Poll #1: Who is the coolest Toho dai kaiju outside of Godzilla himself:
The winner with a 33% margin of the votes: King Ghidorah
It would appear that the tri-headed terror, perhaps Godzilla's most famous foe outside of Mothra on this side of the Pacific, has an undiminished and superior fan following amongst G-fans, and likely with kaiju-fans in general the world over! Nevertheless, I still find myself doubting that a King Ghidorah solo film from Toho would garner much of an audience response, as even after 40 years following his initial appearance the Triple G has yet to prove himself a fan favorite without Godzilla being along for the ride (he's battled both Zone Fighter and Mothra without Godzilla being anywhere in sight, but that still doesn't necessarily mean that he can successfully fly solo, so to speak). Nevertheless, should any company ever re-issue new versions of those way cool Aurora glue together model kits of yesteryear, one of which featured King Ghidorah, I think it's a fair bet that the latter kit would be a very hot seller today :)
Bandai, are you interested in this idea?
The rest of the results:
Mechagodzilla, the Bionic Monster of terror, came in number two with a 19% margin of the votes, beating out Mothra herself by seven percentage points. Mechagodzilla may indeed be second only to King Ghidorah as the Big G's most formidable and popular foe, and it's probably no coincidence that the last two G-films at this writing featured the Mecha-Menace. Would a Mechagodzilla solo film ever be conceivable, where the giant robot was pitted against another kaiju threat to humanity? Or how about a film where Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah duke it out mano-a-mano? I'm actually beginning to believe that such ideas may be commercially feasible (if a bit experimental) ventures for Toho to consider in the future :) And it's a shame that Aurora's great model kits were issued and re-issued prior to 1977, when Mechagodzilla debuted on American shores in the Cinema Shares distribution of "Godzilla vs. the Bionic Monster," which threats of litigation by an irate Universal forced the small company to morph into "Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster" at the last minute. An Aurora model kit of Mechagodzilla, complete with those cool glow in the dark parts and movable bits of tech such as turrets, chest plates, etc., would have been sweet as hell!
As for Mothra, the Kaiju of Peace has always had a large and devoted following among kaijudom that I doubt will ever fully evaporate, but despite debuting in a fondly remembered film of her own and captivating kaiju-fans in the G-films of the '60's, she was a total no-show for the entirety of the '70's and the '80's, until the '90's brought her a rebirth via a remake of her original film with Godzilla and Battra thrown into the mix. This was followed by a film trilogy of her own during Godzi's second (though quite brief) film hiatus, which failed to garner extremely high audience numbers due to Toho's ill-fated choice of target audience and some scripts that deserve to be used as someone's toilet paper. One of my fellow prominent kaiju-fans (my thanks to Sam of the MONSTAAH group) noted that the third "Rebirth of Mothra" film was the only watchable flick of the trio, as it was somewhat redeemed largely by a slightly better script and the always welcome inclusion of King Ghidorah as a foe (rather than inventing yet another lackluster kaiju nemesis). Nevertheless, the Queen of Kaiju has undoubtably slipped from overall popularity if the results of this poll are any indication, but her renewed presence in two Millennium Series G-films to date have given her a renewed opportunity to capture a new audience in the 2000's. It should be noted, however, that in these polls, Mothra ultimately finished one percentage point behind the kaiju sleeper fave Anguirus, making her place on the poll fourth.
Speaking of which...when is Toho going to bring Anguirus (or Angilas, if you prefer) back to the big screen? Though this cool ally of the Big G (who may turn out to be an adversary once again when next he appears) has graced a few recent popular Godzilla video games with his presence, he has been conspicuously absent from G-films since the '70's. The fact that he finished third in this particular poll, ahead of both Mothra and Rodan, should push a strong message towards Toho to restore Anguirus to the big screen. If Mogera is worthy of revival, then so is the spikey-backed titan!
Finally, the always-popular Rodan (though obviously having slipped further down the ladder than Mothra) and cult fave Baragon finished with the same voter margin (7% each), which implies that Rodan is in desperate need of a revival himself. The Kaiju Warrior of the Sky had a respectful and cool revamp in the '90's, though Toho needs to pay more attention to him and give him a chance to soar (literally) into the new Millennium.
Baragon's recent revival in what was voted by visitors of The Godzilla Saga as the best G-film of all time (see below) obviously went a long way towards keeping his sleeper popularity as strong as ever.
