Franchises: Godzilla. Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (Invasion of Astro-Monster, Monster Zero) (1965)

This is a particularly special Godzilla movie to me, as it was the second one I ever saw. After watching the VHS tape my grandmother had of my first one over and over, to the point where I'm sure my family got sick of it, I discovered there were more and that our local rental store had several of them. After finding the sci-fi and horror section, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero was the one that immediately jumped out and so, I had my dad rent it for me without a second thought. Monster Zero is also significant to my personal Godzilla fandom for a couple of other reasons. As I said in my review of the previous film, this was my introduction to King Ghidorah, and it was also where I discovered that Godzilla wasn't always the noble, goody two-shoes monster hero he most certainly was in that first one I saw. Granted, it's because he, along with Rodan and Ghidorah, is under the control of the Xiliens but still, when I first saw this movie as a little child and Godzilla, whom I'd been idolizing as a hero, suddenly started destroying stuff, I was rather shocked and, I must admit, a little hurt. Even though my dad told me what was going on, I was far too young to understand the idea of mind control, so I thought Godzilla had just done a massive heel turn. It wouldn't be until I got more into the films and learned their chronological order that it dawned on me that Godzilla started out as a villain and gradually became something of a good guy as the films went on. And yet, even though I initially didn't like the idea of him causing destruction, as I got older, I came to enjoy watching him and the other monsters wrecking stuff just as much as the battles. Case in point, this film has what I think is one of the best city-destruction sequences in the entire series and it's definitely the highlight of it for me. But it's far from the only thing I like. In fact, even though the monsters are a very small part of this story, with Godzilla himself not appearing until almost forty minutes in and having one of his smallest total screentimes, this is still one of my absolute favorites. That's partly due to nostalgia but also because I really like the sci-fi heavy approach it takes, going full-on with the introduction of alien races into the franchise, and also because, miracle of miracles, I genuinely like the human characters and don't mind spending time with them as I wait for the monsters to finally start doing their thing. Now, I can be objective and admit that the film is flawed, as the lower budget is quite apparent at some points, and there are only two, very brief monster fights, which is a bit disappointing, but that's not enough to keep me from absolutely loving this flick, which I had the privilege of seeing on the big screen at G-Fest in 2019.

In the previous reviews, I talked about this when we got to the American versions, but with this film, I think it's best I address the title situation here and now. Throughout the review, I'm going to go back and forth referring to it as either Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, the title I grew up with, or just Monster Zero, as it was called when it was first released in the U.S. Just like how Godzilla vs. The Thing became Godzilla vs. Mothra when it was released on video, this became Godzilla vs.

Monster Zero when it first made the leap to home media. Nowadays, Toho stipulates that it be referred to by what they deem its official international title, Invasion of Astro-Monster, a title I first saw in the Godzilla Compendium. All home media releases, such as Classic Media's 2007 DVD and the version in Criterion Collection's Blu-Ray set, now use that title, as do all official sources and publications, even if they don't personally like it (in his book, David Kalat admits in an excerpt that he uses it very begrudgingly, and Steve Ryfle once told me personally that he thinks it's a lame title). I, however, am not an official source but just a simple movie fan giving an opinion, so I can call it whatever I want and thus, I will continue calling it Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, both here and in general. Besides nostalgia, it's because I simply think Invasion of Astro-Monster is a dumb and nonsensical title that makes no sense in the context of the film. Still, I put it in parenthesis in this review's title and in the labels so as to avoid confusion with those who do prefer to call it that. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get on with it. 

In the 1960's, a new planet, dubbed Planet X, is discovered behind Jupiter, and the World Space Authority, a joint venture between the United States and Japan, has sent a spaceship, the P-1, commanded by two of their best astronauts, to explore it. The Japanese astronaut, Fuji, does not approve of the man his younger sister, Haruno, intends to marry: Tetsuo Torii, an inventor who has come up with a device that emits a loud and unpleasant noise as a distress call for women in danger. Upon arriving on Planet X, Fuji and his fellow astronaut and friend, Glenn, come upon odd phenomena, such as sporadic bouts of thunder and lightning and strange gravity and temperature readings. Fuji also discovers signs of life: footprints in the dirt. Suddenly, both Glenn and the ship disappear, and a cylinder emerges from the ground, a voice from within ordering Fuji to step inside, which he reluctantly does. He's taken down into the depths and meets up with Glenn, and they then both meet the inhabitants of Planet X, the Xiliens. Suddenly, the surface is attacked by a creature they call Monster Zero, which turns out to be King Ghidorah, the three-headed space dragon that had previously terrorized Earth. After Ghidorah ceases its attack and leaves, the Xilien leader, called the Controller, tells Fuji and Glenn that they wish to capture Godzilla and Rodan back on Earth as a means to kill the monster; in return, he promises to repay mankind with a miracle drug. Upon returning and informing their superiors and the government, they decide to cooperate with the Xiliens; Glenn and Fuji, however, are unsure if they can be trusted. Things get even fishier when Glenn claims he saw the Controller on Earth when he was on a date and, not too long after that, the Xiliens reveal that they are, indeed, already here. After apologizing for their deception, they successfully remove Godzilla and Rodan from their hiding places and take them to Planet X, along with Fuji, Glenn, and Prof. Sakurai. They immediately engage in battle with Ghidorah and drive it away. But when the humans return to Earth with the tape purported to contain the formula for the miracle drug, it turns out to be an ultimatum: surrender Earth to Planet X or mankind will be destroyed by Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah, who are now under the Xiliens' control.

Though the United States had certainly played a part in the franchise's popularity up to this point, enabling it to find success outside of Japan, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero is significant in that it's the first entry which, from its conception, was a co-production between the U.S. and Japan. More specifically, it was one of several Toho sci-fi flicks co-produced by United Productions of America, a former cartoon studio that had evolved into an outfit for marketing genre films to teenagers, much like American International Pictures. This change was enforced by Henry G. Saperstein, an ex-television producer who had purchased the company in the early 1960's. Saperstein's first business deal with Toho had been when he acquired the American rights to Mothra vs. Godzilla the previous year but, because UPA was not a distribution company, he sold it to AIP. He then became more directly involved with the studio, beginning with Frankenstein Conquers the World, which featured this film's American star, Nick Adams, and the following year, Saperstein co-produced the semi-sequel, The War of the Gargantuas, arranging for another American actor, Russ Tamblyn, to headline it. He would also be involved with the American releases of a couple of more Godzilla movies down the line. His involvement came from his truly being a fan of Toho's films, and he was hands on enough to inject a more American sensibility into them. For instance, in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, he urged Shinichi Sekizawa and the filmmakers to jump right into the story from the beginning, rather than start with a big exposition dump.

By the time he got around to Monster Zero, Ishiro Honda had already worked with both Henry G. Saperstein and actor Nick Adams on Frankenstein Conquers the World, and he would work with the former again several more times. To me, this, along with Mothra vs. Godzilla, is the closest that Honda came since the original Godzilla to making an entry that feels very close to his personal sensibilities. While King Kong vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster had Shinichi Sekizawa's fingerprints all over them, there's only one overtly goofy moment in this film (one whose inclusion, I might add, Honda was very displeased about); the rest, including the potentially pulpy element of planet-conquering aliens, is played very straight and allows for a slightly darker take on the theme of trust that Honda had explored in the previous two films. In context of the series, Monster Zero can be seen as the end of the Showa era's high point, as it's the first film where the budget cuts become fairly apparent, and also because Honda would beg off the next couple of films. Similarly, this was the last Godzilla movie where Eiji Tsuburaya personally directed the special effects, as he would begin dividing his time between other films and his production company's television work. In fact, while they would each work on future films (with the exception of Tsuburaya), this is the last film that had the combined talents of Honda as director, Tsuburaya as effects director, Tomoyuki Tanaka as producer, Shinichi Sekizawa as screenwriter, and Akira Ifukube as composer. New talent would be brought in and, either by choice or unforeseen circumstances, the core team that had been there since the beginning would be gradually phased out.

Nick Adams, who stars as astronaut Glenn, is often put down as an embarrassingly bad actor who was really over the top and corny in his performances; I, however, disagree with that whole-heartedly. Even as a kid, when my main interest was the monsters, I really liked Adams (I also like him in both Frankenstein Conquers the World and in Die, Monster, Die, a British horror flick where he co-starred with Boris Karloff) and I still do. As Glenn, he's everything you'd want in a lead: he's likable, very charismatic, funny, and, in my humble opinion, just plain cool. What especially helps is the strong rapport he has with Akira Takarada as Fuji, as well as everyone else, which is impressive considering that, during filming, Adams spoke in English while Takarada and the rest of the cast and crew spoke in Japanese. When you watch Adams' interactions with his co-stars, you'd swear they were all speaking the same language. That especially goes for him and Takarada, as they come across like buddies who've known each other for quite a while. Glenn calls Fuji, "Fuje," they joke with each other, rib each other about how Fuji is far too protective of his younger sister and how Glenn is having quite an exciting relationship with the beautiful Miss Namikawa, and confide in each other about their suspicions regarding the Xiliens. I also like Glenn's romance with Miss Namikawa, as he comes across as really smooth, calling her "baby" and giving her a charming and confident wink every now and then. My favorite instance of the latter is the one he gives her right before she's executed for disobeying orders, which clearly says, "Hey, don't worry about it, babe." 

