Godzilla
Godzilla was later released in the United States in 1956. Scenes with actor Raymond Burr were added and the Japanese actors were dubbed into English. The title of the American release was Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
Later, Godzilla (or Gojira, ゴジラ) returned in a series of films, all from Toho (not counting the American film, of course). Because he comes from the ocean, Godzilla can be considered not just a monster, but a sea monster. The name "Gojira" is a combination of "gorilla" and kujira, which means "whale" in Japanese. The name is rumoured to have been a nickname of a large worker at Toho Studios. In the 1998 movie Godzilla was the lone survivor of an island inhabited by reptiles after an atomic bomb was tested nearby. Full-grown, Godzilla resembled a bipedal komodo dragon (one of the lizards that lived on the island) and soon terrorizes New York City.
Subsequent films in the series had another of Godzilla's species take his place (there is some debate about this. In Godzilla 2000 it is discussed that Godzilla possesses a component known as "Organizer G-1","Regenerator G-1" in the English version of the film, which allows him to heal from any wound, possibly even regenerate himself from mere fragments. This would make it possible for Godzilla to continue indefinitely, even though he appears to die).
The Japanese version of Godzilla was greatly inspired by the commercial success of King Kong, and the 1953 success of Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Godzilla would go on to inspire Gorgo, Gamera, and many others.
On his 50th (Japanese) birthday, on November 29th 2004, Godzilla got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Table of contents |
Series
The Godzilla timeline is generally broken into three parts. They are the Showa series, the Heisei series, and the Millennium series.
This Showa timeline spanned from 1954, with Godzilla (1954) to 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla. With the exception of the serious Godzilla (1954) and the semi-serious sequel Godzilla Raids Again, this period featured the semi-comic 'hero' Godzilla. This phase started with the comic King Kong vs Godzilla, which had the highest ticket sales of any Godzilla movie. The Showa period saw the addition of many monsters into the Godzilla continuity, three of which (Mothra, Rodan and Varan) had their own solo movies, as well as a movie for the Toho-ized King Kong. This period featured a rough continuity, although the chronology is confused as many of the movies were set in an arbitrary future time, often 1999.
The timeline was revamped in 1984 with The Return of Godzilla; this movie was created as a direct sequel to the 1954 film, and ignores the continuity of the Showa series. Known as the Heisei series (for the ruling emperor of the time), the continuity ended in 1995's Godzilla vs Destoroyah after a run of seven films. The reason for the continuity shift was based on a realization that the marketing of the movies had removed the reason it was so loved. When it was discovered that Godzilla was popular with children, sequels were toned down in obvious screen violence, and Godzilla was made out to be a good guy instead of an indestructible abominate mistake of Men. Characters such as Minilla, the "son of Godzilla" (a dimunitive chubby replica who blew smoke rings) were introduced. However, the further Godzilla was taken away from his roots, the less popular he became. Hence, The Return of Godzilla brought the series back to form.
The Mireniamu series is the informal term for the Godzilla movies made after the Heisei series ended with Godzilla vs Destoroyah. Unlike the previous two series, this era does not feature a continuous timeline. Only two of the films in this era, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, are directly related to one another. The rest follow entirely different timelines. The common theme to this era is that all movies use Godzilla (1954) as the jumping-off point.
The 1998 film Godzilla (1998), set in New York City and produced by Columbia Pictures, was not considered to be a part of any of the above three series until its footage was used as a reference in the movie Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. But, that movie had it that the monster that appeared in New York was not, in fact, Godzilla, but an entirely different yet similar monster. This monster made a return appearance in Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, Godzilla Final Wars. Renamed Zilla, the monster attacked Sydney, Australia and is later killed by the real Godzilla.
Godzilla was originally an allegory for the effects of the hydrogen bomb, and the unintended consequences that such weapons might have on our world. The Heisei and Mireniamu series have largely continued this concept. Some have pointed out the parallels, conscious or unconscious, between Godzilla's relationship to Japan and that of the United States; first a terrible enemy who causes enormous destruction, but then becoming a good friend and defender in times of peril.
Films have been made over the last five decades, each reflecting the social and political climate in Japan. All but one of the 29 films were produced by Toho; a version was made in 1998 by Columbia Pictures and set in the United States by the directors of Independence Day (ID4) and is somewhat despised by Godzilla fans, many of whom refer to it as GINO (Godzilla In Name Only), a term that would refer to all monsters modeled after Godzilla. Toho immediately followed it with Godzilla 2000: Millennium, which began the current series of films, known informally as the Mireniamu or Millennium series.
