The Classic Kaiju Topic: 33 Kong Super Special!!!

[BrandonDaCollector]

Oh man look at My Header, I love it So, I've been saying that I'm going to start My own Kaiju Topic that focuses on classic monsters. The time period is the 1920s thru the 2000s which is the Classical, Showa, Heisei & Millennium Era. I consider 2006's Gamera the Brave the last original Japanese Kaiju film and 2008's Cloverfield to be the last of the classic American monster film even though it would be later part of a Multiverse storyline in the 2010s. Anything that came out in 2010 and beyond talk about that in My MonsterVerse Topic here ---> http://www.dctoyrevolution.org/general-discussions/monsterverse-let-s-talk-godzilla-vs-kong-t1085.html or if you prefer Packer's Movie Trailer Topic here ---> http://www.dctoyrevolution.org/general-discussions/this-thread-has-not-yet-been-rated-movie-trailers-t1254.html because there's a lot of good stuff that the majority is by us and I have provided a lot of great content there and besides, Packer is the one that sparked the interest of this subject cause Monsters & Kaiju has always been a fun thing for Me since I was a youngster. Once I see people talking about stuff I like cause most of the time I'm alone in My fave subjects just not here on this board but in general then I begin to talk about them

I know i covered a lot in PB's Movie Trailer Topic and so did he but I felt with most of those entries were incomplete and out of order and with a genre that is so exciting as this there is so much more to say and to show the excellent visuals. I love visuals and surely you know that by now With Monster & Kaiju films, there's a lot of great stuff, I love the music of course, the posters of Japanese Kaiju films which your gonna see a lot of'em plus much more including specials of UNMADE FILMS and trivia which I love that category So this topic will have a different beginning. I'm not going to begin it with 1954's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, nope I'm going to start it with one of the first monster films...no no no, not 1922's Nosferatu, Monsters like that will be elsewhere



No, it's 1925's The Lost World that paved the way for countless monster movies for about a century




It was originally written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912 who was a very brilliant man that so many people nowadays don't mention. My Grandma MiMi really liked his work



The film is about paleontologist & Professor George Edward Challenger Challenger leading an expedition of scientists & adventurers to a remote region with an epic plateau far deep within the Amazonian jungle to confirm his claims that the original rulers of the planet Earth...DINOSAURS still exist



While this may seem like a first Cryptozoogical film, indeed it maybe but it was the first of the kind to present Dinosaurs and they're not presented like animals but since this was still the classical age of truly not knowing much about most of the few amount of species discovered, they are like monsters



Now I said in PB's Movie Trailer Topic that I never seen the movie, only clips. Well just recently I finally watched it and it was very good. I like silent movies, such a focus on music which sadly most of today's society tunes it out or never acknowledges how great music is in films and because of that they miss such extra fun...its always been a great fun part for Me ever since I was a youngster and I'm glad of it Now the film is made excellently with such a great story that is all-too familiar by now but this was the first time it was ever done on film I love the stop-motion special effects and the posters & artwork was done rather well, in fact during these classical times were some of the most extravagant



What I plan on doing for each movie entry is to have bios & stats of every creature within them. I have done a similar thing in the MonsterVerse Topic so if you have seen that then you'll know what to expect here. Here's some cool stills, pictures and small bios for the fauna from the movie I know a lot about Dinosaurs, I've considered Myself an amateur Paleontologist The creatures that is depicted in this film are stop-motion were based on the artwork of Charles R. Knight. Some of the dinosaur models however that were used in the film came into the possession of famed collector Forrest J Ackerman. On many occasions, Doyle has mentioned that Professor Challenger was his favorite character that he created, NOT Sherlock Holmes

Here's a sketch of an Allosaurus near the beginning of the film which was based on a sighting



The unknown region of the continent did have the landscape what one would imagine that of prehistoric times



A 23 foot wide Pteranodon is the first animal that the explores seen confirming that Challenger was correct It caught & ate a baby Toxodon which is an ungulate mammal similar like a cross between a Rhino & Hippo.



