Attack of the Super Monsters

Title: Attack of the Super Monsters
Director: Toru Sotoyama, Tom Wyner
Released: 1983
Starring: Tom Wyner, Dan Woren, Robin Levenson, Cam Clarke, Mike Reynolds, Joe Perry

Plot: Set in the near future of 2000 were dinosaurs found to have been alive in a hidden underground world and have evolved to have intelligence on par with the human race and now freed from their prison and led by the Tyrannosaurus Rex Emperor Tyrannus set about reclaiming the Earth as the dominant species

Review: An amalgamation of the first four episodes of Dinosaur War Izenborg the middle installment of Tsuburaya Productions dinosaur trilogy between Dinosaur Expedition Born Free and Dinosaur Corps Koseidon the show would run for 39 episodes and takes a unique approach as it brings together traditional kaiju effects for the cityscapes, dinosaurs and vehicles while all the human characters are animated. 

Set in the near future of 2000 were dinosaurs found to have been alive in a hidden underground world and have evolved to have intelligence on par with the human race and now freed from their prison and led by the Tyrannosaurus Rex Emperor Tyrannus set about reclaiming the Earth as the dominant species. Now it falls to the D-Force to combat the threat whose members are cybernetically enhanced and with access to specialist combat vehicles. 

This of course isn’t the first time a tv show has had episodes combined to create a DTV feature with Thunder in Paradise having it’s two part episodes combined and released as films while the Planet of the Apes TV show spawned five of these movies even bringing back Roddy McDowall to play an aged Gallen who provided an opening and closing monologue to each film. The effect here though works surprisingly well and being TV episodes edited together the film is quick into the giant dino action and light on establishing the setup as it quickly sketches out the setup aswell as how the siblings Jim and Jem can bond and become the powerful entity known as Gemini. The team is also rounded out by Jerry and Wally who for the most part are there for comedic value even though by the end of the film Jerry is gearing up to make a heroic sacrific in a surprising dramatic finale to what otherwise is a fun and lighthearted slice of Kaiju fun. 

As to be expected from a Tsuburaya Productions the dinosaurs here are a mixture of models and suit work  and really are fun creations like the chaos they unleash on the city even if it lacks the polish of Godzilla movies especially not having a director like Ishirô Honda it means that alot of the sense of scale is lost while the fact that the dinosaurs can talk further adds to the goofy tone much like the dinosaurs abilities to mind control smaller animals like bats, dogs and rats who make up the swarms that are unleashed on the city alongside the chosen dinosaur of that particular episode. 

It’s a unique blend of styles and yet somehow works thanks to it largely leaning towards the camp and while editing four episodes together does create a slightly disjointed feel to the plotting you can’t fault how quick it gets to the giant monster action as a result. Sure it’s not going to be held up as shinning example of the genre but its quirky and fun enough to make it worth giving a watch especially with like minded friends.