SuperMegaMonkey
John Averick: ChronosCat: ChronosCat: ChronosCat: ChronosCat: |
1993-12-11 15:02:28 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla IIAlternate Titles: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Here's where you really have to start paying attention to the titles. This is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, but it's not a sequel to the original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The sequel to that movie was Terror of Mechagodzilla. This movie, which is part of the Heisei series, is unrelated to either of those. The II was actually added for the American release; the Japanese version just repeats Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and figures you can sort out which one is which. I find the II to be helpful, but giving it an entirely new title would have been even better. As to which film this one is a sequel to, it's apparently in contention. Wikipedia says that this film "directly follows the events of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, taking place before 1992's Godzilla vs Mothra." However, the one fan site that i've found (a bit defunct) specializing in Toho chronology lists this movie in regular release order. After a little back and forth, i've decided to stick with release order as well. The point of contention may be due to the fact that this movie is explicitly said to take place in 1992 even though this movie came out in late 1993. And it builds directly off of the events of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Godzilla vs. Mothra couldn't have taken place in between. The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center (UNGCC or "Counter G") organization has retrieved the mechanical head from the destroyed Mecha-King Ghidorah (and i have tagged him as a Monster Appearing based on this). Counter G has recruited the world's greatest scientists to reverse engineer the Furturian technology in the head and use it to build a fighting machine to kill Godzilla. Our supporting cast includes the return of Miki as our psychic and Kenji Sahara reprising his role as Minister Takayuki Segawa. The white guy, apparently named Dr. Asimov in a nod to the science fiction writer (he's missing the mutton chops!) is played by Italian actor Leo Meneghetti, and he'll play a moderately prominent role in this movie as the head scientist. Head scientist? Is that a pun? This new project has caused an earlier project, called Garuda, to be shelved because "its fighting capabilities were limited". That is a really good reason to shelve a project meant to design an anti-Godzilla weapon. Garuda is also called Robot One. Because we always need five names for one thing. The new device is in fact a giant Mechagodzilla. I'd like for its head to actually be a rebuilt version of Mecha-King Ghidorah's head, but Min tells me that they just reverse-engineered the technology. Either way, in addition to the future technology and, as we'll see, an array of powers equivalent to what the Showa era Mechagodzilla had, it's got a synthetic diamond surface that will reflect Godzilla's breath back at him. Oh, synthetic diamond. That worked so well with Super X. The Garuda project was near and dear to the heart of one of our main human characters, pilot Kazuma Aoki (played by Masahiro Takashima, another son of Toho alum Tadao Takashima). He finds himself transferred to G-Force to be one of the Mechagodzilla operators. Among his qualifications is the fact that he's single with no children, demonstrating that going up against Godzilla, even in the new machine, was very likely a death sentence. Aoki listed "pteranodons" as his hobby on the sheet that goes to his new boss, triggering derision after he has to explain that they are "small flying dinosaurs" (since they're his hobby, i assume Aoki is aware that pteranodons aren't actually dinosaurs but it's difficult enough to explain this kind of thing to your new boss). The boss tells him "this isn't a summer center for dinosaur freaks", which is kind of dumb since they are a center for training to fight Godzilla, who is a dinosaur, and actually some basic dinosaur knowledge goes a long way towards defeating Godzilla in this film, as we'll see. So maybe a few more "dinosaur freaks" might have been an improvement. Aoki is put through a boot camp style training regiment that he doesn't seem suited for. Among the spinning gravity chairs and such, he's forced to fight the other pilots in martial arts combat, and he gets his butt kicked by a pilot named Susan (played by Shelley Sweeney). Meanwhile, an unrelated archeological expedition discovers a fossil of a pteranodon, and then two gigantic eggs. One broken open, and one not. They notice that a plant (one person thinks it's a fern) growing on the whole egg, and they begin studying it. Uh, what about