Also by the Author:

Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men:

The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda

Atomic Dreams and the Nuclear Nightmare: The Making of Godzilla (1954)

 

Devil Bat Diary: The Journal of Johnny Layton

Terror In Tinseltown: The Sequel to "Devil Bat Diary"

A Rainbow's Bold Amen: A Potpourri of Poetry

THE SONS OF GODZILLA

From Destroyer to Defender

From Ridicule to Respect

(1955 - 1995)

 

Peter H. Brothers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CreateSpace

CreateSpace Books / Seattle, Washington

Copyright ©by Peter H. Brothers

ISBN-10: 1724667270

ISBN-13: 978-1724667274

All Rights Reserved

The following is a critical analysis and text book.  It has not been approved, authorized, endorsed, licensed, prepared, sponsored or authorized associated by any entity involved in creating or producing any Godzilla film.  The opinions expressed in this book are those belonging to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Toho International Co., Ltd. or any of its employees.

Toho International Co., Ltd. is the owner of all copyrights and trademarks in its related and respective films, characters, and all of its rights are expressively reserved and of a purely informational nature. All images are used in accordance with Fair Use for edification purposes and are property of the film copyright holders.

The author is not affiliated, licensed, or endorsed by Toho International Co., Ltd., which has in no manner or form approved, licensed, prepared, sponsored or otherwise been involved or associated in any manner or form whatsoever with any portion of the writing and/or publication of this book, which is of a purely informational nature.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, duplicating, distribution, recording, taping of information storage and retrieval systems – without written permission of the author.

Toho Co. Ltd. is the owner of all copyrights and trademarks in its respective films and characters, and all of its rights are expressly reserved. ©1943-2018 Toho Co. Ltd. and its related entities. All Rights Reserved. "Gojira," "Godzilla," "King of the Monsters," and the character names and designs of Godzilla's friends and foes are trademarks of Toho Co., Ltd.  All Rights Reserved.  The author has made every effort to trace and contact copyright holders.  The publisher will be pleased to correct any mistakes or omissions in future editions. 

Manufactured in the USA.

Published by CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC.

Author's Website: http://encinostalgia.webs.com/.

Facebook: Peter Hayes Brothers

 

For my wife, Martha, for her support,

and my daughter, Jaclyn, for her inspiration . . .

. . . And with gratitude for two of the hardest-working men in show business:

Haruo Nakajima (1929 - 2017)

and

Kenpachiro Satsuma

Contents

Foreword:    7  

Chapter One: Godzilla's Counterattack  12  

Chapter Two: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep  38

Chapter Three: Son of Godzilla  57

Chapter Four: Godzilla vs. Hedorah  71

Chapter Five: Godzilla vs. Gigan            94

Chapter Six:Godzilla vs. Megalon117

Chapter Seven: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla143

Chapter Eight: The Return of Godzilla162

Chapter Nine: Godzilla vs. Biollante192

Chapter Ten: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah218

Chapter Eleven: Godzilla vs. Mothra240

 

Chapter Twelve: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II259

Chapter Thirteen: Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla280

Chapter Fourteen: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah303

Afterword: 330

Photo Credits:332

Filmography:333

Notes and Sources: 390

Selected Bibliography:418

Index: 426

FOREWARD

"I don't think that any sequels to the first Godzilla movie should have been made."

- Jun Fukuda, director of five Godzilla movies

 

For this, my third book on kaiju eiga (Japanese monster movies), I find myself thanking many who have assisted me in the past. The kaiju cult is as intense as it is enthusiastic, and while there is a definite polarity regarding which films are one's favorites and why, my eternal thanks goes to those who have given me their cooperation, friendship, and support. First and foremost is my translator Katarzyna Ksiazkiewicz, as well as Allen A. Debus, Anthony Romero, Bela Lugosi, Brian Paul Watters, Brian Solomon, Charles Lee Jackson II, David Schecter, Greg Clausen, J. D. Lees, John LeMay, Lawrence Tuczynski, Martin Arlt, Mike Bogue, and Scott Essman. Thanks also to the gang at Video Daikaiju and various other websites (additional credits can be found in the Bibliography).

In this book I will discuss the Godzilla film sequels made during the years 1955 - 1995 with the exception of those directed by Ishiro Honda, as they have been previously examined in Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda; I will however briefly touch on these films for the sake of continuity. When discussing the monster itself, continuity becomes a bit of a challenge, since very few Godzillas looked the same during those 40-odd years and 14-odder films (e.g., the Godzilla versions appearing in its first four films were unique designs never seen again). In any event, I will assume it is the same Godzilla we will be watching in those films.

During those years Godzilla went through quite a metamorphosis, from rampaging reptile to doting dad, to Defender of the Earth, to Demonic Devil. Along the way it waged an unending war against smog and space monsters, aliens, giant robots, and of course, Man himself. I will cover each sequel as its own separate entity, but will not go into excessive detail as to the events leading-up to the creation of each film, as that aspect has been extensively covered in greater detail elsewhere. I also will not be covering unrealized Godzilla film projects, as author John LeMay has pretty-much nailed that in his definitive The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monsters: The Lost Films.

Nor will I be delving into the American versions of these films, as frankly, I wish they would all disappear. Although some enjoy and even prefer the U.S. versions and get a kick out of comparing them to the Japanese versions, to me they represent nothing less than mutilations of the original artists' intentions. As far as films titles go, I will be referring to the first sequel not as Godzilla Raids Again, but Godzilla's Counterattack, which is the literal translation of Gojira no Gyakushu and flows much-more trippingly off the tongue. As far as the names of the monsters are concerned, Anguirus seems to be the accepted version (though I personally prefer Angilas), and I will identify Godzilla's first so-called "son" as Minilla. And while we're on the subject of sons, I must address another sticky issue: is Godzilla a "him," "her," or an "it?" I am not the only writer who has wrestled with this topic, but in this book, I will refer to Godzilla as an "it."    

Now that I have told you what is not in this book, I will explain what is in it, and the first item will no doubt make many readers groan, as I have included a detailed synopsis for each film. The argument against doing so is a valid one since nearly everyone is totally familiar with their storylines and do not me to sum them up, but during the writing of this book, I found that describing them in detail helped with my analysis; however I have tried to make them as entertaining and insightful as I could. Also included in this book are the opinions and reflections by many who were there, printed in English for the very first time.

During the first generation of Godzilla films very little production information was available and difficult to come by; even Japanese texts did not go into a great amount of detail about them. During the mid-Seventies however, various fanzines came into being with many aficionados writing articles printed either in mimeographed form or on Xeroxed copies. Among the best of these were Japanese Giants, Godzillamania, and the Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, later followed by The Kaiju Review and Monster Attack Team: The Japanese Monster, Superhero and Fantasy Fanzine. Eventually magazines came into being with the short-lived Markalite leading the way, and the Canadian-published G-Fan still going strong in its 25th year.

My introduction to the Godzilla Universe pretty much follows the same Baby Boomer pattern: watching Godzilla, King of the Monsters! on TV when I was a child. My interest in the genre thus having being assured, I took to writing about that fabulous film, and may have written the first published treatise in America on the original Gojira's meaning in an article entitled "Godzilla: Coincident or Allegory?" published in 1976 in the third issue of Japanese Giants (in the following issue, Dave Milner wrote in the Letters Section that the article "is good, though anyone could have done it," prompting editor Brad Boyle to ask, "Then why hadn't anybody?" (this is how you learn who your friends are). In the intervening years I kept watching and loving and learning, and have written numerous articles for a number of magazines, as well as extensively speaking about the subject at various sci-fi conventions.

While doing research for this book I have referenced a great deal of material from other writers and found quite a divergence in how people view the same movies, which brings me to the touchy matter of objectivity. G-Fan's editor J.D. Lees stated that "Personal taste is something that doesn't have to be explained or justified, maybe because we can't really explain it even to ourselves." He then explains his explanation further by commenting on the concept of "objective criteria;" but the fact is that everything boils down to personal prejudices and preferences no matter how much we try being impartial, and I'm certainly no exception. I only mention this because I know I may be upsetting some fans of certain films while praising those they don't like, but my opinion will never be the last word on the subject, and my intention is never to change anyone's mind, but hopefully give them a fresh perspective.

Nevertheless, there is a difference between films such as Gorgo and Reptilicus, and people should see it. Now Reptilicus is one of my all-time favorites; I saw it as a kid when it first came out and just loved it: Mr. Petersen dancing the Charleston after dipping his pinkie into an electric eel tank (clearly marked with a warning label), hook-nosed Carl Ottosen playing blustering General Mark Grayson who complains to his liaison officer that he wants to be "transferred out of this damn place!" (Copenhagen? Seriously?), and lovely Birthe Wilke singing "Tivoli Nights" as a nightclub patron ogles her generous bosom, what's not to like? But I could never in a million years consider it a better film than Gorgo, and just because one likes a film, that doesn't make it good.

To Godzilla fans such as David Twardos however, there is no middle ground. "I feel that 'true fans' or 'serious fans' of Godzilla shouldn't be people who like only the more serious or sophisticated G-Films, but are people like me who like all the Godzilla films for one reason or another." This is like saying you're not a true fan of your favorite sports team if you only root for them when they're winning; besides, no one likes being told they are not a "true" Godzilla fan (I've been one since 1960!).

When I attended science fiction conventions and revival screenings of Godzilla films in the 1970s, the series was not held in the highest regard. There is a definite anchor in time as to when the nadir of the series was reached, and it was in 1977 when NBC ran a nationwide primetime screening of Godzilla vs. Megalon hosted by John Belushi; the actor wearing a Godzilla costume built by Robert Short which the comedian donned for a "Kramer vs. Godzilla" sketch (Belushi later died from a drug overdose on my birthday in 1982). 

In more recent years the 1970s Godzilla films - once described by Donald F. Glut as "outright slapstick fantasies" - are being seen in a revisionist light, and while re-evaluating films is always welcome, several writers now feel that these much-maligned movies weren't so bad after all and have not been given a fair shake; however this seems to me not so much a case of remembering films being better than they are, but wishing they were better than they were (on the other hand, the generally-respected films of the Heisei Series are now being reevaluated by many authors as very unsatisfying films). I think we can all agree on one thing: that when all is said and done - and I doubt we will ever reach the point when all will have been said and done - as long as we discuss, analyze, and ruminate about Godzilla films, the genre will continue to be meaningful and relevant for us forever.

So brace yourselves for a wild ride; remember to buckle-up and keep your hands and feet inside the cab at all times! We will visit icy islands and steaming jungles, see citizens and cities being devastated, and watch love bloom amid all the gloom and doom.

We will encounter massive flying machines and copious creatures, and we also will witness all sorts of Godzillas: mean ones, nice ones, flying ones, swimming and skipping ones, destructive and darling ones, and heroic and hated ones in big-budget blockbusters made over many months to penny-wise wonders made in weeks, with everything from psychedelic underpinnings to serious social commentary.

I hope you enjoy the journey as I frequently did.

 

Peter H. Brothers

Agoura Hills, California

November 3rd, 2018

Chapter One

 

Godzilla's Counterattack

(Gojira no gyakushu)

< Released April 24th, 1955 >

Dr. Tadokoro: "Well, Dr. Yamane, it seems that our fears have finally been confirmed.  Our darkest dreams have come back to haunt us."

Defense Official: "Then, you think this is another Godzilla?"

Dr. Yamane: "Yes."

The Film:

The film begins with a gong (from a tape-recording played in reverse) and tympani leading us to a plane's shadow flying over the ocean: it is Shoichi (aka Keichi) Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) piloting his Cessna 170 while tuna-spotting for the Yamaji Fishing Company. After making his final run for the day, he radios back to base to flirt with his fiancée, Hidemi Yamaji (Setsuko Wakayama), who is in charge of the wireless communications and is also the boss's daughter. Hidemi hands a message over to her co-worker Yasuko, who telegraphs:

"Kuniryo-maru No. 3, Kuniryo-maru No. 3, this is the main office. At 34° latitude north and 136° longitude east, there is a big school of tuna. Proceed to the coordinates at full speed" (these coordinates are actually mainland Japan, slightly southeast of Osaka).

Suddenly there is an emergency call from Hidemi's brother and Keichi's friend and fellow pilot, Koji "Bridegroom" Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) frantically reporting a stalled engine forcing him to make a dead-stick landing (not an easy thing to do in a floatplane on a choppy sea) near Japan's Southern Islands.

After a brief search, Shoichi spots Kobayashi's plane just offshore the bleak and remote Iwato Island, and soon lands to join him on the beach (all the aerial shots were filmed by Tsuburaya riding in a small plane with his camera mounted on the support struts between the wing and fuselage). As the two chat over a small fire, they suddenly freeze, sensing something is terribly wrong, and looking up, they behold: Godzilla!

But Godzilla is not alone as it is fighting another monster, a four-legged foe with spikes along its back. The two grapple a bit before falling-off a cliff, giving the aviators a chance to escape.

The next day at Countermeasures Headquarters, the men examine various pictures until finding a photo of the new monster in a dinosaur book. Dr. Tadokoro (Masao Shimizu) identifies the strange creature as an Angilosaurus (aka Angirasu, Angilas, Angurus, Anzilla, Angorus, but now known officially as Anguirus), speculating that, as with Godzilla, it was created from a hydrogen bomb explosion.

Sitting around the large table with the officials is a distinguished visitor: the dour Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura), still recovering from his traumatic Godzilla experiences. Tadokoro theorizes Anguirus was a strong and smart meat-eater and that the two brawny beasts have been battling each other since time immemorial. 

Yamane has been invited in order to offer his "Godzilla Countermeasures" but states he doesn't know of any which will work; however his visit is not a total loss since he has brought with him a minute and a-half long silent film (just how it is being shown is unclear since there is no projector anywhere to be seen) showing portions of the Godzilla rampage improbably taken by various photographers whose footage somehow survived the devastation.

Yamane explains that military weaponry was ineffective but the monster was ultimately subdued by the Oxygen Destroyer at the bottom of Tokyo Bay, along with its inventor who also perished, a man Yamane identifies with a somber clasping of hands and a respectful nod as Dr. Serizawa (leading one writer to later suggest that "Serizawa died in vain!"). Yamane suggests this second "Godzilla" - the name now referring not only to the original monster but the entire species - could be distracted and lured away by bright lights which had attracted and enraged the first Godzilla.

In the following and somewhat pointless scene, Hidemi and Shoichi look at the city of Osaka - now rebuilt and prosperous after the 1945 fire raids killing over 10,000 civilians - and wonder what might happen if the monsters showed up there or at Tokyo, but just after Shoichi reassures her that everything will be okay, they spot a squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force jets on patrol.

This is followed by yet another pointless scene where Dr. Tadokoro stands alongside some officials around a large table map, but when asked how best to search for Godzilla, he hasn't a clue.  

Godzilla is soon spotted on radar heading for Shikoku, and ships maneuver to surround it at sea, followed by still another pointless scene where several company employees discuss either suspending or relocating their tuna-fishing activities for the time being; a scene ending with good-natured kidding and laughter, the first time this has happened in a Godzilla film.

That evening in Osaka, Shoichi and Hidemi are waltzing in a nightclub to the strains of soft music and the warbling of 22-year-old pop-artist Miyoko Hoshino singing "Kohan no futari" ("Couple on the Lake Shore"):

 

"Tasogare semaru mizuumi no

Hokano wo deru no barukoni

Setsunai omoi no ureshisa ni

Nanimo iwazu ni kono mama de

Soto ukari ochite oite . . ."

 

"Dusk is drawing near over the lake

Shining over to the far balcony

For the happiness of painful memories

Say nothing and stay like love

Leaving behind those fleeting memories . . ."

 

Suddenly they and everyone else comes to a complete standstill as a warning broadcasts Godzilla is approaching Osaka after all, prompting a panic from the patrons.

