The end of an era(IMDB Message Boards Ending)

I came here to post similar sentiments. I've been floating around the boards of some of my favourite films sharing my love of them with whoever's here while we still can.

I've been defending 'Shin Godzilla' on it's boards for the last 4 months and am glad I talked about it with others while there was a chance to do so. The discussion has been scant for the Toho films, but I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to discuss the Godzilla franchise with others who hold the franchise dear.

Since this is our last chance here, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the series.

Like yourself, I've had a penchant for this franchise for a long time

I was born in 86 and was a dinosaur kid (imagine seeing 'Jurassic Park' when it was brand new on the big screen as a dinosaur loving seven year old). The other thing I loved at the age was the 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" which of course spliced footage from the Sentai series into it. That's where my love began.

The idea of giant monsters and robots fighting, while toppling over buildings was a power trip to me. I think this helped me get past the "guy in a suit and cheap minatures" mindset long before I was even a teenager, there was no barrier for me to overcome, I already loved it.

Somewhere down the line I caught onto Godzilla in the early-to-mid nineties. Although it was not easy to see a Godzilla film back then as you either needed a physical copy by some means, or a TV station might broadcast a dub.

However, two fortunate things happened for me:

The first was that my local video store actually had a copy of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (yes, the Raymond Burr one) on VHS. I remember being giddy at watching the very first Godzilla film. Despite it being an "old" movie and it being shot and black and white, it did not stop my 7-8 year old self from watching it. I remember finding it mostly boring, but I was so enthralled with the concept that I loved all of the Godzilla parts.

The other thing that happened was that a TV station (I don't recall which now) aired a bunch of the old films that were dubbed in English. Fortunately for me my late Grandfather recorded them on VHS so I could watch them. I think it was King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Monster Island that he recorded for me.

I really enjoyed watching those as a kid and that has carried over into my adult life.

Heck, I was even excited for the 98' Godzilla and saw it in theatres twice (I feel no shame, I was 12 at the time.)!

Perhaps one of my favourite memories was getting my little brother into Godzilla as well. My brother is nine years younger than me, so when he hit the age of enjoying this sort of stuff I got him into Godzilla as well. When he was 5 or 6 I took him to see the English dub of 'Godzilla: 2000" in theatres. The dub stunk, but it was a great experience with my brother and the first and only Toho Godzilla film I got to see on the big screen until 15 years later with Shin Godzilla.

After that Godzilla was basically a dead zone. Toho stopped making films after final wars in 2004 and the 98' film was quickly seen as a joke, killing interest in the west.

I'm glad that Godzilla has had a revival the past few years. Regardless of how you feel about the 2014 American film, I think we can all acknowledge that it's WAY better than the 98' film, and likely gave Toho the confidence to make another film(s) after 10 years of silence.

I was really looking forward to talking about the new American productions in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "King Kong vs. Godzilla" as well as the new Toho Godzilla anime film.

There is literally no one else in my life who I can discuss the franchise with as I've done with others on imdb, this realization does sadden me a bit.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to post on the boards!

A few years from now, you can visit some of the boards through the Wayback Machine and feel the nostalgia wash over you.