The team along with the Chimps (only Monkeys are in South America, not Apes) is also being spied on by Homo Erectus aka The Ape Man This was a prehistoric human




If you know classic Universal Monsters then you can clearly see that this is the precursor to all of that great makeup



Trachodon or Anatosaurus which is synonymous with Edmontosaurus is seen in the film. they are depicted as bipedal and not all fours being a quadruped as well as a biped. Their size looks accurate about 25 feet in length and is depicted as a plant eater like it is theorized to be.



Agathaumas & Stegosaurus are seen in the film as well as Triceratops. These actually look pretty accurate in size & design




One thing they knew already was that the specie was a caring parents



The iconic Sauropod (Lizard Feet) that is known as Brontosaurus is a major player in the film. This is a long while before the controversial name & specie change however the name is now valid as another species again in recent times It looks fairly accurate of how it would appear for the next several decades.



The Allosaurus is the first Theropod (Beast Feet) that is seen as a major monster meat eater and really doesn't look as accurate as others. The size of 25 feet long & 15 feet high looks about right however.



The dino fights Agathaumas in a big battle



The Tyrannosaurs Rex is presented as an even bigger monster and is way bigger than the specie's known length of 47 feet and being 7 tons. It's presented with three fingers like in future films including 1933's King Kong. Allosaurus has three figures however scientists would find T-Rex cousin species Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus with two fingers but it wasn't confirmed till they found a complete skeleton with a forelimb with two fingers till 1989, 35 years ago this year



A Brachiosaurus appears in the film and fights the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The specie is about the actual size about 80 feet tall but he is missing his nostril bump on his head.




So the big part happens where Challenger captures a Brontosaurus to prove to the world that Dinosaurs still exist. The unthinkable happens as the animal escapes



So this might seem like an age old scenario which it is but this predated 1932's novel of King Kong by Delos W. Lovelace which was requested of his good friend Merian C. Cooper which they hurried and it into a film as a major epic in the now era of sound



The Brontosaurus runs amok causing havoc which again, he is presented as a monster, I personally believe this wouldn't happen. Sure, they would be aggressive if provoked but they would be more scared than anything IMO.






Here's the trailer



If you want to see this masterpiece of a first Monster & Dinosaur movie then look no further as here it is for free



Here's a much longer colorized & enhanced version



Now there has been remakes & inspirations of this fine story including 1960's The Lost World as well as 1997's Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World




In fact, the Jurassic Park sequel had a similar situation of a Dinosaur escaping into a large city scenario however the climax was far different then the 1925 version as is was written by famed iconic author Michael Critchon plus the animal differed as well as it was a T-Rex





I hope you liked & enjoyed this first entry within My Kaiju & Monster Topic. There will be a lot of great content and stuff to come, a lot of it your not gonna expect which I plan on updating this topic like once a week or so which hopefully I can can keep up to plan here My next entry will be 1933's King Kong & Son of Kong

[BrandonDaCollector]

As I said before at the climax of 1925's The Lost World...1933's King Kong is next

Merian C. Cooper is the man who is responsible for making King Kong a realty...without him there would be no giant monsters, Kaiju, Godzilla...NOTHING So many people do not acknowledge the most important things. He was a writer, director and producer as well as a military officer and adventurer. One thing that is very crucial about him is that he had a dream in which a giant gorilla attacked New York City and he wondered what would happen if a Komodo Dragon fought a gorilla which was great that a man his age was thinking like this...



after that he was very creative and spent the years of 1929 & 1930 writing the story that would become King Kong



This is Merian C. Cooper



And this is the original novel of King Kong from 1932



Now I'm about to show the 1933 movie in major detail, there was only one specie of Dinosaur that wasn't in the film, it was a Triceratops in which Kong fought a trio of them. Here's a classical depiction of the species, notice how much it looks like the depictions of them in 1925's Lost World that I began this Topic with



Here we go with the movie...get ready for a very classical visual journey





Here is one of the American Posters...



here's one of the totally awesome Japanese Posters, look at that difference, even then they looked superb



