Megalon

nihongo|Megalon|メガロ|Megaro is a fictional kaiju (giant monster) featured in the 1973 Japanese tokusatsu film "Godzilla vs. Megalon", the thirteenth Godzilla film produced by Toho. A beetle-like arthropod, Megalon is the primary antagonist of the film. "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is one of the most unpopular and frequently criticised of Godzilla films, and Megalon itself plays no small part in that (see below). Despite this, the character has remained a fixture of the popular imagination.

Appearance

Megalon's unique appearance has no doubt contributed to his cultural resonance. Superficially resembling a cross between a cockroach and a rhinoceros beetle, though standing upright, the costume is colourful, combining silver and grey with an orange-and-black carapace and wings. Megalon's forelimbs terminate with two sharp, drill-like appendages, which are never seen to be prehensile, always moving in tune with the monster's arms. These 'drills' are used to hack and stab in battles with other creatures, but are only 'engaged' as drills when Megalon tunnels through the earth.

The character also has many abilities. For instance, it can emit a yellow beam from his horn-like appendage, and launch spherical, red napalm bombs from its mouth. In addition to being able to jump extremely high and take flight, he is able to burrow underground at incredible speeds. Oddly, Megalon rarely walks with normal strides, but rather uses a cumbersome 'crouch and leap' motion to 'hop' forward when he has great distances to cover. In Godzilla Save The Earth, his Rage attack is Magnetic Vortex, in which Megalon pulls his oppenents towards him and when they touch him, he unleashes a pulse of magnetic energy that sends his foes flying.

Character history

Within the storyline of the film, Megalon was the guardian of an underwater kingdom called Seatopia. When nuclear testing and pollution disturbed the kingdom, the inhabitants of the kingdom summoned Megalon to invade Japan and make its citizens pay for their recklessness. Megalon answered and awoke. It began to wreak havoc and was nearly unstoppable until the gigantic humanoid robot Jet Jaguar appeared. It was a robot that the Seatopians stole so the robot would aid Megalon. Jet Jaguar was now freed by its owner and had grown nearly as large as Megalon. Jet Jaguar confronted and outmatched Megalon. The Seatopian king then called to the Nebulans to send the cyborg Gigan to aid Megalon. Gigan arrived and the two almost destroyed Jet Jaguar. However, this time, Godzilla himself appeared and he and Jet Jaguar successfully fought and drove both Megalon and Gigan away. Megalon burrowed underground back to Seatopia where it has stayed ever since.

Criticism

"Godzilla vs. Megalon" is frequently criticised for its poor special effects work and overuse of stock footage from previous Toho efforts. Megalon is no exception; the costume has been criticised by fans as poorly designed and cheap-looking, more befitting a televised Japanese tokusatsu superhero program than the relatively glamorous theatrical production.

The costume's various features have been ridiculed, being likened to a Christmas tree when the film was featured on the comedy television series "Mystery Science Theater 3000", (with Crow T. Robot referring to the drill hands being similar to the tops of the Chrysler building).

All the footage featuring the Megalon costume itself is new, but many of the special effects associated with it are reused footage, such as the destruction of buildings and its battle against the JSDF (footage reused from "Godzilla vs. Gigan" and "War of the Gargantuas", it also caused the scenes to turn from day to night and back in a matter of seconds). In addition, Megalon's horn beam is simply stock footage of King Ghidorah's gravity beams.

References

*Romero, Anthony. [http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/romero/godzilla_vs_megalon.htm "Godzilla vs. Megalon" review] at "Toho Kingdom."
* [http://www.tohokingdom.com/kaiju/megalon.htm Megalon] at "Toho Kingdom."
*imdb title|id=0070122|title=Godzilla vs. Megalon

Footnotes