Kaiju Movie Review: Ishirô Honda's Atragon

An adventure beyond your wildest dreams - as a Super-Weapon meets Super-Force with the fate of the Universe at stake! We review Ishirô Honda's Artagon, 1963.
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Summary: The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War ll Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface worlds only defence.
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SHADOWS: Michaela Urban, jay snigler, Kristin Hitron, Doug Sparks, Matthew Wolforth, Maurice Terenzio, Hal Remorse, Brian B, Dan D Doty, Paul Keating, Johnny Compton, Adi Wood, Rodney J Kelly, Chris Hewson, Andreas Buckley, Shaun Turcott, Todd Y., Symon O'Hagan, Allan Liska, Walter Durham, Rick Walz, Kristiyan Butev, Al Champagne, Dragonfyree, Robert Hedges, E. P. Haury, Spooky Robot, Mark Osborn, Dave Church, Travis Stephenson, Ossie Nelson, Mark Welsh, Michael Clark, Rachemus, Lightning Round, Ian Lewis, Cecelie, Jonathan Harrison, Colleen Crouch, Darren Le Noble, Melanie Atherton Allen, Gappasaurus, Chris Weakley, Joe Porter, Scott Nesmith, John L., Normand Richardson, Richard Sadler, Ken Smiley, John Hepp, Chantelle Corey, Joe Niedbala, Joseph Hines, Stephen Crane, Kali, Anthony Strocks, Sikander, Joseph Dougherty, Jasmine Shafer, goddessoftransitory, Michael and Heather Bailes, steve scibelli, Connor Brennan, Raven House Mystery, ChaosOverlordZ,
ACOLYTES: Robert Ornelas, Thomas Thaler, Richard R. Adams, Alan, Scott Johnson, Kenneth, Kholek92, Chris Spaseff, NelsonR, Kyle Olson,don H Andrews, Brian Gillen, Terrance Odette, Goosefoot, Brian Kidd, Christopher Nam, TomPiller, Coogrfan, TheZodMaker, Bryan White, C, Hester Grayson, Craig, Timothy Gonyea, Sean Manogue, Steve Dessent, Lou Faulhaber, IrritableBadger, Sean in Florida, Jim Kallaugher, Lisa Kuta, Walt Marsters, James Miers, Geoffrey of Clan Gunn, Peter Sondheim, Chris Anastasio, Tarami Bedona, Mark J. Matthews, Ariana Thompson, Andrew Hughes, Chris Baglin, Angelina Licchelli, Karl Bernhard, Picatea, Mary Whitcher, Rhea Fleming, Mason Highreich, David Gattis, Mark, Heather L., Larry Cloud, Rick Winters, Lloyd, Roger Edwards, Ann Knight, James J Kelly, David work, The Craven Fop, Brian T., Ch'aska Huayhuaca, Jenny Swindells, Arbie A, Ivo, Jon, Brett Hopkins, Joost, Tman, Fritz Rutz, Robert ALAN Bryan, Chris McGarel, Scott Underwood, Larry Willoughby, Mark Curtis, KwaidanFan, Daniel Adams, David Nevarrez, Dave Smith, Barbara Mosley, Mark Maillet, John Wick, Kenneth Carlson, Ron Klym, James Vance, Joe Goes Over, Tom Lanckman, Nancy A. Collins, Alex B, Gary Mercer, Janna Nicole, Clarence Pitre, james Steadman, Simon Ash, Thomas Brown, Chris Fischer, D R Wellington, Richard D'Ambrosia, Milton Knight, Michael Schmidt, Michael Dean Jackson, Dark_Roast, Gemma Crowley, Andrew Weber, Jim Rockford, Johnathan Henning, James Robertson, Nils Muninsheim, Albertus Magnus, Janne Wass, Robert Freeborn, David Conner, Ford, Amber Wesley, Karl Bunker, Tony Belmonte, Jim Smith, Mark Buckley, Uwe Marquardt, Terry LeCroix, Russ Chandler, Melissa Hayes,
Written and presented by Robin Bailes @robinbailes
Directed and Edited by Graham Trelfer
DARK CORNERS OF THIS SICK WORLD S13E36
#badmoviereview #DarkCornersReview #CultMovieReview

[@AmityvilleFan]

"The submarine is bizarrely unharmed by being blown up" - quote of the day.

