Godzilla (ゴジラ - Gojira) is a giant, amphibious, dinosaur-like kaiju first seen in the 1954 Japanese tokusatsu film Gojira, produced by Toho Film Company Ltd.. To date, Toho has produced 28 Godzilla films, one has been produced by TriStar Pictures, and one is slated to be produced by Advanced Audiovisual Productions. (For a list of these films, see below.)

The most notable unofficial movie is the 1998 film Godzilla, directed by Roland Emmerich. Despite being the highest grossing film of the year factoring in overseas profits, the film has been widely panned by cult followers of the Godzilla franchise, critics on both sides of the Pacific, and movie-goers in general and has since been dubbed GINO (Godzilla In Name Only). Ironically, the Americanized Godzilla featured in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) was killed by the "true" Godzilla from a hit to the tail, and its radioactive breath. In this film, the American Godzilla appeared simply as "Zilla".

Godzilla has three primary abilities: rapid regeneration, amphibious mobility, and an atomic fire beam. Godzilla is extremely durable and can resist almost all physical assaults. The atomic fire beam is Godzilla's trademark attack (it can be in a blue color or a red-orange color). Although much of Godzilla's significance as an anti-war symbol has been lost in the transition to pop culture, the nuclear breath remains as a visual vestige of the creature's early Cold War politics.

Origins

Born on the coastal regions of Odo Island. Where she was affected by nuclear tests), Godzilla became a modern god, feared by the fishing villagers on that island, and ultimately, all of Japan. Standing at a towering 50 meters (164 feet), he is a powerful demon of destruction. Among her popular characteristics:

• His iconic design (a charcoal-colored dinosaur-like figure with small pointed ears, rough bumpy scales, powerful tail, and bony white dorsal fins shaped like maple leaves).
• She is virtually indestructible, impervious to all modern weaponry.
• She can release a powerful atomic energy beam, usually blue but in some films red, from his mouth (which is ominously signalled when his dorsal fins glow/flash in the same color as the atomic beam).

The name "Gojira" is a combination of "gorilla" and kujira, which means "whale" in Japanese. The name was allegedly originally a nickname of a large worker at Toho Studios. But since Gojira was neither a gorilla nor a whale, the name "Gojira" was devised in a different way for the film's story; Gojira's name was "originally" spelled in kanji (呉爾羅), but for sound only. The combined characters, oddly enough, mean "give you net"!

Gojira was first released in the United States in 1955 in Japanese-American communities only, under Toho's international title, Godzilla. In 1956, it was adapted by an American company into Godzilla, King Of The Monsters (based on Toho's international title), edited and with added, principal scenes featuring Raymond Burr, and this version became an international success. As a result, the monster came to be known as "Godzilla" also in Japan.

While it has been a misconception that the American distributors were responsible for the name "Godzilla" in America, it was Toho who came up with the name for international markets to begin with.

History

Godzilla was originally an allegory for the effects of the hydrogen bomb, and the unintended consequences that such weapons might have on Earth. The Versus and Millennium 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. Also made an appearance in the Nike commercial where Godzilla went one-on-one with NBA star Charles Barkley.

GINO

For more clarification from a Godzilla fan, GINO is called this because of multiple reasons. The most obvious is that it restarts the saga from the beginning. Another is that it is produced by a different company. There is also the drop in quality in this series, from the others, which is somewhat disputable. However, the biggest change is in Godzilla.

Despite the fact that many fans of the original Godzilla hated the GINO movie, it still did very well and eventually led to the creation of an animated series, broadcast on FOX, which was a direct continuation of the movie. Ironically, Godzilla fans felt this to be much better than the movie on which it was based.

For more reference, see Zilla.

Synopsis (stub)

The deoxygenation of Tokyo bay, caused by Dr. Serizawa's oxygen destroyer, killed Godzilla at the end of this first movie, dissolving his flesh and bone into nothingness. Nonetheless, Gojira - or Godzilla - returned in a series of films, all from Toho.

Subsequent films in the series had another of Godzilla's species take his place (there is some debate about this)or that Godzilla simply doesn't stay dead. 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. (This is oddly similar to the regenerative ability of Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies) Such an ability was used in Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah; where Godzilla's heart beats after Godzilla explodes.

The Japanese version of Godzilla was greatly inspired by the commercial success of King Kong, and the 1953 success of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Godzilla would go on to inspire Gorgo, Gamera, and many others. The American version is just an iguana-turned dinosaur.

In 1996, after his then-final appearance in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla received an award for Lifetime Achievement at the MTV Movie Awards. Creator and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka accepted on his behalf via satellite but was joined by "Godzilla" himself.

On his 50th (Japanese) birthday, on 29 November 2004, Godzilla got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Films

The Godzilla timeline is generally broken into three parts.

