Favorite Toho production without Godzilla?

Now that Frankenstein Conquers the World was released yesterday as a two disc special edition, the time has come to choose your favorite Toho production. To make this a little harder, all the titles on this list are films without Godzilla.

1) Atragon (1963)
2) Dogora The Space Monster (1964)
3) Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
4) King Kong Escapes (1967)
5) Lake of Dracula (1971)
6) Latitude Zero (1969)
7) Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People (1963)
8) Mothra (1961)
9) The Mysterians (1957)
10) Space Amoeba (1970)
11) Varan the Unbelievable (1962)
12) War of the Gargantuas (1966)
13) OTHER

 

Matango!

 

Haven't seen a lot of these movies, but you can't go wrong with miniature twins singing songs about a giant moth. "Mo-su-raaaaaaaaa".

I can only picture the board meeting where they came up with the concept. "OK gentlemen, we've had giant dinosaurs, apes, pterodactyls, three-headed dragons....we need a NEW monster. Let's brainstorm, shoot it around the room. Takashi, whaddya got?"
"Fuck it, giant moth?"
"BINGO! Run with that!"

 

War of the Gargantuas.

 

Paff's tale is exactly that kind of Mitch Hedberg / Steven Wright logic that is catnip to me.

Sadly, though, I have already eaten the mushrooms. Matango, without any hesitation.

 

Actually, I borrowed the premise from Dennis Miller's first standup album (back when he was still funny)

 

No Green Slime? I have the theme song in my MP3 player.

I hate to vote with out having seen Atragon or Mysterians, but King Kong Escapes is a lot of fun. Mad Scientist versus Giant Monkey, classic.

 

Actually it was Toei Company that made The Green Slime. Their name is too similar to Toho.

I really enjoy that movie and wish it was on dvd.

 

Much as I love most of these, I went with War of the Gargantuas. King Kong Escapes and Frankenstein Conquers the World are close behind for me.

 

SPACE AMOEBA aka YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE. One of my earliest TV memories - a Saturday afternoon in heaven...followed by few too many late night viewings.

 

king kong escapes

 

Latitude Zero??? You mean the ultra rare long lost movie very few humans have ever seen? Why is that on the list?

What about War in Space, one of their best epics from the creators of Godzilla? Why isn't that on the list?

 

Damn, you're right it was Toei. TCM's showed it a couple times recently but it's P&S, still good stuff. I wonder if they'll show it on TCM Underground any time soon.

War in Space is a Toho production though and features a leather glad girl chain to a Wookie so it certainly deserves its place.

 

I voted for "Other," that other being Rodan.

Plenty of other Toho titles not on the list, including: Battle In Outer Space, The War In Space, Orochi The Eight-Headed Dragon, Gunhed, Mikadroid, Sayonara Jupiter, Sazer-X, ESPY, The H-Man, The Human Vapor, Evil Of Dracula, The Vampire Doll, Princess From The Moon, The Three Treasures, The Lost World Of Sinbad, the Rebirth Of Mothra trilogy, and so on.

It's not so long lost any more. It came out on R2 DVD last year, and Media Blasters is working on a R1 release.

 

About the ones by Toho I've seen are the Godzilla movies, and I consider Mothra and Rodan part of that franchise since both monsters have made numerous appearances in Godzilla's movies.

 

Yeah, I vote Rodan, also. That's one of their best ever.

 

THE MYSTERIANS,a slam bang effects extravaganza with a rousing musical score and plenty of destruction for kids of all ages.ATRAGON looms pretty large for me too.

 

Lots of good choices there but I decided to vote for Mantango. For me, it's one of those films that I can always be in the mood to watch any time of the day. A fun film. I've never seen Lake Of Dracula though (any good?).

 

Of course I admit this list of Toho films I assembled is far from complete. Bear in mind with these polls, the maximum number of options that can be included are 20. We're encouraged to keep it as short and to the point as possible.

I just came up with these off the top of my head and attempted to represent some variety from Toho. I really do regret not including Rodan, since I did add Mothra.

Even if I included 7 more options, I'm sure some people would still complain about the selections, hence the OTHER option. Rodan should have been a choice here though.

 

War In Space, you mean the disco pulsating interplanetary royal rumble featuring Chewbacca's cousin with the pastel colored devil horns and the reworked Atragon vessel?

I borrowed that dvd from a friend when it came out last year and watched it once. Didn't find it to be one of their best epics, but maybe I need to give it a second viewing?