Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla
(1994)
Following upon the critical success of 1993's Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla II, Toho Studios rushed
to get the next installment in theatres as soon as possible. Working with a considerable budget and a
wealth of special effects talent, Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla was ready for release in Japan in
early December, 1994. It was a moderate commercial success and was rather well received by critics
and the public as a whole. It never made it to American theatres and for many years was only available
by mail order from overseas. In 2000, Tri-Star released a DVD double pack containing Godzilla Vs.
Space Godzilla and Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah with
glorious digitally re-mastered quality. This is the version that I'll review here. Runtime is 108 minutes
and the film is uncut and unedited, which is a welcome change from the Showa series, which were
extensively hacked.
The film was directed by Kensho Yamashita, a newcomer to the franchise who had previously been
known for directing "teen idol" movies. This background in love stories and emotional content is
apparent in his working of Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla, which is chock full of doe-eyed women
and handsome men pursuing the quarry of young love, as well as giant radioactive mutant lizards.
Except for special effects supervisor Koichi Kawakita, all of Director Yamashita's production staff was
new to the giant monster genre and the final cut of the movie clearly shows their inexperience.
A movie like this is not as easy to pick apart as a gem from the 1970s, but there is still ample fodder
for my poison pen. It just goes to show you that millions of dollars and gigabytes of computer
generated special effects can still produce a lame movie. Just watch Battlefield Earth if you
don't believe me.
And now on to our show...
Our title sequence is a collage of images starting with a crystalline object spinning through space
followed by a shot of it crashing into a tropical island (see below for an explanation). The title card is
in Japanese, with English in brackets below, a quick sign that this movie was never released in America.
The cast and crew credits are overlaid on a scene of a newly constructed robot being put through it's
paces in a huge factory.
The "Mecha" is a two-piece robot, a lower half like a big drilling tank, the upper half a flying battleship.
The two halves combine to make a bipedal human-shaped robot with lots of rockets and lasers. This is
cool for those people out there who are into the whole MechWarrior and anime thing that was sweeping
the dorm rooms of computer nerds and back rooms of game shops everywhere in the 1990s. For those
of us who are old enough, it just looks like a big Transformer, or Voltron.
Much of what follows is not actually in the movie, though it's common knowledge to all Godzilla fans.
This robot will prove to MOGERA, which stands for "Mobile G-Force Expert Robot Aerial-type". It was
constructed largely from the wreckage of MechaGodzilla and MechaGidorah, both of whom were
destroyed in prior movies, and utilizes 23rd century knowledge and technology left behind from the
Futurians in Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. The above facts were never actually stated in the movie,
and one has to go to the literature on the movie to learn it. I guess the producers felt that such
knowledge was self-explanatory for "true fans" and felt no need to explain it to casual viewers. Astute
fans will also recognize "Moguera" as the similar big robot from 1957's The Mysterians, which while not set in the Godzilla
universe, was one of Toho's stronger commercial successes.
Ok, back to the film. We open now with what I assume to be the huge sprawling Tokyo HQ of the
G-Force, the organization tasked with containing and studying Godzilla. There are two competing
programs running concurrently here, one is by the military with MOGERA, the other with a bunch of
psychics hoping to use telepathy to control Godzilla. We first meet three people involved in "Project T"
(T for Telepathy), the Director and two Doctors.
Director and Chief Psychic Miki Saegusa (played by 23-year old Megumi Odaka) is familiar to fans as
the same character appeared in the final six movies of the series. Miki is a tiny if mannish woman,
barely 5'1", with large protruding ears and the single most horrible haircut since Satan brought the Billy
Ray Cyrus Mullet to earth to destroy it with fire.
Biotechnologist Chinatsu Gondo is played by the lovely 28-year old actress Towako Yoshikawa,
appearing in her only Godzilla movie. Gondo is a tall woman in her thirties with long hair and a
businesslike fashion sense. Every time I see her she reminds me of the American television actress
Blair Brown, both in the face and the way she styles her hair, so I'll refer to her as "Blair Brown" for
the rest of the review.
Evolution Biologist Susumu Okubo is played by 43-year old Yosuke Saito, also in his only Godzilla movie,
though he's known to Toho fans from 1989's sci-fi stinker Gunhed. He's a shifty sort of
character, if initially charming, with an untrusting face and a penchant for mobster-cut suits. For no
better reason that to keep all the Japanese names straight, I'll refer to him as "Doctor Creepy" for
the rest of the review.
When the doctors come to see her, Miki is overseeing a group of young psychic children in a classroom,
the children doing meditation and yoga in little prymidical boxes. Miki is complaining that Project T is
just never going to work, nothing can hope to control Godzilla. Blair Brown says that the military
alternative, Project MOGERA, which aims to kill the monster, is not a viable solution either. Blair looks
absolutely stunning in these scenes, tall and lithe with graceful facial features, wearing an Ally
McBeal sort of business suit/miniskirt combo. She will definitely be the movie's babe.
Blair then outlines for us the audience just what Project T is all about. It involves placing a "telepathy
amplifier" on Godzilla's head and using that to boost the mental powers of a human subject to the point
where that person can hopefully take control of Godzilla's mind. Miki is still reluctant, but Blair and
Doctor Creepy convince her to be the telepathy agent. Miki is wearing these tacky earrings which will
prove to be indicators of her psychic connection to Mothra, as seen in Godzilla Vs. Mothra II,
keep this in mind.
We now cut to an insert shot of Mothra flying through space. This is the Mothra from the 1992 movie,
not the tacky one from the 1970s. We see her shed literally hundreds of "micro-Mothras" in her wake,
like a B-29 kicking out tinfoil chaff.
Now we get to meet two of our male leads as we cut out to the Pacific Ocean to a cruise liner. The
ship has "A Line" painted in English across her sides, so perhaps she operates to Hong Kong or Hawaii.
Aboard are two officers of G-Force, Lieutenants Kiyo Sato and Koji Shinjo. In typical buddy cop show
fashion, these two men are as different as night and day. One is a slacker free-spirit, the other an
all-business professional.
The slacker, Lt. Sato, is played by Zenkichi Yoneyama, and this is the only movie listed for him in the
IMDB, which is strange for such a young actor. Perhaps his role in this movie killed his career. He likes
Hawaiian flower shirts and hip jive talking. To keep the names straight, I'll refer to him as "Slacker"
for the rest of this review.
The professional, Lt. Shinjo, is played by Jun Hashizume, who is appearing in his only Godzilla movie as
well as the last movie of his career. More proof that Godzilla movies are the kiss of death for acting
careers. He is almost always in uniform and in control of his emotions. Because of his attitude and his
future role in the rest of the movie, I'll refer to him as "Stud".
Ok, we now see them getting off the liner and into a Zodiac inflatable powerboat. They're headed to
Birth Island on official business. Birth Island, of course, is where Godzilla and Little Godzilla reside,
though we never hear the actual name of the island in this movie, we're just supposed to know it.
Seeing as how they were sent by G-Force on this mission, we wonder why they took a commercial cruise
liner and not a corporate helo, like we later see them leave the island in. We also wonder, since the
range of a Zodiac is small, if the cruise liner's route really took them that close to an island chock full
of monsters.
The two men land on the island, which is rocky, mountainous, forested and tropical. Dressed in G-Force
tunics and carrying backpacks full of gear, they ascend a mountain to reach an open plain. It's noted
here that these two Japanese men both have their names on their tunics in English, as well as wearing
t-shirts and caps with English phrases on them. This strikes me as very odd in a Japanese release-only
movie, though perhaps it's indicative of the multinational United Nations effort to contain Godzilla that
oversees G-Force.
Once having crested the mountain, they're surprised to see in the plain three large crystalline
structures, dug into the earth like punji sticks in a tiger trap. Remember the opening few seconds of
the movie? These are what crashed to earth. Hey, didn't we see only one object crashing? Now there
are three pits? They are smoking with dry ice fog and the "spikes" are undulating slowly.
Suddenly, Slacker is jumped by a man with a knife who somehow managed to sneak up on them. We see
the man twist his knife at Slacker's throat, and a trickle of blood runs down his neck. But we soon see
that he was just stabbing a big poisonous tarantula that was on Slacker's shoulder. This spider blood
will be the only bloodshed in this entire movie.
The man with the knife is also a G-Force officer, a grizzled veteran who, judging by his shaggy hair and
grungy clothes, has apparently has been going solo on this island for quite some time.
His name will be Major Akira Yuki, and he is played by Akira Emoto, a veteran actor with 53 movie
credits to his name, who is still acting in 2003. He might be best known to Toho fans from Battle
Heater: Kotatsu and Private Lessons II. Emoto might have been a little old for an action
hero (46-years old), but that never stopped Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery. His hair is graying a bit
and his face is lined and tanned, but underneath the grime and bluster he is all John Wayne. For the
purposes of this review, I'll refer to him as "Maverick". He is indeed the only other human on the
island.
I'll fill in some holes here for you. It seems that Slacker and Stud are the point men for the Project T
effort, and were sent to this island to find Maverick, who could help them with their operation.