After the city is blacked-out, several observers from the Metropolitan Police are suddenly illuminated by a bright light emanating from the ocean (a nice touch not easily explained) as Godzilla surfaces and slowly approaches. Fortunately for the city, the monster is soon led away by jets dropping parachute flares.

Unfortunately for the city, just as this is happening, several criminals manage to escape from a police van transporting them from the danger area. Three commandeer a gasoline truck only to crash it into a gasoline storage tank, setting it ablaze and attracting the beast's attention.

In short order Godzilla makes landfall and is greeted by tanks and rocket launchers firing their deadly ordinance, but the monster just stands there before - in a historic first - blasting one of the approaching jets to Kingdom Come with its atomic breath.

Moments later Anguirus arrives and in a running battle lasting nine frantic-filled minutes the two leviathans level the city, during which time they fall into the Kyu-Yodo River, causing a flood in an underground mall. They also destroy the tuna-cannery business owned by Kohei Yamaji (Yukio Kasame) before Godzilla brutally kills Anguirus and returns to the sea.

The next day dawns revealing a city reduced to ashes (the charred skeletal remains of Anguirus apparently having been removed). Observing the ruins are Yamaji and his Vice-President Shingo Shibeki (Sonosuke Sawamura) who decide to relocate their business to the northern province of Hokkaido.

After the relocation, tuna proves difficult to locate, but during Shoichi's ninth attempt, fish are finally found, so Shibeki arranges for a celebratory employee party be held at a local inn (although another source states it is Koji's "matching party" so he can introduce his heretofore unseen fiancée to his friends). After Koji leads a ship to a splendid prospect, he receives a radio call from Shoichi and Hidemi; the subsequent dialogue sounding like something from an Abbott & Costello routine:

 

Shoichi:  We have our first settlement in Osaka, and we need a fast                  plane.

Koji:   Really? Have you met this person before?

Shoichi:  Me? Who?

Koji:  The nice person.

Shoichi:  What nice person?

Hidemi:  Kobayashi, who are you referring to?

Koji:  The one I'm meeting.

Hidemi:  Say, won't you tell me?

Koji:  Himitsu! Himitsu! (Secret! Secret!)

Hidemi:  Pervert! You're not seeing her!

Koji:  Oh, that would be horrible!

Hidemi:  (to Shoichi) Say, who could it be?

Shoichi:  Well, who would he know in Hokkaido?

 

Koji, Shoichi, and Hidemi arrive at the inn and find the celebration is well-under way. As Hidemi asks Koji for the name of the "nice person" (although that same other source states she is asking him to name the girl he is going to marry), he continues being evasive. A moment later Shoichi is reunited with his former Air Corps comrades, Tajima (Yoshio Tsuchiya) and Ikeda (Ren Yamamoto), now members of the Osaka Self-Defense Force, with Tajima a flight leader and Ikeda a landing-craft commander. With them is their squadron commander and Shoichi's former instructor, Capitan Terasawa (Seijiro Onda). 

As the businessmen slowly get stoned, they sing a fisherman folk song from Hokkaido called "Soran-Bushi:"

 

"Oyaji tairyo da mukashi to chigau
toreta nishin wa ore no mono choi

Ichi-jo-go-shaku no ro o kogu fune mo
horeta ano go nya te mo choi . . ."

 

"'Are the herrings around?'" fishermen ask.

'Ask the waves,' sea gulls reply, 'we're homeless birds.'

The colorful pillow's only for tonight

I'll be sleeping on the waves tomorrow . . ."

 

When Hidemi asks Koji why his nickname is "hanamuko" (bridegroom), Koji slyly suggests it is because he may soon become one, but just after he takes out a small booklet, she reaches for it and he immediately puts it back. 

A moment later the celebration is cut short when an employee rushes in with news that Godzilla has sunk one of their ships, the Zuiko Maru, causing everyone to sober-up in a hurry.

The next day Shoichi is searching in bad weather for the monster and refuses to return even after Hidemi informs him the owners have insisted he do so. As Koji enters the radio room to ask Hidemi what sort of wedding gift he should get for a certain sweetheart, Shoichi frantically reports spotting Godzilla heading toward the ice-covered Mikojima Island (although other sources identify it as Shinko Island and Kagoshima), and in his haste to join his friend, Koji leaves his small chart logbook behind. After he leaves the room, Hidemi opens it and sees a picture of her when she was in high school, the "sweetheart" Koji was referring to.

After Koji arrives at Shoichi's location the two exchange waves above the waves. As Shoichi returns and makes his report at Command Headquarters, Godzilla makes landfall on the island before reaching a dead-end and heading back toward the sea. The first jets arrive but their bombs have little effect, so an exasperated Koji buzzes the beast only to be set aflame by the monster before crashing into a hillside.

The crash creates an avalanche shedding tons of snow and ice (mostly ice) around the animal, giving Tajima and Shoichi a clue as to how to kill it. Since the monster is temporarily immobilized, Tajima briefs his pilots at Command Headquarters on the best method of attack, as a clenched-jaw Shoichi listens in. Tajima orders his men to their planes but is stopped by Shoichi who insists he be allowed to go along, and after a brief discussion, Capitan Terasawa grants his unusual request.

To block the monster's return to the sea, Ikeda oversees two landing craft - these same miniatures would reappear in Giant Monster Baran (Daikaiju Baran) three years later - unloading several barrels of gasoline (or oil), and soon after Godzilla extricates itself from the ice, the barrels are set aflame by Ikeda's gunners.

Jets arrive and during the next three and a-half minutes launch rockets into the hillside creating additional avalanches, but not without suffering their own losses, as Godzilla blasts several of them out of the sky.

Finally the monster is almost completely buried by the ice and only one more explosion is needed to finish it off. This is summarily accomplished by Shoichi flying the last jet in, and after the ice completely covers the menace, Shoichi tearfully whispers to his fallen comrade: "We got Godzilla for you."

 

 

A Closer Look:

 

Dr. Yamane had no idea when he mumbled at the end of Godzilla that "I don't think this is the last one of Godzilla's type" he inadvertently initiated the longest-running movie series ever produced by a major studio.

It all started the previous November with the release of Godzilla (Gojira), produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka with that most basic of movie-making motives: Money. Meant to capitalize on the then-current monster movie craze beginning in 1952 with the re-release of RKO's King Kong and the following year with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms from Warner Bros., it was originally intended to showcase the proficiency of Japan's special effects helmed by the legendary Eiji Tsuburaya. Despite what many have always believed, Godzilla was never intended from the get-go as a "one-off" endeavor, but produced in the hopes it might lead to a popular series; it not only did that, but also spawned the kaiju eiga genre.

The film wasn't so much a daring gamble as a calculated risk, and its enormous success - one out of every nine Japanese citizens went to see it during its initial run - inaugurated the Golden Age of Toho's science fiction, horror, and fantasy film cycle from 1954 - 1964. Directed in stark documentary style by war-survivor Ishiro Honda who saw the monster as a metaphor for the Atomic Bomb, somberly scored by Akira Ifukube, and based on an original story by Shigeru Kayama, the film touched upon not only the catastrophes visited upon Japanese citizens during World War II (with particular emphasis on the American B-29 fire raids still fresh in many people's minds), but elements of nuclear proliferation epitomized by Dr. Daisuke Serizawa's "Oxygen Destroyer."

As horror film historian Carlos Clarens once observed: "Godzilla rises from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to raze Tokyo in an exorcistic reenactment of the catastrophe of Hiroshima. All weapons prove ineffectual to stop the beast; then, an idealistic young scientist who has perfected the final atomic device (short of the Cobalt Bomb) decides to immolate himself like the kamikaze of old and destroy Godzilla. It was a useless sacrifice, for Godzilla returned intact to the screen in several sequels when the film proved the greatest international success of Japan's movie history."  

Because of Godzilla's success, Japanese cinema began producing more films of a fantastic nature. Shochiku Movie Company produced Toshimasa Hodzuki's 1954 Bronze Demon (Buronzu Akuma), and in that same year, Shintoho Studios released Shinshu Tenma Kyo directed by Akira Hagiwara, and 1955 saw the release of Ninjutsu Jiraiya, co-directed by Ryo Hagiwara and Tai Kato. Samurai films were also in relentless production and it all very quickly became a boom, but since no studio had the same resources or special effects talent as Toho, none of their films made as great an impact.

Godzilla's Counterattack became the most influential of all the Godzilla sequels, not by virtue of being "the last Godzilla epic filmed in moody black and white," but in establishing a pattern which for the most part has continued until this very day: Godzilla fighting and ultimately defeating other monsters. Seen today however, Counterattack has little to offer, other than it being the first cinematic Super-Monster vs. Super-Monster conflict "with Japan caught in the middle." Although it is not known who came up with this novel concept, some have suggested it was Tanaka, but it seems just as likely it may have been Tsuburaya. But does Anguirus really die? According to Tom Miller, it ain't necessarily so: "Kaiju are not so easily killed, and there is evidence that only one Anguirus exists." Even so, many feel as with Godzilla, Anguirus represents an entire species.  

"No production company has ever or has since tackled this particular theme more brilliantly than Toho" wrote Allen A. Debus, and the film does have its own uniquely-eerie ambiance, as Guy Mariner Tucker has related: "It is less evocative of wartime than Godzilla, and feels odd rather than frightening; yet it becomes suggestive of some sort of weird unhuman parallel world, where machines and monsters tangle with one another amidst the empty darkened structures that man has left behind." When Toho announced that the next city to be flattened by Godzilla would be Osaka, it was something like winning the honor of hosting the Olympics; instead of being displeased, city officials were thrilled, and promptly held an official contest to find a name for the monster's first opponent. Among the entries were Gorion (a mix between a gorilla and a lion), Zottosu, Zeidar, Waniburu, and Gyotosu.

Released a mere six months after Godzilla, the film attempts a similar approach in its "day-in-the-life" tale of ordinary people whose lives are abnormally affected by monsters. While more action-oriented than Godzilla, there is not a great deal of it, and the film actually feels slower and longer than its predecessor, even though it is 16 minutes shorter. And while the saga of Yamane, Emiko, Ogata, and Serizawa were equally significant as Godzilla, Counterattack's bland human story is completely obliterated by the monsters.

On paper the narrative must have seemed like a sure winner: two massive monsters battling it out to the death in the heart of a great city (an early draft had Anguirus matching Godzilla's fire breath with its own fire breath) while destroying everything in their paths, jets firing rockets into snow-covered peaks creating massive avalanches (the first of very few instances where the JDSF succeeded in defeating Godzilla), and a firestorm of Homeric proportions; yet the film lacks a gripping human story with interesting characters with perhaps one exception: the solemn Dr. Yamane, glumly played by Takashi Shimura, who reprised his role for five flaccid minutes of screen time.

The plot - what little of it there is - is a bit of a puzzle: although Shoichi and Hidemi are getting married, Shoichi and Koji are both called "bridegroom," but while Shoichi is called that because he is one, Koji is apparently called that because he isn't, working as a fish scout and "married" to his job. Shoichi tells Koji about a settlement (aka town) in Osaka, but it isn't clear if this is to be the location of a future home for the couple, or a new locale for the company's transitory main office until the move to Hokkaido can be completed.

Then there is the business of this mysterious "go-between" (i.e., an intermediary or negotiator) whom Koji describes as an old companion, but it's hard to know what to believe, since Koji is such a kidder. Hidemi's feisty curly-haired co-worker Yasuko Inoue seems to have a yen for Koji, but her role in the film is defined as a "fishing company correspondent;" probably another way of defining a clerical position such as a dispatcher or telegraph operator.

As it turns out the so-called go-betweens could be Tajima and Ikeda who are former Air Corps comrades, as all met during flight school training where Captain Terasawa was their instructor. After graduation, Shoichi's two friends joined the JSDF while he opted to go into civil aviation, working for a fishing company managed by Yamaji and Shibeki, who may have flown combat aircraft during the war (some have suggested they are smiling when hearing a military song sung in an adjoining room, but it seems more-likely it is a drinking song as part of a sequence which seems more like padding than a party). One mystery solved concerns the identity of the girl in Koji's wallet; not a future wife for the "bridegroom," but his sister as a young high school student.

It's never explained why Godzilla would choose to make landfall on an icy wasteland anymore than why it doesn't use its atomic breath to free itself from the ice, but the main problem is that there is nothing very exciting about people working for a tuna-fishing company. Of course it is impossible to discount the reason why this film was made in the first place, which was to cash-in on Godzilla's success, and miniature set designer Yoshi Irie had no objections to a sequel, since it meant more work, telling David Milner that "Film studios always produce a sequel when a movie does very well."

Because Counterattack's script was written by Kayama (who wrote the original story treatment for Godzilla) and Takeo Murata (who co-wrote the screenplay for Godzilla), it should come as no surprise that several ideas were repeated, such as shots of a nighttime city filled with happy young people whose reverie is abruptly ended when Godzilla arrives, a person watching the conflagration on television, a ground-level tracking shot of a charred city, a ship's SOS cut-off by Godzilla, and most-significantly, another ménage à trois and an individual whose sacrifice leads to the defeat of the monster. But whereas the lover's triangle in Godzilla was strong coffee, this one is weak tea, and while Koji's death was an obvious attempt to achieve the sublime pathos of Serizawa's suicide, the scientist's decision had complex guilt-ridden aspects to it, whereas Koji (in a completely out-of-character gesture) gets too close to the beast once too often; as a result, his death is more of a foolish accident than a noble gesture, even if it did show the air force how to kill Godzilla (but does this Godzilla really die? There is little giving the impression that it has, and this is another problem with the picture, as such an inconclusive ending can only be seen as a stratagem to revise the monster at a later date - literally putting it on ice - although when Godzilla did reappear in 1962, it bears little more than a passing resemblance to this particular creature). 

The story's structure is odd in that the big battle between the beasts (what one writer called the "absolute best part of this film") takes place near the midway point and is never surpassed for the remainder of the film. It would have worked better had the movie began with Godzilla appearing on the icy island and being buried by the jets before reappearing to fight Anguirus on Iwato, and ending the film with their colossal struggle when Godzilla would kill his opponent before disappearing back into the sea while the city burned to the ground; however such an ending would have been an anathema to the film's overall tone, which was from the outset intended to be more uplifting than agonizing. As author David Kalat has pointed out: "While Godzilla symbolized the horrors of war, Gojira no gyakushu depicts the postwar process of rebuilding (told in) non-allegorical forms."

Even the scientist's briefing - where in Godzilla Yamane explained his radical theory about the monster to a half-hundred cackling and skeptical audience members ending in a political brouhaha - has been reduced to a dozen all-male members sitting around a very large table (the same tablecloth can be seen in Godzilla in the scene when an official is explaining the high-tension tower barricade plan) as an eccentric zoologist whips-out an American dinosaur book where a photograph of the Anguirus conceptual model has been pasted-in (times have sure changed: in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Tom Nesbitt spends hours in Miss Lee Hunter's apartment searching through dozens of dinosaur drawings until spotting "the one I saw!," but Shoichi and Koji only have to peruse a few pages in a book before identifying Anguirus). Yamane discusses more theories and even tosses-in the H-Bomb for good measure, but while the Bomb is brought up as a means of destroying Godzilla, nothing more is done with this concept; the same concept which was repeated and then not used again in King Kong vs. Godzilla (Kingu Kongu tai Gojira). At one point Tadokoro reads from the text that "(Anguirus') behavior shows it was smart in how it employed its body" and had "a thorough hatred for warlike predators," but how could anyone possibly know this?

The air of despair so ingrained in Godzilla is completely absent from Counterattack: when the men are viewing Yamane's Godzilla footage, they watch without saying a word, when by rights you'd expect at least one of them to jump up and shout "Oh my God!" Instead, the majority of the movie's action is of Shoichi and Koji flying around in their planes against back-projected cloudy aviation footage, which is not terribly exciting, unless you enjoy watching planes flying around against back-projected cloudy aviation footage. In one scene, after hearing on the radio that Godzilla's whereabouts are unknown, the company president decides to temporarily suspend its tuna-spotting activities; a decision which will cost the company money and have dire effects on its employees, yet the scene ends with laughter, although some may argue this is simply a case of people making the best of a bad situation.    

