3 "Mothra" Movies on Sci-Fi, 5-31-03

[Richards]

I thought I'd point out that SciFi is showing the three newest "Mothra" movies tomorrow (Saturday, 31 May 03). "Rebirth of Mothra" is on at 11:00 (Eastern), followed by "Rebirth of Mothra II" at 1:00 (Eastern) and "Rebirth of Mothra III" at 3:00 (Eastern). I don't know if these were the original titles for the movies; all I've ever known about them is that they are part of the "Godzilla relaunch" series that Toho Studios started with their "Godzilla 1980," which was a direct sequel to the original movie. These three Mothra movies should take place after the events of "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (the one with Battra, the "anti-Mothra"). Finally, I'll get to see why Mothra was flying out to space at the end of that movie!

Rumors have it that Ghidorah may be making an appearance in at least one of the movies (at least, there's a "three headed monster" in the tvguide.com description, and I can put two and two [minus one] together).

This is the first time I'm aware of that these movies have been shown in the US. (I know I've been keeping my eyes out for them.) I don't know if anyone else is interested, but I went out and bought myslef a 6-hour VHS tape, and plan to spend 6 straight blissful hours glued to the TV screen tomorrow!

Johnathan

This has been a public service announcement from the Mothra On Television, Hooray! (M.O.T.H.) Foundation

 

[Black Omega]

Rebirth of Mothra? Where did that come from...

I've seen the first of the Mothra movies, I thought the creature had two heads and four legs, though. It's been a while though, I could have forgotten. I believe it was called Death Ghidora, not the same thing as the Ghidorah destroyed in an earlier Godzilla movie.

A lighter hearted movie than the Godzilla movies and more kid friendly. I prefer the Godzilla movies though.

 

[Black Omega]

Taped the three movies for viewing later. First impression of Mothra: The Movie. Lord, they still can't can't find decent voice acting for dubbing. Almost comically bad in spots.

 

[Richards]

I taped them as well, but my youngest son and I sat through them while we taped. (My wife even popped in for most of the last two.) My impressions:

"Rebirth of Mothra" - Easily my favorite of the three, probably because the Mothra design (of both the original moth and the caterpillar) were the closest to what I recall from "Mothra," "Godzilla vs. the Thing," "Destroy All Monsters," etc. The enemy monster, DesGhidorah, looked pretty cool. Also, most "kaiju" movies have the "monster" plot (two or more monsters duking it out) and the usually-boring "human" plot, and for once, I rather liked the "human" plot. I really enjoyed the fight between Mona and Lara (mounted on Fairy) vs. Velvira (mounted on her cyborg mini-dragon) through the main family's house. Plus, this one had what I consider to be "staples" in a Mothra movie (especially one with the word "rebirth" in its title): the death of the elderly moth (and that was handled very cinematically, with the slow sinking below the water), the birth of the caterpillar from the newly-hatched egg, the cocoon, and the "new" Mothra. I was a little saddened that they felt a need to "power up" Mothra - heat beams from her antennae, "chest rays," etc. - but that's been the new standard since they "restarted" the Godzilla series.

"Rebirth of Mothra II" - Easily my least favorite of the three, since I didn't particularly care for the enemy monster at all (what was its name, Dagakra?), and I really hated that Ghogo (that's how it was spelled in the credits, although it sounded like they were saying "Gorgo" throughout the movie). Also, I was very disappointed in the further "morphing" of the moth form, especially the "AquaMothra" (which my son and I dubbed "Fishra").

"Rebirth of Mothra III" - A close second to the original. It was great to see King Ghidorah back in all of his three-headed glory, but the bit where he teleported children into that glowing sphere didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Why would he do that? I liked seeing the prehistoric Mothra caterpillars at the end of the movie, and the cocooning of the crippled Mothra from the future was a nice scene. Again, I wasn't thrilled with the "armor plated Mothra" at the end of the movie, but at least she morphed back to her usual self afterwards. And it's been awhile since I saw "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" - was that a tyrannosaurus rex fighting the triceratops in the prehistoric past, or did they use the "Godzillasaurus" model?

All in all, I'd say it was 6 hours of a Saturday afternoon well spent.

Johnathan

 

[demiurge1138]

That was, indeed, a T-rex. Not a very well done one, but still...
Gorgo/Ghogo/Gogo is an abomination. But Garu-Garu is the greatest character in the trilogy, nothing doing.

Still not as good as the 90's Gamera trilogy, but a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Demiurge out.

 

[Black Omega]

Yep, A T-Rex indeed. With that last movie they stepped right out of the Godzilla continuity, so seeing a Gojirasaurus could have been surprising.

As so often happens with a trilogy, the first and third movies were far the best. I would not take the names used in the movies too literally at times, the voice acting ranged from adequte to embaressinglty bad.

It's a tribute to the enduring appeal of King Ghidorah that he's been back twice now, and two different ways.