Movies - Terror of Mechagodzilla

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	Movies - Terror of Mechagodzilla

Terror of Mechagodzilla (メカゴジラの逆襲 - Mekagojira no Gyakushû, meaning "Mechagodzilla's Counterattack" or "Mechagodzilla Strikes Back"), also known as The Terror of Godzilla in the original American theatrical release, is a 1975 tokusatsu kaiju film. The 15th film in Toho's Godzilla series, it was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Akira Ifukube provides the music score. The movie was written by Yukiko Takayama, who was the second female writer for a Godzilla film (the first was Kazue Shiba, who wrote for 1967's Son of Godzilla
).

The monsters featured in this film are Godzilla, Mechagodzilla # 2 and a new monster, Titanosaurus.

This was the last movie in the original Godzilla series before The Return of Godzilla
began a new series of Godzilla films in 1984. It is also the last Godzilla movie to feature the creature as a hero for Japan and the world. Because of the crash of Japanese cinema and the Energy crisis of the mid-to-late 1970s (which had also affected some television shows), the Godzilla film series was forced to go into hibernation. As a result, this film had the lowest attendance figures of all the movies in the series.

The plot

Continuing after the end of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974), Interpol agents, led by Inspector Kusakari (played by Masaaki Daimon), search for the wreck of Mechagodzilla underwater in the Akatsuki submarine to gather information on its builders, the aliens from Planet 3 in the Black Hole. But the submarine is suddenly ravaged by a giant dinosaur called Titanosaurus, and the crew is apparently lost . . .

In response to the incident, Interpol begins to investigate. With the help of marine biologist Akira Ichinose (Katsuhiko Sasaki), they trace the incident and Titanosaurus to a reclusive, misanthropic scientist named Shinzô Mafune (Akihiko Hirata), who was forced to leave the institute, and wants to destroy them as well as all of mankind. When visiting his old house in the seaside forest of Manazuru, they meet Mafune's lone daughter Katsura (Tomoko Ai), who tells them that not only is her father dead, but she also burned all of his notes on the dinosaur monster (at her father's request), but unbeknownst to them, Mafune himself is alive and well, visited by his scientist friend Tsuda (Toru Ibuki), who turns out all along to be an aide to the new Planet 3 alien leader Mugal (Goro Mutsumi), who is leading the project to quickly rebuild Mechagodzilla (now "Mechagodzilla # 2")! Mugal offers their services to Mafune, so that his Titanosaurus and their Mechagodzilla will be the ultimate weapons. The ultimate goal of this new wave of Planet 3 Aliens is to wipe out mankind (as they feel humans are a race of imperfect, polluted minds that they feel the world would do without) and rebuild cities around the world (starting with Tokyo) as a high-tech dystopia.

But things are complicated for both factions when Ichinose falls in love with Katsura, and unwittingly giving her Interpol's secret information against Titanosaurus, Mechagodzilla and the aliens. We also find that Katsura is actually a cyborg (she was fatally wounded by Mafune's faulty equipment years earlier, and Tsuda saved her life with cybernetics), and Mugal may have use for her . . .

In the course of the film, Interpol discovers Titanosaurus' weakness: Supersonic waves. But when they construct a Supersonic Wave Oscillator, Katsura sabotages the machine, prompting Interpol to hastily repair it before Mafune and the aliens unleash Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus on Tokyo.

And when the situation gets desperate, Godzilla comes to the rescue . . .

Trivia

This was the last Godzilla film directed by Ishirō Honda. He was slated to direct Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993) but passed away early that year.

This was Akihiko Hirata's final appearance in a Godzilla film. He was slated to play Professor Hayashida in The Return of Godzilla
(1984) but died of lung cancer before production began (Hirata was replaced by Yosuke Natsuki).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Terror of Mechagodzilla ]

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