Speaking of which, Glenn is quite angry when he discovers Namikawa is from Planet X and that the initial reason she began a relationship with him was to spy on him. Regardless, he tries to bring her over to his side, telling her it wouldn't be much of a life if, like all the other Xiliens, they allowed themselves to be controlled by machines, and that the people of Earth are going to fight to the last man. As angry as he is at her deception, it's obvious he does still care for her, and he's beyond

enraged when she's killed right in front of him. During the third act, Glenn proves to be a heroic, take action guy, as he and Tetsuo break out of the aliens' Earth prison, he beats up a couple of them, comes up with a great idea to make the Controller and the rest of them think they're dead, and finally, they both make it back to the mainland, where Glenn relays the method to defeat Planet X to Fuji and his superiors.

Akira Takarada returns for his third appearance in the franchise as astronaut Fuji and, as he did in Mothra vs. Godzilla, gives another great performance. Fuji isn't as cynical a character as Sakai and, like I said, you can tell he and Glenn are best friends, with their great instances of banter and wordless gesturing, like when they're caught snooping around on Planet X and realize they have no choice but to give up, and their gestures at the very end of the movie when Glenn is told he's heading back to Planet X. Like Glenn, Fuji is smart enough to realize there's something odd about the Xiliens and their request, and they both admit they believe they may have ulterior motives. Fuji also proves to be quite a skilled scientist, coming up with possible ways to intercept the magnetic waves the Xiliens are using to control the monsters. However, he's unable to come up with a means to block the waves entirely and ultimately, his plan is used in conjunction with Tetsuo's alarm device. Speaking of which, Fuji's biggest flaw is that he's very protective of his younger sister, Haruno, and isn't too fond of her choice of fiancé. He's always putting Tetsuo down as a loser of a man, whom he doubts will be able to support his sister, and makes it clear that, unless Tetsuo does something amazing, he won't allow them to be married. He's even a dick to Tetsuo for no reason later on, when he and Glenn arrive at the lab after having escaped from the aliens' imprisonment: in the Japanese version, he sternly says, "What are you doing here?", but in the English dub, he growls, "Beat it, Tetsuo!" He has to immediately swallow this attitude when Glenn reveals that Tetsuo's invention will cripple the aliens to the point where they can be defeated. By the end of the movie, he's learned to accept Haruno's affection for Tetsuo, especially since he just helped save the Earth.

Speaking of Tetsuo (Akira Kubo), he comes off as a bit nerdy, which is emphasized by the dubbing in the English version, but he's also a very decent guy, if a bit down on his luck, as he's unable to sell his invention, the Lady Guard Alarm. Thus, when a potential buyer contacts him, he's quite excited and not at all discouraged or suspicious when it turns out to be a toy manufacturer. That changes when the company doesn't put his invention on the market, constantly giving him the excuse that they're still studying it, and Miss Namikawa, the one who made the deal, appears to be ducking him. He's so discouraged by this that, when he has to meet with Fuji, whom he's not on good terms with anyway, Tetsuo begins to doubt his own self-worth, actually agreeing with Fuji when he says he's not sure if he can support Haruno. But when he discovers that Miss Namikawa is not currently out of town, as he was told, he become determined to track her down. His snooping leads to him being imprisoned by Planet X's Earth Unit, and when Glenn gets thrown in with him, they find a note Namikawa slipped him before she was killed. Reading her explain the Xiliens' vulnerability to a certain sound, Tetsuo realizes it's why they bought the Lady Guard Alarm. After using it to escape their prison, Tetsuo and Glenn make their way back to World Space Authority and begin putting it to use, eventually managing to defeat the aliens and release the monsters from their mind control.

Unfortunately, the most uninteresting character in the main cast is Haruno (Keiko Sawai), Fuji's younger sister and Tetsuo's fiancé. She has little depth to her and, unlike Yuriko Hoshi's characters in the previous films, doesn't take that much of an active role in the story, accept for during the third act, when she's acting as an assistant to Fuji when he and the others are trying to come up with a way to defeat Planet X. She is cute and very supportive of Tetsuo, always encouraging and defending him from Fuji's putdowns, like when Fuji is unduly harsh to him when he and Glenn show up after having escaped the aliens' capture. Other than that, the only noteworthy thing about her is how she resents Fuji's overprotective nature but doesn't put up much resistance against him, no doubt due to the relationship's cultural significance. And while she's worried about him, Haruno doesn't make much of an effort to look for Tetsuo when he disappears. Moreover, she goes to, of all people, Miss Namikawa, whose subordinates she knew had lied to Tetsuo about her being out of town. This, despite the fact she'd asked Fuji, in a surreptitious way, about the kind of girl Glenn was going out with, trying to learn anything she can about Namikawa's motives. And when Tetsuo suddenly reappears with Glenn, Haruno has no reaction to it at all. You'd think she'd immediately ask, "Where have you been?!" but instead, her attitude is just one of, "Oh, hi, honey. You're back."

Jun Tazaki returns for what, along with his part in Destroy All Monsters later down the line, has to be his largest role in a Godzilla movie. As Dr. Sakurai, Glenn and Fuji's superior, he gets to be more than just a stern authority figure, although there is a moment early on, when the two astronauts are about to land on Planet X, where he does act as such towards them, prompting Fuji to remark that he sounds like an overly stern father. For the most part, though, Sakurai as a very wise and intelligent scientist, one who has a large amount of faith in his astronauts, and also acts as something of a father figure towards Haruno early on, letting her vent her frustrations about Fuji's attitude about Tetsuo. Like the government officials, he goes along with the request from Planet X, although he does slightly admonish the Controller for how they'd been secretly operating on Earth. Despite this, he doesn't come off as mistrustful towards the Xiliens as Glenn and Fuji, but when they reveal their true intentions, Sakurai and the other scientists work hard to find a way to defeat them. Significantly, when the Controller boasts that they're able to control the monsters with magnetic waves, Sakurai comes up with the idea to sever those waves using the A-Cycle Light Ray, which becomes part of the plan that ultimately saves the Earth. Although, I don't know why he tells Glenn and Fuji they're going to be flying back to Planet X to continue surveying it (or for Glenn to be an ambassador, as in the English dub), as I have a feeling the place is a lost cause.

Yoshio Tsuchiya absolutely relished playing the Controller of Planet X, going as far as to come up with odd hand gestures, as well as an alien dialect that combined several different languages and some fictional words. The voice he uses as the Controller, which he said he created by mimicking different European dialects, as well as by imagining having the tongue of the legendary Japanese water spirit, "the kappa," feels especially alien with how flat and emotionless it is. He sounds especially creepy whenever he laughs, which is a soft and slow, "Huh, huh, huh." But as effective as his performance is, in the Japanese version, the Controller comes across as menacing and untrustworthy from the start, whereas in the English dub, he feels far more accommodating and friendly, at first. Either way, he's eventually revealed to be a calculating and insidious mastermind (not that it's much of a mystery for the viewer, given his sinister laugh after Fuji and Glenn leave Planet X for the first time), having been planning to take over Earth the entire time, using his promise of "intergalactic brotherhood" as bait. You also learn there's a very good reason why he's called "the Controller": he has his hooks in everybody and everything on Planet X, from the other members of his species to the spaceships and even the monsters, via his powerful computers, which allow him to manipulate anyone or anything he wishes by feeding his desires into them. And it's absolute: all other Xiliens must follow their orders or be disintegrated. But his arrogance and overconfidence in his computers' abilities prove to be his undoing, as it leads him to openly boast about how he controls the monsters through magnetic waves. Even by the end of the film, when the humans' counterattack has them on the ropes and their computers are being scrambled, the Controller refuses to believe they will be defeated, ordering his men to correct the problem so they can strike back. Ultimately, he opts to, "Escape to the future," blowing up all the flying saucers saucers and their Earth base in a forced mass suicide.

