Dr. K's Waiting Room

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Toho’s famous kaiju, Gojira, first appeared on this day back in 1954. In 2016, the day was declared “Godzilla Day” and, as a result, I am also appropriating November 3^rd to shine a spotlight on the undisputed King of the Monsters.

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Quick Facts:
Continuing Godzilla’s revival in the “Heisei Era”, director Kensho Yamashita and screenwriter Hiroshi Kashiwabara sought to craft a more light-hearted outing. They revisited similar ideas from 1978 and retooled them into the semi-crystalline SpaceGodzilla (Ryō Haritani), which initially more like a western dragon. Though reviews were somewhat mixed, SpaceGodzilla is generally regarded as one of Godzilla’s most fearsome enemies.

The Review:
One thing I’ve always liked about Godzilla’s “Heisei Era” is the continuity between each film. this wasn’t uncommon in the “Showa Era” but I always felt it was more prominent in the 1990s Godzilla films. Accordingly, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla’s plot only occurs as a direct result of the previous two films. As explained by Professor Chinatsu Gondo (Towako Yoshikawa), Godzilla’s (Kenpachiro Satsuma) “G-Cells” were carried into space either after his battle against Biollante or Mothra and exposed to cosmic radiation…and sucked into a black hole…birthing a new creature, the titular SpaceGodzilla (Ryō Haritani), a far more demonic and aggressive lookalike sporting crystalline formations on its back! This creature lives only to destroy Godzilla and immediately flies to Earth to fulfil this goal, destroying a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space station and causing much concern amongst the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC). Sensing the pending danger, the fairy-like Cosmos twins (Sayako Osawa and Keiko Imamura) alert psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) and beg her to help defend the Earth from the extraterrestrial destroyer. Miki, having already encountered Godzilla in previous “Heisei” films, has developed a kinship with the creature and advocates to protect him rather than destroy him, heading up Project Telepathy/Project-T to find ways to telepathically control Godzilla. While she also objects to this, feeling it removes Godzilla’s purpose and self, she’s convinced to attempt to process, which involves attaching a special device to Godzilla’s head and Miki donning a helmet to influence his thoughts and behaviour and ensure he’ll defend the Earth when his alien doppelgänger arrives.

This leads Miki to Birth Island, where Godzilla frequents and where his son, Little Godzilla (Little Frankie), resides. Lieutenant Koji Shinjo (Jun Hashizume) and Lieutenant Kiyoshi Sato (Zenkichi Yoneyama) are also dispatched to Birth Island to assist and find Major Akira Yuki (Akira Emoto) laying tear gas traps for Godzilla in hopes of killing him. Major Yuki holds a personal grudge against Godzilla for killing his best friend in Godzilla vs. Biollante (Ōmori, 1989) and is instead obsessed with delivering the final shot on the King of the Monsters with a special bullet filled with blood coagulant. Despite his hatred for Godzilla, Major Yuki develops a begrudging bond with Little Godzilla and sets aside his vendetta when the runt is attacked by SpaceGodzilla and imprisoned within its crystalline constructs. While Major Yuki also briefly defies orders to rescue Miki when she’s kidnapped by the Yakuza, he returns to his fixation with Godzilla after being given command of the Mobile Operations G-Force Universal Expert Robot: Aero-type (M.O.G.U.E.R.A.), a kaiju-sized mech (Wataru Fukuda) built specifically to destroy Godzilla. While M.O.G.U.E.R.A. failed to slow or even damage SpaceGodzilla as it flew towards Earth, Major Yuki endangers everyone by turning its incredible weapons against Godzilla, leading the somewhat bumbling Lieutenant Shinjo and Lieutenant Sato to finally oppose his mania and knock him out, tying him to a chair to focus on the bigger picture of assisting Godzilla against his alien counterpart. The Yakuza get to Miki thanks to Doctor Susumu Okubo (Yôsuke Saitô) selling her out to their boss, McKay (Tom Durran), with Dr. Okubo planning to forcibly gain control of Godzilla though Miki for the Japanese mafia. Motivated by his love for her, Lieutenant Shinjo leads the rescue effort, which is greatly aided by Miki’s mysterious (and somewhat mediocre) telekinetic powers, which allow her to levitate people and objects and communicate telepathically with others (and, with some limited success, control minds).

