro "Roku" Ibuki
Kanta Mori as JSDF commander
Kotaro Tomita as Seatopian agent in black
Ulf Otsuki as Seatopian agent in gray
Sakyo Mikami as Truck driver's assistant
Fumio Ikeda as Man at Ground 1
Gen Nakajima as Truck driver
Robert Dunham as Seatopian Emperor Antonio
Ralph Jesser as Seatopian radio operator (as Ralph Jessup)
Shinji Takagi as Godzilla
Hideto Date as Megalon
Tsugutoshi Komada, Masachika Mori as Jet Jaguar
Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan (as Kengo Nakayama)
Takamitsu Watanabe as Fight choreographer
Eizaburo Komatsu as JSDF member (uncredited)
Eisuke Nakanishi as Asuka Island nuclear test announcer (uncredited)
International English Dub
Chris Hilton as Goro Ibuki / truck driver's assistant (road)
Warren Rooke as Hiroshi Jinkawa / truck driver's assistant (dam)
Linda Masson as Rokuro Ibuki
Ted Thomas as Emperor Antonio / narrator / radio announcer
Monsters
Godzilla
Megalon
Jet Jaguar
Gigan
Anguirus
Rodan (Stock Footage)
Gaira (Stock Footage, erroneous)
Weapons
Type 66 Maser Cannon (Stock Footage)
Vehicles
F86F Sabre
Hybrid Tank (Stock Footage)
M24 Chaffee Tank (Stock Footage)
M4A3E8 Sherman Tank (Stock Footage)
Rocket Launcher Truck (Stock Footage)
Missile Launcher Truck (Stock Footage)
SAR-1 (Stock Footage)
Support Helicopter (Stock Footage)
TH-55J Helicopter
Type 61 Tank (Stock Footage)
Type M3A1 (Stock Footage)
Alternate Titles
Godzilla vs. The Megalon Brothers: The Undersea Kingdom's Annihilation Strategy (ゴジラ対メガロ兄弟 海底王国全滅作戦 Gojira tai Megaro Kyōdai Kaitei Ōkoku Zenmetsu Sakusen, early Japanese title)
Godzilla vs. Megalon: The Undersea Kingdom's Annihilation Strategy (ゴジラ対メガロ 海底王国全滅作戦 Gojira tai Megaro Kaitei Ōkoku Zenmetsu Sakusen, early Japanese title)
Insect Monster Megalon vs. Godzilla: The Undersea Kingdom's Annihilation Strategy (昆虫怪獣メガロ対ゴジラ 海底王国全滅作戦 Konchū Kaijū Megaro tai Gojira Kaitei Ōkoku Zenmetsu Sakusen, early Japanese title)
Gorgo and Superman Meet in Tokyo (Gorgo y Superman se citan en Tokio; Spain)
Planetary Titans (Titanes planetarios; Mexico)
Godzilla 1980 (Godzilla 1980; France; French Belgium)
King Kong: Demons from Outer Space (King Kong — Dämonen aus dem Weltall; West Germany)
At the Borders of Reality (Ai confini della realtà; Italy)
Godzilla Against Megalon - At the Borders of Reality (Godzilla contro Megalon - Ai confini della realtà; Italian video title)
Godzilla Against Megalon (Godzila protiv Megalona; Yugoslavia; Godzila proti Megalonu; Yugoslavia (Slovenia); Godzilla contra Megàlon; Spain (Catalonia); Godzilla contra Megalon; the Netherlands; Spanish DVD title)
Superman in Space (סופרמן בחלל; Israel)
Monsters from Other Spaces (Monstros de Outros Espaços; Brazil)
Godzilla Faces Megalon (Godzilla Enfrenta Megalon; Brazilian video title)
The Flying Superman vs. Monsters (Ο Ιπτάμενος Υπεράνθρωπος εναντίον Τεράτων; Greece)
The Beast That Shakes the World (Dünyayı Titreten Canavar; Turkey)
U.S. release
In 1976, CinemaShares released a dubbed version of Godzilla vs. Megalon theatrically. Riding the coattails of Dino De Laurentiis' big-budget King Kong remake, poster art showed Godzilla and Megalon battling on top of the World Trade Center, despite the fact that no scenes were set in New York.
To obtain a G-rating from the MPAA, CinemaShares cut three minutes of footage, including:
*The opening credits.