As for the cyborg monster Gigan, one of Godzilla's slickest enemies, who had the misfortune of appearing in two G-films that are hardly looked back upon with respect (despite Gigan's great presence in each), along with a truly lame small screen appearance, and coupled with the fact that the scythe-handed kaiju has not been revived in updated form to date, probably had much to do with the fact that he finished dead last in the poll, taking weeks to gain even one vote, and ending up with a 5% voter margin at the official closing of the polls.
[Note: This poll was conducted and concluded prior to the news of Godzilla: Final Wars, where it was revealed that both Anguirus and Gigan would finally receive Millennium Era updates.]
The Final Tally:
#1: King Ghidorah (33%)
#2: Mechagodzilla (19%)
#3: Anguirus (13%)
#4: Mothra (12%)
#5: Rodan and Baragon (tied at 7% each)
#6: Gigan (5%)
Poll #2: Which Popular G-film is the Best G-film of ALL TIME?
The winner with a 33% margin of the votes: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack
I must admit that I expected "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" to come in first (as I believed it well deserved), but instead I have to deal with the fact that it came in third! :) Instead, the most unusual and perhaps experimental G-film since "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster," with its unique politically charged script, along with a hefty dose of Japanese spirituality and mysticism, won the respect of the majority of The Godzilla Saga's visitors who voted in this poll. I honestly expected this movie to come in second, but I think it's rather impressive that this flick's popularity is evidently so high. The film certainly did have much to offer to viewers of G-films: a completely outre' reworking of the Godzilla legend that transforms the Kaiju King into a deadly supernatural menace deeply tied into Japanese spiritual beliefs with a level of destructive presence not seen since the first G-film; it also featured King Ghidorah reinterpreted in an equally radical manner, as well as finally identifying him as a bonafide Oriental dragon, rather than relegating him to an extraterrestrial or radiation spawned kaiju that just happened to resemble a dragon...not to mention depicting him as a savior of Japan, even if he was made the inferior of Godzilla in terms of power levels for this film (something that annoyed several G-fans). Mothra's appearance in this film was hardly enough to warrent excitement for her fans, but the fact that Baragon was back probably also had a good deal to do with escalating this G-film's popularity to #1 among my visitors who voted, and to actually have finished 21 percentage points ahead of the incomparable and world renowned inaugural G-film.
The rest of the results:
Finishing at #2 is "Destroy All Monsters" with 16% of the votes, as it remains the ultimate kaiju-film not featuring a sentai hero [until "Godzilla: Final Wars" came along in 2004], and though its script wasn't exactly stellar, the type of monster fest it provided certainly was, not to mention bringing us what was arguably master maestro Akira Ikukube's best score for a G-film ever; it also has the distinction of being the final G-film to date to enjoy great international success before the quality of G-films began to erode to a level that the overall franchise has yet to fully recover from even 36 years later. Nevertheless, I'm still quite surprised that this film ultimately eclipsed "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" for second place on this poll!
"Godzilla, King of the Monsters" comes in at third place with a 12% vote margin, proving that the debut creation of Ishiro Honda, Tomiyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuberaya, and Akira Ifukube (the latter of whom is the only surviving member of that initial crew at this writing), and its potent metaphorical political themes, excellent screenplay and direction, special effects that mostly still hold up today in the era of CGI and "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, and indefatigable level of atmosphere remains ingrained in the minds and souls of G-fans to this day. May it always remain there! I'm surprised that this classic of Japanese cinema didn't make first place, let alone second, but I'm still pleased to see that it nevertheless finished prominently on this poll.
As for the rest, the only thing I can really say is that I'm somewhat astounded that long-time Showa Series fan favorites such as "King Kong vs. Godzilla," "Godzilla vs. Mothra," and "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster" all did so poorly, and I actually expected the former two to possibly hit second or third place on the poll. "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2," "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth," and "Godzilla vs. King Ghidora," perhaps not surprisingly, did a bit better, since they are often alternately hailed as among the best of the Heisei Series G-films and are closer in memory to the current generation of G-fans than any of the Showa Era films, but they still appear to have been totally overshadowed and humbled by the seemingly ubiquitous popularity of the recent phenomenon that is "GMK."
