The Original Ansem Twist

Ever wondered what Tetsuya Nomura was thinking when during the production of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, and why he made the twist to the character of Ansem, making it so that he was just an imposter? Ever wondered what he originally intended?

Well, wonder no more, because I think I have the answer!

We knew the main villain from Kingdom Hearts was Ansem, the Head of State and the director of various scientific research programs of Hollow Bastion.  He became concerned about and curious about the Darkness, and in the process, he accidentally created the Heartless, and when he studied them and the Darkness, this Darkness began to influence his mind to the point in which he was driven to sacrifice his body in order to learn more.

As a matter of fact, back in those days, I think the only real areas for debate for him was what his plan was, and whether or not he actually properly turned himself into a Heartless in the process of losing his body.  He was surely, soundly defeated by Sora, but fans were surprised to learn that he was coming back when CoM and KHII were announced, and fans welcomed his return.

...And the fans were surprised that "Ansem" was, basically, not.  That it wasn't his real name, that the Ansem we fought was some imposter named Xehanort all along!

But was this what Tetsuya Normura originally intended while developing KH: CoM? Yes, it was definitely not the intention of the very first Kingdom Hearts game, but just how last minute was this decision?

My research has led me to conclude that this was a far later decision than almost anybody could have ever guessed, and that Tetsuya Nomura intended something simpler and different for Ansem as late as CoM, and that this was only changed at the very last minute for KHII.

To understand what Nomura most probably intended, it must first be understood that Tetsuya Nomura has confessed to making twists for the sake of making twists, so while it's obvious that Ansem wasn't always meant to be Xehanort, he probably had a story intended that few could have imagined, and might have made the change even closer to the eleventh hour than we could have guessed.

For those of you not in the loop, in Kingdom Hearts cosmology, when somebody gives up their heart
to Darkness, sometimes, if the Heart and/or will is strong enough, a Nobody is created as well.

Now it must be remembered that the first KH established that being turned into a Heartless is a very reversible state, not only for Sora, but quite possibly for other characters as well.  It seems very likely that all of the residents of Destiny Islands besides Sora, Riku, and Kairi turned into Heartless, but at the end of the game credits, Tidus, Wakka, and Sephie are playing on the beach happily, completely non-Heartless.  Perhaps in the canon of the first game before later games retconned it, when you first strike down a Heartless with a Keyblade, and then open and close the Door to Darkness (essentially pushing the reset button), Heartless that have been struck down by the Keyblade are also "reset", turning back into normal people (the surviging Heartless of KHII were not reset by shutting the Door to Darkness because they were not struck down by the Keyblade, and as for Nobodies, all you need is for a person to lose a heart to Darkness to make a Nobody, turning back to normal doesn't make the Nobody go away, one thinks of Roxas).

Now Ansem was not exactly struck down by the Keyblade, but he was exposed to pure light from Kingdom Hearts, which is essentially perishing in the same way, as Keyblades are composed of Light.  So assuming he was a Heartless even without the subsequent retcons, then surely the same rules must apply to him, that being "killed" by Light and then having the Door to Darkness that leads to Kingdom hearts "reset" wouls surely "reset" Ansem as it does to other Heartless who have faced similar circumstances.

Some of the readers have probably already figured out where I'm going with this by now, but I might as well explain the rest, to further verify my hypothesis.

Now we go to Chain of Memories, and of course, the mysterious DiZ, who was introduced in Riku's storyline there.  I noticed an interesting pattern in how DiZ looked in the sprites.

I kept flipping through the image and saw that they had the exact same head shape, the same eye color, and  the same similar skin color.  Even in KHII, their appearances align very well, meaning that their character models might have been made before the twist was made.

This is hard to gauge now, because many of his features were changed to match those of the other Xehanort incarnations in the HD ReMixes.  As a result, ironically, it seems that now DiZ more closely resembles the original Ansem model than Ansem does now as a result of changing Ansem to look like the other Xehanort incarnations. Anyway, you can see the similarities between the original Ansem model, and DiZ. Aside from the same head-shape, and dark skin and orange eyes, as I have I pointed out before, they have the same eye-shape, like sideways diamonds.

