Forgotten Gems: Eternal Darkness

It's that time of year once again. Retro Revelations' anniversary season, the Halloween Season! So let's kick it into high gear in style! 

Back on November 18th, 2001, the Nintendo Gamecube debuted. Its predecessor, the Nintendo 64, had been the first console I ever bought myself, with my own money from my first real summer job, in the summer of 1998. As I've stated in the past, the NES is my favorite video game system of all time, closely followed by the SNES. Similarly, 2D sprite-based gaming was, is, and always will be my favorite, and preferred type of games. As far as I'm concerned, the mid-80s through mid-90s was THE "Golden Era" of gaming. It had the best of everything going on, arcades, PC games, the debut of true portable gaming, and of course home consoles. That being said, I did and still do have a fondness for the Nintendo 64, because it was my first system I got myself. I didn't love the era itself so much, as most companies veered hard away from 2D gaming, into early, clunky, fairly ugly 3D gaming. But I still had a lot of good times and fond memories with that system, and to a much lesser extent (because I didn't own one) the Sony Playstation.

When it came to the early 2000s, once the PS2 and Gamecube, and the new entry on the market, which sadly replaced Sega, the Microsoft Xbox, had all released, it was during that "generation" of gaming, that I became for a time, something less of a"gamer". It wasn't that I didn't like video games anymore, I did. But I wasn't AS interested in the new stuff coming out as I had been years prior. Part of it was because those were lean years, and I didn't myself own a Gamecube, and wouldn't come to have my own (used) PS2 until 2004. And part of it was, as I've said, the further push to mostly 3D gaming, just didn't always appeal to me.The tides of gaming were changing, and I wasn't fully on board with where things were going (or have continued to go).

My often mentioned friend Harold, however, DID have both a Gamecube and eventually a PS2. So when he would rent or buy certain games, I was able to still check them out, if I was interested. I'll fully admit that even had I the funds to buy one myself, I wasn't in a great hurry to buy a Gamecube, as there weren't a ton of games I loved on it. There were some that caught my fancy, like Wave Race: Blue Storm, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Metroid Prime. But there were two games, in particular, that Harold rented when I was around, that I DID fully fall in love with, and in both cases wound up liking and playing them more than Harold himself did. The first was the original brilliant puzzle/exploration game, Pikmin. The other? Was Eternal Darkness.

Darkness there, and nothing more.

Now Harold and I, being the bright young men we were, who kept up on gaming news and such pretty well, had been aware of this weird game, kind of obscure and offhandedly mentioned. It was originally in development for the Nintendo 64 late in its life, as many other Gamecube games had been, including Animal Crossing, Doshin the Giant, and Dinosaur Planet. But the developer, Silicon Knights, headed by designer Denis Dyack, decided (probably wisely), to move the game over to the more powerful upcoming Gamecube, which delayed its release by quite a bit. But when it finally did come out in the summer of 2002, I came over and Harold rented it. And as the saying goes, the rest was history.

I remember it pretty well, that first night playing it. We both started playing it together, and were impressed by the graphics (which were pretty good for the time), the better-than-usual voice acting, the better-than-Resident-Evil controls, etc. Now when I say "better than Resident Evil", what I mean, is that while Eternal Darkness isn't flawless by any means, and in its own way itself is kinda clunky, it was still worlds better to actually play than the early Resident Evil games, whose clunkiness was rivaled only by the likes of early Tomb Raider. I'll get more into that in a bit. Eventually, Harold got sleepy, and went off to bed, after we were a few chapters into the game. But me? Oh hell no! I was very much into the story, and wanted to see more.

In fact, I was enamored with this game from the moment I was pleasantly surprised, when it opened with that Edgar Allen Poe quote pictured above. The poem "The Raven" happens to be my favorite, perhaps of all time, and I was big into Poe in general in my teens (he was the reason I chose the Baltimore Ravens as my football team, because they were named after him). The smooth combination of Poe and HP Lovecraft influences on the game's setting and plot, aided greatly by voice acting that wasn't painful or laughable to listen to (like early RE games), really captured my attention and imagination. And so, there I was, up till the wee hours of the morning at Harold's house, playing this game, with the lights off, by myself, getting the ever living shit creeped out of me in the process.

The Tome of Eternal Darkness.

There is one such moment in the game, that I won't fully spoil because if you haven't played it, you really deserve to experience it. It was this moment that I experienced, alone, in the dark, after Harold had gone to bed. It involved the main character, in this huge dark mansion she's exploring all alone, and let's just say that when it (quite literally) popped up, it was perhaps the only moment in the entire otherwise VERY spooky game, that genuinely made me jump, and I was like "What the fuck!?" There were other WTF moments in my initial playthrough that I also didn't see coming, though they weren't the "made me jump" variety, but rather, involved a unique game mechanic that I'll ALSO explain in a bit.

As for the (unusually involved and fairly decent) storyline, the basic gist is as follows. Edward Roivas, a psychologist living in the ancestral mansion he inherited in Rhode Island, upon digging too deep into unknown secrets, is found not only dead, but his body quite destroyed, in the library of his home. His granddaughter, the main character Alexandra Roivas, a college student, was summoned to the mansion by police to try, however impossibly, to identify the mushed up corpse as that of her gramps. She is able to confirm his identity, because magically enough, one hand was left fairly untouched, with his ring that she recognized. From there, Alex is left alone in this spooky ass mansion, determined to find out just what in God's name could have possibly done that to her poor grandpa, her only living relative, and more importantly: WHY? Her search around the gloomy place, leads her to discover a secret room branching off from the library, where she finds the gross-ass book you see above: The Tome of Eternal Darkness. It is then that you, the player, along with Alex, start reading/experiencing the history of not only this evil book, but the very dark secrets that killed her grandfather.

The opening area.

The Tome itself, is obviously modeled after the fictional Necromomicon, originally from Lovecraftian lore. Like the Necronomicon appearance in the Evil Dead films, the Tome is also a book seemingly made of human flesh and bones, its pages written in human blood. Upon beginning to read the first "chapter", you the player are whisked away to Ancient Persia, 26 BC, and assume the role of Pious Agustus, a Roman Centurion, who is lured by mysterious whispering voices in the desert, to a strange, almost Stonehenge-esque stone circle. When he steps inside, he is teleported elsewhere, assumedly below to some secret temple. Weary but curious, Pious makes his way through this (relatively small) opening area, where the game teaches you pretty quickly, how to attack, etc. You run into ghoulish reanimated corpses, of the nearly skeletal variety, that you can dispatch quite easily, once you get the hang of the attack system. And then, as Pious, you too enter some secret room, and discover three mysterious glyphs. You have to choose one to advance, and once Pious does, he is permanently transformed into an undead sort of wraith himself, now the servant of whichever ancient horror you chose.