*Rokuro being abducted by Seatopian agents, who pull him into their car.
*Scenes in the container truck that showed pornographic material on the back wall (There was more dialogue in the scenes that added to the story, thus making these cut scenes somewhat confusing).
*A fight scene between Hiroshi and the lead Seatopian agent.
*A scene of the bearded Caucasian Seatopian agent being thrown down a cliff by the truck drivers.
*Some scenes of bloody violence, when the toy jet (which Rokuro borrowed from the hobby shop) flies into the lead Seatopian agent's face, there was a brief shot of blood dripping from his face and when Hiroshi says "Get him!!!", Rokuro swings on the chained picture boxes in Goro's lab, and strikes the agent above the chest.
*The Seatopian agent being crushed by a boulder hurled by Megalon.
*Dialogue: "What the hell was that?" and "Damn you!"
With this being the second of the three CinemaShares Godzilla releases, the publicity factor was high. Along with the poster, buttons with one of the four kaiju's faces on them were released. A couple of weeks before the release of Godzilla vs. Megalon, CinemaShares had a comic book released to promote the film, but in the comic there are numerous errors present in the monster's names and locations and events. The theatrical trailer for the film also contain these errors, such as Jet Jaguar being called "Robotman."
Reception
Godzilla vs. Megalon was released theatrically in America in April of 1976, though the San Francisco Chronicle indicates that it opened there in June, and The New York Times indicates that it opened in New York City on July 11. Oddly, New York Times film critic, Vincent Canby, who a decade before had given a negative review to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster-- one of the more respected entries in the Godzilla series-- gave Godzilla vs. Megalon a generally positive review.
In his review of July 12, 1976, Canby says "m" completes the canonization of Godzilla... It's been a remarkable transformation of character-- the dragon has become St. George... It's wildly preposterous, imaginative and funny (often intentionally). It demonstrates the rewards of friendship, between humans as well as monsters, and it is gentle."
Canby was one of the few critics who enjoyed the film however, as it held a "rotten" 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews.
Godzilla vs. Megalon was given a high-profile prime-time network premiere the next year, with an introduction and bumper segments by John Belushi in a Godzilla suit.
Godzilla vs. Megalon has attracted the ire of many Godzilla and kaiju fans in the decades since its original release. The film is largely responsible for the reputation of Godzilla films in the United States as cheap children's entertainment that should not be taken seriously. It's been described as "incredibly, undeniably, mind-numbingly bad" and one of the "poorer moments" in the history of kaiju films.
In particular, the special effects of the film have been heavily criticized. One review described the Godzilla costume as appearing to be "crossed with Kermit the Frog" and another stated that sneeringly compared it to Godzilla vs. Gigan, stating that it did "everything wrong that Gigan did, and then some." However, most of the criticism is of the lack of actual special effects work, as most of it consists of stock footage from previous films, including Godzilla vs. Gigan and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, and at least one piece of effects work has garnered praise, specifically a scene where Megalon breaks through a dam.
The other aspects of the film have been similarly skewered. The acting is usually described as flat and generally poor, and as not improving, or sometimes, worsening, the already weak script. One part of the film, on the other hand, has garnered almost universal praise: Godzilla's final attack on Megalon, a flying kick. It has been called the saving grace of the film, and was made famous by the mock exclamations of shock and awe displayed on Godzilla vs. Megalon's appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The episode is available on volume ten of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD series, which has become rare because the DVD was discontinued due to rights issues with the Godzilla franchise, and the collection was released shortly afterward with The Giant Gila Monster instead of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
Despite all this, the film is also one of the most widely seen Godzilla films in the United States—it was popular in its initial theatrical release, largely due to an aggressive marketing campaign, including elaborate posters of the two title monsters battling atop New York City's World Trade Center towers. These posters in particular have been greeted with some embarrassment by fans. Also, several unauthorized VHS tapes have been released in the early 90s, making it the Godzilla movie with the boots to some fans.
