AIR RODAN: When it positively has to be demolished overnight.

[Flangepart]

Got a question. What flying monsters do you like best? Rodan(Radon)? Gamera? Q? The Giant claw?(Okey, go ahead and snicker) Gaos? Just what is it about flying kaiju that makes them attack, consistantly, ground based creatures that can kick their butts, but can't reach them if they just flew off to a target half a continent away? If you were a bird monster bent on world conquest, woulden't it be better to off the human oppisition first, then bag the other guy last?  Hey, if Gaos vs. Godzilla, and i were Gaos, it's be "Screw this! See ya' later fat feet, i'm headin' for Shanghi, for a little snack. enjoy the swim. Hah,hah!" How about you? And....what would you like to see a flying Kaiju do, they they don't do?

[AndyC]

My favourite flying kaiju has to be King Ghidorah. He's the biggest and among the nastiest, both in appearance and behaviour. He's also fun to watch, with wings that barely flap, and three floppy puppet heads that shoot lightning.

[AndyC]

Good point about the monsters that always choose to fight when they don't have to. This is especially true when they are under alien control, and not subject to their own violent whims. In Godzilla vs. Gigan, for example, why is it so important to beat Godzilla first? I suppose that's the last question on my mind after the big ones. Why locate your headquarters at the top of a flimsy tower? Why not post some defenses at the main entrance to the tower? That way, you won't have your elevator packed with explosives by a cartoonist, his girlfriend and a comical hippy. Come to think of it, what was gained by the whole 'Children's Land' deception?

Similar questions arise when I watch Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Why is the deception necessary? Why haul two monsters beyond Jupiter only to haul three back to Earth later? Why have all three monsters in Japan when you're conquering the whole planet? Why use monsters at all, when you have well-armed spacecraft that have to hover over them anyway? Why are the people of Planet X sucking up water droplets when they have the technology to haul comets around?

It's a little off topic, but one question often leads to more, where kaiju are concerned.

[Flangepart]

Precisely why i love these flicks! Thats why they call it "Mystery science." And the "Logic" of Japanese cinema never fails to astound...let alone give me a Nural Hernia. Like in Destroy all Monsters.... "The Earth does not belong to you people." Say what? What, do the Kiilakks have a reciept?  Did humans evolve before they came with the claim check, to get Earth out of storage? Hello? And  if the aliens are so smart, why can't they just use Gidorah as a reactor? If they can summon him, and direct him, hook him up to a siphon and milk his butt! Ouch!...brain cramp! Must get beer!...have to...stop thinking...so much about...logic....

[Cullen]

At first, neither of them realized that there was something wrong with their luck.

My favorite flying monster is Godzilla.  I mean, the way he flew around in "Godzilla v. the Smog Monster" was GREAT!  I always knew he had it in him!  I wonder why he never flew again in his latter pictures?

And now for something completely different: an honest, non-goofy answer to the question.  Garsh.

Rodan will always be one of my favorites.  Of the flying foes of Godzilla, he is the one with the most personality.  Plus, his movie is my favorite among the kaiju.

Sure, Godzilla is the King.  But there's just something about Rodan...

Wait.  

That soundeds wrong.  

Never mind.

[StatCat]

Gappa!!....no wait I'll say king ghidorah also. I like him the most out of pretty much all of the giant monsters.

[Squishy]

Things changed later on. There is a "Highlander" rule from the '80s on that monsters automatically hunt and fight other monsters, even if they pop up on the other side of the globe.

The rare exception would be Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Soukougeki, which should--hopefully--hit US shores within the year. Godzilla isn't interested in the other monsters--or even sucking on nuclear reactors--anymore; he just wants to kill every human being in Japan. (His opponents DO seek him out, as they are called forth to defend Japan.)

But the rest of the time, in the later series, flying monsters were given reasons to stick around, be it offspring to defend (Rodan in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla (95)), a power source to conquer and maintain (Space Godzilla, Megaguirus), outside control (both KG and Mecha-KG in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah) or just "there can only be ONE!" (Destroyah). In the second series, Gamera was here to kill the other monsters; flying opponents like Gyaos and Legion did try to escape when they could.