I first saw this film long ago in the early 90s I believe particularity 1992 so this wasn't actually the first film I saw of Kong that I'd watch. I recall very vividly when I was at My Grandpa's friend's house on Hampton & Arsenal, Chuck Wallace. They were doing their talking and stuff that adults do or did then and I sat in his recliner chair and he had it on TV which was the colorized version. Also I recall how'd I go down his basement and see his naked babe posters on his walls Yeah, I was a bit of naughty boy too which I'm glad of it So the first Kong movies that I'd actually see that would actually be 62's King Kong vs. Godzilla and then 67's King Kong Escapes that My Grandparents & Mom recorded for Me and then 76's King Kong & 86's King Kong Lives which I believe My Grandma rented them both for Me over at Annie Burke's Daughter's Movie Mogul which all of that was in the mid 80s So seeing the original after them was still okay because I still saw it at a younger age and it still didn't seem too far away especially since I appreciated Universal Monsters because there really was no difference in My young mind since they were black & white. As I matured I began to really appreciate how great this 1933 King Kong film is

Before I get any further, here's the iconic movie trailer



So this is THE movie that started the King Kong franchise of media for nearly a century and truly one of the most important movies because it was the first that depicted giant monsters If you've never seen the original King Kong then I think it's about time because this was the first monster film of the kind with sound It's truly a horror film with a ton of stuff happening and one can't help but wonder why must there be such havoc especially during these times of the 1930s but then again, ever since humanity was created there was turmoil or better yet since the creation of life such as single cell lifeforms, there's always been the factor of "kill or be killed"...it's just the way life is which I don't think many people ever stop to think to their-selves about this. So the big story goes as film director Carl Denham leads an expedition aboard The The S.S. Venture, a huge tramp steamer....



To travel to the uncharted Skull Island in order to film his next movie on location rather than at a movie set. Denham along Captain Englehorn, first mate Jack Driscoll, leading lady actress Ann Darrow among a whole host of crew members that really has no clue what they about to get into



When the crew arrives on the mysterious island, Ann is kidnapped by the Tribal Natives for a sacrifice to their god and only deity they know, the giant gorilla Kong

As before, I'm going to include as many of the creatures in the film as possible. The location of these magnificent entries is on Skull Island which is a lost, unknown continent off of the coast of Indonesia within the region of the Pacific Ocean.

"Skull Island, the land where God did not finish creation." — Bill Randa





First here is the main entry

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive, a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!" — Carl Denham (King Kong)



Kong was a huge deal. Hollywood went crazy over apes from then to the 70s because Gorillas were actually Cryptids and stuff of legends at one time. They almost had a Bigfoot legacy till their discovery. It was when explorers heard the stories of "Ape Men" in the Jungles from the natives. Well, they didn't believe it. Then they found them and found Chimps, Orangutans and so forth. It was a huge, I mean huge thing back then. That's why Hollywood had that craze with King Kong and The Three Stooges had many gorillas in them, Universal Monsters & Abbott & Costello really did too, remember the Jungle Captive films I showed in PB's Movie Trailer Topic. Planet of the Apes really did as well obviously The Komodo Dragon had a similar story...during WWI a fighter pilot saw these "Dragons" off the island of Komodo. He told his squad and commanding officer about it and they didn't believe him like expected...then they investigated and saw them for themselves and then it was a major discovery back then I mean look at how fascinated Cooper was about them as I said above in the beginning here. Still as I type this people don't take Cryptozoology seriously as they laugh and dis at it when they need to look back at how animals we know today were not recognized by science and look at how they are now Even the people that doesn't laugh at it still doesn't take the time to study and be in awe of all of the possible wonders That's one of the reasons why I like the Kong story and Skull Island, so many living fossils and undiscovered fauna there That's also why I loved the 2005 Kong, the way it was presented was more of a Cryptozoological film compared to the ones made prior to it

Now the 33 version isn't as realistic like an actual gorilla like standing upright like a human for example however he does knucklewalk from time to time with other ape behaviors including pounding his chest. He's about 50 feet tall, weighs about 20 tons which is huge for a simian especially during this era




Now like in so many things and basically since the creation of humanity, sacrifice is required and is involved with the islanders. These natives look quite different as they would be depicted throughout movies like this for a while. The beautiful blond Caucasian Ann Darrow was the perfect specimen for this because she was so unique to them.





Since she was quite different than native females, Kong took to a major liking to her not to eat but to love. The scene with a close-up of his face was golden and was one of the first puppeteering of this nature seen in movies



However, you can tell that there is a mixture of Stop-Motion as well.




Like any animal or sentient being, King Kong has his own lair.