While the Controller may be the one who runs the show, I find the Commander of Planet X's Earthbound forces (Kenzo Tabu) to be even more intimidating and ruthless. Tabu had appeared before in a couple of scenes in Mothra vs. Godzilla, as a loud, blowhard mayor who criticizes Sakai for writing disparaging articles about the destruction the hurricane wreaked on his village. While that character wouldn't scare anybody, his performance here as the Earth Commander is a

whole other kettle of fish. The first time you see him, he's tanning in a room at the headquarters of World Education Corporation, with what appear to be a couple of electrodes sticking out of his back, a possible clue as to how the Xiliens are controlled by their machines. He very sternly tells his subordinate to dismiss Tetsuo, who's hanging around their office, asking questions about what's going on with his invention. The Commander then proceeds to stick a cigar in his mouth and burn the Lady Guard Alarm's blueprints with his lighter. He becomes all the more intimidating as the film goes on, telling Miss Namikawa that she's exceeding her orders by becoming so close to Glenn and that this warning comes straight from the Controller, who knows of her possible impending betrayal. He always has this nasty expression on his face, and it becomes more threatening when he's in his Xilien uniform. When Glenn is taken prisoner, Miss Namikawa runs to his side, directly disobeying a silent order from the Commander to stay back. She confesses to Glenn that she loves him, and we get a tight zoom-in on the Commander's angry face, telling us that Namikawa has just sealed her fate. The Commander uses his ray gun to shock Namikawa away from Glenn and then turns the gun on her full blast, disintegrating her. Though Glenn angrily yells at him for it, the Commander coldly tells him it was punishment for violating the law of Planet X and allowing her emotions to govern her actions. And yet, despite how ruthless and cold he is, ordering his troops to act as a mop-up force and kill any survivors of the impending monster attacks, when the tables are turned on them during the film's final act, that's all dropped completely. In the English dub, he sounds like a big, whimpering baby, crying for help from the Controller and saying they must retreat.

The most interesting character in the film is definitely Miss Namikawa, played by the lovely Kumi Mizuno, who had appeared alongside Nick Adams in Frankenstein Conquers the World and would appear again in The War of the Gargantuas and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, both the following year. Unlike the other Xiliens, Namikawa makes the fatal mistake of disobeying her planet's number one law and allows herself to become emotionally attached to Glenn, when the 

original purpose of her involvement with him was to get information. While she's initially still willing to allow Planet X to enslave the Earth, she legitimately loves Glenn and wants him to become a citizen so they can marry and live on the Earth colony. However, Glenn tells her it wouldn't be much of a life if they were controlled by machines and that the human race is going to fight for Earth. Though she tells him it's too late to stop the war from happening, when the Commander arrives and prepares to take Glenn away, she decides to disobey her orders once and for all and runs to his side, admitting her love for him. Knowing this will result in her death, she surreptitiously slips him a note that later reveals the Xiliens' biggest weakness. Namikawa's fears are justified, as she's immediately destroyed by the Commander, but when Glenn and Tetsuo find her letter, she says she has no regrets and understands that man can't live under the control of machines. Of course, you have to ask yourself when Namikawa wrote that letter, given how she was still trying to convince Glenn to join the Xiliens right before the Commander showed up. Did she write that beforehand just in case Glenn made a good point to the contrary when she confronted him about joining Planet X? Or was she a speed-writer and quickly wrote it after the Commander showed up and was taking Glenn away? 

Before we go on, I have to mention how Glenn and Namikawa's relationship is the only one in the entire Godzilla series, and most kaiju movies in general, that hints at a true romance. Yeah, you had Ogata and Emiko's fairly scandalous relationship behind Dr. Yamane and Dr. Serizawa's backs in Godzilla, couples like Tsukioka and Hidemi in Godzilla Raids Again and Fumiko and Fujita in King Kong vs. Godzilla, and there would be plenty others down the road, but none of them ever kiss

onscreen, as Glenn and Namikawa are seen doing here. You only get the tail end of it, but that's about all you do get in any of these movies, not counting stuff like Ford and Elle Brody's very amorous marriage in Godzilla 2014. Moreover, remember that Glenn mentions spending the night with Namikawa at the bungalow at Lake Myojin, something that would never be even hinted at in any other Godzilla movie. And as Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski noted in their biography on Ishiro Honda, Nick Adams is going full-on Humphrey Bogart in his embrace of and winking at Namikawa before she's disintegrated.

Even when it was on VHS, Monster Zero always looked better than most other Godzilla movies, with a bit more vibrancy and less desaturation than was typical. The video copy that I got in 1998 and held onto until the Classic Media DVD came out certainly looked a lot better than the one I had of the previous film which, as with a number of Godzilla movies, was put out around that time by Video Treasures. The film's look has only continued to improve over the years as it's been upgraded to newer formats, with the HD transfer

you can get on Blu-Ray giving it a feeling of sharp glossiness. It may not be among the most lushly colorful films in the series but that doesn't change the fact that it looks good. As for his direction, Ishiro Honda, as usual, never gets very showy with it, although there is an interesting moment around the hour mark where, once Planet X's ultimatum is made public, we get a montage of black-and-white photographs said to be depicting violent clashes between various factions, some urging for surrender and others demanding resistance. It's

similar to the common trope of news headlines blazing dramatically across the screen, as occurred in previous Godzilla movies and would be seen in others, but what makes it unique is how often the camera lingers on the images without the headlines, with sounds of clamoring and gunshots, and as an inexplicable voiceover lays it all out for us, as if we're suddenly watching a documentary. According to historian Stuart Galbraith IV in his audio commentary on the Classic Media DVD, these kinds of montages often appeared in Japanese films during this period.

The production design is quite memorable, especially in regards to everything to do with World Space Authority and Planet X. For the former, I've heard that the filmmakers took a lot of influence from NASA and that's definitely clear when you see the P-1 shuttle, its cockpit, and the suits the astronauts wear. The most impressive part of the WSA headquarters set is the big control room that features predominantly during the first act (the low-res video screen showing Fuji and Glenn in the cockpit does look like something you

would actually see at NASA), along with some laboratories where they later attempt to find a way to break the Xiliens' control of the monsters. Even though this film is set some time during the 1960's, presumably not long after the events of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, a lot of this stuff looks quite high-tech and even futuristic, which is to say nothing of some of the weapons the military later employs. Other memorable Earthbound sets include this really fancy restaurant where Teruo and Haruno meet Miss Namikawa for the first

time, the conference room at the Diet Building, and the offices for the Xiliens' World Children's Corporation, which look innocuous enough at first glance, but when we first meet the Earth Commander, we realize that's not the case, as he's using an unearthly machine to tan himself. Speaking of things not being what they appear, that's certainly true of the Xiliens' Earth base on Mekura Island. From the outset, it looks like a big fancy house, as do the immediate interiors, but

when Tetsuo sneaks onto the island and heads to the front door, he drops through a trapdoor in front. He, and later Glenn, are imprisoned in a soundproof cell, which is as flat and depressing-looking a room as you can imagine. Nearby is the control room, where a large, low podium with glowing dots in the middle of it acts as a means of communication between the Earth forces and the Controller, and there's also a section of wall that opens up to reveal a computer that gives them their

current assignments. And while there wasn't a lot of location work done here, save for brief exterior establishing shots, like of the actual Diet, the one exception is Lake Myojin, where the Xiliens capture Godzilla. Though I'm not sure, I have a feeling that the shots in the surrounding forests and valleys, where the aliens remove Rodan from his resting place, were shot at Honda's beloved location of Gotenba.

It's Planet X, however, where the production design really shines, making for one of the most memorable settings in the entire series. The surface is completely barren and quite dark and eerie, and in many of the shots of the horizon, especially during the monster battle, you can see Jupiter looming over it, courtesy of a large painting on the backdrop. Also, for when Glenn and Fuji first arrive, they built a big, full-size mock-up of the P-1 rocket's landing legs and exhaust. Down below the surface is where the Xiliens live, coming up

through elevator-like cylinders that rise up from the ground. Their base's interiors are made up of a number of oddly-shaped corridors leading to various rooms, one of which is the master control room, with a large control board in front of a screen that allows the Controller to see everything that's going on above ground. Another room that Glenn and Fuji blunder into while trying to evade being captured is a chamber that contains large deposits of gold, although gold isn't as valuable to

the Xiliens as water. Going back to the surface, when the Xiliens bring Godzilla and Rodan to the planet, we see a large panel of false rock open up to reveal a tunnel with a blue, circular light running through its sides, leading to their spaceships' hangar (although we don't get to see the hangar itself). And when it comes time to let the monsters out to fight King Ghidorah, a large heat ray emerges from the wall to destroy the bubbles containing them. Finally, we do see the interiors of

the Controller's flying saucer, although there's nothing elaborate about. In fact, that's what strikes Fuji, Glenn, and Sakurai when they see how small and simple the control room is, with a small podium in the center of several chairs that turns out to be the main computer, which operates purely via the Controller's brainwaves, and a rotating fixture on the ceiling. Later, in the scenes leading up to their attack on Earth, the main computer now has a model of the Earth in its center, which the Controller uses to communicate his further ultimatum. And like the P-1, there are some full-size versions of the ship's lower section.