Maverick, however, has his own plan in mind. Got it?
While they chat, from over the crest appears Little Godzilla. Little Godzilla has been completely
remade from his last appearance in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II. In that movie he was more of
a miniature Godzilla, in this one he is a Pokemon toy with big, googly eyes and made-for-merchandising
plump little limbs. Yuk. His dimensions in this movie are 30 meters tall and 8,000 tons heavy. Because
of the number of "Godzillas" in this review, I'll refer to Little Godzilla as "Minya", which he is closer in
look to than anything else. The noise he makes can best be described as "trilling", very much like a baby
cooing. This is so obviously pandering to the child audience and the toy manufacturers as to make
anyone over the age of eight hurl. Minya here is completely non-threatening, and has even developed a
fondness for Maverick.
Strangely, by their reactions we are led to believe that Slacker and Stud have never seen Minya
before, and wouldn't even know its name unless Maverick told them. This seems odd that two officers
in G-Force would be so ignorant of the monster fauna, especially since we saw Minya in the last movie.
We cut now back to Tokyo to a late night emergency meeting of the G-Force leadership, a conference
table full of expensive suits and medal-festooned military uniforms. Doctor Creepy and Blair Brown
are here also, Blair looking ravishing in a creme silk blouse with a string of pearls.
Joining the group this night are some representatives of NASA, who have some information to present.
They have some footage taken from the "Interplanetary Research Vessel" that shows the inside of the
space ship as the ship is hit and destroyed by a giant "crystal shard". The spaceship interiors are
accomplished through the use of the most hideously bad bluescreen effect ever seen. We wonder too
about this manned interplanetary vessel of NASA's. Since this movie takes place in a contemporary
timeframe (1994), then NASA has been hiding something from us. Perhaps Marconi was right. Hey,
maybe studying all the 23rd century technology left behind by the Futurians in Godzilla vs. King
Ghidorah allowed them to build this ship? The NASA rep admits that they have no answers, and can
"only speculate that it was some sort of huge monster." This is a great line, evidence of the prevalence
of monsters in the timeline that Toho has created here.
Cut now outside, where jug-eared Miki is sitting alone on a bench. Her earrings begin to glow, signaling
that a Mothra fairy is coming for a visit. With some nifty special effects, the fairy transforms into
two twin girls, both about a foot tall, levitating in front of Miki. These messengers of Mothra are
played by 20-year old Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa, two young ladies who in real life form the
pop music group "The Cosmos". These girls played the same fairy roles in both Godzilla vs.
MechaGodzilla II and Godzilla vs. Mothra II. In keeping with the habit established in my
review of Godzilla vs. Mothra I, I will call them "Mary
Kate and Ashley" for the balance of this review.
Mary Kate and Ashley tell her that, "Your earth is facing a crisis. A terrible space monster is now
approaching the earth." They add further that the monster is coming specifically to kill Godzilla so the
earth can be conquered. This harkens back to the tired old storylines of the 1970s when in every movie
some monster was coming to pave the way for invasion by eliminating Godzilla. Couldn't they have come
up with something original. We never even learn who is coming to conqueror us, and given that later we
learn that the monster was created by "natural means" and not by some alien race, we wonder if Mary
Kate and Ashley have their facts straight.
Back to Birth Island, where Maverick has enlisted the two junior officers in his own personal agenda to
kill Godzilla. Several assumptions need to be made here. Maverick is here on his own, though is still in
good standing with G-Force, so perhaps he is on leave. He also must have pulled rank on the two
lieutenants, other wise they wouldn't be helping him when they came here to do their own work. But
then again, why did they specifically meet up with Maverick if they had such obviously different plans?
Strange.
The men are down at the beach digging holes. It seems that Godzilla often comes ashore at this spot to
visit Minya, and it is here that Maverick is setting up a trap. The holes are for a line of "tear gas mines"
which will hopefully confuse Godzilla long enough for Maverick to get in close to shoot him in the heart
with a special bullet.
The handmade bullet, called "The Yuki Special", contains a blood coagulant that Maverick hopes will kill
him. Cool plan. Maverick, while talking about his bullet, says that Godzilla has a weak point in his armpit
that "he can't protect". Really? For decades Godzilla has taken numerous hits to the torso and nothing
has gotten through yet, why would this rifle bullet have more luck? We also have some questions about
the armpit-to-heart penetration capabilities of this bullet. It seems to be a standard bullet, maybe
9mm, and we shall see is fired by a standard short-barreled machinepistol, so I don't think it would be
able to develop enough muzzle velocity to penetrate Godzilla's hide and then travel all the way to his
heart. Most, if not all, of the slug's penetrating energy would be expended by the thick skin, even if it
is a "vulnerable area". The most damning evidence for how stupid his plan is the simple fact that a
60,000 ton animal must have literally tons of blood in his system, and there is distortion of medical
science possible that would allow any coagulant in some little bullets to effect that much blood to any
degree. Just seems like Maverick is being really optimistic.
We see that the mines are marked "Mk-13A" in English, which leads us to think that perhaps Maverick
bought them from the Americans. Perhaps his efforts here are not officially sanctioned by G-Force or
the Japanese government, so Maverick has to use other methods to get the gear needed for his plan.
One wonders if this is criminal behavior for an officer in the G-Force or not.
Now it's night and we are back in the camp where the men are preparing for bed. Argg!!!! Naked
Japanese man-butt taking a shower!!!!! That was uncalled for! Maverick's naked butt is the only live
porn I have ever seen in a Godzilla movie, truly a groundbreaking moment in the series history. I feel
like I'm watching Dances With Wolves.
We thankfully leave this smut to go to G-Force HQ, to the Japanese version of NORAD, where space
radars and a satellite space telescope have picked up an object approaching earth at a high rate of
speed. The computer screen graphics here are outstanding, as good as anything in Star Trek.
We see that "USAF" appears on the images from the satellite space telescope, so I guess that this is
American property. However, the Japanese seem to be able to order it re-tasked to their objectives,
so perhaps all such intelligence resources are pooled for the anti-monster effort. We see that the
object is a crystalline structure of great size and mass. The computer's we get all this on are all
Apples, with oversized corporate logos always onscreen. We know who helped fund this movie.
A quick shot from space shows us the object is actually Space Godzilla, a mutated form of Godzilla
with a giant crystal matrix on its back. More on this later when we get a better look at it.
Back now to G-Force HQ, where plans are being made to intercept the object with MOGERA. We get
some lovely tracking shots of the robot being prepped in its hanger. We hear from a suit that the
United Nations has requested that MOGERA go after the object, so we get some idea of the dynamic
between the UN and G-Force. Obviously, the UN is not in total control of G-Force and it's resources.
Interesting. We also see that the head military general over the MOGERA project is upset that his
robot is being sent off into space and not kept to counter Godzilla. Here we get another hint of the
friction between the scientific community, who want to focus on the telepathy method, and the military,
who want to destroy Godzilla with their robot.
The military chief is Commander Takaki Aso, and is played by 52 year-old Akira Nakao, a prolific actor
with 33 movie roles to his credit. He played this exact same character in 1993's Godzilla vs.
MechaGodzilla II and would reprise it in 1995's
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah .
In this role, he is a sort of arch-typical military man who won't trust anything but his guns.
We cut back to Birth Island, where the rest of Project T is on the way. We see that Miki, Blair Brown
and Doctor Creepy are arriving in a helicopter (again we wonder why the two point men had to take a
cruise liner). The chopper has G-Force logos on the sides, and I believe it is a version of the Bell Jet
Ranger. I can't seem to figure out exactly what it is, so any help would be nice.
Doctor Creepy is decked out in full safari style and looks just like Alan Grant in Jurassic Park,
complete with bush hat. Miki is wearing a bright orange jacket and matching pants that are hideous to
look at. Blair is smoking in a tan bush jacket and tight white pants. They meet up with Slacker and
Stud and go set up their base camp. Maverick watches from a distance the introductions, he's too cool
for that. Stud tries to talk to Miki about Godzilla but she is cold and hostile to him, claiming that they
wouldn't understand her because all they want to destroy him. Hey, Miki, these two guys are here to
help you, remember?
As with all these types of movies, it is clear that Miki and Stud will end up in love, sweet love. No one in
movies falls in love without first bickering and sniping at each other for the first hour and then realizing
that all that hostility was just a front to hide their true feelings of love. Opposites attract, eh?
Back now to MOGERA, which is now lifting off from the hanger. Inside the cockpit in the "head", we
see the three crewmen. They are wearing green flightsuits and helmets with a big orange "M" on the
front of them. Nice robot, I'm sure it made a great selling toy.
Back again to the island, where Miki has a nice moment with Little Godzilla, who she seems to form an
attachment for. Blair Brown has a chat with Maverick, who she knows from a shared past. A better
view of her outfit shows us a disturbing example of female camel toe. She tries to dissuade him from
shooting Godzilla, claiming that he will "not be disgraced" if he gives up now. Maverick says that the
thought of killing the monster is all that drives him. He shows her the bullets, and she tells us that he
ordered a bunch of medicines from her to make the coagulant. What? So, Maverick got the
ingredients from her? I guess he has connections.
