Forget Pokemon! I'm on an obsession with Godzilla right now. Godzilla x Mechagodzilla, the film whose movie poster became a hotly contested property between me and the AEON coroporation, was released in North America on DVD back on Tuesday, and I've been debating all week weather I should get it or not. That, and I just happened to catch Godzilla 2000 on TV. I've been doing a little nosing around online, and it seems that most G-fans have split up the films into three series:
The first series began with the original film in 1954 and ran until 1975. These are all the classic Godzilla films that we grew up with. Highlights include: the original Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and, the one film considered to be the ultimate of Toho's giant monster films, Destroy All Monsters. I'd kind of like to see this one. When aliens start invading the Earth, Godzilla rallies all the giant monsters he's fought (plus giant monsters from other Toho giant monster epics) and they fight the aliens. And then, in 1975, it was felt that Godzilla had lost touch with his audience, and they stopped making Godzilla films.
The second series began with a remake of the original in 1984, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original. (It came out over here in 1985 and was called Godzilla 1985.) A real effort was made to make Godzilla competitve in the post-Star Wars era, and the Godzilla suit was actually quite an advanced animatronic get-up. But, it didn't do so well. But, that didn't stop them from pumping out a whole bunch more "Godzilla vs." films, starting in 1989 and ending in 1995. Then, in 1995, Toho Studios (the makers of the Godzilla films) signed a deal with Sony Studios (the owners of Columbia/Tri-Star). Sony announced their plans to do an American remake of Godzilla, and Toho decided to step out of the way, let the Yankees pump out Godzilla films, and collect the royalty cheques.
Then, the American remake came out. Godzilla (1998) wasn't too well received by the public on both sides of the Pacific. Toho looked at Sony at said, "Gee, you guys kind of effed up, didn't you?" and Toho decided to bring the original Godzilla out of retirement. The first of this third series was Godzilla Millenium which came out in Japan in December 1999. (That would be Godzilla 2000 to us, and it came out over here in August 2000.)
And the series will be ending soon. This year - 2004 - marks the 50th anniversary of the original film so, to celebrate, this year's Godzilla film is going to be a real monster mele, with Godzilla going up against about a dozen other classic monsters from over the years. Comparisons are already being made to Destroy All Monsters. And then, it'll end for now. Toho Studios has announced that box office receipts are down for Godzilla so, after this year's 50th anniversary film, that'll be the end of Godzilla. For a while, anyway.
Next Issue...Markzilla (didn't want to repeat the "Godzilla vs. Markagodzilla" gag)
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