One of my favorite things about Godzilla vs. Monster Zero is how atmospheric it is at points. For me, this has some of the eeriest and most moodily quiet scenes in the entire franchise, certainly in the Showa series. The best is when Fuji and Glenn first arrive on Planet X. They fly around Jupiter and head for the dark, mysterious planet, then slowly come down on the surface. When they disembark from the P-1, it's very eerie and quiet, with Akira Ifukube's low-key music punctuating that alien feeling. After experiencing some random

thunder and lightning, Fuji plants a UN/American/Japanese flag on a ridge, then sees footprints in the dirt. He warns Glenn to be on his guard but gets no response from him, even when he yells his name. He walks back to where Glenn was... and discovers that the P-1 is gone too! That's the creepiest part of this whole scenario. If I suddenly found myself alone on this planet, with both my buddy and my ship gone, I'd be freaking out big time. Fuji then sees one of the Xiliens' cylinders emerge from the ground, and the Controller's voice tells him to step

inside. Naturally, Fuji is reluctant to comply, but when a laser forces him to drop his weapon, he has no choice. The cylinder takes him down to the Xiliens' underground base, where he's told to follow the light. He begins walking through the corridors, as the light goes out in one spot and comes up in another, indicating where he needs to go. This is another nicely atmospheric scene and one I find to be more than a little creepy, due to how long and weirdly-shaped those hallways are,

and how some of them are as black as night. There's one instance where Fuji is walking down a particularly long hallway and the light slowly goes out right behind him, making it seem as though he's standing in front of a black void. Again, creepy stuff. Afterward, Fuji seems to run into a dead-end, only for everything to go black and then, he sees Glenn, sitting in a chair, spotlit in the total darkness, which is very dreamlike. Once they're reunited, they meet the Xiliens and witness

Ghidorah's attack on the surface, when it damages their water storage plant. The aliens quickly shut down the machines and run out of the the control room, leaving Fuji and Glenn sitting in the dark, a barrier above their chairs preventing them from following. While this brief moment isn't as eerie as what came before, it's the first sign that the Xiliens are shady and hiding something.

Another moment I find to be a bit atmospheric is when, after returning to Earth, Glenn takes Fuji out to the same road he took Miss Namikawa on their date. They stop to change drivers and Glenn tells Fuji how, when he and Namikawa spent the night at a bungalow near Lake Myojin, he woke up in the middle of the night and saw the Controller in the room with them. Convinced he wasn't dreaming, he goes on to say the Controller told him, "All preparations are completed. Don't let insignificant matters bother you." They then ponder about

whether they're putting a little too much trust in Planet X, suggesting that they might be looking for another planet to migrate to because of their water shortage. This whole scene plays out with them sitting in Glenn's convertible, in the middle of a completely deserted mountain road, with the light fading as dusk settles in, and no music, perfectly setting the mood for what they figure might be unfolding. When they return with the aliens to Planet X, the place isn't as creepy as it was before,

since they're currently on good terms with them and also because the hallways and corridors are lit very brightly. However, Fuji and Glenn do make a couple of strange discoveries. Realizing that the Controller knows they're snooping around and has his men looking for them, Fuji and Glenn take an elevator down another level to the chamber that's filled with gold. That's when Glenn sees a woman that looks like Namikawa, then another woman who also looks like her, and it's filmed and scored to come off as troubling to the viewer as it is to Glenn and Fuji.

While the previous film had flirted with the possibility of aliens, Monster Zero is the first time we meet a full race of beings from another planet, and it wouldn't be the only time. While all of the aliens in the series are memorable in their own ways, the Xiliens have to be the most visually iconic with their outfits, consisting of black leather vests over gray bodysuits; black gloves, enormous, rigid collars; black headpieces that expose the face and have antennas sticking out the top; and black visors across their eyes. But as I said earlier, while

their look is very typical of the pulpy science fiction stories of the time, it's the only thing about them that is humorous, as Ishiro Honda presents them in a very straightforward manner. They initially come across as friendly, desperate beings who need help with King Ghidorah terrorizing their planet and offer Earth a miracle drug in return. But once they get a hold of Godzilla and Rodan and take control of them, along with Ghidorah, they reveal their true malevolent intentions to take control of the Earth and make it a

colony for themselves. Obviously, this isn't just a random decision made but something they've been planning for a long time. In fact, while it's never made explicit here, there are fan theories that the Xiliens were behind the events of the previous film. For instance, Dr. Sakurai tells a group of reporters early on that Planet X has been causing magnetic disturbances, which may account for the winter heatwave Japan was experiencing in Ghidorah. Also, while no mention is ever made of

Mothra, the Controller knows Godzilla and Rodan had a hand in driving Ghidorah from Earth, suggesting that Planet X may have been the ones who sent it in the first place, and by extension, that they might've used it to wipe out the advanced civilization on Venus that Salno mentioned. Sakurai even says at one point that Ghidorah was always their tool, although it's not clear if he means in the context of this film or ever since the dragon made its first appearance. And since we also learn

that some Xiliens are already on Earth and have been there long enough to establish a phony corporation as cover for their activities, maybe they were the ones who informed the Controller that Ghidorah had been defeated the first time, leading to his formulating the plan to take control of Godzilla and Rodan. He then could've engineered it so that Earth would discover Planet X by sending out the radio waves that Sakurai explains is what led them to it, allowing them to make contact and put the plan in motion. 

On one hand, I find the idea of some of these aliens being on Earth for a long time, communicating back and forth with Planet X, to be a rather chilling one. But, at the same time, it also exposes some contrivances in the screenwriting. Like I said before, Shinichi Sekizawa wasn't at all concerned with details, but when you think about it, the Xiliens' plans are more complicated than they need to be. For one, if they're able to so covertly infiltrate Earth, to the point where they've had agents here for quite a while, why go through with

this pretense of peace between worlds? Assuming that they don't have any truly powerful weapons to use against us and thus, do need the monsters, why not just come in, take Godzilla and Rodan, fly them back to Planet X, as they do very effortlessly anyway, put them under mind control, and unleash them on Earth, along with Ghidorah? What's more, why not just kill Tetsuo instead of buying his invention to keep it from hitting the market?

There's a feeling of bland superficiality and sterility, as well as a rigid and downright ugly patriarchy, about the Xiliens. As has been said, their actions are governed by computers and they're expected to follow those directives, which ultimately come from the Controller, instead of their emotions. Violating that way of life, if you can call it that, leads to immediate elimination, as when Miss Namikawa acts on her feelings for Glenn. The Xiliens can do the same to other living creatures, and they also control their spaceships

simply by feeding their brainwaves into onboard computers, allowing them to direct the ships however they choose. Despite their complete dependence on their computers, they're so confident in their abilities that they're arrogant enough to just out and out announce how they're controlling the monsters, and later on, when they and their machines are at the mercy of Tetsuo's crippling sound device, the Controller still refuses to give up and retreat, declaring that their computers are always invincible. Of course, that

does them in. Going back to the notion that Ghidorah was always under their control, isn't it amusing to think that, when they were having it attack Planet X's surface to make them look helpless to the astronauts, it ended up damaging their vital water plant? That should have clued them in that their computers aren't as perfect as they think but, again, they're too arrogant to realize it. Their planet's lack of water, which makes it far more precious to them than gold (which is quite 

abundant there), is very likely their main reason for wanting to take over Earth, as Fuji and Glenn figure, but the Controller tells them it's not as scarce as they might think. He never reveals where all this water is, though, which could mean he's talking about the upcoming colonization. 

Miss Namikawa is confirmed to be from Planet X when Glenn and Fuji encounter a woman who looks exactly like her during their second visit... and then, another woman who looks exactly like her shows up, suggesting that all the Xilien women are possibly clones. When Glenn asks about this, the Controller simply responds with, "Don't you admire a pretty face?" Glenn answers with the old adage that, as attractive as they are, beauty is more than skin deep, which the Controller shrugs off. Moreover, the male Xiliens have more variety to

them, which you can tell just by looking at them, and are the ones who do all the important work, while the women, as suggested in this one scene, where they're doing nothing but carrying stuff around, seem to be little more than servants. Only Miss Namikawa is given an important assignment and even then, she's ordered to spy on Glenn by striking up what was originally meant to be a false romance with him. Her inherent attractiveness is used as a means to get information out of him, a very sexist directive which hints that Planet X is not only a patriarchal society but in one of the worst ways imaginable.