Then we get a little moment where Blair softens towards him and we see that there is more to their
relationship than we thought. As, we shall soon see, there is a long-simmering love between these two,
dating back for several years at least. So, that's why she gave him the medicines for the bullets.
These two would also be examples of opposites attracting, he's a gritty manly man and she's a dainty
scientist. Love is splendid, eh?
This interlude is interrupted by explosions as the tear gas mines start to go boom. Everyone runs down
to the beach to see that it is Minya, haplessly stumbling along the sand, stepping on mines left and right.
It is kinda amusing, and Minya looks oh so cute here. Minya then disappears for a while and we assume
that he ran off. We also see that Stud and Slacker have a Yamaha dirt bike that they use to get
around. The bike has "G-Force" in English painted on the side and strangely a license plate. Where did
this come from? It wasn't in the Zodiac, it wasn't on the helicopter, so it must be Maverick's. But if
so, then why do the two other men use it exclusively the entire movie?
Anyway, sensing that Godzilla is close, they start Project T. At the base camp tent, Miki is fitted with a
funky head set that will serve to direct her psychic energy to the amplifier. Computers will monitor the
results from the base tent. The two officers are in charge of getting the amplifier onto Godzilla when
he shows up, which will be by modified 40mm grenade cartridges.
And now we get our daily fix of mutant green lizard! From out of the water Godzilla rises, wading
ashore in glorious monster fashion. Akira Ifukube's classic Godzilla March thunders on the soundtrack
and it is truly a stirring entrance. A wide shot of him in the surf from a aerial point of view is especially
well-realized. A check of the counter on the DVD player shows we are just 23 minutes in, a pretty
fast entrance for a Godzilla movie.
The Godzilla suit looks fabulous, sinister and menacing. His teeth are especially fearsome, as we see in
numerous open-mouth roaring scenes. His stats here are the same as in the last three movies, 100
meters tall and 60,000 tons.
Everyone races into action. Stud and Slacker race back to base to get the amplifier. It will be fired
from Type 89 assault rifle (basically an M-16 downsized for smaller stature Japanese soldiers) with a
M203 40mm grenade launcher under the barrel, a standard over-under combination. Apparently they
only have one amplifier, which seems pretty dumb, considering all that depends on it. The two of them
race back to the beach to take up a position.
Maverick, meanwhile, has shifted into full Rambo mode. He has apparently mined the beach with more
than tear gas as he hits a remote control switch and two explosive charges detonate at Godzilla's feet.
He is trying to get Godzilla to lift his arms so he can hit his armpits, remember? They have little effect
but to spoil Stud's aim. The men then shift position as Godzilla thunders onshore. In a neat moment,
Maverick runs past Stud and Slacker as they head in the opposite direction, neither seems to notice the
other as each is intent on getting their own shot in first.
Godzilla then steps on four of the tear gas mines, severely pissing him off. In the confusion, Stud gets
his shot off. The amplifier cartridge strikes home in the back of his head, burrowing in a bit and then
opening into a series of metal receiver plates. Stud needs to get a medal for that one, hitting a target
at that distance dead on with an unguided 40mm grenade fired out of a two foot tube has got to be
next to impossible.
Tired of this crap, Godzilla starts marching down the beach away from all the smoke. Maverick gets a
glimpse of his armpit and fires two quick shots. One hit his chest, the other his left shoulder, but
neither strikes the target area. Maverick curses his luck, and then takes off running after Godzilla to
get another shot. He passes Stud and Slacker again, who just stare at him like he's a crazy nut.
Back at base, Miki uses her psychic energy to mentally tell Godzilla to walk (I though he was already
walking). A computer screen labeled "Psycotronic Generator" shows that the telepathy beam is up to
power. It apparently works as the lizard seems to be obeying her commands. Boo!
We leave the island now to go into outer space for the battle between MOGERA and the object we will
soon know as Space Godzilla. The set piece for this is just terrible. All the excellent computer special
effects and suitmation in this film are flushed down the toilet by this sequence. The battle takes place
in the asteroid belt between earth and mars, which here is represented by a thick packing of mostly
spherical asteroids stationary against a flat black, starless background. It's third grade art project
quality work, inexcusable with a budget so large, especially considering the wonderful asteroid field
effects in The Empire Strikes Back, which was done without the aid of computers. I swear that
I'm watching an old 1940s Flash Gordon serial.
Ok, first we have a problem with the location of the battle. The speed of sound is roughly 700 miles
per hour, right? And the technical specs on MOGERA say it can do the unlikely speed of Mach 44 in
space, right? That comes out to about 30,800 mph. This sounds great, but the battle was in the
asteroid belt, which is about 186 million miles from earth. So, at Mach 44 a one way journey to the
asteroid belt would take about 252 days!!!! And that's just one way. Something is wrong here.
Now's a good time to describe Space Godzilla. He is basically a Godzilla look-alike with nasty teeth and
sharper claws. He's a bit larger than Godzilla, with darker scales and more fangs and spikes and has
these large spiky crystal protrusions all along his back. His main features are two huge crystals jutting
up out of his shoulder blades. These will prove to be the source of his power. His stats are 394 feet
tall and 88,000 tons heavy. He has the same basic powers as Godzilla, except his Plasma Breath is
reddish orange instead of Godzilla's electric blue Atomic Fire Breath. He can also fly, obviously, and
will be able to tractor beam and levitate objects with energy directed through his shoulder crystals.
To recap, MOGERA is a giant robot Transformer, who stands 394 feet tall and weights a whopping
176,000 tons! It is armed with rockets and energy beams and has a human crew of three.
MOGERA and Space G race towards each other. The monster apparently emits some sort of EMP
effect because we see that some of MOGERA's computer systems have failed. The computer screen
graphics are all in English, by the way, despite the fact that the crew speaks Japanese. I still can't
understand why all the computers in this movie are in English. I know this movie was never intended for
US release.
Anyway, MOGERA fires first, shooting off its twin "plasma laser cannons" mounted in its head. Two
sustained bursts both strike home but seem to do no damage to Space G. As the two opponents pass
each other at high speed, they graze. MOGERA takes the worst of it, suffering "fuselage damage".
Looping around for another pass, MOGERA's pilot growls, "It's time for you to die!". Space G fires off
his Plasma Breath as the robot gets off another salvo of plasma lasers. Space G's blast hit MOGERA
on the left shoulder, disabling the plasma laser cannons. A quick shot of a status readout shows them
to be at "Danger Level 7", and the phrase "No Can Not Use Plasma Maser Cannon" appears in the
corner. "No Can Not Use..."? Is that proper English? Maybe whoever translated the original Japanese
pictographs didn't know his English grammar very well. Also, that read "Maser", but the dialogue said
"Laser", which is it?
No time for that, as Space G again rams into the robot, smacking solidly into its right side as it passes.
Fighting the shake, they loop around again. They fire their "autolasers" which are mounted in the
"hands" at the monster, scoring a direct hit on his back. Pissed, Space G emits a EMP pulse (I guess)
that nearly cripples the MOGERA. Out of control, they are unable to avoid another flyby smack from
the monster, which sends them spinning out into space, their left engine clearly burnt out. Space
Godzilla continues towards earth.
Back now to the island, where the telepathy experiment is going swimmingly well. But then the system
shorts out and nearly electrocutes Miki. They don't really tell us, but I assume that it's because Space
Godzilla is almost upon them. Miki, somehow sensing just that, looks up into the sky and repeats what
Mary Kate and Ashley told her about the space monster.
Back on the plains, the three crystal spike pits are now discharging some weird green electrical energy
in preparation for Space Godzilla's landing. We will soon see that the monster draws energy from
these crystals, which I assume came here first to set up sort of a gas station for Space Godzilla. This
is never fully explained to anyone's satisfaction.
Stud and Slacker now get all Rambo themselves, claiming that since the telepathy link is broken, now is
the time for them to kill Godzilla. Sounds great, but all we see them have here are a single Type 89
rifle firing standard 5.56mm NATO slugs, and one maybe two 9mm pistols. That's gonna do a lot of
good. The M203 grenade launcher is still on the rifle, but clearly neither of the men have any rounds
for it on them when they head off. The girls try and stop them, following them all the way back to the
beach nagging them about what Neanderthals they are.
Slacker and Stud, followed by the girls, catch up with Maverick, who has finally gotten into position.
How did they catch him, when we just got several minutes of him running like a banshee ahead of
Godzilla? Maybe the guys got on the motorcycle, but how did Blair and Miki get there so fast?
Maverick, thinking that they are there to stop him, threatens to shoot them with his "Yuki Special" if
they try. I hope he's kidding.
Before there can be any shooting, however, the sky grows dark as Space Godzilla flies overhead. The
monster comes to rest in the plain by his crystal spike pits. He lands in a huge cloud of dirt and smoke
and begins to roar. Very cool entrance.