the egg that hatched? Anyone worried about that? And of course no one notices the giant pteranodon flying around. Look at his wings being able to move and stuff! But how has no one seen Rodan? What doe he eat that no one has noticed him taking their livestock or whatever? The egg begins glowing red and Rodan approaches the camp. Despite his upgraded look... ...Rodan still has his classic roar, and he still generates jet noises and explosions when he flies. It's at this point that one of the people in the camp drops the (metaphorical) bomb: "You know, this whole island is a junkyard of nuclear waste.". AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING US NOW??!?!" Rodan then swoops the camp, chasing the expeditioners to a cliff. But they are saved thanks to the arrival of Godzilla, who, following his usual procedures, comes out of the water blast first. Every fucking time, Godzilla! Every fucking time! Of course it takes the scientists a lot longer to figure out that it's Godzilla, but they get it eventually. In their defense, Godzilla is looking a little different in this movie. The two monsters fight, with Rodan's speed and flight ability allowing him to continually get the drop on Godzilla. Whenever Rodan pecks at or slams into Godzilla, it generate sparks, as if one or both of them are actually made of metal. Rodan buries Godzilla in a pile of boulders, but then he somehow manages to fly smack into Godzilla's still-free tail. Godzilla then bursts out and starts stomping on Rodan. As the fight continues, the scientists load the egg onto a helicopter and begin flying away. They actually do manage to get away, although Godzilla eyes the helicopter as they go. We thought that was an expression of hunger and that this whole fight was about whether or not Godzilla got to eat Rodan's egg, but we're actually pretty far off the mark on that. You don't know that. I still say he would have eaten that egg. The egg is left in the care of Professor Ohmae (played by Yusuke Kawatsu), and he has Azusa Gojo (played by Ryoko Sano) working on it. It's determined that the egg changes color to indicate how it's feeling. And apparently it can only feel afraid, because it only turns red, and that's what the color is said to mean. The egg turns red whenever Azusa is away, indicating that the creature inside it has already become imprinted with Azusa's voice; it thinks Azusa is its mother. News of the discovery of a live pteranodon egg (or so it seems) naturally attracts the attention of pteranodon enthusiast Kazuma Aoki. So he gets in his pteranomobile... ...and bullies his way into Azusa's lab. Azusa eventually chases him out but he manages to walk away with a sample of the fern. Later, in the G-Force mess hall, Aoki is sitting next to Miki and she senses something from the fern. So they take it to her school full of psychic kids. Is that girl in the pyramid in "time out"? In addition to all the little kids, there are two older girls who are played by the same actresses who played the Cosmos in Godzilla vs. Mothra. The kids do their voodoo on the plant clipping. And they sense music, which is some how "fed" into a computer and then recorded to a cassette tape so that it can be played back. While they're in one room doing this, Azusa is alone in the egg room. The egg starts to glow and shake. Jurassic Park came out in 1993, and the scene of the creature coming out of the egg is definitely influenced by the velociraptors from that movie. But it's tempered by the soundtrack and it ultimately turns out that the creature is more adorable than terrifying. Frankly, i'm a little disappointed Azusa didn't get eaten. I mean, if a "pteranodan" egg starts to hatch and you don't run, it's only fair that you get eaten. The key takeaway is that this is not a pteranodan. Miki informs us that it is a Godzillasaurus (since when did Miki become a dinosaur expert? did the baby dinosaur tell her that?). "It's in the Godzilla famliy, but this species is not as aggressive" and is in fact a plant-eater. Oh really? I declare bad dinosaur science! Look at those canines. The claws. The eyes on the front of the face. That is a predator and a carnivore, not an herbivore. But of course they prove me wrong by sticking a flower stem down its gullet. The Godzillasaurus is referred to as "baby" in this film but he'll later be called Godzilla Jr. The other point is that this Godzillasaurus was a "parasite egg", later clarified to be like a cuckoo egg in that it was placed in someone else's nest to trick another parent into raising it. This brings up some questions for me. I'm assuming that Rodan hatched out of the other egg; he'll later be referred to as Baby's half-brother. And i'm also assuming that Baby is indeed the son of Godzilla; the events of this film plus the name Godzilla Jr. certainly imply that. But we don't