As he had in the two previous films, Ishiro Honda once again puts forth an idea of "brotherhood" and "responsibility." If Mothra vs. Godzilla was about the brotherhood of mankind, and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster the brotherhood of monsters, Monster Zero has a notion of "galactic brotherhood." Just as Sakai and his friends looked to the Infant Islanders in Mothra vs. Godzilla, and Mothra herself towards Godzilla and Rodan in Ghidorah, the Xiliens look to Earth with a declaration of peace and friendship between the

two planets. And also just like in those films, it comes with a request for assistance, only this time, there's a promise of something wonderful in exchange: a miracle drug that can cure cancer (or, in the English dub, all disease). Thus, Earth goes along with it and allows Planet X to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan to rid themselves of King Ghidorah. After the brief battle, the exchange is made and the astronauts return to Earth with what they're told is a tape recording of the drug's formula, but it turns out to be the ultimatum. Thus,

Honda puts a more sinister spin on the hopeful concept he'd explored before: as much as you may want peace, you have to be careful about those who come to you saying they're all for it, as you never know what they may really have in mind. It's an especially interesting twist on what we saw in Mothra vs. Godzilla. There, the Infant Islanders distrusted not just Japan but the entire outside world due to the atomic tests that ruined their island and initially refused Japan's request for help

against Godzilla. Here, Earth discovers this rather advanced civilization on Planet X, who come to them with a plea for help, but while the government officials are willing to cooperate, Fuji and Glenn aren't so sure, due to the Xiliens' suspicious behavior when they first met them. Their trust is further tested when they're revealed to have already been on Earth before any confirmation of cooperation was made. Glenn's line, "Controller speaks with forked tongue maybe,

huh?", after he makes his declaration of galactic mankind may be corny but it does sum things up rather well. The Xiliens may not have out and out attacked Earth yet, as the outside world had Infant Island, but you can see and understand the distrust in both situations. It's kind of nice to know that, as much of a pacifist as he was, Honda wasn't naive and realized there was potential risk in this idea of brotherhood. Indeed, if you look at many situations that have come up between countries throughout history, you can see that he was hardly wrong.

Ever since I was a young kid, I've always felt that you can feel the urgency in the air once Planet X's true intentions are made public. That montage of photographs, with the accompanying newspaper headlines and the random narrator telling us of the violent clashes between opposing factions in world capitals, which the police find difficult to quell, may come off as jarring and melodramatic, but it does help paint a grim, tense picture. Things become even worse when we learn that King Ghidorah has appeared in the United States and

that the Japanese military is insistent on using all available nuclear weapons against the Xiliens, which would mean disaster even if they did manage to defeat them. Plus, while it's not dwelt upon, the thought of the Japanese potentially having to risk putting themselves through another nuclear holocaust is quite an issue, and I'm sure it was Ishiro Honda's insistence that led to its place in the story. Then, the Xiliens arrive and the Controller says they only have 24 hours to

surrender before he unleashes the monsters. Though Dr. Sakurai tells the council that he might be able to come up with another way to stop them, with the clock now ticking, and Fuji's tests running into problems, it does seem like they have little choice other than to either use nuclear weapons, attack with conventional weapons, which probably won't work, or just surrender. Until Glenn arrives and tells them of the effect Tetsuo's device has on the aliens, the situation seems hopeless and you can feel the atmosphere of doom that's hanging over them.

All that said, there is a sense that the limited budget is keeping the filmmakers from making it seem as though the Xiliens' threat is directed at the entire world, as it instead comes off solely like Japan's problem. While the montage does get across the notion of worldwide panic, and we are told Ghidorah is attacking the United States, it would've been nice to see a little more, as well as maybe have representatives from other countries take part in the meetings over both the initial discovery of the Xiliens and what to do about their

ultimatum. In fact, it would've been nice to see more Americans working at World Space Authority, as Glenn seems to be the only one. In the end, Japan, naturally, is the country the Xiliens fixate on, having all three monsters converge on it when they begin their ultimate attack, and the Japanese are the ones who come up with and implement the plan that defeats them, while the other countries don't even seem to realize they're in any danger.

Because the monsters are such a small part of the story and, for the most part, are under the control of the Xiliens, there isn't much to say about their personalities. When he's in his right mind, though, Godzilla has the same feisty, take no crap attitude he did in the previous film. Speaking of which, he clearly remembers Ghidorah, as there are two moments where he regains consciousness, not knowing where he is, only to immediately go on the offensive the minute he sees or senses Ghidorah's presence. Haruo Nakajima's performance is the most energetic yet, and he seems to be having a really good time. Not only is he quite quick and agile during the fight scenes, especially the brief one at the end, but you can even see him doing so boxing moves, putting up his dukes and moving his feet like he's doing the shuffle! I also enjoy his little victory dance after he and Rodan manage to drive off Ghidorah on Planet X. A lot of people involved with the movie, including Nakajima and, as you might've guessed, Ishiro Honda, hated it, but I've always gotten a kick out of it. It's ridiculous, yes, but I like seeing Godzilla celebrate a victory in his own, unique way. It is strange, though, how they previously had Godzilla make the switch to reluctant hero and now, in the very next film, here he is destroying stuff again, even if it is due to mind control. I personally think I would've waited after a couple of more films, when he'd been firmly established as a hero, before going with this plotline. Also, as much as I love the city destruction scenes here, I don't like the idea of Godzilla being used as a pawn by aliens to do their dirty work. For that matter, I've never liked it when any character I really, really like gets put under mind control, as it feels like a major violation to me. Fortunately, the only other time Godzilla himself would be a mind-controlled slave would be in Destroy All Monsters, so I can live with it.

The new suit design for Godzilla is another that I've always liked. He looks like he has a bit more mass to him than in the previous two films (some have said that the costume looks a bit baggy as a result but I've never thought that), the dorsal plates are a bit smaller and not as pointy, and the tail isn't nearly as long as before. The head is larger and more round, and the mouth is wider, giving him a bit of a frog-like appearance (that feeling would be even more pronounced in the next film), and you get a good look at his tongue whenever he opens

it. The eyes are bigger and colored yellow, and there's one puppet head used near the end of the film for when Godzilla, having been released from the aliens' control, darts his eyes back and forth, wondering where he is. They, again, use some static, full-body puppets for distant shots but they're not too distracting, coming off much better than those used in Ghidorah, and we get a nice, large prop of Godzilla's foot for close-ups of it crashing through houses and another of his tail

when he smashes and clears away buildings. And like I said before, this is where we can officially start calling his ultimate weapon an atomic blast. For its first appearance as such, it's animated well, with the way it comes out of his mouth and how his spines glow when he fires it looking very believable. However, it comes off as kind of weak, as he scores several direct hits on Ghidorah and it doesn't affect the dragon at all.

While he had something of a personality and presence in the previous film, here Rodan (Masaki Shinohara) is nothing more than a sidekick for Godzilla, aiding him in their battles against Ghidorah. He does get to cause some nice destruction during the attack on Earth, using his hurricane-force winds to blow away a small village, and he does the same in the center of Fuji City, but there's little else to say about him. It's never made clear whether he and Godzilla are friends now or if he just keeps finding himself paired up with him and decides to help him because he's got nothing better to do. We did see them standing near each other at the end of Ghidorah, watching Mothra and the Shobijin return to Infant Island, and they were hibernating in close proximity to each other here, so maybe they did work out any differences they had between movies. And like in the previous film, Rodan's look leaves a lot to be desired for. It's the same suit from before, just with some minor tweaks, and while it looks fine in both far off and full body shots, I still wish they'd kept the dignity and grace Rodan had in his debut film back in 1956 (interestingly, you do get a little bit of that here when he causes destruction under the Xiliens' control). That brings me to Rodan's face, which looks even dumber here than in the previous movie. Fortunately, you don't get that many close-ups, but near the end of the movie, when he gets snapped awake by Godzilla whacking him with his tail, he has an expression that can only be described as, "Durr!" I think that was actually a puppet, as the suit's head, while not great, doesn't look nearly that bad, even when you see it in close shots, but either way, I remember thinking that looked stupid even when I was a kid. I just don't get why they felt the need to make Rodan a joke just because they were going for a more kid-friendly tone, as they were able to tone down Godzilla's design without going that route (for now, anyway).

Remember how in my previous review, I described King Ghidorah as a mindless, violent embodiment of absolute chaos? Well, multiply that by ten and you've got its portrayal here. Every time Ghidorah is onscreen, it seems even more intent on blasting everything in sight, while waving its heads and necks back and forth like it's had way too much sugar. Seriously, there's no scene where it's not spamming the crap out of its lightning bolts, even when there are no buildings or other such structures around to destroy, like in its first appearance on Planet X. You may think that's because it's under the Xiliens' control, but no. Even when it's released from their control at the end of the movie and battles Godzilla and Rodan one last time, it's still firing its lightning bolts everywhere and swinging its necks around like mad. It's like Ghidorah isn't even aware of where it is or what's going on around it; instead, it's like, "What's that? Zap it! Who's that? Zap it! Oh, you two! Zap them! Look at the ground and the rocks. Zap them!" It's truly the most chaotic characterization Ghidorah has ever had, and that's why it's my favorite of the Showa era, as it feels the most alive, especially when it's flying. Plus, when it's walking on the ground, its movements aren't as cumbersome as before. I also prefer Ghidorah's design here. Like with Rodan, it's the same suit from before, but it's been refined with slightly bigger wings and a darker shade of gold, which I think works better. Maybe it's me, but I think the heads look a little bit better and even more dragon-like. Playing Ghidorah again is Shoichi Hirose, who retired from suit-acting afterward due to the uncomfortable and often thankless job it was, as well as because he didn't like that his real face was never seen onscreen. It also didn't help that he angered Eiji Tsuburaya by doing work over at a rival studio, which got him blacklisted.