Minya happens to be in the immediate area, and he waddles slowly up to Space Godzilla. It's unclear
whether Minya is advancing to do battle, or maybe thinks that it's actually Godzilla, due to the vague
physical similarity between the two. If he's spoiling for a fight, then he's gonna get served. If he
thinks it's Godzilla, then he needs to get contacts or glasses, because Space G is clearly not normal
looking.
Motivation matters not, as Space Godzilla "powers up" from the crystal pits, electrical current arcing
from them to his shoulder crystals. He fires off his Plasma Breath at Minya, the bolts ripping into the
ground around his feet, knocking him over. The bolts don't actually hit him, but I guess the energy
released by them is enough to do damage. Punk, picking on a little kid. Why don't you pick on someone
your own size?
Like Godzilla, who we now see is moving quickly through the jungle towards the fight. We get a
wonderful shot of him walking through the palm trees from low angle with Jurassic Park-like
quality. This is one of the best optical effects shots in the entire movie in my opinion, and surely one of
the best in the whole series. Rewind and watch it again.
As Godzilla arrives, Space G is standing over Minya's wounded body. Not liking this one bit, Godzilla
heats up his plates for a pair of Atomic Fire Breath blasts. The first one contacts Space G in the
stomach, but the second is deflected by a transparent crystalline force shield. The effect is much like
the Borg's adaptive shielding in Star Trek and is well-realized. Some of the energy of the blast
is even redirected back at Godzilla.
Space Godzilla then warms up his own weapon and zaps Godzilla in the torso with a long blast of Plasma
Breath. The hit tumbles Godzilla, but he manages to get off a quick Atomic Fire blast as he falls that
nicks Space G's shoulder. Minya rolls along the ground to escape the bad monster as Godzilla regains
his feet. Space Godzilla sees Minya up and running for the safety of Godzilla's legs and the punk fires
two Plasma Blasts at the fleeing Minya, causing him to jump up in pain as the energy sparks around him.
Minya makes it to Godzilla and hides behind his thigh as Godzilla fires a quick Atomic Fire blast into
Space G's stomach. Space G takes the damage and then suddenly lifts into the air in a crackle of
crystal energy. He then makes a strafing run at our good monsters. He seems to be deliberately
targeting Minya and strikes the smaller lizard with two Plasma Blasts, knocking him to the ground again.
Damn it, stop shooting at children!
In a truly outstanding special effects sequence, Space Godzilla makes another strafing pass. In a
Medal of Honor move, Godzilla throws his body over Minya to protect him. This is a great character
moment for Godzilla, helping to define his relationship with Minya and letting the audience sympathize
with him as a parent protecting his offspring. Two lengthy Plasma Blasts stab into Godzilla's back, and
he falls heavily to the ground. Minya rushes to him and urges him to get up.
From above Space Godzilla shoots out what can only be described as a green "tractor beam" that lifts
Minya up and away as Godzilla helplessly reaches out for him. Minya is tractored directly into one of
the crystal spike pits, whose sides close up around him like a Venus Flytrap, imprisoning him in crystal.
Space Godzilla, his work here done, now flies off north for Japan. Why? Wasn't he here to kill
Godzilla? He had the big guy down on the ground in a world of hurt, he could have finished him off
right there. Why did he leave to go to Japan? As we shall see, he goes there to build a huge "crystal
forest" so he can gain even more power, but it sure seemed like right then and there he had more than
enough power to finish off Godzilla. It just seems strange.
Anyway, Godzilla gets up and walks off into the sea! I thought it shocking that he would just abandon
Minya like that, but then I read that there was a scene originally in here where he tried to free Minya
but was unable to. This scene was cut in editing because it was felt to be to painful and emotional to
watch, but without it, we are left feeling like Godzilla is an uncaring parent. Bad editing. In a strange
moment, Maverick quietly turns away and walks off from Godzilla, saying that he thinks it has "had
enough of a bad day". This also helps the audience to see Godzilla as more of a "human" character than
a dangerous killer monster. Ah, how have things changed since 1954.
The G-Force team then closes up shop. Project T is declared a bust and they pack everything up.
Maverick admits defeat as well and packs up to leave with them. Miki decides to stay behind on the
island, as she is "worried about Godzilla". No one really tries to convince her not to stay alone on this
island, which is strange. Perhaps they're all tired of her haircut like the rest of us and would rather
she be stranded out here. But, love is in the air remember? As they load up into the helicopter, Stud
tells Slacker to get out, they are staying here with Miki. Sniff, sniff, I'm gonna cry. Miki has
thankfully changed her outfit, now in a nice pair of white pants and a white crochet tank-top. Hey, why
did Doctor Creepy just give a worried look when the two men said they were staying? Is he up to
something? Hmm…
We cut back now to G-Force HQ in Tokyo, where Blair Brown is giving a PowerPoint multimedia
presentation to the assembled suits and uniforms. Apparently MOGERA has returned safely to earth,
though we are never really told how, and has brought back some skin samples of Space Godzilla from
it's battle. They are a near perfect match to Godzilla's G-cells, leading her to name the monster
"Space Godzilla". Catchy name.
Blair goes on to describe the only two times that G-cells were sent into outer space, once a fragment
of Biollante and the other some Godzilla flesh stuck to Mothra. We get some stock footage of these
monsters from 1989's Godzilla Vs. Biollante and 1992's Godzilla Vs. Mothra II to jog our
memory. She continues, saying that "one of these cells must have been swallowed by a black hole and
pushed out from a white hole." What the hell is all that? Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawkins both just
keeled over and died horrible retching deaths.
On a roll now, Blair continues, saying that "it grew in it's own evolutionary system, much faster than
expected. It assimilated crystal organisms and was exposed to tremendous energies from the
explosions of stars." She then adds the caveat, "That's the theory." Ugg, where to begin? I would
love to trash the whole idea, but she did say that it was all just a theory, right? Since we never get any
competing or more logical theories, we have to assume that this is what they want us to believe, even if
it defies all scientific logic. I should just let it go because Blair looks really hot in this scene.
The meeting adjourned, we follow Commander Aso (the military head of G-Force) outside where he
meets Maverick, now cleaned up and in his G-Force class A uniform. These two men share a past, and
they are now frosty to each other at best, though with a lot of grudging respect. Aso tells him and us
that Project T is cancelled and Doctor Creepy has left G-Force. Keep that in mind. Aso is really here
to ask Maverick to pilot MOGERA when it goes up against Space Godzilla again, as Maverick is "the only
one who can do it". The scene ends without Maverick giving an answer. I assume this is a cinematic way
of making Maverick the saving hero of earth, but it is a weird scene. Commander Aso, at least five
ranks above Major Maverick, seems to be almost begging Maverick to help him. As Maverick is clearly
still part of the G-Force, why doesn't Aso just order him to do it? I guess he could refuse, but then he
would be punished.
Anyway, we now go back to Birth Island, where Miki is watching the sunset on the beach. She must
have brought a lot of clothes with her because now she is wearing a pretty little sleeveless sundress
that fits her quite nicely. So far, all of the outfits that she brought to the island are trendy city
fashions, not the kind of clothes that one normally wears when traipsing around a tropical island full of
monsters. One of the small Mothra fairies now comes to visit her again. Basically it tells her to keep
her chin up and everything will be alright.
And now we get some more sappy love, as Stud walks out to meet her. Stud tries to get a little info on
her love life, scoping for any boyfriends and the like. Miki just isn't having anything to do with that.
She jumps on her high horse again and rails against Stud for not understanding why she is so worried
about Godzilla. "He has feelings the same as we do!" she says, attempting to get us to cry for poor
Godzilla. We might be more sympathetic if in the next twenty minutes we didn't see him wade through
several cities, killing untold thousands of helpless people in an orgy of senseless destruction. Yes, poor
Godzilla indeed. Stud is looking a lot like Lou Diamond Phillips here, never noticed that before.
That night, four camouflaged men sneak into the camp. They beat up Stud and Slacker and kidnap Miki.
The next morning, the G-Force extracts them. The helicopter comes back for them, strangely
carrying Blair Brown as well. Why this biotechnologist is along for this pick-up is beyond me, but it does
give us a chance for some exposition. Oh, and she looks great here, with this orangish khaki see-through
crocheted shirt over a black tank-top. She is, however, wearing a G-Force ball cap, which looks silly on
her small head. She tells the men that she has an idea who kidnapped Miki (???) and then gives us some
background on Maverick. If you saw 1989's Godzilla Vs. Biollante then you know that six years
ago, Blair's brother, who was also Maverick's best friend, was killed by Godzilla. Revenge has been his
lifeblood since that day.