Showa Godzilla Series (昭和ゴジラシリーズ) 1954-1975

Named for the Showa period in Japan (as all of these films were produced before Emperor Hirohito's death in 1989). 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 sequels Godzilla Raids Again and Mothra vs. Godzilla, this period also featured a somewhat more lighthearted Godzilla. This phase started with King Kong vs. Godzilla, which had the highest ticket sales of any Godzilla movie. Starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (made 10 years after the first Godzilla film), Godzilla became a semi-playful antihero, and as years went by, he evolved into an anthropomorphic superhero. 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 some of the later movies were set in an arbitrary future time, often 1999.

In all films of this original series, Godzilla was 50 meters tall, and weighed 20,000 tons. The American release Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) incorrectly stated Godzilla's height to be 400 feet, a harsh inaccuracy that lingers today.

Versus Series (ＶＳシリーズ) AKA: Heisei Series, 1984-1995

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 Versus Series, (unofficially known to American fans 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 Minya, 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.

Godzilla has changed sizes in this series. He starts out as 80 meters tall in The Return of Godzilla, but in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, he becomes 100 meters tall.

Millennium Series (ミレニアムシリーズ) AKA: Alternate Reality Series, 1999-2004

The Millennium Series is the informal term for the Godzilla movies made after the VS 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.

In the 1998 movie, Godzilla Godzilla was a reptile mutated after a French atomic test, on a French Polynesian island. This movie brought a drastic change to Godzilla's appearance, resembling a bipedal iguana or Komodo dragon. The Godzilla in this movie was also almost entirely computer-animated. Set in New York City and produced by Columbia Pictures, this movie is not considered to be part of any of the above three series, but the Gotham attack was referred to in the movie Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. 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.

Since the films are different, the sizes are different in some cases. Godzilla's most prominent size in this series is 55 meters. The exceptions: In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, he was 60 meters, and in Godzilla: Final Wars, he was 100 meters (he was supposed to be 50 meters in that film, but budgetary cutbacks in miniature sets forced this size change).

Official Filmography

There have been 28 official Toho-produced entries in the Godzilla series since 1954. Please note that the titles listed below are Toho\'s official English titles.

Unofficial Filmography

Though numerous attempts have been made at producing a Godzilla film outside of Toho Studios, the only one completed is the 1998 film from Sony Pictures. Yoshimitsu Banno, director of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, has acquired permission to make a 40 minute film for IMAX theatres, but has yet to raise the necessary funding.

Other media

Animated series

In 1978, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced an animated Godzilla Saturday morning cartoon as the centerpiece of their Godzilla Power Hour. The series featured a team of scientists, who could call upon the monster using a special communicator in order to assist them in various adventures. Also included in the series was a cute diminutive Godzilla counterpart, Godzooky.

Godzilla's size in the animated series shifted even more radically and with greater frequency than the films - sometimes within a single episode or even one scene - as sometimes Godzilla\'s claw will wrap around a large ship, and only minutes later the team of scientists fit rather neatly on Godzilla's palm.

The Godzilla cartoon was aired in reruns through the early 1980s, and is periodically broadcast on Cartoon Network's Boomerang network.

Another cartoon, Godzilla: The Series, debuted in 1998 in the wake of the American film. Although it featured the creature design and characters from that film, the concept was much more in line with the traditional depiction of Godzilla. Two DVDs were produced for this series. One depicts the first two part pilot called Trouble hatches, and the other compiles a three part trilogy from the series called The Monster Wars. It was most likely a tribute to the classic film Destroy All Monsters, a showa era film which included virtually every monster Toho studios had ever produced. Monster Wars is also the first appearance of a truly cybernetic Godzilla. The 1998 feature film version of the monster is resurrected as 'Cyber-Godzilla' and eventually comes face to face with its sole surviving offspring. (This is technically inaccurate, as one egg in the 1998 film hatches within Madison Square Garden, while the one depicted in the cartoon series was located much further below ground. The 1998 film had been left deliberately open ended in order to pave the way for a sequel. However because of the negative response by fans, that never panned out. It is interesting to note that despite the negative response to the 1998 film, the animated series still did surprisingly well during Fox Kids Saturday Mornings, with only two episodes produced that never saw the light of day on television, due to the Pokemon/Digimon War, where Kids WB and Fox Kids battled over Saturday Morning ratings by licensing various "Collection Monster" animes. In addition, the series, paid homages to not only Gojira, but other monster movies; most of them paying homage to 50s Drive In Creature features.

