Gojira tai Megaro (1973)

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Jun Fukuda (writer)
Takeshi Kimura (story)

Release Date:

April 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Underground horrors attack!

Plot:

The undersea nation of Seatopia sends the gigantic Megalon to destroy the world above - and it's up to Godzilla and a size-shifting robot, Jet Jaguar, to defeat him.

Plot Keywords:

Giant Monster | Godzilla | Monster | MST3K | Sequel

Cast

Katsuhiko Sasaki	...	Inventor Goro Ibuki
Hiroyuki Kawase	...	Rokuro 'Roku-chan' Ibuki
Yutaka Hayashi	...	Hiroshi Jinkawa
Robert Dunham	...	Emperor Antonio of Seatopia
Kotaro Tomita	...	Lead Seatopian Agent
Wolf Otsuki	...	Seatopian Agent
Gentaro Nakajima	...	Truck Driver (as Gen Nakajima)
Sakyo Mikami	...	Truck Driver's Assistant
Fumiyo Ikeda	...	Man from Unit 1
Kanta Mori	...	Japan Special Defense Forces Chief
Shinji Takagi	...	Gojira
Hideto Odachi	...	Megaro
Tsugutoshi Komada	...	Jetto Jagâ
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gaigan (as Kengo Nakayama)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rolf Jessup	...	Antonio's Aide (Radio Operator in White)
Eisuke Nakanishi	...	Asuka Island Nuclear Test (Narrator)

Also Known As:

Godzilla vs. Megalon (USA)

Runtime:

Japan:86 min | USA:78 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:G | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

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 tokusatsu and anime superhero and super robot 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 "Majingâ Zetto" (1972) (both of which were very popular at the time). The robot was renamed "Jet Jaguar" and was set to star in a film vehicle for him, titled "Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon," which pitted him against Megalon (a previously unused Godzilla enemy design). However, Toho figured Jet Jaguar would not be able to carry the film on his own, either in screen appearance or marketing value (which was very important to Toho), so they shut the project down during pre-production after doing some tests and storyboards. Less than a month later, screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa was called in to rewrite the script to add Godzilla and Gigan, providing more marquee value (especially since Godzilla was still very popular with children). After revised pre-production, shooting took a hasty three weeks to make up for lost production time. Due to this delay, the total production time, from planning to finish, was six months.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of the film, Jet Jaguar walks away from the two young men and the kid, who run after him. Just before they catch up with him, there is a shot in which Jet Jaguar and the three others are standing still, then begin moving again. Obviously the actors were waiting for their cue. Although this goof was fixed in most later video versions, the recent German DVD edition still has it.

Quotes:

[Jet Jaguar, controlled by the Seatopians, is spotted by our heroes flying around Megalon]
Inventor Goro Ibuki: Hey! Isn't that Jet Jaguar there?
Rokuro 'Roku-chan' Ibuki: Yes it is! It's him all right!
Inventor Goro Ibuki: Damn! They're controlling him!
Rokuro 'Roku-chan' Ibuki: It's a pity we can't send Jet Jaguar to go and get Godzilla!

Movie Connections:

Spin off Godzilla: Save the Earth (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Megaro wo Yattsukero

Amusing timekiller

OK, I admit it: As bad as they are, I'm a sucker for these movies. This one isn't quite as "so-bad-it's-good" as Godzilla Vs. Gigan, but it's still an amusing way to kill some time.

It has everything that you could you want in a Godzilla flick: A totally nonsense plot, bad dubbing, an annoying kid...and dancing giant monsters. Yes, you read that right. We have Godzilla attempting to moonwalk, Gigan doing the jitterbug, and Megalong trying what would appear to be the macarena. Why? That is one of life's great mysteries.

If you're looking for a good movie, run as far from this as you can. But for cheesy fun this one is perfect.

5/10