Destroy All Monsters 1968: Godzilla's Kaiju in Combat
Translation for Intro: "Fire Dragon can reduce Tokyo to ashes in just a few hours." Godzilla ROARS. "It's Godzilla!" As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you have like to wear a monocle and talk about fancy artisan cheeses maybe you would like to be a patron of the podcast? Luckily neither of those things are a requirement! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here. Correction: In the intro I say Japanese Air Base when I mean Japanese Moon Base. Welcome to the podcast! TIME FOR PANIC TO ENSUE!!! We are in 1968! It's finally here! Am I ready for the 2001: A Space Odyssey? No, I am not! But I'm getting there. Please bear with me. In the meantime, I shall distract you with a chat about one of the most visually delightful of Kaiju Films (Although one of our guests' recommendations may have it beat in visual delights). You can see an array of the stills from Destroy All Monsters on my Instagram account. This is the swinging 60s Japan style! In 1968 ToHo studios decided to wrap up the Godzilla Franchise with a big bang! A Kaiju extravaganza featuring 11 monsters. Let me list them for you. Godzilla Rodan Angurius Mothra (very tragically in larva form) Gorosaurus Minilla (Godzilla's son who gives me the creeps. Sorry!) Kumonga Baragon Manda Varan King Ghidorah Due to international success the franchise continued on. Hoorah! I have two gargantuan guests for you. (They actually are, as far as I am aware, human sized although I have no proof.) Yuki Miyamoto is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Humanities Center at DePaul University. Her work focuses on the ethics around nuclear discourse. Blair Davis is a Professor of Media and Cinema Studies at DePaul University. He has written a lot about cinema and comics and including the book The Battle for the Bs: 1950s Hollywood and the Rebirth of Low-Budget Cinema. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:33 Sci-Fi films from 1950s to 1968 03:14 Comparison to Godzilla 1954 05:23 1960s Japan 08:49 Blair's love of the film 09:59 The intentions behind the film 11:14 The 'Monster Rally' tradition 13:53 Visual delights 14:36 The first 10 minutes 18:22 The island connections 21:14 The Showa Era and Japan on the global stage 24:49 Aliens! The Kilaaks 29:38 The Izu Peninsula and Shogun 30:16 The Kaijus 40:17 The final battle 43:12 A changing Godzilla 46:52 Legacy 49:26 Recommendations Recommendations: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) Godzilla in Hell by James Stokoe NEXT EPISODE! Next episode (if all goes well) we will be talking about the Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) which is available on BFI player in the UK (which is accessible through Apple TV) but seems very elusive elsewhere. There is a version on YouTube but it is in French. The English title (I Love You, I Love You) did not seem to help. The BluRay is also available but for slightly silly prices outside of the UK from what I can see. I wish you luck in finding it!
