Gamera: This is the only Gamera film in which Gamera does not fight another giant monster. In the first two films, they had not quite fallen into their groove yet, so Gamera is something of a villain at this point. Still, his benevolence (especially toward children) is shown when he rescues a boy (from himself!) and safely returns him to his parents. Finally, this is not only the first and last Gamera shot in black and white, it is the final black and white Kaiju movie ever made.
Japan’s SDF: as mentioned, this is the one Gamera movie without a giant monster, so all I can really talk about is the Japanese Self Defense Force. As far as abilities, well, they have what one might expect of a national military installation- missiles, bombs, bullets- all of which bounce harmlessly from Gamera. Exploiting a weakness of his, their scientifically engineered cold bombs are able to briefly subdue the monster. It would seem the only ace up their sleeves Gamera need worry about, is the mysterious “Plan Z.”
Daikaiju Ketto Gamera tai Barugon (aka Gamera VS Barugon): In this film, Gamera’s altruistic nature is still not fully in place. This is clearly shown in his little indiscretions when he returns to Earth. In fact, when Gamera comes to save the day, the people of Osaka are actually frightened by him and uncertain of his intentions. This film contains a somewhat amusing adventure story in the beginning, and oddly enough, no children! Some consider the first two Showa Gamera films to be in their own series, but I think they are part of the Gamera story in a unique way that is explored more fully in Gamera VS Space Monster Bairus.
Barugon: In my opinion, Barugon got something of a raw deal. The poor Kaiju has a terrible weakness that is remarkably easy to exploit- WATER. He has a somewhat unique design, and he uses his tongue in a way I had not imagined. Rather than sticking it out to catch things and eat them, as a frog or lizard might, he uses it to knock things over and shoot a freezing mist.
Daikaiju Gamera tai Gyaosu (aka Gamera VS Gaos): This film represents the Gamera series in full swing. At this point, they settle comfortably into their pattern, for now ignoring Gamera’s past evils altogether, Gamera is welcomed as a hero and Guardian of the Children. From this film on, all Gamera movies star a young child.
Gaos: Gaos is one of the most beloved of all Gamera villains. He reappears in Bairus and Giron, and he is the first foe Gamera must re-defeat in his final Showa film. Gyaos is also the only original Gamera villain to be revamped and reintroduced in the Heisei Era films as well as the recent Gamera the Brave. He is essentially a giant human eating bat with limited neck-movement capabilities and deadly sonic beams.
Gamera tai Uchukaiju Bairus: The next 3 Gamera films in the series feature a multi cultural, Japanese/White team of young boys cheering for Gamera and trying to help in any way they can. This film also marks the all important “Gamera Retcon” that, in my opinion, doesn’t erase the first two films so much as it puts them in a new light. Comic book fans are familiar with the idea of a “retcon” which is basically going back to an even that occurred earlier in a character’s history and explaining it in a different way. This often changes origins and motivations, or simply places the character in a historically updated context. In this retcon, Gamera is hit with a mind control device and then commits the naughty actions first depicted in the first two films (notably the destruction of Tokyo from the first film, and the assault on the dam from the second). So basically, when we go back and watch the first two Gamera films, we must keep in mind; the evil Bairans are controlling him!
Bairus: Bairus makes his Kaiju debut sometime toward the end of the film and his appearance is supposed to be something of a surprise(hence the lack of a real photo ^_^). He is the first in a series of what I like to refer to as the “sharp-headed” Kaiju. As such, it has the typical weakness of getting stuck in something solid and being rendered relatively helpless. Its greatest power lies in its ability to control Gamera and turn so sharply against his true nature.
Gamera tai Daikaiju Giron (aka Gamera VS Guiron): This film is the only one where Gamera’s great monster battle takes place primarily in space. This is also the first time we are shown Gamera’s playful nature as well as his skill in Giant-Turtle Gymnastics!
Giron: This is perhaps one of Gamera’s deadliest opponents since he is the only one to actually penetrate Gamera’s nearly invincible shell. His power is further displayed in his casual (and all too simple) destruction of a galactic Gaos, who falls much more quickly to Giron than the original did to Gamera. Still, as with Bairus before and Zigura after, his pointy head proves too much a liability.
Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga (aka Gamera VS Jiger): This film takes Gamera back to his Kaiju roots and once again features good-old-fashioned-middle-of-Japan-combat! Buildings are destroyed, people are terrified and Gamera takes as good as he gives. In my opinion, this is the best of the Showa Gamera series as it embodies all that is great about Giant Monster films. It also contains a rather silly and fun moment of young boys exploring Gamera’s insides with a little yellow submarine. On a side note, Gamera’s victory blow in this film is so violent and shocking that even the crowd he is rescuing are horrified by it! (A very funny moment in the film)
Jaiga: Though one of the most silly looking, he is probably the most dangerous of all the Kaiju that Gamera faces (knocking my previous favorite, Giron, right off the chart!). He has horns, but not an entirely pointy head, projectile spikes, a deadly ray, the ability to fly, and a tail with which he can instantaneously inject his spawn straight into his opponent’s body! It was a miracle Gamera was able to defeat him at all- and as previously mentioned, he has to rise to a new level of violence in order to do so!
Gamera tai Shinkaikaiju Zigara (aka Gamera VS Zigara): In a sense, this is the last true Showa era film, since the final is more of a clip show. This film pits Gamera against another sharp-faced sea creature with expected results. In this film, as in Giron, we are also shown a bit of Gamera’s playfulness when he plays out his theme song (on the spine of his opponent!) and then proceeds to shimmy and shake as only a 200 foot tall turtle can.
Zigara: The monster himself is nothing special, a typical pointy head defeated in the typical way. His true power lies in his ability to control minds, paralyze its victims, and most devastatingly- cause massive earthquakes all over the world!
Uchu Kaiju Gamera (aka Space Monster Gamera): This film marks the end of Gamera’s Showa series. The film does have a great deal of original footage, but all of the giant monster battles (and thus footage of Gamera himself) is actually recycled footage from the previous films. If you hadn’t just watched the other 7 films, this movie is actually put together nicely and it is similar to watching a highlights real of your favorite character.
Zanon: If you view this as a film in and of itself, and not merely a clip show with some spliced in footage, than the great evil space pirate Zanon would definitely be Gamera’s most powerful villain. He has the power to revive, or least of all replicate, all 6 former Gamera monsters. This is of course, in addition to his deadly lasers (that fire with pin point accuracy from billions of light years away) and his faithful “bad space woman” cohort.
Personal Musings
In watching these 8 films, I couldn’t help but notice a few random things that I thought were worth pointing out here.
1. In these films, events don’t flow very logically, often times; characters know things that they shouldn’t and come to conclusions that don’t make sense. I suppose this is a reflection of a simpler time in movie making where people weren’t as cynical or questioning as they are now, or perhaps this is a sign of a greater cultural or historical trend that my modern American sensibilities don’t quite comprehend.
2. As mentioned, Gamera’s greatest ability is his power to adapt, and the fact that he never falls for the same trick twice. That being said…those fights in Space Monster Gamera seemed to go down the exact same as before- not only that, but Gamera seemed to instantly recover from the terrible I wonder why ^_^
3. Gamera can dodge REALLY fast for a turtle!
4. Every Showa Era Japanese boy must have had a white side kick named Tom (or Jim).
5. Space Monster Gamera was the only film to contain truly active female heroes. The rest were either brain-eating aliens, or helpless sisters forced to stay home while their brothers went adventuring!
6. Gamera randomly shows up when people are in trouble- good thing huh? The films make me wonder though, would Gamera show up if it was adults in trouble, or does he only care about children?
7. I love the way Gamera flies. I just had to point that out.
8. Perhaps the greatest thing about these films is that the adults always think the children are absolutely crazy when they say that aliens exist, yet they seem perfectly comfortable with the fact that they live in a world inhabited by giant monsters and a two-hundred foot fire breathing guardian turtle!
Gaos: Gaos is one of the most beloved of all Gamera villains. He reappears in Bairus and Giron, and he is the first foe Gamera must re-defeat in his final Showa film. Gyaos is also the only original Gamera villain to be revamped and reintroduced in the Heisei Era films as well as the recent Gamera the Brave. He is essentially a giant human eating bat with limited neck-movement capabilities and deadly sonic beams.
Gamera tai Uchukaiju Bairus: The next 3 Gamera films in the series feature a multi cultural, Japanese/White team of young boys cheering for Gamera and trying to help in any way they can. This film also marks the all important “Gamera Retcon” that, in my opinion, doesn’t erase the first two films so much as it puts them in a new light. Comic book fans are familiar with the idea of a “retcon” which is basically going back to an even that occurred earlier in a character’s history and explaining it in a different way. This often changes origins and motivations, or simply places the character in a historically updated context. In this retcon, Gamera is hit with a mind control device and then commits the naughty actions first depicted in the first two films (notably the destruction of Tokyo from the first film, and the assault on the dam from the second). So basically, when we go back and watch the first two Gamera films, we must keep in mind; the evil Bairans are controlling him!
