Gamera

[odin]

As most of you know I'm a Daikaiju fan mostly because I grew up watching Godzilla since I could remember but I know there are other series out there that are worth the watch one that got me interested is Gamera arguably aside from Godzilla the most famous Daikaiju out there, at least that is my impression since I have never watched a Gamera film and I'm all for discovering new toku so I made this thread to discuss everything Gamera related in the same sense as I did with Godzilla, now to start of I found on my local Kmart a blue ray edition of the Gamera Trilogy for $9 but before I buy it I wanted to ask you guys if the movies are any good and what other Gamera films would you recommend.

[Salkafar]

For $9??? Buy it now! Now! Now!

In many ways, these movies are a lot better than your average Godzilla flick.

[odin]

yup, and it is blueray, wont be able to watch it for a while since i don't have a blueray player but the special features alone makes me want to buy it, I feel guilty buying it since it is so cheap.

Edited December 20, 2012 by odin

[Guyver0]

The movies are pretty good. Definitely competes with Godzilla's more recent work. Plus, I'm sure you know but there is another Godzilla movie in development.

[odin]

Yes I do, we have been discussing it on the Godzilla Thread, feel free to give your opinions about it there.

[*Jess♥]

odin, you do have bluray player don't you? a ps3?

I have you on my friends list so you must have?

do you have any pictures of gamera?

something that looks cool.

[odin]

The ps3 is not mine, it is my brother in law's so that is why you don't see me connected on it cause he does not live on my house anymore and unfortunately I don't have a blueray player, I will buy the Gamera Movie Trilogy anyways. also, I don't have any pictures. : (

Edited December 22, 2012 by odin

[Purgstall]

The Heisei Gamera trilogy are typically considered as some of the best giant monster movies ever made and for 9 bucks on blu ray, it is a steal. I highly recommend it for any kaiju fans. Gamera 3 has some impressive CGI that holds up pretty well even today and that movie came out back in 1999! Gamera 3 has some great parts to it but I find it to be a pretty overrated movie. There's a lot of things that they leave to speculation, which is what kinda bugged me. I didn't mind some of it, but at times it just felt like sloppy writing to me. Gamera 2, I just couldn't get into but I didn't think it was a bad movie at all. Legion (the main villain of Gamera 2) has a very bizarre and alien design which really works. Not to mention it is a very interesting creature, I would've loved to learn more about it. Then Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is a pretty solid kaiju flick. I don't remember what problems I had with it though other than the eyes for some of the Gyaos puppets looked goofy. Gamera the Brave is a pretty solid film, the main complaint that I and several other fans have with it is that they replaced Gamera's typical roar with some stock footage roars, which is bizarre. The Showa Gamera series is ok, a lot of the movies are hit or miss though.

[odin]

Finally watched all 3 movies and to be honest my favorite one was Gamera 2, sure Gamera 3 had amazing special effects but the story was a little weaker and made the army stupid trying to kill Gamera when on the first 2 films it has been established that he is there to protect everybody and if he is there they should focus on evacuating to get out of his way. Gamera 2 had lots of great Science Babble and the Legion Monster was very interesting also, how he kills legion makes me think that someone from the cast was a fan of Guyver. XD anyways I definitely give the 3 movies a badass seal of approval and highly recommend it to anybody who likes Giant Monsters in general.

[Purgstall]

sure Gamera 3 had amazing special effects but the story was a little weaker and made the army stupid trying to kill Gamera when on the first 2 films it has been established that he is there to protect everybody and if he is there they should focus on evacuating to get out of his way.

Well, he did lose his connection to humanity in Gamera 2 (hence all of those beads breaking), so whenever he fought the Gyaos in Shibuya, he didn't really try to keep human casualties to a minimum. Considering the fact that he slaughtered hundreds of human beings and destroyed quite a few buildings destroying those Gyaos, hell yeah the army certainly has a valid reason for attacking Gamera. Yeah, Gamera was saving us from the Gyaos, but at the rate he was going, he'll probably end up destroying things faster than the Gyaos were. Not to mention the government was certainly gonna be under pressure by the friends and families of all those people who died from Gamera's fights with the Gyaos.

Gamera 2 had lots of great Science Babble and the Legion Monster was very interesting also, how he kills legion makes me think that someone from the cast was a fan of Guyver. XD anyways I definitely give the 3 movies a badass seal of approval and highly recommend it to anybody who likes Giant Monsters in general.

Yeah, a lot of people enjoyed Shusuke Kaneko's monster flicks (the Gamera trilogy, GMK, two of the Live Action Death Note movies).

[*Jess♥]

hey you guys know Gamera better than me. If there is a cool picture of him, then you guys would know what to look for.

any chance somebody could post one?

I am sure if I did a search for it, I'd find all the wrong pictures of old films that look rubbish.

[odin]

Sure thing Ryuki, I will post a closeup image of Gamera as well as an Anatomy Sheet of him, enjoy.

