Castle Bravo: A Godzillaverse Retrospective

It's time for the Kentuckiest monster movie ever made. Godzilla's taking a break for a bit, but director Ishiro Honda will stay busy, with Rodan being the first of many non-Godzilla films to eventually become connected to Godzilla himself. It's honestly a better spiritual sequel to the original Godzilla than the actual original Godzilla was. One thing's for sure, neither of us are taking any suitors to the ol' earthquake pit anytime soon. That's not a euphemism. Stay away from earthquake pits.

Godzilla sees a quick turnaround with a new sequel from a different director. It's an attempt at capturing the magic of the first film, but falls short in both execution and message. Interestingly, this is the only movie in our first season of Castle Bravo that comes from a director other than original Godzilla director Ishiro Honda, and we think it unfortunately shows. Still, it's a fun movie in its own way, so grab your nearest Polish paleontologist and strap yourselves in for a weird ride.

Our series begins where the film series begins: the original 1954 Godzilla. We talk about the historical context of the movie's release, explain the origin of our show's name, and tell the story (as best we know it) of director Ishiro Honda. That last part is important, because Honda's works comprise almost the entirety of our first season of Castle Bravo, and also lay the foundation for what would eventually become one of the largest worlds in cinema history. Pun maybe intended.

With Season 1 currently in production, it's time for Derek and Charlotte talk the basics of the upcoming series. Call it a teaser, a preview, a trailer, or an explainer, but we call it Episode 0.