Gorgo No. 15: The Land that Time Forgot

(This follows is the second in my posts about Charlton's giant monster comic books, written by Joe Gill.)


The story comes straight from the pages of Edgar Rice Burroughs, so much so it even steals the title of one of his books. But let's call it an homage, rather than a theft.

The story is almost certainly written by Joe Gill, but I'm a little unsure about the artist. Steve Ditko famously drew most of these comics, but this one looks very different from No. 3. Also, in No. 3 Ditko's name was right there on the splash page. No such signature here. Looking over this checklist, I only see issues #1, 4, 11, 13, 16, 18 listed, but No. 3 was definitely a Ditko issue. So we'll have to leave it a mystery for now. If anyone has further information, leave a message in the comments.

All right, on with the story. After a splash page depicting a scene we'll get to later, we start off "many years ago" as young Professor Carl Engstrom hears about a place in the African jungle where dinosaurs still live. He decides not to go, despite his interest, because of his wife and child. But his wife convinces him otherwise and they head off to unexplored African jungles where dinosaurs are expected to live. Do you see where this is going?

Of course, their "fella boys" (I assume this is some kind of slang for the black natives) jump ship as soon as they near the "land that time forgot" and Engstrom thinks they should turn back. His wife, once again, convinces him otherwise. Three days later, they see dinosaurs along the shore and they decide to head into the jungle. They are set upon by natives, Engstrom is knocked out and left behind.

Here we have a great transition between pages. At the bottom of page 5 (seen here), we get an image of Engstrom moving through the jungle and finding his wife. We don't see the wife, we only see a stressed out Engstrom's shocked face set against vines and flowers. On the top of the next page, we get a different image of Engstrom standing before a handmade wooden cross, behind him is an empty field.

He buries her body and searches for his daughter.

"But his search was in vain and finally, exhausted, mentally and physically, heartbroken and without hope, he left that land of death that time had forgotten..."

And with that, the prologue ends and we get our first glimpses of the title hero/villain. Gorgo and Orga (his mother) are swimming up river into the African jungle. On the way, they apparently fight a giant squid for food. Engorged, the duo falls asleep on the river bottom. But Gorgo, being the energetic youth that he is, swims to the surface to check things out. He smells "the odor of creatures of his own kind" and decides to go ashore.

And now, we see what has become of Engstrom. He's a bitter old professor kicking out a student for "wasting my time and yours." This student, Jay Conners, is expecting it, however, and says he's taking a vacation. Engstrom then heads off for a meeting that has been on his thoughts.

He meets a wounded explorer at the Explorers Club (what, your town doesn't have one?). It's the same place Engstrom heard about the land of dinosaurs at the beginning of the story. The adventurer tells consistent rumors of a white goddess have come out of the jungles. Also, talking about how the information got to him, the adventurer mentions this:

"No! Even the natives shun the place! You know the stories ... about prehistoric men and beasts! The other natives got their information through some mental telepathy of their own ... very strange but always true! That's all I can tell you about it, old chap!"

Telepathic natives. Fascinating! And yet this is the only mention of it. I guess telepathy comes in handy when it's hard to get a plot point to your hero.

Engstrom heads off to Africa, hoping this white goddess will be his long lost daughter. The first person he meets in Africa is his student Jay Conners who is there for his vacation, a hunting trip in Africa. The two go their separate ways, Engstrom up river and Conners through the jungle.

We follow Conners until his native baggage handlers run away. Conners, smarter than Engstrom's wife, decides he'll need to turn back. But just as he starts, he sees Gorgo tearing up trees and heading inland. So, "almost hypnotized by the adventure," Conners follows the monster into the jungle.

Meanwhile, we turn to Engstrom who is tramping through the jungle. His baggage handlers have also taken off, but Engstrom expected it. He now is hoping to find the natives that once took his wife and child. Sure enough, they come out of the trees and take him, bringing him back to their white goddess.

The white goddess has lived with the natives since she was a baby. And yet, when Engstrom starts speaking to her, calling her Gloria and trying to get her to remember him, she does! In fact, she even knows some rudimentary English. Wow! What a memory on that kid.

