eric's little black star » From the folks who brought you Gojira… it’s RODAN!!

eric on Feb 3rd 2009 at 4:16 am Godzilla!,Movies

From the folks who brought you Gojira… it’s RODAN!!

This is part of an ongoing series called Godzilla & Friends: Reviews from the Godzillaverse and Beyond!. Feel free to look around.

Just two years after the release of Gojira, director Ishiro Honda and pretty much everybody else who worked on Gojira got together and made another kaiju movie! I’m not sure if the first Rodan is in the Godzillaverse, but I’m betting that since Godzilla fights a Rodan in the 5th movie in the Godzilla series (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster).

While still shot in the normal TV aspect ratio (1.37:1), it was the first Japanese monster movie to be filmed in color!

While Gojira was a very blatant anti-war movie, Rodan was very pro-earth. Oddly enough, way back in 1956 they were concerned about global warming and it’s mentioned in the opening. Even the ice caps melting was mentioned, almost in jest.

Gojira didn’t focus much on individuals, but rather on Tokyo as a whole. In Rodan, we not only meet a bunch of people right quick, we get to see them die right quick too.

Here’s the plot…
The movie starts off with a bunch of coal miners who stumble upon something big that quickly kills off a bunch of them and those investigating. Shigeru, our main character, is visiting his fiance (whose brother is missing in the mine and even suspected of killing the minters) when a big ass bug attacks them! This is the same big ass thing (now known to be a bug) that has been killing off the miners.

Like in Gojira, the towns people (here mostly made up by police) do not run away. Instead they attempt to fight the big ass bug. And a few of them die quite painfully.

Shigeru, a mine engineer, somehow then leads the army into the mines to find this bug. They find it, fill it full of lead and discover that there are more. But due to the shooting, the mine collapses, cutting off our hero, Shigeru!

With our main character out of the picture, the lead falls upon biology professor Kashiwagi. He suspects that the bugs are giant dragon fly nymphs – prehistoric creatures known as meganulons (apologies to anyone named Megan).

But suddenly there’s an earthquake and Shigeru is found! Sadly, however, he has amnesia and cannot remember a damn thing.

The doctor cheers everyone up by telling them that only one in 10,000 who have memory loss don’t make a full recovery. But quickly backtracks saying, “I doubt he’ll get well… We’ll keep him in the hospital anyway.” Nice. I’m sure it’s just a mistranslation.

Shigeru is lost in a world of his own until he sees a bird egg about to hatch. Then it all comes back. While he was trapped in the mine, he saw a huge egg with a Pteranodon hatching out of it. The Pteranodon is large enough to eat the big ass bugs for breakfast, and does.

Well that does it! With reports from all over Asia of some huge UFO destroying airplanes willy nilly, it’s time to take action!

But any air attack can be quickly put down by the mighty Rodan! And when Rodan lands in the city of Fukuoko and kicks much ass. A huge ground attack with tanks and rocket launchers does nothing to stop the terror that is Rodan! But what is worse than one Rodan? TWO RODANS! How will the world survive?!

And here I go…
Rodan was only Toho’s third monster movie. Gojira and Godzilla Raids Again preceded it. With the original Gojira crew back in command, this is light years ahead of Godzilla Raids Again. The miniature sets are light years ahead of Gojira‘s, but the movie doesn’t hold the punch that Gojira brought. The darkness of the black and white Gojira is missing from the color Rodan, but the movie itself isn’t as dark as Gojira.

Due to the color, the sets had to be even more detailed. And quite honestly, they’re amazing. With the Rodan DVD was an hour long documentary about the sets of the whole Godzilla series. This alone with worth the price of the DVD. You don’t just get an appreciation for the set builders, you are left with mouth gaping and in total awe of them. See this. It also brings together three generations of Godzilla suit actors. It’s such fun to see the oldest of them walking and growling like Godzilla.

And speaking of the DVD, it also contains the US release version of Rodan. This is, to put it mildly, an abomination. From the bizarrely racist overdubs (“ahh, it rook rike we trying to sound Japanese!”) to the added stock footage of jets taking off (over and over) to the constant rambling of TWO narrators in the beginning of the movie… well… this just has to be seen to be believed.

