I was recommended Monarch. Wanted to start from the beginning. So I watched Godzilla (2014). Guess my hesitation was from my exposure to the Roland Emmerich movie as a child (I did like the animated sequel series), and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. I have no familiarity with the IP outside this.
This was unexpectedly very enjoyable. Not a lot actually occurs by way of the plot but the moments we get of Godzilla and the mutos just look so cool. I was cheering when the last muto got fire breath directly down their mouth. Definitely going to watch Kong: Skull Island.
On a more serious note: what was the response from the Japanese audience? This was just three years after the Fukushima meltdown. Knowing the original 1954 movie was commentary on Hiroshima, makes me wonder how such a audience felt in 2014, not just with the timing but also the fact it was a American franchise bringing back the IP.
Welcome!
I had no recollection there was a Hanna Barbera cartoon but the title The Godzilla Power Hour does ring a vague bell. Being a bit older my introduction was an afterschool monster movie broadcast on a local US crossborder station while the Showa films were still deemed ok for a young afternoon television audience.
Your experience reflects what I think is the great thing about Legendary Entertainment and Apple bringing the Monsterverse to television. With AppleTV’s reputation for high quality science fiction, it’s encouraging audiences and demographics to give the show a chance who might otherwise pass on anything from the longstanding broader Godzilla franchise.
You may not be familiar with the truly awful US film Godzilla (1998). The general view is that it was so bad and so disrespectful of the IP kaiju that had been licensed from Toho — the producer of the Japanese films and IP owner — that Toho became very strict in its licensing of the IP from then on, with covenants about how Godzilla and other Toho creations could be used narratively. Legendary Entertainment has been using the licensed kaiju carefully in its movies and shows, but has also been adding new creatures to provide original elements.
M:LOM seems to be performing as well in Japan as well as elsewhere. Flix Patrol hs the show ranked number one in AppleTV in Japan every week since the season premiere. There’s an earlier post with feature article from the Japan Times that you might like to check out.
Not familiar with, but I saw the ‘98 movie in theater the one time. I got excited for Godzilla: The Series.
You might enjoy taking in the two earlier films in the Monsterverse timeline/continuity: *Godilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
Skull Island is rather grim, a bit of Apocalypse Now meets kaiju fiction set at the end of the Vietnam War. It has a great cast with Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and John Goodman as an older version of Billy Randa. Lots of character focus.
Hanna barbera Godzilla??? I have never heard of this. And I have almost every Godzilla movie and the animated series.
Hmm. . I don’t know if that one is worth watching after taking a look.