That rat-fuck son-of-a-bitch.

That is how the game starts out, and then of course you're taken back to the Roivas Mansion, and as Alexandra, must search the mansion for more pages to the Tome, to learn more of the story. The game unfolds thus, shifting between searching the mansion (and sometimes fighting monsters) as Alex, and playing various characters that she's reading about, and she herself basically experiences their parts of the story. That alone is pretty original, and I must say, even compared to most of today's more modern attempts at "cinematic, playable movie" type games, Eternal Darkness was far better at actual quality storytelling. The game features a total of twelve playable characters (if you include Pious at the beginning), each from various countries and time periods. In fact, there was originally supposed to be thirteen, as a Templar Knight character from the Crusades, was taken out (in my opinion wrongly), after the terror attacks of September 11th 2001 happened. In reality, you only go to a handful of locations in the game, Ancient Persia, an ancient Khmer Temple in Cambodia, a cathedral in France, the Roivas Mansion in Rhode Island, and the hidden underground Forgotten City. But you revisit these locales, playing as different characters throughout the centuries, starting in 26 BC, and leading all the way up to the present Alexandra lives in, 2000 AD. The locales are a bit different when you revisit them, accounting for time passed, and the machinations of the dark forces at work in the game. 

The symbols of the unspeakable Ancients.

As for the mysterious glyphs? Well, they actually represent a very key and important part of the gameplay itself. As you can see in the diagram above, the game (and story) has four major other-worldly powers at work, and they form some kind of arcane, and uneasy, balance with one another. When you, as Pious, choose one of the three glyphs at the beginning of the game, you are in a sense "choosing your own destructor" (ala Ghostbusters), because that glyph represents not only the power that Pious will serve, but it will also affect the entire game in many ways.

The three glyphs around the triangle, represent the three Ancients, basically Lovecraft's "Great Old Ones", timeless dark gods from some other plane of existence, who long to retake and probably destroy this world/universe that they once ruled. They are: Ulyaoth, represented by the blue glyph, a jelly-fish-like being whose domain is magickal power and the ethereal; Xel'lotath, represented by the green glyph, is a many-armed eel-like being, whose domain is the mind, and sanity; and Chattur'gha, represented by the red glyph, a great lobster-like being, whose domain is raw power and physical matter. Lastly, the fourth Ancient, represented by the purple glyph in the middle, is Mantorok, the only one of these creatures who is "on your side", in a way. "He" is a giant, many-eyed and many-mouthed slug-like being, who is said to have once been revered as a "fertility god", and is something of a Lord of the Earth, as well as being a rotting "Corpse God" of the dead. While the other three represent a strange "Rock, Paper, Scissors" kind of balance with each other, and exist outside of this reality, wishing to break back through, Mantorok existing on Earth somehow keeps the others at bay, and keeps their powers in check. However, "He" is also imprisoned in an ancient temple, impaled by many pillars, left slowly rotting and weakening over the centuries. Thus, his power over the others is waning, and they are able to exert more and more influence on the physical plane as time goes on.

Hey pal, you got a light?

Your choice of glyph in Pious' chapter serves more than just the story, however. As stated, it also affects and even alters the game itself. It slightly changes the monsters and trials you will face, as well as directly affecting you the player. For instance, if you choose Chattur'gha, because he is the Ancient of Power, his minions glow with red power, tend to be physically stronger and larger. But you the player also start out physically stronger, and the "focus", if you will, of your gameplay, is put more on your red Power meter, which becomes larger if you choose red. If you choose Ulyaoth or Xel'lotath, likewise, they are the Ancients of Magick and Sanity, which again alters the types of minions and challenges you will face, but also gives either you more Magick or Sanity meter. Ulyaoth's minions are smaller and weaker than Chattur'gha's, but later in the game some of them are also capable of great magical attacks, etc.

Now where Xel'lotath and Sanity comes in, is the one truly unique outstanding feature of this game that I mentioned before. Along with the Power/Health meter and Magick meter, you also have have a Sanity meter. Why this is important, is that depending on what character you're playing at any given time, and what they experience, what kind of success you have at killing monsters, etc., your Sanity meter will be affected. If you're good at kicking monsters' asses, your Sanity meter will refill and you'll be just hunky dory. But if you suck, your Sanity meter will drain. And the lower it gets, the more your in-game "Sanity" is affected. And different characters, depending basically on how spiritual/superstitious they might be, are affected more, or less, by the scary things you encounter. So some have weaker sanity, while others are stronger. If you choose Xel'lotath at the beginning of the game, your Sanity meter will be stronger, which helps, but in turn your physical power will be weaker.

Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Xel'lotath?

As for the Sanity Effects themselves? Well, if your meter only drops a bit, you will eventually encounter surreal effects like hearing spooky whispers, having statues watch you and their heads follow your movement through a room, hearing a woman's crying in the background, spooky noises start getting louder and louder, having the room/camera tilt, the walls looking like they're bleeding, etc. But if it starts getting SUPER low, the game really starts messing with you.

I myself experienced some of these, having no real idea what was coming, so they all came as a surprise. Just some of the things I experienced included walking into a room that isn't supposed to be there, that you can't get out of, etc., and then BAM, you're back in the last room you were in. Or walking into a new room, and your character slowly starts sinking into the floor for no apparent reason, only to once again, BAM, back in the other room. Some of the most extreme effects, however, were when the game would make it suddenly seem as if your TV's volume was turning itself down to silent, only to come blaring back. Or probably the worst one I can remember, that actually made me mad for a second, was when I suddenly got a notice on screen that my save card data had been corrupted, meaning I was going to lose all of my progress and then, OH SHIT JUST KIDDING BRO! And needless to say, while all of these "Sanity Effects" are going on, and getting worse, it makes the game itself harder to play, the dangers harder to navigate. So it's in your best interest to "git gud", and keep your Sanity meter as high as possible.

Magick is a hell of a drug.

As for the other two aspects of the game, Power and Magick? Well, with Power, that deals with your physical attacks and health. As I said early in the article, the original Resident Evil games were clunky as hell. They were SPOOKY and interesting, but the actual gameplay could at times be a bit of a chore, ESPECIALLY when trying to fight monsters. With ED, they have a system in place where when you are faced with a monster, you hold down the R-button to "center" on them, similar to 3D Zelda games. And from there, you can highlight their torso, right or left arm, or head, and you are then able to individually single out and attack those specific body parts. The combat itself is still a BIT clunky, but it's far more workable in the heat of battle than early RE games. Once you get the hang of it, it is actually possible to get pretty good at the combat, and be able to competently defend yourself against most monsters. If you choose Chattur'gha, your power meter will start out bigger and you'll get stronger as the game goes on, but your Magick and Sanity will be weaker.

