The Deadly Asteroid (Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA, Season 2 Episode 13, 1979) Turner Screener VHS Tape!

 

And now, here is the other of the two Turner Network "screener" VHS tapes I recently acquired! This is episode #7913 of the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA, or as we know it, Season 2, episode 13, which happens to be the very last episode.  

I have gone on at length about this episode, because I seem to have a special connection with it that I can't escape.  I happen to own a handful of original backgrounds and cels from this episode, and I did a special post that shows them all, as well as showing screenshots of what they looked like when used in the finished episode! You can see all of that in this post from a few years ago, right here.  What is interesting about that post is seeing how much of the finished backgrounds ended up obscured in the finished product.  And this is for a company famous for cutting corners.  You will see what I mean. Also, the way that the colors change slightly from production, to filming, to recording is also interesting to see.

I should point out something I completely neglected to mention in my other HB GODZILLA screener VHS post--these two episodes have NO TNT or Cartoon Network "bugs" in the bottom corner, which is sadly what you run into with the second-season episodes that circulate.  Why? Because they have STILL never had an official release on any physical media whatsoever.  Now, Toho did put them on their YouTube channel a couple years back, but they divided all of them into thirds that are about 7 minutes each.  They are good quality, but the one I discussed last time seemed to have a different audio mix than my tape, because the music and sound effects were much quieter.  So anyhow, these two episodes are worth downloading just for that reason.  Moving on...

The plot of this episode, once it gets going, really has more of a SUPERFRIENDS feel to it than GODZILLA.  Some Ice Aliens from planet Something have come to Earth, and in order to make it hospitable for them, have focused a beam on one of their moons (note: not an asteroid), and will simply slam it into the Earth, thereby making it a frozen wasteland where they can live. Makes sense, right?

Well, no, but it's Saturday morning cartoons, and I am not going to argue.  The day--and the world--are both saved by Godzilla, who grabs the flying saucer generating the beam, and uses it to push the moon back into space.....somewhere.  The aliens actually quickly follow and fly away, and there is a solid moment where you straight up expect Godzilla to blow their saucer out of the sky....but again, it's Saturday morning cartoons, and everyone just lets them get away.

Before we get to the download--since I've covered this episode before, here are some items that particularly struck me on this viewing:

The episode actually begins in a way very remniscent of the first GAMERA film, with some Eskimos in the Arctic Circle reacting to the aliens' flying saucer.  

Is photo-bombing still a thing? Godzooky knows how to do it.

Godzilla doesn't have a whole lot to do in this episode, but here he smashes ice walls with an ice club.

What happens when you have an episode about aliens made of literal ice carrying ice guns? You get:  a Brock-cicle....

...a Godzilla-cicle....

...and, a Godzooky-cicle, all in the same episode!

Here's another thing--this is one of MANY fictional franchise universes where famous landmarks no longer stand, because of some cataclysm, alien invasion, or what have you.  It's a very popular thing to do in fiction--how many can you name? I can think of a handful, just typing this...

Yep, there goes Big Ben....

And, there goes the Eiffel Tower...

Wait, NO NOT THE SPHINX! We take that personally around here!

Oh, well, it's...safe? That's BETTER?

Here is a WEIRD one.  So the crew gets hold of one of the aliens' ice guns, and sets it for "reverse," and melts several of the alien soldiers to puddles of water (I know).  Right before they escape in their flying saucer, there is a VERY quick pan over to the alien leader, who silently struggles to his feet and pushes some controls on the wall.  Before the camera stops on him, it briefly passes over what looks like a mound of reconstituted alien soldiers! Maybe it's supposed to be a pile of bodies, but the whole thing is bizarrely confusing, and never explained. The above photo are two combined screenshots, made from the quick pan.

Now that you've made it through all of THAT, you can see it for yourself!

GODZILLA - The Deadly Asteroid (1979)

Enjoy!

