MST3K: Episode 212 - Godzilla vs. Megalon

I've decided to watch all of the episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. More about this can be found here and here.

Episode 212: Godzilla vs. Megalon

First aired: The Comedy Channel on 19 January 1991
Availability: Amazon (Volume 10), Rhino (Volume 10/out of print), MST3KVideos.com

This is another one of those hard-to-find episodes. It was originally released on DVD in 2006, but became unavailable in short order. The four-pack that contained this episode, Volume 10, was re-released later as Volume 10.2, with another episode taking the place of this one. There are fan copies of a broadcast of this episode that are available. I'm fortunate enough to have the Volume 10 4-pack, so not only is my copy better quality than the fan copies, but it's a collector's item, due to its short time on the market.

Godzilla is just plain silla

I've ripped all my MST3K episodes from DVD to iTunes (except the episodes that are available from the iTunes store). It usually works just fine. But, every now and then, a problem occurs, usually involving the sound getting out of sync. That happened on this episode. I popped the DVD into the computer, and all was well. So, I ripped it out again, wasting precious time.

Why didn't I just watch it from the DVD? Well, by ripping it to iTunes, it's always available when I want it. And, I can transfer it to my iPad. Not that I need to do that; I just want to be able to do that.

In this episode, Joel has changed clothes again. His "red jumpsuit" that turned teal and then another shade of blue has now turned maroon. Dark red, anyway.

The Invention Exchange was funny. Joel Hodgson has to be one of the top two prop comics ever. The other? Why, Carrot Top, of course. Who were you thinking? Gallagher?

Joel dresses up as Jiffy Pop

Geordi and Foosball

Anyway, Joel's is funny. They're still doing the bit where the Mads steal Joel's inventions. Which I never bought into. In Episode 201: Rocketship X-M, where Frank was introduced, they made a big deal about Frank stealing Joel's invention, and Dr. Forrester dropping his head when he realized what Frank had done. And he punished Frank. The "stealing Joel's invention" gag would have been funnier if it had been just Frank continuing to do it with him coming up with clever ways to explain why he didn't really steal it, and Dr. Forrester punishing him.

About the movie ... sigh ... it's a Godzilla movie. And you know what that means. Explosions, silly monsters, and kids. Lots of Japanese kids. Almost as many Japanese kids as you see in a Gamera movie. And hot Japanese she-villains.

"Say, these Klan meetings have really lightened up."

"And it’s the June Taylor lynchers."

But, you'd know wrong. There are no hot Japanese she-villains, just some hot Japanese she-henchmen dancers (or something), which makes this the worst Godzilla movie ever. Well, except for the other Godzilla movies. The first one was okay because it was different and new ... at the time ... and he was the villain. Godzilla makes a great villain. When big Japanese monsters turn good, they take up with little kids and there's creepy, sappy music played and it just becomes a big old mess.

"One problem, though: you caught us in the middle of our production of La Cage aux Folles."

I always thought they should have left Godzilla as a villain. When a new monster came along, they could have it tear the hell out of Tokyo, then slip up and drop a rock on Godzilla Island, upsetting the giant radioactive lizard. Godzilla could come and save the day, the people would cheer, he'd get annoyed, tear up a train and a building or two, kick some tanks around, then go back to Godzilla Island and go back to sleep.

That way, people would be happy to see him, because he'd stop Gigan or Ghidorah or whoever, but then he'd do his bit of damage, just to keep the people in their place. He'd prove himself the baddest of the bad.

"Hai Kiba!" makes an appearance. Two, actually. And so does, "The driver is either missing or dead," from The Phantom Creeps serial.

Joel leaves his seat.

The last 20 minutes or so fo the movie is taken up by wrestling play-by-play. Keep in mind, this is a Godzilla movie, and that's the part in the movie where all the monsters start fighting each other.

I remember watching professional wrestling as a child, and as an adult when my son got into watching it. Growing up, I was familiar with Gordon Solie's style of announcing. Not quite like the WCW or WWF that was on the air when this episode was first broadcast. Still, they could have called pro wrestling, based on the job they did.

Which doesn't say much about pro wrestling announcers. Except Gordon Solie. He was awesome.

"Awesome" isn't what I would call this episode. "Good" works. If I didn't avoid Godzilla movies like the plague, I might like this one more.

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