As for Magick, as you can see above, the game has a fairly complex Magick system. In fact, I could see someone arguing that it's a bit TOO complex, simply because you have to find and learn all of these different glyphs, you need a specific tablet to translate/read them, you need specific scrolls for specific "spells", etc. At first, your spells are simple, with only a few runes to work with, but eventually, as you can see, you learn more complex and more powerful configurations, that can do a variety of things, from refilling your own Power or Sanity, to temporarily freezing or even damaging an enemy. Late in the game, knowing how to use Magick in tandem with physical attacks becomes a must.

Alexandra Roivas, monster slayer.

Ultimately, which Ancient alignment you choose at the outset, truly does shape the whole game. It changes monster types and encounters you may have, subtly alters certain little story bits, etc. For one thing, as previously stated, the Three Ancients exist in a kind of "Paper, Rock, Scissors" limbo with each other, meaning that each one is specifically strong against one other while also being specifically weak against one other. For example, red is strong against green enemies, but is weaker against blue ones. As you play through the game the first time, this will come up, especially at the end, as you will, ironically, need the power of one of rival Ancients to the one which you've chosen for Pious to serve, to "aid" you.

And once you beat the game that first time? Well, you can go back, choose one of the other two alignments, and then do it all again! It's basically the same game each time, but there are enough differences in how the powers affect your playthrough, to make it interesting. In fact the game will not allow you to choose the same alignment again on a specific save file, until you have beaten all three. And yes, when you beat the game with each alignment, you do get a slightly different ending each time. If you're patient enough and strong enough to beat the game THREE times, with all three alignments? Then you are rewarded with the TRUE final ending of the game, which of course I'm not going to spoil. It can be a bit tedious to beat the same basic game three times, but it does add nice replay value, when these types of games are far too often a matter of "beat them once to see the story and then never touch them again".

Why...hello there!

Getting back to my own experience, playing this trough that first time, I did generally really enjoy myself. The story had my attention, and while I'm sure there were some frustrating parts later into the game that probably made me mad, I soldiered through to the end, and beat the game with at least one of the alignments that first time Harold rented it. I really enjoyed how you got to play all of these different people, and saw their varying parts in this unfolding horror. Yet it wasn't merely an unfolding horror, as each one of them also contributes in some meaningful way, to essentially being some kind of resistance to this inevitable return of the Ancient which will destroy our world. In fact, in a very real way, as you see all of these characters' little pieces of the story throughout the game, from time to time you even encounter the spirits of past characters in the same locales, and thus they help you, and are adding their knowledge and power to your own, to help you beat them. So in that way, in SOME small way, each character you play throughout the game, helps to empower Alexandra at the end, in 2000 AD, to face down the threat and try to defeat it.

The Final Confrontation.

Without spoiling TOO much, that rat bastard Pious Augustus acts as the primary villain throughout the game, popping up at nearly every turn, serving whatever Ancient power you chose, committing all kinds of dastardly acts and vile evil in the name of his master. Eventually, once Alexandra has read all of the chapters of the Tome, she discovers a secret way to the ancient Forgotten City, a place where unspeakable horrors exist, and you must fight your way through to have your final, fateful encounter with Pious. It's basically up to one poor college girl in her early 20s, to save the world, nay, the UNIVERSE, from destruction.

I wouldn't say that Eternal Darkness is in my Top 10, or perhaps even Top 20 favorite games EVER. But, I WILL say, with surety, that it is definitely my favorite "Survival Horror" game of all time. Everything from being a more involved, action-y type of game than those games at least USED to be, to having an actually engrossing, interesting story of Lovecraftian otherworldly terror to keep you playing. The game has genuine chills and moments that will make you jump, but it also puts it in you, the player's hands whether you get a horrible, depressing ending or not. You can, in a way, affect your own fate, and that's a nice feature too.

Who likes episodic content?

On a final note, back when the Nintendo Wii U console was new (circa, let's say, 2013 or so), Denis Dyack and Co. tried, and failed, to run a crowd funding campaign for a spiritual sequel/successor to ED. I think part of why it failed, was because their dumbass idea, was to have it be an "episodic" game, meaning that you had to separately pay for and download parts of the story, which you would have to WAIT for each one to release to be able to see the next part, etc. I don't know about you, but that isn't very appealing, and also stinks of fleecing the customer.

To me, what they SHOULD have done, was worked directly with Nintendo again, made a legit, straight up "Eternal Darkness 2", officially, and made it ONE game, no bullshit. But then again? ED also doesn't NEED a sequel. It was a perfectly good, self-contained story, in and of itself. What I WOULDN'T mind, however, was an HD remake of sorts. Keep the original voice acting, but give the game improved/updated graphics and sound and music. Maybe polish and tweak the gameplay somewhat to make it smoother. But THAT, a good remake/remaster of this game, I'd buy.



                                                                     ************



 So if you're looking for a spooky game to play this October, and own an old Gamecube or Nintendo Wii, you can find used copies of this for sale for reasonably cheap online, considering how rare the game probably is now (it wasn't a "best seller" in its original release). Unfortunately, Nintendo is stupid and never kept their word about releasing Gamecube games for Virtual Console on Wii U, and now that Switch doesn't HAVE a VC, who knows if they'll ever re-release this game, digitally or otherwise. They SHOULD go the remake route, as I think it'd sell. But if you can snag an old copy, and haven't played it before, then I'd say you're in for a treat! Just watch out when you're peeking around that mansion.....

Godzilla Chronicles: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster

The Godzilla Chronicles continues! Last year, as a lead in to my annual "Halloween Countdown",  I talked about a movie I didn't get to see until my adult years, but one that had major significance to the Godzilla franchise as a whole, that being Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster. And then this past spring, I finally got to talk about what is easily my TOP favorite Godzilla movie of all time, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (aka Invasion of the Astro Monster).

As I've explained before, while it's entirely possible that I saw some Godzilla movie or other at a younger age, likely on TV if at all, the first Godzilla movies I REMEMBER seeing, coincided with the first VCR we finally got. As I've also explained, I grew up a fairly poor kid, being raised by a single grandmother, which in and of itself was a journey, to put it mildly. Similar to how I didn't get an NES (and thus the genesis of my true video game love) until the second half of 1990, we didn't get a VCR until, I'd say, no earlier than 1989. Prior to that, anything and everything that I saw, had to have been playing on cable TV. But once we got that VCR, it helped open up a whole new world for me, of classic (and not so classic) movies.

Memories.

What you see above, is the VHS cover art of what was very likely the first Godzilla movie I ever saw, let alone owned. Taken on its own, it's not amazing art, though it's hardly BAD art either. But to me, that box art is solid gold. I'm going to get this out of the way early, but I absolutely love Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. Not AS much as Monster Zero, because as far as I'm concerned, that movie takes the cake when it comes to the purest, most entertaining representation of classic "Showa Era" Godzilla. But in this man's mind, Sea Monster is a reasonably close second.

