Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

In the far reaches of space; a strange, large, crystal like object, born from a black hole; is making it’s way to Earth. What is most terrifying about this prospect is that there’s something eerily familiar about it. But that’s still in space, which right now is clearly an S.E.P., as back on Earth there are other things to focus on. These include the construction of a new Mech, a soldier out to get revenge against a certain monster, and a strange scientific experiment to try and telepathically control that same certain monster!

Released in 1994, and directed by Kenshô Yamashita; Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is the 21st film in the Godzilla film series, and the sixth film overall in the Heisei Era. The film stars Megumi Odaka, Jun Hashizume, Zenkichi Yoneyama, Akira Emoto, and Towako Yoshikawa. Although this is Megumi Odaka’s fifth appearance in the series, having starred in each film since Godzilla vs. Biollante as Miki Saegusa; it’s her first time as a central character, as all previous film’s involved her in a supporting position. Odaka and Godzilla aren’t the only returning figures either, as Godzilla Junior has grown up a little since Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II; but also Moguera. Now while it is true that to date Moguera has only appeared in one Godzilla film (this one), the character/monster made it’s original debut in Ishirō Honda‘s 1957 science fiction epic The Mysterians (which ironically also starred Kenji Sahara, who also appears in this film); although sadly has not appeared in a single film since!

How can you tell when a franchise or some form of intellectual property has run out of ideas? About 12 years ago, Blizzard Entertainment released their then latest expansion to World of Warcraft; titled World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. I personally have not played World of Warcraft, nor had any real personal desire to do so; but I looked at that expansion, and immediately began to ponder if the designers had run out of ideas. The reason; Mists of Pandaria introduced…Pandas.

From what I can gather, World of Warcraft is set in a fantasy world right? So why introduce Panda’s? Did the designers genuinely run out of Fantasy based creatures to use? Did their copies of the works of Tolkien catch fire? It genuinely looks like they ran out of ideas, and decided one evening to watch Kung Fu Panda, and then say; ‘Yeah; why not? Let’s introduce Pandas!’

At this point you might be wondering what World of Warcraft and Pandas have to do with this ‘Godzilla’ film. Well, personally, thinking of this film’s title, it comes across to suggest that the film’s producers, had also run out of ideas. Think about it; Godzilla already has a sort of doppelganger in MechaGodzilla, so why does he need another one? I mean the name itself says it all doesn’t it; it’s Godzilla but from Space! It just automatically sounds creatively desperate.

But it’s not just the inclusion of this monster that points towards a series with some creativity issues, as most of the film seems to be just filler. Quite a lot of the first half hour is made up of pointless running around, and repetitive imagery. For a film featuring a more heavy science fiction based route, you’d expect plenty of explanations, but they don’t happen. It’s never explained as to why SpaceGodzilla created pulsating holes on birth island, and whilst the character of Yuki (Emoto) is by far the most well developed character, his reasoning and backstory is told in the blink of an eye. Most of the characters are rather unsympathetic, they are not well developed, most of their scenes are just awkward, and one of them at the end of the film claims to still have a bone to pick with Godzilla! But as to what that is, we will probably never know, because as far as we can see, he has no reason for there to be one, other than to be a wild and crazy comedy sidekick!

Then the film just gets weirder, by adding a kidnapping plot for no obvious reason other than to fill time, which in turn leads to an assault on a warehouse controlled by the ‘Japanese Mafia‘. Once that’s done, it just sort of gets forgotten about. The final fight isn’t too bad, but there are points where there should definitely be music, and there isn’t, which just ruins some potentially cool and more memorable scenes. And as to why Miki and Chinatsu decide to change into those really garish hoodies; again, why? And why that style? And another thing, why does it take SpaceGodzilla the best part of two days to get to Fukuoka, when earlier in the film he’s seen zipping at the speed of light through space, past entire planets?

I’m not trying to rant or ride on the poor quality of this film, but there’s so many niggles about it, it’s hard to ignore them. I mean the origin of SpaceGodzilla for a start is vague at best. His origin is based entirely on theory, which again could have been explained better if the run time hadn’t been filled with filler. As to the exact nature of his origin, again, vague at best, as the film suggests two options, one of which is a plot hole in a previous film which used time travel to change the past, and therefore, wiped that first incident from ever taking place. It’s not like Iris‘s origin story in Gamera 3: where Iris has a firm foundation, it’s just the full backstory is hidden from view meaning there are strong arguments for and against as to whether or not Iris is bad by intention, or if it’s purely manipulation!

Plus, the film does divert from a spectacularly good possibility. Mothra left Earth in Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth; to save the planet from a meteor. What could have been really cool, is if that meteor was SpaceGodzilla. Then we could have had a film involving the return of Mothra to help save the day. Oh the possibilities…

So yeah, the film does have quite a few quality issues, but it does have it’s merits. For instance, Godzilla’s attack on Kagoshima is really well done, and one of the more visually pleasing and entertaining scenes of city destruction in the series so far, backed up by one of the film’s better sounding scores too.

Then you have Moguera. Moguera is not a giant robot like MechaGodzilla, it’s more of a weapons platform, with options to split in half, fly, drill underground, and more. It’s a very beautiful design too, with plenty of basic colours, to give the character, well, a really cool look.

In addition to these points, setting the final battle in Fukuoka is also a really neat little addition, as it allows the audience to discover more of the other cities of this amazing country, other than seeing Tokyo get trashed each time.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is a weird one. It has quite a few issues, and can feel like a long and sometimes awkward watch, as whilst it has potential to be a deeply well thought out science fiction based piece, it’s instead filled with filler, and brief explanations, with not much of an argument behind them. But, it does have it’s good points. These are sadly few in number, but above all else, if we didn’t have this film, then we may never have seen that incredibly cool design of Moguera..so totally worth it!