I was thrilled when I heard the news that Svengoolie will be appearing at this year’s G-FEST in Chicago! For those less savvy in the Godzilla world, “G-FEST” is short for Godzilla Festival and for fans of Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, or any other facet of Kaiju (Japanese giant monster) cinema, this is the event for which we revolve our calendar around. As a life long fan of Godzilla, I was happy when my 6 year old son, Alex, took to the Big G. We attended our first G-FEST in 2004 and I haven’t missed one since!

I remember watching these films as a kid via Creature Features, Monstrous Movie, and Son of Svengoolie “back in the day” here in Chicago. As many of us American fans were ingratiated to these films by a Horror Host, it is very fitting that Svengoolie (and I’m hearing rumors of a few others) will be in attendance! Sven will be appearing on Saturday July 14th and greeting fans from 1-3pm. As Svengoolie has gone national and this event attracts a lot of folks from around the country, I am anxious to see some of his out-of-state fans get a chance to meet him!

Alex in Sven shirt meets Godzilla himself, Harou Nakajima, at a past G-FEST!

In celebration of the event, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Svengoolie/kaiju moments…

1) ROLL OVER GODZILLA: TOHO studios is pretty tight with their titles these days, usually opting to have their films air on cable TV. But MONSTER FROM A PREHISTORIC PLANET (a.k.a. GAPPA) wasn’t in their library and it gave Sven an opportunity to celebrate the genre if not Godzilla himself. This parody of a Chuck Berry hit hilariously puts a lesser known monster in the spotlight…

2) GODZILLA EXERCISE TAPE/THERE’S NO ZILLA LIKE GODZILLA: That’s not to say that Sven didn’t occasionally get the rights to show a Godzilla film. As proven by these two bits aired during his presentations of GODZILLA 1985 and GODZILLA VS MEGALON!

3) SON OF GODZILLA MATERNITY TEST: Fans of Godzilla rejoiced when Sven got to show SON OF GODZILLA not long ago. But the movie does beg a seldom asked but darn good question…if Godzilla is the youngster’s dad who and where is the mother? This spoof of The Maury Povich Show (which routinely features paternity tests as its subject), boldly attempts to go there…

4) HEY THERE GODZILLA: Also featured during SON OF GODZILLA was parody of Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah.”

5) THIS MOVIE ISN’T JAPANESE: Of course not every Godzilla film incites joy in kaij fans. 1998’s Tri-Star version of the movie is sure to evoke anger in many G-fans. This would lead to one of my All-Time FAVORITE Svengoolie parodies courtesy of a 1980’s hit..

6) THE MOTHRA SHOW: While airing MOTHRA, Svengoolie created this spoof of a certain iconic talk show host with side-splitting results!

7) MOTHRA HONES IN ON HER CHUMS: A “Three Dog Night” parody was a great way to illustrate Mothra’s psychic connection to her twin fairies…

You can get your tickets for G-Fest by clicking HERE! Of course the Terror Daves will be sharing coverage and we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Dave Fuentes~