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#Post#: 14766--------------------------------------------------
Me and Godzilla
By: Jack Date: September 2, 2019, 9:39 pm
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I think everyone here knows I'm a Godzilla fan. I got to
thinking about this today, because Comet TV* has a Godzilla
marathon today. I turned it on this morning before I left for
the Employee Party today, and the kids ended up watching it off
and on all day. That got me to thinking about when I first
discovered the Big G.
The first time was when I was 8 years old (we lived in one
apartment from June of 73 until Mom married Ralph in February of
74, which meant I was 8 the entire time we were there).
Let me pause here to say something that only Kat and maybe Adric
would understand. As far back as I can remember, and through
the early 80s, DFW (the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex) had the
three big networks (CBS was channel 4, NBC was channel 5, and
ABC was channel 8), PBS (channel 13) and two local stations -
channel 11 and channel 39 (UHF - remember that?). At times, we
also had Channel 33 (another UHF), but that was pretty much just
a religious channel, though Channel 39 also did a lot of
religious programing at times.
What we didn't have was cable TV. I'm pretty sure cable came to
Dallas before it made it out to us, but I think it was 84 or 85
before it arrived. For that matter, we also didn't have VCRs -
I think we got our first one in '85, when I was 20 years old.
All that's to explain why Godzilla was a big deal to me. As I
said, the first of his movies I saw was in fall of '73. That
was Monster Zero (also known as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero or
Invasion of the Astro Monsters). Back then, TV was not a 24
hour thing. The only channel that never went off the air was
Channel 8, which had the All Night Movies. On one particular
Friday night, Monster Zero was coming on at 1am. Mom made me go
to bed, but she was going to watch the movie before that, so she
woke me before going to bed, and I sat up and was introduced to
Godzilla.
For the record, this movie was the first one where Godzilla
played a real heroes role. It stars Godzilla and Rodan, and the
villain is King Ghidorah. I know this wasn't my first Godzilla
movie, because I remember watching part of Godzilla vs. King
Kong when I was in second grade (I actually remember talking
about it the next day, not seeing it), but this is the first one
I really remember seeing.
This was a time when Gozilla movies were still being released
theatrically. I can't line up everything I remember time wise
(probably because of movies coming later to some areas back
then, or maybe because kiddy matinees were still a thing back
then). I do remember when Godzilla vs Megalon, Godzilla on
Monster Island, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (originally
Godzilla vs the Bionic Monster, then vs the Cosmic Monster when
Universal Television threatened a lawsuit). My grandma took me
to see all of those at the local drive-in. She also took me to
see Kiddy Matinees of Godzilla vs the Smog Monster, Destroy All
Monsters, and Yog, the Monster from Outer Space. She was not
interested in sitting through those, so she would take a book
and sit in her car and read while I went in to see the movie.
Later, after we moved to the house where Mom lives, I was 9
years old, and I went home from school on my own. In our area,
we had a 1pm movie on channel 11 every weekday (plus a lot more
over the weekend). There was also a movie on Channel 11 at 9pm
on weeknights. The thing is, at 10pm, it took a break for local
news and weather, before the rest of the movie played. It was
really frustrating when they showed something I wanted to see,
since I couldn't stay up past 10pm until I was in high school.
The other regular, local movie was on Channel 8 at 3pm - it was
called Dialing for Dollars. Normally I watched cartoons and
stuff after school, when I didn't go outside for some reason.
Dialing for Dollars usually did themed weeks, and Godzilla was
one that they repeated. The frustrating thing is, the show
started at 3pm, but I didn't get out of school until 3:15, and
it was a mile from there to school. On the other hand, the
first part of Kaiju movies are usually just the set up, so I'd
get home to watch the best parts anyway.
of course, besides Godzilla, there were many other Kaiju -
Mothra and Rodan were the most famous, but there was also War of
the Gargantuas (a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World),
and the incredibly cheesy but wonderful King Kong Escapes.
Anyway, my kids have watched several of those today, and I was
just remembering what a great part of my childhood they were,
and thought I'd share a bit of history.
* Comet TV is a new channel that specializes in old sci-fi
movies and TV. It's free to watch on Roku or online with
commercials.
#Post#: 14772--------------------------------------------------
Re: Me and Godzilla
By: Zyngaru Date: September 3, 2019, 8:23 am
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I never was a fan of Godzilla movies. I watched them of course,
but they weren't my favorites. I did find it funny whenever
anyone said Godzilla all the Japanese people would scream. I
can remember it becoming a running joke with comedians. During
their comic routine, they would arbitrarily say Godzilla and
everyone would scream.
#Post#: 14801--------------------------------------------------
Re: Me and Godzilla
By: David M. Katz Date: September 5, 2019, 3:53 pm
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I love Godzilla movies except for that abysmal thing with
Matthew Broderick.
What did you think of the latest: King of the Monsters? I
thought it was good and Millie Bobby Brown was excellent but I
found it a little heavy on plot and not as focused on chaos and
destruction (which is why I love Godzilla movies.)
#Post#: 14803--------------------------------------------------
Re: Me and Godzilla
By: Jack Date: September 5, 2019, 5:05 pm
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David, I thought the '98 movie was okay, it just wasn't
Godzilla. If they'd called it Giant Radioactive Lizard Eats New
York, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
As for King of the Monsters, I really wanted to love it. I did
have a couple of problems (it was still filmed WAY too dark, and
I'm not 100% sure about the human story). I did feel like,
after the first movie, this one was kind of too rushed/packed,
but yeah - I loved it. Can't wait for Godzilla vs. King Kong
next year.
#Post#: 14805--------------------------------------------------
Re: Me and Godzilla
By: Zyngaru Date: September 5, 2019, 5:56 pm
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[quote author=Jack link=topic=1464.msg14803#msg14803
date=1567721102]
Can't wait for Godzilla vs. King Kong next year.
[/quote]
Well after seeing Kong Skull Island, Godzilla doesn't have a
prayer. If Kong can take on all those monster lizards on that
island, he can take care of any lizard on the planet. It's in
his DNA.
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