An alternate VHS cover.

I will acknowledge that my opinion of Sea Monster being "one of the best" Godzilla movies to ever exist, is not one that is widely held by other Godzilla fans. But that's perfectly fine, because I feel like I have plenty of good reasons to hold it in such esteem. For one thing, yes, there's the Nostalgia Factor. If this really WAS the first Godzilla movie I ever actually saw as a kid, that alone for most people is a reason to continue loving something and giving it high value as an adult. And I'll fully admit, that factor for me is strong here. This was a movie that sold me on how bad ass and cool Godzilla was, it was knee-deep in that mid-60s era when they transformed the "Big G" from a terror to humanity, to being a HERO. And he very quickly became MY hero.

But I also think the movie stands up on its own merits, and deserves recognition for what it is. It certainly has arguable weak points, for instance, the titular "Sea Monster", Ebirah. While I like him, one does have to admit that a giant lobster isn't exactly the MOST threatening enemy for a walking nuclear furnace of destruction like Godzilla. There is also a questionable (and brief) fight scene against a giant condor who appears out of nowhere, which I'll talk about a bit later. But overall? I think this movie has far more going FOR it, than against. For example, just straight off the cuff, I will name drop Akira Takarada. I don't mind telling you that he's my favorite Japanese actor of all time, and YES, it is 100% because of the classic Toho films he's been in. Being honest though, Mr. Takarada IS a badass, and perhaps never moreso than in this film. It also has veteran Toho actors like Jun Tazaki (aka Mustache Man), and Akihito Hirata (who bears an eye-patch here just as he did in the original Gojira film), as classic style villains. For bonus points, although that's getting ahead of ourselves, it also features a cameo appearance by (adult form) Mothra! And last but not least, it has a very unique "James Bond" type of vibe to the whole affair, which sets it apart from other Godzilla movies.

Most of the main cast.

As far as story goes, the main thread here, is that a young fisherman, Yata (Toru Ibuki), has been mysteriously lost at sea along with his ship. His younger brother Ryota (Toru Watanabe), sets himself out to find him, believing he is still alive. Being something of a "simple country boy" type, he isn't quite sure how to do this, with the authorities giving him no real help. But he spots a poster for a marathon dance of sorts (that kind of thing was all the rage in the 60s), with the grand prize winner receiving a boat. This inspires him to try and enter the dance, but he discovers that he's arrived considerably too late to enter. By a stroke of Fate, Ryota encounters two teenaged friends, Ichino and Nita, who as it so happened, had both just exited the competition from exhaustion, as Ryota had arrived. Ryota explains that he needs a boat, and thinking him some weird kid who is "boat crazy", the two decide to take him on a joy ride to the harbor to go look at boats.

Once there, the boys decide to just show themselves aboard such a boat, a yacht called the Yahlen, just to take a look around. But once on board, they find that the boat's "owner", a shotgun wielding man named Yoshimura, is not happy about the intrusion. But after the guys explain that their friend just loves boats THAT much that he had to see inside this one, Yoshimura suddenly has a change of heart, and tells them they can stay the night, but have to BUZZ OFF first thing in the morning. Just on its face, like, who would actually invite trespassers on their property to stay the night, right?

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed...

Fast forward to morning, where Yoshimura awakens to find that his "shotgun", in actuality a realistic looking toy gun, was broken. Assaulting the sleeping teenagers, thinking they had done it, to get them off of his ship, the three of them emerge topside only to discover that they are sailing out on the open sea. It turns out that good ol' Ryota, being a strong believer in the Shinto religion, believes he has been given this boat as a "Gift from the Gods", and as such he intends to use it to find his lost brother. And seeing as none of the others, not even Yoshimura, knows how to drive a boat, OTHER than Ryota, they are "left with no choice" but to go along with his crazy scheme. Yoshimura, for his part, seems mysteriously not nearly as upset as you'd think, considering his boat just got hijacked.

Well as it would turn out, ol' Yoshimura is actually a bank robber, and the Yahlen isn't even HIS boat (SPOILERS!). He just hid out on it, and the boys happened to find him. So their adventure at sea begins, with Ryota combing the fishing lanes to try and find his brother's wreck. Unfortunately for Ryota and Company, they are hit by one hell of a monster storm (literally), and while helpless to the thrashing waves, their boat is wrecked by what looks very much like a gigantic lobster claw (because IT IS!). They fortunately all survive, only to be washed ashore on some remote, unknown island.

The Red Bamboo.

Much to our heroes' misfortune, it would seem that this island, called Letchi Island, was the adopted home of a clandestine terrorist outfit who call themselves "The Red Bamboo". These Bamboo chaps seem to have their eyes set on becoming a nuclear power unto themselves, and to that end, have set up a base, complete with a "Heavy Water" installation. The boys hear the siren heralding a ship approaching the island, and at first think they are saved, only to quickly learn that it is actually these Red Bamboo jerks, bringing another shipment of kidnapped slaves. The slaves are natives to an island that has popped up in the Toho-verse previously, Infant Island, home to the monster known as Mothra!

As a couple of Infant Islanders try to escape, getting gunned down in the process, a native girl slips away making her own run for it. The girl, Dayo (played by Kumi Mizuno),  runs into the gang hiding out in the forest, and at first runs from them in fear, but they later convince her that they're not with the Red Bamboo. The group then go on the run together, being discovered by the soldiers, and wind up finding a seaside cave to hide in. The only problem? They ALSO discover that, for whatever random reason, the cave happens to be the current residence of a sleeping Godzilla!! After a near disastrous expedition into the enemy base, that sees one of them get caught, and another get literally carried away by a huge weather balloon, the group decide on a plan of action: They're going to try and wake up Godzilla, in an effort to distract or defeat The Red Bamboo, so they can free the slaves and escape.

Bitch SLAP!

Wake the sleeping giant they do, utilizing some MacGyver type tactics involving some metal wire and a sword they found, which acts as a lightning rod. The lighting succeeds in jolting poor Godzilla awake, and he busts out of the cave, literally smashing through the cliff-side out to the beach, understandably grumpy. I mean, he was having a really peaceful power nap, and then THIS shit happens! Well, the island ALSO happens to be home to an enormous (titular) Sea Monster known as Ebirah, a huge lobster, who patrols its surrounding waters territorially. A fact that The Red Bamboo capitalize on, using a yellow juice made from local fruit, that apparently lobsters HATE, to keep Ebirah away from their ships, while at the same time utilizing him to keep everyone ELSE away from the island (and to keep slaves from escaping).