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (International Poster/Press Brochure, 1968)

 

Here is an awesome one.  As Toho slowly began to expand their international presence over those early years, their marketing materials got fancier.  What was at first decent brochures (at some point) turned into glossy, smaller versions of the actual movie posters themselves, with press information and photos on the back.  This is super-fortunate for us in this case, because it just happens to be the incredible artwork for DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

I have to say, the American poster can do no wrong, but I absolutely love the "film title card logo" version of the title used here.  Unfolded, these pieces measured the strange size of 20 & 3/8 inches by 14 & 3/8 inches (which admittedly probably works out to centimeters perfectly if I had checked...we are talking International here).  Still big enought to frame and have it look awesome, though.

Unfortunately, the beneficially-large size makes it too big to scan.  I mean, it could be stitched together, but trust me, you don't want me to attempt that. Besides, it would greatly slow down getting this post completed, and you probably want to see it this decade.  Here instead is the top half, so you can better read the text:

The synopsis is really very well done.  I like the frankness of the sentence "Their goal of course is domination of the planet Earth."  Also, the ending text poses the question of "Who will win?" and then immediately in the next line says "nevermind, Godzilla does."  I mean, it's not that there was ever any doubt, but let's just spoil it hard right off the bat!

The lower half repeats the same information in French and Spanish, which today is commonplace in a marketing piece, but back then, required a separate publication.  Also, we learn that 89 minutes equates to 2471 meters of film!

I have a couple more of these beauties coming up in the near future, so stay tuned.

GODZILLA DEVOURS WHITE CASTLE set of 4 Promotional Cups! (Louisiana Plastics, 1990)

  

Now it can be told! For the first time around here, feast your eyes on a completed set of all FOUR "Godzilla Devours White Castle" 1990 kids' meal cups!

The logo!

When I first started collecting these, I was convinced they looked so much alike, it would be impossible.  Now that I can see all four together, in living color, though, that's not the case at all.  

The reverse of the cups (somehow I got these mixed up between photos and had to edit a bit.) This photo is just in case you have to identify cups just from the logo side--they are all completely distinct from each other!

While the toys from the promotion (seen here) were produced by Strottman, International, these large cups were made by the Louisiana Plastics, Inc. (which was in Missouri, actually). I am assuming they were 32 ounces, from that number being on the bottom:

So I got to thinking...is there an easier way to identify these cups, since you never see the whole image at once? Then, a thought struck me.  A goofy thought, but...one that just might work.  By rolling them slowly on the scanner, I can now provide full images of the entire artwork for each cup! Such as it is.  It's...actually pretty bad.  Then again, I'm willing to bet you won't see this anywhere else!

If I'm counting right, that's 3 KING OF THE MONSTERS and 1 SON OF GODZILLA.  If you are trying to finish your set, I hope this guide will help! Stay patient, because they are out there and do surface every once in a while!

Island Of Doom (Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA, Season 2 Episode 12, 1979) Turner Screener VHS Tape!

Get ready, because here is one of a pair of amazing items! This is a VHS "screener" tape made for internal use by one of the Turner networks.  I believe this to be from, most likely, TNT, because as you'll recall, they were the first to air the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA for many years, before Cartoon Network even existed.  Another reason is that the Cartoon Network tapes that I have seen identify themselves as such, like this one:

In fact, this particular CN tape is what started this whole chain of events! I bought it from a super-nice Ebay seller in Georgia (that's important to our story, as that is where Turner's networks are located), who had bought a lot of about 40 such tapes at an estate sale, held at the estate of a person who worked for Turner Broadcasting System.  The seller thought--as I did--that the tape contained an episode of the Hanna-Barbera GODZILLA, but it actually turned out to be the 1998 animated series made to support the first American film! I had no idea that CN had ever even shown that series.  

About the time I am discovering this, the seller reaches back out to me, saying they had discovered two OTHER Godzilla tapes in the lot, and this time they were indeed the HB show! They were nice enough to take the CN tape back, and a deal was struck, for which I'll be eternally grateful! So.......let's get right to it, and then you can see it for yourself!