Much of the blame must be laid at the feet of director Motoyoshi Oda - inexplicably billed as "Motoyoshi Qdq" in the U.S. version Gigantis, the Fire Monster; maybe the type-setter was drunk - who had earlier directed The Invisible Man (Tomei Ningen) at the same time Honda was busy with Godzilla. Since Honda was working on his next project, Love Tide (Ai sho), Oda got the call since executive producer Iwao Mori was in a hurry to get the sequel out in a timely manner. Identified by one Godzilla scholar "as a mostly undistinguished studio hack," Oda's best scene, described as "the only truly chilling moment in the film," is when Hidemi looks out her window at the firestorm which was once Osaka, a moment with its own wartime allusions as described by Mitsubishi Zero fighter-plane designer Jiro Horikoshi during 1945 when he lived in Nagoya: "There is what is to me the now-familiar scream of the falling bombs, the thundering explosions in the city, and the roar of the great fires. From my house I have on many occasions watched the frightful flames devouring the homes and buildings, and the towering clouds of smoke which completely cover the sky over the city."

It seems logical to assume that Oda was told not to make a tragic film (for example, he never shows any of the dead or dying) and instead focus on the resilience of people overcoming adversity: Godzilla showed the ruins, but Counterattack shows the renewal. Lacking the intricacy of Godzilla's script and the conflicts of its central characters, pretty much everyone in Counterattack gets along rather nicely, as clearly this was a different kind of Godzilla film; it even follows the same path set by American monster movies where the Bomb is mentioned only as a pretext for bringing the monsters to life. Oda never directed another Godzilla film and did what he could to give the film its own identity, but the feeling ultimately coming across is that of a film made quickly to cash-in on a previous film's success, and this was entirely achieved.  

Oda's direction lacks Honda's creative flair which could account for the film's general air of indolence; in fact its pace can perhaps be best described as conversational. Oda does manage to convey a modicum of grief over Osaka's devastation and instills poignant touches such as when Koji enters the radio room to ask Hidemi about wedding gifts: the deliberate manner in which he closes the door behind him hints at his approaching death. The panic in the nightclub is especially effective, and sharp eyes can spot some of the band members grabbing their instruments as they run out (they may be scared, but they aren't stupid).

There are far too many scenes of people talking, none of which is helped by Seiichi Endo's flat photography, with the one outstanding exception being the lovely close-ups of Shoichi and Hidemi dancing in the dark. There are very few close-ups - another indication of a hurried shoot - and instead of Honda's smooth and rapid tracking-in shots, Endo's are slow and shaky (the cinematographer's day-for-night shots are very dark indeed - almost too much so - but he occasionally implements night-for-night photography). 

When Tajima gives his two squadron leaders the crucial briefing on how to bury Godzilla, his captain seems preoccupied, and even Mr. Yamagi - a man close to having a stroke watching his factory go up in smoke - seems more frustrated than fatalistic, stating he will simply relocate his shipping business elsewhere (he cannot consider rebuilding in Osaka due to the port area's extensive damage), yet there is never any consideration as to how he would be able to acquire the necessary capital in order to make such a major move, unless of course his insurance has an "Act of Godzilla" clause.

The film's most moving moment occurs when Hidemi learns her brother has died: as she removes the small photographs of the two of them from his logbook and places them side-by-side, it creates a touching image of them being together, yet apart (Oda was not helped by Shigeaki Hidaka and Murata's blasé script which Mike Bogue considered "more threadbare than a Mothra-eaten garment factory"). The film's pace never quickens even with the monster fights nor is there any tension evident at anytime even when the convicts are escaping; instead the sequence is an unnecessary distraction from the main action and is somewhat implausible, as none of the jailbirds are handcuffed or otherwise restrained, and to make matters worse, their scampering and stumbling around accompanied by "clip-clop" sounds is more amusing than exciting.

The cast presented its own set of problems, beginning with 29-year-old Hiroshi Koizumi, who later gained his greatest genre fame playing Shinichi Chujo in Mothra (Mosura). "Oda was a modest and calm person," the actor told Brett Homenick. "I thought he was a very experienced director. He worked quietly and his work was very reliable." Koizumi had only been in films since 1952 where he first worked with Honda in The Man Who Came To Port (Minato e kita otoko), and that same year played a bar patron in Akira Kurosawa's Ikuru. Counterattack was one of 11 films he did in 1955, and while pleasant and handsome enough to qualify as the romantic lead, his one-note performance lacked depth and vigor. Shoichi is admittedly rather headstrong for a tuna-spotter as he searches for Godzilla even after his superiors have insisted he return (doesn't he work for them? And who gave him permission to search for the monster in the first place?). But the film's most improbable moment occurs when he is given permission to fly a high-speed military jet even though he is not a member of the JSDF! 

Not much better is 26-year-old Setsuko Wakayama who had been in films since 1947 and married to director Senkichi Taniguchi, remembered today as the man who turned down the opportunity to direct Godzilla. Her performance is strangely reserved and she seems sad even when dancing with the smiling Koizumi - perhaps she is preoccupied with Godzilla - nor does it help the pair lacked the chemistry of Momoko Kochi and Akira Takarada (the future newlyweds have a very tense relationship: at one point he calls her an "idiot" and she later calls him "jackass" as if they were already married). Not all the casting is quite such a letdown however with Minoru Chiaki playing the happy-go-lucky Koji Kobayashi, a performance which is even more remarkable when considering the actor's portrayal as the mean Jiro Nakajima in Kurosawa's I Live in Fear (Ikimono no kiroku) filmed that same year. Chiaki plays his part with affable enthusiasm and lights up every scene he's in, which is the only reason why his death comes as such a shock.

The barely 30-minute score by Masaru Sato (aka Masaro Satoh) was the first of seven Godzilla films he wrote music for, but it was another disappointment. Possibly Ifukube already had a commitment (which seems likely since he scored 21 films that year) or money was an issue; whatever the reason, Sato's uncredited score is not as impressive as Ifukube's for Godzilla. Sato was determined to write music as different from Ifukube as possible, and in this aspect he certainly succeeded; gone are Ifukube's military marches and melancholic melodies, replaced by brooding bellicosity, tonal timbre, and sour schmaltziness. The "Main Title" music is accompanied by Godzilla's roar followed by Anguirus' roar (the track was originally recorded without sound effects), but instead of Ifukube's energetic and urgent "Main Title" Godzilla music, Sato implements staccato brass, pulsating piano, vociferous violins, and shrill whistles punctuated with a slide trombone and amplified harp strings. 

Much of Sato's music is flavored in a fanfare format consisting of blazing brass and spiraling strings, such as when Tajima initiates his crucial attack on the monster, and oddly during Koji's death dive, stressing action over emotion. Bluesy saxophone (the instrument purportedly used to create Anguirus' mournful cry, although it was actually an English horn played backwards at a slower-speed), sentimental coronets, wistful violins, and tinkling piano color the more intimate moments such as when the two lovers are gazing-out at Osaka, and Koji and Hidemi's gift discussion. "In a monster film or a science-fiction film," the composer wrote regarding his score for Counterattack, "it's not just about the background music for the gaudy battles or profound moments. I also made sure to include music that would go along with daily activities, or the connections between people's hearts."  

One particularly interesting fragment is heard during the fatal crash of the Caltex truck, sinisterly scored with pounding low brass and an eerie use of a traditional kagura suzu (a small handheld and three-tiered bell used in Shinto ceremonies; they can be seen during the prayer ceremony in Monster Baran), chillingly denoting a death rattle. Grim violins and somber woodwinds effectively enhance shots of the wrecked Osaka, but there is no music during several crucial scenes where it would have done some good, such as Yamane's film show (a mistake corrected in the American version with a portion inserted from the "Attack on Kronos" cue written by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter for Kronos), the seemingly endless overwater searches, the convicts' escape, and especially when the jets initiate their final assault on the monster in a tedious sequence peppered with repeated and reversed explosion footage.

Arguably the movie's most memorable musical moment occurs when the monsters have at each other in an extremely dense motif of repetitious semi-tone chords without any disenable rhythm or recognizable melody, comprised of cymbals, low woodwinds, heavy bow strings, and bizarrely enough, a harp (portions of the music were played-back slower than normal to enhance the unnatural situation). But this arrangement, as with the "End Title" music of percussion, violins and more harp, doesn't indicate danger, suspense, victory or defeat, just an out of the ordinary event.

Kazuji Taira's editing is workmanlike but there are some continuity errors: when Shoichi first starts searching for Koji he sees an island on his left, but in the following close-up, he is now looking toward his right, and a moment later when the island is on the plane's right-hand side, he is flying in the opposite direction. When the two pilots first spot Godzilla it is above them, but when they see it fighting Anguirus, they are on the same eyeline as the monsters, and when they run away after the monsters have fallen into the sea, the campfire they had earlier started is nowhere to be seen. During the climax of the monsters' battle in Osaka, Godzilla first munches on Anguirus' left shoulder, but in a subsequent close-up, it is now chewing on its right shoulder, and when Godzilla uses its radioactive ray on Anguirus it has no effect, but when it breathes it on the dead monster, Anguirus immediately bursts into flame. When Koji flies over a fishing vessel, the sailors are looking from left-to-right, but the plane is flying in the opposite direction, and during the final jet assault, a P-80 is about to launch its rockets, but when it shoots them, it's an F-86.  

This leaves the last significant aspect of the film to be discussed: the special effects, which for the most part are unimpressive, making one wonder how what Tsuburaya got so right in Godzilla, he got so wrong in Counterattack, although time and budget restraints must come into consideration. When Godzilla first angrily splashed its way through Tokyo Bay with smoke and harbor lights coloring the scene, it was awesome and electric, but in Counterattack the monster is filmed from a greater distance and there is no smoke or added details, as if envisaging the commonplace occurrence it soon became.

Tsuburaya typically made the most of what he had to work with and it was not unusual for him to utilize three cameras when filming his effects, with each one filming at a different speed: real-time, high-speed (72 frames per second), and slow-speed (18 frames per second). With a modus operandi the exact opposite of Alfred Hitchcock who reveled in pre-production and found filming to be a bit of a bore, Tsuburaya lived for the moment of shooting when he could improvise, and usually welcomed the often unpredictable results as happy accidents from heaven.   

Budgetary concerns present themselves when Godzilla first comes ashore in Osaka: instead of exploding squibs attached to the costume, Tsuburaya opted for less-than convincing superimposed explosions filmed in reverse. The effects themselves are inconsistent - the matte work is often unstable - and while the crash of a burning jet into the bay is grim and graceful, after Anguirus makes landfall, Tsuburaya holds on a shot of Godzilla's tail toppling over a tower for too long, revealing support wires. There is also one particularly dreadful shot of Godzilla seen during the avalanche sequence where holes punched into in the costume's neck are clearly visible, an imperfection more carefully disguised in the first Godzilla film.

Monster maker Teizo Toshimitsu helps Katsumi Tezuka               struggle into the Anguirus costume.

 

The various Godzilla puppet heads in Godzilla were well-sculpted and scary, but here they are goofy-looking with lifeless eyes, puffy jaws, and irregularly-protruding teeth - an odd facial design returning 61 years later in Godzilla's Resurgence (Shin Godzilla) - and the scene where the monster is pushing giant ice cubes away from it is not terribly compelling. The man in the costume, Haruo Nakajima (reprising his role as Godzilla as he would for the next nine films), only had to worry about shoving the ice cubes away from in front of him, as the ice field behind him was a matte painting. As he later recalled: "I had to stand in the middle of the set while a huge amount of crushed ice came tumbling down on me." Special effects artist Yasuyuki Inoue remembered the ice was not cut-up, but smashed from a large chunk before being slid down into the scene by a conveyor belt borrowed from a local ice house. At one point the platform gave way under the weight, burying Nakajima as well as cable operator Eizo Kaimai, but fortunately neither was seriously injured.

"The movements of the eyes and mouth were motorized." Nakajima remembered. "The battery was between the thighs at the base of the tail. It was heavy. When doing quick turns there would be this thudding sound; it was kind of like 'heave-ho!' Also, the motor was on top of the head." The eyes and mouth were manipulated by remote control as opposed to being manually operated from inside the costume - the first for a Godzilla film - and this was also the first Godzilla costume with movable eyes, which sometimes resulted in unintentional humor. From this point on the spongy material in the tail was cut into 6 cm (2.36 in) wide rings and glued together, resulting in greater flexibility than the original tail, and a plaster mold of Nakajima's outline was inserted into the costume for a more form-fitting outfit.

"One thing I want you to realize," Nakajima advised Brett Homenick, "is the first Godzilla suit I got into was made out of plastic, something really hard. So it was very hard to move, and it weighed about 220 lbs (99.8 kg). And the next one I got into for this, to fight another character, was more of a rubber-type latex, and it was only 60 kilos, which is about 120 pounds. So it's a lot less weight. And so, of course, it was a lot easier to move around. And in the other suit, it was Anguirus. Mr. Katsumi  (Tezuka) was in the other suit . . . There's a scene where I pick up Anguirus and throw him down in this muddy water. I've got my hands wrapped around his neck and started forcing him to drink this water. This guy was so involved in his role that he actually did drink the water!"

As with the first film, Teizo Toshimitsu constructed the costume, this time with a lighter latex and less internal padding, giving Nakajima much greater freedom of movement. "Working on Godzilla's Counterattack was easier for me," the actor recalled. "The costume was built especially to fit me." So instead of a bulky, slow-moving beast with limited flexibility, the monster moved more nimbly with quicker reactions, but the problem with this new approach was that the monster's movements became more human-like, with karate-style posturing, long and rapid strides, and even once lifting-up a leg to ease its way out of the ice; the once-stately beast would not be seen again until 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla (Mosura tai Gojira). Nevertheless, Nakajima gave his second Godzilla a multifaceted personality: defiant, aggressive, curious, and even malicious as it contemptuously flips-over the dead Anguirus. 

One observation contemporary critics made at the time of Godzilla's release was the incongruity of seeing the city's neon lights blazing during the monster's rampage. As a result, Tsuburaya decided to make things more realistic by having Osaka in complete darkness, which, while being more accurate, removed a key element of the scene's visual dynamism, and since watching monsters battling it out in a darkened city is not nearly as interesting, the lights stayed lit from this point on! And while the animated optical work in Godzilla showed some care and attention to detail, in Counterattack it is mediocre, and we don't even get to see a single shot of the beast's illuminating dorsal fins. When the blackout takes effect in Osaka, all of the traffic headlights improbably go out at once, and when Godzilla sprays its ray as a watery mist, it spritzes all over the place like Daffy Duck. Additionally, while the use of compressed air was an effective touch in Godzilla showing the monster uprooting debris, when it was used during the monsters' skirmish, it looks slightly hilarious.

There are a number of nice moments: the dramatic shot of the two behemoths falling into the ocean, the explosion of a massive fuel-storage tank, two pilot-POV shots swooping over Godzilla, and the rockets being fired from the F-86 jets was handled better than in Godzilla with more effectively concealed wire-works. The swamping of the three convicts in the underground mall and the crumbling of the tall buildings is well done, but the shots of the city in flames fell short of the dramatic weight from the first film, where they specifically harkened back to the deadly fire raids of World War II, whereas now it is simply a spectacle. And while hundreds if not thousands died in Godzilla, in Counterattack nearly everyone appears to have been safely evacuated and losses are minimal: there are no citizens being blasted into oblivion, no screaming people falling to their deaths, and no mothers spending their last moments trying to comfort their terrified children.

The battle between the behemoths was choreographed by Nakajima after conferring with Tsuburaya - who "would draw a precise storyboard" - and special effects cinematographer Sadamasa Arikawa based on the miniature setups, camera placements, and what was achievable inside the costumes. Tsuburaya coached Nakajima and Tezuka on the monsters' actions followed by a run-through outside and then inside the costumes, and then everyone hoped for the best with several cameras running simultaneously to catch the action. Tezuka had given Nakajima a minor assist in playing the King of the Monsters the year before, but now had the dubious honor doing a solo-turn as the quadruped Anguirus.

