Television Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV series based on Godzilla) - premieres November 17, 2023

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Premise:

Following the epic battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs that leveled San Francisco and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, two siblings, following in their father's footsteps, uncover their family's connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw, taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. The dramatic saga — spanning three generations — reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.

So we go deep into how Monarch came to be what it is and what secrets they hold onto now. Kurt Russell is the leading actor for this story, which spans over 3 generations. Interestingly, Kurt's own son Wyatt plays the same leading character in his younger days. If you enjoyed everything in the rebooted Godzilla universe, including Kong: Skull Island, this series is for you.

The new trailer came out at the New York Comic Con today. The visuals are even better than what you find in most blockbuster movies.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Much needed Monarch of the Glen prequel series.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Premise:



So we go deep into how Monarch came to be what it is and what secrets they hold onto now. Kurt Russell is the leading actor for this story, which spans over 3 generations. Interestingly, Kurt's own son Wyatt plays the same leading character in his younger days. if you enjoyed everything the rebooted Godzilla universe, including Kong: Skull Island, this series is for you.

The new trailer came out at the New York Comic Con today. The visuals are even better than what you find in most blockbuster movies.

Release date?

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Release date?

November 17, 2023

 

[Pogue Mahone]

November 17, 2023

Ta.

 

[Redplane]

I really hope this is gonna be good. I need more fantasy and sci Fi like stuff now that I'm caught up on The Witcher, House of the Dragon, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Star Trek etc etc.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

We are 3 episodes in and I can tell you this: you will ask for more week after week, until all 10 episodes are out or perhaps beyond.

There is a lot of back and forth between the 1950s and 2015 (the modern setting takes place after Godzilla's arrival in San Francisco in the 2014 movie), but you can appreciate the quest for the truth in both time periods. In the flashbacks to the 1950s, Monarch used to be led by scientists with dreams and hopes until someone or something corrupted the organization into that rather dark and secretive group we saw in the movies. Fast forward to 2015, you have two half-siblings searching for their missing father, who stumbled upon some secret that Monarch does not want people to know about.

In short, you will enjoy this if you like combining science-fiction with the mystery genre.

 

[Ish]

Started watching it and it bored me. 2 episodes in. Does it get better?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I watched first episode and liked it. Is the second one worse than the first?

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Started watching it and it bored me. 2 episodes in. Does it get better?

In episode 3, the 1950s timeline shows an expanded background behind what prompted the 1954 Bikini Atoll nuclear test against Godzilla as it was originally depicted in the opening of the 2014 movie. Meanwhile, the 2015 timeline moves forward as the group searches for Cate and Kentaro's father at his last known location.

I watched first episode and liked it. Is the second one worse than the first?

I say the second episode was kind of slower than the first, but we understand a few more things as to how the characters came to meet each other and how they became what they are now. The mystery aspect is not a genre that will always be appreciated by everyone, but I personally like it. Episode 3 really kickstarts the quest for the truth to another level.

 

[Ish]

In episode 3, the 1950s timeline shows an expanded background behind what prompted the 1954 Bikini Atoll nuclear test against Godzilla as it was originally depicted in the opening of the 2014 movie. Meanwhile, the 2015 timeline moves forward as the group searches for Cate and Kentaro's father at his last known location.



I say the second episode was kind of slower than the first, but we understand a few more things as to how the characters came to meet each other and how they became what they are now. The mystery aspect is not a genre that will always be appreciated by everyone, but I personally like it. Episode 3 really kickstarts the quest for the truth to another level.

Thanks bud, i'll give it a further watch this weekend.

 

[SirAF]

Just watched the 4th episode, like it a lot so far.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

2 episodes in and it's intriguing. However it's a drama more than a monster show. All we see are clips of flashbacks. Slow paced, but has some drama to keep you interested....let's see for how long.

 

[FrankDrebin]

 

[Gazautd18]

Watched first 5
Love it!

 

[Spoony]

I couldn't get into it.

 

[RedSky]

It's passable. It gets better once Kurt joins in but that takes a few episodes. The modern day story is pretty bland, I much prefer the 1940's/50's(?) story arc.