So now we cut to our stupid gangster subplot. Since it's so lame, I'll just go ahead and lay it out for
you now. It seems that Doctor Creepy is now working for the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, and it was
under his orders that Miki was nabbed. Whether he was working for them all along or just since
Project T was cancelled, we don't know, but probably the former. Doctor Creepy has his own plans to
use Miki's telepathic link with Godzilla for nefarious gain. He has set up a lab of sorts in a warehouse in
the Yamagata area (north of Tokyo) where he has Miki tied to a bed and hooked up. I guess he's
looking to hold the world hostage by gaining control of the lizard. This idea will only work if Miki
willingly goes along, as she has to literally "think" Godzilla into action. If she decides not to, there is
really nothing that Doctor Creepy can do. Sure he can threaten to kill her if she doesn't help, but
would Miki really let Godzilla loose on the world just to save her own life? Considering that she is
nearly in love with Godzilla, I don't see her allowing him to be used that way. Ok, Doctor Creepy starts
sending signals to Godzilla, who starts moving towards Japan in response. Bad news for us, eh?
Anyway, somehow G-Force knows where the warehouse is. Seeing as how her capture is potentially
dangerous to the survival of the nation, getting her back is a prime concern. So to retrieve her they
send in a battalion of soldiers, backed up by tanks and attack helicopters. This force swoops in a…wait.
No they don't, they just send Stud, Slacker and Maverick. What the hell??????? Now these guys are
commandoes? Maverick has the look of a killer about him, yes, but the other two just don't seem like
the best choices for a rescue mission. It's almost as if this operation is outside the bounds of G-Force,
which doesn't make any sense at all.
Ok, Stud and Slacker, still wearing their G-Force uniforms, and Maverick sneak into the warehouse at
night. They go past the security using the sewer and then penetrate the building through a hole in the
roof. Inside the building are perhaps half a dozen Yakuza. Our heroes are woefully under-armed, with
the three of them only carrying their service pistols. We see amongst the gangsters at least two Uzi
submachine guns and a pistol.
We see that Godzilla has somehow broken the telepathic link on his own now, as the computers start to
spark and smoke. Doctor Creepy is shocked and at a loss to explain it. Before he can figure it out, our
heroes burst into the room and a gun battle ensues.
In one of the goofiest moments ever filmed, a gangster flips the bed Miki is tied to up to use it as a
human shield while he exchanges shots with Stud. Stud is afraid to shoot for fear of hitting his love,
but Miki levitates (!!!!) the bed using her newfound (!!!!) telekinesis powers (!!!),
allowing Stud to shoot the bad guy in the feet. In this sequence also, Stud hides behind a leather couch
as the gangster puts about twenty rounds into it, though none penetrate like they obviously should easily
do.
In the confused action that follows, Maverick fires two rounds and Stud fires seven rounds. The bad
guys fire their Uzis non-stop, using the A-Team rule of bottomless magazines. The only hits we
see are Stud shooting one of the guys in the foot. All the bad guys, even that one, manage to escape.
This is PG-13, after all.
While all this silly gangster stuff is going on, Space Godzilla is flying over Japan. We see him make a
series of low passes over a number of cities, his EMP effects causing widespread electrical power loss
in the areas he flies over. His route we can chart by the order of the cities which we see him pass.
First up is Sapporo, which is in Honshu, then Yamagata, which is in Honshu, then over Kobe, further
south, and finally over the southern island of Kyushu. This means that he is flying north-to-south, which
is strange because when last we saw him he was in the South Pacific at Birth Island. Perhaps he went
to Alaska for a few days to see the glaciers and get some of those great King Crabs they have there.
We also see that when he is in Sapporo, a clock tower reads 6:58pm and it's pitch black, but in the next
few scenes it's broad daylight as he passes over other cities in Japan. So I assume that once he
passed Sapporo, he decided to pull over and sleep for the night before continuing on in the morning.
Probably a DoubleTree Inn.
Space Godzilla arrives over Yamagata just as the gangster gunfight is ending. Sensing his approach,
Miki leads the men to safety. Doctor Creepy, now in full-bore mental breakdown mode over the foiling
of his plans, is tinkering madly with his machines as Space Godzilla flies over. The EMP blows up the
computers (!!!) and presumably kills him, though we can't really tell for sure.
That silliness over, we cut now back to G-Force HQ in Tokyo, where MOGERA is being prepped to
battle Space Godzilla as he nears Tokyo. Much to do is made about no one being able to find Maverick,
so someone else will have to pilot MOGERA. So, the whole rescue operation was unsanctioned after all,
which continues to make no sense. Why did Blair not let anyone in command know what was going on,
wouldn't they help recover Miki? It's just stupid and wrong.
Alright, this is confusing. Apparently Space Godzilla bypassed Tokyo altogether, despite everyone
freaking out at G-Force. We next see the monster approaching Fukuoka on the northwestern coast of
Kyushu. Why Fukuoka? Well, we shall see that he's all excited about using Fukuoka Tower as a big
conductor for his crystal energy. Fukuoka Tower is this huge, 234 meter high television antenna tower
(the largest coastal tower in Japan) built for 60 million dollars. It's an impressive structure, though
seemingly built just so the city can thumb its nose at other cities and brag about the size of it's tower.
Back at G-Force HQ, we see that our heroes are just now arriving in Blair's Isuzu Trooper. A number
of notes here. As noted in other reviews, the name plate for the Trooper is in English, which strikes me
funny. Could someone in Japan tell me if most cars have name plates in a foreign language there? Also,
Blair is wearing the exact same outfit, down to the hat, that she had on when she flew with the
helicopter to pick up the men from Monster Island. That had to have been at least one day ago,
probably more considering the distance from the island to Japan. Either she's smelling pretty funky or
they filmed a bunch of her scenes in one day with no wardrobe changes and inserted the footage in
later.
Our heroes walk in on a briefing held by Commander Aso for the three-man crew that's preparing to
fly MOGERA against Space Godzilla. Aso is ticked at Maverick for being late, but grateful he is here.
He takes the flight helmet from the lead pilot and gives it to Maverick. Ok, that's cool, Maverick is now
going to command the flight with the other two pilots. Wait…what the hell!!!???!
Commander Aso just took the helmets from the other two pilots and gave them to Stud and
Slacker!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell??? Are these guys MOGERA pilots also??????? Up to this very second we
had no idea that they were trained or even capable of operating the robot, and now, having just come
from being sent to Monster Island to play nursemaid for Project T, they are given control of
MOGERA???? Does every officer in G-Force know how to operate MOGERA? When the robot went to
space to fight the monster the first time, no one bothered to go and get them from the island, right?
It was also stated in dialogue that after being ass-kicked by Space Godzilla the first time, the
scientists made some "modifications" to MOGERA, but Stud and Slacker have been out in the field until
just this second, so how would they know how to use the new modifications????? It just blows my
mind.
I got to move on. As they leave for the robot, Blair stops Maverick and basically tells him that she
loves him…sniff, sniff. Maverick just gives her a Clint Eastwood-type shrug and tells her to refill his
lighter!!! What an ass!!!! Why are women attracted to that type of man? Miki and Stud also exchange
meaningful glances, filled with love and worry. Come on, am I watching a Godzilla movie or a Jane
Austin chick flick? Anyway, the robot takes off and flies for Kyushu. The music here, by the way, is
strongly similar to Harrison Ford's theme in the Indiana Jones movies.
Ok, now this is weird. We see Fukuoka now, and what we assume is some crystal structure flying in like
a meteor and impacting in the downtown area with a thunderous explosion. From out of the ground
shoot these massive crystal spikes, much like the ones that were on Monster Island, surrounding
Fukuoka Tower. These spikes are about as tall as the Tower itself, and there are dozens of them.
Since the spike pits on the island predated Space Godzilla's actual arrival on earth, we have to assume
that whatever just hit Fukuoka is of a similar nature. It's never explained at all to us what these
"crystal meteors" are that seem to presage an appearance by the monster. Are they somehow emitted
from Space Godzilla himself? How do they manage to create these huge spikes seemingly from out of
thin air? We know that they are used by him for transmitting and collecting energy to make him
stronger, but the entire way in which they are constructed and utilized is a mystery. I am beginning to
hate this movie. Space Godzilla is now amongst the crystal spikes, roaring and trashing stuff.
Electrical energy begins swirling and crackling around the crystals and the Tower, which is serving as a
collection point of sorts for the energy.
Fukuoka is a big city with about 1.3 million inhabitants (about the size of Milwaukee or San Antonio) and
since this attack happened essentially without warning, the loss of life must be horrendous. Usually in
Godzilla movies, they try and give us the impression that the area of a city that a monster fight is about
to happen in has been evacuated. Here in Fukuoka, we have to believe that no such evacuation was
initiated and many tens of thousands are about to die.
Ok, we can't have a Godzilla movie without Godzilla, right? Our green guy is now sighted in Kagoshima
Bay, which is at the southern end of Kyushu, about 140 miles south of Fukuoka. Dialogue in the
G-Force HQ leads us to believe that they didn't know about Godzilla's whereabouts until he literally
surfaced in Kagoshima Bay. Doesn't Japan have any sort of sonar network to protect itself? Any
submarines? Doesn't the US Navy have some pretty sophisticated underwater detection equipment all
over area to watch the Chinese and the Russians? Why is Godzilla consistently able to sneak up on
Japanese cities in every movie?