[@Gappasaurus]

Reminds me of a line from a recent anime (and in the original Jp no less, but 100% instead to be outlandish & over the top): “Did you think killing me would be enough to make me die?” 😂

[@tskmaster3837]

Japanese is very literal and deliberate so that when it gets translated without being adapted, you get some real whoppers like: "People die when they are killed."

[@princecharon]

That one actually makes sense even with the translation, it's just that the one sentence gets taken out of context (it was part of a conversation about Shirou giving Excalibur's scabbard back to Arturia). Admittedly, it helps to know that phrases like 'he's so tough, he wouldn't die even if you killed him' were a common cliche in anime at the time, and maybe still are. It would lose something if it they tried to adapt it colloquially.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

So ed woodian

[@anlemeinthegame1637]

It makes me wonder how they translate "It is what it is" into other languages.

[@rsacchi100]

That's like something Yogi Berra might have said.

[@varanid9]

@@anlemeinthegame1637 "Wherever you go, there you are."

[@TheBeird]

My favourite dubbing moment? The Jackie Chan movie, City Hunter. He's driving along, gets cut off, so he sticks his head out the sunroof and yells "Have another Pina Colada!"

[@grapeshot]

I remember seeing this Kaiju on the movie Destroy All Monsters.

[@zsoltbartus169]

Yup, Manda is one of those Toho-Godzilla kaijus who never had a great spotlight, and definitely didn't earn enough of what she deserves, just appeared in one or two fullhauza type of big clash of kaijus movies. (I think they shouldve do more with Manda, and with King Caesar)

[@mikehunt4986]

@@zsoltbartus169 Manda is a female?

[@williamblakehall5566]

I always wondered "Why does the title of this movie sound like a brand of disposable razor?" As near as I could ever determine, "atragon" was meant to suggest "atomic dragon."

[@Gappasaurus]

While the original Jp title was “Undersea Warship”, according to Wikizilla, “the film's U.S. title Atragon, derived from Toho's international title Atoragon, seems to have been intended as a new name for Manda, combining the words "atomic dragon" or "Atlantis dragon." However, Titra's dubbing and AIP's promotional materials refer to the Gotengo by this name instead.”

[@AliceBowie]

Reminded me of Etrigan the demon from DC comics.

[@CassandrashadowcassMorrison]

Actually they have one of those. Its name is Agon (rhymes with "grown") and it stands for Atomic Dragon. It was an early TV show from Japan.

[@paultapner2769]

Funniest subtitling has twice happened to me at work when using microsoft teams, and I happened to have subtitles on. In one meeting I told a guy I'll keep in touch. And It came out as I'll keep you in trunks. No comment on that. And in another when my office first got the system and we were testing it out someone said to me that's a bit much, and it came out as I have a cat called Monica. I asked them the following morning how's your cat. But they'd already forgotten all about it.

[@Dontuween]

But it depends on the dub. "Atragon" was dubbed by Titra/AIP as with many other Toho features. Sadly, Toho now only offers us to the dreaded international versions which are far inferior to Titra. I would recommend watching the Titra editions where it could be found.

[@Gappasaurus]

Agreed 😁

[@sampoernaquatrain1710]

Double agreed. While you will hear lots of familiar voices from kung-fu movies on the International dubs, they lack both the heart and charm that the Titra/Titan dubs always give them.

[@danddoty3981]

Feel this was Japan's epic science fiction sub movie , just two years after VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. How did they top Irwin Allen? Their sub could fly.

[@orgonkothewildlyuntamed6301]

Seaview had a mini-sub that flew so maybe they got their idea from that?

[@danddoty3981]

@@orgonkothewildlyuntamed6301 No. The Flying Sub came second of VTTBOTS ( 65 - 66 ) This movie came out in 63.

