Koichi Kawakita

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Posted on by Paul Wilhelm-Aronofsky

By the early 90s there were two huge crazes running rampant through the minds of the world’s youth. The 80s brought a resurgence of robot obsessions with Transformers and Gundam, but equally if not more enticing was the concept of DINOSAURS. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I had caught dino fever from an early age. My parents graciously got every Rupert Oliver dinosaur book which detailed the environment and diet of different species, and told a story for each one that made learning engaging. I had a set of about 100 cards with realistic dinosaur illustrations and impossibly small text packed full of information on each one. These are a few of the things that taught me how to read. Movies and TV shows tapped into this interest with Land Before Time, Dino-Riders, and even Barney and Friends. But those were all small potatoes compared to what was to come in 1993. A legendary director would use skillful practical effects to spin a tale of genetic engineering gone wrong. That’s right, 1993 was the year Roger Corman’s Carnosaur came out! Just kidding; while Corman’s low-budget schlocky horror flick did release a few weeks prior, Spielberg’s Jurassic Park mesmerized audiences with some of the best effects ever seen and changed film forever. While Jurassic Park is inarguably a better movie, arguably one of the best films ever made, I still have a soft spot for Carnosaur. It is not good, but it is way off the deep end, the effects are fun, and for an 11 year old kid was excitingly violent and gory. And for anyone who appreciates practical effects on a low budget, Roger Corman was one of the best. It’s worth watching his films if for nothing else than to appreciate how far he could stretch a dollar, and how many greats were graduates from the “Roger Corman Film School.” Not an official organization, but Corman was an independent pioneer who worked with and influenced Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese, Joe Dante and many others. Joining Spielberg and Corman in the ’93 dinosaur rampage through the silver screen was returning director Takao Okawara in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.

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Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

Posted on by Paul Wilhelm-Aronofsky

Hot on the heels of 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Toho wanted to keep the momentum and release another kaiju movie. They had finally found success, despite overseas criticism, and were ready for more. While Kazuki Ōmori wouldn’t be returning in the director’s chair, he did pen the screenplay, and continued to draw on big American action hits, this time Indiana Jones. The Last Crusade came out 3 years prior, and was massively toned down from the previous film Temple of Doom in 1984. This, incidentally, came out the same year as Joe Dante’s Gremlins (released in the middle of summer for some reason?) and the wombo-combo of two supposedly family movies with graphic violence led to the creation of the PG-13 rating. It doesn’t have much to do with the Godzilla films, which largely go unrated in America, but it’s still kinda neat. The other major influence to Godzilla vs. Mothra takes us back to 1987. Like a Godzilla film, our story starts at sea! The barge Mobro 4000, holding over three tons of garbage and tugged by the Break of Dawn set sail on March 22, 1987. The plan was to ship the garbage down to North Carolina, where it would be converted to methane as it decomposed. This was a new concept, and the shipping endeavor was partially financed by mob boss Salvatore Avellino, who would later be imprisoned for killing two garbage haulers. Like some cruel April Fool’s joke, it was denied port when it finally arrived at its destination on the 1st. Someone had spotted a bedpan in the garbage, and surmised that there would be hazardous medical waste that contaminated the entire load. As the story broke, it was framed as the fancy elite of New York City dumping their trash all of the poor working class folks of the South. The Mobro spent two months at sea being chased out of harbors by not only US Coast Guards but the navies of Mexico and Belize as well. It ended up back in New York to be incinerated, and the international incident spurred a renewed awareness of the world’s garbage disposal crisis, and an uptick in environmental activism. In the next few years, recycling programs grew and inspired the series Captain Planet and the Planeteers in 1990, which in turn inspired a foundation to get kids involved with Earth-friendly sustainability projects. So with this newfound focus on environmentalism, who better to return to the Godzilla series than the champion of Earth and the environment than Mothra herself?

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Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Posted on by Paul Wilhelm-Aronofsky

What does the 90s superhit American sitcom Friends have to do with Godzilla? Absolutely nothing. But in a small coincidence, our story today starts with a man by the name of Matthew Perry. No, not Chandler, but a naval officer around the year 1853. Known as the “Father of the Steam Navy,” Perry advocated for technical education of naval officers and modernization of the US Naval fleet. Prior to 1853, Japan had implemented an isolationist policy, cutting off all trade from the outside world with the exception of the Netherlands and China, and then only through the port at Nagasaki. The reason being was twofold: they saw what had happened in China with the Opium Wars, fought over trade disputes, and how much British traders brought in contraband opium and the corruption of local officials. (The first Opium War was how China lost Hong Kong to Great Britain by the way). The other was to halt the spread of Catholicism, and if you thought Catholics were pushy today, it’s nothing compared to the Manifest Destiny days. By securing the country against outside influence and controlling trade, the shogunate hoped to preserve Japanese culture and prevent any individual governor from becoming powerful enough to overthrow them. That all came to a halt when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into what would become Tokyo Bay on his badass upgraded steam-powered battleship, insisting a letter be delivered to the leader of the country at the time, the shogun Tokugawa. After being told to piss off and head to Nagasaki, Perry shelled some buildings and the letter was delivered, outlining demands for Japan to open up trade with the US. Perry returned the following year to sign a lopsided treaty ensuring favorable terms for the US, a result of the “gunboat diplomacy.” Seeing what had happened to China, and following this aggressive strategy from the US, Japan knew it had some catching up to do or else it would be weakened or destroyed by the West. Looking to the global powers of that time, they sought to emulate their models of advancement which included imperialism fueling industrialization. Still with me? Hang in there, this pales in comparison to the plot loops of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

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