Gamera vs. Guiron

""I'll bet it's a world without wars or traffic accidents!""

- Tom and Akio at various points in the film.

The fifth installment of the Showa-era Gamera films, released in 1969. Following in the footsteps of Gamera VS Gyaos, Guiron turns the kid-friendly elements Up to Eleven; in this film, for instance, the actual protagonists are children. The official American release of the film, from American International Pictures, retitles the film Attack Of The Monsters; a later dub by US TV Producer Sandy Frank re-instated the "Gamera Vs X" title.

Akio, his little sister Tomoko, and their American friend Tom spy a spaceship landing in a nearby field. Akio and Tom are investigating the ship when it suddenly launches, taking them with it and leaving Tomoko behind. As they leave the Earth's atmosphere, the children spot Gamera apparently coming to try to rescue them; however, the ship is too fast, and Gamera is quickly left behind (he does manage to protect them from an Asteroid Thicket, though).

The spaceship takes them to a planet called "Terra", on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. Upon arrival, the boys are menaced by a silver replica of Gamera's old foe Gyaos; but the monster's attention is soon attracted by another monster -- a dog-lizard whose forehead is one giant, protruding knife blade. The Gyaos is defeated by being chopped up into pieces, and the boys take shelter inside an underground complex. They meet two women, Barbella and Florbella, the only surviving members of their race, who explain to them that Terra has been all but wiped out by the "Space" Gyaos and that "Guiron" (the knife-headed dog lizard) is their only defense.

Although they seem nice, the alien girls are actually cannabalistic, and soon plot to put the boys into comas in order to eat their brains. However, probing Akio's mind, they learn about Gamera -- who soon arrives. The aliens release Guiron, who manages to stun Gamera and trap him at the bottom of a lake. Meanwhile, the boys wake up, realize the aliens' evil intentions, and try to flee -- only to accidentally release Guiron in the process. Now completely out of control, Guiron attacks the spaceship as the aliens try to fly away, then begins coming after the children. However, Gamera returns and fights Guiron to a standstill; the boys pitch in, somehow managing to fire a missile into Guiron's head, which Gamera ignites with his flame breath, destroying the monster. Gamera uses his fire breath to repair the spaceship and carries the boys home in it, where their families and friends (and lots of military and scientists) are waiting for them of what happened to the boys.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, click here.


 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Guiron's forehead can even pierce Gamera's Nigh Invulnerable shell (though it does take several hits to do so).
 * Actor Allusion: Kondo's glasses sliding down his nose.
 * Adults Are Useless: When Tomoko tries to tell everyone that the boys have been abducted by a Flying Saucer, no one believes her -- which is understandable, but then they actually scold her for lying. Only Kondo seems to take the girl seriously (and gets scolded himself for it). Even if he's only humoring her to spare her feelings, it still makes Kondo the most sympathetic adult character in the entire film.
 * Alien Abduction: A passive example, in that the boys entered the spaceship of their own free will and it just took off with them still inside. Of course, this may have been the aliens' plan in the first place.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking / What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Akio has an apparent aversion to "wars and traffic accidents".
 * Attack Reflector: Guiron's blade-face can reflect Gyaos' sonic spit-beam.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Gamera. As in most Gamera films, the first one is subverted, but later he gets another shot.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing / Cute and Psycho: Barbella and Florbella.
 * Bowdlerized: Space Gyaos' Rasputinian Death was edited out of the American International dub.
 * Counter-Earth
 * Family-Unfriendly Death: Kid-friendly or not, this film features Guiron defeating a Gyaos by chopping off its head then slicing the body up like a Thanksgiving ham. And this is shown on-camera. Sure, Gyaos' innards look like nothing more than blackberry jam, but still...
 * Flying Saucer: How Akio and Tom reach Terra, and how the Terrans plan to reach Earth.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Terrans love a boy with brains.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Tom's pretty good with that dart gun. He only misses for purposes of dramatic tension.
 * Improv Fu: At one point, Gamera swings on a huge horizontal pipe like it's a gymnast's parallel bars.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kondo is quite stern with the children; however, see Adults Are Useless above.
 * Last Of Their Kind: The Terrans, Barbella and Florbella.
 * Market-Based Title: Attack Of The Monsters
 * Mind Probe: The aliens use this to learn about Gamera. They also use it to see what kind of food they need to placate/drug the children.
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Kondo, ostensibly.
 * Stock Footage: In conjuction with the mind probing.
 * That Makes Me Feel Angry: Sandy Frank's dub invokes it almost word for word.
 * Token White: Tom, and later his mother.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Tom and Akio may count, what with entering a vessel from space and screwing around with the controls without a second thought.
 * Translator Microbes
 * Trash the Set: What Guiron does when unleashed for the final time.