It seems like what what Nomura intended after the events of KH, Ansem turned into a complete person again, and realizing that all of what he believed was disproved by failing against a kid with a Keyblade, and that therefore what he did was wrong, Ansem decided to atone for his sins by trying to undermine Organization XIII, which was being led by his own Nobody, under a new name, DiZ, disguising his features.

Then KHII came out and Tetsuya Nomura further retconned things, changing this simpler story into a more complicated one, making things so that not only was DiZ the real Ansem, but that the Heartless and Nobody never belonged to the real Ansem as he must have originally intended, but now belonged to a completely separate guy named Xehanort, and the real Ansem didn't look like the Heartless and Nobody at all.

That’s my theory, and those are my thoughts!

Now my question now is, let’s say that Tetsuya Nomura stuck this plot twist before he changed it: DiZ is the complete Ansem, and the Seeker of Darkness was his Heartless, and Xemnas was his Nobody.  So if this particular plot twist was kept, how then, would that have changed post-KHII games like Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

Musical Monday: God Bless the USA

God bless our great country, and God bless all those who do so much for it.

Post for Veteran's Day

Today was a day when one of the bloodiest wars in history ever ended.  Today is a day to pay respect to those who serve our country.  Today is a day to remember what they're sacrificing for the rest of us.  Today is a day to honor the best of us.

Thank you, for your service, and for everything else too.

I just hope you know that there is much love and support from us here, and we will always be grateful for what you do for us.

Seuss Saturday: The Wizard in the Hat

The Wizard in the Hat

The sun did not shine

It was too wet to play

So we sat in the house

All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat with Mister Frodo.

We sat there, we two,

And I said, “How I wish,

We had something to do!”

To wet to go out,

And too cold to kill Orcs.

So we sat in the house

Like a couple of dorks.

So all we could do was to

Sit!

Sit!

Sit!

Sit!

And we did not like it,

Not one little bit!

And then,

Something went bump!

And that bump made us jump!

We looked,

And we saw him,

Step in on the mat

We looked,

And we saw him,

Gandalf in the Hat!

And he said to us,

Why do you sit there like that?

I know it is wet,

And the sun is not sunny,

But we can have,

Lots of good fun, that is funny!

I know adventure we could have”

Said Gandalf,

“I know some magics!

A lot of good tricks!

I can show them to you!

And Bilbo

Will not mind at all if I do!”

But we didn’t know what to say,

Mister Bilbo was out of the house for that day.

But Gollum said, “No, no!

Make that thing go away!

Tell that nasty creature

You do NOT want to play!

He should not be here

He should not be about

He should not be here

While Baggins is out!”

“Now! Now! Have no fear.

Have no fear!” said Gandalf

“My tricks are not bad,”

Said Gandalf in the Hat.

“Why, we can have lots of good fun like a chimp

With a game I call

UP-UP-UP with the imp!”

“Put us down!” said Gollum.

“This is no fun at all!

Put us down!” Said Gollum.

“We do NOT wish to fall!”

“Have no fear!” said Gandalf.

“I will not let you fall.

I will hold you up high

As I stand on a ball.

With my staff in one hand!

And a cup on my hat!

But that is not all I can do!”

Said Gandalf…

“Look at me!

Look at me now!” Said Gandalf

“With bow and a dwarf

On top of my hat

I can hold up TWO staffs!

I can hold up the imp!

And a ittle sharp sword!

And some beer in a dish!

And look!

I can hop up and down on the ball!

“Look at me!

Look at me NOW!

It is fun to have fun

But you have to know how.

I can hold up the rum!

And the beer and the dwarf!

I can hold up these staffs!

And the Imp on an animorph!

I can hold the sharp little sword!

And a little blond Elf!

And look! With my foot

I can hold a Geek fan!

I can fan with the fan

As I hop on the ball!

But that is not all.

Oh no.

That is not all…

That is what Gandalf said…

Then he fell on his head!

He came down with a bump

From there up on the ball.

And Frodo and I,

Saw all the things fall!

And Gollum came down too,

He fell into a pot!

He said, “Do we like this?

Oh no! We do not.

This is not a good game,”

Said Gollum as he lit.

“No, we do not like it,

Not one little bit!”

“But I like to be here.

Oh, I like it a lot!”

Said Gandalf in the Hat

To Gollum in the pot.

“I will NOT go away.

I do NOT wish to go!