Now the story gets into high gear. A dinosaur attacks! It's kind of a weird looking thing.It's yellow and it's head is like an egg on its side with a mouth. It looks nothing like the more accurate T-Rex on the cover. It still looks like a dinosaur though, and it's angry. The natives decide that their goddess is no longer protecting them, so they have to sacrifice her to "Scaley." Meanwhile, we see that Gorgo's mother has risen from the river in pursuit of her child. There's a funny panel with Orga walking and all the beasts of the jungle running before her to get away. (Sorry, I don't have the editing tools or knowhow to take single panels out.)

Engstrom and daughter are tied to posts, just like on the cover. Scaley hovers over them. It seems they are doomed! That is until Conners arrives in the next panel wielding his shotgun. Engstrom tries to tell Conners that his bullets won't hurt the creature. But Conners, the able hero, says "If I can't stop it, then I can't! Anyway, I'll know I did my best!"

Conners faces Scaley down over the next page. There's one neat panel here. It's taken from the perspective of Scaley's mouth. We see black shadows of teeth above and below (picture that scene in the Empire Strikes Back when the Millenium Falcon escapes the sea slug: "The cave is collapsing." "That's no cave.") and the view below of Conners aiming at the creature. The gunshots annoy the Scaley. Conners' gun jams. It seems they are all doomed.

But then Gorgo arrives. He and Scaley rush at each other. The tremendous noise attracts other monsters and, in a scene that Peter Jackson would love, a total of three Scaleys and one triceratops join the battle. This gives Engstrom, Conners and Gloria time to escape.

On the next page, it's all neatly wrapped up in four panels. Orga joins the fight and tosses the Scaleys aside. The three explorers make it to their boat, where Conners starts hitting on Gloria. And finally we see Gorgo and Orga playing together as they head back to the river. And Conners says:

"I imagine that after they get through with it, there's nothing left of the creatures ... in the land that time forgot!"

Well, this comic book certainly had the thrills. We get Gorgo, dinosaurs and a hidden African land from the prehistoric past. We also get references to ERB, H. Rider Haggard and about a hundred other English lost world stories.

It is odd that none of the people recognize Gorgo. When Conners and Engstrom each see him for the first time, neither recognizes the creature. Which is weird, you'd think a monster that wrecked London (in the movie), New York and a few small Central American countries (early issues of the comic book) would be pretty well known by now. It's weirder because there is definitely a continuity to the stories in the earlier issues.

The art is not Ditko. Gorgo is drawn much skinnier and the T-Rex's are just downright weird. But overall I think it works. And some of the perspectives used are just terrific. The artist adds lots of fun little details in the background and other animals (monkeys hanging over Gorgo's rising form, lions and other creatures fleeing before Orga) are done with humor.

There is, of course, some racism in this story. I think that comes with a lot of these lost world type stories. They basically come straight out of an 19th-century British imperial perspective. Still, it's something that could easily have been removed. One strong African character would have done wonders for this comic.

Having said that, a lost world story is a perfect setting for a Gorgo comic and this one takes full advantage of it. A good fun story in one issue.

Next up will be Fantastic Giants before we get into Konga.

New DVD news

The always essential SciFiJapan has a new post about the upcoming Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro-Monsters DVDs from Classic Media. The post includes screen caps from the discs as well as Classic Media's press release. It looks awesome.

I'm surprised they are using the Astro-Monster title for that movie. I thought Godzilla vs. Monster Zero was Toho's preferred name. Shows what I know. But that's OK, I think Invasion of the Astro-Monsters is an awesome title.

As for Ghidorah, I've only seen that film on a screwed-up pan-and-scan VHS tape, and still it was one of my favorites. I really can't wait to see it in all its true glory.

This all reminds me that I'm falling behind on DVD buying. I still haven't picked up Godzilla Raids Again!

Now it's a movement

Thanks to a comment on my last post, I now know there's another game in town. Check out Giant Monsters Attack, a new blog about giant monsters. It's sort of like this blog, only Mysterious Pants (that's the blogger) has a deft hand in using photos and, of course, has his own voice. He's even reviewed Gamera: The Little Braves, which I have yet to see. He also has a post speculating on what monsters will be used on Godzilla: Unleashed.

Welcome to the neighborhood Mysterious Pants. I look forward to trading links and ideas about the biggest genre of them all!

Choose your own monster

SciFi Japan has the details on Atari's plan to let fans vote on the new monster that will be included in "Godzilla: Unleashed," the new giant monster videogame planned for the Nintendo Wii. (Here's the IGN article on it.) They've created four designs that "we felt were fresh, would fit into the Godzilla genre, and would fit into the group factions as delineated in the design doc for the game." Go to SciFi Japan for details about all this. Now I'm going to include my comments on each design. The photos are all snatched from SciFi Japan's page and are copyright Atari.

