Special Effects Director Teruyoshi Nagano scolding the cybot for behaving like a diva during production of The Return of Godzilla (1984), aka Godzilla 1985.

Let's put this to bed:

For some reason, there's a rumor going around online that the suit from Godzilla (1984) was stolen and to this day, nobody knows what happened to it. I don't know how this started or where it came from, but it's wholly untrue. Firstly, there were two Godzilla suits made for the film. One for the main shooting, the other for "stunts" and water scenes and such. One of these suits was taken by Teruyoshi Nakano to North Korea and transformed into Pulgasari for Kenpachiro Satsuma to act in again. How it started: https://becominggodzilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Return_1984_Screenshot_03.jpg How it ended: https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/pulgasari-span.jpg The other suit was at some point sent to America to do a publicity tour for the release of Godzilla 1985. Svengoolie (then, "Son of Svengoolie") even did a show back then with the suit on hand! https://64.media.tumblr.com/c8236ab23914497cf118f8eb312ba504/6bbc7811252ac46b-d8/s1280x1920/e1b8d137ed6755413b7a76d05aefa093fcdc87a0.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/f3e50da5f2a184a518b76946f6d460dc/6bbc7811252ac46b-3c/s1280x1920/c5cef9f0d70d59675b6304020fdad67675e7b2e8.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/fd9a7a33db0b3174f18c1186b67b58c2/6bbc7811252ac46b-64/s1280x1920/6209fdef0043a0d37820ec0fbb38a156a70421a7.jpg After that was over, the suit was sent back to Toho where it was used in several commercials. Since nobody's ever mentioned it, I presume Pulgasari was left over in North Korea where it eventually rotted away. The only Godzilla suit ever actually stolen was the 1989 Biogoji, refurbished and used again in 1991. It was somehow swiped in mid-1992 just before shooting of Godzilla vs. Mothra began. Koichi Kawakita fully intended to use the Bio/Gidogoji suit yet again for the entire movie, even with its aging, floppy plates. But when it was stolen, he was forced to have a new suit made. The effects staff were relieved when the suit was stolen because there was some kind of problem with it and they didn't want to deal with it anymore. The suit was eventually discovered discarded in a ditch, probably because the damn thing was just so unwieldy (keep in mind, the lightest Godzilla suit for shooting ever made was still like 100 pounds). Kawakita ordered it repaired and it was used as like a stunt suit in vs. Mothra, which would be the final onscreen appearance for it.

Teruyoshi Nakano on the rushed production of The War in Space.

Teruyoshi Nakano and MG2

(Late Edition) The Cinema Movie Of The Week - The Return Of Godzilla

Directed By Koji Hashimoto

Story By Tomoyuki Tanaka

Starring Ken Tanaka, Yasuko Sawaguchi, and Yosuke Natsuki

Special Effects Teruyoshi Nakano

Music By Reijiro Koroku

Distributed By Toho

Release Date December 15, 1984

Country Japan

thinking about unmade hammer films again. it’s a toss-up between the ken russell-directed vlad the impaler movie, the loch ness monster one that would have had sfx by teruyoshi nakano, and zeppelins vs pterodactyls

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) – Episode 199 – Decades Of Horror 1970s

“Megalon! Megalon! Wake up, Megalon! Come on, rise up now, to the Earth’s surface! Destroy the Earth! Destroy our enemies! Rise up! Go on! MEGALON!” That’s quite the cheering section you have there, Megalon. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Jeff Mohr, and guest hosts Dirk Rogers and Bryan Clark – as they go quadruple kaiju in Toho’s Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973).

Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 199 – Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL (https://wickedhorrortv.com/) which now includes video episodes of the podcast and is available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and its online website across all OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.

An inventor creates a humanoid robot (Jet Jaguar) that is seized by the undersea nation of Seatopia & used as a guide for Megalon and Gigan to destroy the above-ground dwellers as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society. In an attempt to stop them, a now independently thinking Jet Jaguar brings Godzilla into the fight.

  Director: Jun Fukuda

Writing Credits: Jun Fukuda (screenplay; Shin’ichi Sekizawa (treatment)

Music by: Riichirô Manabe 

Cinematography by: Yuzuru Aizawa 

Editing by: Michiko Ikeda 

Production Design by: Yoshifumi Honda

Special Effects by: Teruyoshi Nakano (director of special effects)

Selected Cast:

Katsuhiko Sasaki as Inventor Goro Ibuki

Hiroyuki Kawase as Rokuro ‘Roku-chan’ Ibuki

Yutaka Hayashi as Hiroshi Jinkawa

Robert Dunham as Emperor Antonio of Seatopia / Motorcycle assailant

Kôtarô Tomita as Lead Seatopian Agent

Ulf Ôtsuki as Seatopian Agent

Gentaro Nakajima as Truck Driver (credited as Gen Nakajima)