[@TheKKVB]

Not Ishirô Honda's best movie, but it sure has one of the best special effects directed by Eiji Tsuburaya.

[@salvestrom]

We all live in a flying, Swiss Army submarine.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

There are quite a few intentional/unintentional dubs and subs out there, but I would recommend *The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West.* When *Star Wars: Episode III* came out in China, there were subtitles for the Chinese audience. Someone retranslated them back into English, whereupon we were gifted with Darth Vader saying "DO NOT WANTTT!!!" Well, someone did an _English dub_ of this English resubtitle track. I believe it is on KZbin for free.

[@malloid]

This looks fun. I will seek it out.

[@colleencrouch4346]

The funniest subtitles I’ve seen are on The Salamander. The film is in English, with English subtitles that look like they were done by a badly programmed voice recognition software. “Director of Counterintelligence “ comes out as Director of Countering Intelligence, and that’s one of the reasonable ones.

[@itowmyhome797]

Thank you

[@Marveryn]

i got a tingling of an idea of a possible remake of this story. First he a ww2 captain so the story take place in the 1960 or so. he sub was lost but he was rescue by the mu people who want to use him to attack the united state for using their nukes near their cities. They upgrade his sub to the atrogen and he starts a one man war against us shipping. That is someone from japan (love interest perhaps) convince him that the war was over and he should stop. Mu who didn't want him to stop unleash their greatest weapon A kaiju that they can barely control (which is why they didn't unleash it earlier cause their control of the monster was tentative. The kaiju rampage a bit the sub fight it, but its damage. In the process the kaiju hurts attack the mu city destroying it. Happy Ending !

[@rheahorvath9274]

Cool review Robin!!! You make me laugh! ♥️👍

[@ericalbany]

I wonder if Toshiba had to pay for the name placement?

[@carlwilkerson9722]

My favorite English dub of Japanese video ever is the one for the anime "Ghost Stories." You might know what I mean.

[@richmcgee434]

It's funny, granted, but the jokes were entirely intentional, not humorous because a sincere attempt at translation led to mangled English. Very different tone than a botched adaptation.

[@buzzawuzza3743]

It's even dopier than most dopey movies by not having an obvious hero to root for. Unless you're like me and rooted for Manda.

[@orchidcarpetcleaningrp6061]

Wonderful

[@orgonkothewildlyuntamed6301]

one of the few Kaiju movies whose title isnt the name of the creature

[@pierregirard1970]

I loooooooove that movie !!! Thanks!

[@vincetaylor6126]

lol,😊👍 another one ill have to see for myself thanks

[@Ynot101]

3:48 😂😂😂😂

[@matthewdavies2057]

The sub's name is the Go Tengo. So what does Atragon mean??

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Atomic dragon.

[@teammeteamus.8315]

The jokes in this really made me smile, after a miserable day. Thank you as always for your reviews.

[@euansmith3699]

The Mu Empire? I hear that they're justified, and they're ancient And they drive an ice cream van (Just roll it from the top) They're justified, and they're ancient With still no master plan (To the bridge, to the bridge, to the bridge now) "A403" 😄😄😄 "Gesundheit!" 😆😆😆 The destruction effects in this film look rather impressive. That closing stab in the guts really got me giggling.

[@Gappasaurus]

Wow, now THERE’S a band i haven’t thought of in decades 😄

[@teammeteamus.8315]

Oh no, the ear worm of that flipping tune!

[@AliceBowie]

You beat me to it. The KLF was truly awesome. You can find both versions of the White Room film on KZbin, as well as Rites of Mu. I used to have a copy of the original JAMMs record before Abba had it deleted. They deleted their entire back catalog and burnt their money. They still reunite every 10 years or so.

[@euansmith3699]

@@AliceBowie When they got sued by a farmer for stunning his herd of cows with their sonic weapon mounted on an armoured vehicle; that is so silly and metal it sounds like something from Tank Girl.

