From The Monster Island News Archives
I thought that it would be a good idea to explain just how I became a fan of Godzilla fan and how much the Japanese giant monster genre has influenced my life.
If you grew up in the 1970s you know that pop culture during that decade was dominated by dinosaurs. You really couldn't escape them. There were Saturday morning kids shows like Land of the Lost and Valley of the Dinosaurs, movies like The Land That Time Forgot and The Crater Lake Monster, and movies on TV like Last Dinosaur, they were even in comic books like Turok Son of Stone and Devil Dinosaur. That's not to mention all the toys, lunch boxes and T-shirts. It would have been a miracle if I had not loved dinosaurs.
The pivotal moment when I went from just being a dinosaur fanatic to a Godzilla fanatic came in 1977 when the NBC aired Godzilla vs Megalon on prime-time television. I remember thinking to myself as I watched the commercial for the show, "That is the biggest dinosaur that I have ever seen, (referring to Godzilla) that's so cool!"
For me any movie with a 200-foot-tall dinosaur, giant robot, and giant bugs was right up my ally. Granted, I was only ten at the time, but I had already been baptized into sci-fi by the movies and shows that I mentioned earlier. At the time I was also huge fan of the Planet of the Apes movies as well as Logan's Run so I wasn't a novice when it came to quirky science fiction. I had sat next to my cousin Ricky and watched Captain Kirk outwit the Gorn in a classic episode of Star Trek. I had forced my younger cousin Leanne to put on a plastic Zira mask and pretend to round up humans for target practice. I spent my lunch breaks in 3rd grade making dinosaurs out of clay with my geeky buddy Brad. How, honestly, could Godzilla not become the king of my nerdy little world?
Many of you may remember NBC's nation-wide broadcast of the dubbed 1973 Toho production was hosted by John Belushi who wore a Godzilla costume created by Robert Short for the 1976 film Hollywood Boulevard. Belushi played the part of a late-night horror host, and provided comedy skits before and after commercial breaks.
The film was cut in half to fit into an hour-long time slot and was played mostly for laughs. Many Godzilla writers and historians look back at this event as one of the low-points in G history.
In actuality however that was not the case at all. Granted the NBC airing of Godzilla vs Megalon was meant to spoof Japanese giant monster movies, but the broadcast actually spawned a huge boom in Godzilla popularity here in the United States. Most Americans, like myself, had never been exposed to Godzilla movies and the prime-time broadcast brought the monster into homes across the country for the first time.
I was in love.
Though Godzilla vs Megalon is one of the poorer entries into the long-running film series, it's quirky style and over-all strangeness caught the attention of the American public.
There was an undeniable boom in Godzilla related items almost immediately after the movie aired. Within a year there were an influx of Godzilla toys including the infamous Shogun Warriors Godzilla, a Marvel comic book series entitled Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and the Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera animated series called The Godzilla Power Hour. Godzilla's popularity here in America was never higher.
Despite arguments to the contrary Godzilla vs Megalon even in it's severely chopped form firmly planted Godzilla into the American pop-culture mix, where it has remained for over three decades.
Though many younger fans may not realize it they probably can, in some part, trace their exposure to Godzilla films back to this event.
As a side note, Belushi would wear Robert Short's Godzilla suit once more for a skit on Saturday Night Live. In the bit Godzilla is interviewed by Baba Wawa (Barbara Walters) played by Gilda Radner.
Here is an excerpt:
Baba Wawa: Hewwo! This is "Baba Wawa at Warge"! [ audience cheers ] Uh -- let me just begin by saying thewe's nevew a dull moment in my iwwustwious caweew!I've JUST wetuwned fwom Iwan, whewe I was intewviewing the Shah and Shahness and Shahnettes of Iwan! And now, hewe I am in the luxuwious Bevewwy Hiwws home of a gweat Owiental fiwm staw!
[ pull back for wide shot as Baba joins Godzilla on the couch ]
Of couwse, I'm wefewwing to the weawwy tewwific Godziwwa! How awe you today, Godziwwa?
Godzilla: Oh, I'm fine! [ pats her hand ] How are you, Barbara?
Baba Wawa: Oh, just fine! Uh -- Godziwwa, is this YOUW pwace?
Godzilla: Yes, it sure is! You know, you just can't away from this -- you know, I'm working here, uh, this is where I'm gonna make my home -- Los Angeles!
Baba Wawa: Godziwwa, is -- is -- is that a Japanese name?
Godzilla: Uh, no. You know, a lot of people think I'm from Japan, or a muppet, you know? Actually, uh, I'm -- I'm neither. Actually, I'm, uh -- I'm Hawaiian! I was born in a crater off the coast of Awahoo[?], and... my egg was hatched from the warmth of a lava flow during an eruption from a dormant volcano.
Baba Wawa: Ohhh! [ she chuckles ] "Fwom the wawmth of a wava fwow duwing a vowcanic ewuption!" Weawwy! So, you'we Hawaiian?