When Grumpy Godzilla meets up with Crabby (Get It?) Ebirah, shit gets REAL, and we the audience finally get the fight we've all been waiting for. In all honesty, while somewhat silly as a concept, Ebirah isn't all that bad of a monster. And fighting Godzilla in his own element (the sea), he does manage to hold his own. He even engages Godzilla in a game of catch featuring a giant boulder! The two monsters actually fight twice in the film, the first ending in a bit of a stalemate after Godzilla (literally) toasts Ebirah's ass and he swims off. So while our heroes hope that Godzilla will take it to those evil Bamboo guys, meanwhile, Ryota is brought by fair winds to Infant Island, where he finds his brother alive and well! The two brothers plan to set out to rescue the others, while the Infant Islanders set about a sweet song and dance routine, led by those adorable Fairy Twins, in hopes to awaken their god Mothra, to have her go save everyone. And without spoiling the ending, that's the basic rundown of the plot.

Safety Dance!

As I said before, this film has a very unique vibe that you don't really find in any other Godzilla movies, and I like that about it. It has a VERY 60s soundtrack, featuring very Bond-esque surfer guitar work. Not the classic Akira Ifukube fare of so many great Godzilla films, but it's catchy, and I consider it classic in its own right. Another possible reason for this film's unique tone, is that it is one of only a small handful of Godzilla films from the 50s and 60s NOT to be directed by the great Ishiro Honda (whom I just recently revealed as one of my Top 5 Favorite Filmmakers Ever).

Instead, it is directed by Jun Fukuda, aka the second most prolific Godzilla director of the Showa Era. Along with directing the little-known but actually rather good sci-fi thriller Secret of the Telegian, he also directed this, the following Son of Godzilla, and he went on to become the main Godzilla guy in the 70s, directing three more films (Gigan, Megalon, and the first Mechagodzilla). While I do vastly prefer Honda's work, I have to give Fukuda major props for what he accomplished as a G-director. He DID, after all, direct this, which is basically my second favorite Godzilla film of all time. And while the 70s movies did get a bit hokey, and dipped in quality (due to Toho budget cuts), they still have heart, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is another of my favorite Godzilla movies.

The Giant Claw....?

There are a couple of negative points the film DOES deserve. The first of which being the aforementioned fight with a giant bird. See, right after his first fight with Ebirah, all Godzilla really wants to do is go back to sleep. So instead of crawling back into the cave, he just sits down and naps out in the open. But seeing as he's so huge, he makes himself a giant target, and the first thing to attack him, is a gigantic condor, who swoops in and just starts pecking the shit out of his face. Now the CONCEPT of a fight with a giant bird is pretty solid. Unfortunately, what makes this fight a negative point, is that the film must have already busted its budget on everything else, because the bird is arguably the cheapest looking Toho monster ever put to film. The poor thing looks so rough, that the camera barely focuses on it, and after being a brief annoyance, Godzilla tells it to PISS OFF, burning it to a crisp with his death breath, and it plummets into the sea.  

The second negative point is actually something that had nothing to do with the filmmakers. It has everything to do with the post-production English dubbing. There was an English dub made, which is on the original VHS tape I own (and can be heard in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring this film), which in my opinion was actually rather good. The actors actually TRY, it has a sense of dramatic timing and the voices fit the characters. However, upon buying the widely-available DVD for my collection in the 2000s, I discovered to my horror, that they did NOT use that dub! Instead, they used some OTHER shitty "International Dub", with completely different voice actors, who basically just phone it in with the laziest cartoon style acting imaginable. The single worst offender, is the voice for Nita, the "comic relief" character of the story. In my cool VHS dub, yeah, he's a goofball, but he's still a cool character. In the SHIT dub from the DVD, he now sounds like a whiny, high-pitched cartoon character, apparently played for laughs but actually just annoying. And that sucks, because as stated, the OTHER dub actually fits the movie and characters very well.

Coaching up The Boys before their next big fight.

As the story goes, similar to another mid-60s Toho film, Frankenstein vs. Baragon (aka Frankenstein Conquers the World), this movie was allegedly originally supposed to feature King Kong, whom Toho had the rights to use after their Kong vs. Godzilla film, and would later use in their movie King Kong Escapes. But they thankfully decided to use their marquee star, Godzilla, instead. Don't get me wrong, King Kong vs. The Sea Monster has a certain ring to it, and I'm sure it would have been a delightfully bizarre escapade. But I'm personally very glad it stars Godzilla instead, both because I feel it's overall better that way, and because this movie led me to discover my childhood love/obsession for Godzilla. And that on its own means an awful lot to yours truly.

Overall, while this movie lacks the monster star power of a SUPER memorable opponent for Godzilla, like a King Kong, or a Mothra, or a Ghidorah. I feel that it hits enough of the right notes, and stands out with enough of its own particular vibe, that it merits a recommendation from me. Is it "campy" and "cheesy"? Yes. But as I've said in past articles, Toho's use of "suitmation" (actors in rubber suits), and elaborately detailed miniature sets, while it may strike modern audiences as "cheesy", or "cheap", it was anything but at the time. Most of the budget on these films, small as the already were, went directly to the special effects, and they were (and are) an artform all their own. An artform that I really wish Toho would remember, and honor, today.

If you only feel like ever watching ONE Godzilla film ever, I'd probably recommend the original 1954 classic Gorija, or my top favorite, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. But if you're inclined to watch more than one, I would recommend Sea Monster as a very fun and trippy ride. It is an enjoyable movie from beginning to end, at least I think so. Just a word of warning: If you DO watch it, which I hope you do, if at all possible, just watch the original Japanese audio with subtitles, because I'm telling you, that "International English Dub" is terrible!

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Here is the full list of Godzilla Chronicles articles:

1. The Beginning

2. Gojira (aka Godzilla: King of the Monsters)

3. Godzilla Raids Again

4. King Kong vs. Godzilla

5. Mothra vs. Godzilla

6. Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster

7. Invasion of the Astro Monster (aka Godzilla vs. Monster Zero)

8. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

9. Son of Godzilla

10. Destroy All Monsters

11. All Monsters Attack

12. Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster

13. Godzilla vs. Gigan

14. Godzilla vs. Megalon

15. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

16. Terror of Mechagodzilla

My Top Favorite Filmmakers Pt. 2

Last time, I talked about what are probably my Top 5 Favorite Filmmakers of All Time. Today, I'm here to talk about some MORE of my favorite filmmakers of all time, people that made movies that really influenced me or meant a lot to me growing up, and in my life in general. So without further ado, lets get to it!