think Godzilla (or his mate) laid the egg recently and then slipped it into a Mama Rodan's nest. There's no evidence of a mother Rodan having been alive recently, and i'd guess the normal sized pteranodon fossil that the archeologists found on the island was actually Rodan's mother. So Rodan is giant-sized because of all the radioactive waste on the island. Baby's egg was the same size, but Baby is a non-mutant Godzillasaurus, not a radioactive baby Godzilla. He's to scale with the Godzillasaurus from vs. King Ghidorah; basically the same height as a human. Compare to Minilla from the Showa era who was to scale with Godzilla and much bigger than a human (except in the dream sequences in Revenge of Godzilla). But the egg must have been irradiated, because it had to have been on the island from the beginning and it's the same size as the irradiated Rodan egg. Godzilla couldn't have slipped an egg into Mama Rodan's nest in prehistoric days that started off much larger. So is baby maybe just partially irradiated? It's still quite the coincidence that both Godzilla and his son should be irradiated through two different events. I don't know. There are a lot of possibilities but they all seem flawed in some way. You broke my brain. While i've been musing about all this, Godzilla has launched an attack on Japan, making a beeline to the facility that is holding Baby. Oh, now you want to be a part of your child's life? So the pilots of Mechagodzilla are deployed (except for Aoki, who is AWOL at the facility with Baby). The process of getting Mechagodzilla launched is no small thing. There are all sorts of lifts and clamps and things that have to be maneuvered. If you want to amuse yourself during all of this, listen to the English voice acting (because it's a UN operation, sometimes people speak in English), while watching the subtitles. It's just supposed to be a mundane listing of sequences ("Activate thrusters" "Confirmed. Activating thrusters." That sort of thing). But while the subtitles say "Activate lift", the English speaker says, in a totally bored voice, "Hurry up with the lift." And then a different English speaker decides to do an amazing Kermit the Frog impression. It's pretty awesome. Stop making them speak English. It's so rude. When Mechagodzilla gets in the air the sequence is still funny. The chief pilot says something like "Maintain 120" and then another pilot says, "Roger. Changing to 230." No! I told you 120! Ok, all of this is only entertaining if you've actually watched the movie. But we can all enjoy Godzilla going, "WTF are with these wires you people put up! They're just everywhere! So annoying!" In retaliation, Godzilla attacks the local taxi cab car race. Eventually Mechagodzilla makes it to Godzilla. We're also told that "Ghost Rider helicopters are in position" but that turns out to be a lot less awesome than it sounds. "Operation Exodus" is also in effect, but i assume that's just about evacuating civilians. Things sure sound cooler when you give them rad names. Dr. Asimov underlines the momentousness of this confrontation for us. Why is he so creepy? Mechagodzilla's rainbow breath is apparently called the "megabuster". See what i mean about rad names? Mechagodzilla has all kinds of lasers... It's all about the lasers in the Heisei era. After a while, it gets pretty boring watching 2 giant monsters do nothing but blast each other with lasers. I want them to get in there and start smacking each other around. ...and he also has the advantage because Godzilla is still taking his frustration out on the wires. He didn't even see that tower. He just walked right into it. Megchagodzilla's synthetic diamond hull works as advertised. And the port in his belly launches the devastating plasma grenade. The word "grenade" being used very liberally. What the...!!?? Words have meaning, you know! They then pause for a bit, waiting for instructions from headquarters. Keep shooting, you idiots! But the orders are to use the paralyzer missiles that come from its fingertips, and then the "shock anchor", which launches a pair of wires that get embedded into Godzilla and then conduct a blast of electricity. Shows what you know! Electricity makes Godzilla stronger! Godzilla does seem to recover after this attack is attempted, blasting Mechagodzilla with his breath and then somehow reversing the electricity back to MechaG, totally frying it. Godzilla was foaming at the mouth, always a sign of eminent death... ...so the use of electricity does seem to be a real blunder. Godzilla jumps up and charges the immobile Mecha, knocking it over. And then Godzilla moves on. The Godzilla i know would have beat on Mechagodzilla for another twenty minutes, preferably with one of its own limbs. This Godzilla looks meaner... ...but in that regard, at least, he's a little more merciful. His face is