Nevertheless, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" is often hailed to be the best (as well as the "final") G-film in the minds of many G-fans, so I'm quite astounded that it finished second to last on the poll with a paltry 2% margin of the votes, and this makes me wonder if Mothra's apparent wane in popularity had something to do with it, which may also explain why "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth" had the smallest voter margin of any of the Heisei Series films on the poll. Toho may have some work to do on her popular image following the lamentable debacle of the "Rebirth of Mothra" film trilogy.
I also expected "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2" to have done much better, even expecting it to possibly take second place on the poll, as that flick was one of the better films of the Heisei Series, and has often actually rivaled "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" in terms of scoring number 1 on various Best G-Film of All Time polls that appeared in issues of G-FAN during the late '90's. I certainly cannot explain its relatively poor performance on this poll (hey, the movie featured respectful revivals of both Mechagodzilla and Rodan!), but again, I must speculate that if this poll is any indication, the difference between then and now can perhaps be summed up by three important upper case letters: "GMK."
As for the last place entry in the poll, garnering a mere 1% vote margin (possibly only because its single voter may have felt sorry for this one-time cool G-film after weeks of having no votes whatsoever), I must admit that this lowest of voter recognition didn't surprise me in the least. I threw the original "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" in this poll largely as an experiment, to see if the only well-liked G-film of the 1970's low point in Godzilla cinematic history was still alive in the hearts and minds of G-fans. After all, this movie did introduce Mechagodzilla, who is one of Godzi's most popular foes and one of Toho's most implacable creations. That particular G-film had a somewhat better script and budget than the rest of Godzilla's "super-hero" films of the '70's era Showa Series, not to mention featuring Godzilla's only stand-out nemesis [the very formidable Hedorah is often discounted as a bizarre anomaly, and to this day G-fans do not quite seem to know what to make of that film], as well as featuring kaiju fan fave Anguirus's final G-film appearance to date. So it appears that in the current era, the debut film appearance of Mechagodzilla hasn't worn well in the minds of G-fans, may its once fairly exhalted status in Godzilla's 1970's film history forever rest in peace.
Now I feel compelled to throw out this possibly intriguing question: if the inimitable Peter Jackson, licking his chops following the mega-grandiose success of his performing the seemingly impossible feat of successfully adapting Tolkien's classic trilogy to the big screen, is equally successful in his current project of remaking "King Kong"...is it possible that Toho will finally go out of its way to seek the appropriate copyrights to feature the long-awaited rematch between the King of the Kaiju and the King of the Apes? If so, may "GMK" be displaced from future Best G-film Of All Time polls due to the end result? Time will tell :)
[Note: This poll was conducted prior to the announcment that the Millennium Godzilla Series would come to a halt after the 2004 release of "Godzilla: Final Wars"...it now appears that we will never see a Godzi/Kong rematch, more's the pity.]
The Final Tally:
#1: "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack" [2001] (33%)
#2: "Destroy All Monsters" [1968] (16%)
#3: "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" [1954] (12%)
#4: "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2" [1993] (9%)
#5: "Godzilla vs. King Ghidora" [1991] (8%)
#6: "King Kong vs. Godzilla" [1962] (6%)
#7: "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth" [1992] (5%)
#8: "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster" [1964] (4%)
#9: "Godzilla vs. Mothra" [1964] (2%)
#10: "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" [1974] (1%)
Note: From this point onwards, my commentary about each poll following its closing will include the number of overall votes each poll received, as my visitors obviously find some polls more interesting than others, but in the case of these latter two polls, this MAY be due to some technical glitches that plagued Poll #5 on certain browsers (I will leave up the important notice I gave to visitors regarding this problem, and the solution to it, down below).
Poll #4: Which Kaiju Was Godzilla's Most Formidable Opponent?
Please keep in mind, people, that the question is NOT who you believe is Godzilla's most popular opponent, but rather who you think would be most likely to overcome the King of the Kaiju in a mano-a-mano contest of might. Please note that several of the contestants on this poll aren't even fan favorites, but all of them have the distinction of having given Godzilla a major challenge in combat (two of whom, Mothra and King Kong, rank as the only two opponents of the Big G to date who have actually defeated him in battle, and all the others certainly came close [note: since this poll was conducted, in "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" the bionic titan seemingly battled Godzilla to a standstill, and Kiryu assisted Mothra in defeating Godzilla in "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S."]). If you had to bet your money on one of these adversaries actually defeating Godzilla, which one would it be?