Steven Spielberg - This one is a "gimme" for a lot of movie fans. This man has made so many great, classic movies throughout his career, and BECAUSE of his body of work, he is a very strong argument to some for "Greatest Filmmaker of All Time". I'm not sure I would go quite that far, but he deserves recognition as ONE of the very best. I don't love EVERY movie he's ever made, in fact there are a handful I still haven't even seen, due to lack of interest, and others still, like The Adventures of Tintin, that I just wasn't feeling. But it would certainly be fair to say he's probably made more movies that I like and care about, than ones I don't.

One of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

My own personal experience with Spielberg started very early. As I've recounted in the past, growing up, I spent the vast majority of my childhood NOT being able to see movies in theaters, because my grandmother was anti-social and claimed that "they were a waste of money". In her mind, you could just easily wait for the movies to come out on TV, or home video. But when I was VERY young, let's say between the ages of 3-5, I do remember two specific movies I DID get to see in theaters at such an impressionable age. One of them was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which was one of many re-releases Disney did throughout the 80s. The other, was E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. The scene where Elliot waits outside in the yard alone for ET to show back up, and then ET appears, and scuttles slowly over to his lawn chair in the middle of the night, at that age scared the shit out of me! But then ET held out his grubby little three-fingered hand, and dropped some of the Reece's Pieces that Elliot had left around the forest to attract him, and little kid me was like "Oh OK, the scary alien likes candy, me too!" Outside of the scary scenes, I'm sure that movie made a big impression on me, and I likely wished that I had some kind of alien/magic/extra-dimensional/whatever buddy of my own.

Other early experiences with Spielberg films, included Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and of course, the Indiana Jones trilogy. For the former, my grandmother was a major science fiction and alien nut, so it was a no-brainer that she loved that movie. To me, it was definitely interesting and entertaining, but also quite a bit darker and scarier for most of it, than ET was. I clearly remember them showing the "Extended Edition" on TV, where they showed the extra scenes he filmed in the early 80s, such as showing the inside of the giant spaceship at the end. Kid me thought that scene was super cool, and wondered what all the different aliens inside were like. Adult me realizes he never should have caved to studio pressure and filmed that scene, because it's better to leave things like that a mystery. As for the latter, I more or less loved Indy growing up, even though of course I didn't get all the adult references, and the scary parts really scared me. But I've always had a thing for the supernatural, and treasure-hunting stories, and so combining the two was a great move in my eyes. Similar to how I would flip on the Star Wars trilogy (more on that in a minute) as I grew up, I also flipped on the Indy movies. As a kid, my favorite was The Last Crusade, because, I dunno, Sean Connery is awesome, and it had even more action. But adult me settled on the original, Raiders of the Lost Ark, as my favorite Indy film, and perhaps my favorite Spielberg movie overall, though that's a tough call.

One final note about Steven Spielberg before I move on, in addition to being one of the most prolific and successful directors in Hollywood history, he has also been one of the most prolific and successful producers. He has produced a ton of movies, even helping to jump-start many other filmmakers' careers. And in addition to that, he ALSO helped bring many awesome TV shows in to existence, such as Amazing Stories, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs! 

My Favorite Works: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Hook (1991), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),  Jurassic Park (1993)

Other Works I Like: Duel (1971), Jaws (1975), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Lost World (1997), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), War of the Worlds (2005)

Works He Produced That I Like: Poltergeist (1982), Gremlins (1984), Back to the Future (1985), The Goonies (1985), An American Tail (1986), The Money Pit (1986), Batteries Not Included (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), The Land Before Time (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990)

George Lucas - Now George Lucas is an odd, and rather special case. Of all the people I'm listing as my favorite filmmakers, outside of Ray Harryhausen who only acted as director on his own early stop-motion shorts, Lucas is by far the least prolific as a director of the entire bunch. In total, he is only officially credited as director on six of the films he's made. A serious point of contention among Star Wars fans, mainly between the fans who love Lucas and the "fans" who act like they hate his guts, is his lack of director credit on his films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Those who like to give Lucas as little credit for his own works as possible, making him out to be nothing more than a hack who got really lucky and "had great talent around him", like to give all the credit of those films to the people who were credited as directors: Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand. But while it is true that for the last two films of his original trilogy, Lucas took more of a producer and supervisory role, officially, UN-officially, he was still the mastermind behind the entire operation.

I personally liken it to the 1982 hit Poltergeist, which was officially directed by Tobe Hooper. But quite suspiciously, it doesn't SEEM like anything else Hooper ever did, tone-wise, even direction-wise, and that's because Steven Spielberg was on set almost every day as producer, and was practically making ET at the same time. In point of fact, the only reason Spielberg DIDN'T direct Poltergeist, is because he wasn't allowed by the studio to direct two films at once. But UN-officially, it is well known that Spielberg was still the one calling all the final shots, and it was in fact he who shaped the direction of the film, even if Hooper was the one he hired to yell "action!" and "cut!". As far as I'm concerned, it's no different with Kershner and Marquand, in that Lucas was the one driving the vision, and in my mind, it is he who was still basically the director, UN-officially, of both movies.

Just chillin' with Obi-Wan.

Regardless, the truth for me personally, is that AS the creator and godfather of Star Wars, George Lucas makes it onto my list for practically that alone. Even though I was either unborn or too young to see any of the original trilogy in theaters when they were new, Star Wars was nonetheless a HUGE part of my childhood. From the movies, to the 80s Droids and Ewoks cartoons, to the great first Ewoks TV Movie (and its not great sequel), to my early experience playing the Star Wars arcade game, and more. Luke Skywalker was a hero of mine as a kid, as he has been for so many children, and as I grew up, and experienced more of the so-called "Expanded Universe", that mythos Lucas created only continued to grow on me. Video games like Rebel Assault II on Playstation, and Shadows of the Empire on Nintendo 64 were pretty big to me when they were new, warts and all. And when the original trilogy was re-released as "Special Editions" in 1997, I was thrilled, because I was able to actually see those movies in theaters. When the "controversial" Prequel Trilogy came out, even 1999's The Phantom Menace, while they weren't perfect, I loved them. So for giving me (and the world) the Star Wars franchise alone, George Lucas will always have my respect.

But the thing is, he has done and meant so much more in film over his career. He is and always will be rightfully known for Star Wars. But he has innovated or had a hand in so many other things as well. His first big hit film, THE movie that was such a smash-hit it allowed him the leeway with studios to take a chance on a huge, effects-heavy project like Star Wars in the first place, was American Graffiti. A solid "coming of age" film in its own right, very much inspired by Lucas' own teen years, Graffiti is most notable for its soundtrack, as it was the first major Hollywood film to feature a lot of contemporary music throughout, instead of a typical, more orchestral film score. Not only did this give rise to more films using popular music, but it also almost single-handedly helped to create what is now known as "Classic Rock Radio". Radio stations before then typically played mostly newer hits in whatever genre they covered, but with the popularity of old rock songs in Graffiti, it eventually led to a rise in "Throwback" stations that dedicated themselves to playing older music.