really becoming articulate though. It's an impressive looking nose. It's said that it will take weeks to repair Mechagodzilla. So even though Counter G scrambles "the Green Hornet division" (don't get your hopes up; it's just the usual tanks, FAHPs, masers, and planes)... ...Godzilla just walks right through them and makes his way to Kyoto, the city where Baby is being kept. He does make a point of knocking down Kyoto tower on the way there, just to be a dick. The scientists figure out that Baby may be calling Godzilla, and so they bring him to a sealed subbasement. As they move him, his eyes start to glow red, indicating fear. You think Baby is calling Godzilla. And now, while you're moving him, he starts to indicate fear. He's afraid cause you're putting him in a tomb and not letting him go to his father. What the hell is wrong with you people? Give Godzilla his baby! Godzilla makes it right to the building, leading Miki to shout "Godzilla's up there!" as his thunderous footsteps approach. She's psychic, you know (erg). It seems like the sealed room idea works, and Godzilla eventually goes back out to sea, but not before leveling the entire building that baby was being held in. After all the destruction, Aoki returns to his post and casually says that he just used a few vacation days that he had coming to him. Amazingly, he's not thrown in prison for this, but he is demoted to parking lot duty. However, that gives him an opportunity to accost Dr. Asmiov when he's trying to go home for the day and convince him that if they found a way to add Garuda to Mechagodzilla it would be an improvement. Aoki has built an entire video game around this idea (graphics are too good for Super Nintento. Maybe the 3DO?). Meanwhile, now that Baby hatched, the military uses information gleaned from it for tactical purposes. In a "startling discovery", it's been determined that Baby has a second "brain" in its butt. And the same MUST be true of Godzilla. Now this is an old, old myth. The truth is that some of the larger dinosaurs (mostly the stegosaurus and sauropods, not the T. Rex type of dinosaur that Godzilla is based on) did have a cavity at the end of their spinal cord and it was once thought to hold a brain. I'm pretty sure that idea had been debunked by 1993 (although we still don't know for sure what the cavity was for). But more to the point, the idea of a nerve cluster in the rear would not have required the study of a live dinosaur to come up with. The two brain theory was first proposed in the 1800s. This goes back to my point that Counter G could have stood to take on a few more "dinosaur freaks" into their ranks. Anyway, with this "new" information, Counter G decides that the new strategy is for Mechagodzilla to target the second brain. "This new strategy will be given a code name: G-Crusher." From a full disclosure perspective, i think it's a good time to announce that Min is basically rooting for Godzilla at this point (Wait. You're not?). They messed with his timeline in a previous movie, and now they stole his baby. So the humans are the bad guys as far as she's concerned. And she's not necessarily wrong about that. With the introduction of Baby, the series is moving towards a more sympathetic Godzilla again for the first time in the Heisei era. Speaking of Baby, he's being transferred to a new facility (which is hopefully shielded). On the way over, we see Azusa feed him a burger from McDonalds. Plant-eater my ass. So disappointed he didn't burst out of that egg ready to eat people. Then, in the new facility, it hides in the hay and practices stalking its prey, which in this case is Azusa, who seems to have been demoted from scientist to zookeeper. Aoki shows up to show off a pteranodon "robot" that he's built. I was so sure he was going to poke a hole in the roof with that thing, alerting Godzilla to Baby's location. But he avoids doing that and starting a fire in the hay when he inevitably crashes. Then Miki and the ESP girls burst into the room. There isn't a lot of security around Baby's facility; people just seem to be able to waltz in as they please. The girls want to sing Baby the song that they originally learned from the radioactive fern? The one that caused him to hatch? Yeah, for some reason everyone thinks it's ok to play Baby that song again. Does Miki have ESP or a hole in her brain? And, predictably, the song causes Rodan to wake up and transform into "Fire Rodan"... Who signed the permission slips to allow these children to be on this poorly thought out field trip? ...and also causes Baby to "gain an intake of power", although the implications of that are unclear. We can thank the Cosmos for this. They disguised themselves as regular people and went to the psychic facility to give the kids this idea. "Test your nuclear weapons on Infant Island, will you?" At