The Magmouth

It's a magma monster, made of molten rock and able to spew lava at its enemies. As a concept, it sounds pretty neat. I could see it fitting into the Smog Monster era of Godzilla movies, or possibly be a villain for Mothra in her solo years. In the game, it would have to be a slow, but tough monster. The only problem is it seems to lack a personality. There's no real face to it.

Firelion



My first thought on seeing this one was, why not use King Sesar? Sesar is basically the same concept, a Chinese dragon guardian, but without the flaming hair and tail. Despite that, this looks like it would be a fun character to play in the game, and the flaming hair and tail might give it an interesting look during the action. I don't like the origin story, "guardian of the lost civilization of Mu." We all know that guardian is Manda. What good would a flaming lion do underwater anyway?

The Visitor



If they actually made this thing for a film it would look ridiculous; the jaw would be flapping around in the breeze. If it weren't for that face, this could have been one of my favorites. The extra limbs could have made for some fun game play, and tying it in with the Vortaak aliens of the game is a good idea. Nice touch with the "Alien" tail, too. Even his back story is cool. It's too bad about that jaw.

Lightning Bug



This thing's wings look too small and that sack too big. The bug concept is always cool, though Megalon already fills that role. The story works fine. Despite liking some aspects of this design, I'm underwhelmed.

***

All of the images for these creatures make me think they would fit comfortably in Godzilla: The Series. I think only Magmouth and Firelion could actually work in the movies as a rubber suit.

As for my vote, I'm torn between Magmouth and Firelion. Firelion seems like he'd be a fun character to play and look at, but he's so close to Sesar that I want to stay away. Magmouth needs more personality. I'm going to tentatively side with Magmouth and hope that the designers can add some interesting details before he appears in the game.

A great film about fungus

ScifiJapan takes a close look at Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People). As they point out, the film can be looked at as an allegory for drugs or capitalism, but it's much more than that. It's a good movie that cares about its characters, even though most of them are unlikeable, and makes the situation feel real, despite the rubber mushroom suits.

It's one of my favorite movies. With this film and Gojira, one can see that Ishiro Honda is a great, and criminally underrated, director.

Also at the link is the full text of William Hope Hodgson's "The Voice in the Night," which was the inspiration for the film. I would also recommend picking up the Matango DVD, which has some great extras including a story read by the screenwriter.

John Cox on The Host

There's an interview with The Host's special effects director John Cox over at Fangoria (found via SciFiJapan). Here's an interesting part:

“We just saw partial storyboards,” he reveals, “so, not knowing any of the dialogue or anything, we really had no idea what it was we were working on, just that they needed this fish monster and it was part of this particular film. The director [Bong Joon-ho] having a fairly good reputation, we were expecting it to be at least halfway decent. The same thing goes, though, with a lot of films. Sometimes we read scripts and think, ‘Yeah, it’s a really good script,’ but by the end, it’s just…not. It becomes very mediocre, and it’s really hard to put your finger on where things didn’t gel. Because going into these shows, most of the time, all the key ingredients are there. I guess it depends on the meddling, whether or not the director’s vision is allowed to get to the screen unimpeded or whether everyone wants to put their two cents’ worth in it.

“In THE HOST’s case, there was Japanese money in it as well,” he notes, “so there was the opportunity for there to be interference from producers from other countries, but it doesn’t seem to have happened. From what I understand, the film is exactly the one that the director hoped to make.”

Also interesting, Cox is working on the next film by Greg McLean, director of "Wolf Creek." Apparently the film, Rogue, is about a giant crocodile. (It may be going straight to video.) Will it rival films like Lake Placid, Dinocroc and Alligator? We'll just have to wait and find out.

The Host takes America by storm

Anthony Lane reviews The Host for the New Yorker. This is pretty exciting, a giant monster movie getting not only a review in the New Yorker, but a positive review. Lane makes comparisons to Little Miss Sunshine, Jacques Tati, Krzysztof Kieslowski and, more expectedly, John Carpenter. And you know what, the movie deserves all those comparisons while not being quite any of them. This should be a huge revival for giant monster movies, though it will take some expert screenwriters and directors to create anything this good again.