Because of its sci-fi heavy plot, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero has the most special effects the series has seen up to this point and, though budget cuts did hinder them here and there, Eiji Tsuburaya and his team were able to work their magic once again. Not only do the monsters look good, for the most part, but the miniature work is at an all time high. Many of the buildings are nicely detailed and look great when they're destroyed, but the best in the whole film are the exteriors of World Space Authority. Everything you see in those shots, from

the building itself to the surrounding landscape, the other buildings and radar dishes, and even the cars on the road, are one big miniature set. I honestly never knew that until just recently, and when I looked back at it, it blew my mind. The miniature vehicles that head out to battle the monsters may look a little toy-like when they're seen in close-up but, like many of the buildings, they're so well-detailed that it's easy to look past those imperfections. Though the shots of the P-1 rocket emerging from beneath Planet X's surface is more

obviously a miniature, as it slightly wobbles, it's no less pleasing visually. Speaking of which, the model-makers really outdid themselves with the P-1, as its red and silver design is very memorable and cool-looking, especially when the blue flame comes out of the exhaust. When Fuji and Glenn first land on Planet X, the little dolls meant to be them as they take the ship's lift down to the surface are very fake but the mixture of the miniature rocket, the compositing of Nick Adams inside its

hatch as he watches Fuji head down, and the shots of the full-sized landing legs with the real actors all gel together really well. And while a few shots of the P-1 traveling through space aren't the best examples of matting and optical work, other such shots, like when it's heading around Jupiter on its approach to Planet X and when it's heading back home, work much better. Speaking of spaceships, I absolutely love the Xiliens'. Are those things the quintessential image of a flying saucer or what? I

remember as a kid thinking they were as cool as they come and I still do, both in their design and the high-pitched whirring they make when in flight. They fly very gracefully and believably, which is very impressive, given how they're probably just being pulled around on wires. There's one part where a saucer lands on the shoreline after emerging from Lake Myojin and you can see it bank before it finally comes down to rest, which feels very elegant.

There's also some really good matting and optical work here, in addition to those I've already mentioned. The compositing together of real actors with miniature elements, like when the Xilien saucer lands in front of a crowd gathered at Lake Myojin or when you see the monsters in the background with panicking and fleeing people in the foreground, looks better than ever, with only a few shots coming off as wonky. Not only are Godzilla's atomic blast and Ghidorah's lightning bolts rotoscoped in nicely, but similar effects, like

the Xiliens' ray guns, their flying saucers' lasers, the moments where they glow, and when they use these blue rings to encase Godzilla and Rodan in large bubbles to transport them to Planet X, are all the more impressive. Many of the shots used to create the effect of a ship traveling through space look quite good as well, in particular those done from inside the ships.

However, this is also the first film where a fair amount of stock footage from previous movies is used, specifically during the big monster attack on Fuji City, due to budget constraints. We get footage from both Rodan and Mothra, recognized by the drop in picture quality, the change in Rodan's design (fortunately, they don't linger on his head), and some quick shots of the NEW KIRK MOTORS sign. Also, the last shot of Ghidorah leaving Earth at the end of the movie is taken directly from the previous one. Fortunately, the

stock footage isn't used egregiously, and they manage to blend it in with the new footage, making it seem like Rodan is causing destruction originally wrought by Mothra. The same can't be said for the use of stock footage in some of the later films, though, which would include a lot of Ghidorah's rampage from both this film and the previous one. As Ishiro Honda himself said, "If we recycled scenes from previous movies, we could cut the effects budget. But then, we received complaints

from our fans, saying, 'It looks weird, it's not fresh.' We could fool the audience for a little while but, eventually, they would know the trick and stop coming to see the shows. Then the studio would think that special effects film don't sell anymore." Money problems also led to some of the models crushed by Godzilla not looking quite as good as others, which you can see when you look at them closely. And I've also heard that the lower budget is why Mothra isn't in this one, when she originally

was supposed to be along for the ride again. Even so, I've always found it weird that they don't even mention her here, even though she was instrumental in the team-up that drove Ghidorah from Earth the first time. They could have at least come up with an excuse for her absence, maybe that she can't leave her people, who are in the middle of their own crisis, or something.

As with Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero has a number of brief action and special effects scenes building up to the third act, which is loaded with them. The first one is Ghidorah's first appearance and attack on Planet X. After Fuji and Glenn meet the Controller in the Xiliens' subterranean complex, they hear a thunder-like sound, as the screen behind the Controller's control panel begins flashing red. He's told that Monster Zero is attacking again and, after telling Fuji and Glenn it's

why they're forced to live beneath the surface, the Controller decides to show it to them. He pops its image on the screen behind him and we also get our first look at it as it comes flying in, firing its lightning bolts. The astronauts immediately recognize it as King Ghidorah and the Controller tells them that everything on Planet X is numbered. Ghidorah really doesn't do much during this scene except fire its lightning all across the planet's surface, which seems to accomplish nothing except

cause a few rocks to fall and create a lot of smoke. This is what I'm talking about when I say Ghidorah feels even more mindless here than it did during its first appearance, intent on blasting anything it sees. While we can suspect from what we learn later on that this is a planned attack in order to gain the Earth's sympathy, given how hyper and chaotically Ghidorah acts when it's finally released from the aliens' control at the end of the film, it would probably be doing the very same thing even without mind control. And like I said before, the

Xiliens aren't even 100% effective at controlling Ghidorah, as it causes damage to their facility, including their critically important hydrogen-oxide plant. This prompts the Controller to shut everything down and leave Fuji and Glenn in a dark, empty control room, while he and his subordinates run off to view the damage for themselves.

After a long lull when the astronauts return to Earth, there's a clever fake-out moment where they arrive at Lake Myojin to investigate the bungalow Glenn and Miss Namikawa stayed in, only to be directed to a glowing, foaming spot out in its center by the general and soldiers stationed there. Since we know this is where he's currently located, both we and the characters assume it's Godzilla about to rise up out of the lake, as the glowing increases and the water grows more turbulent. However, the

object in the water is revealed to be an Xilien flying saucer, as it slowly rises out of the foaming water and then hovers high above the lake (I didn't like this when I first saw it as a kid, as I really, really wanted to see Godzilla by this point). One of the soldiers asks the general if they should fire on the saucer but he tells them not to when another disturbance in the water turns out to be a second saucer, which also rises out of the lake in a geyser of foam and joins the other. While we don't see it

rise out of the water, as the screen fades to black, we can tell that a third saucer is beginning to rise up off to the right in the wide-shot. Later on, after one of the saucers lands and the Controller and his men have greeted those who've gathered at the lakeside, explaining why they've suddenly appeared on Earth, the other two go into action. One positions itself just above Lake Myojin, while the other flies towards the mountain called Washigasawa. The one hovering above the lake glows with a thunderous sound and hits the water

with electrical rays from its bottom, creating a geyser of foam. The saucer then lifts up into the air with those rays firing again, pulling Godzilla out of the depths. He's then encased inside an energy bubble and lifted up into the air. The second saucer next fires its laser at the side of Washigasawa, creating an opening, and then uses its own rays to pull Rodan out of his hiding place. (Funnily enough, since this was only the second Godzilla movie I ever saw, I didn't know what Rodan was and, due to the camera angles and the way he has

his wings folded around his body, I thought they'd just pulled some random rock out of the side of the mountain and intended for Godzilla to use it as a weapon later on! It wasn't until we got to Planet X that I was able to see Rodan's body and realize he was a giant Pteranodon.) The saucer encases Rodan in an energy bubble and heads over to the one carrying Godzilla. All three saucers soon head back to Planet X, carrying Godzilla and Rodan into the depths of space.

Arriving on the planet, the saucers carrying Godzilla and Rodan set the two monsters down and head inside the underground base through the opening in the cliff-face. A number of the elevator-like cylinders rise to the surface, Xiliens emerging with long, suction tubes to retrieve some nearby water. However, they no sooner get to work than bolts of yellow lightning streak across the sky, a sign that King Ghidorah is coming. The work teams immediately retreat back underground, as Ghidorah comes over a nearby ridge, once again

randomly firing its lightning at the planet's surface. As the dragon approaches, a nearby device emerges from the rocks and fires a ray at Godzilla and Rodan, releasing them from the energy bubbles and the state of suspended animation. The two monsters immediately awaken, with Godzilla actually stretching and yawning, as Ghidorah approaches from behind (I'm not even going to ask how Godzilla and Rodan are able to breathe on Planet X's surface when humans can't). Ghidorah fires its lightning bolts across the ground past

Godzilla, immediately snapping him to his feet, and at Rodan's, forcing him to lift off. As Godzilla turns around, Ghidorah slams right into him and knocks him over, then it comes around, lands, and continues firing its lightning, striking the ground leading up to Godzilla. He retaliates by hitting Ghidorah in the chest with his atomic blast but it doesn't hurt the dragon at all and it continues firing at him. Godzilla takes cover behind some rocks as Ghidorah continues firing while walking towards

him; Godzilla, again, retaliates with some more atomic blasts. After a quick cutaway to the Controller, Fuji, Glenn, and Dr. Sakurai watching the battle from the control room, we go back to Godzilla, as he still takes refuge while Ghidorah blasts at him. With his atomic blast having no effect, he begins tossing and kicking large rocks at Ghidorah, while Rodan picks up a good sized one and carries it over to the space monster. One of Ghidorah's bolts hits Godzilla around his feet, just

before Rodan drops his rock onto the dragon, stunning it. This gives Godzilla the opportunity to tackle Ghidorah to the ground, which the dragon clearly didn't see coming. Ghidorah manages to take to the air and flips Godzilla upside down. Godzilla rolls over to right himself and when he does, he sees that Ghidorah is retreating, prompting him to do his victory dance.