Total # of Votes: 221
First place: Destroyah (27%)
Second place: Tie: King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla (23% each)
Third place: Space Godzilla (9%)
Fourth place: King Kong (8%)
Fifth place: Mothra (4%)
Sixth place: Hedorah (3%)
Seventh place: Rodan (1%)
First place in this poll may have been a surprise to some, but in the spirit of honest voting, putting aside fan faves in favor of whom they honestly believed to be the most formidable of the Big G's many adversaries through the decades (as I had requested), I think my visitors came through in flying colors. Though he hardly counts as even a sleeper favorite, many G-fans who visit The Godzilla Saga obviously never forgot the brutal thrashing that Destroyah gave the Kaiju King in the latter's final battle of the Heisei Series (and I do mean final). In fact, Destroyah was the only kaiju other than Hedorah that Godzilla required the assistance of direct human military intervention in order to defeat, and this in a more direct way than with the smog monster, unless you count Space Godzilla, since Godzilla did receive an important assist from Mogera in that instance. In fact, though Godzilla did succeed in giving Destroyah a pounding in the end, it was ultimately the Super X-3 war machine, with its freezing masers and cadmium bombs, that laid the fleeing Destroyah to rest. Hence, the Big D was a viciously sadistic and powerful kaiju (no, I won't forget what he did to Godzilla Junior, either!), and it certainly wasn't out of line to give him the #1 spot on this poll with a 27% vote margin, even if it did come off as a bit surprising to many visitors that he would outdo King Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla in the eyes of so many G-fans in the objective formidability department, and I confess to being just a bit surprised that Destroyah took the top spot, especially when you consider the fact that he only battled Godzilla in one film.
It wasn't any surprise at all that the dreaded King Ghidorah and the equally dreaded Mechagodzilla tied for the #2 spot, each taking 23% of the votes, not too far behind the evidently more dreaded Destroyah. In fact, these latter three kaiju left the others on the list very far behind. The two who shared the #2 spot were eminently logical choices despite their obvious fan popularity rather than simply because of it, as both the tri-headed dragon and the bionic beast have both given Godzilla the fight of his life on many occasions (King Ghidorah in six films to date, and Mechagodzilla close behind with five films to date). Both of their formidability has varied from series to series, depending upon which version appeared in which film series (or which continuity in the Millennium Series).
The Showa Version of the three-headed monster was definately the most formidable version seen to date, as Godzilla never took him on...let alone defeated him...in a solo contest (but, remarkably, the giant sentai Zone Fighter managed to do that very thing!). The Heisei Version, though quite tough, had his scaly golden butt kicked in solo combat with that version of the Big G, in both his fully organic and his more powerful cybernetic incarnation, much easier than his Showa counterpart got whipped by Godzilla with at least one kaiju ally at his side (and Godzilla didn't pulp him rather than simply drive him away from the Earth until "Destroy All Monsters," where he had at least six kaiju allies at his side!). The version seen in the "GMK" continuity of the Millennium Series was specifically designed to be inferior in power to that reality's version of Godzilla, since the "hero/villian" role reversal was in effect, so his showing there was gallant but hardly very impressive despite the great fan popularity of the film in general.
Mechagodzilla's formidability has always been incredible, however, and I doubt many G-fans have forgotten the amount of blood the Showa version of the bionic monster drew from Anguirus and Godzilla alike in his film debut 30 years ago (at this writing), and Godzilla only defeated him by a thin margin alongside a kaiju ally. The second and final appearance of the Showa version was a let-down to his fans, and this time Godzilla defeated the rebuilt and allegedly improved mecha-beast much easier than the first time around, with much less of his blood shed, and this time Mechagodzilla had a kaiju ally on his side while the Big G was fighting solo! (Okay, Godzilla was aided by having Interpol use a technological device to temporarily take Titanosaurus out of the fight, but still...). The Heisei Version, despite not having his Showa predecessor or Millennium X successor's penchants for tooth and claw fighting, nevertheless had an impressive array of beam weaponry at his (its?) disposal that came close to cleaning Godzilla's clock on two occasions in that movie ("Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2"), and cleaned Fire Rodan's clock thoroughly, and Mechagodzilla 2 increased his firepower even further when Garuda merged with him and transformed him into his "Super Mechagodzilla" mode. In fact, it was only by Fire Rodan allowing the fatally injured Godzilla to absorb his nuclear energy reserves during the former's dying moments and to transform the latter into Super Godzilla that the Big G was able to reduce the (now) Super Mechagodzilla to a heap of scrap metal.
