Just before the turn of the Millennium, there was a late night video review show that was quite popular on Channel 4. Hosted by Nigel Buckland and Stef Gardiner; Vids was a Video and DVD review show, which combined reviewing the latest releases with some adult comedy. The show was originally set in a fictitious video store located in Glasgow; until that was blown-up by a side character in a story arc during the second series. Vids was pretty popular and ran for six series, despite not receiving a permanent time slot on the air!
Channel 4 regularly used to show Godzilla movies during the 1990’s, and as a fan, I always used to pick through the Radio Times to see if any were being shown; and if they were, they were pretty much always shown on Channel 4. About a week before the year 2000 began, Channel 4 hosted a mini season of Godzilla movies. Seven films were shown on ‘4 Later’, many of which were major classics from the series, including Godzilla vs Hedorah, Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster, and Mothra vs. Godzilla.
But, before at least 6 of these films, the Vids duo hosted a 2 minute-ish review of each one. These reviews featured details on the film’s productions, some plot elements, and comedic opinion pieces in their trademarked madcap style. In many ways, these little review videos actually featured little tit-bits of information which you may never have known of or seen before. In some regards they could be considered must-see pieces for anyone and everyone interested in the Kaiju movie Genre. So, I thought it might be fun to share with you my personal favourite episodes from this mini series; which detailed many interesting facts, as well as some adult, but still pretty funny humor, in the amazing world of Godzilla. Enjoy!
3. Godzilla Raids Again – Godzilla Raids again was the sequel to the original 1954 film and was the first film in the series to feature a fight between the title’s star and another monster; so our two hosts use this opportunity to recreate the fight themselves in a cardboard city! Also keep an eye out for Stef’s message on the use of camera’s in the film and the Big G’s different design!
2. The Return of Godzilla – The Return of Godzilla was released in 1984, and saw Godzilla not fighting another monster, but rather returning to his roots as a nuclear menace. Here the dynamic duo present a mini history of the films release plus some interesting plot details, with Stef having a cigarette near some nuclear waste. Plus, Nigel creates his own version of the song ‘War‘ by Edwin Starr.
1. Godzilla (1954) – This was the first time that I was able to see the original movie, and is also possibly one of the very few times that this movie has been shown on TV in the UK (for some unknown reason)! In this instance the video store owners provide a history of the films production and plot, whilst trying to hatch (or more likely fry) an egg that Nigel found outside their flat!
Things I Like 
Leave a Reply