Trivia
Godzilla vs. Megalon was originally planned as a non-Godzilla film, but instead a film for Jet Jaguar, which was the result of a contest Toho had for children in mid-to-late 1972. The winner of the contest was an elementary school student, who submitted the drawing of a robot called "Red Alone," which superficially resembled both Ultraman and Mazinger Z. The robot was renamed Jet Jaguar and was set to star in Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon, which pitted him against Megalon. However, after doing some screen tests and storyboards, Toho figured Jet Jaguar would not be able to carry the film on his own, either in screen appearance or marketing value, so they shut the project down during pre-production. Nearly a month later, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka called in screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa to revise the script to add Godzilla and Gigan. To make up for lost production time, the film was shot in a hasty three weeks. The production time totaled at nearly six months, from planning to finish.
While the film was all but ignored in Japan, becoming the least attended entry at the box office, it was a huge hit in the United States and is often regarded by fans as one of the main reasons why the Godzilla franchise has become so misunderstood in the west. Its American distributors, Cinema Shares International, built up a large advertising campaign around the movie, and a drastically shortened version that cut the film down to around 40 minutes premiered on prime-time TV on the NBC network. The film's VHS releases were also mistakenly believed to be in public domain, which made it more easily accessible and adding to the movie's notoriety in the US. Despite the film being disliked by the majority of fans, the movie actually received positive reviews from critics upon its initial release in the States. Vincent Canby praised Godzilla's development stating that "the dragon has become St. George" and wrote that the film "demonstrates the rewards of friendships, between humans as well as monsters, and it is gentle." Variety also praised the special effects work and the miniatures work as superb and "reflecting a creative understanding of the camera". The English film critic Phil Hardy also lauded the film's visuals as expertly done.
This is the only Godzilla film to lack any significant female characters, with the only women shown being the scantily clad Seatopian dancers. The film also features some inadvertent female nudity courtesy of the centerfolds in the kidnappers' truck. The centerfolds are of Playboy Playmates Gloria Root (December 1969) and Deanna Baker (May 1972).
Gigan's design was noticeably altered compared to the previous film. This is because it's an entirely different suit, as the original supposedly got too damaged. He now has a much larger head and a less fierce expression, he has golden scales around his neck, his limbs appear shorter, his back sails are pointier, and he looks overall stockier. He doesn't demonstrate his signature buzzsaw embedded into his torso either (apart from stock footage), since that function was removed from the suit. This version of the suit was used for Gigan's appearance in the television series Zone Fighter (1973).
Jet Jaguar was the earliest example of a fan-service in a Godzilla film, the result of a contest Toho had in mid-to-late 1972 for children to come up with a new hero for them to use (to capitalize on the many super hero shows that were all the rage at the time). The winner of the contest was an elementary school student, who submitted the drawing of a robot called Red Arone, which superficially resembled both Ultraman and Mazinger Z (1972) (both of which were very popular at the time). The robot was redesigned and renamed "Jet Jaguar", with the new design being deliberately made to look unattractive and obnoxious. It is often incorrectly stated that Jet Jaguar was set to star in a film vehicle for him, titled "Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon,". However this is not true, as the film always meant to be a Godzilla project that would introduce Jet Jaguar. Staff mentioned that the film seemed to take forever to develop, around six months, only for production to quickly begin without enough preparation.
Aside from playing the Seatopian Emperor Antonio, Robert Dunham, who was also a stuntman and vehicle racer, also played one of the two "Unit 1" Seatopian Agents (he was the one on the motorcycle) in one of the car chase scenes (where he and another agent were chasing Yutaka Hayashi's character). The last shot where he gets splashed with cement was done with another actor, because Dunham had to get to the studio that day to record his part, and didn't want to have to get cleaned up on the way.
Megalon's ray beam is animated the same way as King Ghidorah's gravity beams. This was made to ensure that stock footage from Ghidorah's movies could easily be interspliced between shots of Megalon firing his beam.
This film was originally produced in 1973 but was not released in the United States until 1976. A small US distributor, Cinema Shares International, hoped to ride on the popularity of Dino De Laurentiis' highly promoted production King Kong (1976). This became especially apparent in the US poster art, which depicted Godzilla and Megalon battling each other on top of the World Trade Center towers.
The child who submitted the original design for Jet Jaguar is said to have cried inconsolably when he saw the changes made to his creation. The final Jet Jaguar design was created to deliberately look unattractive and obnoxious.
According to Teruyoshi Nakano, the Godzilla suit used in this film (nicknamed the "Megaro-Goji" suit) was made in a week, making it the fastest Godzilla suit ever made to date. They didn't have time to make the eyes work correctly, something they had more time to fix for Godzilla's appearances on Toho's superhero TV series Zone Fighter (1973), which was produced around the same time.