Like 1925's The Lost World Brontosaurus, Kong is brought to a big city and escapes thus terrorizing it




Now there's a whole host of animals that's inhabiting Skull Island that is presented as monsters First is the Meat-Eater that is a huge theropod Dinosaur similar like a Allosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I have explained the origins of this in the entries of 1925's The Lost World in My first post of this good Topic. The monster is depicted excellently with a very sinister demeanor. He's larger than Kong standing at least 50 feet tall, 75 feet long weighing more than 20 tons




Here's an original concept art of this Carnosaur fighting the Great Giant Ape



They have a fight that is one of the most iconic battles in cinematic history






The Stegosaurus looked pretty accurate in not only size but also in appearance.



Like the Brontosaurus specie was depicted as a monster in 1925's The Lost World, this time it's seen in the water and is actually depicted like the Loch Ness Monster sightings that would occur before and after this...now that's amazing








It's odd that they did that because there's a specie of Plesiosaur called Elasmosaurus in the film that is believed what Nessie really is



This creature in the movie inspired many if not all of the Serpents/Snakes in future King Kong films





A Pteranodon is seen attacking Kong's beloved Ann. The individual is large and looks very accurate. This specie would be featured in countless Dinosaur & Kaiju films in the upcoming decades. In fact, well known Kaiju Rodan would be inspired and based on this Pterosaur specie 25's The Lost World was the first new animal to be seen in the film, in 33's King Kong it is the last





After Kong had defeated the Meat-Eater, a Scavenger Raven was seen on the slain carcass eating off of it. These large Crow or Raven-like Avian Birds are bigger than an average human-being. They are not Birds of Prey and only scavenge on carrion and have no fear of humanity.




SUPER SPECIAL ENTRY

In the the 608th issue of the 23rd volume of the English story paper Boys' Magazine on October 28, 1933 was "souvenir issue" to commemorate the King Kong film...



In the Boys' Magazine short story, there was a new Dinosaur that replaced the Stegosaurus & Triceratops called Dinosaurus which was a very strange Stegosaurus and Triceratops hybrid



Also within this special publication it actually gives the Two-Legged Lizard a name...Polysauro.



That's actually the only known media to do so In the 2017 MonsterVerse movie called Kong: Skull Island, it is believed that the Skullcrawlers are an homage to the Two-Legged Cave Lizard



Now that critter is actually part of a very special part of King Kong and this is arguably My favorite scenario of the whole movie and story...it's the Spider Pit Sequence However most of this was cut thus becoming a deleted scene and then it was lost never to be seen Here is some pictures of the lost scene from Pre-Production to Post-Production














Epic Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson would remake the film come 2005 and that version would be a 3 hour extravaganza and there would be a Spider Pit scene in his film that would be very gruesome




Since he's a King Kong fanatic, he'd go the extra mile as he'd put together exciting existing material and remake the parts that was lost to Oblivion This would be featured on the 2005 DVD



The creatures featured in this would be King Kong and the Brontosaurus and of course Polysauro but there would be a whole host of others as well including a very accurate looking Styracosaurus.




Many are of unknown origins like a Giant Lizard that that resembles a Therapsid which a Mammal-like Reptile.



A Giant Crab Creature,

A Huge Spider



The most bizarre of all of these is the Octopus-Insect aka the Tentacled-Bug which is how in the heck did something like this come to be because Arthropods & Mollusks are in two completely differently types of Fauna




As I said, Peter Jackson is a Kong fanatic but also is a sort of a Biologist & Cryptozoologist himself I really like that when a director is a fan of something he/she is making. Why Because then you know that they know all about what their making and that it is going to be be cared for and not half-@$$ So since he had the control, he decided to edit and remake the The Lost Spider Pit Sequence and really I don't think it could have been done any better especially since it was done in 2005 when there was still remnants of the old classic times we once knew. Here's the high quality clip in it's entirety, just ignore the brief subtitles & the Youtuber stuff toward the end. You'll see all of the pit creatures I posted above plus look in the scenes when Kong is walking, you'll see Giant Vultures flying around. I love how this is and I really love when the men are on the tree bridge and Kong walks around...that is such a marvelous scene and his roar is something else. Also, the people cast as the crewmen were actually pretty convincing here because people were very different then than they are now is many ways.