And so,” said Gandalf in the Hat,

“So

So

So…

I will show you

Another good game

That I know!

Explaining the Jurassic Park Raptors

A common explanation behind the “Velociraptors” is “they are Utahraptors! Duh!”

But what if the answer is not as simple as that? Because it probably isn’t.

Let’s start with the main thing: In the novel, Henry Wu says that the main genetic sample for the Raptors “came from China”.  Utahraptors did not live in China.  Another factor is that they are far too small to be Utahraptors.  In the novel, they are described as “six feet tall” and in the film, they are almost 15 feet long.  Utahraptors stood slightly taller than that height, but were almost 21 feet long.

So if they aren’t Utahraptors, what are they?

A lot of fans guessed Achillobator, and the truth is, I sincerely congratulate them for coming to this conclusion.  However, this is not likely the case.  Michael Crichton specifically stated that he modeled them after Deinonychus antirrhopus, and going by the rules of Paleo sci-fi, we have to assume that they are from the species that paleotologists knew existed at the time.  So why are they so tall? In the novels, Circhton seems to make them roughly six feet tall and eight feet long, fitting the more cube-like proportions Deinonychus antirrhopus was generally given back when it was given a more upright position than it is today, and back then, Deinonychus was classified by Gregory Paul as a kind of Velociraptor, and a common sci-fi rule about writing dinosaurs is to treat all species in the same genus as identical, so even though Crichton identified his creatures as Velociraptor mongoliensis, he gave them the features of “Velociraptor” antirrhopus.

So while technically the “Velociraptors” were just products of the knowledge of paleotology at the time (they don’t even have feathers for crying out loud!), we can still gauge a reasonably believable answer from the clues that we have in Jurassic Park media.  Aside from the fact that they are based on two Dromaeosaurs, Velociraptor and Deinonychus, there is much cause to believe in both novel canon and film canon that they are transgenic organisms.  Henry Wu in the novel explains that he used in a wide variety of DNA samples to complete the genomes of the dinosaurs, and the novelization of Jurassic World claims that the “Velociraptors” were actually created from multiple dromaeosaurs.  So if they’re transgenic, why are they bigger than most Deinonychus and all Velociraptors?

The answer lies in real-world hybrids.  Ligers and mules tend to be particularly gigantic in comparison to either parent.  The two main reasons are that with any given animal, especially with hybrids, the genetic potential for size lies primarily in the mother, an unevenness called genomic imprinting, and without a male mate of the same species to provide growth inhibiting or promoting genes, the hybrid offspring will have problems with growth dysplasia, especially if the mother belongs to a larger species than the father.  It’s plausible that the two main donors of the “raptors” were Velociraptor mongoliensis and Deinonychus antirrhopus, and while the fusion might have been achieved via something like CRISPR, the Deinonychus still somehow had a more “maternal” genetic contribution than the former, at least in terms of size, and without any growth regulation from another Deinonychus, the subsequent Raptors grew almost beyond the maximum size of the Deinonychus donor, just like with Ligers and mules.

When viewed from this perspective, it ceases to be any wonder that the Raptors became so completely out of control: They not only did they not know what they actually had, but they didn’t know what they made because they made something completely brand new.  They crossed over countless species, but they primarily crossed over two dromaeosaur species and made a dangerous, unstable hybrid.

Whosday: How the TARDIS works

For today's Whiosday, we'll discuss how the TARDIS works!

Perhaps the biggest question is how it can travel in time, forwards or backwards:  Answering how it can travel forwards is a fairly easy part, and it can even correct some continuity problems as we explore these questions.

One such continuity problem is Susan claimed that she coined the name "TARDIS", short for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, but in fact all similar devices used by the Time Lords are also callsed TARDIS-es.

It is entirely possible that these are two different acronyms, and they just make the same name as a coincidence in our human languages, which the Doctor and Susan do not actually speak.  Their Gallifreyan words are translated for our benefit.

What the Time Lords have created is probably properly called a Traversible Achronal Retrograde Domain in Spacetime, a TARDIS, but Susan gave it her own name, Time And Relative Dimension in Space.

It's fueled by an Eye of Harmony, a Gallifreyan term for a black hole, which would provide unlimited energy due to the constant motion of black holes, best exemplified here:

The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendent, which might explain why it flat-out disappears when it moves; a higher dimensional object would most likely be hard to see unless it stood perfectly still.