Much of Godzilla's popularity in the United States can be credited with TV broadcasts of the Toho Studios monster movies during the 1960s and 1970s. The American company UPA contracted with Toho to distribute its monster movies of the time, and UPA continues to hold the license today for the Godzilla films of the 1960s and 1970s. Sony currently holds some of those rights, as well as the rights to every Godzilla film produced from 1991 onward. The Blue Öyster Cult song "Godzilla" also contributed to the popularity of the movies.
Filmography
- Godzilla (1954)
- Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
- Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
- Son of Godzilla (1967)
- Destroy All Monsters (1968)
- All Monsters Attack (1969)
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
- Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
- The Return of Godzilla (1984)
- Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
- Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
- Godzilla (1998)
- Godzilla 2000 (1999)
- Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2001)
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
- Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
- Godzilla Final Wars (2004)
Please note that the titles listed above are Toho's official English titles.
Comic books
In the 1970s, Godzilla starred in a 24 issue run of comics produced by Marvel Comics entitled Godzilla: King of the Monsters which thrust Godzilla completely into the Marvel Universe. In a nod to Godzilla's Counterattack aka Gigantis The Fire Monster aka Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla vs. King Kong, Godzilla first appears by exploding out of an iceberg. It seems that Godzilla's appearances in the Toho movies were given a nod in a few issues, as at least one issue commented that Godzilla had often 'seemed like the lesser of two evils' when he would clash with a monster far more evil in intention than Godzilla, who generally acted more like an actual animal, albeit one with unusual levels of intelligence. Godzilla encountered not only agents of SHIELD, but also many heroes from Marvel Comic books, including the now defunct group called the Champions (sans the Ghost Rider, then a member at the time), The Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, and the Avengers, along with a brief, belated cameo by Spider-Man in the last issue of the series. Godzilla also fought other gigantic monsters, including Yetrigar, who was likely patterned after King Kong, and The Mega Monsters, and in defeating these three alien beasts, saved Earth and an alien world which had been at war with the masters of the Mega-Monsters. Unlike his movie counterpart, Godzilla's flame in the Marvel comic was red, rather than the silvery-blue used in the movies. A character created specifically for the series called Red Ronin, would reappear in the comic book Shogun Warriors (which also included appearances from Go Nagai's popular Mazinger mecha) and an issue of Wolverine, in which Godzilla is given a subtle nod, being referred to as 'Time Lost Dinosaur' to avoid being sued by Toho, presumably.
Dark Horse Comics eventually gained the rights to the license sometime in the 1980s, and produced several vignettes of Godzilla, before providing a translated manga of Godzilla 1985 which was based on the Japanese version of the film rather than the Americanized version. Godzilla, the 1990s, would also receive his own run with Dark Horse Comics in a 17 issue run which used the same name as the Marvel run; Godzilla: King of the Monsters. This series featured several new monsters for Godzilla to fight, and a story arc in which Godzilla was flung through time by a would-be arch villain, who used him to cause the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, sink the Titanic, and even pitted him against the Spanish Armada. Godzilla would be flung into the far flung future as well and would rampage across it before returning to the modern day. The last issue of the Dark Horse series saw Godzilla flung back into time to just a few hours before the asteroid which supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs impacted on Earth, and fought an alien creature. This issue at first seemed to have the 'it was all a dream' ending, as Godzilla awoke from his slumber in the modern day, but then threw a twist onto the ending, showing Godzilla staring at a piece of his opponent's tail still in his hand from where he had ripped it off in the final moments of their battle before the impact.
See also
- Akira Ikufube
- Alien Races from the Godzilla Films
- Bambi Meets Godzilla
- Gamera
- kaiju
- King Ghidorah
- King Kong
- Monster Island
- Mothra
- Rodan
Video games
- Monster's Fair
- Godzilla! Monster of Monsters
- Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
- Super Godzilla
- Godzilla: Kaijuu Daikessen
- Kaijuu-Oh Godzilla (a.k.a. Godzilla King of the Monsters)
- Godzilla Giant Monster March
- Godzilla Generations
- Godzilla Generations Maximum Impact
- Godzilla Trading Battle
- Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
- Godzilla: Domination!
- Godzilla: Save the Earth
Similar concepts
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers consistently have to fight monsters that grow to the size of Godzilla, which, once grown, will force the Rangers to summon their Dinozords--if that isn't enough--the Megazord Tank Mode/Battle Mode, to destroy the monster completely.
External links
Official
- "Godzilla".
Information
Analysis
- "Godzilla taking a break — for now". Japanese film producer putting star on hiatus. CNN. March 4, 2004.
- " 'Monster Theory' Godzilla: Cross-Cultural Analysis of Godzilla". AN332/CS310 November 2, 2000.
- Kroke, Arthur, and Marilouise Kroke, "Ctheory: Tokyo Must Be Destroyed". Theory, technology and culture, Ctheory. VOL 18, NO 1–2 Article 27b 95/06/22 Editors:
Categories: Kaiju | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Godzilla films