Television appearances

• Ultra Q
• Meteor Man Zone
• Godzilla Island
• Ultraman
• Monster Planet Of Godzilla
• Rugrats
• The Fairly Odd Parents
• The Simpsons
• Reign Storm
• Garfield and Friends
• Animaniacs
• Jimmy Neutron
• Invader Zim
• Drawn Together

Video games

• Monster's Fair
• The Movie Monster Game
• 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

Scores/music

Parodys, References and Homages of Godzilla in Popular culture

As with any pop culture icon, Godzilla was been parodied, referenced to and homaged in many movies, TV shows, comic books, internet articles, and so on. Here is a partial list of some Godzilla references:

• In the last scene of The Simpsons 10th season finale Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo, Godzilla attacks a plane going from Japan to the USA that the Simpsons are on. Godzilla is distracted by Mothra, Rodan and Gamera, allowing the plane to escape.

• In the episode of the Comedy Central animated reality show parody Drawn Together entitled Super Nanny, Godzilla plays a minor role as Ling-Ling's conscience (with his size propably meant as a subtle joke to Ling-Ling's cultural responsibility).

Similar concepts

• Gorgo
• Agon: Agon was a serialized B&W TV movie produced in 1964, but aired in 1968. This 4 episode miniseries (aired Jan 2-5, 1968 on Fuji TV) was produced by Japan Radio Pictures (Nippon Denpa Eiga). The title monster is similar in appearance to Godzilla, so much that Toho almost sued Japan Radio Pictures, until they found that it was Fuminori Ohashi (who helped create the Godzilla suit for the original 1954 film) who designed the Agon costume!
• Rhedosaurus: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a 1953 film, based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, in which a revived aquatic dinosaur, the Rhedosaurus, attacks the city of New York. This film directly inspired the original Godzilla film in 1954.
• Gamera
• Gappa
• Dragon Caesar (from Zyuranger)/Dragonzord (from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger, the 16th entry of the Toei's ongoing Super Sentai Series from 1992, had the title quintet of superheroes ride giant robots called Shougozyu (Japanese for "Guardian Beasts"), which are shaped like dinosaurs, only these "robots" are actually gods! The five Shougozyu unite to form a giant warrior called Daizyujin (Japanese for "Great Beast God"). Later in the series, DragonRanger Burai (who turns out to be the older brother of Zyuranger's team leader, TyrannoRanger Geki) appears initially as a misguided tragic villain, only to realize the wrongs of his ambitions. Brought back with a temporary life to help the Zyurangers, Burai dies selflessly in saving his teammates and the rest of mankind, but before he dies, he passes his weapons and his own Shougozyu, Dragon Caesar, to his younger brother Geki, who, with added powers, continues the battle against the show's villain Bandora. With his striking standout appearance, Dragon Caesar is the show's homage to Godzilla (who was a phenomenon in Japan at the time). In the Americanized adaptation of Zyuranger, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (the first season), he is renamed the "Dragonzord" (Burai's costumed form, DragonRanger, is renamed the "Green Ranger").
• Ditanix (from Gingaman)/Titanisaur (from Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy): Seijuu Sentai Gingaman the 22nd entry of the Toei's ongoing Super Sentai Series from 1998 featured the beast Ditanix which served as ship for the series villains, the Balban. This creature is clearly based on Godzilla since they look the same and like Godzilla, Ditanix can shoot a blue energy beam from its mouth. In the Americanized adaption Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy this monster also made an apperance, but was renamed Titanisaur.
• Reptar (from Rugrats): A popular cartoon show, Rugrats, has Reptar, a Prehistoric Green Dinosaur that made his way to the present. Clearly inspired by Godzilla, right down to the bad American voice acting for the Japanese characters, Reptar has taken to the more heroic front, similar to his live action counterpart in the later Showa series.
• Reptilicus: The star of the 1961 Danish film of the same name, Reptilicus is a dragonish or serpentine monster able, like Godzilla, to regenerate.
• Raki

External links

Official

• Godzilla Official Website (Japan)
• Godzilla Official Website (US)

Information

• Kaijuphile - Monster Site. Monster Obsession
• Monster Zero News
• Barry's Temple of Godzilla
• Godzilla Stomp
• Tokyo Monsters, Multimedia Resource, Videos, Images, etc
• Henshin! Online, Japanese Film Website
• Godzilla and other Monster Music
• Club Tokyo, Kaiju Collectible Reference
• Godzilla UK, The British Godzilla Webzine
• G-FAN magazine.
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah fan site
• DMOZ's Godzilla Movies
• Tokyo Monster's Kaiju Eiga Encyclopedia wiki
• Twisted Kaiju Theatre
• [http://www.tohokingdom.com
• [http://www.rodansroost.com
• [http://www.kingghidorahssoundpage.com
• [http://godzilla.com
• [http://vinylmaddmes.com
• [http://giantmonstermovies.com

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