And the twice seen (at this writing) Millennium X Version of the great mecha-kaiju, Kiryu, has proven not only able to seriously injure Godzilla solo after a very fierce battle (but not without taking more than a few serious dents himself), but he has proved a powerful opponent in two different films thus far...but the second time, he needed the aid of Mothra in order to triumph.
Still, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla were two good and honest choices for the #2 spot (if not the #1 spot!).
Okay, all the rest of the kaiju on this list finished far behind the above three, each taking in under 10% of the votes.
Space Godzilla took in the most votes for the third and lower runner-ups, and once again, we had a dai kaiju who only appeared once...and in the least popular Heisei Series G-film, at that...taking the gold. But in this case, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. Despite the inept script and direction of "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla," the Cosmic G was a cool monster, a very tough adversary for his Earthly counterpart (considering he utilized cosmic energy instead of "merely" nuclear energy as his power source), and his presence onscreen was probably the only good thing about that film. He has thus become a sleeper fave among Godzilla's less popular adversaries, and rightly so, IMO. Space Godzilla was also the only time in the Heisei Series that the Big G needed a kaiju ally to defeat his adversary (again, unless you prefer to count Mogera as a mecha, instead), and it took Godzilla's inexplicable metamorphosis into his Super Godzilla incarnation (presumably by finding a way to absorb the cosmic energy released after the Space G's stellar-energy absorbing crystals were shattered) near the end of the film to save the day.
King Kong has been a fan fave outside the realm of Toho films, of course (and he will soon get another shot at big screen stardom with Peter Jackson's upcoming period remake of RKO's original 1933 "King Kong"), and this may be much of the reason that he got more votes than Mothra, considering the beating he took from Godzilla in their sole film battle (to date) despite how tough we all know the King of the Apes to be, but to be fair to the 18 visitors who voted for him, he was one of the very few dai kaiju to actually defeat Godzilla. Granted, it can be argued this occurred because at the time Kong was the "good guy" and Godzilla was a "bad guy" (you know, like in pro wrestling), but it can also be countered that legal reasons have prevented the King to receive a much-anticipated rematch that may be very telling. So all of these factors, taken together, may well balance out Kong's turn-out on this poll.
Again, we may be surprised that Mothra's showing was so low, considering how tough the Kaiju of Peace has proven herself, and the fact that she has defeated the Big G in battle on a record three occasions, and knocked him aside in a draw during another brief skirmish (in the less than totally memorable "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster"), but only actually lost to him outright once, and this was the "GMK" version whose power level was deliberately scaled down considerably in relation to Godzilla for the plot purposes of that movie. Granted, she was assisted by Battra and Mechagodzilla with the second and third of those wins respectively, but she still proved herself one tough kaiju. But as a previous poll showed, Mothra's fan fave status has apparently slipped in recent years, and as such, her sheer formidability in the eyes of many G-fans may have slipped along with it, despite her good win record against even the Big G. Oh well.
As for Hedorah, despite how seriously he injured the Big G during their only screen battle to date (he actually burned one of his eyes out!), and despite how disturbingly close he came to ending Godzilla's career for good...I suppose his brevity of appearances has caused him to be a forgotten titan in the eyes of many G-fan visitors of The Godzilla Saga in regards to formidability, who felt that he only deserved a mere 3% of the votes. But Destroyah and Space Godzilla got more votes (the former far more votes!) after only one film appearance each, so I'm not sure about this one. I think Hedorah got a raw deal on this poll, to be honest, but...this is how the majority of my visitors who voted felt about his formidability (or rather, didn't feel about it).
And finally...Rodan got a mere 1% of the votes. Can you believe that the Kaiju Warrior of the Sky, despite his impressive record as a fearsome fighter who once battled Godzilla to a stalemate, ended up at the bottom of the barrel in the poll? As I also noted in another poll, Rodan seems to have suffered a serious wane in fan popularity along with Mothra in recent years (despite an impressive Heisei revival in "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2"), and as such, it's quite possible that his once impressive formidability rating slipped in the eyes of G-fans along with his popularity, as well.