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

Manda pops up again in Destroy All Monsters & of course the Submarine gets a revamp in Final Wars. Very influential film for Japan

[@biffyqueen]

I love how utterly useless he is too. Like he eventually destroys a monorail, larval Mothra is more destructive.

[@connorbrennan4233]

​@@biffyqueen I still prefer him over Ebirah, Kamacaras, Gabara, and Minya.

[@kali3665]

Got the soundtrack to this film on vinyl, but I didn't know what the movie was because it was a Japanese album. But I did see Akira Ifukube's name scrawled on it, and I'll buy anything from him. Only when I got home did I learn it was from Atragon, and I loved it.

[@awfulmoviereviews6792]

It is good music, isn't it ?😎

[@kali3665]

@@awfulmoviereviews6792 Fantastic. It IS Akira Ifukube, right?

[@Godzilla00X]

Oh this must sound amazing on vinyl. Have some of his kaiju scores on records and he never sounded better

[@TheMadAfrican1]

The Japanese Captain Nemo is actually a great idea. It's like that poor Japanese soldier that got trapped on the island in the Philippines and kept fighting for his country years after WWII had ended. You can have a missing Captain with his sub and his men who do not believe or accept that the war ended, and you can bring in the Japanese themes of honour and their discomfort with the war.

[@SupremeGreatGrandmaster]

There were actually a number of Japanese holdouts. A new one would emerge every few years after the war.

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

The original ULTRAMAN has some pretty funny bits of captioning. It's hard to narrow down, but one of the best ones is in the episode "Brother From Another Planet," from an outrageous-looking space creature. "As you can guess, I'm an alien."

[@davidlionheart2438]

An Ishiro Honda film accompanied by an Akira Ifukube score is guaranteed solid gold entertainment.

[@bunkerzero]

Fun fact: Manda and the Atragon made it into the Toho Godzilla series!

[@midwestmonster9886]

The fight between them is recreated in the opening of Godzilla: Final Wars.

[@bunkerzero]

@@midwestmonster9886 yep!

[@henrybrennan]

"I was the thin one..." Better than average upload. Definitely on-point with the humor. Thanks!

[@ericjanssen394]

Funniest dub? Watched "Godzilla 2000" with an audience, and when excavators unearth a spaceship still buried in rock, which reawakens, levitates, and flies off, the whole audience cracked up at the officer who reports "Sir, did you see that flying rock go by?"

[@RavenHouseMystery]

Ishiro Honda was definitely a filmmaker ahead of his time. Like George Lucas, he had some amazing stories to tell but not the budget to fully realize them. Nevertheless, he has given us so many fun films and a whole new genre known as Kaiju. Comical English dubbing has always been a part of Japanese cinema, whether it was intentional or not. Woody Allen of course gave us the ultimate "comical dub" with "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" in 1967. However, I'd like to mention one of my "non-intentional funny" favorites. Towards the end of "Dogora (aka Dagora, The Space Monster)", there is a scene where the crooks are running away from the cops on a beach. At one point, we see the crooks running and an off-screen policeman yell, "Stop!". The dubbed voice is very nasal in sound, like the guy is yelling "Stooop!" with a head cold. My friends and I like to playfully reference this voice as belonging to "Sergeant Stuffed Up Nose".

[@varanid9]

I've always wondered if the ridiculous voices in those films was deliberate. It honestly made those films more entertaining than they often had any right to be.

[@rubberneckinc.8937]

You had me at Japanese Captain Nemo. "Oh that's what you meant by freezer cannon. I never would've guessed." Also that's an impressive f***ing submarine. #1!

[@johnsouto5221]

The original dub was better.

[@thribs]

So that explains Manda’s death in Godzilla Final Wars

[@Collector261]

You forgot to mention that the snakey dragon monster Manda would reappear for a second time in DISTROY ALL MONSTERS, where he teamed up with Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra to attack Tokyo.

[@nedludd7622]

The reporter going on the expedition at 3:40 is apparently played by Beavis in makeup. For dubbing, there is Woody Allen's "What's Up Tiger Lily?"

