| Godzilla versus Space Godzilla Released: 1994 MPAA Rating: PG Genre: Super Monster Nuts and Bolts: Skin cells from Godzilla found in outer space have mutated and congealed to create a monster even bigger and more powerful than Godzilla. Now Godzilla must become Tokyo’s protector as Space Godzilla attempts to turn the entire island into its own personal crystalline power battery! Summary: Note: This movie follows Godzilla versus Mecha-Godzilla (2). Members of G-Force are assigned to survey Bas Island where the baby Godzillasaur known as Baby lives. The three soldiers are part of a group known as Project T (Project Telepathy). Project T want to attract the attention of Godzilla in order to use a psychotronic generator on the animal so that ESP specialist Miki Saegusa can control him. Major Akira Yuki of G-Force is dedicated towards eradicating Godzilla in order to avenge the death of his best friend. (Yuki’s friend died during Godzilla’s battle with King Ghidorah.) Yuki begins planting tear gas mines all along the beachhead. Baby comes along and plods through all of the gas mines. Meanwhile, the Mothra fairies come to Earth to speak with Miki. They warn her that a great space monster is coming to Earth to destroy Godzilla. Miki accepts the responsibility of helping to protect Godzilla. While all this is occurring, the Japanese defense council learns that a giant space monster destroyed a Nasa satellite. They decide to initiate Project: Moguera in order to combat the new menace. Moguera is Japan’s newest defense system and it is a giant bipedal robot similar in design to Mecha-Godzilla. Moguera flies through space and encounters a crystalline reptile, which will later become known as Space Godzilla. Space Godzilla blasts past Moguera and arrives on Earth. It goes to Bas Island where it attacks Baby. At the same time, Godzilla arrives on Bas Island as well. The G-Force soldiers launch the Project T implant into the back of Godzilla’s neck and Miki is temporarily able to control him. She relinquishes control over Godzilla however when they discover that Space Godzilla is attacking Baby. Godzilla rushes to Baby’s aid and fights off Space Godzilla. Space Godzilla is way too strong however and easily defeats both of the Godzillasaurs. Back at G-Center, Doctor Chinatsu Gondo offers theories as to Space Godzilla’s origins. She believes that skin cells of Godzilla that had become attached to Mothra may have flaked off of Mothra’s body into outer space. The cells were swallowed by a black hole and pushed out through a white hole. From there, they grew within their own evolutionary system. They assimilated crystal organisms and became exposed to energies from the explosions of stars. The final result became Space Godzilla. Sometime later, Doctor Susumo Okuba of G-Force is revealed to be a traitor. He is actually working for the Japanese mafia and kidnaps Miki Saegusa. Okuba wants to use Saegusa’s ESP abilities to control Godzilla. G-Force sends in their own special forces to rescue Miki. During the fight, Miki develops telekinetic powers and breaks free of Okuba’s control. The leave the mafia compound and return to G-Center. Space Godzilla begins rampaging through Tagashima Bay near Fukuoka. He pounds his way along until he reaches Kyushu. Space Godzilla begins creating immense crystal structures that assimilate all of the buildings from the surrounding area. He uses the crystalline structures as lightning rods absorbing ambient electricity needed to power himself. Akira Yuki is assigned to pilot Moguera and attack Space Godzilla. But in mid-flight, Yuki abandons his directive to go and attack Godzilla. The three forces finally come together in one location and begin battling each other. Space Godzilla readily beats Moguera and Yuki is forced to retreat from the battle. He then concentrates his powers on Godzilla and uses crystalline force fields to deflect Godzilla’s atomic breath. Space Godzilla also has telekinetic powers and he uses them to hurl Godzilla through several buildings. Godzilla eventually comes to realize that Space Godzilla gets his power from the crystal spikes erected all over Kyushu. He begins shredding the crystals with his fire breath and knocks over a huge tower that Space Godzilla had been using as a lightning rod. Akira Yuki decides to separate Moguera into its two inherent drive systems. Piloting a hover component known as the Star Falcon, he disengages from the main Moguera body and flies back towards the battle. He executes several hit and run maneuvers before returning to Moguera. Moguera decides to re-enter the battle and has since diverted its attentions from Godzilla to Space Godzilla. (For some reason, Yuki is no longer revenge stricken against Godzilla) He launches Moguera’s fists at Space Godzilla shattering the creature’s spiky crystal shoulder guards. He then blasts Moguera’s entire body into a suicide dive against Space Godzilla. Space Godzilla barely survives the attack, and Godzilla finishes him off. Acting/Dialogue: Standard fare for any Godzilla movie. Weak dialogue overlapped by poor American dubbing. For some reason, the actors that are chosen to do voice-overs in these films are some of the most talentless ass-clowns that I have ever heard. These guys aren’t fit to do cartoon voices. You get better acting from an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Gore: The only gore involves a scene where G-Force Major Akira Yuki uses a big knife to stab a deadly spider off of Koji Shinjo’s neck. Blood runs down Shinjo’s throat, and the punctured spider drips some kind of white ooze. Guilty Pleasures: We get to see Baby Godzilla use his atomic breath for the first time. He