the next Counter G meeting, the military says that their plan is to lure Godzilla out to a remote island so they can attack him with their new G-Crusher move. And the lure will be Baby. When Miki objects to this, she's told not to worry because she's going to be part of the operation. Her job will be to use her ESP to pinpoint the location of Godzilla's ass-brain. It almost seems like a punishment for speaking up. This movie definitely is moving along the idea that Miki is becoming more sympathetic to Godzilla and is doubting the mission of Counter G. Cause they're baby kidnappers. There's also some really weird speculation between Miki, Aoki, and Azusa that Baby's rebirth was actually too soon instead of too late. The idea is that dinosaurs were around for 150 million years compared to humans' 2 million, and that maybe dinosaurs are destined to come back and supplant humans. The three humans almost sound like they want it to happen. Baby, of course, is not comfortable with having to wear a collar and being put in a box to get transported to the island. Azusa therefore decides to go with him, but his stress also summons his half-brother Rodan. Professor Ohmae: Oh did i not mention Rodan? Yeah, we also saw a giant pteranodon on the island where we found baby's egg. Sorry i didn't mention that sooner. They keep calling Rodan a "bird". It's also at this point that they call Rodan Baby's half-brother. Rodan attacks the helicopter that is transporting the crate with Baby and Aksua, destroying the helicopter but catching the crate. Azusa should be dead. That crate didn't have any way to secure her or Baby during a free fall. Baby should have crushed her if she didn't already get killed slamming into the sides. Rodan then puts it down and starts pecking at it relentless, probably terrifying Baby more than being in the box did. Mechagodzilla is deployed to deal with Rodan. Miki is sent along as one of the pilots, and she's given a special helmet. Mechagodzilla and Garuda come separately. Aoki actually wasn't supposed to be piloting the Garuda but he snuck in. Rodan has a warm welcome for them. Aoki's job in Garuda is to lure Rodan away from the crate so that Mechagodzilla can blast Rodan without endangering anyone. Rodan doesn't really seem to need luring. He's happy to jump in and start dogfighting with Garuda. Rodan repeatedly chest slams Garuda until it crashes. But then Mechagodzilla plasma-"grenades" Rodan into a huge office building. So who gets to sue the United Nations when that building collapses? One funny thing that we noticed during this fight is that Mechagodzilla has its own roar. That made sense in Showa, since it was originally designed to pretend to be Godzilla for a while. But now it just seems like Counter G wanted to get in on the fun. Why else would the UN design their anti-Godzilla weapon to roar? Rodan recovers and launches another attack on Mechagodzilla, pecking out its right eye. But then a close range plasma grenade sends Rodan flying and he's shown foaming brown goo out of his mouth. But now, with Garuda down and Mechagodzilla injured, Godzilla arrives. Of course the military is completely surprised by this. Not only are they not tracking the giant monster, but they have someone with ESP in their employ. But Godzilla always comes as a surprise. We start things off with the old breath vs. breath (or i guess breath vs. "megabuster") move, which in Mechagodzilla's first Showa appearance left Mechagodzlla inoperable and Godzilla presumed dead. In this movie, Mechagodzilla does overheat but Godzilla recovers quickly. Then Godzilla, just to be a dick, tramples through a sporting arena. Godzilla then tackles the inert Mechagodzilla and starts abusing it thoroughly. Finally some hand-to-hand! Take that, Mechagodzilla! Bodyslams, curbstomps, tail smashes... the works. Now THIS is the post battle Godzilla i know. You have to give it to the head pilot in Mechagodzilla, though. He's pretty unflappable. All this happens and then he turns calmly to one of his pilots and says, "What's the damage level?". Uh, total, dude. You've been whipped bad. Of course i didn't count on the return of Garuda. Here's where it gets funny. I'm pretty sure this isn't just a perspective issue. Here's Garuda in proportion to Mechagodzilla. And here's the two of them merging into "Super Mechagodzilla". Hmmm. Godzilla's reaction is more like, "This is bullshit! What if I put Rodan on my back? Would you like that?" Would i!?? Repowered by Garuda and bolstered by its additional lasers (i thought Garuda had limited fighting capabilities), Mechagodzilla goes through the same routine as before. Plasma grenades, tranq missiles, all its massive firepower. Now it's time for G-Crusher. Miki reluctantly obeys orders. Find Godzilla's ass, Miki! Use your ESP. Where is it? It took me a while to figure out why