If you don't believe me or Lane, you can find some other reviews at these fine places:

Positive reviews: Evanston Review, The Examiner (San Francisco), Cinematical, Creative Loafing Atlanta, The Stranger, New York Magazine, Coming Soon, Cinematic Happenings Under Development (CHUD also has some thoughts on a proposed American remake.)

Mixed reviews: Real Movie News, Daily Record,

Negative Reviews: Big Picture, Big Sound, Gwinnett Daily Post

There's also a review by Rick Kleffel at NPR, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Alex Wald, artist of giant monsters

Omni-Monster!!! has a great post about Alex Wald, an artist whose works will certainly interest those of you who come to this blog. I particularly liked this album cover posted at Wald's blog, Astromonster, but be sure to take a look around his sites. He's done Ultraman and a load of other kaiju and science fiction works.

And while I'm at it, be sure and check out Omni-Monster!!! It's a fun blog filled with giant monster toys and other plastic kaiju goodness.

Godzilla's storytelling engine

I've been reading the blog Fraggmented for a few weeks now. It's mostly a comic book blog and one of the main features is "Storytelling Engines." With this series of posts, John Seavey looks at the protagonist of a comic book series and tries to delineate how the writers create "storytelling engines" -- the ongoing goals, characters and situations that keep the plot moving perpetually -- for that protagonist. (You can find some background on this idea here and here.)

This week, Fraggmented takes on Marvel's Godzilla series. Seavey talks about how Godzilla was added to the Marvel universe and how the story was run on the basis of a "false status quo" (think "The Fugitive" or "The Hulk" TV series). It's interesting stuff, Seavey thinks strongly and well about series and has interesting insights. Take a look at the Godzilla entry and let it lead you through his blog to the other Storytelling Engines, all of which are highly recommended.

The post makes me think about the Gorgo comic books (which I promise I will get back to). It might be interesting to look at the storytelling engine there, if there was one ...

More on Unleashed

SciFi Japan has a wealth of new information on "Godzilla: Unleashed," including a video and screen shots. I'm still wondering how much different this will be than Atari's earlier Godzilla games. I think the use of the Wii controller could make it a totally different game. I hope so.

War of the Gargantuas

I caught this classic for the first time on MonstersHD. It's quite something, pure entertainment through and through. I saw the AIP dub of the film, which took some liberties with the Japanese version (which I haven't seen) including really screwing up the soundtrack (it was quite obvious that Ifukube's music had been mostly replaced.) The dubbing also tried to eliminate all mention of "Frankenstein Conquers the World;" the Japanese version of "War of the Gargantuas" continues that story.

The story revolves around two giants, Gaira and Sanda (those names are from the Japanese version, but the AIP version only calls them gargantuas, so there you go.) Gaira starts the movie off with a bang, fighting a giant octopus and then eating the sailors he just saved from the beast. Gaira goes on to attack Japan, attempts to steal a singer and fights the military.

When the military attack, they bring on one of the key weapons of Toho's kaiju films: the Maser cannon. That piece of firepower appears again and again in Godzilla films and plays a crucial role in "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla." And in this movie, the Maser cannon does what the military is unable to do in almost any other Toho film: they actually put harm the monster. Gaira is bloody and beaten during his fight against the Masers. He is only saved by the intervention of Sanda, his brown brother.

Sanda was created from the mix of Frankenstein's monster's heart and the radiation at Hiroshima (at least, that's what created Sanda in "Frankenstein Conquers the World"). Gaira is part of Sanda's flesh that was left behind at sea, somehow regenerating into the people-eating monster.

Sanda takes his brother in and tries to heal him up. But he's outraged when he finds out about Gaira's food of choice. He attacks his brother and they fight across Japan.

That's the basic monster plot line of the movie. Meanwhile, Russ Tamblyn and friends try to come up with ways to defeat Gaira and to save Sanda.

Tamblyn looks sleepy in this film. Tamblyn, over the years, has said he thought of this job as slumming and didn't care much about it. Until recently, he had never actually watched the film. His acting doesn't hurt most of the film, in fact his scientist just comes across as exceedingly calm and put together. The acting only hurts when Akemi's life is threatened toward the end of the film. Tamblyn seems neither concerned nor excited about his girlfriend's peril. In fact, he doesn't seem to care at all for Akemi. I don't think that's what the director wanted.

Gaira running across airports and over lines of tanks looks silly, but so much fun. Despite it still being filmed in Toho's usual slowed down speeds, he seems to fly across the screen, little vehicles scattering to either side. It looks fake, no doubt, but it seems so much fun and so much unlike anything else in the daikaiju canon that I can't help but love it.