[@anthonymunn8633]

Probably my favorite subtitling is for an episode of the Ultraman series,where,as they Science Patrol are about to shoot a giant monster,the captain advises the shooter to "aim for the butthole!"!

[@SlothinAintEasy]

Jinguji kinda reminds me of this guy who didn’t know wwii ended til the 70s. Hiroo Onoda

[@Hewylewis]

The submarine is called the Gotengo. Shame you never reffered to it by name in the review.

[@jamescampbell39]

Which was also its name in Godzilla Final Wars where they froze Manda again and rammed him with the front spike

[@thrashpondopons8348]

One of the few Kaiju films to make direct reference to the 2nd World War.

[@SlothinAintEasy]

Was this the crazy snake dragon at the beginning of Godzilla final wars?

[@rohmarts]

Yes. Manda also appears in Destroy All Monsters.

[@julietfischer5056]

About Mu: The mythical idea of the "Land of Mu" first appeared in the works of the British-American antiquarian Augustus Le Plongeon (1825-1908), after his investigations of the Maya ruins in Yucatán. He claimed that he had translated the first copies of the _Popol Vuh,_ the sacred book of the K'iche' from the ancient Mayan using Spanish. He claimed the civilization of Yucatán was older than those of Greece and Egypt, and told the story of an even older continent. Le Plongeon got the name "Mu" from Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, in 1864, mistranslated what was then called the Troano Codex (now called "Madrid Codex") using the de Landa alphabet. Brasseur believed that a word which he read as Mu referred to a land that had been submerged by a catastrophe. Le Plongeon identified this lost land with Atlantis and, following Ignatius Donnelly in _Atlantis: The Antediluvian World_ (1882), identified it as a continent that had once existed in the Atlantic Ocean

[@julietfischer5056]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(mythical_lost_continent)

[@lurkerrekrul]

I saw this when I was little and for years, I couldn't remember the title or much about the plot. All I remembered where the submarines with the serpent weapons on the front, and that wasn't enough to ID this movie. I thought it was Atragon, but all the descriptions of it focused on the flying sub. It wasn't until I actually watched a copy that I realized it was the movie I'd been thinking of.

[@ShHeMiLeRe]

The movie was made in half the time they were usually made and it's still great and thoughtful. Hond helped Toho become the supreme monster factory in the world of cinema and he always wanted to tell a meaningful story too. In this case Japanese imperial nationalism (Honda and screenwriter Sekizawa were both drafted in the 30s and 40s). Those movies deserve better than crappy dub, ridicule and edits that remove scenes giving them meaning and ridicule like they're I hope they will become more and more obscure as I understood Toho expects them to be forgotten as better original versions are available. When Godzilla movies made their way into the US market for the first time in their unaltered versions (that was 2004) it didn't take long for them to either be declared masterpieces of cinema like Gojira or at least absolute classics of the genre up there with the best of the best. And some that were of lesser quality.

[@Gappasaurus]

That said, i’m pretty sure this is the official Toho international dub, so make of that what you will 🤨

[@ShHeMiLeRe]

I don't know if they could do much. 1964 Mothra vs. Godzilla had a much better dubbing and since then for quite some time Toho movies had much better export. Maybe because of Henry G. Saperstein.

[@toughbutsweet1]

I love some of the original dubbed movies because they are unintentionally hilarious and give the characters a personality that may otherwise be lacking. This of course only refers to the movies up to Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The Criterion dubs are boring and with those one has the choice to watch them in Japanese with subtitles which is the best in my humble opinion.

[@davejackson9016]

Justified and ancient...

[@70mmgomp]

This captured my imagination when I saw it at the Saturday Morning Pictures back in c.1968 at ABC Ritz in Luton!

[@grumpyoldwizard]

Neat Harryhausen Cyclops!