burps up a bunch of radioactive blue bubbles. Very cute. The Good: Space Godzilla is BAD ASS! He is easily one of the coolest looking of all of Godzilla’s foes, old and new (With the exception of King Ghidorah of course). He’s bigger than Godzilla with darker scales and more fangs. Whereas Godzilla has the reptilian plates along his spine, Space Godzilla has large spiky crystal protrusions all along his back. Not only is he bigger, meaner and sturdier…but he can FLY also! The music is especially nice in this and adds a nice feeling of drama to the movie. It is of course supplemented by the classic Godzilla-stomp theme, which no G-film should be without. There are a few scenes that are really cool looking. One of my favorites involves Space Godzilla hurling Godzilla through a string of buildings with his telekinesis. Space Godzilla could also defend himself against Godzilla’s atomic breath by way of an invisible crystal force field. The field was very reminiscent of the ones used in the film Dune. And of course, every scene with Baby Godzilla is worthy of a good chuckle. The Bad: Of all of Toho’s Godzilla re-launch films, this one is probably one of the weakest. The plot and direction are pretty hollow, and most of the camera angles are your standard point-n-shoot shots. The story itself is relatively basic. Monster comes to Earth for no other purpose than to kill other monsters. Space Godzilla has absolutely no motivating factor for why he is wreaking havoc. There are also way too many dangling plot threads that never get resolved. Akira Yuki creates a special coagulant bullet, which is designed to kill Godzilla. He moans on and on about his ‘Yuki Special’ but he never even gets to use the fucking thing. Not only that, but for some reason that is never revealed, Yuki ends up rescinding all of his past hatred towards Godzilla. Then there is the matter of Project T. The purpose behind this was to use a pscyhotronic implant on Godzilla that will allow Miki Saegusa the ability to control him. This only worked for about ten seconds and was never addressed again. I think this scene was created solely for the purpose of giving Miki more screen time. And speaking of Miki, there’s another scene, which starts off strong and then wanders away. Miki is kidnapped by the Japanese mafia. They set the stage to introduce a whole new arena of intrigue between Japan’s underworld and the military might of G-Force. But this too was resolved in about five minutes and seemed to serve no other purpose than to create a reason to give Miki telekinetic powers. This disjointed scene has no point to it and could have been easily removed from the film. Plot threads are introduced only to quickly unravel like a cheap wool sweater. There really wasn’t a lot of effort put into this script. Now we come to the issue of Moguera. Why the fuck was this chunk of shit even introduced? We have already been given Mecha-Godzilla as per the last film. All he needed was a good wax job and he would’ve been good to go. But now we have to suffer through a really cheesy looking robotic chicken. They should’ve just called it Mecha-Big-Bird and been done with it. Moguera also featured a separating hover-ship called the Star Falcon. The Star Falcon seemed to serve no purpose and for the life of me, I can’t even figure out why it separated from Moguera. But the saddest thing is, is that Moguera is not even as powerful as Mecha-Godzilla was. Why would G-Force create a robot weapon that is actually WEAKER than one that already got trashed by Godzilla? What the fuck are these people smoking? We also get treated to a cameo by the Mothra faeries. Why they show up is anybody's guess. They warn Miki of Space Godzilla's coming, but the warning is a poor form of foreshadowing since the title of the film IS Godzilla versus Space Godzilla. And even though Miki learns this important intel before anyone else, it doesn't do her a damn bit of good. What the hell do the faeries expect Miki to do, beat him to death with her big ass ears? Aside from Space Godzilla, the special effects are really shitty in this. On at least six different scenes, you can easily see the wires holding the props up. You can see them when Space Godzilla chucks the big G through the buildings with his TK. You also see the cables holding up the Star Falcon and you see them again supporting some of the crystalline structures in Kyushu. But the all time worst scene in the whole flick is Space Godzilla’s intro. Moguera is flying through space past a bunch of pieces of floating foam and plastic. I guess these were supposed to be asteroids or something. After looking at these craptastic special effects, I’m thinking Toho should have consulted with Playskool on how to make some more convincing looking props. Hell, even Lego could have made more realistic looking asteroids! I don’t think I’m in any way exaggerating when I say that I found more convincing outer space effects in an old Flash Gordon serial. Even the fight scenes are kind of lacking. They start off really strong but they really favor style over substance with this flick. The final fight scenes really drag on and on, and they even begin to get boring after a while. If you are one of those dedicated chaps that need to own every Godzilla movie ever made, then I at least suggest that you grab the other satellite films first. Space Godzilla is very cool looking, but this film proves that good looks will only get you so far. Great Lines: “Too many stupid meetings can change a man’s destiny.” --Akira Yuki as he prepares to attend a Godzilla summit. Overall Rating: 4 out of 10 severed heads. |
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