One strange thing about this tape is that there are no opening credits.  In fact, it begins choppily in mid-title card! Another interesting characteristic of this recording is that there is a 20-second gap where each commercial break should be, where the screen goes black for that duration.

This is the penultimate episode of the series, and it's a notable one I had forgotten about, for several reasons.  It's all about a renegade criminal pseudo-military organization with their own island base (and nuclear reactor, naturally), who shoot down a weather satellite with a fancy missile:

In fact, you should probably recognize the organization, because it's none other than...

COBRA! (Or "Cobraaaaaaaaa!" as you probably remember it). And here is Cobra Commander:

Okay, it's not THAT Cobra.  But still.  So they blow up the satellite, and the crew of The Calico gets involved.

Of course, you wouldn't see this without freezing it, but: interestingly, if you look closely at the cursive on this map, the (identically-spaced) lanes of water are labelled "STRAITS," "OCEAN," and "CHANNEL."  Huh. Aparently I am not the only one who had a D in Geography, it seems.

They go to investigate--before this, Pete and Godzooky are arguing over crates of vegetables:

Godzooky wants to eat them.  Looking closely reveals the large crate behind Pete is labelled "PRUNE." In the name of all that is holy, people, do NOT let Godzooky eat those!

So they get to the island, and immediately all get captured by the Cobra guys.  At this point in the tape, I need to point out that the soundtrack had a bit of decay, or possibly magnetic damage.  For a few minutes, there was a volume drop and lots of loud static.  However, I restored the missing few minutes of audio using an extraction from the official Toho YouTube upload, and it matched perfectly, which amazed me, I have to say.  I really expected to have to pitch-correct something, but it fit perfectly.  So, the good news is that the episode is intact.

Cobra puts everyone in the same jail cell....EVEN GODZOOKY.  This is nuts. If you ask me, this is the 1979 equivalent to having Minya ride in the guy's truck in FINAL WARS.  It is at this point that the episode goes into overdrive.

In fact, what strikes me about viewing this episode now (rather than when I first saw it at 6 years old) is that this is the one episode of the entire series that is most like a vintage Godzilla movie.  Because the last third of the episode is Godzilla going on a rampage and destroying the entire island base, wading through launching, exploding missiles, swatting down airplanes, smashing buildings...the whole works.  You could dub in the sound effects and the roar from the Heisei film of your choice, and make it very convincing. It's pretty awesome.

"Oh look! That Jana of the Jungle is finally over! Get the Big G sampler pack and some bowls!"

After which, Godzilla grabs Cobra's overloading nuclear reactor (which represents the stakes in the story) and stops it from exploding by throwing it into the ocean to cool it off....and thereby probably creating some sort of massive environmental hazard, but hey, who's counting?

Another cool aspect of this episode is that Doug Wildey (as in JOHNNY QUEST and lots of other awesome things) as designer got to flex a bit and design some really cool weaponry and stuff for Cobra, which is a lot of fun to see (on the right:  the original model sheet for the laser turrets, which Godzilla completely MELTS into goo, by the way).  

So, if you aren't convinced yet, I have converted, restored, and uploaded the episode for you to enjoy, and you can download it right here:

GODZILLA - Island Of Doom (1979)

Stay tuned, because we still have one more Turner screener tape coming! 

Godzilla Jumbo Puffy Magnet #5 (of 6) Added To The Collection!

Last year--actually in this post--it finally dawned on me that all of these Godzilla Puffy magnets and magnetic keychains used the same 6 images over and over, so therefore, where the giant ones were concerned, there must also be 6 different styles (see that post for my full personal epiphany). 

Here are those 6 designs:

Up to that point, I had accounted for three of these, in their original packaging.  A fourth turned up in a quarter machine display header card that I purchased:

And now, a 5th has joined the group!

This one measures 6 & 1/2 inches in height.

SO, for those of you keeping score at home, I just need to find "Magnetic Godzilla Character TV & Cartoon Pals" design #4, which looks like this:

It would be friggin' Godzooky, because of course it is. Oh well, the search continues. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, I have to update the Godzilla guide.