 

[Old Ma Crow]

Watched the lot after Slow Horses. As posted earlier, it’s much better after Kurt Russell joins.

 

[Andy_Cole]

Take my money

 

[cafecillos]

This is easily one of the worst series I've seen in a very long time (3 and a half episodes in). I don't think I went into it with unrealistic expectations, and I like sci-fi and kaiju shit as much as the next guy, but the dialogues are indescribably bad, and so is the acting, which is arguably even worse, the worst acting on mainstream "tv" I've seen in ages, just so, so bad, and it's literally all the cast too, they are all terrible. Obviously the abysmal writing can't have helped, but still. I find the general plot and the setting/theme mildly interesting, but everything else is just horrendous.

 

[Donaldo]

The Japanese 1950s lady character is well fit.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

So many things to unpack with Episode 6 here. This episode looks like the best at drawing direct parallels between past and present so far.

There are a ton of spoilers ahead.

Spoiler: Episode 6

Spoiler: VERY massive spoilers

1955 timeline

• Monarch depends a lot on US defense money, but the military is lurking around for a full takeover.
• A new device is developped by a Japanese scientist to lure a titan out: a gamma radiation simulator.
• Lee reluctantly stays behind to speak at a budget meeting while Keiko and Miura go to meet that Japanese scientist, but chose to join them later because of his feelings for Keiko.
• Godzilla re-emerges from the water after destroying the device, surprising the Monarch trio who saw the creature disappear after the 1954 Bikini Atoll explosion.
• Even though Lee spoke to General Puckett about having to abandon the budget meeting, Lee's absence was used as an excuse for Puckett to change the leadership at Monarch.

2015 timeline

• Duvall reveals herself to be the sister of the late Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche's character in the 2014 movie), who died during the MUTO attack on the Janjira nuclear plant in 1999.
• As Duvall doesn't like how Monarch was being run, she joins Lee's group with the main objective of preventing another G-Day.
• For whatever reason, Lee, Bill and Hiroshi have been labelled as the crazy ones by whoever is or are in charge of Monarch over the years. Their theories have been dismissed several times.
• The gang finds Hiroshi in Northern Algeria with a modern-day version of the gamma radiation simulator.
• The gamma radiation simulator wakes up Godzilla from a long period of sleep where the creature managed to blend in with the surrounding hills and rock formations. Godzilla just walks away.
• Lee and Duvall choose to find and help Godzilla while the kids choose to follow Hiroshi.
• May reveals that she ran into serious problems 2 years ago and lived in exile under a forged identity since. Cate is angered by this revelation.

 

[SirAF]

The Japanese 1950s lady character is well fit.

 

[Donaldo]

Some really massive leaps of faith have to be taken with this show, especially with a giant feck off monster emerging from the earth but the world's military might not converging on the area in the immediate aftermath to find the big feck off monster and obliterate it.

And Japanese lady choosing either of those pasty men. Just unbelievable.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Some really massive leaps of faith have to be taken with this show, especially with a giant feck off monster emerging from the earth but the world's military might not converging on the area in the immediate aftermath to find the big feck off monster and obliterate it.

And Japanese lady choosing either of those pasty men. Just unbelievable.

Reminds me of this:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

A lot more to unpack this week.

Spoiler: Episode 7

• May Olowe-Hewitt was a forged name as her real name is in fact Corah Mateo.
• Corah was hired by a firm called AET (Applied Experimental Technologies), but then discovered the company's work on cybernetic animal experimentation and destroyed AET's research before she fled to Japan in 2012.
• Now back to 2015, Corah has been captured by AET and taken to their HQ in Seattle.
• Corah is offered a choice between spying on Monarch or being prosecuted. She refuses the first option.
• Verdugo accepts a deal with Cate to secure Corah's freedom from AET in exchange for help in understanding Shaw's plans.
• Monarch goes public.
• Corah's former boss is seen on a phone conversation with Walter Simmons as AET is rebranded as Apex Cybernetics (see the direction connection with Godzilla vs. Kong here).
• Having stolen a large stock of explosives from the Monarch outpost at Fairbanks, Shaw and a newly formed team of former Monarch operatives destroy the Alaska rift to seal it.