Poll #5: Which Toho Kaiju Would You Most Like To See Revived In A Future G-film?
All of the contestants on this particular poll are sleeper fan fave kaiju's seen in previous G-films and other kaiju-films produced by Toho whom many fans have expressed a desire to see revived in a future Millennium Series G-film. But who do the visitors of The Godzilla Saga believe to be most worthy of the update/revival treatment in the next G-film if the choice (and one choice only) was up to you?
Important Note About This Poll: Please keep in mind that you are only able to vote once, so please consider the options carefully before doing so. Also, please keep the following in mind: if you want to view the voting results to date before posting a vote yourself, or if you simply want to view these results without voting at all, then make sure to click on the small "view results" hyperlink at the bottom of the poll box and NOT the large gray "Vote" button above the hyperlink...doing the latter will register a vote for the first entry on the box.
Total # of Votes: 137
First place: Anguirus (38%)
Second place: Gigan (17%)
Third place: Tied: Megalon and the Gargantuas (8% each)
Fourth place: Tied: Varan and Hedorah (7% each)
Fifth place: Titanosaurus (5%)
Sixth place: Tied: Gorosaurus and Frankenstein (2% each)
Seventh place: Spiega (0%)
This time around, I'm happy to say without the least bit of surprise, that Anguirus won with a huge voting margin of 38%, and this scrappy and intriguing (if offensive weaponry deficient) kaiju, who is also perhaps the most popular sleeper fave among Toho's kaiju roster, was all but guaranteed to take the top spot. A revival has been anticipated for years since the close of the Showa Series...but none have been forthcoming at this writing, and I've heard no further news of any such revival planned as I write these words. If any Toho executives happen upon the results of this poll, may they be convinced, at long last, to bring this kaiju back to the big screen?! If not, they are going to continue to be disappointing countless G-fans!
The only kaiju to even get a moderately good showing with Anguirus on the list was the cyborg monster Gigan, with 17% of the votes (impressive compared to all the others who lagged behind him). I agree that he deserved the #2 spot, because he was an impressive and tough kaiju whom I suspect many G-fans believe to have much potential if handled in a truly competant manner onscreen. All we need, of course, is for competant Toho directors, screenwriters, and sfx teams to make the most of this potential, but to do that, they first need to give an updated version of this kaiju a shot. If they do this, and execute this rival competantly, as with Anguirus I wager they will NOT be disappointed by the viewer turn-out at the theaters. Go for it, guys...we are waiting, as it's been 31 years at this writing since Gigan saw the light of day on the big screen (and we all want to forget his appearance on that episode of Zone Fighter, a truly terrible way for the Showa Version of the cyborg monster to meet his end!).
And the rest on this list...well, as Mr. T may have said in his heyday, "I pity the fools!"
Perhaps surprisingly to some, and eliciting a smile of satisfaction to others (including myself), Megalon and the Gargantuas each took 8% of the small remaining voter margin. I always thought that Megalon had much potential if actually done right, and the Gargantuas made a memorable solo appearance that deserves the once anticipated revival against Godzilla for a future Millennium Series G-film. Just imagine what a good script and a good director could do with Megalon and the Gargantuas! Okay, I agree that the thought of a bad script and a bad director helming a revival of either of these two could herald a cinematic disaster of almost Deanian proportions, I nevertheless urge everyone to simply think potential (as 12 voters evidently did for each of these sleeper kaiju faves).
Hedorah came in next with 7% of the votes, and why not? He was a cool if perhaps overly bizarre kaiju who could get an entertainingly whacky...and very disturbing...revival in the deadly serious Millennium Series. Let's see what you can do with this other potential-laden kaiju creation, fellows at Toho.
And Titanosaurus got 5% of the votes? I still find it hard to believe that this interesting in design...but poor in performance...dinosaur mutation struck a chord with so many G-fans, including J.D. Lees himself. But there you have it...8 of the visitors to The Godzilla Saga who voted on this poll want him to get a revival. Then again, in competant hands, a Millennium Version of the amphibious beast may be more impressive than the Showa Version (even though plenty of G-fans appear to have been impressed the first time around...just don't ask me why, even though the beast's roar was rather cool).