Note: If you haven't already heard, the director, special effects team, composer, and Godzilla-design from Godzilla x Megaguirus are returning for the next G-flick, Godzilla x MechaGodzilla. (That's right, less than ten years later, Mecha-G's being dusted off again. But then, in those ten years or so, we've seen three different Mothra projects across five films and three revisions of King Ghidorah. C'mon, let 'em rest a minute.)

Afterwards, perhaps the Kaneko team of the Gamera trilogy and Daikaiju Soukougeki can do a follow-up to their G-film, which was far more popular than Megaguirus. Personally, I'd like to see two rejects from their original trio of opponents--Angilas and Varan--team up with Manda, or maybe Kaneko can go nuts and have Okinawa suffer the wrath of Godzilla fighting new, scarier, stronger versions of Gezora, Kameba, and Ganime, the monsters from Yog! Monster From Space. Tentacles, serrated pincers, and giant turtles--oh my!!

[flangepart]

Humm...not bad, Squish. Angilas and Varan are two underappreciated beasties, i think. Could make a good tagteam, in a flick of their own. Worked for Burt and Earl in Tremors 2! Monster design is part of the fun of these things. How to keep the fights intresting, and not over do the ray wepons. Godzilla's fire is cool, but a good grappel is not to be missed. I'd like to see some real chomping and clawing. Heh....i'd like to see G. rip Deanzilla's head off, and blast fire down his throat till he explodes....take that, you wannabe! Ever notice how hard it is to show an air battle? The wide distances between opponants makes it hard for the perticipants to keep relitive placement and movement in order...let alone the audience trying to follow it on a 2 dementional image! Man! Ya' can do it if you played enought air combat games, but if not.....

[Hairzilla]

>Note: If you haven't already heard, the director, special effects team, composer, >and Godzilla-design from Godzilla x Megaguirus are returning for the next G->flick, Godzilla x MechaGodzilla. (That's right, less than ten years later, Mecha->G's being dusted off again. But then, in those ten years or so, we've seen three >different Mothra projects across five films and three revisions of King Ghidorah. >C'mon, let 'em rest a minute.)

I couldn't possibly agree with you more about this, Squish'! When I first read that Mechagodzilla would be returning, yet again, for the next flick I came VERY close to sending Toho a disgruntled e-mail imploring them to explore a more original idea! They've already proven with four films....five actually, if you count Battera - G' vs BIOLLANTE', G' vs SPACE GODZILLA, G' vs DESTROYAH, and G' vs MEGAGUIRUS - that they're able to come up with successful NEW concepts. So why fall back, again, on something that has already been done three separate times?! As was very well explored in a previous thread, I think that the franchise would benefit far more from either revamping or creating a different kaiju altogether than to keep reintroducing old, standard foes!....

And now, back to the question at hand: Despite trying to come up with one, solid choice for the best flying monster, I keep coming back to the thought that kaiju of this particular variety are only as cool as the movies they're featured in. The prime example, without question, has to be Gamera. Until the concept was completely revamped in G' - Guardian of the Universe, NObody viewed Gamera with the same regard as Godzilla - no matter how unbelievably bad some of the entries from the Heisei [I screwed up the reference, right?] series were. But now, two additional and highly successful films later, I can say that I've read at least one article in a mainstream movie magazine which crowned Gamera the new king of the monsters, and that the Gamera series ranks just a bit higher in my personal opinion than the Godzilla movies.

The same goes for Rodan. In the original film he is, undeniably, the best of the flying monsters. But in every subsequent appearance up until MECHAGODZILLA 2 [1?.... Here 1! Here boy! ....] he doesn't do much more than fill the required airborne kaiju moments and waddle around like he's suffering from a bad wedgie.

 As far as consistancy goes I'd say King Ghidorah, but that's mainly because stock footage from previous films was used in just about every appearance he made up until the Showa series began in '84. [Truly a milestone in the decade of "big"!]