This was George Takei’s first professional acting job. He also did some overdubbing for Godzilla Raids Again, which was released after Rodan in the US. He, Keye Luke (Mr. Wing from Gremlins), Paul Frees (who was the Narrator for the movie The World’s Greatest Sinner – maybe more on that later) and a woman (nobody can remember who) did all of the voices for the US release. That explains the weirdness… a little.

If you get the chance, see the original Japanese version first and then see the US version. After watching the Japanese, maybe you’ll think it’s a little cheesy, especially by today’s standards. But when you see the standards set by the US release, you’ll rethink it, trust me.

One of the biggest problems I had with the US release was how they edited out all of the tension. Any scene that had too much drama or where you started to care a little bit about the characters, they either completely removed, cut away early, or made the movie say some rather goofy things via the ridiculous overdubbing.

The US version of Rodan is atrocious. The original Japanese version is a masterpiece when held in comparison. On it’s own, it’s just a damn fine monster flick. Go find it!

-

Monsters: Rodan (two of them), Meganulons (many of them)
Locations: Kitamatsu (small village), Fukuoko

10 responses so far

10 Responses to “From the folks who brought you Gojira… it’s RODAN!!”

Ryan Beggar says:

February 3, 2009 at 10:06 am

I always like the weird racist dubbing. A lot of films have scenes where the characters say something like ‘we’ve got to stay and fight’ and the American dub will be “run!”
You’re inventing cowardly Asian characters, hollywood. Good one.

eric Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
It’s very odd, especially since most of the over dubbers are asia (George Takai and the old fellow from Gremlins). But I guess it’s a way to pay the bills.

It’s really fun to be able to watch both versions.
Ryan Beggar says:

February 3, 2009 at 5:10 pm

If I sounded like George takei I’d be so excited. “would you like me to talk like george takei some more mike?”
John cho better nail the part in the new star trek. Big shoes to fill.

eric Reply:
February 4th, 2009 at 8:08 am
I think you could (should) pull that off. It’s pretty important. At this point, the kids won’t remember your original voice (though, perhaps, Taviri will always refer to ‘Papa… before the change…’). And Jaime will just let it slide, especially if you couple it with chores or cooking an extra meal (with a veggie in it).

You CAN make this happen… YOU can pull it off! Soon, you will BE George Takai… HOORAY FOR YOU!!
Calder says:

February 3, 2009 at 6:05 pm

There is still widespread confusion and disbelief here in Australia that Mad Max had to be and was dubbed originally for U.S. audiences.
eric says:

February 4, 2009 at 8:05 am

That’s actually true. :)

American International Pictures recorded an entirely new vocal soundtrack and used it in the first theatrical release as well as on video. The DVD released in 2002 has the option to play the AIP audio track.

From IMDB:
The version released in the U.S. was re-dubbed because the distributor feared that American audiences would have had problems understanding the thick Australian accents spoken by the actors.

MGM’s 2002 DVD release, called the “Special Edition,” contains the original Australian dialog track. There are also options that play the film with American International’s replacement U.S. dubbed track as well as a pan and scan version.

The dubbed American release changed some bits of dialog from Australian slang and phrases into American ones. Hense, “windscreen” became “windshield”, “See looks!” became “Look see!”, and “Very toey!” became “Super hot!”.

Calder Reply:
February 4th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Australian slang is nuts most of the time, but auto/police slang is largely American based, derived from American TV. Australians get really testy when they are subtitled for English- speaking audiences, perhaps rightfully so.

eric Reply:
February 4th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I’d guess rightfully so, yeah. But you’re right, Australian slang (the little I’ve been exposed to) is insane and makes about as much sense as Cockney slang. It almost needs to be subtitled. But then, how many australian movies make it over to the US?

Calder Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Um, lets see. Apart from Mad Max… none really. Baz Luhrman doesn’t count as “Australian” anymore. I think he’s on Aussie probation for making Australia. The guidebook I had for Victoria, Lonely Planet Victoria, had a translation glossary in the back for slang or everyday language. It was about 6 pages long.

eric Reply:
February 5th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
There’s got to be something else. .. I saw one when I was a kid. Not bad. But no idea what it was. And there’s a weird movie about some kids disappearing. Not bad either. But really… I’m pretty much most of America either doesn’t know/care if australia exists or thinks it’s part of england.