As Mike Russo has pointed out: "Anguirus was the first Toho monster designed to walk on all fours. Unfortunately, the human frame does not make a very convincing quadruped. It was decided to position the suit actor on his hands and knees for most of Anguirus' scenes, his back legs hidden by buildings or other such scenery. There were a few scenes shot that do show off the monster's back legs, such as Anguirus' arrival in Osaka, built on the newly-constructed Stage 8. For these shots, Tezuka had to spread his legs out behind him while standing on the balls of his feet, a convincing effect, but a position that was no doubt tough on the actor." Tezuka worked closely with effects art director Akira Watanabe in order to show the monster's hind legs as little as possible, or Anguirus would always be seen crawling on its knees.

The design of the second Godzilla costume left a great deal to be desired with its football-shaped head topping-off a very tall neck. The hand-puppet "is even worse, with dull, stupid eyes and teeth jutting out at ridiculous angles. Scenes of the hand-puppet wrestling with the Anguirus hand-puppet are excruciatingly cheap-looking and betray either a lower budget or a less luxurious schedule, or, probably, both." This Godzilla was a totally different animal than the first: when it tries returning to the sea on Mikojima Island, the once-courageous creature now retreats from a burning barricade. The first time we see the monsters fighting they have been going at it for an indeterminate length of time, but how and why it started are questions never answered. During their moderately engaging main event they battle in a curious blend of full-bodied costume and hand-puppetry filmed in real-time, high speed, and low-speed photography, with both human and animalistic movements (some argue such enormous animals would never be able to move so quickly in the real world, but these details were insignificant to Tsuburaya, who was only interested in giving his audiences a good show).

According to Guy Tucker, "A mistake was made, and most of the resulting battles looked twice as fast on film as they had on the set: someone had forgotten that high-speed shooting creates slow-motion, and slow-speed shooting creates fast motion. Toho's executives must have breathed a sigh of relief when Tsuburaya decided not to reshoot, declaring that he liked the way the monster looked, like savage beasts trapped in mortal combat," although one author incorrectly assumed that "the speed of the monster battle scenes was occasionally tampered with in the U.S. cut." As monster movie music expert David Schecter has pointed out, this placed the composer in a challenging position, as "Satoh tried valiantly to slow down some of this high-speed action with his music!"

Over the years, the reason for this "mistake" has been the subject of great controversy resulting in the film's most intriguing feature. So: was it an accident or intentional? Arikawa stated that "There were three cameras - A, B, and C - and it was ordinary to shoot Godzilla at high speed. But Camera C wasn't set in high speed. I don't know if (the cameraman) meant to do it, or he forgot to set it, we still don't know. But when we saw the dailies, Cameras A and B were on the right setting, but Camera C's Godzilla moved quicker than A and B. Mr. Tsuburaya said, 'What is this? Wait a minute! That movement's not that bad. Maybe we can use it.'" Maybe, but author Steve Ryfle pointed out that "It seems odd that a trained cameraman would fail to notice that his camera was set wrongly, for the noise generated by the motor varies according to speed." Then again, due to the hurried nature of the shoot and the commotion and loud noises taking place when filming the effects, it seems possible such a mistake could have been made. Since it was impossible to rebuild the sets and reshoot the footage due to time and budgetary limitations, Tsuburaya really had no choice but use the footage. As to just who the cameraman culprit was (assuming there ever was one to begin with as the whole thing sounds like an amusing anecdote Tsuburaya enjoyed telling), it has been reported to have been Youichi Manoda, but more-recent research suggests it was Kouichi Takano. 

Optical effects animator Minoru Nakano related the difficulties working with the massive 1/25th scale of the 2 m (6.5 ft) tall Osaka Castle taking nearly a month to build: "When the Osaka Castle model was destroyed, it didn't look right on film, so a new one had to be built for reshooting. It took two more weeks and a lot of extra money." Constructed on a raised platform, the miniature castle had a false backing for the placement of wired explosives along with wires attached to certain stress points to be pulled away by the technicians. As one author has pointed out: "Because of the model's heavy construction, wires were installed inside the castle and run underneath the platform, and when the monsters collided with the structure, several crew members pulled the wires. Somehow, the building withstood both the monsters' impact and the crewmen's pulling; Tsuburaya yelled, 'Cut!' but the stagehands didn't hear him and kept yanking, and the model came tumbling down after the cameras stopped rolling. The castle had to be partially rebuilt and the scene reshot.'"

Inoue recalled that "When the two actors were fighting, they hit the building with great force, but it didn't break apart. With just the monsters, no matter what, only the corners would break. The building was very well made, and if it could only be slightly damaged, that wouldn't look right. Frankly, if it wasn't made well, it would be easy to destroy. I heard later that the wires were firmly pulled, because if you pulled them just a little or too gently, it won't come down, so they would have to pull several times in order to make it collapse, but when it didn't, the director yelled 'Cut!' However, the people handling the props were underneath the structure and the director is not next to them but an assistant, who thought 'cut' meant 'pull' and the whole thing came crashing down, so the timing was a bit off." 

Years later, Nakajima remembered the accident incident: "It cost them like $5,000 to rebuild ($46,166 in current currency - PHB). At that time, it was an awful lot of money. I was getting paid less than what it was to make one of these castles (laughs)! Basically, because these miniatures cost so much money, and they paid me less, the director would say, 'Please be careful when you smash these things. We don't really care about you; be careful with the miniatures!'" It eventually took two full days and nights to patch the castle back together.

Tsuburaya's team also built a small wind-up Godzilla for overhead shots of the monster wandering across the icy landscape, but the gizmo did not look convincing and was only used for brief overhead shots of the static model. "My father bought a walking penguin toy," effects assistant Fumio Nakashiro recalled. "The Godzilla seen from above wandering around the island was like one of those. It was the first time a mechanical Godzilla was used. It measured about 12 inches (30.5 cm) and moved automatically, but it couldn't go down a slope. The movement was caused by springs, but we didn't use it anywhere else but for that shot, since it was so small; if Godzilla is too small, every object around it must be even smaller."

One device making the first in what would be a number of appearances was the popular mobile "pom-pom" (katusha) multi-rocket launcher, and while never very effective against monsters, it was visually very exciting. One of the more charming quirks of the Godzilla series is the deployment of army tanks - in this case American-built Chaffee M24s - which hadn't done so well against the monster the year before. Quite ineffective against Godzilla from the very beginning, they along with later tanks were utilized in countless films without any noticeable effect; can't blame the JSDF for trying! 

There are any number of films which out of necessity are made quickly and cheaply, but the trick is not to make them look that way, and unfortunately Godzilla's Counterattack does not fall into that category: at one point we are told a ship has been sunk by Godzilla, whereas in the previous film we see it happen not once, but twice. All of the live-action scenes with the actors were filmed on interior sets and there is very little location photography, yet even in its own maladroit manner, Counterattack initiated a trend continuing for the next 39 years and 13 films: Godzilla fighting other monsters (19 of them in 31 separate altercations).

Godzilla's Counterattack - a film that at least one reviewer felt is "sadly obscure and underrated" - holds two additional doubtful distinctions: it is one of the shortest in the series at 82 minutes and is arguably the least-interesting. "The movie tries to keep the somber feel of the original," so states the Godzilla Tower website, "but fails half the time. Somehow a city being destroyed by two fighting monsters just isn't as dramatic as one single monster."

Godzilla would remain in forced hibernation for seven years (Anguirus wouldn't be seen again for nearly twice as long), and the film's final shot of "The End" flashing across the screen is very appropriate to the entire enterprise: a flat and unexceptional matte painting of Mikojima Island. But since there were many more monsters waiting in the wings, it made a certain amount of sense for Tanaka to put Godzilla on hold, and it stayed that way until 1962 when it clashed in what the American press billed as "The Battle of the Century:" King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Essentially a comedy and the first Godzilla film produced in color, wide-screen, and stereophonic sound, it returned the monster to its rampaging roots. There are no accidental or half-hearted measures here: the first thing the monster does after extricating itself from an iceberg is destroy a U.N. submarine with all hands before demolishing an American military base. But there were some inconsistencies such as the monster being turned back by high-tension towers, which is hard to understand, since Godzilla had so memorably melted them away eight years earlier.

The main battle itself is on an appropriately epic scale, but unlike Counterattack, took place not the middle of a metropolis but in open country, and whereas Godzilla's battle with Anguirus was a deadly serious affair, the Big G's battle with The Eighth Wonder of the World was played for laughs: Godzilla slapping its belly after tripping-up the Great Ape and whacking him on the noggin with its tail only to have Kong stuff a large tree down its reptilian throat; the conflict ending in a tie, with Kong swimming away and Godzilla nowhere to be seen. Directed by Honda with his usual élan alongside a tried-and-true team of professionals, it was the right film at the right time and made a mint, becoming the most-attended Godzilla film for the next three decades. Godzilla was back and in a big way, and after a two-year hiatus (presumably to lick its wounds), returned in 1964 in the only year when two Godzilla films were released, films as dissimilar as they were distinctive.

The first was Mothra vs. Godzilla which is still generally considered as the finest of all the sequels. It checked all the boxes with fabulous actors playing memorable characters, a stirring score from Ifukube, Honda's intense direction, and Tsuburaya's magic box of outstanding illusions. The film was serious in tone and as in Counterattack had a major monster battle near the midway point, only this time it was a metaphorical struggle between Good and Evil, Life and Death, Chaos and Continuity. But the film, splendid as it was, did not gross nearly the amount as King Kong vs. Godzilla and set-off a warning flair in Tanaka's brain, since the comedic formula in King Kong vs. Godzilla had worked so well, the same ingredient should be added to future films.

Next came Three Giant Monsters: Earth's Greatest Battle (Sandai Kaiju: Chikyu Saidai no Kessen), a mishmash with a woman possessed by aliens who thinks she's a prophet from another planet, an international group of assassins, a return engagement for the Shobijin, and a scene where the Mothra larvae convinces a grumpy Godzilla and Rodan into fighting a dynamic new monster called King Ghidorah, and while it did not do a tremendous bit of business, it surpassed Mothra vs. Godzilla. Nineteen sixty-five saw the release of Invasion of the Astro Monster (Kaiju Daisenso) which brought back King Ghidorah as well as Godzilla and Rodan - once fearsome foes, now fast friends - and while having its serious moments, the entire atmosphere was that of a fantasy-film frolic.

But Honda had had enough. His output of mainstream movies had slowly dwindled since the late 1950s, and his favorite themes (social issues, individual rights, family values, the environment) were no longer in-tune with the times. Not wishing to be known as "The Godzilla Director" he asked to be released from his contract with the studio, and while grateful for Honda's contribution to the series, Tanaka agreed it was time for a new director and a new direction, handing the reins over to Jun Fukuda.

And so the seeds were sewn for the next Godzilla film, but would this new approach continue to find a new audience while still keeping hold of the old?

Chapter Two

 

Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas

(Gojira, Ebira, Mosura Nankai no Daiketto)

< Released December 17th, 1966 >

"Fukuda's lighter touch did not appeal to diehard fans nor did the continued supersizing of the monster's intelligence as he literally planned his attacks to save the world."

- Robert Greenberger, Famous Movie Monsters

 

The Film:

On some nothing spit of land in the middle of nowhere looking like something out of a Sergio Leone western (actually the Reijokyo Mountain fishing village), two women are in conference as Mrs. Kane (Chieko Nakakita) and the local spiritualist (Noriko Honma) are trying to find out if Kane's fisherman son Yata - who disappeared in a South Sea storm two months earlier and hasn't been seen since (along with 26 other people who are never mentioned again) - is still alive.

The old hag palms her beads for a moment before suddenly leaning back and announcing that "Yata is not there in the Land of the Dead!  I've looked all around and all over, but couldn't find Yata!  He was not there!" (presumably she had him paged).

The news is wonderful, but since there are no boats available to search for the boy, Yata's brother Ryota (Toru Watanabe) has gone to find one, first stopping at the local police station and then at a local news agency before going to a Marathon Rally Dance Competition now in its third day (how long will it go on?  No one can predict!) where 300 dancers have been whittled-down to 15.

Ryota watches two friends, Ichino (Chotaro Togin) and Nita (Hideo Sunazuka) collapse on the dance floor in splayed exhaustion. After wriggling like worms back to the seating area, they spot Ryota staring like a man possessed at a scale model of the competition's prize: a brand new sailboat. "I've got to get a boat!" he tells them.

The three drive down to the local Hayama Yacht Harbor and see several boats with one in particular catching their eyes: a splendid three-masted schooner named Yahlen. The boat looks so inviting they decide to check it out, and during their cursory examination of the cabin, stumble upon a very mean-looking man pointing a rifle at them and accusing them of trespassing and stealing; it is in fact not the boat's owner, but notorious bank robber Yoshimura (Akira Takarada). The three nudniks deny any criminal intent, and just to show there are no hard feelings, Yoshimura allows them to stay the night, provided they leave at daybreak.   

When Yoshimura wakes up the next morning he discovers that not only are they still onboard, but Ryota has dismantled Yoshimura's (toy) rifle, and they are sailing the ocean with Ryota at the helm! An outraged Yoshimura demands he take them back, but Ryota refuses as he is a man on a mission to find his lost brother, and since he is the only one knowing how to pilot a boat, they sail on.

After an unspecified time at sea, the voyage comes to an abrupt end due to a violent storm made even more dangerous by the appearance of a giant claw, wrecking the vessel and marooning the men on the remote Letchi (aka Lech or Devil's) Island. After a climb and search during which Nita finds a discarded native sword, they spot a ship coming toward a pier and a large fenced-off compound patrolled by several armed sentries from a nation known as the "Red Bamboo."

After the boat docks, the naval officer (Hideyo Amamoto) reports his delivery of native human cargo to Red Bamboo Captain Ryuui Yamoto (Akihiko Hirata), but during their exchange, five natives scamper away; two get gunned down, one disappears into thin air, and the remaining two find an outrigger canoe conveniently waiting for them by the beach.

Unfortunately their escape is literally short-lived as they immediately encounter Ebirah, a colossal crustacean who gobbles them up faster than you can say "Jacques Cousteau." While this is happening, a young native woman named Dayo (Kumi Mizuno) is seen scampering away by the Red Bamboo Commander (Jun Tazaki), who bawls-out his Captain for losing the girl (the Commander apparently tuned-in too late to see the other escaping natives).

Dayo encounters the castaways and soon all are fleeing for their lives with the Bamboo soldiers in hot pursuit, but fortunately the escapees find a hiding place and shelter in a cave on a high cliff. Dayo explains that her people on Infant Island are being systematically captured and brought to the island where they are made to work as slaves, creating a protective juice that keeps Ebirah at bay long enough for safe passage.

Their only hope is the mighty Mothra, now a young flying adult spending much of its time sleeping, so Infant Island natives dance and sing to it led by the Twin Fairies (Pair Bambi), with music by Sato and lyrics by Ebriah's screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa:

 

"Me o samashite, Mosura

Hana ga hirakuyou ni Mosura

Minna Matte iru no

Aozameta soa e hikaru tsubasa de

Tonde okure Mosura . . ."

 

"Open your eyes, Mothra

Like a flower you open, Mothra

We all await you

With your wings to the bluest sky

Fly for us Mothra . . ."

 

The dwellers discover they are not alone as the King of the Monsters is asleep at the bottom of the cave, so they decide to sneak into the facility, a feat made possible thanks to Yoshimura's considerable safe-cracking skills. They soon discover the base is being used to manufacture nuclear bombs.

