Yongary

dk

Hello! I usually am at the Alien Covenant site, but like Godzilla as well.

Sorry if this is old news, but there is a Korean made movie called Yongary on the new MST3K series. It is obviously a Godzilla rip off and the rif***e from the MST3K crew is gut bustingly funny! Worth a watch. There is even a dino dance scene.

Anyone seen it?

dk

Here is a taste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvjt4BVOR8Y

G. H. (Gman)

I own the Blu-ray of the American cut of the film (which is now, unfortunately and tragically, the only cut left in existence) but never watched the MST3K riff. I know it was part of the new season though. The movie is awful, so it's right at home on MST3K.

dk

Indeed it somehow seemed to get "lost". I would encourage watching the MST3K cut- they make awful movies fun to watch. Yongury is a cut above the rest imo. 

G. H. (Gman)

The Korean version got lost when Keukdong sent the original materials of the film to AIP--They had no experience in distribution and clearly didn't expect the original materials to get butchered by AIP for the American cut.

All prints of the original version have since been lost and now AIP's version is all that's left.

Ultrazero80

dk- Did you know that there's a remake of this movie?

dk

Dragon King Ultrazero80 I was unaware of a remake until now. I think the movie should have ended with the kid and monster dancing together- kind of a Puff the Magic Dragon kind of thing perhaps.

G. H. (Gman) Interestingly, many of the details you mention are also acknowledged in the MST3K cut. 

G. H. (Gman)

Dragon King Ultrazero80,
There's actually two very different versions of the remake. There's the 1999 version, Yonggary, which has never been released on home video, even in South Korea. And then there's the 2001 "upgrade edition" which re-shot over 60% of the movie with an altered story line (aliens, putting Yonggary in a heroic role) and new effects sequences. Yonggary: 2001 Upgrade Edition was released on home video in the US as Reptilian.

Ultrazero80

Gman- I actually knew that there were two versions. I wish that someday we get to see the original version.

dk

Are the remakes of a crummy movie any good? I like the spirit of the original and it was enjoyable with the MST3K treatment- but is the remake just another Godzilla movie or something different?

Ultrazero80

dk- I haven't seen the remake in full, but from what I've seen, it's REALLY BAD.

G. H. (Gman)

dk,
If it improves on the original, I think any remake could be solid. That's not the case here.

The remake was the most expensive South Korean production at the time. It was an odd technique--They built suits and miniatures for the production, but completely overlaid and replaced the suits with some of the worst, full CGI monsters ever put to film. (Which is a shame, because the suits were really good looking...) Below is one of the better shots of the CG Yonggary:

The movie is considered something of a joke in its home country. I would say the remake is much worse than the original based on the fact it feels like a SyFy TV movie. As awful as the original film is, at least it felt like a theatrical motion picture of the time period.

riggzamortis86

The MST3K entries on any kaiju film are great. If anybody didn't know they did over several giant monster and Japanese sci-fi movies. Heres to name them and in there series entries of MST3K.

The KTMA series was just on a local UHF cable station. None of these aired on Comedy Central or Sci-Fi channel in the 90's so I wont include them.

212 Godzilla vs Megalon

213 Godzilla vs The Sea Monster

302 Gamera

304 Gamera vs Barugon

306 Time of the Apes

308 Gamer vs Gaos

310 Fugitive Alien

312 Gamera vs Guiron

314 Mighty Jack

316 Gamera vs Zigra

318 Star Force-Fugative Alien 2

816 Space Prince

819 Invasion of the Neptune Men

909 Gorgo

Then of course theres 111 Reptilicus which is a giant monster movie

Then Yongary. But one must mention that even though these comedians riff harshly on these movies, they do it with love. They have the Gamera episodes on a box set and the special features have great insight on the movies that come from japan. I recommend these episodes to any kaiju fan with a sense of humor.

dk

riggzamortis86 Agree. The cast definitely does their homework and research for each movie. They do come off as labors of love.

G. H. (Gman) That is a nice looking updated picture of Yongary. 

riggzamortis86

One of the major reasons I was a MST3K fan was because of season 2's open theme song where you see Godzilla riding his tail from Godzilla vs Megalon. I waited every week to hopefully see that episode. It wasn't until the episode went out on DVD that I finally got a chance to see it! But along the way I fell in love with that show.

dk

riggzamortis86 Ha- I know that intro! I have several seasons and shorts but it gets hard to track the chronology- they (Mike and Kevin) actually talked about that very thing in the extras in Merlyn's Magical Shop of Wonders (I think it is called).

riggzamortis86

@dk Some epsiodes actually give you the episode entry. But there are multiple sites that give you the full episode list with names of the movies and what channels they were on and there is a MST3K episode guide book created from the original cast themselves, although it only goes up to season 7. I like the way the box sets are set up for the most part. Each one has multiple epsiodes from different seasons. Its great when you love both Joel and Mike as the main characters.

yes you are right with the DVD special feature on Merlins Shop Of Mystical Wonders. Kevin and Mike go into detail on how the show is written.  Great episode, cant believe it was supposed to be a kids movie!

dk

If anything- the lunches were epic!

The King of the Monsters

To give you an idea of how great the suits looked before they replaced them with terrible CGI, here's a picture.

dk

Those suits look great. I wonder if they went with CGI because they thought it was the best new thing. 

G. H. (Gman)

^Essentially. They thought they could break into the international market if they replaced the suits with CG.

Ultrazero80

I didn't know they made a suit for Cyker.

dk

G. H. (Gman) That worked out just great when they did The Thing based on Carpenter's early 80s film lol!

G. H. (Gman)

Dragon King Ultrazero80,
Yes, they made two Yonggary suits and one for Cyker.

dk,
It's the quick shift of CG as a filmmaking tool to a marketing tool. And it's only gotten worse.

dk

I am fine with CGI if it looks good but if things are all lined up with practical effects and tossed away for "this is the next big trend", it doesn't work very well. I guess I should go geeze.

dk

LOL! Just watched it again and the rif***e is great! In one scene, Yongari just seems to be clumsy and the team refers to him as the "Mr. Magoo of monsters".