Why does it look like a police box, even though it isn't?

The TARDIS is likely made out of tons of nanobots that are all connected to the TARDIS data core, which commands them to assume particular exterior structures.

Musical Mondays: The First of Me Lyrics

Musical Monday: The First of Me Lyrics

For today’s Musical Monday, we will discuss The First of Me, a song by the rock band Hoobastank, and boy, is it a doozy! This one song will be the subject for multiple Musical Mondays, but for now, we will focus on the single most obvious aspect of it: The lyrics.

But first, you should listen to the song itself!

Some songs say more about people than their mouths ever will, and this song’s lyrics can be truly poignant, because it’s about a dilemma we all face, the pressure to be what is more widely acceptable, and the desire to express what you really are.  In the specific context provided in the lyrics, it’s about how musicians are often expected to focus on the marketable subjects, so often things about inspiration, breakups, victimhood, and sex, among other things…but some people just want to talk about things that are completely…off the wall, I suppose, with their music, one thinks of Emilie Autumn and her work.

However, one can apply something similar to our everyday lives.  How many of us held back, hiding what we really were in order to fit in with others, or rather, what we just assumed others expected from us? The ironic thing is that if we look back, we can often see that we were wrong anyway, that we probably would have been accepted if we just presented ourselves as that from the very start, but by being fake, not only do we cheat ourselves of opportunities to be who we really are around others, but we also cheat ourselves with self-dishonesty.  Yes, I do think the whole “keepin’ it real” culture takes it too far at times, which will be articulated in a later post, but in general, I see nothing wrong with being your most real self around others, and it’s usually the right thing to do.

And that’s partly what this blog is all about, to express who I really am for all to see, and to support others who are accepting this path as well.

On Both Cinematic Versions of Venom

I like both Venoms.

Yep, it's true, I like both cinematic depictions of Venom!

To which some might say, "but Grant, one is comic-accurate, and the other isn't!"

To which I say?

"Depends on the comic."

The fact is that the infamous Spider-Man 3 depiction of Venom, which is widely cited as comic-inaccurate, is almost every bit as accurate as the Tom Hardy Venom, just accurate to different comics.

To be frank, in some ways I recognized the Grace Venom more than the Hardy Venom, not because the Grace Venom was really any more accurate, but rather, because I was more familiar with the version of Venom the Grace Venom was based on: The Todd MacFarlane Venom.

Todd MacFarlane may or may not have created Venom, but he was certainly important for getting the character started, a huge driving force for the character's earliest appearances.  His now almost obscure depiction of the character does many things that many Venom fans would probably not be particularly familiar with.

The MacFarlane Venom actually often alternates between saying "I" and "we", singular and plural, because it's Eddie speaking for the Symbiote, and sometimes himself, and the speech bubbles he's given seem to imply a fairly human but somewhat crazed voice.  Regardless, it's strongly implied that he and the Symbiote are permanently bonded, and thus separating them would be lethal, their bio-chemistries were being fundamentally changed, to the point where his Venom face was appartly not a mask, but rather a result of full fusion of himself and the Symbiote.  Still, he never had a tongue hanging out, a currently more famous part of the sheer image of Venom, but that's not the oddest thing about the old MacFarlane Venom.

What makes this Venom even more unusual by contemporary standards for the character is that he only fully cares about the innocent if they don't have any positive relationships with Spider-Man.  In fact, he acts like a textbook case of some kind of Cluster B personality disorder, right down to doing everything he can to deny responsibility for his actions, his trademark trait during the MacFarlane run.

Sounds familiar? Because it should.  That was pretty much the Topher Grace Venom; he was probably based primarily on the MacFarlane of the character.

But what about the Tom Hardy version?

Who said that he wasn't based on any existing version of Venom? Who said he wasn't valid? I didn't.  As is well known to many, he's as valid as the Topher Grace Venom! Maybe even slightly moreso, if we're going to take all of the character's subsequent comic history into account, instead of specific eras and individual depictions.  But to be as specific and accurate as possible, he seems to be most heavily based on David Michelinie's take on the Venom character of the 1990s.  Michelinie was probably the main force behind reinventing Venom into something completely different, and yet far more familiar to most Venom fans.

