Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) finally got away from the juvenile plots and raising a Godzilla baby and back to him doing badass stuff…sort of. This time the opponent of Godzilla would be an undeniable representation of pollutants. It makes sense for the time too. Japan’s industry was booming and pollution was becoming a real problem. [The German poster GvsH was included with Part 1 of this article.]

While Godzilla vs. Hedorah was fairly serious in tone, director Yoshimitsu Banno still managed to get some silliness in there. I refer of course to the infamous scene where Godzilla uses his atomic breath to fly… backwards. This combined with some downright wacky drug-trip scenes where someone hallucinates people as fish, it’s admittedly a bit goofy. I remember seeing Godzilla fly backward using his breath when I was a kid. I thought “Huh, I didn’t know he could do that.”

He never would again. And Yoshimitsu Banno was told he would never direct another Godzilla film. Nevertheless, Banno’s name you should definitely remember.

The next few films are a bit of a blur for me. I know it was decided to bring back a lot of old favorites such as ghidorah, and Anguirus. We have some strange alien plots which lead us eventually to Mechagodzilla who would become a fan favorite (even though his first film was not very successful). 

Giant robots and mech suits were starting to become prevalent in Japanese comics. Zone Fighters, a 1973 Japanese TV show would feature a fella who could grow to giant proportions. Godzilla, Gidorah, and Gigan would make appearances there. Lines blurred between, Zone Fighter, Ultraman, and Jet Jaguar (a winning result of a contest to design a new Godzilla character.)

If you’re reading this and snickering to yourself, I get it. I believe Toho was struggling to keep Godzilla relevant for an increasingly sophisticated audience and while the nostalgia card worked for some die-hard fans, it seemed to be failing the mainstream who was gravitating to the more psychologically gripping films. Highest grossing film in 1972 was the Godfather. In 1973 it was the Exorcist. Despite the amazing amount of passion and dedication all those involved put into Godzilla films, movies where guys wrestle other guys in rubber monster suits was old hat.

The last Godzilla anything that would get even close to the 80’s would be the ridiculous Hanna-Barbera animated Godzilla series which would run for two seasons despite it totally sucking from 1978-1979. It was a sad send off for our hulking behemoth. As for the movies, we wouldn’t see another installment for almost ten years. For Godzilla, 1975 was the end of the Showa era.

It would be 1984 before we would finally get The Return of Godzilla! And a return it was. A return to Godzilla as an antagonist. A return to a very serious, even scary film. And even Raymond Burr would return in the version edited for American audiences for some heartfelt criticisms on the state of things. (Raymond Burr had been cast as the American face inserted into the U.S. theatrical release of the original film in 1955.)

It was not exactly 1984 or 85 when my dad rented this on VHS and we watched it at home. I was not 2 years old. I knew how to work the VCR and I could read.

I know this because I remember the film was a bit horrific and my dad was urged by my mom to fast-forward so I’d miss the scary parts. While the footage zipped by in fast motion I saw this relatively small black monster attack some people inside their boat. Was that Godzilla!?! Why was he so small? Was he a baby? No one had any answers for me so I had to sneak in later and get to that scene so I could figure it out. I still couldn’t grasp what I was looking at.

Almost 40 years later would I finally rewatch the film all the way through without fast-forwarding the scary parts. It was a giant sand flea! The only reason you’d know this is because of a quickly dashed off line some character rattles off probably in ADR. The things the human mind wastes so much energy on, I tell ya. 40 years wondering about a giant sand flea.

For me in the States this would be a one off though I appreciated it better seeing it as an adult. Kong would have a film in 1986 with King Kong Lives (which I have yet to see).It wouldn’t be until 1998 that I would see another Godzilla film and it was the American Mathew Broderick one! (We’ll get to that later)

Meanwhile Toho starts crankin’ ‘em out again! They really upped their game! If I had seen the films Toho produced from 1985-1998 back when they originally came out, I’d probably be a super nerd fan with the rest of them. But I was not in the habit of requisitioning foreign films in my formative years. Sadly, the Heisei Era would pass me by as it would most Americans without special connections.

But I seen ‘em now, so let’s get into it!