By Joe Gibson
Introduction:
Gamera vs Zigra is enigmatic in the Gamera
series. Being the last film of the original run that released right around the
first unfortunate end of Daiei Film, I think it colors people's perceptions of
the entire franchise as cheap kiddy fare with unlikeable child leads, poor
pacing and almost no budget. If you actually watch the Showa Gamera
films, you will realize that this film actually does the same things that
helped to ground previous installments but so much worse that it overwrites the
public perception.
The alien invasion of a talking sea themed animal, this time a goblin shark, comes from Gamera vs Viras (1968) (see our review of Gamera vs Viras here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-best-of-scenes-and-worst-of-scenes.html) to the point where every time I begin to type Gamera vs Zigra, I begin to type Viras before realizing it is Zigra (resulting in the unfortunate autocorrect attempt “Gamera vs Viagra”). The high cost led to shooting mainly in Kamogawa Sea World, just as Daiei Film negotiated to film at Expo ‘70 for Gamera vs Jiger (1970). I have already argued in favor for the ideas of Gamera vs Viras (and some of its execution), but I also regard Gamera vs Jiger as one of the better Showa Gamera films, especially in regards to how the Expo ‘70 setting both allows for relevant exposition integration (with scientists and geniuses on location) and raises the stakes since our characters are grouped up in a single location.
Gamera vs Zigra is one of the worst Gamera
films, and, again, I would argue that it unduly represents this franchise for a
lot of people, because of its unplanned position as a finale as well as Mystery
Science Theater 3000. MST3K aired its Gamera episodes out of the order of
the series, which would disorient the viewer, and they never got around to Gamera
vs Viras in general or Gamera vs Jiger until much later. If I were to
show you Gamera vs Zigra and then pitch the premise of Gamera vs Viras and
Gamera vs Jiger to you, you would assume that same execution in the previous
films. It is also important to keep in mind that the versions MST3K has
access to were the notoriously bad Sandy Frank dubs and that re-edited versions
of these movies were also in circulated (If you doubt how much a bad dub
and edit can change a film, just remember that the original Japanese 1962
version of King Kong vs Godzilla was a satire about consumerism, and the 1963
American version is the awkward comedy you all have seen.)
Here, on the 53rd anniversary of this ill-fated
film, July 17th 2024, I would like to briefly revisit it.
Review:
As one more similarity to Gamera vs Viras, which
was renamed Destroy All Planets for the American release, this film opens aping
Destroy All Monsters, though this time it is by setting the movie in the end of
the 20th century and having the aliens destroy a Moon base. In some ways,
it mirrors the opening of Gamera vs Viras, wherein the film positioned us in
the perspective of the Virians being attacked by Gamera as the disembodied
voice of their survey leader attempted to evade, by placing us on the Moon
base, as the Zigrans attack. However, the disembodied voice’s integration
is far worse here, first wondering, in a third person limited perspective,
where the Zigran spacecraft had come from and then revealing it is actually a
third person omniscient voice that knows this cold open is a cautionary tale
(for what, the movie has not yet detailed).
The child protagonist is our second narrator,
and his dialogue abruptly cuts out so we can meet the relevant adults and
children in this story. This main boy is named Ken, if you wanted more
evidence that this is the Showa Gamera film people remember, since all of
Gamera’s child characters and even the ones in the Godzilla franchise are
referred to by fans as “Kennys,” and our introduction to him is watching
television instead of brushing his teeth, the brush still in his mouth.
This leads to abrupt cuts to and back from orcas doing everything the children
do in the scene. For a child audience, Yuasa’s main consideration, this
is probably a relatable and attention-grabbing sequence, but when it persists
past juxtaposing orcas into studying seals (going from a race to a dissection),
it is tiresome. Ken and Helen, a young girl, seem to agree that sea creatures
are smarter than humans, which is a decent way to foreshadow not only Gamera’s
arrival but also the talkative Zigra.
The two main adult men contemplate the role of
scientific advancement and humanity in the sea’s pollution. The best
faith assumption to make about the previous seal dissection scene is that why
they are dissecting that one and saying it is so that the others can remain
healthy is because of this pollution, but if you know the pollution is the
cause, I do not necessarily see the reason for dissecting. Magnitude 12
earthquakes occur on opposite sides of the planet, setting up the alien
invasion. These men are the respective fathers of Ken and Helen, who
appear, steal their fathers’ food and witness the Zigran
spacecraft.
There is some interesting stuff as some
unspecified national agency, our main characters and Gamera all instantly
investigate the spaceship, the Zigrans instantly neutralize the boat of
characters, and the Zigra Star Spaceship, as it is called, does actually
resemble Zigra’s ultimate form both with his mounted head inside and the
general shape of the fins. We once again see Yuasa tropes of the kids
recognizing Gamera as their friend immediately and the children’s eclectic
interests vindicated over the less wise adults. The woman Zigra uses as a
proxy starts another earthquake, this time a magnitude 13.
The Zigrans were sea creatures, whose own
industrial revolution polluted their waters, and they scanned throughout the
universe to find a planet with water. In the same breath, Zigra’s proxy
mentions that they searched the moon before finding Earth, and all of the
goodwill I had towards the perceived intelligence of these Zigrans is now
moot. They searched a barren rock for water and just so happened to find
the planet full of it nearby, just at the right time to stop humans from
polluting it too since Planet Zigra is 480 light years away, and the Zigrans
were wasting time looking at barren rocks. Zigra’s proxy freezes the
adults, but the kids figure out not to look at her eyes and escape. It is
worth mentioning that these kids are very young, especially coming off of the
teenagers in Gamera vs Jiger, so all of these deductions seem less feasible and
line deliveries are far worse than is usual for the franchise.