Michelinie's depiction of Venom speaks only in plural, with speech bubbles that imply no insanity, but don't indicate a human voice to speak of, as if it's the Symbiote speaking for both himself and Eddir Brock, a team of two separate individuals who could potentially exist without each other, but choose not to. With that in mind, the Venom face doesn't seem to be what Eddie's face morphs into, but rather, a "mask" that the Symbiote superimposes over Eddie's face, complete with a long tongue that hangs out, proud and true.

Top Ten Godzilla Movies

After having seen Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I have to admit I’m rather pleased…but also kind of disappointed.

I would be foolish to be ungrateful for the adaptations of traditional Toho kaiju and the use of Akira Ifukube’s music in tandem with the adaptation of the Blue Oyster Cult song.

However, I would be equally foolish to not admit that the dialogue and characterizations needed more work, and that for all of the variety of kaiju, basically all three fights are Godzilla against King Ghidorah, and that the “nature” themes were mere decoration at this point.

Many would argue that this is all we should care about, monsters fighting and silly dialogue.

I would argue that Godzilla has been done better than this, on a minimum of ten occasions.

10. Godzilla: 2014

Explained Badly: Two young lovers wreck the cityscape and wake up a grouchy elder.

Explained Better: Currently the only truly great American Godzilla movie, and admittedly one of the greatest ones of all time, this entry is something of a military film, with a parachute scene my dad just won’t stop talking about.  

Part Godzilla vs. Hedorah, part Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, but far better than either movie, this entry depicts Godzilla as essentially a hero who balances out the ecosystem.  The plot is as simple as its two points of reference, so the perhaps the plot is too simple: The main antagonists threaten the human race, and humanity must choose between fighting the monsters directly, or just accept their inability to fix the problem themselves and have faith in a new monster, Godzilla.

The acting and dialogue are generally better than that of King of the Monsters, especially, obviously, on Bryan Cranston's part.  Sadly, only three characters were fleshed out in engaging ways.

The combat choreography was not quite as engaging as that of King Kong vs. Godzilla or Terror of Mechagodzilla, but it keeps one interested far more than Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, with Godzilla fighting a bit like a bear against angry charging MUTOs.

The soundtrack for this movie could be underwhelming at times, but using Georgy Ligeti's Requiem for Godzilla's theme was a most inspired decision!

9. Godzilla vs. Biollante

Explained Badly: A man’s grief causes Japan to develop a weed problem.

Explained Well: The second entry of the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Biollante was proof that Godzilla was fully ready to enter the modern era, by storm, featuring far more creativity and a more believable premise than was expected by anybody at the time.  

The plot is very complicated, perhaps a bit too much, but it adequately covers many of the potential concerns involving the misuse of bio-technology.

It probably has the best acting in the Heisei series, and Ken Satsuma is clearly more comfortable in his role as Godzilla than he was in this movie's predecessor, The Return of Godzilla.  

The fight choreography is incredibly simple, but also reasonably effective.  Biollante can't exactly properly wrestle Godzilla, which poses a problem, but she can dish out new powers bit by bit, which makes the fights brief, but fairly riveting!

The soundtrack choices were odd, but Biollante's theme does successfully convey the tragedy behind the character.

8. Terror of Mechagodzilla

Explained Badly: A guy attempts to liberate a Femcel from her crippling anxiety.  It ends poorly.

Explained better: The end of the Showa series, Terror of Mechagodzilla was cited by none other than Akira Kurosawa as the exemplification of Ishiro Honda’s capacity to emphathize with others.  Emphasizing the tragedy of the various characters, from Katsura, to Dr. Mafune, this movie had to have been directed by a true empath.  

Hardly a Godzilla movie, just a movie with Godzilla in it, Terror of Mechagodzilla is really about the human characters, but in the best way possible, as most of the human characters are memorable and loveable save perhaps for most of the protagonists (but it’s hard to not see Ichinose and Katsura, and not have an impression).  As a result, it was the favorite kaiju project of many of the actors involved because of how deep their characters were compared to the rest of the 1970s projects.

This entry, along with King Kong vs. Godzilla, has some of the best combat choreography out of any existing Godzilla movie, and memorable monsters and destruction sequences.