Lucas also, along with being the godfather of Star Wars, is pretty much the same thing for Indiana Jones. While his friend Spielberg acted as director on those films, it was Lucas who originally conceived the character, concept, and wrote the stories. Much like Star Wars, Indy hearkened back to old film serials of Hollywood's "Golden Age", and the Indy films themselves had a huge influence on action and adventure films, just as Star Wars did on science fiction and big special effects movies. He also wrote and produced another great 80s film, the fantasy epic Willow. Much like Spielberg, Lucas also acted as producer on many films, as well, helping many projects to get off the ground. And beyond that, his hand in innovating film technology has been invaluable to the industry. The original Star Wars represented a massive leap in effects-driven films. Lucas also had a direct hand in creating technical companies, such as the THX theater sound company, the Industrial Light & Magic effects house, and even originally founding what would become Pixar Studios. All in all, George Lucas' role in the evolution of Hollywood and filmmaking cannot be diminished or dismissed, as it was huge.


My Favorite Works: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Works He Produced That I Like: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984), Labyrinth (1986), Captain EO (1986), Willow (1988), The Land Before Time (1988), Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989) 

Richard Donner - Donner is another director, much like Carpenter and Dante, where I didn't actually get to see his films until I was into my teens, after my grandmother passed away. No, not even The Goonies, which, trust me, is one of MANY movies I lament not being able to see and enjoy as a kid. Experiencing things as a child is significantly different than as an adult, or even as a teenager. You are far more open, and raw, and just take things at face value. Everything is bigger and more epic and more "real". So not being able to enjoy Goonies through the eyes and mind of a child? Pretty lame. The real shame is, when I finally DID get to see it, over time it became one of my Top Favorite Movies of all Time!

Talking shop with Mr. Kent.

But when I DID finally start seeing his films, I very quickly became a big fan. If I had to take a stab at which of his movies I first saw, I'd have to guess the original Superman (very possibly shown on TV together with Superman II). To be clear, while I went as Supes (ironically at my grandmother's suggestion) for Halloween when I was 5 years old, I was not a huge Superman fan growing up, and certainly wasn't in my teens. I even went through a dumb phase in my late teens, where I insisted that Supes (and most DC heroes by extension), were "generic and lame". In my defense, I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about, and I was a die-hard Marvel kid. But the ONE thing Superman that I always liked, even during that phase, was Donner's films. Christopher Reeve was, and to me remains, THE Superman (even though Tim Daly from the 1996 animated show is a close second). Those first two movies are gold, even though the producers really screwed Donner around, and hired another director (Richard Lester) to finish the second film after they fired him. But Donner really seemed to understand the character of Clark Kent, and his films truly embodied, what I feel is the best possible representation of what Superman is (and SHOULD be) all about.

I also saw The Goonies around 15 or so years old, and instantly loved it. It is very "against type", looking at most of Donner's body of work, but I think in many ways that makes it more special. To me, hell to a LOT of people, Goonies is a quintessentially "80s" movie, to its core. And it was a perfect storm of elements, with a story by producer Steven Spielberg, a script by future big-shot filmmaker Chris Columbus, and Richard Donner himself delivering what I consider to be his finest directorial performances. It is one of those rare films that I can watch at almost any time, and I consider it to be fairly flawless. There really isn't anything to NOT like about it, from the cast to the story to the humor, or the great Astoria, Oregon locales, or the overall tone and spirit of the film.

I eventually also watched Donner's famous "Lethal Weapon" movies, and while not AS big a fan of those, I still love them, particularly the relationship between the lead characters of Murtaugh and Riggs (Danny Glover and Mel Gibson). In my movie-going prime, in the late 90s, I even saw a couple of Donner films in theaters, including the great Conspiracy Theory (also starring Gibson), and Lethal Weapon 4, which was my first exposure (as I'm sure it was for many people) to the amazing Jet Li. On a final note, like Spielberg and Lucas, Richard Donner, both with and sometimes separately from his producer wife Lauren Donner, has also produced some really great films that I love. In my book, Mr. Donner is one of the best directors in Hollywood history, and he should be remembered as such.


My Favorite Works: The Goonies (1985), Superman II (1980), Conspiracy Theory (1997), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), 16 Blocks (2006)

Other Works I Like: Superman (1978), The Toy (1982),  Lethal Weapon (1987), Scrooged (1988), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Timeline (2003)

Works He Produced That I Like: The Lost Boys (1987), Delirious (1991), Free Willy (1993), Free Willy 2 (1995)

Robert Zemeckis -My personal experience with Zemeckis, oddly enough, didn't start out with the usual type of movies that one would imagine. I didn't get to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? OR any of the Back to the Future films, again, until my early teens at least. I honestly think that while sometimes, I didn't see something because my grandmother didn't "approve" of it, there were other times, such as with BTTF, that I think she just never bothered to rent them, like they didn't jump out to her or something. But the one Zemeckis film she DID rent, that I DID see as a child, was Romancing the Stone. Definitely not kid fare, or a "family" film really. But I guess even as a kid I must've somewhat liked it. Stone is an odd duck, because it's a mishmash of romantic "chick flick" elements, and Indiana Jones style action/adventure. It's kind of a serious movie, but it's also funny. I came to appreciate it more as a teen and adult, because I "got" more of the references and humor. But in general, it's just a good, entertaining movie. Its highly unnecessary sequel, however, while not a  BAD movie, not so much. And to be fair, Zemeckis had nothing to do with it.

Gonna Go Back In Time.

Stone also happened to be Robert Zemeckis' first major hit film as a director, and it probably, along with the added power of Spielberg producing, directly led to him being able to do the film(s) that he is arguably most well known for: Back to the Future. The original 1985 classic, is a quintessential 80s movie, and like most great 80s films, it was 100% a product of its time, even IF, ironically, most of its action takes place in the 1950s. But to me, while the first Future movie is great, the sequel, which didn't come out until 1989, is light years beyond it. It just has everything going for, and going on IN it. We go on a roller coaster ride from the future, to the past, to a dark parallel reality present, and it just rocks from start to finish. Which is also why I will always argue, that the third film in the trilogy, which takes place in the "Wild West", should have been the second. Because even though Future Pt. 3 IS a good movie, it's not "epic end of a trilogy" good. That would be Pt. 2. But either way, the series as a whole is cinema greatness.

Zemeckis became less prolific, when it came to churning out movies, in the 90s and 2000s, etc., but he still created some classic hits. Two of which, happen to star the great Tom Hanks, and they both were massive critical and financial successes. Those movies of course being Forrest Gump, and Cast Away. Gump I did not see in theaters, as it was before I was able to start doing so (and I doubt at that age it would have been super high on my list), though I do think it is a good movie. Cast Away I DID see in theaters, and I actually quite enjoyed it, even if it had a frustrating/bittersweet ending.