they needed the psychic to locate Godzilla's brain, and it's because i don't think of it as a brain since that's bad dinosaur science. But if you accept that it really is a brain, it makes sense that the person with ESP could find it. I'm still not sure why they need a psychic to find it, though. Isn't it generally known where Godzilla's ass is? And i'm not sure if the night vision goggles are supposed to be amplifying her ESP or what. But she does find the "brain". And now that it's located, here come the wires. They then zap Godzilla, destroying his butt-brain and causing him to collapse. That's happened to me a few times. I thought they were back spasms. Apparently, it was my butt-brain. Miki feels terrible about all of this. Shut up, Miki. As soon as it's over, Aoki flies out of Garuda in his ridiculous pteranodon gyrocopter. The movie's not over yet, Aoki, you dumbass! Baby starts crying for his daddy, and that wakes up Rodan. Rodan, injured, makes his way over to Godzilla, and lends him his glitterstrength. Rodan fades away as it happens. You can just do that? This causes Godzilla's butt-brain to grow back, and the energy emitted causes feedback that destroys Miki's helmet, preventing her from targeting it again. Now guess who has the Rage power-up. I feel that Godzilla and i are kindred spirits. Godzilla is so mad he causes lighting to come crashing out of the sky. He's just that mad. Watching the movie, i made a joke as the captain of Mechagodzilla, saying, "Gee, Aoki, it'd be really nice if we could use our shoulder lasers right about now!" But it turns out they can use those lasers even though Aoki left Garuda. So to hell with Aoki; let him fly around in his dumb pteranodon plane (he's actually helping to get Azusa and Baby out of the crate). Post-Rage power-up, Godzilla's breath is red. Aim a little higher, Godzilla. Godzilla is just crackling with energy. He even almost does a little hand motion, like the Showa era taunts. They do the breath vs. breath thing again but it's no contest. Mechagdozilla goes down and stays down. It's a wonder everyone inside isn't dead. They do manage to eject before it explodes completely. Finally, the humans figure out that they should just give Baby to Godzilla. Ya think? Baby is afraid to go at first, but Azusa convinces him. And Azusa tells Miki to use her ESP to tell Godzilla to take Baby away, although i'd have to imagine he responds with, "Duh. What do you think i'm here for, lady?". It seems more likely that Miki is using her powers to help calm Baby. Azusa tells Baby, "You must go with the 'others'." Uh, others? She knows her crazy theory about the dinosaurs coming back was just a crazy theory, right? As Godzilla leads Baby back to the sea, the head pilot says, "There's proof for all that life always conquers." And then another pilot responds, "Yeah, life. Against artificial life.". Then back to the head pilot, "Reptiles or humankind, we all fight to protect our offspring." Then back to Azusa and her friends: "Will there be a dinosaur age, long after man's presence here has been forgotten?" "It will come, I'm sure of it...". "I also know, they'll be waiting for it." They say such crazy things at the end of these movies. I think they've been playing our drinking game. Stealth Godzilla, action hero! Monsters Appearing: Godzilla, Godzilla Jr, Mecha-King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Rodan CommentsAs a kid I loved the Heisei series because it was so explosive and colorful. Over the last few years I am annoyed that so many battles were just the monsters standing around and spitting beams and I like a Godzilla that is mostly melee and spits very every once in a while. So that's another reason I love American Godzilla, he's the opposite of Heisei Godzilla, almost all melee with two or three breathe attacks. Posted by: david banes | August 18, 2015 4:01 PM Oh yeah and the whole reverse electricity thing I figured was his thermal pulse. AKA that shockwave he used again Biollante, free himself from King Ghidorah's choke and from Mothra I believe. He seems to do it once a film. Posted by: david banes | August 18, 2015 4:32 PM They should have attacked Godzilla's rear-brain by kicking at it. Then they could have given the technique the codename "Operation: Kick Butt". And I can just imagine the commander of Mechagodzilla ordering, "Activate roar," and the appropriate technician answering, "Roaring." Posted by: ChronosCat | June 18, 2018 9:32 PM Oh, and actually there's a good possibility the bulk of the movie takes place in 1994 (based on the date on the notice of Aoki's reassignment to parking-lot duty) and they just forgot to mention a time skip. Posted by: ChronosCat | June 18, 2018 9:39 PM Comments are now closed. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SuperMegaMonkey home | Comics Chronology home |