Anyway, the Japanese Self-Defense Force quickly cracks into action to counter Godzilla. I must say
that the effort expended by the JSDF here is pathetic, as we shall see. The just toss some token
firepower at Godzilla and then virtually disappear for the rest of the movie. The taxpayers of Japan
should really be up in arms over this one. We have an air attack followed by a naval attack.
Ok, the air attack come from a total of three Huey AH-1S Cobra gunships, armed with unguided Zuni
rocket pods. These choppers are oddly marked "G-FORCE", leading us to believe that that organization
has aviation assets at strategic points throughout the country. These choppers make a number of
attack runs at Godzilla as he wades through the bay, firing a bunch of these little rockets at him.
The naval attack is just as ineffective. The attack is conducted by a small flotilla of six Imperial
Japanese Navy vessels, who apparently all charge at the swimming Godzilla to engage him at close
range instead of more wisely standing back at a longer range and pounding him with missiles. The ships
are all plastic models, though extremely good ones. The main charge is led by two destroyers.
One of the destroyers is a 3,800 ton Hatsuyuki class, which fires ten ASROC rocket-propelled
anti-submarine torpedoes at the monster from about three hundred yards away. The ASROC launcher
is an eight-cell mount and takes some time to reload, but we can clearly see that they re-ran the same
footage twice so it is ok.
The other destroyer is a larger 6,300 ton Haruna class. We see it fire seven rounds from the
ship's forward ASROC mount. Strangely, a slow-mo view shows that several of the shots are not aimed
anywhere near Godzilla.
In the background of a wide shot, we can see three other surface ships, too far away for
identification, though the closest might be another Hatsuyuki. We can also see a surfaced
submarine in the middle background. Identification of the sub is problematic due to the distance and
the visual conditions. It has the square conning tower of the Uzushio/Yuushio/Harushio
class, but the flat afterhull and pronounced tail fin of the newer Oyashio class. The
Oyashio class-ship was not completed until 1996, however, so I suspect that it's one of the
former classes. We wonder why this sub is on the surface and not submerged, as an underwater
attack seems to be preferable.
The editing is cut quick, and the helicopters are attacking at the same time as the ships, but we can see
that Godzilla takes at least five solid hits from some form of weaponry during the battle, which
blossom flame from his torso nicely. The optical effects of the attack are quite good, nearly top shelf,
especially the Copter-Vision scenes. It should be noted that much of the footage of the destroyers is
lifted from 1989's Godzilla Vs. Biollante, but we have treated it as original material for this
review.
Godzilla is pissed at all this annoying shooting and stuff and shows it. He toasts off a nasty Atomic
Fire Blast, which impacts on the Haruna's superstructure. We see the resulting explosion
literally tearing the destroyer apart at the waterline in a colossal burst of flame and debris.
And at that, the battle is over! In the next cut we see Godzilla wading ashore, the Japanese military
now gone, never to return for the rest of this movie. The entire battle sequence lasted exactly 29
seconds of screen time. Truly a pathetic showing for the military.
Ok, now, everyone, you, I, and Monkey Boy Bill, knows that Godzilla is headed for Fukuoka to get a
rematch with Space Godzilla. It's what this movie is all about, there is no place else he could be going.
That said, Godzilla seems to be deliberately taking the long, scenic route to the battle. As we shall see,
he wanders around Kyushu seemingly taking his time. Wouldn't it have been easier for him to just come
ashore at Fukuoka? In every other movie he comes on land as close as he can to where he wants to
stomp. I'll detail the route later, but first we must ask why the long way?
Perhaps he's scared of fighting Space Godzilla and needs some time to build up his courage. Perhaps
he's lost. Perhaps he had to run some errands before the battle. Perhaps the producers wanted to get
as many shots of him stomping through various cities as possible to appeal to a wider audience. One
Japanese city looks like another to me, but to the residents of a certain city sitting in a theatre could
point at the screen and say, "Damn! Godzilla's thrashing my town! Look, that noodle bar he just
stepped on, I just ate there yesterday!". I'm betting that it's the last reason.
So, we get a series of cool visuals of Godzilla stomping through cities, plus some handy G-Force
computer maps to chart his progress. We see that he starts at Kagoshima, on the shores of Kagoshima
Bay where he came ashore. He then continues on north up the coast road to Kumamoto. Now, from
Kumamoto it's a straight shot to Fukuoka, just 60 miles to the north. The route is flat and wide,
following the coastal highway right into Fukuoka. Godzilla, however, makes a right turn and heads to
Beppu on the northeast coast. To get to Beppu, which is 50 miles away, he has to cross over a mountain
range studded with 5,000 meter peaks. Not an easy walk, even for Godzilla. Other than to give the
movie goers in Beppu something to yell at the screen about, I see no reason for this detour. Maybe he
had some dry cleaning to pick up there.
By the way, I love watching the "frightened crowds running in terror" insert scenes that go with every
Godzilla rampage. With the slow-mo on DVD, you can see some really cool things. Traffic rarely plays
along with gag, as can be seen by the drivers patiently waiting on red lights and busses still pulling up to
stops despite the monster looming in the background. You can also see a few hot women in the crowd.
But the best part is looking for the ones who are laughing and smiling as they run from the mutant
lizard. I'm guessing that the film crew basically just gives a 20-yen note to anyone willing to run down
the street in a mob while they film them, and not everyone is "in character".
Meanwhile, MOGERA is flying from Tokyo towards Fukuoka to tangle with Space Godzilla. We first
pick up MOGERA when they get the report that Godzilla is into the city of Kagoshima. We next see on
a great computer map that MOGERA is roughly over Yamaguchi while Godzilla is now at Kumamoto.
This means that Godzilla covered the 85 miles between his landing at Kagoshima and Kumamoto, on
foot, in a shorter time than MOGERA, flying under jet power, took to fly the 450 miles between Tokyo
and Yamaguchi. This means that either Godzilla is flat out running like Carl Lewis or that MOGERA is
just poking along in first gear. The latter has got to be a criminal offense when Space Godzilla is
currently massacring thousands in Fukuoka.
Ok, Godzilla being back in Japan is clearly eating away at Maverick as he flies towards the space
monster. His feelings of rage and revenge get the better of him and he diverts from the flight plan and
turns towards Godzilla. Back at HQ, this move puts everyone in an uproar. We hear an announcer say,
"All units change course. Rescue division, head back to base." What? "all units"? Does this mean that
other units, possibly conventional assets, were headed for Fukuoka as well to act in conjunction with
MOGERA? "Rescue division"? What's that? Perhaps a divisional unit was on the way to "rescue" the
citizens of Fukuoka when MOGERA changed the plan? If this is true, then Maverick has just thrown a
serious monkey wrench into a carefully organized plan that depended entirely on MOGERA arriving in
Fukuoka at a pre-designated time. One can only wonder at the resulting casualties due to this decision.
This man should be court marshaled, at least, but instead he is lauded as a hero at the end of the movie.
We see in the next scene, both from footage of his romping through the city and from another nifty
computer map, that Godzilla is now in Beppu and MOGERA is still over the Suo Sea, about 30 miles
north of Beppu. This means that Godzilla, again on foot and over the 5,000 meter mountain range,
covered the 50 miles from Kumamoto to Beppu in the same amount of time that MOGERA, again flying
by jet power, took to fly the roughly 40 miles from over Yamaguchi to where we now see it over the
Suo Sea. This robot is the slowest thing ever invented by man. All the fansites list MOGERA's speed
on earth as being Mach 1, but it's clearly not flying at anywhere near that speed in this movie. Why is
that? We never know.
Alright, the next scene is the attack on Godzilla. He's now clearly in a mountainous region, with no
man-made structures visible, meaning that he was able to leave the environs of Beppu entirely before
MOGERA intersects him. Maverick zips in and pulls the trigger, four Plasma Laser cannon bursts
impact on Godzilla, staggering him and even tearing off chucks of his flesh (!!!!!!). Wow, they all
hit. That's got to be the best shooting display of any Godzilla opponent ever. Most of the time
whatever is fired at him just hits the ground around him.
Despite this, Godzilla is not destined to fall here. In what can only be described as an act of pure
mutiny, Stud jumps up and punches Maverick unconscious!!!! I'm sure his motives were honorable, and
he is one of the film's heroes, but for a junior officer to strike a superior officer while in battle and
take command of the ship is the most serious form of mutiny that can be had. And yet, this incident is
never mentioned again, and indeed, we are made to feel that Stud is in the right. Stud attempts to
explain his actions to us with the line "Couldn't have done a good job, not with him around."
That over, we now get MOGERA's first, albeit belated, attack on Space Godzilla, who is still standing in
the middle of his crystal forest of spikes in the smoking ruins of downtown Fukuoka. Roaring in at low
altitude for a couple of passes, MOGERA fires five or six continuous bursts from its plasma laser
cannons. Several hits are made on Space Godzilla, producing flames and showers of sparks, but
otherwise causing no effects. Space Godzilla then switches to full ADA mode and fires three Plasma
Breath blasts at MOGERA, scoring one solid hit on the flying robot. Inside, the men are tossed around
in true Star Trek fashion as sparks cascade about them.