When Fuji, Glenn, and Dr. Sakurai depart Planet X in the recreated P-1, Fuji notes how Godzilla and Rodan are watching them, realizing that they're being left behind. He asks his colleagues if they're doing the right thing and, interestingly, Glenn feels sympathy for them in the Japanese version, but in the English version, his attitude is one of, "Good riddance." When the P-1 takes off and leaves the planet, Godzilla and Rodan both roar at it, as if they are saying, "Hey, you can't leave us here!" You genuinely do feel bad for them, as they were

dragged to this strange planet without even realizing it, were forced to fight Ghidorah again, and now, after driving the space monster away, they're being left behind, with no way to get back to Earth. Moreover, as if their predicament wasn't bad enough, they're put under mind control soon after the humans leave. The Xiliens' ultimatum is made public on Earth and, following the scene where Glenn is taken prisoner, the Controller arrives in his saucer. After destroying

the P-1 recreation and melting a radar dish to show they mean business, he announces their plan to conquer the Earth with the now mind-controlled Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. A cutaway shows Godzilla and Rodan sitting elsewhere with a couple of spaceships hovering nearby, waiting for the order to kill. 

While Glenn and Tetsuo are imprisoned on Makura Island, they discover the note Miss Namikawa slipped Glenn before she was killed and learn that Tetsuo's invention physically damages the Xiliens. They use it to incapacitate a couple of guards and, while Glenn puts one of them in a headlock through the cell's bars, Tetsuo takes the key. Escaping their cell and locking the guards inside it, they make their way out of the house. They're almost stopped by a guard but Glenn manages to punch him into submission, then saves Tetsuo from

being choked out by another. They head for the docks and to the boat, while the Commander is told of their escape. He contacts the Controller and asks him to take care of it. The Controller's saucer moves into position and, seeing the boat heading out, blasts it with a laser, destroying it in a huge explosion. Confident that the escapees have been dealt with, the Commander and his men, who were watching from the dock, head back to their base, while the Controller's saucer moves off. Once everyone's out of sight, Glenn and Tetsuo emerge from the water, having sent the boat off by itself with some guards onboard. They then swim for shore.

If you've so far been disappointed by the lack of monster action, this is where the movie decides to stop pussyfooting around and give you what you came for. The Controller and his men, picking up some interference with their computers (it's never explained but it could be due to some last-minute testing of Tetsuo's device), decide to change their plans and begin the attack on Earth now, three hours earlier than expected. He orders Godzilla and Rodan, Monster Zero-One and Zero-Two, to commence the attack and his instructions are

passed down to them from the saucers via electric beams. The two of them immediately spring to life, with Godzilla getting up and roaring before heading out, as if he's saying, "Well, time to go to work." They head towards a small village near Mt. Fuji, sending the inhabitants in retreat, while the military, responding very quickly, move in to intercept them. With the saucers hovering nearby, and the civilians running for it, Godzilla sets fire to a patch of forest with his atomic blast. Rodan

hovers in the air nearby. as Godzilla plows through some houses and heads towards the heart of the village, with the remaining inhabitants running for cover in the countryside. Realizing they've got to hurry, the military sends out the larger versions of the A-Cycle light ray, while more troops are moved into the area (some of this latter footage is taken from Mothra vs. Godzilla).

The Controller decides to increase the attack by having his saucers join in the destruction. Godzilla, meanwhile, continues stomping through the village, as some troops get into position in a nearby field. Rodan then flies directly over a nearby bridge, causing it to break in two and collapse on either side of a canyon with his sonic boom. He lands on the outskirts of the village and, as a squadron of tanks uselessly fires at him, uses his wings' powerful winds to blow away a lot of the houses. The tanks turn their attention to Godzilla,

with one of the shells hitting him right in the face, and he proceeds to smash through more houses with his feet. After crushing them, he creates another brush fire with his atomic blast as the tanks continue shooting at him, with one shell hitting him in the neck. (All throughout this chaos, you can see Mt. Fuji looming in the background, which is a nice little detail and, as Stuart Galbraith IV mentions in his audio commentary, alludes to how Jupiter could often be seen looming over the

surface of Planet X.) The Controller's saucer adds to the attack by blowing up a couple of the light guns, though one wonders why he stopped at just those two. After a brief moment back at World Space Authority, where Glenn, Tetsuo, and Haruno prepare the device for broadcasting, we get a little more of Godzilla, as he continues crushing houses. The Controller orders Ghidorah to join the attack, while the mobile broadcasting unit takes cover inside a tunnel, waiting for orders.

By this point, Godzilla and Rodan have reached the outskirts of Fuji City and the former heads inward, as civilians are evacuated and military troops get into position. While being fired upon, Godzilla sets fire to some more houses, while Rodan lands in the middle of the city (stock footage from the movie Rodan) and uses his winds to derail a train and blow the shingles off some nearby buildings. As Rodan's mini-hurricane spreads, Ghidorah comes flying over a nearby ridge and fires its bolts directly at World Space Authority. It then heads

into the city and hits the side, front, and top of a building with its lightning. Some tanks and other combat vehicles move in, while Ghidorah lands on top of a small building, its feet crashing right through the roof. It walks forward, firing its lightning at everything around it, setting fire to an oil well near some gas tanks. Meanwhile, a squadron of tanks and missile turrets battle Godzilla and Rodan as they continue moving through the city. Godzilla causes a lot of damage with his tail, flattening a row of houses behind him,

while he crushes and topples over some more in front of him with his feet. He continues plowing through buildings while being fired upon, his tail sweeping away some debris behind him. We get a couple of bits of stock footage from Rodan and Mothra sprinkled amongst the shots of Godzilla smashing through even more buildings and doing another sweep with his tail, before setting fire to a Mobiloil station (expect to see that same shot in a few films in the future). As he heads onward,

Rodan blasts his hurricane winds at full force, though much of this footage is, again, from Rodan and Mothra, with one of my favorite shots from the latter being from the inside of a shop, as a car comes smashing right through the window. (It's a shame that so much of this is recycled footage and they couldn't shoot some new stuff of Rodan being a bad-ass bringer of destruction, like he was in his debut film. But, at least in the context of this movie, he's getting to cause a lot of nice property

damage.) On the other side of the city, Ghidorah continues firing its lightning at the buildings around it. At one point, the heads seems to fire two bolts right behind the same Mobiloil station that Godzilla ignited moments before, only it's not burning here. And as Ghidorah plows through the building it was standing behind (another bit of footage from Rodan), we now see that the house behind that station is engulfed in flames. I think I just discovered a small continuity error. Either way, this awesome sequence comes to a close with some shots of burning houses, as we head into the climax.

Glenn, Tetsuo, and Haruno enter a radio station in order to broadcast the sound of Tetsuo's invention all across the country, with an announcer urging listeners to turn their radios' volumes up to maximum. In the tunnel, Fuji and Sakurai hear the sound over a vehicle's radio and the former tells the general to stand by for attack. While Glenn, Tetsuo, and Haruno head for Makura Island, the sound is broadcast all over Japan. It isn't long before the Controller's spaceship begins to malfunction from the damage the sound inflicts on the computer. The

interior is bathed in a red light and the saucer starts tilting back and forth, throwing the Xiliens off-balance, while its electronic whirring becomes distorted. The mobile broadcast unit, with several A-Cycle light ray guns, then deploys from the tunnel. At the same time, Glenn and his group arrive at the spot across from Makura Island, where another mobile unit is broadcasting. As they watch for any activity, the Controller's malfunctioning spaceship flies into view. The order is then given to transmit the A-Cycle light rays and, as the

Controller tries to contact the Earth Commander, a squadron of tanks begins firing around the house on the island, wreaking havoc on the aliens inside, who are already crippled by the sound. As this is going on, the other mobile unit heads to a spot in the countryside where the military is battling the still mind-controlled Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah. With the monsters being held back, the second mobile unit activate their light ray guns to interfere with the two saucers controlling the

monsters. This process really drives the monsters crazy, as they shake their heads, convulse, and swipe their arms, confused as to what's happening to them (Ghidorah is especially irritated by this). The aliens' control on them is then completely broken and all three of them collapse to the ground, convulsing in shock (Godzilla makes a really funny expression and seems to put his hand inside his mouth before falling). Back at Makura, the assault on the Controller's saucer and the Earth Base is

proving more and more effective. Those in the ship realize they've lost control of the monsters, while everyone in the house is either dead or trapped under debris from the continuing tank attack, the Commander crying for the Controller to save them. The Controller refuses to retreat, saying they will recover and attack, but then the edges of the saucer's inside walls begin to spark and burn. With the burning, smoking saucer on the verge of crashing, the Controller decides to "escape" by forcing all the Xiliens to join him in a mass suicide. He blows up his saucer, along with the other two, and the house on the island.

