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The robot version of Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, first appeared in the 1974 film titled Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Mechagodzilla was unveiled in the movie as a product of a group of aliens who aimed to dominate the planet and controlled it using Mechagodzilla. Those plans came to an end when the real Godzilla destroyed those plans and flushed Mechagodzilla into the ocean, saving the world from an alien invasion.
Godzilla did not do a thorough enough job of taking care of his robotic counterpart as seen in the 1975 film Terror of Mechagodzilla where aliens were able to resurrect him once more and sent him to destroy the world again, starting with Japan. This time, the aliens teamed up with Mechagodzilla, a new monster named Titanosaurus. Along with the aliens, there was also an insane scientist called Dr. Mafune (Akihiko Hirata) that was working with them. His daughter Kuna (Tomoka Aiko), was a cyborg with direct connections to Mechagodzilla. Whenever her eyes glowed, Mechagodzilla acted irrationally and aggressively.
Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus’s collaborative effort to destroy Japan once again has shown that they are more than capable of doing so. The special effects in these films are said to be sub-par. However, the scene where Mechagodzilla decimates a city block certainly packs a visual punch. While Mechagodzilla focuses on destroying everything in sight, Titanosaurus goes on to look for anything to fight. In a way, Titanosaurus reminds one of a very energetic monster who can’t wait to fight and who has long suffered bullying prior but can finally do something about it. Sooner rather than later, Godzilla arrives and promptly obliges, giving Titanosaurus the challenge he has been looking for.
This film is one of the titles in which Godzilla is clearly portrayed as the savior of the Earth. The atomic monster who used to terrify people during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is now an ally of every person. All that being said, it is worth mentioning that Godzilla sure takes his sweet time appearing. He allows Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus to demolish a fair number of structures and likely slaughter a good amount of civilians before he makes an attempt to make an appearance and gives them a command to cut it out. It is a nice touch that Godzilla arrived just in time to rescue a batch of children from the hands of Mechagodzilla, but one does need to question how many of these children have been left parentless because Godzilla was too indifferent to do anything while Mechagodzilla was smashing apart homes.
Most of this movie is about Interpol agents investigating the plans of the aliens and the professor, rather than focusing on Godzilla. Good thing the agents are competent, as they do manage to track down the aliens and the professor. There’s some sub-James Bond style action as the agents attack the evil lair. However, despite everything that Interpol does in this film, it’s clear that Godzilla is man’s only savior.
The original Godzilla film series ended with this entry. The Godzilla character would not see action again for nearly a decade after this release, with his next comeback posing as a serious threat to mankind rather than the pacifying figure he had become by the late 70s. Too little giant monster action plagues the pacing of Terror Mechagodzilla. The fun parts of this movie include the fighting scenes, when the titans are on the screen. Godzilla’s annoyance for having to deal with Mechagodzilla once again is quite amusing. Sadly, far too much of the film’s time is spent on the heroes as they try and locate the villains while consciously attempting to follow the convoluted plot. When all is said and done, viewers are left feeling divided, while Godzilla returns to save the day, we are annoyed he didn’t get to partake in the action more.
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