Having, I guess, decided that the air attack just wasn't going to sell tickets, Stud now lands MOGERA
and switches to Mecha mode, to the delight of MechWarrior anime fans everywhere. Standing there
facing Space Godzilla, MOGERA looks rather goofy, especially in the "face", which seems to be wearing
horn-rimmed glasses. I think that MechaGodzilla from 20 years ago had a better screen presence.
They tried to make MOGERA way too spacey-looking at the expense of being realistic for the level of
technology available.
Anyway, MOGERA's hands are armed with "spiral grenade launchers", which seem like ordinary, if
powerful, missiles. Two of these are fired, and hit Space Godzilla in the chest with spectacular results.
Stud high-fives Slacker and says, "We did it!". He has spoken too soon. Stud then orders the "plasma
laser cannon" readied. Despite the same name used, this is not the beams that we have seen before,
but a dish-like emitter that slides out of the robot's chest. MOGERA starts rolling towards the
monster as the emitter fires four bursts into his chest. This weapon is an order of magnitude stronger
than the other plasma lasers and Space Godzilla is hurting, the skin on his chest burning and smoking
from the hits.
You'd think that Stud would now recognize that his ranged weapons are working wonderfully and avoid
the kind of close-quarter engagement that has spelled the demise of many monster-fighting machines
since the 1950s. But we would be wrong. Stud orders "drill attack!" and MOGERA's nose (!!!!)
starts spinning like a drill bit. Now the nose drill is maybe 20 feet long at most, meaning that MOGERA
has to drop his arms to his sides to even use the drill. This just seems really stupid, though the drill
does indeed bite deep into Space Godzilla's right shoulder, drawing a gout of bright red blood.
However, as expected, the monster is able to Plasma Breath blast MOGERA away.
MOGERA begins to wisely roll away from the monster, firing four powerful chest cannon bursts as it
does. The effects of this weapon are again truly impressive, causing enough damage to Space Godzilla
to make us positive that Stud is an idiot for not relying on it more. However, the monster is also
well-armed and two direct hits from Plasma Breath bursts cripple MOGERA. In a shower of sparks
and smoke, the big robot topples over onto the ground. In a wonderful matte shot, Space Godzilla now
advances slowly on the prone robot, sparking and burning at the joints.
Space Godzilla starts blasting the toppled robot, causing more serious damage but also reviving the
knocked-unconscious crew. The weapons systems are down and escape is the only recourse now.
Maverick, now back in command (!!!???) orders Slacker to "Climb up and fix it!" and Slacker
unbuckles and gets up just as Stud fires up the afterburners and the robot flies off, skidding along the
ground before taking to the air. Certainly Slacker would have been tossed around the control room,
most likely killed, but he seems to keep his feet.
What, ho!? Godzilla is now in the fray, wading into the crystal spike forest with a mighty roar. Yes!
His entrance here is chilling and spectacular, backlit by burning buildings and his glowing with anger and
revenge. Space Godzilla is now drawing energy from the crystals and Fukuoka Tower, the electrical
currents arcing into his shoulder crystals, giving him more power. He fires off four quick Plasma
Breaths at Godzilla, all four striking him squarely. These blasts seem to be more powerful that
Godzilla's own Atomic Fire Breaths and he is staggered.
But Godzilla is tough and he closes in to grapple with the space monster. This is potentially the same
mistake that MOGERA just made and Godzilla also pays a similar price, with a point-blank range Plasma
Breath knocking him off his feet. That's gotta hurt. Ok, remember when Space Godzilla earlier used
his "tractor beam" to lift up Minya? Well, now he lifts up Godzilla from the ground, causing him to fly
through the air and crash head-first into a large apartment block. That's really gotta hurt. Hmmm...as
Godzilla seemed helpless to do anything while being "tractored", you'd think that Space Godzilla would
employ it more. Maybe it sucks too much power for continuous use?
But Godzilla is up again, proving that no tractor beam is going to keep him down! Space Godzilla now
takes to the air, undoubtedly remembering that strafing runs were extremely effective against Godzilla
when they first fought on Birth Island. Seven solid Plasma Breath blasts smack into Godzilla during this
attack, causing him much pain but not enough to knock him off his feet.
Godzilla fires back, but we see again how Space Godzilla can project an adaptive crystalline force field
to deflect the blast. This is also used very rarely and we wonder why the space monster doesn't
protect himself with it more. Perhaps it also uses too much energy?
Godzilla now makes an impressive intuitive leap. He realizes that Space Godzilla is absorbing his energy
through the crystal spikes, routing it through Fukuoka Tower. He fires off three quick Atomic Fire
Breaths at the spikes, blasting many of them into fragments in an attempt to reduce the monster's
sources of power. Smart move.
Space Godzilla counters by using his Spooky Mind Powers (I guess) to cause some of the spikes to
levitate and fly towards Godzilla like sparking Roman candles/throwing knives. At least two dozen of
them zip at Godzilla, who disintegrates a number of them in midair with two Atomic Fire Blasts, but at
least seven hit him solidly. Even this is not enough to knock down our favorite mutant lizard. In a really
neat effect, the screen actually shakes (!!!) when the hits are delivered.
Not distracted from his plan, Godzilla shakes off the spikes and then twice Atomic Fire Blasts the
Fukuoka Tower directly. The tower sparks and smokes but does not explode!!?? It's somehow
protected by a form of Space Godzilla's force field, perhaps the massive amount of crystal energy
flowing around it is deflecting Godzilla's attacks. The Tower even re-directs some of the energy from
the blasts back at Godzilla!!
Meanwhile, MOGERA is back to 100%, having fixed all that ailed it. Aboard, they are watching and
learning and agree that the main problem is the Tower, it has to fall. Maverick decides that now is the
time to separate the robot into it's two component parts, and he will command the flying part, which is
known as "Star Falcon". In a pure rip-off of Transformers, MOGERA separates, flipping out
arms and legs and popping out wings and rolling tracks. Lame. This takes exactly 60 seconds, as a
read-out tells us. The two parts race for the Tower, "Land MOGERA" sporting tank-like threads and
an oversized drill for burrowing underground.
Alright, now we can't have a love story without bringing our leading men and our lovely ladies back
together to gaze at each other and sigh. We see that Blair Brown and Miki have flown to Fukuoka in a
G-Force Jet Ranger helicopter. They are here unescorted and apparently on their own initiative, which
seems odd considering what's going on in Japan right now. You'd think that someone higher up would
have to approve the use of the chopper, and "To go see our boyfriends" just doesn't seem like a good
reason. They have changed clothes, thankfully, and are now wearing heavy jackets and pants.
They land north of the city and get out to look out across Hakata Bay at the chaos going on downtown.
Fighting through the crowd of onlookers and police they make it to the harbor. There they run directly
onto a cabin cruiser, that's at a pier. A man is even standing there holding the rope as the run aboard.
What the hell? Did they somehow charter this boat to wait for them here? Why would anyone
let their boat anywhere near that monster fight? And why didn't they just land the chopper closer to
the city so they didn't have to take a boat? Maybe the boat belongs to someone who was sleeping with
the director and this was payback? And what's this? Now we see that Blair Brown is actually driving
the boat!!!!! Oh, and she just glanced over to Miki and gave her a downright sultry look!!!!
Ok, back to the monsters. Land MOGERA, intent on destroying the Tower, activates that huge drill on
its nose. It then dives down into the earth (!!!) and burrows in at a high rate of speed. No, no,
no! Land MOGERA's body is wider than the drill bit, but nothing is torn off the sides as it dives
underground. How it that possible. Veggie Tails did this effect a thousand times better in
Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed, just check. Anyway, their computers locate the "weak point" in
the Tower's support structure and they head for it.
Meanwhile, Maverick in Star Falcon begins strafing Space Godzilla. Not Godzilla, mind you, not his
mental devil, but Space Godzilla. This change of heart on Maverick's part is never really explained to
our satisfaction. They exchange weapon hits, with the Falcon taking several blasts. Amongst the
warning lights and sparks, Maverick swears, "Damn reptile!". That might very well be the best line in
the entire movie.
Back underground, Land MOGERA fires twin Auto Laser bursts at the Tower's base. As the Tower
begins to spark and creak, Godzilla jumps at the Tower and begins to try and pull it over with brute
strength. Space Godzilla, fearful of loosing his power source, knocks Godzilla away from the Tower
with two well-placed Plasma Breaths.
Maverick, screaming "Asshole!" in a very-un-Godzilla-movie-like manner, swoops in to take the heat off
Godzilla, lancing the space monster with plasma laser cannon bursts. The effort is successful as Space
Godzilla turns from Godzilla.
With Space Godzilla again distracted, Godzilla leaps at the tower and pushes and pulls on it. This time
he knocks it over and it crashes to the ground in a massive cloud of debris and smoke. Yes!!!