Megalon was originally created to be the third evil monster (besides King Ghidorah and Gigan) in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) (in its second draft, "Godzilla Vs. the Space Monsters: The Earth Defense Command"), but budgetary cuts nixed Megalon from that film altogether. While he was originally created to be an opponent for Godzilla, he was considered for the role of the lone villain of this film when it was planned as a Jet Jaguar solo vehicle ("Jet Jaguar Vs. Underground Monster Megalon"), before, ironically, Godzilla was written into the story along with Gigan.
In the German version of the movie, the robot Jet Jaguar is called King Kong. According to rumors, they even claim that he is supposed to be the giant ape wearing a robot suit, but that is false. The dub merely calls him King Kong, but no reference is made to him being anything other than a human-built robot. The reason for this is that the distributors probably wanted to ride the popularity of the King Kong brand. Curiously, the evil robot Mechagodzilla from the following movie, who has no connection to the benevolent Jet Jaguar, is also called King Kong in Germany.
Although often regarded as the weakest of the original series, in 1977 it became the only Godzilla film to be shown on American network television. It was presented on the NBC network in an edited version hosted by John Belushi dressed in a Godzilla costume.
Special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano has mentioned how there was a lack of enthusiasm from the crew to make the film. The special effects team were dishearten that the Toho executives had pushed the series in a childish direction and reduced their budgets because the crew members took great care and put all their effort into their work.
The Megalon suit was incredibly heavy which meant that the scenes where the monster performs several leaps through the air was exceedingly difficult on the special effects crew. Teruyoshi Nakano is said to have been so frustrated with the filming of these scenes that they were nearly cut. The jumps had to be accomplished by several crew members standing in the studio rafters repeatedly hoisting the suit and its actor up and down. It was so difficult inside the suit that actor Hideto Date had to have a loud whistle blown by one of the assistant directors to notify him of when to jump.
This is one of only three Godzilla films from the Showa era that features a child protagonist.
Teruyoshi Nakano explained that the film was created as a replacement project for an unknown production and had to be rushed into production in order to meat the deadline for Toho's Champion Film Festival, a seasonal matinee festival for children. Nakano stated, "The movie seemed to take forever to develop, then it went into production without enough preparation." Due to the time constraints, screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa provided a basic outline, while director Jun Fukuda was tasked to write the script. Principal photography started immediately thereafter and took place over approximately three weeks.
The story outline was composed by Shin'ichi Sekizawa, one of the Godzilla series' most prolific writers, but the actual script was written by director Jun Fukuda and completed just before filming began.
The head prop used for Godzilla swimming in the ocean was later modified into the "Fake Godzilla" suit used in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) (as the disguised Mechagodzilla), with the simple bodyless head prop attached to a whole suit.
The character Rokuro "Roku-chan" Ibuki (played by Hiroyuki Kawase) wears a red sweater with the dog Snoopy from Charles M. Schulz's famous comic-strip, "Peanuts." (The image of Snoopy, looking frustrated and saying, "What a stupid thing to do!", was lifted from the first panel of a "Peanuts" Sunday strip dated 28 March, 1965, where a worried Snoopy is looking for something with Linus' help, and found his contact lens, without which he would've felt lost.) Later the same year on 11 August, 1973, Toho-Towa, Toho's distribution arm for foreign films, released Snoopy Come Home (1972) (Japanese release title: "Sunûpî no Daibôken"/"Snoopy's Big Adventure").
The buildings exploding courtesy of Megalon are taken directly from the previous film Godzilla v Gigan when Gigan and King Ghidorah attack them.
One of the ideas was that Godzilla would wield a tree as a samurai, taking advantage of the fact that the Godzilla suit actors are highly skilled martial artists.
The exact person who designed the final designs for Megalon and Jet Jaguar has remained unknown. They are often credited to Akihiko Iguchi but Iguchi has denied any involvement in the film.
The original idea for Megalon came from an unused monster design Gebara (a giant mole cricket monster). The name Megalon came from another unused monster meant to appear in the previous film.
When creating the Megalon suit, Nakano, based the face based on the Japanese rhinoceros beetle, modeled the body after cicadas, and based its movements on grasshoppers. Other insects briefly considered were dragonflies and ladybug, with the choice of the rhinoceros beetle said to due to their popularity among children at the time.