After the intruders are discovered by the Captain, they manage to escape using smoke bombs they discovered in a storage unit, but Nita is thrown into a cell with the natives while Ryota manages to get himself snared in a balloon's rope and carried away, where with incredible luck (and in one of the movie's more delightful moments) lands right in the middle of an Infant Island ceremony where he scrambles out from under his deflated balloon and shrieks, "I'm Ryota!" A moment later he is reunited with his brother, Yata (Toru Ibuki).

As the Red Bamboo guards continue filling the air with lead while searching for the escapees, Nita convinces the elderly native slave-leader (Ikio Sawamura) to stop making the yellow liquid with fruit and use leaves instead. Ichino persuades Yoshimura to use a long wire Dayo snatched from the storage unit to awaken Godzilla by attaching one end to the native sword, then placing it on top of the mountain, and dangling the opposite end just above the monster's head.

In a nice scene, Ryota and Yata bid farewell to the fairies before heading off on their rescue mission, spotting the island just as Ebirah surfaces during another storm; however their bad luck changes for the good when several lightning strikes awaken the slumbering leviathan, and the two monsters battle it out until Godzilla fends-off the Day-Glo beastie.

Ryota and Yata make it to the island and head on their mission with the other three in tow, but are soon detected and dash-off once again. Dayo gets separated from the others only to come face-to-face with Godzilla, but instead of roasting her, the creature seems fascinated with the cowering girl until - still a bit drowsy after waking from its hibernation - it takes a nap which is immediately ended when a giant bird appears.

After a brief struggle, Godzilla bakes the bird, but during a subsequent battle with a squadron of Red Bamboo jets, Dayo manages to escape and is reunited with her companions.

Godzilla then turns its attention to the complex and completely obliterates it along with the reactor as Yoshimura and Yata free the prisoners before returning to the now partially-destroyed laboratory, where a fatally-wounded technician (Hisaya Ito) warns them that a switch has been activated which will destroy the island in only two hours, which seems hardly necessary, since Godzilla is doing exactly that.

After taking barrels now filled with leaf juice and not berry juice, the soldiers leave, giving Yoshimura the opportunity to free the natives from their cell. The Red Bamboo then sails away from the island spraying their juice ahead of them, but Ebirah is unaffected and sinks their ship moments before renewing its battle with Godzilla until the Reptile King declaws its opponent.

Back on Infant Island, the natives - who have been singing and dancing for God Knows How Long without letup - finally finish their routine, and it's then that Mothra awakens and heads to the island where the former prisoners wait to be rescued inside a large and hastily-constructed net made out of tree branches so the giant insect can carry them to safety.

Mothra arrives and in a brief rematch knocks Godzilla to the ground before picking up the net and flying away, and with little else left to do, the King of the Monsters impatiently stomps around while everyone in the net shouts for it to get away from the island. Then - as if somehow hearing them - the monster leaps into the sea seconds before the island blows up (although one observer wondered if "a little nuclear fission would have hurt him"). As it swims away, Mothra returns to Infant Island with its happy cargo, and Teddy Johnson sums it all up: "(Godzilla) drops into the ocean, the audience breathes a great sigh of relief, and he swims away to further adventures."

 

A Closer Look:

 

Author Joe Adamson observed that "Once the Dell Publishing Company got their hands on a great character like Bugs Bunny, they turned him into a suburban homeowner, and the chief concerns of his life became parking his car and getting his driveway shoveled." In a similar fashion, the former Titan of Terror has been transformed into an anti-hero at worst and a misunderstood monster at best, as documented in The Toho Encyclopedia of FX Monster Films when discussing this film: "Godzilla is not treated at all as a monster. In any case, it doesn't matter how famous you are. Truth be told, this is the story of very ordinary people using Godzilla to help them defeat enemies." With a jigger of James Bond, a quart of Johnny Quest, a gallon of Gilligan's Island and a dash of Dr. No, Ebirah was the first of several Godzilla films where most of the action takes place on a tropical island; but its most-significant aspect was that for the first time, characters saw the beast in a sympathetic light to the point of openly rooting for it. In other words, Godzilla as a Good Guy, a point hammered home during a conversation between Yoshimura and Ichino:

 

Ichino:      "They're making nuclear weapons here secretly. They'll                      destroy the world!"

Yoshimura: "Godzilla will do the same!"

Ichino:        "He won't. Godzilla doesn't want to do that."

 

This is an amazing statement about a monster which only the  year before had caused a considerable amount of damage. Now the feeling is that it didn't really mean to do any of those bad things, like a puppy wetting the carpet.

Originally planned as Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah and also known as Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (although a more-appropriate title might have been They Shoot Natives, Don't They?), Ebirah ended-up fighting Godzilla, while Kong later starred in his own film the following year. It has been said that Ebirah is the film where Godzilla sleeps through the first half, Mothra sleeps through two-thirds, and the audience sleeps through the rest, but time has been quite kind to Ebirah, as it is now considered one of the most satisfying in the series, as well as being somewhat historic, since it was the first Godzilla film tailored for an adolescent audience. Young adults and children had always been fans of the films, but the emphasis had been aimed toward adults; even Honda maintained that while he was aware kids went to see his Godzilla movies in droves, he never pandered exclusively to them. Now they were not only being pandered to, but openly-courted.

Ebirah was also another Godzilla film where budgetary concerns became blatantly obvious. "Toho cut corners on this production," wrote Taryn Arlington, "and it shows." The movie is filled to the brim with amazing coincidences, random running, natives singing and dancing ("Hey!"), wearying and frenetic monster fights, nitwits and nasties, a good girl gone bad, a bad guy gone good, and all topped-off by a nuclear explosion. Greg Shoemaker described Ebirah as "a mélange of thrusts, weaving fantasy, espionage, monster battles, world conquest, and a South Sea adventure into a pastiche that is confusing and mismatched. And padded. A chanting-native sequence, choreographed in Broadway-ese, summoning Mothra to rise in retribution to the ill being done to her savants by the Letchians (a rather neglectful god, that), is the epitome of the filler. The posturing is extensively interspersed into a major part of the footage, instilling such viewer apathy that Mothra's last minute rescue is without impact."              

Films are sometimes criticized for having style without substance, but Ebirah has neither, defined by John Stanley as an "exercise in cardboard mayhem." Natives get captured to be used as slave labor while others are machine-gunned, shish-kabobbed, whipped, clubbed, and a whole bunch nearly get buried alive. No attempt is ever made to explain how Ebirah and the bird became so large; in fact no one even tries explaining it (some have suggested it was due to nuclear waste emanating from the island, although this doesn't explain why no other oceanic life in the near vicinity has been affected) or how Godzilla managed to get itself buried inside of a mountain; as it happened it would pop-out of even stranger surroundings in future films.

Then there are the Old Embarrassing Questions (OEQ) such as why Yoshimura doesn't simply throw the three interlopers off the yacht instead of letting them spend the night, and why he didn't threaten to throw Ryota's angling ass overboard unless he turned the boat around? How does Ryota manage to get the schooner out to sea without anyone knowing about it, and who's been handling the boat when all four are asleep, and where did Ryota think he was heading for, just gonna cruise the whole damn Pacific Ocean until he found his brother? 

How did the escaping natives know a canoe would be waiting for them, and what if more natives had joined them only to be left behind? How is it that tower guards never notice a large bush that wasn't there five minutes ago and technicians they've never seen before, and how, when, and where did Dayo get hold of a Rufous Turtle Dove? Why doesn't the Captain simply torture Nita to find out where his friends are, and why are there no guards around when the natives are making all kinds of commotion switching from the yellow juice to the green leaves, and why would that make any difference anyway, since they're from the same plant and produce the same yellow color, and why does the liquid bother Ebirah at all?

When the off-loaded natives witness Ebirah (an octopus in the original script) rising from the sea, it gives us a clue as to its identity. "Ebi" means "shrimp," but Ebirah is, according to official Toho sources, "a monster combined from a shrimp and a crayfish," which one writer considered as "one of Godzilla's least interesting opponents." Shoemaker described it as being "of rose/salmon coloration and exquisite detail," although Robert Marrero thought "the monster is far from impressive." Apparently - after much trial and error - the Red Bamboo have discovered how to ward Ebirah off with the yellow liquid in a manner similar to how the natives of Pharaoh island warded-off Kong with their red Soma Berry juice; not surprising since Sekizawa wrote both scripts (we can assume all this because the Infant Island natives have some of the yellow liquid already in stock). The screenwriter also adored the old "stumbling over a rock" routine which occurs no-less than five times in this film (wait till we get to Son of Godzilla!). As Guy Tucker wrote: "Sekizawa was becoming a cottage industry and he was beginning to tire of it. His increasingly weary suggestions that Toho find other writers met a deaf collective ear. . . He began to realize that the magic had gone out of it for him . . . Nevertheless, he still had some interesting ideas for what would eventually be called Big Duel in the South Seas: King Kong vs. Mothra might have been quite a tangle."

Ryota and Yata set out in their canoe on a journey lasting three grueling days and nights over rough seas, yet manage to find the elusive Letchi Island without any navigational aids (okay, so they're fishermen, not Vasco da Gama), and even though the Red Bamboo Captain keeps letting the interlopers slip right through his fingers, he never suffers any disciplinary action for it. Political correctness no doubt dictated the Red Bamboo's fictional nationality - a pseudonym for Red China - although the jets attacking Godzilla are Soviet-built MIG-21s. Then again the Red Bamboo soldiers are unquestionably of Asian ancestry unless they had plastic surgery to make them look Asian (in a film like this anything is possible).

This was not the first Godzilla film where the monster never attacked a city or the first to see it attack an island, but it was the first where the monster pretty much stayed put there the entire film, which is probably why it spends so much time inside that mountain, since it could easily traverse the entire inlet in about five minutes. Unlike Sekizawa's earlier script for King Kong vs. Godzilla, its mostly men this time and not only women pushing a huge grinding mechanism around, and the idea of having lightning reinvigorate the monster would reoccur in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla and The Return of Godzilla, where in that latter film the monster would again get up close and personal with a nuclear reactor.

This was Jun Fukuda's first Godzilla film and he certainly made the most of it, going out of his way to separate his new approach from Honda's by stressing elaborate action scenes, outrageous characters, and tongue-in-cheek effects sequences; this was no morality play where audiences would leave the theater sadder but wiser (well, maybe sadder). His handling of the storm sequence with the yacht compares favorably with a similar scene in Honda's Matango with a pinch more intensity and urgency, and Fukuda keeps the action going even with the occasional group-therapy sessions in the grotto. However the director was not able to convey any sense of tension or suspense during the moment when Ryota, Yoshimura, and Yata are desperately trying to defuse the dropping detonation device, ending-up looking more like the Three Stooges than the Three Musketeers.

The problem is that none of the characters are worth caring about with the possible exception of Dayo, and even she is more of a runner than a rebel and more of a follower than a leader. After being brought fresh off the boat she doesn't instigate an overthrow but hightails it out of there, and it is not she but the bank robber who comes up with the plans and instigates all the action (also reminiscent of Matango where Senzo Koyama - arguably the film's most despicable character - motivates everyone to get with the program). Then again, Yoshimura is understandably uncomfortable being confined in small places, you know, like prison cells. It's odd then how so many viewers consider Dayo to be a strong female character simply because she once whips out a knife - and even then misses her target - and when the men go snooping, she goes shopping. As it is, she spends the vast majority of her time with the men in the cave on her knees. Praying, that is.

The acting is suitable in that everyone plays a ridiculous character convincingly and there are plenty of over-the-top moments for all involved: Ryota stuffing his face with food, Nita's zombie-like trance on the dance floor, Ichino scampering around while flailing his arms like a sick seagull, and a Red Bamboo guard who nearly shoots-off his Captain's ear!     

A fine actor and a true gentleman, Akira Takarada was miscast as bristly bank robber Yoshimura since he was never able to completely submerge his substantial on-screen charm in order to play such a lowly individual. Nevertheless he did a commendable job throwing people and things around until turning his life around, although J.D. Lees pointed out that "Some potential for seriousness existed in (Ebirah); towards the beginning it is revealed that one of the main characters is a bank robber and the other steals a yacht. However, both are portrayed as good people, the issues raised are never pursued, and the perpetrators go unpunished." Possibly the authorities will be persuaded to look the other way after Yoshimura's group tells them the story of how they subdued the Red Bamboo, but then who in the world would believe them? Yoshimura has considerable talent in his field, gaining entrance to the Red Bamboo complex with remarkable eyesight as he spots a tiny lock from a considerable distance away, his mouth watering not so much with the prospect of finding out what's going on inside the complex, as having the opportunity to pick the various locks he will come across.

 

Nita (Hideo Sunazuka) and Ichino (Chotaro Togin) take cover as Yoshimura (Akira Takarada) is about to surprise Red Bamboo Captain Ryuui (Akihiko Hirata).

Chotaro Togin - who later portrayed a loyal co-pilot in Attack of the Marching Monsters (Kaiju Soshingeki) and a wacked-out travel agent in Gezora, Ganimes, and Kamoebas: Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas (Gezora, Ganime, Kameba: Kessen! Nankai no Daikaiju) and Hideo Sunazuka are fine as jerky juveniles, while Toru Watanabe and Toru Ibuki (the latter and taller actor normally played villains and who seemed to be having his difficulties during the canoe-swamping scene) are fine as fishermen, but the real standout is Kumi Mizuno, playing with earnest innocence native girl Dayo in dark-brown body makeup and a long black wig she provocatively strokes. As with Honda, Fukuda very much enjoyed working with the actress, remembering that "Kumi Mizuno works very hard. She likes to create the characters she plays and makes them her own. She likes to have long discussions about who her character is, on how the director views this character. She's talented in the sense that she has a keen understanding of what's expected of her and her character. Before appearing in films she did some theater; she knows what acting is all about."

Be that is it may, the actress was not terribly happy with her part, telling Brett Homenick 47 years later that "Even before (my contract ended with Toho in 1970), I quit. I already quit when Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was shot. That was the last one I did for Toho. I couldn't believe that I was offered (another monster movie role) by Toho after that." The part was quite a turn for an actress known for playing seductresses such as the incandescent Mami in Matango and the alluring Miss Namikawa in Astro-Monster, and it is not unreasonable to assume that both she and Takarada enjoyed playing off-type characters. Her importance to the cast was acknowledged in the film's trailer where she receives top billing - a trailer pandering to kids with corny monster dialogue captions - and when she is trapped by Godzilla and calls for help ("tasukete!") it recalls similar screams when she dangled off a cliff in Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira (Furankenshutain no Kaiju: Sanda tai Gaira).

It's also great seeing such stalwarts as Hideyo Amamoto, Jun Tazaki, Ikio Sawamura, and Akihiko Hirata doing their professional bests in supporting roles. Giving Hirata a dragon-embroidered eye patch worn over his left eye was Fukuda's nod to the actor's earlier portrayal of Serizawa when Hirata wore the patch over his right eye, but the director missed a golden opportunity when Hirata discovers Takarada and his team crawling on the facility's floor. Despite the fact the two actors acted in many Godzilla films, this was one of the very few they were in together, and since they even shared a scene, it would have been nice seeing them facing-off against each other in a two-shot profile: Ogata and Serizawa at odds once again!

Pair Bambi were the new miniature twin-duo team on the block, replacing the original Shobijin of Emi and Yumi Ito who had retired from films to concentrate on recording, as well as stage and television appearances. Though never referred to as the "Shobijin" (they were the Alilena Twins), Pair Bambi sang pleasantly enough - although one critic felt they "couldn't hold a candle to The Peanuts" - and look cool in their Sixties' Bombshell hairdos and vibrant orange mod floral fabric print dresses looking like they had been bought at Macy's, but lacked the resolute wholesomeness of the earlier duo, and this was their one and only appearance as Mothra's Priestesses. 

