Godzilla vs Megalon poster

Here is a nice textless poster for Godzilla vs. Megalon.  It is the US poster.  One can tell easily since it was based on the King Kong remake.  That poster was pretty misleading in the first place, since that Kong could barely jump from one tower to another.  Be that as it may, I thought about using this for the cover of Xenorama #54, but went with the actual US poster, since it had the title of the movie contained, plus the great "giant against giant" tagline.  There is also a lot of empty space at the bottom of the poster, where all the words would go.

Xenorama #54 is on the way!

This is the cover for the full-color edition of Xenorama #54.  As one might reasonably guess, it is all about Godzilla vs. Megalon!  It is the 50th anniversary of the movie, and we are going to celebrate it properly! We believe that said celebration has been accomplished.  All the usual wonderful contributors  are here, and the articles they have contributed are great.  We are quite pleased with this issue.

Godzilla 1980

 

I remember seeing this poster- and it was gigantic- at San Diego Comic Con sometime in the 90s.  I had never seen it before.  This was before the internet, so I had know idea what this movie actually was.  I figured it wasn't a heretofore unknown Godzilla movie, but back then, you just didn't know for sure.  I wish I had taken a picture of that poster back then, but alas, digital cameras were not a thing back then.  I think the price was about $80, and that was far too much money for this fan.  I kind of wish there had been a new Godzilla movie made in 1980.  There had been several attempt made, but none of them came to fruition.

Godzilla vs. Megalon pin

Godzilla vs. Megalon was released in Japan in 1973.  It took three years to be released in the States, and when it was, it was a big success.  We here at Xenorama will be celebrating the movie with a special issue later on in the year.  It is one of my favorite Godzilla films.  I saw it at age 11, which was the perfect age to see this movie.  We will explore all sorts of things about this film, so look forward to it!  It is always fun to be able to watch these movies for "research."  I hope that excuse works!  Here is a pin from the movie, apparently these were given away at various theaters in 1976.

Godzilla: King Ghidorah's Counterattack 2

                  

Megalon and the dam

 

This is a great shot from a great sequence in a, let us be honest, not that great a movie.  I love Godzilla vs. Megalon, but one must not turn a blind eye to the movie.  It suffers from a low budget and a rushed filming schedule.  It is amazing the film is as fun as it is, really.  This is probably the best new scene in the movie, as Megalon destroys a damn.  It is well edited and well lit and filmed perfectly.  The miniatures all look great and the actor inside the Megalon suit (Hideto Date) handles the whole sequence perfectly in that big, bulky suit.

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1976) - Restored US Theatrical Trailer (720p)

cowardly MOTW- Gigan

 

Gigan has, sadly, always been a great monster in search of a great movie.  His first one, Godzilla On Monster Island (Godzilla vs Gigan, 1972) is my least favorite of the first series of Godzilla movies.  I saw it when it was released in the theaters in the US (and again, it was uncut except for the credits).  This was in 1978, and by then I had seen most of the movies all the stock footage had come from originally.  I was also starting to be more discerning about what is a good movie.  While I like the movie far more now than I did then, it's still pretty dreary.

Godzilla vs the Smog Monster lobby card

Back in my day, lobby cards were almost as important as the movie poster.  I vividly remember trying to memorize every detail of any lobby card for a movie I wanted to see.  Funny thing, though, I really don't remember too many of them, other than the three that were up for Godzilla vs Megalon when it was released in 1976.  I wish I had asked the manager if I could have bought them, since they probably just trashed them after the movie was in town for a week or so.  This is a common lament of many monster kids.  It never even dawned on me to ask what would happen to the promotional material once the movie was done.

Xenorama #21 cover

Look at this amazing cover.  It's exactly what I wanted for this homage/tribute  to the most influential Famous Monsters issue in my life, #114.  It's got great new articles about all the great Japanese movies from the original zine, and many more!  Movies like the Majin trilogy, Destroy All Planets, you name it, it's probably in there.  It was fun to re-read the issue again, which I hadn't done in quite some time, as it's about to disintegrate.

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.

The Nick Atoms: Jet Jaguar Live

here's an interesting little musical interlude. the band is definitely made of fans of the movie, as it's pretty spot on with the lyrics. it's got a groovy sound as well. I wonder what other stuff they've done. and now that I've looked, it mostly genre stuff. very enjoyable, even the Electra Woman theme!

Jet Jaguar, get Godzilla!

Jet Jaguar fired my imagination when I saw the trailer for GODZILLA VS MEGALON in the theater.  I wanted to see more of "Robotman".  I'm pretty sure I wanted to see all the monsters, since I'd never seen Gigan at all, but it was our two heroes that meant the most to me.

Godzilla vs Megalon DVD... extras edition

I really like this shot of the car driving up to the battling monsters.

just watched the entire movie with commentary by Steve Ryfle and Stuart Galbraith. I usually never listen to commentaries on movies.  I'd rather watch a documentary.  mostly because I end up wanting to watch said movie without people talking over it.  however, I know this movie very well, and these two men know their stuff.  they almost know it too well.

great Megalon news (part 2)!

remember this here post from a year and a half ago? well, there was a lot of controversy and speculation before during and after it's production.  Toho had it's say about all sorts of things, and Media Blasters was reduced to releasing a "movie only" version (I don't like the term "bare bones").  Or was it?

Godzilla vs Megalon (1976)

I'm astounded I have not shown this trailer before now, since it had such an influence on me when I saw it before the re-release of Bambi in 1976. I have recounted that experience (search Megalon and you'll find it easily) but here's the actual trailer that was screened that fateful day.

Xenorama logos

I love this banner, created by Chris "Mr. Owari" Elam.  In fact, he did several banner type deals for me, including one I've used as the banner for this very blog.

Ultraman vs Antlar

this is one great monster that took forever to be revived. a good story as well, and a great battle. Ultraman's spacium beam doesn't have any effect on Antlar, which is kind of cool. the Science Patrol helps defeat the monster.

Megalon vs a dam

at least he wins one fight in this movie! I have written about this movie a lot. just checking it out on this blog brought up four entries with Megalon in the title alone, and that doesn't count the other posts he's mentioned in. add to that the several reviews and appreciations I've written for various magazines and it's almost embarrassing.

Godzilla week part 2

here are the weekly promos for Godzilla Week.  there wasn't one for "Terror of MechaGodzilla", since that was the Monday movie.

why they aired the sequel first is beyond me, but perhaps they didn't know it was a sequel.  the vagaries of television broadcasting always surprise me, but probably shouldn't.  I wonder if the TV Guide in Colorado had ads like this.  I don't remember though.

now, of course, Gamera does not appear in "Smog Monster" either, and if I'm not mistaken the picture for "King of the Monsters!" is actually from "Godzilla vs the Thing".  the first one is just weird, since they had materials for a Gamera week (we will see that at some point,  as soon as I can find the ads).  I can just hear some nerd (darn that one in the mirror) saying "I hope someone got fired for that mistake!".