Godzilla: Yes, I am. Sure! I went to high school with Bette Midler!
Baba Wawa: Ohhh! Weawwy?
Godzilla: We went steady together for TWO years! [ he mimes physical action ]
Baba Wawa: Uh, Godziwwa, if I could get pewsonal with you fow a moment... wouwd you say thewe was any pawticuwaw weason why you went into show business? I mean, coming fwom an unhappy chiwdhood..?
Godzilla: Well, uh, I was hatched from an egg -- you could say I came from a broken home!
As for myself the NBC airing of Godzilla vs Megalon spawned an amazing life of Godzilla fandom and stands out as an event I will always treasure.
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Many of you may remember NBC's nation-wide broadcast of the dubbed 1973 Toho production was hosted by John Belushi who wore a Godzilla costume created by Robert Short for the 1976 film Hollywood Boulevard. Belushi played the part of a late-night horror host, and provided comedy skits before and after commercial breaks.
The film was cut in half to fit into an hour-long time slot and was played mostly for laughs. Many Godzilla writers and historians look back at this event as one of the low-points in G history.
In actuality however that was not the case at all. Granted the NBC airing of Godzilla vs Megalon was meant to spoof Japanese giant monster movies, but the broadcast actually spawned a huge boom in Godzilla popularity here in the United States. Most Americans, like myself, had never been exposed to Godzilla movies and the prime-time broadcast brought the monster into homes across the country for the first time.
I was in love.
Though Godzilla vs Megalon is one of the poorer entries into the long-running film series, it's quirky style and over-all strangeness caught the attention of the American public.
There was an undeniable boom in Godzilla related items almost immediately after the movie aired. Within a year there were an influx of Godzilla toys including the infamous Shogun Warriors Godzilla, a Marvel comic book series entitled Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and the Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera animated series called The Godzilla Power Hour. Godzilla's popularity here in America was never higher.
Despite arguments to the contrary Godzilla vs Megalon even in it's severely chopped form firmly planted Godzilla into the American pop-culture mix, where it has remained for over three decades.
Though many younger fans may not realize it they probably can, in some part, trace their exposure to Godzilla films back to this event.
As a side note, Belushi would wear Robert Short's Godzilla suit once more for a skit on Saturday Night Live. In the bit Godzilla is interviewed by Baba Wawa (Barbara Walters) played by Gilda Radner.
Here is an excerpt:
Baba Wawa: Hewwo! This is "Baba Wawa at Warge"! [ audience cheers ] Uh -- let me just begin by saying thewe's nevew a dull moment in my iwwustwious caweew!I've JUST wetuwned fwom Iwan, whewe I was intewviewing the Shah and Shahness and Shahnettes of Iwan! And now, hewe I am in the luxuwious Bevewwy Hiwws home of a gweat Owiental fiwm staw!
[ pull back for wide shot as Baba joins Godzilla on the couch ]
Of couwse, I'm wefewwing to the weawwy tewwific Godziwwa! How awe you today, Godziwwa?
Godzilla: Oh, I'm fine! [ pats her hand ] How are you, Barbara?
Baba Wawa: Oh, just fine! Uh -- Godziwwa, is this YOUW pwace?
Godzilla: Yes, it sure is! You know, you just can't away from this -- you know, I'm working here, uh, this is where I'm gonna make my home -- Los Angeles!
Baba Wawa: Godziwwa, is -- is -- is that a Japanese name?
Godzilla: Uh, no. You know, a lot of people think I'm from Japan, or a muppet, you know? Actually, uh, I'm -- I'm neither. Actually, I'm, uh -- I'm Hawaiian! I was born in a crater off the coast of Awahoo[?], and... my egg was hatched from the warmth of a lava flow during an eruption from a dormant volcano.
Baba Wawa: Ohhh! [ she chuckles ] "Fwom the wawmth of a wava fwow duwing a vowcanic ewuption!" Weawwy! So, you'we Hawaiian?
Godzilla: Yes, I am. Sure! I went to high school with Bette Midler!
Baba Wawa: Ohhh! Weawwy?
Godzilla: We went steady together for TWO years! [ he mimes physical action ]
Baba Wawa: Uh, Godziwwa, if I could get pewsonal with you fow a moment... wouwd you say thewe was any pawticuwaw weason why you went into show business? I mean, coming fwom an unhappy chiwdhood..?
Godzilla: Well, uh, I was hatched from an egg -- you could say I came from a broken home!
As for myself the NBC airing of Godzilla vs Megalon spawned an amazing life of Godzilla fandom and stands out as an event I will always treasure.
Check Out:
Most American Godzilla fans are familiar with all of the monsters 28 films, television commercials, comic books, action figures and etc. What may be a mystery, to great many of them, is the monsters numerous appearances in Japanese TV shows. Granted, in many of these it wasn't actually "Godzilla" but the monster's - READ MORE
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