After a somewhat shaky start with Godzilla's Counterattack, Sato found better footing with Ebirah, but again it is an odd score, an eclectic blending of aboriginal instrumentation, parade music, saxophone, and electronic guitar riffs. The opening credits and Yahlen theme music is flavored with tapped bongos, lilting violins, wistful woodwinds, and warm brass more appropriate for a South Sea Island adventure, although an occasionally jarring blast of brass reminds us that this is after all a Godzilla film. Overall the music is easy going and light-hearted, and the cue when Ryota and Yata are leaving Infant Island up until the scene showing the threesome sitting in their cave waiting for lightning to strike - "Departure of Boat to Lechi Island" - is quite pleasant, with cello, alto sax, bells, xylophone, violins, trombones, guitar, and claves (short wooden dowels). "I was going for a lighter, leaner style," the director admitted years later. "That's why I changed the composer to Sato. With the change of the composer the atmosphere - everything - changes."

"Mr. Sato and I had been very close friends for a long time," Fukuda told David Milner. "I asked him to compose the music . . . because I wanted (Ebirah) to have a different feel than Mr. Honda's Godzilla films. Mr. Sato's music is a bit lighter than Mr. Ifukube's . . . Mr. Tanaka didn't agree with the decision." Plucked bow strings, tapped cymbal, xylophone and brass are heard during the facility-infiltration scene, but the marching band music used during the chase scenes - and especially the rock and roll ditty when the jets first attack Godzilla - essentially underline the approach of what has been called Godzilla's First Kiddie Film (this "go-go" guitar music was removed from the American version because, as one critic pointed out, "It looks as if Godzilla is fighting and dancing at the same time").

Sato's use of electric guitar, bubbling saxophone, and thrashing drums made sense during the dance marathon scene, but was riotously unsuitable for the monster battles; we expect to hear a rousing motif or a tense tune, not the opening chords for "Johnny B. Goode." Perhaps the oddest instrumentation was the use of heavy violins and vacillating vibraphone utilized during Godzilla's destruction of the Bamboo Base and its decisive encounter with Ebirah, which - as with the composer's battle music for Godzilla and Anguirus - was written in monotonous free meter; however the music marking Mothra's arrival - textured with glockenspiel, celesta, orchestral bells, reassuring brass and comforting woodwinds - is heroically reassuring.

Ryohei Fuji's editing seamlessly cuts back-and-forth amongst the various storylines converging near the film's conclusion (not unlike the simultaneous plot elements in Three Giant Monsters which he also edited) and was praised by author John LeMay, who wrote that "The editing of Ebirah is superb and many times manages to make the film much more exciting, especially during the climax. The inter-cut shots of Godzilla being held underwater by Ebirah's massive claws, the ticking of the nuclear bomb, the dancing natives on Mothra's Island and the castaways working as fast as they can to finish the net work well together." It was rare for a Godzilla film to have several synchronized incidents taking place, because if not done properly, the constant switching can diminish the overall impact of each scene, and while Ebirah gets off to a fine start, the pace begins to drag near the mid-way point (oddly when Godzilla awakens) and never regains its momentum.

However, John overstates things a bit when complementing the film's "innovative use of color," citing "The pipes in the Red Bamboo's base (which) are all painted different colors, giving the viewer a good sense of dimension when they all collapse during Godzilla's attack. Had the design crew merely painted them all gray, the effect would have been diminished greatly." It is not unusual for industrial pipes to be painted in different colors since each color denotes a different purpose for each pipe, and any art director worth his-or-her salt would know that color works better than gray for a color film; although the point is well-made that Kazuo Yamada's splendid color photography is one of Ebirah's most-outstanding elements.

In continuing his praise for the film, Mr. LeMay notes that "The special effects . . . are quite good for the budget, especially the miniature boats; they still hold up to this day . . .  The only aspect slightly lacking was the miniature Red bamboo base," although many argue that the miniature boats do not hold up well, while agreeing that the miniature base is one of the movie's major failings. This was the first Godzilla film where Tsuburaya no longer worked as hands-on effects supervisor, as that responsibility had been passed to his long-time cameraman Sadamasa Arikawa, but Arikawa's work lacks the poetic imagination and attention to detail of his mentor. There are numerous problems with poor camera angles and scale - particularly with the Red Bamboo craft which never looks substantial and appears much-too small to transport two-dozen Red Bamboo soldiers - nor did it help that it was the same size as the yacht and the outrigger canoes. There are also glaring differences between the matte paintings of the sleeping Mothra and the puppet which looks more dead than alive.

The tiresome boulder tennis match from Three Giant Monsters is revisited, and what should have been the film's best scene ended up as its worst: Godzilla's destruction of the base (built at 1/25th scale), not only due to the afore-mentioned issues but the compound itself, particularly its electrical towers which only come up to the monster's knees, making one wonder why it just doesn't step over them. One-hundred thousand volts are used to keep it at bay and this seems to work for awhile even though - as in King Kong vs. Godzilla - the monster neglects to use its atomic breath and melt them away; however on this occasion it picks up a large boulder and uses it to smash the power plant, indicating a rudimentary intelligence. And when the monster demolished the nuclear reactor it simply steps on it and alot of smoke comes out (the scene is further hampered by a Godzilla costume in very poor condition; in fact the head's supporting apparatus and Nakajima's facial skin can sometimes be seen through holes in the costume's neck. Had the actor's face been blacked-out with make-up or painted the same color as the costume, it would have eliminated the problem).

After basting Big Bird, Godzilla pauses to scratch its nose in an homage to a characteristic gesture of actor/singer Yuzo Kayama, star the Young Guy (Wakadaisho) movie series and son of popular thirties' leading man Ken Uehara who starred in several of Honda's finest fantasy films. The series eventually consisted of 17 films with Fukuda directing four of them, yet Toho claims Tsuburaya was the one who suggested the gesture. Godzilla now possesses an almost human intuition: after Mothra has carried the survivors safely away, the men yell and the women scream for Godzilla to get off the island, and it lifts its arms in a "What do you want me to do?" gesture before jumping off the island into the 25 m (82 ft) wide, 3 m (10 ft) deep pool in a stunning stunt by Nakajima. But the movie's most amazing moment occurs when Mothra's commuters celebrate seeing Godzilla swim safely away in a stunning alteration from just 11 years earlier when pilot Shoichi was shocked at seeing the same thing. It would be another 18 years before an aerial observer would be so shocked again. 

There are some excellent effects moments: Ebirah's destruction of the Yahlen, Yata and Ryota swimming away from Ebirah in the storm, a camera swinging behind Godzilla as it watches Mothra fly away, and an elevated crane shot of the island going-up in smoke. The painted sky backdrops, mechanical dolls, matte work, and optical animation are all outstanding, and Godzilla's conflict with the condor predated the rapid editing and intense close-ups in vogue today.

Arikawa said about Ebirah (performed by Hiroshi Sekita): "The way of showing monsters that don't have Ebirah's mobility rely heavily on special effects. The movement of Ebirah's mouth, the aggressive and instantaneous movements of the tail and such, I think we succeeded in showing the power of those movements. In order to show the terror and tension of Ebirah, we emphasized the strength of the pincers, the eeriness of the mouth that devours people, and the feeling of the grotesque, rather than concentrating on its sheer size."  For the first time in a couple of films the Big G doesn't have Rodan's assistance, but it really didn't matter, as Ebirah turned-out to be one of Godzilla's weakest foes. 

Portions of the submerged skirmish between Godzilla and Ebirah were filmed in an underwater tank as well as a soundstage using the pseudo-underwater technique of filming from the opposite side of a water-filled glass tank, while the glistening of the water's surface was added via optical processing to give it a submerged three-dimensional impression. Godzilla's first undersea conflict was quite novel and wouldn't happen again for another 26 years until Godzilla vs. Mothra (Gojira tai Mosura), but the film's highpoint is the monster's mêlée with the military jets, which is imaginatively staged and a huge improvement over the monster's earlier aerial confrontations; in fact the footage was so good, portions of it were recycled for future Godzilla films. And the shot of Mothra landing as people are running toward it is one of the finest shots in the entire series, with the insect nodding its head as if in encouragement a terrific touch. 

The outdoor compound set is good if not terribly practical in the rain since there is no concrete, and the indoor sets are worthy of Ken Adams. The contrast between the lush location footage and the elaborately artificial sets imparts an unreal ambiance which perfectly suits the outlandish effects and overstated performances, as any attempt to replicate reality was no longer a consideration for what one critic called "the best comedy Godzilla ever made." And, as with any worthwhile trip to a tropical atoll, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is for many fans a refreshing change-of-pace from the deadly serious films in the series, sort of like getting off of steak and potatoes for awhile and switching to sea food and salad.

Nakajima plays Godzilla as a temperamental Tyrant King spoiling for a fight. It taunts its defeated opponents even while celebrating its own victories, and Nakajima was skilled enough of an actor to show the monster straining as it lifts up a large boulder in order to give the prop a sense of weight. The monster is given a few unsettling close-ups and has developed an eye for the ladies, staring in fascination at the Damsel in Distress Dayo (the monster isn't up and around until the 52-minute mark, demonstrating a bit of creative courage on the part of the filmmakers). Strangely, although plainly terrified at seeing Godzilla peering over a hill - recalling its famous intro from the first film - Dayo still alerts it when the giant condor arrives, and this ambiguous attitude toward the King of the Monsters shaded its appearances for the next two decades: alarm, admiration, but finally affection. The film's climax showing the mighty Mothra winging its way back to Infant Island accompanied by Sato's vibrant violins, heavy horns, and brass brand percussion was a very different conclusion for a series which up until then typically ended on a bitter-sweet note.

A key exchange occurs at the end of the film when the survivors are being air-lifted to Infant Island, as Ichino observes that even though Letchi Island is now destroyed, "It is not the end of nuclear warheads. Now the future is in the hands of the people who use them," to which Yoshimura sarcastically replies that Nita sounds "like a politician." Once such a warning as this in a Godzilla film was considered pertinent, but now it was considered pointless (this exchange was replaced with completely different dialogue in the U.S. version), and while there is no question Ebirah is entertaining and fun to watch - kaiju eiga aficionado Ronnie Burton felt "To me, it's better than any of the Millennium films, though those movies did have their fleeting moments" - it brings up a critical question: should a Godzilla film be "fun" to watch?

For William Tsutsui the answer is clear, concluding that "Godzilla means fun," a feeling shared by future Godzilla director Takao Okawara, who told Mr. Milner that "I think that the tone of many Japanese films is too serious. I regard Godzilla movies as pure entertainment. That's why I like to put shots offering comic relief into scenes in which people are seen panicking." Even producer Henry G. Saperstein, the man who brought a number of Toho's monster movies to America, gets into the act, agreeing that "It's kind of nice to sit back, kick off your shoes, open your belt and watch Godzilla do his thing . . . it feels good." 

In his retrospective on the movie for G-Fan, John LeMay wrote that "Perhaps it's time (Ebirah) is finally recognized as one of the 'better' Godzilla films," but then again, perhaps not. Why is now the time to consider it as one of the better Godzilla films in the series, and compared to which films? Considered by one observer as "one of the best films in the series" and a "delightful adventure," while another considered it to be "another step down" and still another as "the first big step downhill" foreshadowing what Brian Solomon described as "Godzilla's demotion to B-movie status," Fukuda's first Godzilla film set a standard for unbridled entertainment which would not be surpassed for quite awhile.

Steve Ryfle wrote that Fukuda "brought action and adventure to the Godzilla series," apparently forgetting Honda's Three Greatest Monsters, Invasion of the Astro Monster, and Attack of the Marching Monsters. As if this weren't enough, Stuart Galbraith IV wrote that compared to Honda, Jun Fukuda "was a much more dynamic filmmaker . . . visually certainly," an incredible statement not taking into account such supremely visual Honda films as Rodan (Sora no Daikaiju Radon), Earth Defense Force (Chikyu Boeigun), and Great Space War (Uchu daisenso)!

Unchecked, he continued: "(Ebirah and Son of Godzilla) are, for my money, the best-directed entries . . . both are directed with a lot of energy, have strong characters . . . involving story lines, effects that are technically great for the most part." Writer Jim Yeager agrees with Ryfle and Galbraith's questionable comparisons of the two directors, claiming that "Honda's films seem more elaborate, but Fukuda's were more colorful, explosive (at times more action-packed), and even (in a positive sense) cartoonish and at times more entertaining." Neither of these notions that Honda's penchant for sentimentality and the slow but steady approach he took to filmmaking are new complaints, but what these observers all fail to take into consideration is the single element Fukuda's Godzilla films all have in common that Honda's do not: they are emotionally hollow.

And how did the men who were there making these films think of this new approach? "I believe that without any changes to Godzilla's character, the series would not have been able to continue," Fukuda stated. "If Godzilla had remained a villain, probably only hardcore Godzilla fans would watch the movies, and not the general audience. I think it was correct to change Godzilla's character; it was a reaction to the times and the changes in the audience." So it turns out that money was the prime motivation, although he added, "But myself, I basically like a scary Godzilla, rather than a good Godzilla."

Ebirah's assistant special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano also agreed with the decision to shift the series' focus: "The first Godzilla had such a social impact because Godzilla was the aftermath of the bomb. I wasn't sure if it could be transformed into something that was entertaining and comical. But commercially, it was very successful . . . But it was totally opposite to what the first film was about . . . After that particular film, the flow of Godzilla movies and kaiju eiga completely changed. It had been hard, but after that, Godzilla movies became soft."

When Akira Takarada was asked in 2008 if he had any mixed feelings about the change in Godzilla's character, he answered: "Yes, a kind of mixed feeling. But I believe movies are essentially entertainment, and movie studios always expect bigger audiences to come to the theaters. So I understand why they gave a different nature to Godzilla. They wanted to capture even bigger audiences. In some movies, Godzilla was portrayed as a humorous character. Some people did not like it. I understand that. But just try to think of Godzilla as a huge movie star. Then you could understand he can play a wide variety of characters . . . Godzilla is not a narrow actor. He can play many different characters. He can be comical. He can be serious. He has known both the bitter and the sweet (laughs)." All well and good except for one thing: Godzilla is not an actor but the embodiment of nuclear devastation. No wonder the actor's feelings were so mixed.

"While its pulse may have been erratic," Mike Bogue has written, "the heartbeat of nuclear warning was still thumping beneath (Ebirah's) colorful South Seas island exterior." If so, then the patient was on the most unreliable of life-support systems. Yet it was innocent native girl Dayo who accurately summed-up the King of the Monster's situation best when she sighed, "I feel sorry for Godzilla."

She wasn't alone.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Monster Island's Decisive Battle: Son of Godzilla

 

(Kaiju-to no Kessen Gojira no Musuko)

 

< Released December 16th, 1967 >

 

"Life forms on a South Seas island grow to monstrous proportions when a research experiment goes awry. A group of United Nations scientists are performing experiments which, if successful, would enable them to control the temperatures on earth. But a malfunctioning unit allows the temperatures on the island to soar and the abnormal heat causes the creatures to grow to gigantic proportions. Among the burgeoning life forms is a huge reptile egg which hatches a singular creature. It is the Son of Godzilla."

- Sleeve notes from Video Treasures' 1987 VHS release of Son of Godzilla

 

The Film:

 

A small group of Japanese scientists sponsored by the United Nations Agriculture Commission led by Dr. Tsunezo Kusumi (Tadao Takashima) on the tropical South Sea island of Sollgel (aka Solgel or Selgio) are working on a radical plan to change weather patterns; they include the loyal Dr. Fujisaki (Akihiko Hirata), the cheerful Morio (Kenji Sahara), and the crotchety Furukawa (Yoshio Tsuchiya). 

Three months into their U. N. - sponsored experiment they are joined by parachuting reporter/photographer Goro Maki (Akira Kubo), who is permitted to remain, providing he performs several menial tasks.

The island is far from a paradise however as it is hot, humid, and populated by abnormally-large praying mantises called Kamacuras (aka Kamakiras whose squeaks sound a lot like Ebirah) as well as native girl Saeko Matsumiya (Bibari "Beverly" Maeda). Despite Maki's objections to testing on the grounds the experiment might injure the woman, Kusumi disputes Maki's claim and spreads silver iodide into the atmosphere from massive towers (built in 1/25 scale), which due to unknown electronic interference, backfires, resulting in a massive heat and radioactive storm causing enormous damage to the island and installation.