Get ready to see a horrific monster scene that's the first of it's kind brought into fruition by Peter Jackson

[BrandonDaCollector]

Next during the same year of 1933, they quickly came out with the sequel as they filmed them back to back...it's called Son of Kong and it was quite similar yet quite different than the predecessor



As King Kong before it, this is an RKO Radio Picture and Merian C. Cooper is the Executive Producer




The Son of Kong had a huge premiere in Japan in 1933. You can clearly see how "they went Ape" over this and I believe this truly sparked their desire to do what was being done in the USA and really to out-do what the Americans would do despite many of them still laugh at their creative & fun films. Soon they would have their own version of King Kong during this year but that will have to wait for another time




So the story goes as follows. Soon after King Kong's unfortunate fall from the Empire State Building...


Carl Denham escapes with Captain Englehorn aboard The Venture to flee the public scrutiny and financial debacles blooming from Kong's transport to New York City.




As they get into the Cargo business, Denham and Englehorn learn of a huge Treasure that is whispered upon hidden on Skull Island They make the decision of a risky return trip there with stowaway Hilda Petersen whom is a musical entertainer and animal trainer plus others along the way.



After a short while, she & Denham get married because that's what people did back then when they feel in love, they didn't waste time at all.



Now that they reach Skull Island. Things are the same but then they differ from the last time they experienced the horrors of this isle of predators. There they encounter Kong's friendly albino son Kiko. He helps defend them from the dangers of the island has to offer as they search for the legendary treasure

I believe I seen this one not to much longer after the first King Kong and I think this one is a bit better the first one.



So as with 1933's King Kong and 1925's The Lost World, here in the entries of all of the Monsters that is seen within this great film

First is King Kong himself as a Poster, this is all that remains of him to be seen in the film.




While not monsters, they are little Circus Monkeys that was trained by the very nice looking Hilda and they were performing during her act as "La Belle Helene"




These are real live cute animals that they used in the film and NOT stop-motion animations





So as they reach Skull Island there is a whole host creatures there. the main one is Kiko aka Little Kong or Baby Kong



His name is short for King Kong.



He's an albino ape with gray skin and it about 12 feet tall weights a few tons.



This is an astounding because this predates Snowflake by at least 31 years because he was the only known albino Gorilla



An homage to all of this was done in the 2018 epic Video Game[/b[ film [b]Rampage as George was Albino rather than having brown to reddish fur. While it isn't game accurate, it is very cool that they did that



Kiko is very docile & friendly unlike his father before him. In fact Denham & Hilda befriend him and they become allies.



Look, Kiko fits right in



Like I posted in the special section of the Lost Spider Pit Sequence, there was a Styracosaurus in that major deleted but remade scene. A Styracosaurus appears and attacks the people here in Son of Kong which appears to be very accurate and I do believe if provoked, the specie would indeed attack






Next is the Cave Bear aka Ursus spelaeus. I have always found that it was really cool that this species was in this film. He looks really good and is as big as Kiko if not a bit larger.




The Cave Bear has an epic fight with Kiko







Nothosaurus aka The Dragon was a cool species in this film. He looks like a possessed Sauropod since he has no pupils. It is quite questionable about the depiction of the monster. I love those temple ruins there









The Sea Serpent is a big surprise which this is a possible fictional specie.




The Brontosaurus makes a surprise return when the unfortunate Earthquake destroys Skull Island



Kiko saves the survivors sacrificing his own life during the Natural Disaster

[BrandonDaCollector]

There was great comics as companions to the films at the same time which during this era it was a first Take a gander at how comics were done then with bonus material likes creatures that wasn't in the films

KING KONG



Proof Pages






The Comic from the Pressbook








Comic in the Daily Enterprise





SON OF KONG

The only documented part of the U.S. strip



Spanish release

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK, now here's a special section of the people that made all of this happen. You already met & read about Merian C. Cooper when I first began the original King Kong spotlight and what he dream was.




So now meet his good friend Ernest Schoedsack whom directed BOTH King Kong & Son of Kong. He was also a cinematographer and producer as well.



