The History of Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
#godzilla #megalon #jetjaguar
@BigActionBill
Sources
– Brian Solomon’s “Godzilla FAQ”
– David Kalat’s, “A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series”.
– Steve Ryfle’s “Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Big G”.
-Writing Japanese Monsters: From the Files of the Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies by John LeMay
– https://wikizilla.org
– https://www.tohokingdom.com/
– https://vantagepointinterviews.com/
– https://sidelongglancesofapigeonkicker.blogspot.com/
Picture books used:
– Godzilla: The Official Guide To the King of Monsters (2022) by Graham Skipper
– Godzilla: History of Formative Arts 1954-2016
You can purchase or rent “Godzilla vs. Megalon” at https://www.amazon.com.
36 Comments
Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoy the video and the holidays/new year with your loved ones. God bless!
"His crime fighting covers up a basic insecurity"
Dude! My wife and I would love that book, she’s Japanese and wants to read it. Bill, where did you order it from?
A new history video?!
What a gift to find under my tree!
6:17 – And that dolphin boat stands out in my mind too. No idea why, but I have a very strong but totally irrational dislike of it. I think it's due to its silly appearance and because of how useless/ineffectual it is at moving through the water.
Goodwill would throw that old book away just because it’s old. I saw books 150 years old be thrown away.
The video is awesome. Thanks for all your hard work. This is actually one of my favorite Showa era Godzilla films. I seem to be in the minority with this opinion. I bought this on VHS in Suncoast Video's $9.99. My ex girlfriend & I would often watch this on the van ride to the shore during the summer of '93.
Merry Christmas Bill! I've been marathoning your Godzilla history for this past two years and keep on revisiting the 1954 history ocassionally because of how packed it is. I've been waiting for this one and am pleasantly surprised that you dropped this on Christmas. Happy holidays to you and your family. I'll be waiting for more Godzilla history videos in the future. God bless you too from Indonesia!
Some of the best fights in the Showa era, despite it being…lackluster overall. One of my favorites as a kid
I’ve always loved this one, purely for the hilarious quality it has. Everything is so absurd you can’t help but love it. Throw in that genuinely kickass tag team final battle and you have a super fun watch, and a much better viewing experience than the tone whiplash of movies like Hedorah or Gigan which naively try to play themselves straight.
14:07
Wet suit materials.
Very similar to the original ultraman suit. It was just a painted wet suit and a mask made and slapped on. Went through like 3 iterations
Do you think Jet Jaguar caught much of the week 16 Jets-Jaguars game? IHUAL.
Now THIS is a great Christmas present
Yooo I watch all your Godzilla videos. I genuinely appreciate your ability to deep dive into the history, symbolism, and cultures of Japan and filmmaking while keeping a fast pace and entertaining consistency in your documentary style format and editing. I’m a huge fan and appreciate you for explaining the things I geek out about
Favorite moment is 18:08–18:21.
I feel like Anguirus, Jet Jaguar, and Gigan be great for the Monsterverse.
Anguirus be grounded with more realistic abilities just sheer destructive power what Monsterverse needs, be godzilla species companion gaurd, whereas Rodans were spies.
Jet Jaguar be the monsterverse take on Pacific Rim, Bumblebee, and Ironman, pends how marvels ironman is gone, we can give them someone similar.
Gigan he be the Joker/deadpool of the monsterverse, there I said it.
Nice!
Merry Christmas Bill!
It might be a kinda crappy Godzilla film, but where else do you get pretty much 40 minutes of monster fighting at the end? GvsM is very special for me because I didn't get to see that broadcast of it. No, no, my parents had to take me on vacation so I missed it. I was so angry! Many, many years later I finally saw it and well, let's just say it didn't hold up to my young ideals of what a Godzilla movie should be. But I still like it. 🙂
9:18 wouldn't be surprised if they used the scenes they filmed of him being actually scared for that scene
I remember seeing this movie listed in the TV guide in 1976. I was 9. I they mentioned a monster named Gigan. I remember being in panic mode that day because we went shopping and I thought I was gonna miss it! Thanks for the good work and the memories! Can't wait to see the next video! MG!!!
Christmas vacation status: saved
Can I just ask: what is the story with that dolphin boat? Seriously, was it something that was common in Japan? Was it something special he made for the movie? It actually reminds me of one of the parade balloons from the ‘89 Batman movie.
This is my favorite godzilla movie just because of how goofy and charming i find it
The showa era made Godzilla what he is today, if it weren't for nearly as many of the movies
Heisei would likely have been more obscure and not as successful and thus we wouldn't have modern godzilla as he is
So many of the earliest were kinda hard to sit through but we got some iconic Kaiju like Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Jet Jaguar and Godzilla
So I have respect for the showa era at that level
Jet Jaguar is my second favourite toho kaiju tied with Godzilla, he's just so quirky and fun ^-x
This movie may not have the highest budget or the greatest of writing, but it will forever remain one of my favorites, this was what got me into Gkdzilla in the first place, making me watch the other movies and shows (ironically I went with GMK and Shin Godzilla next, absolute tonal whiplashes from this movie) and learn about this franchise's crazy history, I'm currently deeply obsessed with it and I've been waiting this video for a long while now, Megalon, Gigan and Jet Jaguar still remain in my top 10 after consuming a lot more content from different eras and things from this franchise.
What picture is that? It looks awesome!
My uncle just watched this movie last night.
Best Christmas gift! Thank you!
FINALLY….. My favorite showa era movie. I've never had more fun watching a movie and honestly I dont think I'll ever watch a movie funnier than this one. A wonderful and delightful experience 10/10 will watch again.
Easily my absolute favorite godzilla movie. My only concern is the complete lack of support for the collectability of jet jaguar. Absolute favorite live action robot from any Era. If gigantor, Johnny soko and mazinga were the first. Something I always felt was fishy is that Japan neglected this character for so long that now that its been brought back it looks like a garbage can of broken parts. It should have been handled like Evangelion 👍
I received the "Godzilla For President" button from the theater showing the film. Always wondered why Godzilla had a cross sticking out of his mouth on the button. Thanks for the toothpick info , it answered an age old mystery for me.
MERRY CHRISMASU !!!
Love this movie, and will accept no arguments.
This is one of my favorite Godzilla movies, mainly because it’s so damn cheesy. And I love Jet Jaguar.
29:44 Watching this on a CometTV marathon with my teen daughter, she said "whoa, that was a straight up pimp slap!"
I saw this movie in 1973 when I was 10 — I liked and kept the tin buttons for decades — I also liked Kikaida, Ultraman and related genre Japanese TV shows as I lived in Hawaii then where they were shown.