[@biffyqueen]

The first time I saw this I found it boring, but it grew on me. The Japanese sub is of course, much better (though lacking the brilliant "You're completely wrong" line). But yes, the plotline with the Admiral is fascinating and I think unique. I don't think the war is really talked about in other Toho movies, in particular the War generation vs the post War generation of Japanese.

[@varanid9]

You're right, Robin. The idea of a WW2 Japanese Captain Nemo still fighting the war long after it's over is fodder for an awesome story. I think, though, that, back in 1963 when this film was made, it was still too sensitive a subject for a nation still trying to recover from the effects of that war for it to delve too deeply into that subject. As a child of an American serviceman going to a school on an Army base in South Korea back in the '60s, I can tell you that WW2 was, in the minds of the world's public back then, as fresh as our current memory of the U.S. invasion of Iraq is to people today.

[@workingstiffdiogenes2195]

Saw this movie on "Way out Theater" when I was a kid. I loved it, but could never figure out what the Freeze Cannon was or what it did. Thanks for clearing that up. But next time, could you include a spoiler alert before you reveal the secret identity of the weirdo with no reason to be here?

[@johnsouto5221]

The new dub sucks, and this makes the original dub from A.I.P. much better.

[@achurst1070]

The 1969 Pippi Longstocking English dub features American voice actors for the Tommy and Annika characters with hilarious Long Island accents. I believe the voice actor for Annika was also an adult. It just adds to the unreal quality of the old films.

[@toughbutsweet1]

Also great unintentionally hilarious dubbing!

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

One of the Swedish characters is given a really broad cowboy voice. Though that one has to be a deliberate joke.

[@seanledden4397]

One of my favorite classic Toho fantasies! Jinguji's dramatic arc from Nationalistic warmonger to patriotic internationalist is really quite wonderful. Honda and crew were trying to repudiate Japan's militarism in World War II while saving national pride. I think they did a great job, all the while folding it into an enjoyable fantasy adventure. To have leaned more heavily into Jinguji's progression would have risked turning the movie into a lecture. - On a personal note I was living in Okinawa when this movie was made. I was 5 years old and part of an American Air Force family. Movies like this one are a big reason I fell in love with Japan.

[@robotrix]

Always wondered where Manda came from The interpreter from The Mysterians is high on my list.

[@stardog62]

It's been a couple of years since I watched it, but I don't think the sub was blown up, just trapped under a bunch of debris as I recall

[@markiangooley]

One relatively prosaic bit of dubbing that’s stuck in my head: “Take him! [pregnant prolonged pause] Mecha- [also too long a pause] Godzilla!” The absurdity is all in the timing. I forget if they were trying for a rough lip-sync.

[@m0nkeychemicals]

When the "British Joke" lands so perfectly :Chef's Kiss:

[@TheMadAfrican1]

I'm not even English and I loved it!

[@chuckmesser2202]

The dubbing in GAMERA VS. GUIRON has got to be the most entertainingly bad. The two actresses who played the villainous aliens were real standouts for the nasal midwestern twang they gave to their readings. I think Sandy Frank's people must have hired their voice talent right off the street. "Hey, you wanna make a few bucks? Do some voice acting in the movie? No, it's not porn. Honest."

[@richmcgee434]

"I mean, it could be porn if you prefer. We have a lot of films to dub and a surprising number of people complain about the actors moaning with a foreign accent. Probably look better on your resume than Atragon, honestly."

[@jonathanmulondo9206]

One of the most underrated Kaiju films

[@Madmax-rz5hz]

Some very witty asides there, youre on a roll lately

[@jackhamilton9604]

