The Bug-Eyed Monsters


Much has been said about the giant insects that chirp and eat susci in the mines after the floor has been creeping in RODAN.

What they are supposed to be are the larvae of the Meganeuron, a giant dragonfly of prehistoric times. (The name means "giant nerve" basically, and refers to the big nerve running from its tiny "brain" to it's anus....or the giant nerves in the wings, depending on what prehistoric animal book you read.) The Meganeuron was very much like the dragonfly you would see at a lake or creek or swamp today...only about two feet long!!!

Since the physical appearance of the adult modern day dragonfly is the same as the adult Meganeuron, the larvae would be the same as well....and the larvae is a long, beetle like fellow with an extendable jaw and arm like feelers.

Since the Japanese made their monsters about a hundered times bigger than what they were supposedly based on, they made their Meganeuron the size of a hippo rather than the size it would normally have been (about the size of a dachshund...( Nippon monster movie rule of thumb...bigger is always better)

And they made a Meganeuron larva because they figured it would look creepier slithering around and doing home invasions on its tubular little feet. It did, but about a year and a half later Universal made MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS in which a life-sized (realistly speaking) Meganeuron...an adult, with a two foot wingspan, zipped around and fluttered its wings and hummed like a model airplane and looked fairly accurate (except for the dark strings it hung from).

I LOVED the big goofy bugs in RODAN when I saw the film at the tender age of five in a movie theater. Strange, though, I was not frightened by them, but fascinated by them...

Now the double bill I saw RODAN with...THE DALTON GIRLS....Now THAT was frightening!

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Very interesting, Obit. But now I wonder why we never got to see any of these creatures in their dragonfly states? I'm glad we didn't, however, as these bugs in larvae state was good enough.

It's funny that one of the most talked-about "Rodan" topics is always the gigantic man-eating insects, more so than even that gigantic prehistoric flying monsters that are "Rodan."

I guess it's because the good people at Toho really hit gold with those atmospheric mine sequences depicting men getting dragged under the water to their doom by giant bugs. As a kid watching this, there was something very uneasy about this concept.

The Rodan sequences were a lot easier to take because basically all we saw were sequences of mass destruction.

Another "uneasy" sequence as a kid was the newly-hatched prehistoric bird feeding on these insects. I really identified with the film's hero at this point and understood why he would fall into a state of shock after being witness to something as horrifying as this.

I'll be interested in seeing the original Japanese version of this film when it's released on DVD later this year.

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You don't have to wait Mr. Obit. You can get it the original Japanese version on DVD now from videodaikaiju.com!

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The bugs were cool. My favorite jump scene was when the bug showed up at the girlfriend's house. I didn't see that coming! Back in the mine, I was expecting something. But they don't show the bugs in the mine...at least not at first. But when they first appear at the house, I jumped a mile.

Brother Maynard, bring forth the holy hand grenade!

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The official names of the creatures in this movie are Meganulons, which are heavily based on the real extinct Meganeura species. They reappear in the movie Godzilla vs. Megaguirus in 2000, where they are actually seen in their dragonfly states.

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