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Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)
Known in the U.S. as both "Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster" and "Godzilla vs the Bionic Monster", this was the final creative offering from the the team of Fukuda/Sato/Nakano, who made the previous three movies in the series.
After a brief intro with Anguirus chilling in the arctic, the movie takes us to Okinawa (Mr. Miyagi's hometown) where a local girl and a set of ancient cave drawings both predict that giant monsters will attack Japan. No shit. Godzilla soon arrives and begins acting like his old self, destroying lots of buildings and killing lots of civilians. Anguirus shows up to challenge his old comrade-in-arms and gets messed up real bad (he gets his jaw ripped open "King Kong"-style, but lives). Godzilla is about to resume his rampage when, suddenly, he's confronted by - Godzilla? Huh? The two Godzilla tussle until one gets his skin ripped off and is revealed to be - Mechagodzilla! He's made of "space titanium", fires energy beams from both his mouth and his chest, his fingers are armor-piercing missiles, and he can fly using built-in rocket thrusters. He's a total badass. He easily beats G and flies off.
Guess what? There's a new batch of aliens in town. They're from "the 3rd planet of the black hole" (?) and they've built Mechagodzilla to aid them in conquering the Earth. They're also on the lookout for a statue which has the ability to revive an ancient monster named King Caesar. King Caesar is the legendary protector of the people of Okinawa, and he's been hibernating for centuries. The aliens fear him because he has the power to wake other monsters, which seems redundant since there are about a dozen monsters already on the loose in the vicinity, but hey. . .
Following the human-oriented plot thread is particularly annoying this time out. There is an overabundance of human characters and not one of them fulfills the function of "central character". It's a bit unfocused and messy, and could have used a rewrite or two to narrow down the cast. On the other hand, Godzilla movie veterans Hiroshi Koizumi and Akihiko Hirata (who carries a special pipe that can disrupt electrical signals - think it will come in handy later on?) are featured in the bloated cast and are always welcome sights.
During the struggle to recover the statue of King Caesar, the aliens' true forms are revealed - they're apes! Space apes! The "Planet of the Apes" series was an international sensation at the time, so it was inevitable that Toho would try to capitalize on its success.
Do the space apes throw space poo? No.
Godzilla, who's still wounded at this point, is revived by a lightning strike. King Caesar is revived by both the use of the statue and a never ending, terrible song sung by the local Okinawan girl (no doubt this was an attempt by Toho to create another pop sensation like the Mothra theme song). King Caesar, a hairy, bipedal beast with floppy rabbit ears and the somewhat useful ability to reflect energy beams, engages Mechagodzilla in battle and is soundly beaten because he's lame. Godzilla shows up to save the day - and is soundly beaten as well, but in a more heroic, bloody fashion. Godzilla then magnetizes his own skin and draws MG towards him as he tries to fly off-
Wait, wait, wait. What? See, while this newfound power may seem to come out of nowhere and be rather arbitrary, I kind of like what it implies. Remember, in the beginning of the series Godzilla was hurt by electrical discharges. As the series went on he was constantly getting zapped and fried, but it seemed to have less of an effect over time. Here, Godzilla has finally taken ownership of that weakness, converting it into a strength. Now he has the ability to attract metallic objects toward his body and, frankly, I find the transformation rather uplifting. You go, Godzilla!
The Big G then tears off Mechagodzilla's head while the good guys destroy the alien control center. King Caesar goes back into hibernation because he's embarrassed by his own lameness, and Godzilla heads back out to sea.
With less cheese, more monster action and the introduction of a classic villain, "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" proves to be a pretty good Godzilla movie. It has its glaring flaws (the mishandled human story line, the horrible song, the by-the-numbers plot, lame King Caesar) but still manages to be superior to "Godzilla vs Megalon" in entertainment value.
This movie performed exceptionally well at the Japanese box office, providing a nice bump in ticket sales for the series. But it wasn't enough. There would only be one more movie produced for the original series. . .
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Originally known as "Mechagodzilla's Counterattack", it begins with a recap of "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" and continues on from there. The End.
Just kidding.