It’s nice to see the likes of General Iyao Hyodo (Koichi Ueda), Commander Takaaki Aso (Akira Nakao), and Minister Takayuki Segawa (Kenji Sahara) exploring different strategies against Godzilla, such as experimenting with psychic powers and mind control and deploying M.O.G.U.E.R.A., which is similar to Mechagodzilla and can separate into different forms, allowing it to burrow underground and fly. Yet M.O.G.U.E.R.A. is little more than annoyance to Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla, who shrug off the mech’s spectacular and varied attacks time and again. Still, M.O.G.U.E.R.A. plays a pivotal role in defeating SpaceGodzilla when Major Yuki is convinced to destroy Fukuoka Tower, which SpaceGodzilla perverts into a crystalline fortress to feed it cosmic energy. SpaceGodzilla is every bit as fearsome and unstoppable as its Earth-bound progenitor, but even more aggressive and powerful. Bigger, bulkier, and sporting crystalline appendages, SpaceGodzilla is a demonic entity that can hover and fly, blast enemies with its lightning-like Corona Beam, and even fling Godzilla around using telekinesis. SpaceGodzilla’s crystalline formations spread across the land, its approach interferes with electronics, and it even erects a crystal energy shield to stave off Godzilla’s patented Atomic Breath! It can also control its crystals and rain them down on Godzilla but has two very obvious weak points: the crystals on its shoulders and the Fukuoka Tower, which feeds it energy. Damaging and destroying them causes the monster incredible pain and weakens it, leaving it vulnerable to Godzilla’s heavy-duty “Spiral Heat-Ray”. Sadly, SpaceGodzilla comes across as all bark and now bite as it doesn’t cause much destruction and is easily dispatched once its weaknesses are exploited, making it largely inferior to the original as Godzilla has no such weaknesses (despite Major Yuki’s theories).

Godzilla is portrayed as an unpredictable force of nature here, which is fitting. By this point, he doesn’t actively attack humans or cities and instead lingers around Birth Island watching over his son, rising from the depths only to rest or meet a new challenge. He’s portrayed as grumpy and prideful, quick to defend Little Godzilla and test his mettle against his new foe but having little time for humanity’s attempts to destroy or control him. While Miki’s attempts to physically influence him have promising results, the connection is broken before it can be fully tested and the mind control device is detached in the finale, which Godzilla appears grateful for. Godzilla is largely outmatched by his extraterrestrial clone, which is bigger and far stronger and has more weapons in its arsenal. Godzilla struggles to get close to SpaceGodzilla, or overcome its telekinesis, and faces a cunning foe that seeks to conquer the world through sheer force rather than mindless destruction. Indeed, SpaceGodzilla is savvy enough to kidnap and imprison Little Godzilla to lure Godzilla into a one-sided confrontation, where Godzilla is left struggling to do more than destroy some of its crystals. Thanks to M.O.G.U.E.R.A., SpaceGodzilla is weakened and sent into meltdown by Major Yuki’s near-fatal actions, which threatens to destroy the world. Luckily, Godzilla channels the lifeforce of Rodan to power his Spiral Heat-Ray, which vaporises the abomination (and much of Fukuoka). Although the survivors consider the possibility for more SpaceGodzillas threatening Earth, Major Yuki gains a begrudging respect for Godzilla and the Cossmos thank Miki for her efforts. The victorious Godzilla returns to Birth Island, where his son celebrates by trying out his Atomic Breath, with adorable results.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve always been a fan of SpaceGodzilla’s design. It’s a chonky, demonic perversion of Godzilla sporting horn-like fangs, an array of incredible powers, and bizarre crystalline formations from its flesh. It cuts an intimidating figure and appears to be one of Godzilla’s more intelligent and ruthless foes but is ultimately another rival that looks more fearsome than it actually is. SpaceGodzilla’s threat is nullified with uncharacteristic ease thanks to its obvious weak spots, which lessen its menace considerably and reduce it to a fearsome kaiju that hides behind defensive measures. Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla would’ve greatly benefited from scenes of SpaceGodzilla ransacking cities, transforming them into crystalline hellholes to empower itself. Without this, the film is strangely limited, which goes against the creature’s bizarre cosmic origins. While I liked Major Yuki’s obsession with killing Godzilla, this wasn’t as developed as it could’ve been and was oddly counterbalanced by Lieutenant Shinjo and Lieutenant Sato being somewhat comedic characters. Cutting Lieutenant Sato would’ve helped with this, as would developing Miki’s telepathic powers and empathy with Godzilla more. The film makes a big deal about her telepathy, but this barely factors into the finale, which is odd considering SpaceGodzilla also uses telepathy. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was a clunky, ridiculous mech who probably should’ve been destroyed in space since Miki could’ve just telepathically helped Godzilla to target SpaceGodzilla’s weak points, and the alien abomination was ultimately destroyed far too easily for my tastes. The battle between it, Godzilla, and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. is technically impressive but I don’t think Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla lives up to its full potential, in the end.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think to Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla? Were you a face of SpaceGodzilla and its outrageous origin? Did you find the psychic sub-plot and Major Yuki’s character arc half-baked? Were you also disappointed that M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was just an also-ran? What is your favourite Godzilla movie and why? How are you celebrating Godzilla Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, or Godzilla in general, leave them below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Godzilla films for me to review.