As a result of the storm, three of the now-gigantic mantises tear down a large mound, inside of which is an enormous egg which the bugs soon break open, uncovering an animal somewhat resembling a baby Godzilla (Masao Fukazawa aka "Little Man" Machan), billed here as "Young Godzilla" and later known as Minilla, derived from "Mini-Gojira" - aka Minira for "Little Godzilla" - as well as Minya, and even Forrest J Ackerman's designation of "Tadzilla." As he later documented: "Half in jest, not knowing at the time what Godzilla's son was to be named, and wishing to refer to him as something other than Son of Godzilla all the time when writing preview information about him, I called him Tadzilla (from tad, a little kid) and, I kid you not, in a Japanese film-monster fanzine I later on found him identified as Tadzilla!"

Godzilla rises from the sea and further damages the installation, putting the radio out of action, and then "proceeds to beat the daylights out of the entomological nightmares"  before one of the Kamacuras escapes. 

Goro meets Saeko and persuades her to come to the camp where she reveals she is the orphaned daughter of the late Professor Matsumiya, who left behind a journal of his observations on the island, including that of a huge spider named Kumonga. It turns out Saeko has a way with the infant Godzilla and can attract it by calling-out to it and feeding it coconuts.

Soon many of the scientists are stricken with an intense fever which Saeko is able to cure with red water from a local pond where she and Goro discover that the King of the Monsters is a caring if occasionally frustrated parent, putting up with its infant's shenanigans while trying to teach it how to roar and spit out its lethal heat ray in the lake (Goro and Saeko then proceed to fill their containers with water now contaminated with radioactivity!).

While collecting herbs, Saeko runs into the last surviving Kamacuras which almost kills her but for the timely arrival of Minilla, which is able to distract the Big Bug long enough for Goro to rescue the girl (good) while accidentally awakening Kumonga (bad). The giant spider traps them in a cave until they manage to get away.

As Kumonga begins battling the two Godzillas, Dr. Kusumi decides to try the weather experiment once again, creating a blizzard and giving everyone the chance to leave on a large inflated raft. After Kumonga has been defeated by the two Godzillas, a surfacing submarine rescues the escapees who all watch Godzilla and Minilla cuddling in the snowstorm.      

 

A Closer Look:

 

As has been pointed out on the Gojipedia-Fandom website: "Son of Godzilla is very similar to the previous year's Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. Both take place largely on a South Pacific island populated by monsters, and both include a 'native girl' among the cast (who also whips out a knife - PHB). Also, both end in a similar way, with the heroes waving goodbye to the monsters as the island is destroyed/frozen." That may be as may be, but Godzilla music expert Lawrence Tuczynski put it more succinctly: "To some, Son of Godzilla was really the beginning of the end of the original Godzilla series."

This was the first Godzilla film stating - or at the very least hinting - that Godzilla was capable of having an offspring, in the end proving "to be a very good father." David Kalat described the film as "a quickie exploitation programmer made to cash in on the Godzilla franchise. It's the seventh sequel, so all pretenses to originality and art have long since fallen away. That's not to say Son is a bad film," he adds with caution, "just that it's a simple-minded one." Although the idea of Godzilla spawning a progeny is an abhorrence to some, in hindsight, when one considers the direction the series was taking at the time, it seems inevitable. The obvious culprit was Tanaka (with an assist from screenwriters Shinichi Sekizawa and Kazue Shiba) who wanted Godzilla to have a son so as to entice the little tykes to go to a Godzilla film.

A sign at the base entrance identifies the facility as the "WFPO Sherbet Operation in Soll-Gel Island," and the island's so hot, the personnel could use some sherbet. The on-again off-again business with the "unusual energy surge" (aka "radio interference") is apparently caused by Minilla's brainwaves calling-out for its father, only the interference happened even before the first weather-change test took place, so why didn't that put the kibosh on the whole experiment right then and there? Goro states he is following a hunch he has about what's happening on the island, but how he came across his information is hard to explain, since the entire operation is supposedly top-secret, and his parachuting out of a plane over an island in order to get a story seems rather extreme.

The idea of there not being enough food for an ever-expanding human population was a common theme in numerous science-fiction films of the day, but they never took into consideration that humans would simply transform natural landscapes into food crops. Kusumi's mindless assertion that modifying the "useless" Rain Forest for more practical purposes is ignorant of the effect it would have on the environment, and sure enough, when his experiment is finally implemented, it kills all the native vegetation on Sollgel Island!

Son of Godzilla's saving grace is a marvelous cast well-directed by Fukuda which is arguably the most-engaging in the entire series. The story has giant insects, radioactive storms, a barmy technician and an authentic South Sea island location (Guam, with additional footage shot around Lake Yamana, Gotemba, Oshima, and the Fuji 5-Lakes Region) and is modestly diverting, but what it is not is dramatic or absorbing; in fact when compared to Son of Godzilla, Ebirah is absolutely gripping. This Godzilla film is not character or effects-driven, but cast-driven which is terrific, because if it weren't for them, the film would be all but unwatchable.

Toho actors were contract players who made many films together. Several were close friends, and their off-screen camaraderie resulted in a comfortable chemistry and sense of teamwork which convincingly translates onto the screen. As with Ebirah, Fukuda decided on a bit of off-type casting, this time with Tadao Takashima - normally cast in comedic roles - who was given the part of the studious Dr. Kusumi, a man who is only encouraged by setbacks. With his hair dyed gray along his temples and constantly nibbling on his pipe, the 37-year-old actor imparts the proper air of stoic professionalism, but never varies from this static conception even when unbearable stresses force his character to make the hated decision to suspend the test.

Akihiko Hirata was allowed to show some warmth as Fujisaki and the always intense Yoshio Tsuchiya does his customary job playing a compromised individual. Kenji Sahara is pleasant as Morio - he commented years later to Guy Tucker about the film's "party atmosphere" - and Kenichiro Maruyama (Ozawa), Seishiro Kuno (Tashiro), and Yasuhiko Saijo (Suzuki) do credible work as support staff. The two shining stars however are Beverly "Bibari" Maeda as Riko Matsumiya, playing an orphaned woman who has managed to stay alive all alone for 19 years on a blistering speck of land (her Japanese is excellent), and the underrated Akira Kubo as intrepid journalist Goro Maki. Maeda gives a wonderful performance given this was only her fourth film, and this native girl is not a constantly cowering cutie but a true "Miss Fixit" with confidence and intelligence and the one who comes to the men's assistance more than once: need a cool and safe place to work? She's got a cave. Need a cure-all liquid to break a deadly fever? She knows where it is and how to get it. Need to know where to safely place an antennae? She'll show you the way.

Her ability to attract Minilla by blowing on her hands makes less sense the more one analyzes it, but her tossing jungle fruit into the little monster's mouth seems to have been partially if not wholly influenced by a similar scene in RKO's Mighty Joe Young. Maeda imbues her scenes with a radiant energy (helped by Kazuo Yamada's sumptuous photography), and while lacking Mizuno's innate sensuality, Maeda makes up for it with earnest athleticism. Maeda and Kubo have great chemistry together and their scenes are among the film's more endurable moments.  

Fukuda moves the film along in a workmanlike manner, but there is nothing particularly noteworthy or inventive about his work, save for the moment when the previously out-of-sorts Furukawa leaps into frame from a dark cave corner to encourage everyone to help conduct the final weather test. "We really had fun," the director later remembered. "We wanted to take a new approach." To do this, Fukuda acknowledged, "So, we gave Godzilla a child. We thought that it would be a little strange if Godzilla had a daughter, so we instead gave him a son. We focused on the relationship between Godzilla and his son throughout Son of Godzilla."

"It has to be said of Masaru Sato," Mr. Tuczynski has documented, "that he had a better feel for orchestration than did Akira Ifukube. Many of Sato's themes are full-bodied and quite stirring to listen go. The music where Minilla struggles through the snow is totally appropriate, and captures the claustrophobic, depressing feeling of an intense snowstorm. The ending theme is emotional and completely satisfying. Kamacuras' theme suits the creatures . . . and Kumonga's theme . . . captures Kumonga's immense size and power. Sato also creates . . . an exciting and upbeat tune that captures the research team's 'can-do' attitude."

Sato's jazzy score for Son of Godzilla is absolutely spot-on and arguably the best he composed for a Godzilla film, comprised of bongos, heavy percussion, rapid bow strings in their upper registers, blaring brass, and the ubiquitous saxophone, although one gets the impression the up-tempo rhythms were an attempt to infuse the proceedings with a lively atmosphere, as there is nothing terribly interesting watching all-male scientists conducting weather tests on a tropical island. The music's overall effect is that of a cutesy adventure best defined by the scenes showing the burgeoning romance between Riko and Goro, with vibrant violins, flirtatious flutes, and charming chimes.  

"My aim was to make Godzilla and his son like human beings," Sato explained," and to show the affection of the two toward one another. I tried to devise something unexpected for the audience. Godzilla can't act, right? Therefore I had to express his feelings through music. It was a little over the top, but it was necessary to express their affection . . . I always treated Godzilla and the son as friends." Years later Sato admitted that his fantasy film scores "were just for fun. They're not realistic . . . Mr. Ifukube is the pioneer in that field. My work would have been meaningless if I had not tried to do something very different from him. I think in general the studio felt my tastes were ill-suited to fantasy films. Jun Fukuda asked me to write music for him which is how I became involved in most of those. I really just want a good director; he'll help inspire me and my work." Fukuda agreed: "Usually composers just write music with indifference toward the film itself. Not Masaru Sato. He knows how important music is to a film. He prefers working with the director, rather than just himself. Whatever the film, he tries to understand the director's intentions; that's why I like working with him."

Trying to rationalize the logic behind Fukuda's Godzilla films can often lead to fits of apoplexy, but even so, it seems a definite dilemma had been reached regarding the notion for a son of Godzilla, which brings to mind certain delicate questions, such as does Godzilla have a mate (and if so, where is she?), or is Godzilla really a female (and if so, where is he?). Minilla's egg is large, so it's difficult to see how "dad" could possibly have laid it, and the idea of the King of the Monsters doing such a thing makes one reach for smelling salts. In his book Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! Galbraith asks "Does anyone really care?" and the answer is yes, some of us do, and even though author Brian Solomon also feels that "In the end, it doesn't matter," it does to many Godzilla fans. The beast is still belligerent, roaring at the elements while preparing to hibernate, and it destroys the base in an almost nonchalant fashion - although fortunately for the technicians sparing the spray-towers - yet seems only mildly motivated combating the other monsters and still sleeps alot, like an old prizefighter showing signs of middle age (notice the paunch), ready to retire as a home-school dad.

Minilla has certainly had a tough time over the years, and it started early, as the first thing it sees when it opens its eyes are the jaws of death (three of them, in fact), and it's appearance has received many derisive comments over the years. While author Jim Harmon pulls no punches describing the offspring as "somewhat disturbingly resembling a human freak," this does not bother Evan A. Baker, who wrote "I like the little freak. He amuses me." Mr. Galbraith opined that "Though clumsy, somewhat dense and rather ugly, Minilla is also almost irresistibly cute," while Alex Mayo thought Minilla was "adorable comic relief." Professor Tsutsui depicts the little imp as "a shapeless, mid-gray, squeaky voiced, more-fetus-than-infant monster," but later embellished this caustic comment stating that the creature looks like "an adenoidal mound of gray mashed potatoes." Mike Bogue was witty too, but more direct, calling Minilla "more appalling than appealing . . . he manifests all the inherent charm of a surgically removed tumor . . . even in (its) bipedal guise, he looks like a bizarrely mutated Pillsbury Doughboy," and Dave Coleman also describes the little guy as "a less than adorable creature resembling a moldy Pillsbury Dough-boy." Steve Ryfle holds nothing back, commenting that Minilla is a "lovable yet somehow detestable pug," but is topped by the venerable Donald Glut, who felt Minilla has "a face almost resembling some deformed human being." Author Jeff Rovin labeled it "a precocious and pug-faced creature," but my personal favorite is the description of Minilla looking "strip club by the airport ugly."

"Aside from being kiddie-oriented," Ed Godziszewski wrote, "one of Son's biggest faults is in characterizing Godzilla as a humanlike parent figure. True, this gives the film a certain charm and appeal, but Fukuda treats the monster as a human being, a concept which can only come off in a silly manner." As far as Godzilla's offspring is concerned, while some may argue that even though the diminutive scamp with a perpetually sappy grin creased onto its face does indeed bear a slight resemblance to Godzilla, it may not necessary be its child. However, the fact that it roars a little bit like the King of the Monsters and even breathes atomic fire, as well as an occasional smoke ring (in one of the Toho Monster Series most beloved clichés) pretty much seals the deal, unless maybe - just maybe - Minilla is an orphaned monster Godzilla decided to adopt (although why Godzilla would even bother to do so is yet another unanswerable question) that can mimic Godzilla's roar and fire-breathing capabilities. One Kaiju Film Database contributor thinks he has it all figured out: "It is generally accepted that Minilla was merely a fellow monster of the same species whom was lucky enough to be adopted by the Big G before the Kamacuras could make a meal out of him, Godzilla following the signal he was giving out all the way to Sollgel Island."

As previously noted, Minilla was created so that the theatre-going children could have something to cheer for; in fact one can almost hear them crying out in alarm when the web-covered tot topples over. This was all very well and good for the kids, but their parents were left with little else to cheer for, other than the film's conclusion. As far as Godzilla the father figure is concerned, it has an indifferent attitude towards its son and is a "tough love" parent who threatens to beat the brat for not performing a proper fire blast to the point of stepping on its tail in order to get things done, while consoling the weeping tadpole immediately afterwards. Nevertheless, Godzilla is impatient with the toddler's constant tantrums and shoves it aside when combating Kumonga, a battle which baffles Neil Kulin: "Why can Godzilla successfully terminate . . . Ghidorah (arguably one of the strongest kaiju in the known universe), but be slowed down by a giant spider? I want, or even NEED to see my hero fry an abomination like that." The film's most memorable moment comes after Kumonga has been roasted to death with snow falling and the temperature dropping and Godzilla heading off to parts unknown, leaving Minilla behind. The little guy tries following its father but stumbles and whimpers in abject misery until daddy returns and embraces it; an astonishing demonstration of tenderness in a moment as remotely removed from any in the series. To quote the American Kaiju website, "The final scenes, in which Godzilla and Minya huddle together for warmth as the snow puts them to sleep, are actually almost touching" (note the key word: "almost").

Once Godzilla films were made for adults and enjoyed by kids, but now not even the opposite was true, although Masao Fukazawa does a nice job giving Minilla a sense of prepubescent mischievousness. Even so, when Minilla collapses in the snow while trying to follow its famous father, one doesn't feel as much sympathy for it, as pity. Arikawa recalled the difficulty preparing this particular scene: "At first we used Styrofoam but it didn't melt, so it would just get stuck to the heads and noses of the monsters, which was no good. You can melt paraffin wax in high temperature, and when hot it will disappear very quickly. If you put it on a rubber costume, at first it will look white, and then run down it like water; I showed that. People asked 'can it be used like that?' Anyhow, we tried it once, but since there was not enough in the budget and the materials were expensive, we used it only on the upper portions of the monsters." 

Arikawa knew that cleaning-up the costumes afterwards would be very time-consuming and difficult, so he decided to shoot this scene last. "To overstate it, even though I wanted to see what the limitations are of acting in a costume, I wanted to express my own feelings. I may have been a bit insistent, but the expression of a costume is only good up to a point. There is a human inside the costume, but there is no way of conveying emotions. How then to show those affections to the audience? That is why I worked so persistently. This is especially in the vein of a historical drama; walking a couple of steps and looking back, and then again walking a few steps and looking back. And there is this child in the snow, and its legs are gradually stumbling, flailing-out with its arms. At the time it didn't embarrass me at all, I just wanted to express the image of a parent and a child." The scene strongly resonated with Arikawa, and the effects director was even moved to tears during the film's premiere: "I watched it while reciting a heartfelt Naniwa-bushi (a form of traditional Japanese narrative-style singing typically accompanied by a shamisen player in the telling of sad stories  - PHB) to the point where it annoyed the people sitting next to me."

