Posted on 06/25/2004 3:11:11 PM PDT by Long Cut
After banging around on some threads lately, it has become obvious that a decent number of FReepers are fans of Japan’s most famous monster, GODZILLA.
This is certainly understandable; that worthy creature has appeared in 28 movies over 50 years, has had two animated TV series, as well as a series of novels devoted to his exploits. Most of the movies we enjoyed as kids, whiling away Saturday afternoons in the days before cable with those great old ‘60s and ‘70s films with the Big G and his buddies Rodan, Mothra, Angilas, and a host of others. Lots of fun memories there, right? (C’mon...how many of you almost drove Mom crazy by trying incessantly to imitate the famous roar of Godzilla...at the top of your lungs? ‘Fess up.)
Myself, I have over 20 of Godzilla’s best (and worst) films on tape and DVD, as well as Daikaiju Eiga (giant monster movies) with other famous creatures of yore...Gamera the fiery turtle, Gorgo, and King Kong.
What is it that draws us to these creatures? Why do we take such pleasure in watching men in suits trash fake cities? WHO CARES?!?! They’re FUN!
Not only that, but they are perfectly suitable for our own children, being free of the sex and profanity so common today. Heck, I still own several Godzilla toys from years ago, and some NEW ones I “impulse bought”, to my wife’s chagrin, a few years ago when the American “GINO” (Godzilla In Name Only) came out.
Godzilla is actually a great fit for conservatives, is he not? Let’s see...he is steadfast in a fight, never running from confrontation and always standing up for himself.
He favors personal weapons, bringing his famous Atomic Breath (“Assault Breath”?) everywhere, carrying it concealed until needed. He has also taught his children the safe use of this weapon, as a good father should.
He is a good family man, taking care of both of his children single-clawedly, and homeschooling them besides. In fact, when one was taken by government agents (possibly from HHS), he retrieved the lad by leveling a city. As mentioned, he taught both the proper use of FIREarms.
He disdains illegal aliens, especially those from the planet Kilaak, whom he turned to cinders himself instead of bothering to wait for the INS. Repeat atmosphere-crossers, like Ghidorah, get similar treatment. In fact, no illegal aliens have ever faced anything but trouble from the Big Guy. He even destroys their ships, to prevent recidivism.
He hates government intrusion in his private life, such as when the government sends battalions of tanks to stop him from peaceably going for a walk. Not even David Koresh, however, reduced tanks to molten slag in defense of his Liberty.
He’s a team player as well as a good leader, having rallied other monsters to a cause and leading them on to victory, that being the obligatory stomping of (illegal) space alien ass, and of course the severe beating of Ghidorah.
He has no patience with the Endangered Species Act, which he proves by mauling and torching endangered giant mantises, spiders, and moths who pester him.
Yes, there’s a lot to like about the old geezer, and I figure that this is as good a place as any to discuss his and his bunch’s finer points.
So what’s your favorite movie? Favorite monster? How about the best battle, or what fight would you like to see? Let’s chew on that for a while...it’s the weekend!
See ya later!
cool. BRB
Got it and bookmarked. Thanks.
I use the "Marine Raider Bowie"...ten inches of quarter-inch thick carbon steel, full tanged. I carried it all last deployment and the one before that. It's still shaving sharp.
I'll look into it.
For a GREAT recent Godzilla movie, see "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" (GMK for short). It's got the MEANEST looking Godzilla ever, and is packed with action. The fights are really brutal, too...biting, clawing and vicious.
A real standout in the genre.
Yep. I have been outta town.
I think I will take a trip to the video store and get a couple of movies; one old and one new, tomorrow.
Thanks for the site.
I will be back!
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Man in rubber suit, stomping cardboard. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
I thought Godzilla was recently retired??
I used to love the Godzilla movies and even the cartoon in the 80's and yes I hated the Jay Leno GINO
Pingzilla me, big guy!
Somehow, I had a feeling you'd make that request.
It's actually quite a bit more intricate than that.
The buildings are built both inside and out, down to the furniture in the offices. The suit actor must hit a mark on them PRECISELY, or they will not fall or worse, fall at the wrong time, which then means that they must be rebuilt from scratch at great cost.
As for the suit, it is 200 pounds of latex, metal, and remote-control electronics. The actor can only wear it for about ten minutes at a time, due to its weight and lack of air, and he is nearly blind within it. He cannot remove it by himself, and is essentially helpless in emergencies. Several actors have been injured in the suit.
Figure ten years before another one.
Ever notice on this kind of shot how the water droplets betray the size scale? Water droplets the size of a man's head or larger don't work. The surface tension force rises only with the square of the radius, but the disruptive forces mostly rise with the cube of the radius. There is thus a size limit to stability.
A similar thing often happens in shots with flames and/or smoke billows. Individual little candle-flame spikes shouldn't be too big, nor should smoothly curved smoke wisps.
The worst mistake is neglecting to slow the film down when shooting miniatures. If the water flies too fast or the smoke billows too fast, size scale recognition happens at once.
It sounded pretty interesting, and the photos with the article depicted some very attractive ladies.
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