Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
Release Date: 11th December 1993
Monster: Mechagodzilla
Description: Mechanical bitchslap
Origin: Built by human from the remains of Mecha-King-Ghidorah
Destruction: Stomped
Description: Gentle human-sized herbivorous Godzilla baby
Origin: A mysterious egg
Description: Red angry pteranodon
Origin: A mysterious egg
Destruction: Fire Rodan sacrifices its life to heal an ailing Godzilla
Actors: Kenpachiro Satsuma (Godzilla), “Hurricane Ryu” Hariken (Baby Godzilla), Wataru Kukuda (Mechagodzilla)
I think the Roman numeral “II” was added merely to distinguish this film from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla from 1974. It is, in fact, a direct sequel to the events of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah from just two years prior. This is the first time we’ve seen Mechagodzilla in the Heisei continuity, and its origins are actually not nearly as exciting as in the previous films. Previously, Mechagodzilla was run by malevolent space aliens of one stripe or another, and while being controlled by remote, seemed to be possessed of a rudimentary artificial intelligence. It knew what a Godzilla was, and knew to fire rainbow rays at him. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Mechagodzilla was created by the human race to defeat Godzilla, and is merely a Godzilla-shaped super vehicle that required several pilots to operate. I guess if Godzilla is to be a villain in the Heisei era, then Mechagodzilla must, by necessity, fight for the humans. I just with he were more than just a fancy tank.
How did the humans build a Mechagodzilla? Why by re-purposing parts from the destroyed Mechaghidorah, of course. If you have giant monster cyborg technology from the future lying around, you don’t just store it in a warehouse. You build a Mechagodzilla. Before the events of the film, it was established that the Mechaghidorah technology had been previously used to construct a flying fight jet called Garuda, but Garuda was unsuccessful and is already obsolete. Mechagodzilla robbed the Garuda pilot (Masahiro Takashima) of his job.
Godzilla is on yet another rampage, although this time he has an M.O. Recently, some explorers (led by Ryoko Sano) discovered some giant eggs on a remote island. One of the eggs had already hatched, and birthed a Fire Rodan, which would fly around peacefully on its own. This new Rodan looks far more dinosaur-like than the previous Rodan, and may as well just be a real dinosaur. It won’t be until the giant monster fight at the film’s end that Fire Rodan will start doing super monster stuff. Also in the nest was a second unhatched egg, although this one does not contain another Rodan. What it contains is a mystery. Odd that no one thinks to question what laid these eggs.
To digress for a moment. In the Godzilla universe, there are counter-Godzilla military units, Godzilla research labs, and Godzilla regularly lurches up out of the ocean to tromp around on a major metropolis. It seems almost ordinary at this point. I would love to see a comment from an in-film sociologist on what it means to essentially live in an age of monsters, when humans are about to be wipes out at any second, and all kinds of bizarro creatures are constantly appearing. After Biollante, Battra, and Rodan, I’m surprised the human race hasn’t just thrown up their arms in admitted defeat, sighed heavily, and moved back to their agrarian ways, living contentedly with 1/1000th of their previous population, only occasionally hiding in deep underground caves from the 1000-foot creatures who occasionally stomp by. The way it is, Godzilla movies essentially offer up a post-apocalypse movie, just one where the apocalypse is taking 50-to-75 years to get the job done.
Anyway, the egg is taken to a lab in the big city where it hatches. Out pops Baby Godzilla, a small, timid, herbivorous and really totally adorable baby version of Godzilla with big eyes, and a huggable neck. Godzilla, then, must seek out Baby (being looked after by Sano and by Miki) and either protect him or destroy him. I think Godzilla wants to kill Baby at first, but eventually comes around and wants to protect it. Godzilla is becoming more and more sympathetic as the films go on, even though he is still a force of destruction.
Godzilla has a second brain in his butt.
The monsters, my friends, are about to get much larger.