The ending of this film is bizarre. It's reminiscent of Rodan, the two creatures ending their lives in the flames of a volcano, one of the creatures doing so heroically. But where it fit naturally in Rodan, it doesn't fit at all here. In the last 10 minutes of the film, the volcano suddenly appears in the water, where the two are already fighting, and they end up falling into it. It seems purposeless, it seems as if the scriptwriter just had nowhere to go with the film and just found a way to say "and they all died."

"War of the Gargantuas is flawed, but it's a lot of fun. I would love to see the Japanese version of the film to find out how much of the film's plot was lost through its Americanization. I hope MediaBlasters adds this to its list of kaiju films it releases in the near future. It needs to be seen cleaned up and in its original version.

Mapmonster!

I know most of America watched the Super Bowl, so you've probably already seen this, but if you haven't, check it out at YouTube. It's the Mapmonster! It's a fun, ridiculous Ultraman parody with a faked up heavy metal song to go with it. If you look around, you can find some mock interviews with the band and the Mapmonster.

The Host review

Lucius Shepard reviews The Host favorably and in comparison to an unimpressed review of Pan's Labyrinth. I really think this is a great film and deserves many more accolades. Give the review a look.

New Godzilla video game

By now, most of you have already heard the news: Atari will be releasing a new Godzilla video game, Godzilla: Unleashed. (Also of interest, they will be making a Gundam game.) Judging by the screenshots, this will be the same kind of fighting game as Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. I think this game will have to include some serious changes before I pick it up. I bought the last two and they are both very similar. They are fun fighting games with some destroying buildings included. It's not very deep, but it makes for a fun few hours with friends. Here's to hoping it will recapture my interest.

GORGO #3

It's very clear this is a Steve Ditko comic as he put his name right there in the bottom left corner of the first page. As for Joe Gill, like many of his productions, he was never credited. Still, most of Charlton comics were written by him and it is common knowledge he did this series.

As with most of these reviews, this is mainly going to be a summation of the comic with a few comments from me. For those who are worried, there will be spoilers.

The story starts out in media res, the opening splash page showing the young Gorgo destroying some Central American city while in the foreground, dictator Mandel Astro convinces this country's leader to surrender because "The beast destroys your nation at my orders!" Gill is obviously pulling this story out of the headlines of his day. In the early '60s (the time of the Cuban missile crisis) Cuba was the big fear. Communists at the country's border and all that. Ditko adds to the obviousness of the caricature (Mandel Astro/Fidel Castro) by dressing the dictator in a military uniform and continually chomping a cigar.

On to the next page and we jump back "some months before" when Astro is informed of Gorgo's presence. Astro forces Dr. Valzo -- a scientific aid who has promised control over any living thing -- to go out and make the creatures obey him. Valzo is worried but Astro convinces him:

VALZO: "S-serve you president? It would destroy me, it w-would..."
ASTRO: "Perhaps, Valzo, only perhaps! But, of a certainty, I will destroy you if you fail!"

By the next panel, Valzo has set out to capture Gorgo and his mother.

On page 3 (pictured), we've gone on to the capture of the younger Gorgo. Both in the opening splash page and in this page, there are references to the creatures being wounded in a previous battle. I can only assume this is from earlier issues of the comic book. The creatures are found east of Long Island.

Valzo uses an electrical rod to control the young Gorgo in a much less wordy sequence underwater. Electricity not only hurts Gorgo, it actually stuns him, allowing Valzo to tie up the creature and tow it along back to their native country. There, for several pages, Valzo trains Gorgo to do his bidding.

Astro, impatient as any comic book dictator would be, has Valzo send Gorgo across his border (apparently this isn't an island nation) and defeat the enemy's forces. After Gorgo crushes the city, we are returned to the conversation between Astro and his enemy, who threatens to shoot him.

ASTRO: Shoot me and Dr. Valzo will send the monster after you.
ASTRO: You want that amigo? You want it coming for you, talons, teeth and tail? Or would you rather flee with the millions you have stolen from your poor, down-trodden people?

That's pure pulp dialog, but man it's fun.

But as Astro celebrates his victory, Valzo meets with his "pet" and tells him he will no longer use Gorgo to win power for others. "It is I who will reap the rich rewards!" Valzo orders Gorgo to take out Astro as he gives a speech from a balcony, telling his people not to revolt. By the end of the page, we see Valzo wearing his own uniform under the caption:

"When the dust cleared, the abused proletariat had a new master in the palace but there was no real change..."