So, while I don't actually have a choice for the "best" flying monster, I'd have to say that the most bizzare and deadly concept to date has to be....Iris, from GAMERA 3 - THE INCOMPLETE STRUGGLE.

Send King Ghidorah back into space....

Scrap Mechagodzilla....

Let Mothra's egg lay....

And give the fans what they really want....
                                     
GODZILLA VS GAMERA!

[AndyC]

Definitely a must-see movie, if it is ever made.

[Squishy]

My little "Godzilla versus Yog!" idea (of course, Yog! Monster From Space was just a title whipped up for US release and has no true connection to Gezora, Kameba, and Ganime) would actually allow a little surprise along these lines--if it were kept secret, fans attending its premier would spontaneously burst into flame with joy at the climax...

WARNING: MILD SPOILER

In Daikaiju Soukougeki, whenever one of the "Holy Defenders of Yamato"--Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah--is killed, its life-energy passes to one of its fellow Defenders.

As I picture "my sequel," the giant turtle Kameba is the first to take on Godzilla and is slaughtered like a pig. Later, the squid Gezora and the crab Ganime attempt to kill Godzilla in a combination land/sea attack on the coast of Okinawa--in what looks at first to be the film's climactic battle. When Godzilla triumphs, the two monsters' lifeforces resurrect and physically change Kameba, who faces Godzilla in the REAL final battle...as Gamera.

(In order to preserve "the secret guest-star," the inevitable toy would not be released with the theatrical run, but with the video release.)

Useless Monster-Name Trivia!

Lots of monster names are based on "tweaks" of the Japanese names of their real-life counterparts. For example, Rodan--actually Radon in Japan--is an abbreviation of "pte-RA-no-DON," and Mogera is based on the Japanese word for "mole" (mogura).

The three Yog! monsters are named by twisting a consonant and adding a suffix.
Ge-so = squid tentacles > "Ge-zo" > Gezora
Ka-ni = crab > "Ga-ni" > Ganime
Ka-me = turtle > "Ga-me" > Gameba (or Gamera)

...more than any normal person should know...

[Flangepart]

..."More then any normal person should know."...and your point being?  Ya' know, this post is almost like my "One big monster vs lots of little ones" question a while back. The flying monster can sneak up on you easier, i think. Godzilla can be tracked like a 40 knot submarine, while Gaos can do, oh, at least high sub-sonic. How well radar vs. sonar works on tracking these beasties is the question. Hummm.....be glad you don't live in a poor, third world county. No high tech monster tracking/warning stations, unless the rich lands contribute, out of at lest self intrest. Notice how the kaiju go to first world lands, where they can face a good fight by the locals, while "Easy  meat", in a literal sense, could be had in , say, Ethopia? Hate to say it, but, if you accept the concept, might as well take it to its logical conclusion.

[Musukogoji]

That's nothin', Squishy. Check this out...

Dagarah- From da is Hit; ga is Moth... hit moth
Ebirah- ebi is shrimp
Gabara- Originally, he was Gebara. Geba is "violent force"
Gorosaurus- In Japanese,  Thunder Lizard. Goro-goro is slang for thunder.
Hedorah- Hedora- pollution
Kamakiras- Kamaki is mantisKumonga- kumo is spider
Manda- Japanese for "ten thousand meter snake"

[Musukogoji]

In Godzilla vs. Gigan, for example, why is it so important to beat Godzilla first?

Because they knew that Godzilla would come to save the earth.

Similar questions arise when I watch Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Why have all three monsters in Japan when you're conquering the whole planet?

If you'll remember, the Xians had King Ghidrah attacking the United States while Godzilla and Rodan were camped out in Japan.

[AndyC]

You are right about Ghidorah attacking the States. I'd forgotten about that. Still, there is the question of what was gained by deceiving the people of Earth, when it seems the Xians had the power to do what they wanted.

In the case of Gigan and Ghidorah, as flying monsters, they could have wrecked cities around the world. Godzilla would have to swim after them. He would have been no threat at all. And again, what was the point of the whole Children's Land charade?

These aren't complaints. As Flange said previously, it's just this sort of silliness that makes these movies fun.