They worked together with Ruth Rose whom wrote the movies for the screen and was one of the first women to accomplish such a feat such as this



In fact, they would work together one last time for 1949's Mighty Joe Young as well which look for an entry of that sometime in the near future



Now of course one of the most important aspects of the movies is the special Stop-Motion Animation effects. These were by none other than "Founding Father of Fun Films", Mr. Willis H. O'Brien



He was like your first Special Effects technician. He made the marvelous monsters in 1925's The Lost World however his very first work was for a film that predated that by a decade in 1915 That film is titled The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy which this has some very important history



The very short silent movie features Cave People...




a Brontosaurus...



and "The Missing Link" Wild Willie aka "Terror of the Countryside". Willis O'Brien named him after himself and considered his character Wild Willie to be King Kong's figurative ancestor





A I said it has some story. This predates The Flintstones and all Cave Men movies The story is actually a comedy and goes as follows which this contains spoilers: Wild Willie watched a group of cave people from a tree. A taskmaster that is Mr. Rockface ordered the Duke, Stonejaw Steve, and Theophilus Ivoryhead whom were competing for the affections of his daughter Araminta killing something new for supper. He assigned Theophilus to catch some fish. During this time Wild Willie went to a stream to grab a few snakes to munch on. He mistaken the tail of a Sauropod for a large serpentine animal making the Dinosaur mad when he bit the tip of his/her tail and bashed'em with a big rock. After realizing & seeing the big body of the Sauropod, he threw the rock at the creature's side and climbed onto the mountainous back to fight'em. He landed a few punches however the Sauropod was able land a fatal blow to "The Missing Link". Theophilus, a witness of the fight, confirmed his demise and then lied that he had effortlessly killed "The Missing Link" himself thus winning Araminta’s heart in the first act of misleading someone



Innovator Thomas Edison was greatly impressed and Willis was hired by the Edison Company to produce more dinosaur films A couple years later the film was distributed by Thomas Edison's film company Conquest Pictures in 1917...names would be changed like Wild Willie being called Monkey, Baboon, Ape and the name of the film was changed as well to The Dinosaur and the Baboon. Holy cow, now that's truly incredible and if that's not I don't know what is



He is basically the "Granddaddy of all Special Effects Artists Here's a picture of his work of Mighty Joe Young



Another very important part of the movies is the music and is My favorite part of any film. Here is legendary composer Max Steiner. He was one of the first major composers for movies especially when the silent era ended



Here's his great theme he wrote for 33's King Kong, it was truly the first of it's kind







I found the music much more exciting in 33's Son of Kong. The first 31 seconds is absolutely gold and astounding



SUPER BONUS

Here's this really short but very special Japanese Kodak commercial featuring Son of Kong Kiko from 1984, 40 years ago this year Watch this amazing classic



Well, I hope you liked My entries thus far in this Topic of Mine of 1925's The Lost World, 1933's King Kong & Son of Kong. You can look back and see all of the classical & glorious content that I've posted. There's a ton of King Kong stuff to get to that was abound throughout the decades. Next will be the long forgotten 1933 Japanese King Kong movie & it's sequel plus some others that were all lost during unfortunate wars in Japan during those years, until then keeping checking this Topic cause there's a ton of great stuff to read & look at and heading here soon

[packerbacker180]

I think I talked about this before, but I read the novel to Lost Word by Crichton before the movie came out, so I was really invested in the film. Except, the film was nothing really like the book. It's been a long time so I don't recall things like I did way back then, but in the novel, they never leave the island and there's a virus released at the end of the novel that would eventually lead to the extinction of all the dinos. Because of that, I hated the movie. Not the virus part per se, just that they were two nearly completely different stories. If you never read the novel the film is probably fine, but to me it just felt like a cheap King Kong rip-off compared to a more unique story the novel told.

I love old movies, but really 30s to the 50s, so I can't say I've ever actually watched an entire silent film. I don't know, it just never was something I wanted to spend time doing. It's kind of why I don't do foreign films because I'm not there to read, lol.

That's a lot of dinosaur info. I was never too into dinosaurs as a kid, it was more robots and superheroes and such. I can tell you're much more into them from all the details provided.

[packerbacker180]

I've actually never seen Son of Kong. Never knew it came out the same year. That's a surprisingly quick turn around, especially for so much stop motion back then.