This movie was one of only two Godzilla movies to be featured/parodied on the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 along with Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, despite not obtaining the films legally. Incidentally, they are the only films in the entire history of the show to be considered culturally and historically significant to be selected for preserved in the prestigious Criterion Collection.
Production stills famously feature Godzilla wielding a tree like a kendo stick (with which to beat Megalon and Gigan), while chewing on a small telephone pole. This gimmick, unused in the film itself, was made as a parody of the popular drifter swordsman Monjirô Kogarashi (created by writer Saho Sasazawa two years earlier, and was since adapted into several TV shows, movies, and manga), who characteristically chewed on a long toothpick (which would sometimes serve as a weapon).
Jet Jaguar is set to return in the Godzilla anime series Godzilla Singular Point (2021)
The retired Florida independent wrestler Brian Bernick used the name Jet Jaguar.
When the red sand is being tested by scientists there is a sign that says "Honda Labs". This is in tribute to Ishiro Honda, the director of many of the Godzilla films, including the original film.
As in the previous movie, Gigan flees from the climactic fight and survives. He would reappear as a guest star in the Zone Fighter (1973) TV series, in which he is finally killed through the combined efforts of Godzilla and Zone Fighter.
Megalon is one of two villain monsters that survives in the continuity of the original Godzilla movie series. The other is Ebirah from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966). Gabara from All Monsters Attack (1969) does not count, as he only existed in the dreams of a young boy.
According to the DVD commentary for this film by Steve Ryfle and Stuart Galbraith IV, the nuclear detonation at the beginning of the film may be a reference to Cannikin, a test of a 5-megaton hydrogen bomb conducted on the island of Amchitka in the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska on November 6, 1971. It was the largest American underground nuclear test.
There are no female characters in this film, except for the Seatopian dancers.
For the West German release of this film, Jet Jaguar was renamed "King Kong." However, there is no connection to the real King Kong beyond his name. Contrary to a widespread misconception, the dub does not say the character is a giant ape wearing a robot suit.
According to production stills, in one scene, where Godzilla was meant to beat Gigan and Megalon with a tree, he was going to have a telephone pole in his mouth.
When Megalon attacks fighter jets that are firing at him, stock footage of Gigan's hooks from the previous film are used. In addition, a shot of Gigan's lower body smashing through a freeway is used to depict Megalon stomping through the city.
The scene where Megalon attacks Tokyo is almost entirely done with stock footage. The only original shots that were not taken from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster or Godzilla vs. Gigan are close-up shots of Megalon.
Godzilla vs. Megalon was released at the Spring Toho Champion Film Festival on March 17, 1973 alongside a film called Prominent Youth about a boy's soccer team and an animated film called Panda! Go Panda!: The Rainy Day Circus.
Godzilla vs. Megalon was featured on Season 2 of the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The episode is known for its comedic translation of the "Godzilla and Jet Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch!" song at the end of the film.
Along with Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, it is the first film to be released in The Criterion Collection after appearing on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Godzilla vs. Megalon took only three weeks to film. Despite this, Toho had enough money and materials available to build four new suits, including a new suit to replace the aging and increasingly damaged Godzilla suit that had been in use for over five years by the time of the film's release, suggesting that a lack of money and resources wasn't the main reason for the film's quick production.
Godzilla vs. Megalon received some of the strangest retitles in foreign releases for Godzilla films, including "Gorgo y Superman se citan en Tokio," literally meaning "Gorgo and Superman Meet in Tokyo" for the Spanish release, and "King Kong - Dämonen aus dem Weltall", literally meaning "King Kong - Demons From Outer Space" for the German release.
For the German release of this film, Jet Jaguar was renamed to "King Kong." However, there is no connection to the real King Kong beyond his name, and in contrary to a widespread misconception, he is not said to be a giant ape wearing a robot suit in the dub.
According to production stills, in one scene, where Godzilla was meant to beat Gigan and Megalon with a tree, he was going to have a telephone pole in his mouth.
When Megalon attacks fighter jets that are firing at him, stock footage of Gigan's claws from the previous film are used.
The scene where Megalon attacks Tokyo is almost entirely done with stock footage. The only original shots that weren't taken from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster are close-up shots of Megalon.
