#Jetto Jagâ

[docrotten]

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) – Episode 199 – Decades Of Horror 1970s

“Megalon! Megalon! Wake up, Megalon! Come on, rise up now, to the Earth’s surface! Destroy the Earth! Destroy our enemies! Rise up! Go on! MEGALON!” That’s quite the cheering section you have there, Megalon. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Jeff Mohr, and guest hosts Dirk Rogers and Bryan Clark – as they go quadruple kaiju in Toho’s Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973).

Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 199 – Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

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Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL (https://wickedhorrortv.com/) which now includes video episodes of the podcast and is available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and its online website across all OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.

An inventor creates a humanoid robot (Jet Jaguar) that is seized by the undersea nation of Seatopia & used as a guide for Megalon and Gigan to destroy the above-ground dwellers as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society. In an attempt to stop them, a now independently thinking Jet Jaguar brings Godzilla into the fight.

  Director: Jun Fukuda

Writing Credits: Jun Fukuda (screenplay; Shin’ichi Sekizawa (treatment)

Music by: Riichirô Manabe 

Cinematography by: Yuzuru Aizawa 

Editing by: Michiko Ikeda 

Production Design by: Yoshifumi Honda

Special Effects by: Teruyoshi Nakano (director of special effects)

Selected Cast:

Katsuhiko Sasaki as Inventor Goro Ibuki

Hiroyuki Kawase as Rokuro ‘Roku-chan’ Ibuki

Yutaka Hayashi as Hiroshi Jinkawa

Robert Dunham as Emperor Antonio of Seatopia / Motorcycle assailant

Kôtarô Tomita as Lead Seatopian Agent

Ulf Ôtsuki as Seatopian Agent

Gentaro Nakajima as Truck Driver (credited as Gen Nakajima)

Sakyo Mikami as Truck Driver’s Assistant

Fumiyo Ikeda as Man from Unit 1

Kanta Mori as Japan Special Defense Forces Chief

Shinji Takagi as Gojira

Hideto Odachi as Megaro

Tsugutoshi Komada  as Jetto Jagâ

Kenpachirô Satsuma as Gaigan (credited as Kengo Nakayama)

With Doc and Chad occupied elsewhere, Jeff and Bill welcome guest hosts Bryan Clark and Dirk Rogers to examine a last-minute replacement feature for episode 199. Trust us, you will not be disappointed as the Grue-Crew champions another Toho, 1970s, Kaiju entry, Godzilla vs. Megalon, for some silly yet still awesome man-in-suit action. Joining Godzilla and Megalon on screen are fellow giant monsters, Gigan and Jet Jaguar. Jeff finds himself surrounded by kaiju super-fans Bill, Bryan, and Dirk. This episode should not be missed! Enjoy!

At the time of this writing, Godzilla vs. Meagalon is available to stream from Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV, MAX, the Criterion Channel, and multiple PPV sources. The film is also available on physical media as a Blu-ray in Godzilla, the Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 (The Criterion Collection).

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror two-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the next episode will be the podcast’s landmark bicentennial (that’s 200th, folks)! In honor of that occasion, the 70s Grue-Crew will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of what many call the greatest horror movie of all time: The Exorcist (1973). Join us to discuss the film in which one character says, “There seems to be an alien pubic hair in my gin.”

We want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror 1970s podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com.

Check out this episode!

[wittypenguin]

“Gojira tai Megaro” (1973) or Godzilla vs. Megalon

AKA: in France it was called “Godzilla 80” for seemingly little reason, but at least the Italians are closer to the mark because they called it “Ai confini della realtà” or “At the borders of reality.”

Some consider this film to be the worst. It certainly is bad. For instance, there’s a car chase which includes two vehicles and a motorcycle which goes all over the landscape with a route which seemingly was defined as ‘anywhere we don’t have to get a filming permit.’ There are scenes where people engage in hand-to-hand combat in a style I can only describe as ‘Chop Sockey��� (and it would be interesting to do a study of what films were shot immediately after Bruce Lee’s films began being released, just to see the influence they had). Over-all the film has the look of something shot on the cheap for TV. Oddly, I quite like it!

New cover illustration by Ronald Wimberly — — — —

This happens in the nearly-specific year of 197x. An atomic test has taken place off of one of the Aleutian Islands and caused the people of the land of Lemuria to feel threatened by an existential crisis. “Where?”, I hear you cry? Lemuria!, I tell thee! The continent in the ocean which sank and was thought to be lost! Here: read what I did when I reacted exactly as you just were: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(continent)?wprov=sfti1. Also mentioned is the continent of Mu, which you can learn all about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(lost_continent)?wprov=sfti1.

There’s a concern about how nuclear testing, now that it is underground, will break the world. This turns out to be correct, but only in that it brings to bear the force of power from the previously mentioned land of Lemuria, which the residents prefer to call “Seatopia.” The younger brother of our heroes is kidnapped by the guys from Lemuria / Seatopia who then regain entry to the workshop containing a newly finished robot christened Jet Jaguar (no, I don’t have any idea why, in Japanese it’s “Jetto Jagâ” but that doesn’t translate as anything). The nuclear test shook their world, mading them afraid of the Surface Dwellers, and so now they will defeat those responsible, and the robot is to be used to guide Megalon to the target points.

[left to right] Inventor Goro Ibuki (Katsuhiko Sasaki), Jet Jaguar (Tsugutoshi Komada) and Hiroshi Jinkawa (Yutaka Hayashi) in “Gojira tai Megaro” (1973) — — — —

I’m pretty sure it’s from Jet Jaguar that we got the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He’s got a fairly flexible suit, but ut really looks like the approach to what a ‘futuristic spaceman’ would look like.

Megalon has drill-like flippers, some sort of electric star on his head, and leather wings which fold out, yet he rises from the underworld like a rocket. Once on the surface, he either hops across hundreds of metres, or sometimes flies, and is capable of hovering. Why he chooses to hop I’m not sure; why hop if you can fly? He’s also capable of zapping things with some lightening from the star in his forehead, which makes the use of manually kicking stuff kind of dumb.

Later, before Godzilla has arrived to help the now-gigantic Jet Jaguar fight Megalon, Gigan arrives to add his particular style of curved hook wings and beak fighting. This provides the opportunity for the two bad guys to beat up Jet Jaguar, which then sets up Godzilla to not only defend Japan, but also help out a new ally. It also gives the film makers a chance to re-use the stuff they shot for the last film where Godzilla and Gigan beat the snot out of each other.

Emperor Antonio of Seatopia (played by Robert Dunham, right of centre, on platform, wearing a toga-like thing) with six un-identified dancers before him, the only females we ever see in “Gojira tai Megaro” (1973) — — — —

The Godzilla films give female characters pretty short shrift in general, providing them mostly the opportunity to scream, be rescued, and support their boyfriends who then defeat the bad guys. This film, however, is particularly bad in this department. The only female characters we see are six dancing girls in the court of of Emperor Antonio of Seatopia. That’s it. No one has an aunt, or a sister, or a mother, or a friend; it’s nothing but testosterone here. In the last film, we at least had someone who knew martial arts and could kick some ass!

“The unground kingdom only attacked when their peace was threatened.” So, I guess the message is don’t threaten neighbours, but if you do, be prepared to beat them up until they stop attacking you…?

It’s fun, and there are more than enough moments where viewers can stare at the screen with their jaws hanging open, wondering what they’re watching actually is what they’re watching.

Daft, loony, fun.

★★★☆☆