Bairus: Bairus makes his Kaiju debut sometime toward the end of the film and his appearance is supposed to be something of a surprise(hence the lack of a real photo ^_^). He is the first in a series of what I like to refer to as the “sharp-headed” Kaiju. As such, it has the typical weakness of getting stuck in something solid and being rendered relatively helpless. Its greatest power lies in its ability to control Gamera and turn so sharply against his true nature.
Gamera tai Daikaiju Giron (aka Gamera VS Guiron): This film is the only one where Gamera’s great monster battle takes place primarily in space. This is also the first time we are shown Gamera’s playful nature as well as his skill in Giant-Turtle Gymnastics!
Giron: This is perhaps one of Gamera’s deadliest opponents since he is the only one to actually penetrate Gamera’s nearly invincible shell. His power is further displayed in his casual (and all too simple) destruction of a galactic Gaos, who falls much more quickly to Giron than the original did to Gamera. Still, as with Bairus before and Zigura after, his pointy head proves too much a liability.
Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga (aka Gamera VS Jiger): This film takes Gamera back to his Kaiju roots and once again features good-old-fashioned-middle-of-Japan-combat! Buildings are destroyed, people are terrified and Gamera takes as good as he gives. In my opinion, this is the best of the Showa Gamera series as it embodies all that is great about Giant Monster films. It also contains a rather silly and fun moment of young boys exploring Gamera’s insides with a little yellow submarine. On a side note, Gamera’s victory blow in this film is so violent and shocking that even the crowd he is rescuing are horrified by it! (A very funny moment in the film)
Jaiga: Though one of the most silly looking, he is probably the most dangerous of all the Kaiju that Gamera faces (knocking my previous favorite, Giron, right off the chart!). He has horns, but not an entirely pointy head, projectile spikes, a deadly ray, the ability to fly, and a tail with which he can instantaneously inject his spawn straight into his opponent’s body! It was a miracle Gamera was able to defeat him at all- and as previously mentioned, he has to rise to a new level of violence in order to do so!
Gamera tai Shinkaikaiju Zigara (aka Gamera VS Zigara): In a sense, this is the last true Showa era film, since the final is more of a clip show. This film pits Gamera against another sharp-faced sea creature with expected results. In this film, as in Giron, we are also shown a bit of Gamera’s playfulness when he plays out his theme song (on the spine of his opponent!) and then proceeds to shimmy and shake as only a 200 foot tall turtle can.
Zigara: The monster himself is nothing special, a typical pointy head defeated in the typical way. His true power lies in his ability to control minds, paralyze its victims, and most devastatingly- cause massive earthquakes all over the world!
Uchu Kaiju Gamera (aka Space Monster Gamera): This film marks the end of Gamera’s Showa series. The film does have a great deal of original footage, but all of the giant monster battles (and thus footage of Gamera himself) is actually recycled footage from the previous films. If you hadn’t just watched the other 7 films, this movie is actually put together nicely and it is similar to watching a highlights real of your favorite character.
Zanon: If you view this as a film in and of itself, and not merely a clip show with some spliced in footage, than the great evil space pirate Zanon would definitely be Gamera’s most powerful villain. He has the power to revive, or least of all replicate, all 6 former Gamera monsters. This is of course, in addition to his deadly lasers (that fire with pin point accuracy from billions of light years away) and his faithful “bad space woman” cohort.
Personal Musings
In watching these 8 films, I couldn’t help but notice a few random things that I thought were worth pointing out here.
1. In these films, events don’t flow very logically, often times; characters know things that they shouldn’t and come to conclusions that don’t make sense. I suppose this is a reflection of a simpler time in movie making where people weren’t as cynical or questioning as they are now, or perhaps this is a sign of a greater cultural or historical trend that my modern American sensibilities don’t quite comprehend.
2. As mentioned, Gamera’s greatest ability is his power to adapt, and the fact that he never falls for the same trick twice. That being said…those fights in Space Monster Gamera seemed to go down the exact same as before- not only that, but Gamera seemed to instantly recover from the terrible I wonder why ^_^
3. Gamera can dodge REALLY fast for a turtle!
4. Every Showa Era Japanese boy must have had a white side kick named Tom (or Jim).
5. Space Monster Gamera was the only film to contain truly active female heroes. The rest were either brain-eating aliens, or helpless sisters forced to stay home while their brothers went adventuring!
6. Gamera randomly shows up when people are in trouble- good thing huh? The films make me wonder though, would Gamera show up if it was adults in trouble, or does he only care about children?
7. I love the way Gamera flies. I just had to point that out.
8. Perhaps the greatest thing about these films is that the adults always think the children are absolutely crazy when they say that aliens exist, yet they seem perfectly comfortable with the fact that they live in a world inhabited by giant monsters and a two-hundred foot fire breathing guardian turtle!