I watched this movie today and I was thinking about how Manda could have been used better, given that it's believed he was a mandate by Tomoyuki Tanaka/Toho and he deserved better. I would have had it explained in the backstory that when Mu sank he helped the Muans survive, doing things like bringing them materials to enhance their technology and in turn they worshiped him as their new God. And throughout the movie I would have had Manda take part in the destruction scenes (specifically the ones in the ocean, so for example the submarine isn't destroyed by water pressure, it's destroyed by Manda) I'd even give him the Mu Submarine's ability to fire red lasers (which he would do from his mouth) and the Mu submarines are there to guide him to specific areas. And in the climax instead of the Empress releasing him Manda confronts the prisons as he's coming back to Mu and so the Gotengo distracts him with the torpedos as happens in the movie. Where things would differ is Manda moves out of the way and keeps his eye on the Gotengo, seemingly let it burrow into the Mu, thats when he would attack it again, which I think would of added tension as I thought the Gotengo crew going in and destroying Mu seemed almost too easy. So when the crew comes back on board that's when they electrocute Manda to get him off and finally Manda would take the place of the final Mu submarine firing the red laser at the Gotengo which is finally frozen by the flying warship

[@fredblonder7850]

Of course it doesn’t freeze SEAWATER. The salt in the water acts as antifreeze.

[@biffyqueen]

Science!

[@random007nadir]

I wish I could remember what it was called, but some friends and I watched a VHS copy of a Hong Kong fantasy kung-fu movie in the 90s with subtitles that made frequent references to some "magic manure" everyone was searching for. It took us ages to work out they meant "magic manual", a book of special kung-fu techniques.

[@正典高井]

轟天号がムウ帝国に侵入した時、海水がなかったのは場所が動力室だからです。 ムウの宮殿より更に地下10キロメートルにありますから周りにはまだ海水が到達しないからです。 ちゃんと理にかなっていますよ。

[@theproplady]

I'm only familiar with this because they made an anime of it in the 1980s. "Super Atragon" or something like that.

[@ShHeMiLeRe]

I've actually grown to hate the reductive quasi-MST3K way this channel treats the entire genre, which at one point thanks to Eiji Tsuburaya had the most sophisticated effects work of its time and next to Disney the most advanced technology available (until the late 60s) but as the world gives the Toho films all the belated accolades and the number of fans watching the classics grows and keeps on growing this channel is stuck in the "haha you silly Japanese and your guy in suits and cardboard (sic) models" from decades ago. Which back then typically came from fans of stop motion animation (less all-encompassing but great in its own right). Now why the Godzilla (and friends) franchise is as strong than ever while all those gothic horrors are pretty much dead?

[@CassandrashadowcassMorrison]

Don't forget, Gene Autry (the legendary Singing Cowboy---not to be confused with Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys who also sang OR with Singin' Sandy (who was played by John Wayne).... I am Ramblin, Rose...GENE AUTRY and his Lusty Radio Ranch Cowboys were the first to battle the Empire of Mu (not to be confused with MOO) in 1935's THE PHANTOM EMPIRE!

[@alandhopewell]

That would have to go to the line from GAPPA, THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER: "The monsters are destroying the city; fortunately, it's the colored section."

[@LSOK38]

"He created the world's greatest submarine." You mean he created the "Seaview"?: Holy Admiral Nelson, Batman!!!!! (They even have a flying sub WOW!)

[@JeffreyDeCristofaro]

One of those vintage Kaiju films I missed watching during my childhood. Too bad Manda - who is a VAST improvement over Reptilicus - didn't get any more films apart from guest appearances in Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla: Final Wars (and no, I'm not counting recycled footage from All Monsters Attack and Terror of Mechagodzilla).

[@rsacchi100]

Good point about "Truth". As the old Cold War joke went; "Pravda means "truth", but there is no truth in Pravda." I don't know about the funniest, but in the closed caption for "The Producers", the original, when the German hums "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen", the closed caption identifies it as "Lili Marlene".

[@paulforder591]

Bad dubbing, yet good special effects courtesy of Eiji Tsuburaya, and an absurd yet enjoyable plot. Saw this on TV when I was a kid. Does a subtitled version of Atragon exist on DVD? 📀😆😸

[@colleencrouch4346]

Funniest subtitles I’ve seen are on The Salamander. Looks like badly programmed voice recognition software that no-one proofread.

