"Why Godzilla?
What images come to mind when you think of your favorite childhood movies? Some of you might recall specific moments and characters from the films you grew up with, but is your love of those movies so deeply entrenched that even the opening vanity logo is enough to elicit a rush of pure, nostalgic joy? Many adults my age might picture the simple white castle against the blue background and hear the comforting tune for “When You Wish Upon a Star” swell up before the words “Walt Disney Pictures” are revealed. While I do seem like a contrarian from time to time, I must admit that it is hard not to get swept up in the magic of seeing that classic vanity card. Disney’s logo began many childhood journeys of wonder, comedy, and fantasy for me. However, there is another cinematic logo I place above it. This logo holds a special place in my heart that not even the Walt Disney Company could ever occupy."
-- From Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record Series
Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record is a two-volume series that provides a history of all the monster battles throughout the Godzilla film series. After seven decades and almost forty films, Godzilla has earned the title of King of the Monsters. The Godzilla films have showcased the King’s legendary battles with larger-than-life opponents like the three-headed King Ghidorah, the winged guardian Mothra, his robotic doppelganger Mechagodzilla, and the original giant monster star King Kong. The Monster Fight Record analyzes these titanic battles to determine an informed and accurate win-loss record for Godzilla and all of his monster co-stars. Fans of kaiju and classic science fiction films will enjoy a trip down memory lane while also getting a sports-style analysis of the monster battles, complete with statistics and win percentages for each beast.
Buy Links:
Amazon Book 1 | Amazon Book 2 | Barnes & Noble
Your series, Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record, sounds absolutely intriguing! I loved watching Godzilla movies as a kid, even as an adult! Which Godzilla movie did you enjoy the most?
That's great to hear! The Godzilla movie I enjoy the most has changed over the years. When I was a kid, my favorite was Godzilla vs. Gigan, a film that really embodies the charm and excitement that inspired my book. The movie's climactic monster battle is a pro-wrestling style tag team war with Godzilla and Anguirus taking on Gigan and King Ghidorah. That fight had me glued to the screen as a kid as
Godzilla got severely beaten down before ultimately making his comeback and winning the day. That exciting battle of good vs. evil mixed in with some shocking moments (Godzilla bleeds for the first time in this film) and some very colorful elements (the invading aliens being cockroaches, the Godzilla Tower, the hippie cast of humans, Godzilla and Anguirus actually talking to each other, etc.) made the movie very entertaining for my young-self.
As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate the uncut Japanese version of the first Godzilla film from 1954 and consider that my favorite. Unlike most Godzilla films that lean heavily into spectacle, this original ending is portrayed as a realistic tragedy with a sense of dread and terror permeating the film. Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo in this film is not an exciting scene of bloodless carnage but is instead a terrifying and horrific event where the loss of life is put front and center. The film being shot in black and white and helmed by a director with experience in documentaries, it adds to the sense of realism and makes all these horrifying events feel all the more real. If anything, it almost feels like watching an old newsreel and some dreadful event from the past.
The differences between the 1954 original and its many sequels also highlights part of Godzilla's everlasting appeal. While the concept of giant monsters attacking cities can get very old and repetitive, the Godzilla series has tackled the concept in many different ways. It can be wild and colorful, or it can be dark and ponderous. It can be over the top and even silly, or it can be grounded and horrifying. It can inspire excitement, laughs, or terror and none of it feels wrong. Godzilla himself can be different from film to film. Godzilla has been a villainous destroyer, the greatest of Earth's heroes, and an anti-hero acting in its own best interests above all else. All of these portrayals are acceptable and work for Godzilla's character. A list of my favorite films includes Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and virtually all the Mechagodzilla movies. That list alone covers
Why do you believe Godzilla was the King of Monsters?
Oddly enough, that title came from the American version of the original film, called "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" I don't think anybody ever anticipated that using "King of the Monsters" to spice up the title of the film would be an everlasting qualifier of a character that would go on to star in almost 40 feature films.
The title King of the Monsters probably means different things to different people. In 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the title is literal as Godzilla and King Ghidorah fight each other to see who will control the many monsters on Earth. The winner of this conflict will literally rule over all monsters. To some, the title of King of the Monsters fits Godzilla because of his longevity. Year after year, decade after decade, Godzilla continues to go strong with one film after another. In my book, I compared him to James Bond. Bond is the greatest spy by virtue of his legacy in literature and in film. If we're going by that idea, then yeah, I guess Godzilla is the King of the Monsters because I can't think of another that has quite the same career as the Big G.
However, I think Godzilla is the King of the Monsters for this reason: His legendary battles, which is what my book is about. Godzilla is famous for fighting one giant monster after another, almost as if he's defending his title in the way a boxer or MMA fighter would. There are other monsters famous for fighting other giant creatures, like King Kong, but I think Godzilla's world has become synonymous with monster vs. monster confrontations, and when Godzilla is the center of that idea, it's easy to view him as the king of them all.
What's one of the pivotal points in your series where the reader will have trouble putting the book down?
I think readers will most enjoy the write-ups of the fights themselves. Fans will hopefully enjoy my analysis of the big fight scenes from the films they already love and appreciate, and uninitiated fans will hopefully enjoy reading about all the crazy fights Godzilla has gotten into and feel compelled to check the movies out for the first time. In my write up of the final battle in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, I even encourage the readers to put the book down and go watch the scene for themselves because it is so insane that I almost felt like my words couldn't do it justice.
I understand you are a lifelong monster movie fan. What was the very first monster movie you saw?
