The Gamera “cheesecake” shot. He/She/It has always been ashamed of it, but they needed the money.
In Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe (1995) the Gamera series finally gets an upgrade: a better, even coherent story. Perhaps a reboot of the Gyaos from Gamera vs Gyaos (1967) of nearly thirty years previous, this time we learn from an ancient inscription found buried in Gamera’s shell that the Gyaos appear to be bio-engineered weapons which seem to have escaped the control of their makers thousands of years previously. In desperation, the no-doubt well-meaning creators then built Gamera, or perhaps better Gameras, to defend humanity against the Gyaos; incidentally, they included telepathic communications devices so that, apparently, anyone wearing said device can share in Gamera’s injuries. Oh, and cheer him on.
Which, silly as it sounds, is oh so much better than the Gyaos from outer space story, thematically speaking. Even the cheering on is now done by a teenager who can act, rather than a sub-ten year old who shrieked loudly, and then sang the Gamera theme song, which made my Arts Editor bury her head in the couch cushions. Which is all a bit unfair, as the kids didn’t do too badly in previous installments, but the teenagers are just a bit more believable.
The Gyaos, of which there are three babies this time, come equipped with what appears to be a noise-generated laser beam (feel free to say “What?” here) which slices off pieces of Gamera, while Gamera’s ability to blow flame out his mouth has been transformed into explosive fireballs, which are actually mildly impressive; and Gamera’s mode of flying, still a rocket spinner, has also been upgraded to be more impressive. However, there’s little improvement beyond that: a guy in a rubber suit vs what might be hand puppets. But if you’re one of Gamera’s fan club who worries about his booze problems, his eyeballs remain clear in this episode.
Overall, the improved story, a couple of scenes which had my Arts Editor exclaiming, and the much better drawn characters, makes the entire production feel more adult, although we occasionally had trouble keeping all the characters straight. For those who care about tradition, the old slogan (“Gamera, friend to all children!”) was omitted, but Gamera does put himself on the line for a screaming brat, so all’s well and good on that front.
Should you see it? That depends on how much punishment you deserve for your last malfeasance. It’s not nearly as bad as previous episodes, as it appears whoever owned the copyright devoted a few more resources to the storytellers than normal. But the special effects are still a disappointment 25 years on. I guess I’m saying that I enjoyed it more than the other episodes, but I still cringed a lot.