[@madahad9]

It's nice see a channel on Pluto TV dedicated to the Godzilla series. I grew up on most of them as a kid but only saw them in these horrible English-language dubbed versions. It's obvious that very little effort went to the process of translation or finding actors who had any vocal talents. It was refreshing to finally see them in their original form and made some of the lesser films (Son of Godzilla to name one) much more enjoyable to watch. I cannot recall if I've ever watched this particular film. I recognized the creature from Destroy All Monsters, but I have no recollection of seeing this. If I did it obviously made no impression on me. Not all those Japanese monster movies were classics.

[@CSLucasEpic]

For context, the Mu Empire is a legenday los civilization in the lore of several Asian countries. Its basically if some dude in a western film says he comes from Atlantis.

[@Torgo-and-the-Lucifer-Cat]

"it's a freezer cannon", "what's it do?", "Heats stuff up...whatta ya THINK it does, num-nuts?!?!?"😂

[@davidromeroblaya7920]

It's like the movie will be the japanese "20000 leagues under the sea" but some sad producer said: "But... Where is the kaiju?".

[@TheRealNormanBates]

"C'mon, Muu agent! Tell us everything you know!" "Don't have a cow, man!"

[@brianlawton8172]

Always had a soft spot for this non godzilla entry. I have it on dvd, an overseas blueray and old bootleg copy with the original A.l.P opening credits. Thanks for posting.

[@mikehunt4986]

It's a shame that everybody on KZbin reviews these old Toho movies with their subpar and sometimes even atrocious "international" English dubs, instead of reviewing them with their alternate English dubs which were always superior. (In the case of "Atragon" it would be the AIP English dub.) For those of us who remember watching these movies in the theater or on TV during the 70s and 80s it is the alternate dubs that are nostalgic for us, not this shit.

[@franzferdinand2]

It's not the funniest, but there's a line from the English dub of Fist of Legend where the way a judge says "I find these proceedings to be...ridiculous," that has stuck with me for decades now.

[@rondemkiw4492]

The subtitling in the Russian film THE ROAD TO THE STARS is hilariously bad.

[@fredflintstone7943]

Steamy "My,my"!!! You are the best! I truly wish I had the finance to support you. Maybe some day! Keep up the amazing work!

[@DarkCornersReviews]

Your kind words brightens the dark corners of our hearts

[@fredflintstone7943]

@@DarkCornersReviews kind words indeed, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to respond!

[@glenmcculla6843]

None of these justified ancients of Mu even drive an ice cream van. What a swizz. Though I suppose when you've got a freeze ray there's little call for that kind of thing.

[@BoneSkull94]

Even for bad dubbing some Godzilla films fives you no exception.

[@LSOK38]

What they really need is to contact the showrunners at Superpower Beatdown. I can see it now Manda vs Reptilicus... Film at 11:00!

[@warggrim5391]

Jinguji: The time has come to be proud of Japan's navy. Me: Too bad half of it is at the bottom of the Leyte Gulf.

[@freakyzed8467]

Told my wife I had special energy and she couldn't hurt me. She tickled me while our dog sat on my chest. Turns out that energy isn't special at all!

[@patanouketgersiflet9486]

When it comes to funny subtiting done right, can't beat the Monty Python and the holy grail opening credits, with swedish llamas and all.

[@LangwidereLMFT]

I think Manda would fit quite nicely into the Monsterverse. We need more aquatic kaiju.

[@dbsommers1]

Loved that ship design. Inspired many other futuristic battleships in Japanese entertainment.

[@Greywolf1066]

Mu sounds exactly what a lot of conspiracy channel’s bang on about, don’t let them see this film…

[@laurahertzman943]

Wow. This is Gamera vs Gurion levels of bad dubbing!!!!!

[@ivanelgharbi5861]

Hahaha you will never find my submarine, searching the seas! , because it can fly.

[@bethd1480]

Never understand why they killed all the people. I don't know if those two reporters could get any creepier?

[@guitarbrad]

There was a Japanese film once - I can't remember the title; I saw it years ago. The dub was so bad, in one scene a man was hammering a nail and the sound of the strike occurred when the hammer was in the air - opposite the nail.