Purgstall, I see your point but considering that the Gyaos on the long run could be a very big threat that the army can't handle you can't really blame him for ignoring the casualties, his job is eliminate all threats that the earth may have at the moment and considering how fast the Gyaos where spreading on part 3 I'd say he has enough reason to ignore casualties and hurry as fast as possible before the gyaos consumed the earth, so if In my opinion I would have gotten out of his way not try to fight him and instead monitor him to predict where would he go and thus make a plan to evacuate the areas that he fights in as soon as possible, it is time consuming but it would have saved more lives than the way that the army was doing it, and I don't think he was completely disconnected form humanity since he did protect that child and extracted that girl from Iris, he was just prioritizing what was more important.

now that I have watched the trilogy I'm curious to watch Gamera the brave since part 3 ended on a cliffhanger I'm curious how this story continues, I will admit The Gamera trilogy did have a more solid story than most of what godzilla movies have had so I'm really interested on how this ends.

[*Jess♥]

cheers odin!

wow, that guy looks pretty mean!

so he is in no way connected to Godzilla then?

that is difficult for me to process. I sort of have this idea in my mind that all giant monsters are part of Godzilla.

I suppose ultraman proves that idea wrong... I'll have to try and deal with that somehow. (maybe it's like how I can't really tell the difference between Marvel and DC)

so if I were to watch any Gamera at all....

What would be a good idea?

I watched some old Godzilla movies before and found them to be boring. but that could be because I was a kid. not sure.

do you have any idea what a good Gamera film would be for me to watch?

I might not even like it at all. or I might love it. I did like Ultraman Cosmos. there could be similarities perhaps.

well I'm not into the mindless violence and extended fighting. so if there is something that has a good story alongside the cool special effects then maybe I would like it.

[odin]

If you base yourself on the Gamera Trilogy storyline he is a man-made monster from the lost city of Atlantis created to defend the earth from potential threats, so yea.... no relation to Godzilla at all. While Godzilla is considered a force of nature Gamera is earths greatest protector with lots of cool powers. I would suggest watching the gamera trilogy if you get the chance, they are VERY good movies and if you like science babble then the trilogy is for you, the only gripes i have with them where the stuff that i said on earlier posts as well as the tacked on romance, other than that they are a solid watch, the Gamera Trilogy consists of:

Gamera: defender of the universe

Gamera 2: Advent of Legion

Gamera 3: Awakening of Iris

hope that is helpful since I only have watched those movies and not any older gamera film.

Edited December 28, 2012 by odin

[Purgstall]

Gamera the Brave isn't connected to the Heisei Gamera movies. It is a standalone movie.

Ryuki, I dunno if the Heisei Gamera trilogy is something you'd want to watch. Each film gets darker. All of the Gamera films are kinda violent and gory. Showa Gyaos loses a leg, Space Gyaos lost a leg too, Gamera bleeds profusely, people get eaten, etc. If you're wanting something more lighthearted, go with Ultraman Mebius or Ultraman Max. Those are probably more up your alley.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Purgstall

[*Jess♥]

cheers purgstall, you're probably spot on with that conclusion.

I don't like dark violent things.

maybe i will look into watching some more of ultraman..?

I'll think on it.

[daveblackeye152]

I consider the Gamera trilogy some of the best monster movies ever and the real Gamera. Though I think Gamera vs. Baragon from Showa is really good too. Gamera most certainly has nothing to do with Godzilla and that is why the two have only fought in fan fiction.

[odin]

and here I thought that it was related since the description seemed like it was.

[odin]

Today I got a good deal of 50 Monster movies for 9 dollars on my local Kmart and 3 of those movies are Gamera films!, Gamera the invincible which I think it is the first one, ttaack of the monsters aka Gamera vs Guiron ( Guiron looks goofy yet awesome at the same time XD)  and finally Destroy All Planets aka Gamera vs Viras, not a bad deal huh? I will watch them later and give my feedback when I can, yes before you ask  I do love me some classic Black and White movies, I grew up watching the Universal Monster movies. XD

[Purgstall]

Today I got a good deal of 50 Monster movies for 9 dollars on my local Kmart and 3 of those movies are Gamera films!, Gamera the invincible which I think it is the first one, ttaack of the monsters aka Gamera vs Guiron ( Guiron looks goofy yet awesome at the same time XD)  and finally Destroy All Planets aka Gamera vs Viras, not a bad deal huh? I will watch them later and give my feedback when I can, yes before you ask  I do love me some classic Black and White movies, I grew up watching the Universal Monster movies. XD

 

Gamera the Invincible is indeed the first movie. Gamera vs Viras is the fourth movie in the Showa Gamera series and Gamera vs Guiron is the fifth movie. The first movie has a Japanese Colonel Sanders. XD

 

Gamera vs Viras was just bad. Guiron is good in a "it's so bad that it's funny" way. I liked Gamera vs Barugon and Gamera vs Gyaos and I do kinda like Jiger if only for the fact that we actually get to see Gamera's insides ala Fantastic Voyage. Super Monster Gamera is mostly stock footage so you can pretty much skip that if you want (I recommend skipping it because the new footage is pretty lousy).