Terror of Mechagodzilla

Terror of Mechagodzilla (released in Japan as Mekagojira no Gyakushū (メカゴジラの逆襲) is a 1975 Japanese science fiction kaiju film featuring Godzilla, produced and distributed by Toho. The film is directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano and stars Katsuhiko Sasaki, Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, and Gorō Mutsumi, with Toru Kawai as Godzilla, Ise Mori as Mechagodzilla, and Tatsumi Nikamoto as Titanosaurus. It is the 15th film in the Godzilla franchise and the final film in the Shōwa series, and serves as a direct sequel to 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The film was the least successful of the entire Godzilla franchise.

The film was released in Japan on March 15, 1975 and received a limited theatrical release in the United States in 1978 by Bob Conn Enterprises as The Terror of Godzilla.

Plot
Continuing after the end of the events of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Interpol agents, led by Inspector Kusaka, search for the pieces of Mechagodzilla at the bottom of the Okinawan Sea. Using the submarine, Akatsuki, they hope to gather information on the robot's builders, the alien Simeons. The Akatsuki is suddenly attacked by a giant aquatic dinosaur called Titanosaurus and the crew vanishes.

Interpol starts an investigation into the incident. With the help of marine biologist Akira Ichinose, they trace Titanosaurus to a reclusive, mad scientist named Shinzô Mafune, who wants to destroy all mankind. While Ichinose is visiting his old home in the seaside forest of Manazuru, they meet Mafune's lone daughter, Katsura. She tells them that not only is her father dead, but she burned all of the notes about the giant dinosaur (at her father's request). Unknownst to them, Mafune is still alive and well. He is visited by his friend Tsuda, who is an aide to the alien leader Mugal. He is leading the project to quickly rebuild Mechagodzilla. Mugal offers their services to Mafune, so that his Titanosaurus and their Mechagodzilla 2 will be the ultimate weapons. They hope to wipe out mankind and rebuild the world for themselves, starting with Tokyo and branching out from there.

But things are complicated for both factions when Ichinose falls in love with Katsura and unwittingly gives her Interpol's information against Titanosaurus, the new Mechagodzilla and the aliens. It is also discovered that Katsura is actually a cyborg, due to undergoing surgery, and Mugal still has uses for her. Meanwhile, Mafune is desperate to unleash Titanosaurus without the aliens' permission, so he releases it on Yokosuka one night. By then, Interpol discovers that supersonic waves are Titanosaurus' weakness. They have a supersonic wave oscillator ready, but Katsura sabotages the machine before they can use it. Fortunately, Godzilla arrives to fight off Titanosaurus.

Later, when Ichinose visits Katsura, he is captured by the aliens. Tied up, Ichinose can only watch as Mafune and the aliens unleash Mechagodzilla 2 and Titanosaurus on Tokyo, while Interpol struggles to repair their supersonic wave oscillator and the Japanese armed forces struggle to keep the two monsters at bay. Katsura, while being controlled by Mugal, ignores Ichinose's pleas and controls both the dinosaur and the robot as they destroy the city.

Godzilla comes to the rescue, although he is outmatched by the two titans. While Interpol distracts Titanosaurus with the supersonic wave oscillator, Godzilla is able to focus on attacking Mechagodzilla 2. Interpol agents infiltrate the aliens' hideout, rescue Ichinose, and kill Mafune and many of the aliens. The remaining aliens attempt to escape in their ships, but Godzilla shoots them down with his atomic heat ray. Katsura, while being embraced by Ichinose, shoots herself to destroy Mechagodzilla 2's control device (which had been implanted in her body by the aliens). This helps Godzilla destroy the robot. Godzilla, with the help of the oscillator, defeats Titanosaurus and heads back to sea.

Cast

 * Katsuhiko Sasaki as Akira Ichinose
 * Tomoko Ai as Katsura Mafune
 * Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Shinji Mafune
 * Katsumasa Uchida as Jiro Murakoshi, Interpol Agent
 * Goro Mutusmi as Mugal, Black Hole Alien leader
 * Toru Ibuki as Tsuda, Black Hole Alien lieutenant
 * Kenji Sahara as General Segawa
 * Tadao Nakamaru as Chief of Interpol Tagawa
 * Akinori Umezu as boy #1
 * Toru Kawai as Godzilla
 * Ise Mori as Mechagodzilla
 * Tatsumi Fuyamoto as Titanosaurus

Development
The original screenplay that Yukiko Takayama created after winning Toho's story contest for the next establishment in the Godzilla series, which was picked by assistant producer Kenji Tokoro and was submitted for approval on July 1, 1974, less than four months after Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) was released.

The original concept is similar to the finished version of Terror of Mechagodzilla, with many of the changes being budgetary in nature. The most obvious alteration is the removal of the two monsters called the Titans, which merged to become Titanosaurus in the first draft. It was an interesting concept, although something that was also underexplained considering the magnitude of such an occurrence of the creatures merging. Another noticeable change to the script is that of the final battle, which doesn't move to the countryside but instead would have reduced Tokyo to rubble during the ensuing conflict between the three monsters.

After her initial draft, Takayama submitted a revised version on October 14, 1974. This went through a third revision on December 4, and then yet another on December 28 of that same year before it was met with approval and filming began.

