Hey youtuber’s it’s Charlie, welcome to Godzilla Week.
Here’s what’s going on, because Godzilla is coming out in theaters next Friday I a
bunch of my friends and I are doing fun bonus videos with The Nerdist Channel and Legendary
the people that actually made the movie.
So I’m going to try and do about three bonus videos between now and next Friday.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
This first video will be a short history of Godzilla movies.
I know some of you commented that you’ve seen them all, but Godzilla and Kaiju films
in general have this really cool history that goes all the way back to World War II and
the use of Nuclear Bombs.
So I’m going to do a quick history of the franchise and then rank my top 10 movies.
There’s really 32 core Godzilla movies if you count the American ones.
If you’re a purist, then you probably only count the 28 that have been Japanese Productions
but I’m just going to include everything.
There was even a separate ripoff Godzilla movie Kim Jong IL made in North Korea in 1985.
He wanted his own Godzilla movie so bad they kidnapped a South Korean Director and forced
him to make it.
Yikes.
The franchise itself is broken into three periods that denote the different styles that
informed each era.
They are Showa era, the Hesei era and the Millenium Era.
Those are named after the Japanese Emperors who reigned when the films were made.
Although the current Japanese Emperor crosses both those last two.
The first Godzilla movie was released in 1954 and became a cultural metaphor for the nuclear
holocaust in Japan during World War II.
Like a way to deal with the horrible reality of what happened to the Japanese people.
But as the films evolved through that first era of the franchise the movies started to
get really light-hearted and playful.
The Godzilla monster even turned into a superhero and they started making Godzilla versus movies.
Then in 1984 Japanese directors rebooted the series with a new storyline.
That era lasted until 1995 and used Godzilla more as a metaphor for Genetic testing.
It dealt a lot more with the biology of the monster.
Then the current era changed the continuity again.
All the Japanese movie basically use that first Godzilla movie as a jumping off point
and just go in all different directions.
So each one isn’t a sequel to the ones that came before.
The American reboot from Roland Emmerich in 1998 is also a totally separate timeline as
is the case with the 2014 movie that’s happening right now.
So the movie we’re all going to see next week sets up a whole new backstory and any
sequels will just flow from that.
So here’s my Top 10 Godzilla Movies, not including the current one, which I haven’t
seen yet.
Number 10 - Godzilla Tokyo SOS This is the 2003 film.
It’s basically a battle royale involving Mechagodzilla which is actually named Kiryu
which is more like a cyborg and Mothra.
Number 9 - Godzilla VS Space Godzilla
Evil doppelganger Godzilla created from black hole radiation and genetic material from Godzilla
carried into space by Mothra.
I always love creative use of Godzilla biology.
Number 8 - Son of Godzilla
This jump starts the idea of Godzilla reproduction which the new movie pays homage to in a really
interesting way.
Number 7 - Giant Monsters All Out Attack
Revived Godzilla possessed by souls of fallen japanese World War II soldiers.
There’s this really awesome story device that deals with the concept of the Guardian
Monsters too.
Number 6 - Return of Godzilla 1985 Reboot
This was produced as part of the 30 year anniversary celebration of the original Godzilla movie
and did what most reboots do.
Dark Knighted the franchise making it way darker way grittier.
Number 5 - Terror Of Mechagodzilla
This was the last film in the original era before the 1985 reboot.
Number 4 - Mothra VS Godzilla
This was the first film Mothra appeared in.
It’s generally regarded from a story and production standpoint to be one of the best
old Godzilla movies and best from the franchise in general next to the first film.
So if you want to go way back, this is a good place to start.
Number 3 - Godzilla 2000
This was the last movie that was part of the core godzilla run that got released in US
theaters before the new movie.
It’s a little weird in that it was released so close to the Roland Emmerich 1998 reboot,
which was just awful.
Number 2 - Gojira
This is the original 1954 film and if you want to watch it, Criterion did a special
DVD release that’s just amazing.
So if you really want to do it right.
Check out the Criterion edition.
and my Number 1 Godzilla movie - Godzilla Vs Destoroyah
I made this my number one mostly because it’s one of the best, but it’s a lot like the
Death of Superman in that it promised to kill Godzilla for real.
To make way for the new reboot they were going to kill off the original godzilla.
There was all this marketing and culturally there was just something going on in the mid
90s where superheros were dying like it was their job.
DC killed Superman in 1992, they broke Batman’s back in 1993.
Cut to Godzilla dying in 1995 to make way for a franchise reboot comic book style.
But now it’s your turn.
Let me know what your favorite Godzilla movie is and what kind of easter eggs you’re hoping
for in the new film.
You should see how many references you can spot to the old godzilla movies.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’ve heard there are a few surprise twists that
will make Kaiju fans really happy.
My next Godzilla video will probably be on Thursday, but i’ll post it sooner if I finish
it earlier.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
I’ll wait till Friday to post my review of the movie.
Right now click here for the special Godzilla Week Playlist that me and my friends are doing
and click here to learn about all the TV Shows that just got picked up for new seasons that
I’ll be doing videos for.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow.
High Fives!