Godzilla vs. Megalon (Japanese: ゴジラ対メガロ, lit. Godzilla Against Megalon) is a 1973 kaiju film written and directed by Jun Fukuda, who based it off of a treatment written by Shinichi Sekizawa.
Dub history[]
A year after they had dubbed Godzilla Vs. Gigan, Toho International commissioned Axis International to dub the films they had planned to export that year. Axis International's dubbing lineup had changed considerably due to a number of factors, the most major being Barry Haigh and Matthew Oram establishing their own dubbing groups, and Ted Thomas' scandals involving the firing of Michael Kaye and Barry Haigh, as well as infidelity during his marriage to Linda Masson, which resulted in divorce and Linda leaving Axis to dub exclusively with Matthew Oram and Barry Haigh's dubbing groups for the rest of her dubbing career.
Although they were now working with a much smaller amount of dubbers than before, It can be assumed that Ted Thomas and Ron Oliphant easily adjusted to producing the dub given that the film had a much smaller number of live action actors compared to Godzilla Vs. Hedorah and Godzilla Vs. Gigan. The small number of dubbers and the recent spike in new Hong Kong-based dubbing groups also meant that Ron Oliphant, who had only played bit parts due to his script writing duties, finally got to dub a major role, that of Agent Black. Assumedly for similar reasons regarding the amount of dubbers, this would be Warren Rooke's first dubbing role in a Godzilla film, and one of Chris Hilton's earliest dubs as a lead hero, something that he would be well known for later in his dubbing career. The English dub also marks Barbara Laney's last known appearance in an Axis dub, and the only other dubber from the birth of Axis International to appear in this dub besides Ted Thomas.
After the dub was completed, the English dubbed export cut of Godzilla Vs. Megalon would be released throughout the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Southeast Europe. In 1977, Cinema Shares bought distribution rights to the film and released it in North America via its English export dub; and although Cinema Shares originally released the film uncut for a short amount of time, It would soon be recut in order for the film to receive a G rating. In the United States, due to the popularity of Vs. Megalon both theatrically and the US cut's now erroneous status as a public domain film, It can be assumed that Axis International's dub for Godzilla Vs. Megalon is the one of the most common, or the most commonly heard English dub of a Godzilla film.
Dub cast[]
| Character | Original actor | English dub |
|---|---|---|
| Goro Ibuki | Katsuhiko Sasaki | Chris Hilton |
| Rokuro Ibuki | Hiroyuki Kawase | Barbara Laney |
| Hiroshi Jinkawa | Yutaka Hayashi | Warren Rooke |
| Agent Black | Kotaro Tomita | Ron Oliphant |
| Agent Brown | Ulf Otsuki | (unknown) |
| Emperor Antonio | Robert Dunham | Ted Thomas |
| Seatopian radar operator | Ralph Jesser | Chris Hilton, Ron Oliphant |
| JSDF commander | Kanta Mori | (unknown) |
| Truck driver | Gen Nakajima | (unknown) |
| Truck driver's assistant | Sakyo Mikami | Warren Rooke, Chris Hilton |
| Asuka Island test announcer | Eisuke Nakanishi | Ted Thomas |
| Narrator | Eisuke Nakanishi | Ted Thomas |