The soundtrack is more repetitive, of a generally smaller scale, than was usual for Akira Ifukube, but the movie carries it out so wonderfully well, each theme fitting each monster perfectly.

7. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Explained Badly: A bunch of extreme globalists go back in time to drown a dinosaur.  They fail.

Explained Better: Underrated because of poorly explained time-travel mechanics, what many fans didn’t observe about this movie was that this movie otherwise had the most linear plot out of the entire Heisei era.  Besides, we have not one, but TWO good explanations behind the time travel.  So why complain? This movie is great!

Starting here, it’s going to be hard to talk about these movies without mentioning politics and social issues, something that Godzilla movies are very famous for.

If King Kong vs. Godzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla have the best combat choreography, then this and GMK have the second best sequences of combat choreography; all major fight sequences were fully riveting, and proved that Godzilla doesn’t always need help from another kaiju in order to have a satisfying fight with King Ghidorah.

The soundtrack marked the return of composer Akira Ifukube, who had not composed a single theme for Godzilla in nearly two decades before this movie was released.  It has one of the single best soundtracks of the Heisei series as a result of his welcomed return.

6. Godzilla, Mothra, & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Explained Badly: Japan’s Nanking Denial presents a much bigger problem than China asking for compensation...

Explained Better: Probably the only truly great Millennium entry (though GXMG was pretty good too!), GMK focused heavily on problems that really mattered.  Japanese historical revision comittees were getting press attention in the previous year, so naturally it became a major subject for a lot of media, including this movie.

Everybody's done differently than usual: Godzilla is truly evil instead of a force of nature, and King Ghidorah is a protagonist.  However, this movie does it remarkably well, no matter how jarring the concept is!

5. Shin Godzilla

Explained Badly: Thanks Obama

Explained Better: An answer to not only the lack of government response to Fukishima, but also the growing concerns among Japanese people about the potentially looming threat of North Korea (at the time) that the Japanese government would surely be unable to act against, Shin Godzilla emphasizes a bogged-down bureaucracy that must surrender to younger, fresher faces as they race against time to defeat Godzilla, a living nuclear disaster.

Filled with only the most heart-wrenching themes, and showing Godzilla as in serious pain from his increasingly twisted body, Shin Godzilla depicts the tragedy of Godzilla in only the most poignant way possible.

4. Mothra vs. Godzilla

Explained Badly: An attempt to win the annual Easter Egg  ends in am unwanted snuggie for Godzilla

Explained Better: Widely regarded as one of the better entries, Mothra vs. Godzilla was probably the most expensive Showa Godzilla movie ever produced, and it shows, with the best suit of the Showa era, using only the most meticulous molding and only the highest quality material available at the time, as well as a huge Mothra egg prop for the human characters to touch, and giant objects to make the Peanuts (the performers who played the Shobijin) look smaller than they really were.  No expenses were spared on its special effects, save the relative lack of miniatures for some kaiju sequences, but Toho wasn’t all about cityscapes back then, especially given that King Kong vs. Godzilla proved that you only need one major full cityscape miniature scene in order to be a decent kaiju film that can attract massive crowds.  The same could be said about Mothra vs. Godzilla.

This features some of the more subtle human acting of the franchise, perhaps the best short of the 1954 movie, making what would have otherwise been annoying muck-raking speeches incredibly poignant, and it also features Godzilla suit-actor Haruo Nakajima adding more color to his character.

3. King Kong vs. Godzilla

Explained Badly: Two foreign tourists go ape and fight each other as an act of community service.

Explained Better: Underrated because “Godzilla should have won”, many miss the point of this movie: King Kong is often juxtaposed against imagery of primitive societies in-tune with the natural world.  Godzilla is often juxtaposed against imagery of the Soviet Union and the United States, the two main nuclear powers at the time.  The Japanese version of this movie even emphasizes that Godzilla was “a product of the atomic bomb”.  Essentially, Godzilla represents the major nuclear powers, and King Kong represents the countries they fought in proxy wars.  Think Hetalia, but with giant monsters.  Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa accurately predicted that the Soviet Union and the United States would eventually get far more than they bargained for from their proxy wars; he was proven right, given that the USA lost the Vietnam War and the Soviet Union lost the Soviet-Afghan War.

