I don’t know how long this one will be up. A few of my other entries of Godzilla movies have become unavailable in the past. However, I want to get my backlog of Showcase entries cut down a bit, and with a snow storm approaching getting something out quick is to be my benefit. So, Invasion Of The Astro-Monster.
Originally released in 1965 as The Great Monster War, this would the second appearance of King Ghidorah, a space monster so dangerous that Godzilla became a good guy fighting it, taking on the role of Japan’s protector until the 1980s reboot of the franchise. This time he’s working with aliens who want to conquer the Earth. For such a crap planet everybody seriously wants to own us. Caught in the middle are two astronauts, the rare case of an American protagonist in Nick Adams as Glenn. Just…Glenn. You can do the Ken pun if you want, the live-action Barbie won’t be relevant forever. Everyone else is Japanese, aliens, monster, or android as our heroes try to figure out the game of the aliens from the Xiliens of Planet X, who like to name things with numbers, like “Monster Zero”, aka Ghidorah.
To save their world, the Xilens want Zero-One and Zero-Two, Godzilla and Rodan, to fight them off like they did before. Sucks to be Mothra, I guess, since she’s the reason they joined the fight in the first place. No Monster Zero-Three title for you…though I would make her Zero-One since she was the first one to enter while the other two were typical boys, but whatcha gonna do?
Ghidorah is Godzilla’s most popular foe, though I’m still biased towards Mechagodzilla. I couldn’t find the sub version, so apologies to the sub fans. I usually try to get both sides what they prefer. Either way, enjoy.
Shout Studios, provider of the version being used as of this writing, used the Janus Films version which has the same soundtrack, but the Japanese credits. For you nostalgists out there, here’s a video of the two Henry Saperstein intros, including the alternate title Godzilla Vs Monster Zero.
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