Sakyo Mikami as Truck Driver’s Assistant

Fumiyo Ikeda as Man from Unit 1

Kanta Mori as Japan Special Defense Forces Chief

Shinji Takagi as Gojira

Hideto Odachi as Megaro

Tsugutoshi Komada  as Jetto Jagâ

Kenpachirô Satsuma as Gaigan (credited as Kengo Nakayama)

With Doc and Chad occupied elsewhere, Jeff and Bill welcome guest hosts Bryan Clark and Dirk Rogers to examine a last-minute replacement feature for episode 199. Trust us, you will not be disappointed as the Grue-Crew champions another Toho, 1970s, Kaiju entry, Godzilla vs. Megalon, for some silly yet still awesome man-in-suit action. Joining Godzilla and Megalon on screen are fellow giant monsters, Gigan and Jet Jaguar. Jeff finds himself surrounded by kaiju super-fans Bill, Bryan, and Dirk. This episode should not be missed! Enjoy!

At the time of this writing, Godzilla vs. Meagalon is available to stream from Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV, MAX, the Criterion Channel, and multiple PPV sources. The film is also available on physical media as a Blu-ray in Godzilla, the Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 (The Criterion Collection).

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror two-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the next episode will be the podcast’s landmark bicentennial (that’s 200th, folks)! In honor of that occasion, the 70s Grue-Crew will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of what many call the greatest horror movie of all time: The Exorcist (1973). Join us to discuss the film in which one character says, “There seems to be an alien pubic hair in my gin.”

We want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror 1970s podcast hosts at [email protected].

Check out this episode!

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Godzilla The Showa Era Films Criterion Blu Ray Set.

Godzilla having himself a grand ole time in Shinjuku, from The Return of Godzilla (1984).

I remember vividly touring Toho Studios in 2015.  I met the late Teruyoshi Nakano, the special effects director for the film, who proudly described the filming of Godzilla’s rampage through Tokyo.

Nakano-san was grinning ear-to-ear as he joyously and animatedly demonstrated - on the exact stage where filming took place - where his staff had erected and destroyed buildings, how pyrotechnics were placed, how the Super-X was flown on wires, and a million other details.  It was as he had just filmed the scenes the day before, instead of 31 years earlier.

At the time of the tour Japan was experiencing the worst heat wave in its history (at the time; the record may have been broken since then), where the temperature and the humidity remained in the high 90s for over two weeks.  The temperature inside the stage we were on was well over 100 degrees because it, like 90% of Toho Studios, was not air conditioned.  Yet Nakano-san, who was 79 years old and long retired, seemed unaffected by the heat and moved about like a man a quarter his age.

It was an absolute joy to see Nakano-san so proud and passionate about his work, even decades after it had been completed.  It was even more meaningful to me, because the fruits of that passion brought me endless hours of entertainment, and has been a big part of my life.

Thank you very much, Sensei, and rest in peace knowing your legacy lives on.

R.I.P. Mr. Explosion, Teruyoshi Nakano You might think that Nakano was responsible for some flimsy, phony effects work from the lean 70s, but the exact opposite is the truth. It was easy for Eiji Tsuburaya to create such wonderful special effects because he had an ego and was not afraid to throw his weight around at Toho to get what he wanted (knowing Toho used his name to sell their movies). Teruyoshi Nakano, meanwhile, had no such clout and had to create his wonderful effects scenes with next to no money. Tsuburaya may have had the better work overall, but Nakano had the harder road to hoe. His two magnum opuses, The Submersion of Japan and Godzilla (1984), show you exactly the magnificent effects he could deliver with a proper budget. Go back and take another look at that dam destruction scene in Godzilla vs. Megalon. I will put it up against the frankly phonier-looking American dam destruction scene in Superman: The Movie any ol’ day of the week.

Teruyoshi Nakano passed away last week at the age of 86. He was the last living Godzilla special effects director from the Showa or Heisei eras, serving in the position for Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Terror of Mechagodzilla, and The Return of Godzilla. His other works for Toho in the 70s and 80s included Submersion of Japan, Prophecies of Nostradamus, The War in Space, and  Princess from the Moon. Often saddled with lower budgets than his predecessors or successors, he made up for it with his love of pyrotechnics and some truly wild kaiju suits.

He was also the first celebrity I ever met—the guest of honor at G-Fest in 2004. At the end of his panel, he played rock-paper-scissors with the entire audience, and anyone who could survive a certain number of rounds got a prize. They were Iwakura figures; I picked Gorosaurus. Getting a toy from a guy who used to be Godzilla’s boss was a hell of a thing at the age of 10, to say the least. I met him again in 2015 at Toho Studios, where he lamented to my tour group that Toho never let him blow the roof off soundstage No. 8. Mr. Explosion indeed.

Some Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) gifs, because we both know you deserve them.

“Do it again, but this time drop the emotion and try to be more mechanical!”

Mechagodzilla and Teruyoshi Nakano [x]

Nessie - Unmade Toho/Hammer film (1979)