My Favorite Works: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), Romancing the Stone (1984), Back to the Future Part 2 (1989), Cast Away (2000)

Other Works I Like: Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future Part 3 (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997)





 

Walt Disney - Even though I did not put him in my Top Five favorite filmmakers, the undeniable truth is, that few filmmakers had a bigger, more lasting impact on my childhood and development, than Walt Disney. Either through works he directly was involved in, or works that the company he founded continued to make after his 1966 death, Disney was a huge part of my early years, as I'm sure he was for a lot of kids of my generation or earlier. The Disney Channel, which was a fairly new thing on 1980s cable TV, was one of the first "special" channels we had when I was a little kid. As such, I was able to see all sorts of Disney programming, from TV shows, to holiday specials, to classic Walt Disney shorts. And of course, as I've already recounted, one of the first (and for many years only) two films I got to see in a movie theater as a small child, was the 80s re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. A movie that also, ironically, happened to be Walt Disney's first feature film.

Walt with arguably his greatest creation.

Now I should, and likely shall, write a piece solely dedicated to the person and works of Mr. Walt Disney someday. But for now, I will simply state, without paying it more attention than it deserves, that the modern notions some people seem to have, that Walt was somehow a major asshole, or worse, a "racist and anti-Semite", etc., are absolute bullshit, and always have been. Walt was hardly a perfect person (no one is), and he absolutely earned a reputation as being a taskmaster and sometimes being difficult to work with. But the truth is, Walt was a perfectionist. He demanded the people around him worked as hard as he did, because he absolutely did work his ass off, constantly. And that work ethic, for good and for ill, is what drove him, along with his brother Roy and key employees like animator Ub Iwerks, from being a small-time outfit based out of Kansas City struggling to get by, to becoming one of the biggest and most successful studios and companies in Hollywood, during his lifetime.

As a filmmaker, Walt started as a simple cartoonist and animator. He did or helped with animation on many of his earliest theatrical animated shorts. Eventually, he had enough other animators, that he stepped back from drawing himself. But he acted as director on dozens of shorts, from the early 20s through the mid-1930s. He continued as the primary producer, both for the continuing Disney shorts, as well as his expansion in to pioneering feature-length animated films, and later still live action movies, all the way up through to his death, in 1966. And on top of that, one of the coolest things about Walt, was that in addition to directing, producing, writing, etc., he also voiced his single most famous creation, Mickey Mouse (and various other characters from time to time), from his genesis in the late 1920s, all the way through 1947, when he finally handed the job off.

The company that still bears his name today, in my book, is a far cry from DESERVING to bear it. But Walt Disney, the MAN, in my estimation, should be remembered for what he was: a key pioneer and innovator, both in animation, as well as the film industry in general. While the Disneyland theme park and other ventures, definitely were passion projects that took up more and more of his time later in his life, I do believe that animation always remained his one true creative love.  If it hadn't been for him taking a massive risk, that could have bankrupted his studio, by making Snow White in the 30s, full-length animated movies likely wouldn't have been a thing. And the world owes him for that much, at the very least. But his works helped make and keep animation popular, period, and pretty much every animator that has followed him in all the decades since, owes quite a lot to Mr. Disney, and most of them were likely heavily influenced by him.

In the interest of saving space and time, I will only list feature films, as far as works of his that I like.


My Favorite Works: Alice in Wonderland (1951), The Sword in the Stone (1963), Fantasia (1940), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Jungle Book (1967)

Other Works I Like: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), Treasure Island (1950), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955). Swiss Family Robinson (1960), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Babes in Toyland (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Mary Poppins (1964), That Darn Cat! (1965)



                                                             

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Before I wrap this up, I figured I would list some other filmmakers that I really love. I could probably stretch this series out to have several more parts, but in the interest of time, and seeing as that isn't currently on my article agenda, I'll just make a "quick mention" list here, just to let you know a few folks who I think are awesome:

Don Bluth - The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Titan A.E. (2000)

Hayao Miyazaki - The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008)

Wes Anderson - The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Jim Henson - The Frog Prince (1971), The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Dark Crystal (1982), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Labyrinth (1986)

Arthur Rankin Jr./Jules Bass - Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), The Hobbit (1977), The Return of the King (1980), The Flight of Dragons (1982), The Last Unicorn (1982), The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)

Terence Fisher - Dracula (1958), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), The Mummy (1959), The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Gorgon (1964), The Devil Rides Out (1968) 

Richard Fleischer - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Red Sonja (1985)

Chris Columbus - Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Home Alone (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Bicentennial Man (1999), Harry Potter 1-3 (2001-2004)

James Whale - Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

John Hughes - National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Christmas Vacation (1989), Home Alone (1990), Career Opportunities (1991), Only the Lonely (1991), Dutch (1991)

George Pal - War of the Worlds (1953), Tom Thumb (1958), The Time Machine (1960), Atlantis The Lost Continent (1961)

Alfred Hitchcock - Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963)

Frank Capra - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946)


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So that's a wrap, for now! I could go on for quite some time. In fact, in a way, I have. As one FINAL little note that I'd like to share with folks, I started a little "game" or project of sorts, many years ago, a file on my computer that I've been adding to over time. I call it "My Favorite Directors", and what it is, is a list, similar to that above, except ONLY including films someone has been credited as director on, not just producer, writer, etc. Only Ray Harryhausen was included as the exception, for reasons I mentioned in Pt. 1.


So the rules to this "game" are rather simple: You think of a movie you like, let's say, and you go look it up on Wikipedia or the Internet Movie Database. Look at who directed the film, and then look at other movies THEY'VE directed. Simply put, if that director has made AT LEAST two films that you can say that you either love, or at least like, then you put that director, and those movies, on the list. Now, granted, I DID call it "My Favorite Directors", so with many inclusions on my list, it is fair to say that a lot of them are NOT my favorite directors, by a longshot. But I included them anyway, as part of the "game". To denote directors who truly ARE my top favorites, I put an asterisk ("*" symbol), next to their name.

I've been trying to get other people to participate in this "game" for years, and no one ever really seems to bite. So maybe some of you out there, that are both as movie AND perhaps even as list-crazy as I am, will finally pick up my torch, and carry it forward! If you do, let me know in the comments, or on the Retro Revelations Facebook or Twitter pages, or hell, even my e-mail (which can be found at the bottom of the page). I'd love to see other people's lists!



So that's that! I hope you enjoyed this look into my passion for film. And as always, if my writing about these directors and movies, inspires you to want to watch some, or ANY of them, please do! That's half the reason I write these articles, is so people not only learn/know about this stuff, but so they might actually want to go enjoy these things themselves! Until next time then!