It also, along with Mothra vs. Godzilla, probably had one of the single most technically sound scripts of any existing Godzilla movie to date, with a tight, evenly paced plot that takes all of the elements introduced in the story and adequately resolves itself.  But if there’s one thing film critics and G-Fans agree about, it’s that we really don’t rank Godzilla movies strictly on how technically sound the script is.  So while I love this one, and have to say that it has the best-written screenplay in terms of plot, it’s not my favorite, and it’s not the favorite of many people either.

It also features, along with Terror of Mechagodzilla, the absolute best combat choreography, providing a highly engaging battle between Godzilla and King Kong.

2. Invasion of Astro-Monster

Explained Badly: The world gets saved by the most annoying sound in the world (or at least, the most annoying besides Rebecca Black’s voice).

Explained Better: Alan Moore looked at the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics and praised the “imagination” put into them.  This movie is pretty much that, like an American comic from before the 1970s, with a cool sci-fi premise, tons of worldbuilding, and a strange brand of camp that actually aged well rather than poorly the way most of the more campy Godzilla movies did.  It’s actually milder than the Adam West Batman camp, and sits better with most than the camp of , so it’s often easy enough to ignore or enjoy.

The combat choreography isn’t a whole lot to write home about, but it’s far more memorable than any fighting moves you’re going to see in Godzilla Raids Again, Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and generally succeeds at its main goal, to be thoroughly entertaining.

1. Godzilla (1954)

Explained Badly: Not sure if I can.  It’s too hard to explain badly.

Explained Better: This is the easy part.  This movie has quite the history.  When Tomoyuki Tanaka was unable to get a big-budget Japan-Malaysia co-production movie released, he looked over the sea from the plane he was flying in, and saw the ocean below, he thought of the Lucky Dragon, a fishing ship that got soaked with radiation.  From there, he got the idea that he could make a movie about a radioactive monster.  Having commissioned Shigeru Kayama

The human acting is very heavy and intense, probably the best of the franchise in general; thanks to the acting, every single major human scene is perfectly memorable and impactful.

This entry features the absolute best destruction sequence of the whole Showa series, and maybe even Godzilla as a whole, save perhaps the destruction sequence of Destroy All Monsters.

There are no fight scenes, because it only features Godzilla, and fighting really isn’t the point of this movie.

As you can see, I’m a huge Showa fan.  I remember back when it strictly remembered for camp and childishness.  Strangely, as somebody who grew up with it, that’s not what I remember.  I remember a ton of imagination and passion being put into these stories.  I remember elaborate commentaries being woven into the stories.  And I remember something that most other eras did not: Memorable, loveable human characters, especially, but not exclusively, in the 1954 film.  Then again,

So, what are your top ten Godzilla movies? Let me know in the comments below!

The Return of the Blog!

After a decade of hibernation, this blog is back for a rebound!

For those of you who are new to this place, which is going to be most of you, many of you are probably asking, “what is the point of this blog?” And that’s a very good question to ask, because many good blogs come with clearly defined points.  In fact, you’re probably looking for a nice, sweet blog, focused on a single, seriously presented point, and filled with encouragement about said point until you feel nothing but a joyful drive to pursue the single passion that serves as a focal point for the blog.

…So if you are seeking out such a blog, I’m afraid you’ll have to look somewhere else.

This blog is best explained as the kind of blog that follows a serious fan-theory about Doctor Who with a more lighthearted discussion as to whether Werewolves would win or lose against robots, only to follow that with a serious discussion about a meaningful song, and then to follow that with a Dr. Seuss-style parody of  Batman comics.

(BTW, werewolves would trash robots)

There is no one focus for this blog, other than a heavy emphasis on comedy, fan-theories, science, history, and music sometimes…sometimes.  Not all the time.  This blog has no one main focus, as one would gather from the title alone.  Rather, it tackles a wide variety of topics, the only thing even remotely close to consistent being a sometimes somewhat tongue-in-cheek tone, and that’s not even going to be present all the time. Really it will cover everything that I so desire, be it photography, geek culture, gardening, cooking, self-help, writing, comics, music, filmmaking, animation, religion, understanding neurodivergence, and many more topics!

So read up as it keeps going, and enjoy! But don’t say I didn’t warn you! This is no safe space! You’re descending into a realm of mayhem and discord!

Enjoy, and always remember...Excelsior!