Godzilla 1985 Trailers

OK, it's one trailer and several TV spots. I remember seeing this trailer vividly before some movie and knew what it was going to be as soon as 1956 showed up. The trailer is great. The movie... well, the movie proves there's only one solo Godzilla movie ever needed, and that was in 1954/56. This movie is very nice looking, but it's ever so boring, and that's in either version. I saw it in the theater twice and the second time I was the ONLY person there.

up from the depths...

Since Godzilla was still very popular on television and in the comics here in the States, Hanna-Barbera licensed the character and turned him into a cartoon in 1978.  I remember reading about the series in Starlog (I think) and was sort of excited by it.  Whoever they talked to did discount the Smog Monster, saying that sort of monster wouldn't be in the series, nor would any other Toho kaiju, since the licensing fees would be too much for H-B to pay.

Terror of MechaGodzilla TV spot

Actually, it's THE TERROR OF GODZLLA, which I saw a fine 35mm theatrical print of in the 90s. It was the edited version though, which is sad. No real reason to edit it. This movie has had more titles and versions than most Godzilla movies, since it also had a TV version with the added prologue. It needed it, since after the opening scenes, Godzilla doesn't appear again for about 30 minutes or so. That's not a good idea for the 70s Godzilla.

Godzilla Viewmaster

Like most kids in the 70s, my brother and I had a View-Master.  I had reels of Batman (from the 60s live action show, the first Catwoman episodes), the Peanuts (using puppets, not drawings) the Little Yellow Dinosaur and some from the dinosaur sequence from ANIMAL WORLD.  There were also plenty of boring pictures (at the time) of different buildings and sports, stuff like that.  And like most kids of the 70s, the bulb burned out quickly, making kids take the back of the View-Master off and hold it up to various sources of light.  This got old in a hurry and I'm thinking most kids put theirs away and forgot about them soon after.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla trailer

This is probably my favorite 70s Godzilla movie. It's action packed, has likable characters, plenty of monsters and minimal use of stock footage. I really like King Shisa as a mystical monster. I'm glad Mothra isn't the only one. It's also got a terrific score by Masaru Sato. I do wish this, and the other three had been dubbed by Titra and released by AIP. But still, the dubbing isn't too bad overall here.

Zone Fighter and Godzilla

After teaming up with Jet Jaguar in 1973, Godzilla guest starred in five episodes on the cool and action packed TV show Ryūsei Ningen Zone (流星人間ゾーン) AKA Zone Fighter here in the States.  I first saw pictures of this team up and show,  with no explanation, in a book on Godzilla by Jim Harmon, I think.  It was a neat book, though it had some strange off topic meanderings in some parts, plus some unexplained pictures from this show, which was very frustrating in the mid-80s at the time.

Godzilla vs Megalon - 1976 Trailer

I've documented my story with GODZILLA VS MEGALON many times- just click a tag. I saw through BAMBI twice just to see this amazing trailer. It fired my imagination like nothing else. Eleven years old is about the perfect age to see this movie, at least at that time. There were lobby cards and that amazing, rather misleading US poster (thanks to that first awful remake of KING KONG) that I couldn't get enough of, and I couldn't wait for the movie to show up.

more on Godzilla

So it's been a few days since I've ruminated on what it is that makes Godzilla so unique.

Godzilla on Monster Island (trailer)

It's actually a triple feature trailer for the three Godzilla movies that Cinema Shares released in the States. By the time this was thrown together all three movies had been edited, due to some "questionable" content, such as swearing or nudie pictures in a truck. And all the blood from the monsters and people. When this was released in 1978 here in the States I saw it uncut- swearing, blood and all.

Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971) - Trailers

Here we have the theatrical trailer and three TV spots... it's fun to compare the differences between all three. I probably saw one of these spots when the movie was released. I know I saw the poster, because it's one of the weirder and creepier things done to advertise what was then considered a children's movie. I knew what the movie was when it was aired on TV in '72 or '73.