Gorosaurus and Toho's giant-sized version of the Frankenstein monster only got 2% of the votes each for a revival? Very disappointed, I must say. I think both were classic Toho creations in their own way, who each had much charm and potential. But most of the visitors to The Godzilla Saga who voted in this poll sadly disagree. More's the pity, IMO.
And finally...Spiega only got a single vote (which registered in the poll computer tally as 0% of the overall number of votes, considering Anguirus took so many). Can I assume that this ONE voter for the big spider made this kind gesture because he/she felt sorry for the ultimate arachnid when witnessing the giant spider's poor showing, or did he/she sincerely believe that Spiega deserves a revival? If so, I hope that he or she feels "safe" to come out and admit their vote in a future Guest Book entry. And do you want to know why? Because I, myself, always thought Spiega was cool, and I think he more than deserves a revival in a Millennium Series G-film (perhaps alongside new versions of the Meganulon). So I didn't think that the largest eight-legged freak of them all deserved only one vote on the polls.
Note: This poll, and my above comments, were completed and posted prior to the announcment of the 2004 release of "Godzilla: Final Wars." Hence, with that film, fan faves like Anguirus, Gigan, Hedorah, and even Spiega (along with detested non-fan faves like Minya!) would see long-awaited revivals (at least, according to what the buzz on this film said as of 6/04, when I wrote these words).
Poll #3: What is the BEST Toho kaiju-film minus Godzilla?
The winner with a vote margin of 34%: "Frankenstein Conquers the World"
Despite a very slow start, Toho's kaiju cult favorite "Frankenstein Conquers the World" (or "Frankenstein vs. Baragon," if you prefer) comes in on top with 34% of the vote margin. Featuring a great cast, a basically decent script, one of the few genuinely sympathetic portrayals of a version of Mary Shelley's famous Monster we have seen in cinema (despite his lacking all of the great intelligence and the verbiose eloquence of the original large but not gigantic Monster of Frankenstein), the introduction of sleeper kaiju fave Baragon, and one of the most lengthy and realstically portrayed kaiju battles using the suitmation technique ever committed to celluloid, this kaiju-film had much to offer fans of this genre. Though I must admit to being a bit surprised that it came out ahead of "Mothra" and "Rodan," two of Toho's greatest and most well known kaiju-films sans Godzilla that were produced in the early days of Toho's production of dai kaiju eiga cinema, I nevertheless cannot argue that Toho's first Frankenstein flick was far from undeserving of this superior share of the voter margin.
I'm not surprised in the least that "Rodan" garnered the second highest voter margin of this poll, clocking in with a more than decent 25%. The pathos and genuinely sympathetic portrayal of the titular kaiju menace in that film, in contrast to the utterly destructive Godzilla who had then appeared in two prior films, along with Rodan's endearing popularity with kaiju-fans and his prominent appearances in various G-films, this movie truly deserved to be near the top, if not at the top itself.
As for the rest, again I'm surprised that "Mothra" slumped behind "War of the Gargantuas," as memorable to kaiju-fans as that semi-sequel to Toho's initial Frankenstein flick may have been (and it's possible that one or both of the Frankenstein Brothers/Gargantuas may be in line for the update treatment by Toho in a future Millennium Series G-film). Again, it appears that this poll, as well as the other two (but particularly Poll #1) seems to suggest that Mothra's overall popularity has been hurting of late.
I threw in "Varan the Unbelievable" as one of those rare gems and guilty pleasures of kaiju cinema, because it's a decent flick with a very realistically rendered title character, despite its relative obscurity and poor box office performance on both sides of the Pacific (though it can certainly be argued that the much butchered American version deserved its audience apathy). Nevertheless, it remains a cult sleeper hit among kaiju-fans, and it was doing quite well in the polls for a while, until finally falling victim to the influx of votes by site visitors who greatly favored Toho's Frankenstein Monsters and Kaiju Warrior of the Sky. I'm nevertheless hoping that Varan also get's the update treatment by Toho soon, as rumors to that effect have been as persistant as those of an Anguirus revival (and in fact, both of the latter two kaiju were supposed to be revived alongside Baragon in an earlier draft of "GMK").
The Final Tally:
#1: "Frankenstein Conquers the World" [1965] (34%)
#2: "Rodan" [1956] (25%)
#3: "War of the Gargantuas" [1966] (15%)
#4: "Mothra" [1961] (13%)
#5: "Varan the Unbelievable" [1958] (11%)