Godzilla roars in victory.
Land MOGERA now pops up out of the ground near Space Godzilla and starts blasting the reeling space
monster. As the Star Falcon comes in for another strafing pass, Maverick now decides that, although
the separate attack is working quite well, the audience wants to see MOGERA in one piece in true
Mecha style. He orders the two pieces back together. This is accomplished not by Land MOGERA
stopping and Falcon landing on top, as would be expected, but by Land MOGERA leaping (!!!!) into
the air to connect with Falcon in midair like an Apollo-Soyuz link-up. This just looks dumb and
dangerous.
Ok, lets reset the scene here. The girls are now ashore and running towards the monster fight for
some reason. Godzilla is still pumped up about knocking down the tower. Space Godzilla, while deprived
of his power source, is still steaming mad and ready to rumble. MOGERA is back on the ground and
preparing to unload everything on Space Godzilla. Fukuoka is still burning brightly.
MOGERA opens up on Space Godzilla, causing much pain, while Godzilla smacks him with an Atomic Fire
blast at the same time. Uh oh, Space Godzilla is in trouble now. Not having learned his lesson, Godzilla
then again charges in to do some hand-to-hand with the monster. This time however, Godzilla gets the
advantage, delivering two punches and two bites to the neck. Space Godzilla is on the ropes.
MOGERA keeps up the pressure, launching two of those nifty spiral grenade missiles which actually
blast off the huge crystal on his left shoulder!!!! The concussion knocks Godzilla away from the fight
and into a building. Space Godzilla, really hurting now, turns and stabs MOGERA with a Plasma Breath,
which is a lucky hit, blasting off the robot's left arm!!!
MOGERA then fires off the remaining spiral grenade, scoring a direct hit that shatters the crystal on
Space Godzilla's right shoulder this time. Pissed, the monster whips his long spiked tail around and
drives it into the laser dish in the robot's chest, blasting it to pieces. These last two scenes expose a
seemingly critical weakness of the MOGERA design. When the chest maser emitter is deployed and the
spiral grenade launchers are unmasked, they are both outside of the armored body of the robot, and as
we just saw, are highly susceptible to damage. This is a bad design, akin to having a tank's main gun
mounted in a cardboard turret. With these systems destroyed, MOGERA is reduced to few effective
weapons.
Tossed to the ground, MOGERA is now out of business--power and weapons are offline again and
flames are everywhere. Inside, Maverick orders Stud and Slacker to abandon ship. The two men run
to the elevator and then stumble to an escape pod. Hmmm...having the crew's escape pod located some
distance from the control room seems like a very bad design flaw. What if there wasn't time (hull
breach in space, for example) for the crew to travel through the robot's body to the pod, they'd all be
dead. Maverick, being quite a maverick, stays behind.
Maverick says to himself, "You're the reason I'm alive. I'm going to send you back to hell where you
belong!". It's not at all clear which monster he is referring to here, though I assume it's Godzilla.
Maverick grabs a small rocket launcher, possibly a LAW or an Armburst, and opens up an outer hatch.
How he thinks that this tiny rocket is going to have any better effect than all those massive energy
weapons is beyond me, but you got to respect his balls.
Ok, Space Godzilla is advancing on the smashed-up MOGERA. Godzilla, now revived from his fall, is up
on his feet and closing on the space monster from behind. Godzilla blasts him in the back with an
Atomic Fire Breath, which both gets Space Godzilla's full attention and makes Maverick loose his aim
and crawl back inside the robot. Space Godzilla has apparently found his second wind, as he now rages
on Godzilla, staggering our lizard backwards with repeated hits.
While all this monster stuff is going on, the escape pod has landed. It has apparently landed in the
flaming ruins, as it looks like Beirut when they open the door. Stud and Slacker dash out to
discover...Miki and Blair Brown mere steps away!!!! What the hell!!!???!!! What a horribly cheap
plot contrivance! Miki and Stud gaze lovingly and breath heavily. Ick.
Back in MOGERA's control room, Maverick starts tinkering with the controls. Apparently, MOGERA
isn't totally dead yet as he gets the motors firing and the robot takes off. Seemingly out of control,
the burning, smoking robot slams into Space Godzilla like a Kamikaze Zero, knocking him over in a heap.
As we clearly saw that Maverick was not buckled in when the robot took off, there is no freakin' way
that he could have lived through that crash. But, alas, he is a hero and therefore unkillable.
Godzilla moves in for the kill, firing two long Atomic Fire blasts into the monster, blowing chucks of
flesh off. Space Godzilla fights back gamely, but it's now clear that the monster is dying. He's
emitting energy and buzzing and crackling in overload--it's just a matter of minutes before he explodes
from the inside.
Meanwhile, a distraught Stud runs for the wreckage of MOGERA to save Maverick. He finds him
somehow still alive (!!!!) but hanging upside down by his foot from a hatch (!!!!). Stud is
about to shoot Maverick's foot off (!!!!!!) to get him loose, when Miki uses her psychic powers to
free his foot (!!!!). Oh, please.
Ok, now this next part is kinda confusing and I literally had to go to several fansites to figure out what
happened. It seems, though not explicitly explained in the actual movie, that Godzilla now absorbs the
huge amount of residual crystal energy released by the destruction of Fukuoka Tower and transforms
into his "Super Godzilla" incarnation. This ultra-powerful Godzilla now has "Uranium Power Breath", a
fiery red weapon that he blasts Space Godzilla with four times. Space Godzilla explodes in a monstrous
wall of flame. Yes!!!!!! Godzilla roars in ultimate victory!!!! Man, the set must have been hot
during this shoot, I hope the Godzilla suit had air conditioning.
Back to our humans. Maverick and Stud have survived, of course, and somehow meet up with Slacker,
Miki and Blair in the ruins. They watch as Godzilla stomps off into the ocean. Blair gives Maverick his
lighter back (remember?), and he hands her something shiny, I think it's a flask!!! Miki uses her mind
powers to detach the telepathic amplifier from Godzilla's neck (remember?). The Mothra fairies are
now back, and tell Miki that she's the bomb. Miki asks Maverick, "Do you still consider Godzilla as your
enemy?", to which Maverick replies, "Well, he is a great creature, after all." I guess that pretty much
sums up the whole movie.
Right at the very end, we get a throwaway shot of Minya, presumably free now from the crystal prison,
walking about Birth Island. He "burps" up some puffs of radioactive smoke, just like the original Minya
from Son of Godzilla. This is a dumb way to end this movie,
though it does give us the hint that Minya is ok, which is alright.
That was the movie, I hoped you enjoyed it. Bye.
Bonus! Some stats of interest here:
Damage Godzilla takes during movie:
Damage Space Godzilla takes during movie:
Damage MOGERA takes during movie:
Written in July 2004 by Nathan Decker
Clearly, none of these are
MOGERA.
1957 Moguera.
1994 MOGERA.
Miki Saegusa.
Blair Brown.
Doctor Creepy.
Yum.
Micro-Mothras.
Slacker.
Stud.
The spikes on the island.
Maverick.
Kill me.
NASA vessel going boom.
The Olsen Twins.
The bullet.
Maverick and his mines.
SpaceGodzilla!
Commander Aso.
Ok, I guess Miki is kinda cute, if annoying.
Camel toe alert.
Wicked new G suit.
Stud aims his Type 89 assault rifle.
The signal beacon.
Eeek.
Rah!
The MOGERA's hapless pilot.
Watching Space Godzilla arrive on the
island.
Maverick takes aim.
More SpaceGodzilla!
Godzilla expresses his displeasure.
Miki and Blair watch the monster action.
One of the computer displays of this.
The Commander and Maverick share a guy
moment.
The guys try to emote.
Poor Miki!
Strange pink gunblast caught in this cap.
SpaceGodzilla's energy zaps the dish.
Our new pilots...
SpaceGodzilla and his crystals.
Hatsuyuki class destroyer firing her
ASROCs.
Haruna class destroyer on the right
engaging Godzilla.
Cobra on the attack.
Godzilla stomping through a southern
city.
The view through the cockpit windows.
MOGERA is down!
Godzilla being tractored.
The spikes flying at Godzilla.
Display of the separation.
Godzilla takes hits from Space Godzilla.
Maverick and his LAW.
Maverick hanging around.
Godzilla heads off to sea.
6: Number of cigarettes and cigars smoked by our cast. 
1: Number of nekkid man-butts we see.
22 Plasma Breath bursts
4 Plasma Laser Cannon bursts
7 Flying crystal spikes to the head
5 Assorted JSDF weapon hits
2 Rifle bullets
4 Uranium Power Breath bursts
10 Atomic Fire Breath bursts
5 Spiral Grenade missiles
10 Chest-emitter Plasma Maser bursts
25 Plasma Laser Cannon bursts
5 Autolaser bursts
1 Kamikaze hit from MOGERA
1 Drill attack from MOGERA
2 Punches from Godzilla
2 Bites from Godzilla
14 Plasma Breath bursts
1 EMP pulse
1 Tail spike stab