Filming
This film, much unlike the films prior to it, had a much darker tone and returned to the original style of the series. It was much more serious, and fans often consider Titanosaurus to hark back to the more realistic kaiju of the early Showa era.

The film is one of the only Godzilla films with nudity. The scene occurs when Katsura is being operated on, at which point Katsura's breasts are exposed (although the body is actually a mannequin). This scene was cut from the US, both for the theatrical and TV versions of the film.

Director Ishiro Honda laments not being able to work with the story's writer, Yukiko Takayama, on other films, enjoying that a "woman's perspective was especially fresh" for the genre.

Kensho Yamashita was the chief assistant director on the project. He notes, though, that Ishiro Honda never actually assigned any of the shooting to him, possibly because Honda was happy to be directing again after a long gap in his career and wanted to do the work himself.

English version


Toho titled its English version of the film Terror of Mechagodzilla and had it dubbed into English in Hong Kong. This “international version” has never seen wide release in the United States but has been issued on VHS in the United Kingdom by PolyGram Video Ltd. and on DVD in Taiwan by Power Multimedia.

The film was given a North American theatrical release in March 1978 by independent distributor Bob Conn Enterprises under the title The Terror of Godzilla. Just as Cinema Shares had done with the previous three Godzilla movies, Bob Conn Enterprises chose to utilize the Toho-commissioned English dub instead of hiring a new crew to re-dub the film. The Terror of Godzilla was heavily edited to obtain a "G" rating from the MPAA. Several scenes with violent content were entirely removed, disrupting the flow of the narrative.

Henry G. Saperstein, who sold the theatrical rights to Bob Conn Enterprises, also released the film to television in late 1978, this time under Toho’s international title, Terror of Mechagodzilla. Unlike The Terror of Godzilla, the television version remained mostly uncut, with only a shot of Katsura’s naked breasts excised. Saperstein’s editors also added a prologue that serves as a brief history of Godzilla, with footage from Saperstein’s English versions of Invasion of Astro-Monster and All Monsters Attack ( the latter of which utilized stock footage from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Son of Godzilla).

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. television version, Terror of Mechagodzilla, was replaced by the theatrical edit, The Terror of Godzilla, on television and home video. For some reason, the title was also changed to Terror of Mechagodzilla. The 1994 Paramount release of Terror of Mechagodzilla listed a running time of 89 minutes on the slipcase, implying that this release would be the longer version first shown on American TV. The actual video cassette featured the edited theatrical version. In a 1995 interview with G-Fan magazine, Henry Saperstein was surprised to hear about this mistake. In the mid-2000s, the television version showed up again on Monsters HD, and in 2007, it made its home video debut as the U.S. version on the Classic Media DVD. Although the added prologue was originally framed for fullscreen television, it was cropped and shown in widescreen on the disc. The rest of the movie featured the audio from Saperstein's television version synced to video from the Japanese version.

The first article about the movie's storyline was published in a 1977 issue of Japanese Giants (published by Brad Boyle) and was written by Richard H. Campbell, creator of The Godzilla Fan News Letter (a.k.a. "The Gang").

Titles

 * Counterattack of Mechagodzilla - Japanese title.
 * Terror of Mechagodzilla - Toho's official English title. This was also the title of Henry Saperstein's TV version. All subsequent versions of the film released in the U.S. have been given this title as well, including The Terror of Godzilla version. The fully uncut UK video also featured this title.
 * The Terror of Godzilla - U.S. theatrical release title.
 * Monsters From an Unknown Planet - UK theatrical release title.

Box office
In Japan, the film sold 980,000 tickets. Despite earning positive reviews, it would be the least-attended Godzilla film in Japan and also one of only two Godzilla films to sell less than one million tickets. This was part of a decline in attendance for monster-movies as a whole and Toho put the production of monster-movies on hold. Toho had no intention of permanently ending the Godzilla series. Throughout the remainder of the decade, several new stories were submitted by writers and producers. None of these films, however, were made. It wasn't until 1984 and Godzilla's 30th anniversary that Toho would start production on a new Godzilla movie.

Home media release
Second Classic Media Release


 * Released: November 20, 2007 in the Godzilla Collection box set. Singular release April 29, 2008.
 * Distributor: Genius Entertainment
 * Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1
 * Sound: English, Japanese
 * Supplements: Women of Godzilla featurette, Audio commentary, Original Japanese theatrical trailer (the last on later pressings only)
 * Region 1

First Classic Media Release


 * Released: September 17, 2002
 * Distributor: Sony Music Entertainment
 * Sound: English
 * Subtitles: None
 * Supplements: Trailer for 2002 Nintendo Gamecube video game, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
 * Also released as part of the Ultimate Godzilla DVD Collection, which was simultaneously released on September 17, 2002
 * Region 1

Simitar Entertainment


 * Released: May 6, 1998
 * Video: Fullscreen
 * Sound: English mono, English 5.1 (Edited The Terror of Godzilla version)
 * Supplements: Godzilla trailers; Godzilla video art gallery; Film facts; Trivia game; DVD-ROM (Screensavers, printable art gallery, web access)
 * Region 1

In Mid-late 2017, the Criterion Collection acquired the rights to several Showa era Godzilla films, including Terror of Mechagodzilla to be released on DVD and Blu-ray digitally remastered and restored in HD, though an exact release date is currently unknown at this time.