As a child of the 80’s, I grew up on a few, critical, pop culture icons — The $6 Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider, etc. Saturdays were the best. I’d get up at 5am on Saturday mornings to watch Rocky & Bullwinkle, all those nutty cartoons (Smurfs, Chipmunks, Looney Tunes), and whatever was popular at that moment. Saturday afternoons were hit-and-miss, but sometimes there was something good on, primarily 70’s kung fu movies and Godzilla.
Ah, Godzilla, my childhood friend. You were the big monster hero, out to battle aliens, space monsters, and freaks of nature. There are three eras of Godzilla films, and I’m completely ignoring that stupid Emmerich. Let me elaborate:
- The Showa era (1954-1975) — my favorite series, starting with the 1954 original classic.
- The Heisei era (1984-1995) — begins with the 1984 film, but I’m not a big fan, so I haven’t seen them all.
- Millenium era (1999-2004) — I haven’t watched any of these.
Although I watch a few of the 1990’s Heisei era films in college, I wasn’t enamored. I supposed I had a soft spot for the old kitchy films of my childhood. I watched a few clips with Joshua last year, but we sat and watched two entire Showa films this month — Godzilla vs The Thing (1964) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). So far, Josh likes them, but he prefers the later ones where Godzilla is a hero, not a villain / force of nature.