Valzo teaches his army to control Gorgo and sets off to conquer yet another nation. Finally, as they reach the border, Gorgo has had his fill. He turns on Valzo and then faces Valzo's army. But the new dictator makes his escape as his army fights. He makes off to a waiting yacht filled with gold bullion plundered from the country's treasury.

But Gorgo follows the dictator. The yacht's crew deserts him, but Valzo makes a desperate attempt to escape the monster. Out at sea, he puts the ship on automatic and prepares to gloat. Unfortunately:

"Yes, Valzo forgot that Gorgo was a marine animal ... more at home in the water than on dry land ..."

Gorgo destroys the yacht, and Valzo floating on the sea make a desperate plea for his life. Surprisingly, Gorgo listens:

"Almost as though he understood the abject fear, as though he felt pity in his huge heart, Gorgo did resist and turn away, swimming strongly for the deep, quiet place where his mother still slept!"

Valzo is left floating at sea, his fate uncertain. The last panel shows Gorgo rejoining his sleeping mother beneath the waves, ready for the comic's next issue.

Of course, much of the excitement here is due to Ditko's work. His decisions on panel placement (I'm assuming he made those decisions) and keeping action going even when there is only talking makes this comic a joy.

But don't count out the story. With the exception of Valzo forgetting Gorgo is a marine animal (he did, after all, have to risk his life underwater to capture the creature), there is little here that would make me cringe. Gorgo acts much as he did in the movie and the surprise ending seems perfectly in keeping with that. In fact, Gorgo is really the hero of this story.

The political story is pure 1960s scare tactics. Mandel Astro is vain and power-hungry and overthrown quickly. His successor is venal. All their talk of the proletariat are just ways to control the masses. Still, stories like this were part of their age. For example, there is a Twilight Zone episode from this same era featuring a similarly thinly veiled Fidel Castro (played by Peter Falk) facing his own ego.

The worst moment in the comic is seeing the innocent civilians, Pablo and his friend wearing a bright yellow sombrero, in one of the attacked countries.

What does work well is the combination of monster and human stories. Often in giant monster movies, the hardest part is making the monster plot connected to the human story. Too often you get world leaders watching a TV screen as the monster destroys a city. Here, Gorgo is enmeshed directly in the plotting and politics of these Central American dictators.

All in all, a fun comic and a great place to start reading the Gorgo comic. Next up is Gorgo, issue 15.

RIP Joe Gill

Charlton comic book scribe Joe Gill died last month. For the purposes of this blog, he would be primarily known for his work writing Charlton's giant monster comics Gorgo, Konga and others. In the next few weeks, in tribute to Gill, I'm going to describe and review the Konga and Gorgo comics I have in PDF form (You can find out more about that here.)

The Host, a short review

I managed to catch the new South Korean film, "The Host", while I was on a plane to London last month. It was the best thing about that flight.

The movie is about a Korean man -- who is at best stupid and at worst deranged -- losing his daughter to a giant monster. He and his family make a valiant effort against the government and circumstance to rescue the girl and defeat the monster.

While that pretty accurately describes the story, it doesn't tell you anything about the movie. The characters are all well drawn and the tone shifts comfortably between goofiness, drama, action and black humor.

The film is easily the best giant monster movie I've seen since the Gamera trilogy. The monster, however, is not of the kaiju type. He's slightly smaller than the Rhedosaurus of "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." And he's a scary beast. You never get a truly good look at the creature, although he seems to be some kind of mutation between a tadpole and a lizard with a wide mouth that opens in at least three directions.

I don't think I've captured the true sense of how good this film is. But watch out for it, it is expected to have a small tour of American theaters before its DVD release and an American remake. No giant monster fan could be disappointed with this film.

Classic Media's "Gojira" review

If Classic Media had simply put out a DVD of the Japanese version of "Gojira," with no extras and a crappy clamshell cover, it would still be one of, if not the, major giant monster event of the year. The movie has long deserved to be seen this way, its recent tour of art house theaters was important, but being available in everyone's home is crucial.

But that's not where Classic Media stopped. Their 2-disc "Gojira" DVD set, which is officially being released Sept. 5, is a beautiful piece of work that is absolutely essential for giant monster and Godzilla fans and, probably more importantly, film buffs in general.