Despite the reciprocated cephalopod nature,
Zigra is actually a more similar alien boss to the 1967 squid-man Emperor
Guillotine from Toei and AIP’s Johnny Sokko than the tentacled Viras, due to
actively commanding underlings with a booming voice rather than being a twist
villain in a throne that looked like a cage like Viras. Zigra’s human
proxy wants to enact genocide on the Japanese people when ordered to follow and
kill the kids, but Zigra reminds her that Zigrans eat people, so they should
not kill all Japanese people.
Gamera saves the kids, dropping them off on
Niyemon Island, where people dress up very strangely, making the characters
think they have traveled back in time, but it turns out Ken knew of the
island’s existence the whole time. The Ken and Helen that figured out the
spaceship controls very astutely a scene ago are not of the same intellect as the
Ken and Helen of this scene. (Compare this to Masao and Tom from Gamera
vs Viras, who are consistently intelligent.) There is more childish humor as
the military characters are unable to get relevant information from the
children because the children are too immature. This is strange for a
Yuasa film, as it is supposed to be the fault of the stubborn adults, not the
wise kids, when the two cannot communicate or reconcile.
Unlike with Viras, the UN actually does decide
to attack Zigra. I suspect much of the battle between the JSDF jets and
Zigran spaceship to be stock footage, but, given the presence of similar
compositing errors to the scenes of the Zigra Star Spaceship attacking the main
characters’ boat, it is possible it was an original scene. A hotel
manager and aquarium worker are very dedicated to their jobs even while at war
with Zigra, but I doubt it is meant as any social commentary since it immediately
becomes plot relevant that the latter man is driving in just the right place to
pick up Zigra’s proxy, who periodically switches clothes with innocents because
she thinks people witnessing and reporting multiple different Japanese women
during evacuation is less suspicious than there just being one that the
employee that drove her there could vouch for. She spies on the war
committee, who admit that they are losing to Zigra at this point in time.
The chase between the children and Zigra’s proxy
plays out like a Scooby Doo chase, mainly to show off the shooting environment
of Sea World. Gamera waits to actually stop the Zigran threat until
called upon, in the meantime simply just feeding on the flames of humanity’s
war with Zigra. Gamera’s battle with the Zigran ship is legitimately well
done, with Gamera avoiding the ship’s beam by tucking in his shell or hiding
behind a rock and returning fire. Zigra himself, the massive shark kaiju,
finally emerges, and, after a less impressive battle with Gamera, reverses his
policies to now vow to wipe out all humans, rather than feed on them.
The aquarium worker realizes the Zigran mind
control freezing works similarly to dolphins being blind but maneuverable, and,
while it makes sense he would know dolphins work like that, we must remember
this is a Yuasa film and question why he did not let the children figure this
out. That is the exact kind of creative outside of the box thinking that
leads the children to escape death in all of these films, so it is baffling that
the most important example in this film (since this is what allows the
scientist to be able to reverse the catatonic condition) was not from a
child. For reasons that do not make sense, repeating the process to cure
the catatonic Zigran victims also cures Zigra’s proxy Ms Sugawara, who was a
moon base worker brainwashed differently with different abilities (namely that
of sight and being able to brainwash other people).
Some decent tension arises when, on the way to
revive Gamera in a submarine, Zigra attacks, damages their Bathysphere and
displaces them lower than anyone can rescue them. Sparks fly as the water
rises, the surfacing apparatus is damaged, and they have to hold off another
assault from Zigra with only their lights. Annoyingly, just like the
worst plot point in Gamera vs Viras, Japan surrenders just to save the main
characters. Lightning just so happens to revive Gamera, who saves the
bathysphere and fights Zigra in sea and on land, eventually playing Zigra’s
back like a xylophone as the ultimate embarrassment to the foe.
Conclusion:
This movie is generally focused on childlike fun
in as low a budget as possible, necessitating abrupt cuts that mess with the
pacing, strange decisions on the parts of all of the characters that should otherwise
be competent and end the film’s conflict too early, and humor that is in
conflict with the high stakes of the film. There is enjoyment to be had
here, and, as a Gamera fan, I would rather this exist than not exist, but the
overall product is the lowest of the Gamera series up to this point and even
after (Gamera Super Monster 1980, despite its own flaws, has a more consistent
tone, better action, a better soundtrack, and more consistently intelligent
characters).
Gamera vs Zigra is a bad film, depressingly so since it reveals that the magic creativity of Showa Gamera did require some budget after all. That fact also has overshadowed the rest of the Showa series for whatever reason, dragging down these films to the depths where, truly, only this one sits. It is not all bad, however. Zigra himself is a very interesting kaiju, and while the premise is derivative, his part in this story is more exciting and impressive than Viras in the previous film.
In 2024, the only shared legacy of Zigra and Viras is their
appearance in Gamera Rebirth from last year. While Viras finally took his
place as an eldritch main villain, Zigra was downgraded to third
monster-of-the-week threat, but Hiroyuki Seshita found a way to reference
Zigra’s 1971 speech as well as make Rebirth Zigra an impressive enough threat
for Gamera. The brief sequence of Gamera pushing through Zigra’s beam
attack in order to land a physical hit made it into the Gamera vs Viras Rebirth
fight as well. You can view the original film on Prime video (though I
recommend Arrow Video’s release of the Showa and Heisei Gamera films for avid
Gamera fans), and you can watch Zigra’s episode of Gamera Rebirth on Netflix.
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