With the aliens dead, all three monsters are back to normal. Godzilla is the first to recover from the shock of being released from the mind control. His eyes dart back and forth, not knowing where he is, and he gets to his feet with a roar. He then sees Ghidorah lying on the ground and kicks a rock onto its chest, prompting the dragon to get to its feet as well. Godzilla backs up, accidentally whacking Rodan with his tail and snapping him out of his own shock. Ghidorah begins firing its lightning at its enemies, giving Rodan more

incentive to get to his feet, while Godzilla charges at Ghidorah and grapples with it. As Godzilla holds onto Ghidorah's body, Rodan flies into its heads and knocks it down on its back again. Ghidorah quickly gets to its feet and faces off with Godzilla, who does some boxing moves against the lightning-spewing heads, at one point shuffling his feet, while Rodan pulls on one of Ghidorah's tails with his beak. Godzilla swipes at Ghidorah's heads, at one point blasting it in the chest, when Rodan loses his grip on one of the tails. Ghidorah sprays

its lightning all over Godzilla, hitting him in the hands and arms and then zapping his feet. He's forced to back away from the barrage but when Rodan shrieks behind Ghidorah, the dragon turns around and begins spraying him with lightning. Seeing his chance, Godzilla rushes up behind Ghidorah and grabs both tails, pulling it as it continues blasting Rodan. Ghidorah quickly realizes what's going on and tries to bend its necks backwards in an attempt to get at Godzilla. With

the dragon distracted, Rodan flies right into it, knocking it over and right on top of Godzilla! After watching this battle, Fuji, Sakurai, and the military unit decide to move out. Ghidorah continues to blast both Godzilla and Rodan while it backs up to the edge of a cliff (you can probably guess where this is going). Godzilla charges at Ghidorah and Rodan picks him up by the shoulders and slams him right into the space monster. All three of them tumble down the side of the mountain and crash

into the ocean below, creating a wave that washes away some of the buildings onshore. After a few seconds of nothing but foam and turbulence, Ghidorah rises out of the water and flies off into space as everyone looks on, but there's no sign of Godzilla or Rodan. As with Godzilla at the end of the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla, it's speculated that the two of them are, more than likely, still alive.

Akira Ifukube provides us with yet another great score, and one that's also a personal favorite of mine. I like how he plays up the mysteriousness of outer space and Planet X with this eerie theme that has a soft, high-pitched, theramin-like sound and is played in different variations throughout the film whenever the focus is on Planet X and the aliens. As I said earlier, I think it's especially effective in getting across the feeling of the unknown when Fuji and Glenn first set foot on the planet's surface, and I also like the iteration of it that's played when the two of them approach Planet X in the P-1. Speaking of which, the music that plays when their ship is actually landing for the first time has a really nice, epic sort of ring to it. As he did with Godzilla's theme in Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ifukube perfects the theme that he established for King Ghidorah in the previous film, making it sound all the more menacing and powerful, and he also establishes a nice symphony of all three monsters' themes, starting out with Ghidorah's, transitioning into Godzilla's, and then finishing with Rodan's, before looping back around again. This arrangement, which you first hear during the battle on Planet X, really comes to a head during the attack on Earth. Known as The Rage of the Monsters, it makes the attack feel even more devastating than it already is and it's a major reason why that whole sequence is so awesome. Speaking of great music, the loud, bombastic version of the Planet X theme that plays when the flying saucers emerge from Lake Miyojin gives the aliens a true sense of menace for the first time, hinting at what's soon to befall Earth. The music for when the saucers capture Godzilla and Rodan is also awesome, as it starts with a variation of the Planet X theme and then, when Godzilla is pulled out of the lake and encased in an energy bubble, it goes into the first threatening notes of his theme before becoming softer again. Then, the Planet X theme comes back around, and when Rodan is pulled out of Washigasawa, you hear a deeper, brassier version of his theme. The film is also well-remembered for a rousing military march that plays during the assault on the aliens and when the monsters are freed from their control. A variation on the march from the original Godzilla, it's a really energetic and fun theme, and is much more triumphant-sounding, given that the military actually succeeds. And finally, you have some soft, sentimental music that plays twice in the film: first when Godzilla and Rodan are left behind on Planet X, and at the end of the movie when their fate after crashing into the water with Ghidorah is left uncertain. It gets across the feeling that these two monsters were completely innocent and that it was unfair for them to be used as pawns the way they were.

While American-International Pictures would release Frankenstein Conquers the World in America in 1966, the relationship between Henry G. Saperstein and AIP head Samuel Z. Arkoff, which had always been rocky, was soon strained beyond repair; in fact, Saperstein had only allowed AIP to distribute Frankenstein because he couldn't find anyone else. Now, he had to find another distributor, for both Monster Zero and The War of the Gargantuas, which were to be released on a double-bill. It took him five years to do so, with the two films finally making it to America in the summer of 1970, two years after Nick Adams had died at the age of 36 (there are rumors that he committed suicide but his daughter, Allison, has always insisted that's not true, that his death was accidental). Also, by that time, the three following Godzilla films had already been released here, either in the theater or on television. Due to the involvement of an American producer from the start, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero is one of the least tampered with entries. Moments omitted include instances of the Controller speaking in Xilien, some shots of Japanese newspaper clippings when the astronauts first return to Earth and when Godzilla's presence in Lake Miyojin is confirmed by strong radioactivity, some extra bits of the Xiliens taking the monsters off the planet, and a brief moment where Fuji and Glenn whisper to each other when they're about to arrive on Planet X for the second time. They also inserted an English version of Miss Namikawa's note to Glenn, and did the same for other bits of Japanese text. Some sound effects were added as well, such as some stomping during Godzilla's victory dance, and some of the music is either switched around or removed. Most notably, the new military march plays over the Japanese version's opening credits, while in the American version, they replaced it with the music heard when the flying saucers capture Godzilla and Rodan. I personally think that works better, giving the opening a much more ominous and eerie feeling.

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero is definitely an instance where I can say I prefer the American version. Although the dubbing done for Nick Adams in the Japanese version does sound good, I much prefer hearing his normal voice in this version, as I also do for Frankenstein Conquers the World. Plus, the dubbing for the rest of the cast is about as good as you can get and is among the best the series ever got. It was done by Glen Glenn Sound, which also dubbed the American release of The War of the Gargantuas, so you hear a lot of the same voices. Said voices sound very natural and fit their characters, the lip movements also fit nicely, for the most part, the dialogue is well-translated and makes sense all-around, and, most importantly, you can tell that there was some actual thought and care put into it. Marvin Miller, the voice of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, does the dubbing for Akira Takarada, as well as some other characters, and he does a good job. Again, his voice fits well with the character of Fuji, and while he sometimes sounds a little too silly to differentiate between characters, it works well enough. I don't know who the other dub actors were but, regardless, they did nice jobs as well, especially those who voiced Dr. Sakurai and the Controller, the commander played by Yoshifumi Tajima, the general, and Miss Namikawa. However, Haruno sounds a little mousy for my tastes, and Tetsuo comes off as more nerdy than I think was necessary, but not to the point where it's annoying. The only really bad voice here is the woman who yells at Tetsuo over the noise his device makes. Fortunately, she's only in that one scene and doesn't have many lines, but it's an over the top, squawking type of voice that I think could have been done better. The English dub is retained by the Criterion Collection, but it's been added to the Japanese version, with formerly deleted shots and moments, and brief instances of Japanese dialogue (such as when Fuji speaks to Glenn before they land on Planet X with the Xiliens).

Whether you want to call it Invasion of Astro-Monster, Monster Zero, or, like me, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, this movie is, in my opinion, one of the high points of the Showa era. While the monsters' screentime is very limited, when they're onscreen, it's awesome, and the film has loads of other good stuff to keep you interested. Among them are a really likable cast of human characters, memorable villains in the Xiliens, an interesting story, very well-done special effects, a nice turn-around on a theme that had been explored in previous films, and another great score. Even better for those who don't like reading subtitles, the American version is one of the best there is, with very few edits made to the Japanese original. The only qualms are that the budget cuts are sometimes very obvious in the use of stock footage and the film's limited scope, and the monster battles, as fun as they are, are far too brief and it would've been nice for just a little more. But since the film is very well-regarded amongst the fanbase, it's obvious that I'm not alone in being able to look past that and enjoy it for the good it has in spades.