A submarine looking for the remains of Mechagodzilla finds nothing and is destroyed by a new monster named Titanosaurus. The aliens from "the 3rd planet of the black hole" are back, and more of their master plan is revealed - their planet is dying, so they want to destroy Tokyo and rebuild it as New Tokyo, a new home for their race. They're rebuilding Mechagodzilla, and they also have a brilliant scientist named Dr. Mafune working for them. What's this guy's story? Glad you asked. . .
Mafune used to be a well-respected scientist until he proposed a theory about controlling sea creatures with radio waves. He became the laughing stock of the scientific community. Still obsessed with the idea, he went into exile with his daughter and continued with his experiments. During one of these experiments, his daughter was accidentally killed. The black hole aliens arrived to give him an offer he couldn't refuse - they'd give life to his daughter (as a cyborg) if Mafune would come work for them. He agreed. Now Mafune has control of the giant aquatic monster Titanosaurus and the aliens use it to do their evil bidding.
The human story lines are more streamlined here than in the last movie, but still, like the last few Godzilla movies, it's not terribly well integrated and is merely obligatory. It focuses on a couple of investigators who are looking for Dr. Mafune. One of the investigators falls in love with his cyborg daughter. It doesn't amount to very much, except that they discover how to disrupt Titanosaurus's control with supersonic waves.
Ah, Titanosaurus. Like King Caesar, he's lame. He can swim. He bites Godzilla's lip with his long jaws. His roar sounds suspiciously like the cry of an elephant. And his "special power" is his fan tail - he can cause massive winds by waving it from side to side. Whoopee. Not very original, since Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah all had that power too.
Titanosaurus attacks the city, and after a long, long absence Godzilla arrives in a uniquely cool fashion. It's nighttime, and the profile of the city skyline is in shadow. Godzilla rises from the shadows in complete silence. Very moody. He then battles Titanosaurus and drives him away.
The black hole aliens decide to put Mechagodzilla's controls inside the body of Mafune's cyborg daughter. During the surgery scene, for the first and only time, we see bare breasts in a Godzilla movie. While the breasts are prosthetic and they belong to a cyborg character, they're pretty darn realistic looking. It's a little shocking when they appear, quite frankly, but they can only be seen in the original Japanese version. The American version is kid-friendly.
The aliens send out Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus to destroy Tokyo. Godzilla intercepts them (rescuing a couple of kids) and the fight begins, two monsters against one. Godzilla gets pulverized. The good guy humans disrupt Titanosaurus's control link and he goes crazy. Godzilla uses this opportunity to gain some ground and tears off Mechagodzilla's head once again. But the aliens are smart. They installed a tiny secondary head with a powerful beam emitter beneath the original head, and with the control apparatus inside Mafune's daughter, MG continues to function. Godzilla begins to lose, again. The good guys invade the alien control center. Dr. Mafune is killed in the shootout and his daughter, distraught over his death, kills herself (it's all very sad). Mechagodzilla is immobilized, so Godzilla destroys him. The alien leader tries to escape in a flying saucer - Godzilla knocks him out of the sky. Titanosaurus looks at Godzilla funny, so he gets one final beating. Then the Big G returns to the sea during a glorious sunset.
Ishiro Honda, Godzilla's original director, returned for "Terror of Mechagodzilla", as well as composer Akira Ifukube. Ifukube's score is great, and Honda brings back the more staid, serious tone of the originals. This would be the last Godzilla movie that he would direct.
This movie is merely "okay". There's less monster action, and the pace drags a bit, and Titanosaurus is lame, but I like the Dr. Mafune storyline. It's a nice throwback to the "tragic scientist" stories from the older Godzilla flicks. Titanosaurus would not appear again. The previous film's King Caesar would return in "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004).
While the movie wasn't meant to be the final chapter in the series, low box office numbers and the near-collapse of the Japanese film industry made it so. As a wrap up, "Terror of Mechagodzilla" is merely adequate. Like I've suggested before, however, I recommend that you save "Destroy All Monsters" for last. It's a much better ending for Series 1.
Now we get to the really good stuff. While I grew up with the movies of Series 1 and love them all, and I greatly enjoy Series 3, I feel that Series 2 is the high point. But I'll get to that later, when Godzilla returns on his 30th birthday!
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