The Day of the Doctor (2013)

Here there be spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you.  Though I think most fans have already seen this 50th anniversary special by now.  I haven't seen any of series seven, the 11th Doctor's final season, so I was a bit reluctant to watch this right away.  Based on advice from wise council, who said this show could be watched without that seventh season viewing, I finally sat down and watched the whole thing.  And it was a lot of fun, for many reasons, some of which I will enumerate in the space below.

Godzilla's Revenge (1969) - Theatrical Trailer

Well, sorta... it's the dialog from the trailer, synced up to the appropriate scenes from the DVD. Looks much better than the faded one we've all seen. I know the guy who did it, he always does some great work. He should be a kaiju eiga historian. Thanks Cody!

Ultraman vs Godzilla!

I forgot a few of Godzilla's early TV appearances.  They happened in Ultra Q (as the monster Gomess, which was a redressed '64 suit) and this one on the sequel series, Ultraman, which is a redressed '65 suit.  I first read about this appearance in either Marvel's "Monsters of the Movies" magazine (written by Don Glut) or in Don's excellent "Classic Movie Monsters"  which was possibly the first book to get almost all the information about Godzilla and Gamera right.  I sure read it a lot at the time.  I thanked him for writing so well about Japanese movies at a time when most critics wrote them off as garbage.

Destroy All Monsters 1969 TV trailer

Here's another TV spot, but this one means a little more to me, since it's probably the actual trailer I saw on television at the tender age of four. My memory is naturally hazy about it, but I remember being rather scared for the fate of the planet. I think I can be forgiven for being a bit naive back then. It also intrigued me, enough to want to see more, but it would be a few years before I saw my first Godzilla movie. This is pretty cool, since it has different narration from the theatrical trailer.

Godzilla in books

Back when I was a kid, I loved books about monsters movies.  There weren't a lot of them, but they were there.  If you were a fan of US monster movies, especially the Universal Classics, these books were great.  However, if you also loved Japanese fantastic films...

... you usually were disappointed and sometimes a little angry, since the movies were almost always derided as "cheap" and "poorly acted" and full of "bad effects".  It was very frustrating, because I loved those movies so much and there was such scant information about them that I wanted more all the time.  Heck, I even just wanted to see more pictures, since that was also a very cool event.  I can't think of how many Famous Monsters mags I bought just because it had a picture from a Japanese monster movie in it that I had never seen before.

Son Of Godzilla Trailer

Another TV spot for another fun Godzilla island adventure. This one actually has no bad guys in it, just some really hungry arthropods. It does seem like the Kamakira tend to play with their food a bit. Poor Minya.

FM #274 all Godzilla!

Here's a sneak peak of one of FOUR covers for the next annual all Japanese monster issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland.  I am not surprised that GODZILLA VS THE THING was chosen to one of the movies depicted.  I've very curious to see what the other three will be.  One of my guesses is that GMK will be featured.  Here's hoping they throw caution to the wind and do one with Megalon... or perhaps a cover featuring all the creatures from the 70s.  That would be the one I would want, since that's probably my favorite time period of Godzilla movies.

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster Trailer

This is not a real movie trailer, but more likely a TV spot, done by a very knowledgeable person. I mean, they wrote the the name of the shrimp monster, which isn't named in the US version as well as calling Ebirah the "Horror of the Deep" which in the name of the "International" version. I wish I had seen this spot growing up.

well, what IS Godzilla?

Much like Batman, Godzilla has been portrayed in many ways.  He's been a villain, a hero, and tweener, possessed by ghosts and a doomed zombie dinosaur.  Many fans have preferences as to what their favorite version, but there's really no one that's better than the other one.  Except the pregnant iguana from the horrid first American remake.  That one sucks sewer water and will rarely if ever be mentioned again.

MONSTER ZERO trailer

This is a great title for a movie, and it's the only thing I call it. Adding "Godzilla vs" to it makes it far more generic than it needs to be. Monster Zero is amazingly mysterious. In fact, I passed it up one day because I didn't know what it was about. Never made that mistake again! I don't even have to add that Toho's "official" title for this movie is one of their dumbest decisions ever. PS, yes you do get the bonus WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS trailer, since I can't find a separate one for MZ.

