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Movie novelisations. I got the PACIFIC RIM one yesterday, and it's an interesting read, as things the film was too short to touch on got some pub.

Question. What film to book novels do you remember, and would prefer to having just the film alone?

PACIFIC RIM the book includes some points that I (And no doubt many others) thought about when considering the giant monster genre.
For one thing...It took three tactical nukes to kill that first Kaiju. If you think about three warheads, each with a yield of 1.200 tons of TNT, that shows some restraint on the American military in kakking this beast.
And the use of nukes does have some drawbacks, eh what?
The film does not mention the nukes, however.

And Dr. Gottlieb? In the book, he's a German, not a Brit.
That's what happens when you start work with an early version of the script, I'd wager. Last minute change due to casting?

I'll mention some more stuff, like a bit of detail about how some of the other Mechs/Jagers did in other battles. BTW, Gypsy Danger cut the head off one wee beastie with a crane cable.

So...any thoughts?

Well...Newt is German too. Who knew?
What a change from what we watched in the flick.

You're right. The book gives thoughts and explanations the film can't go into, unless it's part of a miniseries.

Details of Newts drift with the kaiju brain segment, for example. The alien masters of the monsters, how the wee beasties are grown, and Newts realization the masters are aware of his presence in the drift, make the sequence more full.
Also, there are fragments of official documents added to show character histories (Like Newt and Herman were both born in Berlin) and technical data on the mecha.
Hummm...did Del Toro spend time in Germany? Just asking...

Hummmm...me thinks it could be made good, if the story is right.

I like to make up 'play time' when I'm not busy.
One tactic I'd use...GIANT Torpedos!
A Navy Mk 48 had about a 1000lb warhead. I've seen pics of one blowing an old destroyer in half. (Thanks Youtube!)

I envision a torp with wire guidance, and an active sonar when needed. Put a 12 ton warhead on that bad boy, send it out with 'friends' and the kaiju is gonna be slowed down at least, ducking all the metal fishies that go BOOM!
To avoid nukes if it hits the shallows...a FAE bomb, or Fuel Air Explosive.
A Thermobaric bomb can, depending on wind and other factors, create up to 10 times the blast effect of an equal amount of solid explosive such as Semtex or C-4.
Take a mega hauler airplane...why yes, I did draw up one, why do you ask?...and drop a 200 ton bomb, with, say 160 tons of boom juice, and if you get a max effect, the Kaiju will have SUCH a headache!
And, no radiation! neat.
Sure, it may not be a cool as draging an old tanker down a city street and wacking it upside the head of a kaiju...and the book has a way cool paragraph that describes Newt's reaction to seeing Gypsy Danger doing it...but if ya can get people involved in this Monsters Vs. Mecha world...why not?

Can't argue - any weapon designed to destroy a metal ship should't have much problem with shredding a flesh and blood Kaiju. In a fight between an elephant and a small tank I wouldn't bet on the elephant.

Hell even a machine gun should slow the thing down- bee stings might not kill me but its going to make me steer clear of a hive.

I didn't get the whole Gypsy being analog either, she had computers and all sorts of high tech gizmos inside- maybe not as much as the newer Jaegers but she wasn't exactly steampunk. It might have made more sense to say as an older model her electronics were hardened and shielded but the newer models dropped that feature since it wasn't needed. On the other hand it might have forced them to explain things instead of jumping straight to Raleigh and Mako going from the dog house to heroes of the day so I can see throwing in a quick explanation even if it didn't make much sense.

I will have to look up this book, thanks for the tip!