The plot thickens.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

I haven't forgotten about this series. It's only that I needed time to absorb a lot of details in the last 3 episodes.

Spoiler: Episodes 8-10

In chronological order.

1955

• After the military takeover, Shaw convinces Keiko and Bill to compile their research.
• Bill realizes that Titans evade detection through the Hollow Earth.
• We learn that Keiko is a widow raising Hiroshi alone.
• Bill offers to adopt Hiroshi.
• Shaw reveals Godzilla's survival while presenting Keiko and Bill's findings to Puckett, succeeding in keeping Monarch active.

1962

• Shaw volunteers to lead Operation Hourglass, an expedition into the Hollow Earth.
• Suzuki's Titan lure is used to induce a partial Titan emergence and stabilize a rift.
• During the launch, the rift abruptly destabilizes and closes.
• Puckett informs Bill that Monarch's funding has been cut due to the outcome of Operation Hourglass.

1982

• Shaw awakens in a Monarch medical facility. It explains why he later looks like a septuagenarian when he should be 90+ years old by 2015.
• An adult Hiroshi informs that Monarch intends to abandon their mission in favor of leaving the Titans undisturbed.
• Shaw has been put under house arrest since.
• Emiko, who is Kentaro's mother, was a nurse in that medical facility.

2015

• Shaw and Duvall return to the Kazakh power plant where Keiko was lost in 1959.
• Cate, Kentaro, May, Tim and a small Monarch team goes after Shaw's group.
• Shaw's intentions are to help Godzilla maintain order by separating the Hollow Earth from the surface world.
• As explosive charges around a rift to the Hollow Earth explode, an adult Endoswarmer emerges.
• May, Cate, Shaw, and the Endoswarmer fall back into the rift shortly before its destruction.
• Monarch rescues Kentaro and Tim.
• Kentaro confronts Hiroshi and suggests enlisting help from Apex Cybernetics to continue searching for Cate and May.
• Tim leaves Monarch after clashing with Verdugo over her refusal to investigate a signal from inside Hollow Earth.

Axis Mundi

• Axis Mundi is in an intermediate realm between the surface and the Hollow Earth.
• 1962-1982: Shaw's stranded team is killed by an Ion Dragon after what seemed to be one week on a recon mission. That is before he is sucked back through the rift.
• 1959-2015: Keiko survived her fall through the rift and spent what seemed to be 57 days in that dimension.
• Keiko explains to Cate that she rigged the Titan lure from Operation Hourglass to send a distress signal from the Hollow Earth.
• Shaw renuuites with Keiko, who is devastated to learn that decades have passed and that Bill never returned from his expedition to Skull Island.
• Seeking a way out, Shaw and Keiko reconnect the lure to the Operation Hourglass launch vehicle.
• Upon reactivating the vehicle, the process inadvertently lures the Ion Dragon.
• Shaw exits the vehicle to reconnect a cable dislodged by the Dragon.
• Godzilla emerges through a rift and battles the Dragon, eventually throwing it back through the rift and activating the vehicle.
• Shaw sacrifices himself by letting himself fall to allow the vehicle to escape.

2017

• Cate, Keiko, and May return to the surface, where Kentaro, Hiroshi, and Tim wait for them.
• The final location is Skull Island, where Apex Cybernetics have established a base before Monarch would later build Outpost 33 there.
• Kong makes an appearance as he followed the emission of radiation coming from the rift, but the Apex base appears to be well protected from external threats.

Considering where the season ended relative to the chronology of the movies, there can easily a lot more to come in a second season. We have to remember that the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong took place in 2019 and 2024 respectively. A lot could be covered in explaining how/why Apex Cybernetics became this powerful of an organization and where Ghidorah fits in the storyline while differing totally from the other Titans. I also don't think this is the last we have seen of Shaw either and unless specified otherwise as we know how things work about character deaths in the monsterverse.

 

[Reditus]

Needs more monsters