THE PACKAGE

The first thing that hits you is how beautiful the packaging of this disc is. The cover shows Godzilla's gray image surrounded by sea and black sky. At the top is the red lettering of Gojira, with the Japanese symbols for the monster's name a shadowy gray behind it. The case is cardboard, giving the feel of a hardcover book.

Open the package up and there is a plastic tray for each version of the movie. Beneath the disc for "Gojira" is a photo of Godzilla breathing atomic fire across the Tokyo skyline. Underneath "Godzilla King of the Monsters" is the monster rising from the sea in its death throes, our heroes' ship in the background.

Inside is a booklet with an essay called "Godzilla's Footprint" written by Steve Ryfle, author of "Japan's Favorite Mon-Star," one of the best books on Godzilla films. The essay helps put the films in perspective of the times. It also details the stories of the creators behind the films. The booklet contains a couple of nice stills from "Gojira."

THE FILMS

I was surprised by the number of pops, lines and other artifacts in the film. In this age of cleaned up films, I expected things to look much cleaner. However, the explanation for it came in the commentary. First, because of the matte work and layered film used for effects, there were flaws from the first time this film was shown. Second, Japan used a lower quality film stock than American films of the same time period. Therefore, much of the film degraded quickly and prints would not come much cleaner than this.

There is, of course, no widescreen here. The movie was not filmed in Tohoscope, so its shape is much the same as your TV screen. I detected nothing cut off or missing (however, I've never seen the film in a movie theater, having missed last summer's showings.)

"Gojira" seems to be subtitled very well. I don't know Japanese, so I can't tell the quality of translation, but it does read well. There were no mistypes or spelling errors that I could see.

Most importantly, it was wonderful to see "Gojira" again. Before this, I had only seen bootleg copies on VHS tape. The movie is truly dark and dismal. There's a seriousness to the film unlike any other giant monster film. Unlike almost all of Ishiro Honda's other work, there is no irony or humor in "Gojira." There is no doubt Honda was making a film for adults dealing with issues that were still raw for the Japanese public.

I'm also impressed with the structure of the movie. In most giant monster movies, one of the most difficult problems to overcome is creating an interaction between the characters and the monster, making the human drama as compelling as the devastation. Only during the long destruction of Tokyo are the characters removed from the center of the film. In particular, I was impressed with the love triangle at the center of the film. Emiko and Ogata confront Serizawa about the oxygen destroyer. This would be compelling drama on its own, but it deepens and becomes more powerful knowing that their argument is about more than just that issue. When Ogata and Serizawa fight, Serizawa is lashing out against a world that would use his discovery for evil and against Ogata directly. Yamane's character is also well drawn. He wants to save Godzilla, not because the monster is one of a kind or some other misguided impulse, but because he sees in studying Godzilla the possibility of saving people's lives. Despite his misgivings, however, he still helps the government in finding a way to defeat Godzilla. In an American monster movie of the time, (think "The Thing from Another World") the scientist would be a madman not really in touch with the situation.

"Godzilla, King of the Monsters" suffers from being packaged with "Gojira." The things that make the original great are hollowed out. Terry Morse and Raymond Burr did a good job with what they had, and if they hadn't done it Godzilla may never have had the level of fame it's reached, but it doesn't have the gravitas of the original. But it is still wonderful to have this film side by side with the original. This was, after all, the version that brought Godzilla to worldwide fame.

THE EXTRAS

The extras on the disc include a commentary on each film by Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (the creator of Japanese Giants magazine as well as many other fandom publications). There are also two featurettes, one on the making of the Godzilla suit and the second on how the story of "Gojira" was developed. There are also original theatrical trailers on each disc.

All these extra materials are very informative. There were many pieces of information I had never heard before, and I've read much about the Godzilla films. In particular, the commentary for "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" includes snippets from interviews with people involved with bringing the film to America and an interview with Terry Morse Jr., the son of the American director who also worked on the film. This is great stuff and is essential listening for any Godzilla fan.