Happy Birthday Dacya Clementine

Dacya (pronounced DOSS-ya) turns eight years old today.  I got her when she was bout 7 months old from El Cajon's Friends of Cats.  I knew I wanted a tortoiseshell cat, and there she was, sleeping in the top of a cat tree.  She still loves to sleep in the sun. 

The girl who helped me out told me her name was "Clementine" and that she had been born there at the shelter on April 11th.   Now, I sometimes I need a huge sign to figure things out, but not this time.  When you are looking for a tortie and you find one that shares your birthday?  That was my girl.

Ghidrah captures

Here's a few cool shots from the Classic Media DVD.  I'm a little surprised they aren't going to release these on blu ray since the new movie is coming out. but it's fine if they don't.  I really don't want to buy new discs just because they are out.

GHIDRAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER trailer

The first Godzilla movie I ever owned- in 8mm form, that is. It's also one of my favorites, since it's the first time we got to see four giant monsters in one movie. Not to mention a titanic team up of the "Big 3" of Toho. That was needed to defeat the terrible threat of Ghidrah!

Godzilla whys and wherefores, pt 3

Japanese monster movies don't look like other monster movies.  There's a whole different aesthetic going on.  They truly look surreal and the filmmakers don't care- they want to tell a good entertaining story, realism be damned.  That's what grabbed many of us older fans as kids.  It's that unique style and look that the suits had.  Sometimes they looked like giant animals we knew- a spider, a butterfly, even what we thought dinosaurs looked liked then- but sometimes they would just be completely different.

Godzilla vs. The Thing trailer

The fourth and most highly regarded Godzilla sequel, one which pretty much deserves almost all the acclaim it gets. Yes, there is a bit of a problem with the ending (I've gone over that elsewhere) but overall this is a pretty awesome movie. I'd say it was actually the best Godzilla movie ever. Yes, better than the first one. There, I said it.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters #1

"He's mean and green and leaves an imprint on the scene!" were the words that were used to announce Marvel Comics' new Godzilla series.  As a long time superhero, Godzilla and Marvel Comics fan, I was really excited by this news.  I did of course hope that all of the monsters he fought would be in the comics (which was not the case, explained in a letters' column about, oh, issue #5 or so) but having him fight Marvel superheroes?  That would also be very cool.  Other than that, I really had no idea what to expect from the series.

King Kong VS Godzilla trailer

This is the movie that started it all for me- first Godzilla movie, first Kong movie and heck, even first giant octopus movie. All things I still love to this day. As I've stated, I had no idea what I was seeing the day I was dropped off at the theater. For a six year old kid, this movie was fantastic. It was full of action, suspense and comedy, all things vital to an enjoyable movie experience.

Why Godzilla, part two

So the last time I was writing I meandered off course quite a bit.  Hopefully that won't be the case now. 

I believe I was six years old when I saw my first Godzilla movie, though I also think I was closer to turning seven (in about four months).  I had no idea what I was going to see when I was dropped off at the theater that cold pre-Xmas afternoon.  By the end of the show, I was hooked.  I'd see bits and pieces of various giant monster movies before.  I paid scant attention to them, though the baby roc scene in THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1957) did make me take notice of it.

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (Trailer)

Here's one trailer for the second Godzilla movie, released in the US under the slightly misleading title. I quite enjoy this one, despite the dubbing that tells you everything that's going on in the movie. Some fans seem to think the Japanese version is better, but it's really about the same. It was the absolute last Godzilla movie I saw on TV growing up, and one of the first I ever bought on VHS a few years later.

Why Godzilla?

I have written about Godzilla a lot.  Not just in this blog or for my own fanzine, but for many other magazines and even other websites.  This has been pretty much a lifelong occupation for me, especially once I learned how to draw Godzilla.  I drew my own film books and comics about him as well.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! trailer

I've decided that this month will be Godzilla month here on the blog. Every day will feature something about Godzilla. There may be more posts than that, but the emphasis will be on Godzilla. Some of these trailers may be repeats, but now you won't have to search the blog for them. It'll be fun! I'll try to cover all aspects of Godzilla, from the movies to the comics to the cartoons.. I have to say I'll probably leave GINO out of it, since, well, you know.