Go-Go-Godzilla: #8 Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Japanese Name: Gojira Ebira Mosura Nankai no Dai-kettō, [Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas]
Director: Jun Fukuda
Studio: Toho
Year: 1966
Length:1h27

The Creature's' Story:

Godzilla was just having lovely nap, when Godzilla gets jolted with lightning. Godzilla hate getting shocked. Godzilla bust out of his rocky joint to find a stupid giant crab causing thunderstorm. 

Godzilla chuck boulder at Ebirah, Ebirah bats it back.  Godzilla chuck boulder at Ebirah, Ebirah bats it back. But it's not as fun as when 'zilla and new BFF Rodan played hackey rock. Crab-thing sucks, and he smells. Godzilla fry crab-thing, send Ebirah into retreat, only Ebirah big faker, pull Godzilla underwater. Stupid Ebirah, Godzilla from the deep.  Godzilla grab big rock and bash Ebirah with it. Crab-thing retreat for real this time.

Later, Godzilla spy a pretty lady. Kong told him about these. Godzilla not sure Godzilla get it.  Will sit and watch pretty lady. Pretty lady boring, Godzilla fall asleep.  A scream. What? BFF Rodan? No, stupid giant turkey vulture. Stupid bird. 'Zilla fry stupid bird. Oh no, more noisy human stupid birds. << Godzilla dance break >>.  Godzilla stomp and fry and swat noisy human stupid birds and stop them from throwing their stupid stinging poop at Godzilla.  Then little human mushroom dwellings start throwing stinging poop at Godzilla. Godzilla stomp their stupid little human mushroom dwellings.

Wait, what is stupid crab doing back here. Stupid smelly crab. 'Zilla teach stupid smelly crab to stay in stupid smelly crab's own lane. Godzilla dining on lobster claws tonight. 

Mothra? Who invite Mothra to Godzilla's seafood feast. Piss off Mothra. Godzilla territorial.  Mothra leave with basket of humans. Godzilla go for swim. Island go boom. Whatever.

The Human Story:
Missing seamen, psychics, yet another reporter, a tenacious brother, a dance marathon, a yacht, a yachtsman with a shotgun, an offscreen heist... all that convoluted plot and we're only 10 minutes in. 

A psychic tells Ryota that his brother, believed lost at sea is still alive. Ryota tries to get the officials to send out another search, he tries to convince the newspapers, to no avail. But a local youth dance contest has a yacht as a prize, but he's too late to join. He makes friends with two of the ousted dancers, Ichino and Nita, who take him to see real yachts, and they sneak aboard one, only to face down the barrel of a shotgun. The supposed owner of the boat lets them sleep the night, but when they wake up, Ryota has taken them out to sea. Turns out the "owner" is a bank robber who has also stolen aboard the boat, Yoshimura (Akira Takarada, playing in his fourth Godzilla film in yet a different role), a bank robber on the run . 

Out at sea, they encounter a storm, which riles Ebirah, a gigantic crustacean who destroys their ship.  They wash ashore on an island (Mothra's home?) manned by an evil Bondian villain's organization (The Red Bamboo) who have kidnapped Infant Islanders (where Mothra's from) to use as manufacturing slaves to make their yellow liquid from loal fruit. It keeps Ebirah away from their ships as they sail.

Our quartet of stowaways happen upon a beautiful islander, Daiyo, on the run from the Red Bamboo, who says that Ryota's brother washed ashore on Infant Island, but the islanders keep getting kidnapped.  Mothra is in a deep sleep and is not heeding their calls for assistance. They hide out from the Red Bamboo in a cave only to spy Godzilla sleeping half buried under a pile of rocks.

They decide they need to find a way off the island, and the only way is through the Red Bamboo. Yoshimura takes the kids and Daiyo into the compound armed with only a lockpick and a machete between them all. They discover the station is a heavy water plant for making atomic bombs. They flee, all escape but Nito is captured and thrown in with the other captured islanders.  Ryota gets tangled in a weather balloon and winds up on Infant Island, reuniting with his brother.   

As the Red Bamboo close in on the thief and the kid and the island lady, Ichino hatches a plan to wake Godzilla and sic him on the bad guys.  Nita hatches a plan with the Infant Islanders to make fake batches of the yellow liquid that wards off Ebirah. Ryota and his brother set to go rescue the Infant Islanders, rousing Ebirah as they cross the ocean. Good thing Godzilla's awake.

Godzilla fights Ebirah and wins. All our good guys meet up. Godzilla fights a giant vulture and wins, and then squadron of Red Bamboo fighter jets before stomping on the Red Bamboo base. The good boys rescue the Infant Islanders while the Red Bamboo mount their escape, taking the fake yellow liquid with them on their vessel.  Godzilla rampages all over their base and Ebirah smooshes the last of the Red Bamboo. The island is set to self-destruct, so the good guys mount their escape, as Godzilla and Ebirah fight in the water to surf music. The Islanders chant for Mothra's help. Mothra awakens, and saves the day.

Godzilla, Friend or Foe:
Godzilla returns back to more beast of instinct, seeing a giant creature and fighting it without hesitation.  But at the same time, if humans are around and not posing a threat, then I guess they're kind of like ants and he just leaves them alone.

So, friend-ish?

The Sounds:
Surf! Lots of surf sounds, from composer Masaru Sato.
Ebirah sound,s quite literally, like nails on a chalkboard, or car brakes whose pads have worn off.

The Message:
Don't play with your food?

Rating (out of 5 Zs): 
ZZZ - this one was all kinds of gonzo, but the plot, for all its far reaches, hung together fairly well. Love an evil nefarious organization. Do we ever see the Red Bamboo again [edit: No]?  A giant lobster may not be the most exciting or exotic looking monster, but it's a really good looking suit. Godzilla's suit is kind of baggy on him. It's like he lost a lot of weight and he's got a lot of loose skin. I don't like the dancing (again), or the playing catch with rocks (again!) but otherwise the fighting here seemed more acrobatic, with some flips and leg sweeps and tumbles. Yeah, just a groovy fun time.