The featurettes are basically still photos while commentary continues about the movies. The featurette on story development fascinated me (although I imagine many fans will be more interested in the suit-making story of the other featurette.) After hearing it, I really would like to see the original version of Shigeru Kayama's story for "Gojira." It sounds much different from the film and fascinating in its own right. Just hearing the plot details of Kayama's story goes to show how much work Ishiro Honda put into the film. After Honda finished with the film, it was no longer Kayama's story. Honda had made it his own, and much more dramatic and affecting. (Of course, this is all judging from what the featurette tells us. Maybe Kayama's story was much more dramatic in other ways.) Regardless, I am now fascinated with Kayama as he supposedly wrote stories before Godzilla about sea creatures. I wonder if any of his work has been translated? (Actually, I just found this page about an effort to get Kayama's story translated.)

COMPARISON TO BFI

Previous to this release, the only other "Gojira" release in English was BFI's Godzilla disc. Many of the same people worked on both packages, including Ryfle and Godziszewski, but as I understand it, Classic Media's extras are all new. Still, the BFI disc (which I have not seen) includes the one Japanese version of the film, a commentary by three Godzilla experts (the third expert (I think, I welcome corrections) was Keith Aiken, who worked on the animated Godzilla series in the U.S.) It also includes two featurettes that sound very similar to Classic Media's, one on story development and one on suit building. There is also a documentary called "12 Japanese Fishermen." It's a documentary from the 1950s on the effects of radiation on Japanese fishermen.

It sounds to me, from my uninformed position, that Classic Media's release stands up well against BFI's. It's too bad the documentary on Japanese fishermen was not included, but it alone is probably not worth the price of importing BFI's disc.

SUMMATION

This disc is a dream come true for me and probably for most Godzilla fans. Finally, the original film treated with respect and care. This bodes well for Classic Media's upcoming releases of "Godzilla Raids Again" and "Godzilla vs. Mothra," which will get very similar treatment. In the meantime, "Gojira" gets a place of honor in my collection.

Godzilla sweepstakes

Classic Media's release of "Gojira" is nearing and I, for one, can't wait. I hope to have a review of the DVD up by early September, thanks to a review copy I should be getting. The company is hyping the launch with a sweepstakes, details follow:


CLASSIC MEDIA LAUNCHES “RETURN TO THE KING OF THE MONSTERS™ HOMETOWN”
SWEEPSTAKES TODAY TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF “GOJIRA” ON DVD

One Grand Prize Winner Will Receive an 8-Day, 7-Night Trip for 2 to Tokyo, Japan

New York, NY – August 16, 2006 – Godzilla wants to show you his hometown! To celebrate the US release of GOJIRA, the original 1954, uncut Japanese Godzilla movie, Classic Media kicks off the Return to the King of the Monsters™ Hometown Sweepstakes.

Starting today, Godzilla fans can log onto www.godzillaondvd.com to enter to win one of more than 250 monstrous prizes.

One grand prize-winner will receive an 8-day/7-night vacation to Tokyo, Japan for two, including travel and first-class accommodations. Classic Media will also give away one SONY PSP ™ per day for the duration of the sweepstakes, running from August 16 – September 16, 2006. Additional prizes include 50 “Gojira/Godzilla: King of the Monsters” DVD sets and 200 limited-edition Gojira DVD movie posters.

For “Return to the King of the Monsters ™ Hometown” sweepstakes details, rules and regulations – please log onto www.godzillaondvd.com. This promotion is produced by T.E.A.M. Group, Florham Park, N.J.

About Gojira:

Gojira is the original, unedited Japanese version of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. On September 5th, Classic Media will release Gojira on DVD, for the first time ever in the U.S., as part of a 2-disc set that will also include the Americanized Godzilla starring Raymond Burr. Gojira will include 40 minutes of footage that was edited out to allow for the addition of Burr as an American reporter and will be available for $21.98 SRP.

About Classic Media:

Classic Media owns and manages some of the world’s most recognizable family properties across all media including feature film, television, home video and consumer products. The company’s extensive library features a diverse collection of popular animated and live-action characters such as: Casper the Friendly Ghost, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Underdog and Rocky & Bullwinkle.

New hope for new Godzilla DVDs

I almost hurt myself I'm so excited. Check out this post from Monster Zero. I've been pretty skeptical about what Classic Media would do with the Godzilla DVDs they now have the rights to, but it looks like they are coming through in a big way. Not only do we have a whole bunch of great classic G films in widescreen and with subtitles, but they include commentary by people like Steve Ryfle, Richard Pusateri, Keith Aiken and Stuart Galbraith IV. (Basically, most of the people behind SciFi Japan and some of the most informed minds in G fandom.)

And the best part is the last line:

This is just a partial list. These discs are still being worked on, so more extra features are expected to be included.