One of the earliest memories I have is of seeing the original King Kong film on TV. I sort of remember it as unfocused fragments, kind of like how one remembers a dream. What I remember most is the scene of Kong fighting the Tyrannosaurus-like meat-eater, a moment that definitely captured my imagination at a young age.
Do you think that the more monster movies you got under your belt, the more you fell in love with them?
Absolutely. Once I saw my first Godzilla movie and my brother told me there were more, I knew I had to see them all. From there, I discovered Rodan, Mothra, and the Gamera films, and I had to see all of those too.
I also carried that mindset into other monster films. I loved the black and white Universal monster movies in my youth (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) so imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV one day and found a Dracula movie in color! This was the Hammer Studios version starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and led me to watch all of Hammer's Dracula and Frankenstein movies.
Another formative film for me was the original Clash of the Titans. This was the last film to feature the classic stop-motion special effects of Ray Harryhausen, but it was the first one of his films that I saw and I was blown away by it. The Medusa scene in that film is still a masterclass of how to do a fantastic monster scene. That film got me interested in Greek Mythology and led me to find Ray Harryhausen's other classics like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Mysterious Island, and Jason and the Argonauts.
Then as I got older, I got into the more violent and mature stuff. I had plenty of films starring Freddy Kruegar, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Leatherface, and Chucky just waiting for me to explore. I guess you could say I am a bit of an addict when it comes to monsters.
Did any of them scare you?
Definitely. When I saw Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla for the first time, I was freaked out by the film's aliens. Whenever they got wounded or killed, their faces would morph into green ape-like faces. It isn't a very convincing special effect these days, but as a kid, it scared me and made me look away from the screen.
One moment that lives rent-free in my brain is not from a movie but from a cartoon show. The short-lived animated series The Inhumanoids featured a cast of villainous and grotesque monsters. Needless to say, I loved it! However, one of the monsters, a particularly hideous creature by the name of D'Compose, had the ability to transform people into giant skeletal zombie soldiers, complete with rotting flesh and glowing red eyes. D'Compose unleashed his power on Sandra Shore, the show's lead female character and the effect was traumatizing, to say the least. Her slow transformation from a beautiful woman into a hideous gigantic ghoul was terrifying to me. Even when I watch it today, I am absolutely shocked that the makers of the show were able to get away with such a thing, even back then (but I'm glad they did!).
Another one I was thinking about recently comes from a strange source. Ernest P. Worrell, a comedy character played by the late great Jim Varney, was a staple of children's entertainment when I was young. The Ernest movies were big in my family because they were one of the few things me and my three siblings could agree to watch. Anyways, my favorite of the Ernest movies was always Ernest Scared Stupid, the Halloween-themed entry where our favorite bumbling yokel goes toe to toe with an evil troll that kidnaps children, turning them into little wooden dolls. In many ways, this film is sort like "Fisher Price's My First Horror Movie" as it has many horror tropes and events that are common in the genre, but definitely not in kids films. Ernest's antics in the film were entertaining, but I also found myself mesmerized by his enemy, Trantor the evil troll. It would have been so easy to make the troll a joke character like Ernest, but I loved that the filmmakers worked to make him legitimately scary to kids and a real threat to Ernest. I remember getting very upset when Trantor used his powers on Ernest's dog, Rimshot. He could have gotten every kid in the film and I would have been fine, but something about him getting Ernest's four-legged companion actually hurt me. Watching the film today almost feels like I'm watching two forces of nature try to impose their will on the story. When Ernest is on screen, it is a screwball comedy. When Trantor is on screen, it is a horror movie. When they're together, it goes back and forth between horror and comedy as both characters try to best each other, and that contrast makes it all the more fun for me.
Personally, I think too much of children's entertainment today is too soft and works too hard to shield children. Yeah, kids get scared and upset at certain things, but that's a short-term problem. In the long term, watching and experiencing things that are scary and upsetting are a way to test boundaries and ultimately grow. You can't just turn 14 and immediately start watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You have to work your way up to it. My parents' generation had the deaths of Old Yeller and Bambi's mom as their traumatizing events, and those movies stood the test of time because of those sad moments.
Which of the monster movies did you believe you could have written better?
That's hard to think about. I can always say "I'd have done this differently" but hindsight is always 20/20, and I'll never know what the filmmakers went through on each individual film project. There are plenty of monster movies that I would have liked to have seen done differently, but I don't know why certain decisions were made or what the circumstances were that led to them.
What I will say though is that if I had worked on TriStar's 1998 Godzilla film, I would have been screaming at the top of my lungs to not do certain things that they ultimately did. I would have tried to get Godzilla's unsatisfactory death and the Godzilla raptor babies nixed. The Godzilla offspring, to me, invited too many comparisons to a far superior film in Jurassic Park, so I wouldn't have even done it. I would have also pointed out that Godzilla can only be defeated or killed by another monster or some unbelievable science-fiction weapon specifically designed to stop him (like the Oxygen Destroyer or The Dimension Tide). With that in mind, I would have either introduced a second monster for Godzilla to fight, or introduced some kind of weapon into the story that would have ultimately defeated him. Also, if I had any say in the film at all, Godzilla would have had his Atomic Breath.
What's your next literary step? More books?
I have some ideas for books. I thought about expanding the record to third and fourth volumes to include the remaining King Kong films and the Gamera series. I've also had the idea to write a book about the different versions of the Godzilla films and tackle the subject of whether or not the American edits of the films were justified. Outside of monsters, I also have an idea for a pro-wrestling themed book, specifically the history of WrestleMania.
However, for right now, I am focusing on my full-time job, and more importantly, family time with my wife and newborn daughter.
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