This was Arikawa's first Godzilla film where he was officially recognized as Chief Effects Supervisor. On this and all the Godzilla films he was involved in afterwards, Tsuburaya was officially listed as Editorial Supervisor, and would pop-in occasionally to give a helpful suggestion or two, such as during the scene when Arikawa wanted Minilla to use its ray in a vertical fashion in order to give the impression of strength, but the "Old Man" insisted the infant blow smoke rings instead. The wearisome rock-stumbling routine returns as well as another rock-tossing contest between monsters, and the business of having giant stones falling into the cave also becomes tiresome. In a scene reminiscent from Monster Baran, Goro and Riko hide in a cave while trying to escape a monster, and as in Ebirah, a Godzilla foe applauds itself. On the plus side, there is the welcome notion regarding the mutual respect held amongst professionals, and a particularly touching moment occurs near the end of the film, when the besieged Furukawa is so overwhelmed with relief at the success of the operation, he is unable to verbalize his congratulations to Kusumi, who returns the wordless gesture with an understanding nod (the submarine surprise was also nicely handled).

During the famous scene where Godzilla taught its son to breathe radioactive flame, Godzilla was played by Kiyoharu (Seiji) Onaka (Ohnaka): "The suit was so heavy that I thought I would die . . . the first time inside was a difficult experience. For me, I would say things like 'son, come here, it's dangerous there,' or 'this is how to shoot the radioactive ray.' Of course, the audience can't hear my voice, they can only see the action. That was really tough work, but the pay was very good. Stunt actors' usual salary was ¥20,000 per month, plus ¥800 per day for each day of shooting. But if you could get into Godzilla, you could make as much as eight times more."

Sadamasa Arikawa coaching an apparently star-struck Minilla (Masao Fukazawa).

The moment when Godzilla appears on the beach is one of the most breathtaking of its many breachings. Nakajima - who shared wearing the costume with Onaka until Onaka suffered an injury early on - recalled: "Unfortunately around halfway through the shooting schedule, since Mr. Onaka was an ex-ballplayer, he was playing catch at lunch break and the ball went down into a drain. He lifted the manhole cover to get the ball, but unfortunately it was dropped on his fingers, breaking them. He couldn't do monster acting after that, so Mr. Tsuburaya decided to use Mr. (Hiroshi) Sekita who was a bit taller than me. So as a result, the Godzilla in Son of Godzilla was played by three individuals. I once tried on this Godzilla suit, but it was way too big for me.” Due to his scuba diving experience, Nakajima did wear it during the surfacing scene, as Tucker documented:

"The great cresting effect was done thus: Nakajima was submerged in the suit, hanging onto the handle of a camera dolly on rails. The dolly was attached to a wire which in turn stretched out to the back of a four-wheel-drive truck. Its speed and traction made for powerful waves as Nakajima would be pulled (in the costume), some twenty meters (66 feet). Since he couldn't hear the cue, a rope tied around his leg would be tugged to warn him when the camera would roll. At the end of the ride, he would have to rise out with suitable menace. All in one take. Nakajima: 'There could be no rehearsal for that - just one take with a mouthpiece and a very tiny air cylinder that lasted for less than ten minutes. It was very hard since the mouthpiece had a tendency to slip out. I love water, so I didn't care.'" The shot was filmed indoors on Stage 9: "It would surely have been the end of my life had the mouthpiece slipped off or been knocked away by the torrent . . . literally, it was a scene in which I risked my life!" It was not the first or the last time Nakajima risked his life for his art.

As far as the other monsters are concerned, they were adroitly-manipulated wire-guided marionettes. There were six different versions of the spider alone, and its large-scale leg was as impressive as it was unpredictable; one can even hear the squeaking of the articulating crane when it attacks the men. To Kumonga - a prop which had to be manipulated by no-less than 20 puppeteers mounted on an overhead platform - goes the doubtful reputation of being the ugliest monster ever to grace a Godzilla film, with its hairy spindly legs, it multiple eyes, and what Stuart Galbraith IV so memorably described as "a truly disgusting mouth."

"Around the time of the Kamacuras," Fumio Nakashiro recalled, "the team responsible for the lighting came and helped out in great numbers, and they moved it. A thing like Kamacuras can only move its body forwards, so they helped move the feet as much as was possible for them. The person holding up the suspended trunk of the body only had to move it forwards as I said 'Please try and not move it up or down!'" It was hard and tricky work taking many hours of practice to achieve a convincing, life-like movement of the insects. Since the people operating the weighty props suspended from the ceiling were unable to achieve the precise positioning of the various moving parts, all the movable pincers, legs, and leg joints were given a number, as Arikawa called-out orders such as "Raise Joint Number X, that's it, now lower Leg Number Y!" The giant spider was even harder to manipulate since it had eight legs with three joints to each leg, so three people were needed in order to move just one leg. It is not surprising to learn that the monster's death scene in the snow utilized numerous technicians stationed both above and below the raised set taking over 48 non-stop hours to film.

Kumonga, derived from kumo ("spider") was the culmination in a long line of awesome arachnids including the fanciful puppet spider in Alexander Korda's Thief of Bagdad and a real spider in Tarantula, and Sato employed a sinister "see-saw" arrangement of strings, bells, cymbals, and "wah-wah" coronets, giving the spider an appropriate air of menace. Effects technician Koji Matsumoto remembered one upsetting incident with the spider: "I was in Team B working on the spider next to a small outdoor pool. It was a windy day and spray covered the spider, wetting it. I hung the spider up to dry, but when I took it in for filming, someone noticed I had hung it the wrong way, as the top portion was still wet, so we had to build a small fire to dry it. Unbelievable things like that happened." Just turning over the huge prop was a demanding chore, and operating inside Minilla was no easy task either, because if Fukazawa fell over while wearing the costume, he couldn't get back up on his own.

The final battle between Kumonga and the Godzillas seems to take longer than it should, and Godzilla's cavalier attitude toward Kumonga almost proved fatal, and at one point even had to be saved by its son. The shot of Godzilla and Minilla approaching the flaming Kumonga in the blizzard is one of the more unforgettable in the series, and once again a Godzilla film ends with onlookers being rescued and feeling sorry for the King of the Monsters. As Goro and Riko look at the snow-covered figures, it calls to mind the last time the Big G was buried in snow, but that was 12 years ago and people were just glad to get rid of it.

For all its plusses and minuses, Son of Godzilla is an entertaining if inconsequential romp, and for the first time in a Godzilla film there are no major character deaths; in fact there are no individual deaths at all. Some have suggested Honda's later Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara: All Monsters Attack (Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru Kaiju Daishingeki) was also made to appeal to children, but in reality it was a warning for parents to spend more time with their kids. As Godziszewski put it: "Uncertain whether (Son of Godzilla) should be a kiddie film or a serious film, the film tries to be both and succeeds as neither." Even so, many people admire this film, such as Galbraith, who, in his Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! book rated it three out of four stars, while in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star, Ryfle considered Son of Godzilla "an undervalued gem," although adding later in that same book the scene when Godzilla is teaching Minilla how to breath fire - which he called "infamous" - "detracts from the straightforward and serious sci-fi story;" a comment which only holds true if one considers Son of Godzilla as straightforward and serious. The Godzilla Encyclopedia dodges the entire issue of whether the film is any good or not by pointing out that "Son of Godzilla has received generally positive reviews," but doesn't quote any of the reviews, as if expecting us to simply take their word for it. And in Godzilla FAQ, Brian Solomon feels the film, "despite its flaws . . . is tough not to like," adding that the scene when the two Godzillas are cuddling in the snow, "is genuinely endearing." 

In truth, the series was starting to sink under the weight of its own silliness. Had the Godzilla costume looked better (one observer called it "an abomination") and with a more-compelling story, it might well be regarded as a worthwhile entry and a truly fine film, but as it stands, the biggest problem with the Son of Godzilla, is the Son of Godzilla.

Chapter Four

 

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

(Gojira tai Hedora)

< Released July 24, 1971 >

"The Atomic Bomb, the Hydrogen Bomb, cast their fallout into the sea. Poison gases, sludge, everyone throws them into the sea, even sewage. Godzilla would really get angry if he saw this. He would do something."

 - Ken Yano, Second Grade, Class A

 

The Film:

 

Slime and Sludge

Near the vicinity of Japan's sacred Mount Fuji, industrial waste contaminates the air and water, and rising up from this bubbling crude (musically flavored with low alto sax, steel drum, electric organ and xylophone) is a slimy and ugly new life form: Hedorah, aka The Smog Monster.

Pleasantly unaware of this is Ken Yano (Hiroyuki Kawase), busily playing with his Godzilla and Friends monster toys, and he has quite a collection of them along with an Ultraman figure (in a possible tribute to Ultraman TV series' creator Eiji Tsuburaya who passed away the previous year; at one point later in the film, Godzilla will even strike an Ultraman pose). "There were a number of Toho staffers who were actually relieved by his passing," Damon Foster has stated, "as they no longer needed to adhere to his rigid standards. Pretty soon, the budgets - and some say the quality - of the Godzilla movies dropped, as the movies were now known for both stock-footage and less-than-packed theaters."

Approaching the youngster is uncle/family-friend/college-student/guitar-player/drug-user Yukio Keuchi (Toshio Shiba), and soon Ken's mother, Toshie Yano (Toshie Kimura) calls them in for lunch, while Ken's father, Dr. Toru Yano (Akira Yamauchi), feeds tropical fish in the family's aquarium.

They soon have a visitor: Gohei (Yoshio Yoshida), a local shrimp fisherman bringing bad news as there are no longer any more shrimp to be found in Suruga Bay. He has brought in something else: a large sludge-covered tadpole-like creature. As the family sits down for their meal, they watch a news broadcast showing a monstrous life form destroying two large ships which had earlier collided, a view Ken finds so stunning, he drops his sushi. The next day Yano decides to do some scuba-diving just offshore as Ken monitors the time in his dad's oxygen tanks. What greets the underwater doctor is an eerily-horrific scene of decaying animals and trash littering the ocean floor.

As Ken examines empty oyster shells and dead crabs in a tide pool, a smaller version of the ugly animal leaps out of the water just above Ken, who reflexively sticks his knife into the creature's belly, forcing it back into the bay. His father however is not so lucky and encounters the underwater monster, resulting in severe acid burns covering half his face.

During an interview, Yano discusses the strange creature which his son named "Hedorah" (or sludge from the Japanese word hedoro), described by one author as "an alien life form that originated in the Orion constellation's Dark Gas Nebula."

While Hedorah is attacking more oil tankers, Ken dreams of Godzilla surfacing and setting aflame portions of ocean-covered sewage with its deadly ray. Waking up that same night, Yano suddenly realizes after examining pieces of the dried-up tadpole, that the odd creature is not made of flesh, but carbonized mineral. By putting portions of the mineral into muddy or polluted water, they not only come to life as separate beings, but grow larger by merging with similar materials; in other words, a new life form which grows and thrives in industrial waste. 

 

Panic at the Disco

 

Meanwhile, Yukio is busy getting fried in a discotheque watching his go-go dancing girlfriend Miki Fujinomiya (Keiko Mari) wearing a body stocking adorned with images of sea life singing an environmental ballad written by director Yoshimitsu Banno and composer Riichiro Manabe and sung by Mari (along with Honey Knights and the Moon Drops) called "Return the Sun!" (aka "Save the Earth!"):

 

"Tori mo sakana mo doko e itta no
Tonbo mo cho mo doko e itta no
Suigin kobaruto kadomiumu
Namari ryusan okishidan
Shian mangan banajiumu
Suromu kariumu sutoronchuumu . . ."

 

"Islands . . . fish . . . where've you gone?
Dragonflies . . . butterflies . . . where've you gone?
Mercury, cobalt, cadmium
Lead, sulfuric-acid, oxidants
Cyanogen, manganese, vanadium
Chromium, potassium, strontium . . ."
 

All are unaware that Hedorah has just made landfall spewing sewage wherever it goes, stopping only to gorge on toxic smoke emanating from tall industrial chimneys.

The monster's meal is interrupted when Godzilla appears and the beasts soon battle, but Godzilla is confused and overwhelmed by its horrible opponent, and even when pieces of the ugly monster are shorn away, they have a deadly life all their own.

Back at the discotheque, the now thoroughly-wasted Yukio imagines the patrons all have fish heads, but their reverie is ended when a slimy river cascades down the steps only to withdraw a moment later, leaving behind a meowing, slime-covered cat.

The two monsters continue their conflict with Godzilla gesturing for the hideous beast to depart, but Hedorah merely repeats the gesture as if claiming the territory for its own, shooting a glob of goo which smokes and sizzles on Godzilla's shoulder. Godzilla shoots its ray at Hedorah which does nothing more than create a shower of sparks, and soon the Smog Monster leaps back into the ocean with Godzilla in Hedorah pursuit.

The next day during an examination of the dock area where Hedorah was seen giving-off the sparks, Yano surmises the monster is a living nuclear alien entity deposited on Earth in the form of a meteorite.

Although officials have surmised Hedorah will only appear at night or on cloudy days, the monster shows itself on a bright and sunny day in flying form, causing corrosive destruction and dreadful death wherever it goes, as well as setting-off massive explosions at the Japan Oil Company. Godzilla is there as well but is rendered helpless by Hedorah's acidy sulfuric mist.

 

A Child Shall Lead Them

 

Ken speculates that since "it's only sludge," drying-out the creature might destroy it, so Yano places one positive and one negative electrode on either side of the tadpole, which dries it out and kills it instantly, so electric panels built on a much-larger scale should neutralize Hedorah.

Yukio is also proactive in his own ineffectual way by organizing a million people to meet near Mount Fuji only to eventually motivate about one-percent of that into showing up; but he is not overly-concerned as he shouts: "Green pastures only exist in our hearts now. Let's sing! Let's dance!"

Musicians play (how they get the power for their amps is left up to our imaginations) and everyone dances around a large bonfire ringed by burning braziers observed by the mysterious Hill People.

Hedorah has now taken to the skies, flying over the Yano residence and killing the fish in his aquarium. Meanwhile the party is in full swing when Ken senses Godzilla is near, and indeed it is, squaring-off against Hedorah squirting burning goo covering Godzilla's left eye before hitting it with a laser beam. Then Hedorah - the ultimate party killer - flies over the merrymakers slaying several of them in the process before landing and approaching the few survivors.

Yukio then gets the bright idea of throwing torches at the beast (‛a la Gorgo) which only results in getting him and nearly everyone else around him killed. Hedorah then moves toward Ken and Mikio and the six remaining survivors, but Godzilla reappears just in time, causing Hedorah to jump over and poop on the fearless reptile.

 

 

An Eye for an Eye

 

Godzilla gets a modicum of revenge by disabling Hedorah's left eye, but the Smog Monster returns the favor by setting the countryside aflame, resulting in thick black smoke incapacitating Godzilla. Hedorah then picks up the asphyxiated dinosaur and drops it on Mount Fuji where it soon becomes trapped in a canyon slowly filling with Hedorah's sludge.

Yano and his wife arrive at Sakaizawa where army officers have erected two 40 m (131 ft) tall and 60 m (197 ft) wide electrodes one kilometer (one-half mile) apart, the officer in charge assuring the scientist that Hedorah will be led toward the trap by blinking headlights (?) and supersonic waves (??).

Unfortunately, nearby power lines are rendered inoperable by the battling monsters. After disabling Godzilla, Hedorah flies over to the army site where three jeeps blink their headlights simultaneously to try luring it in-between the electrodes while soldiers frantically scramble to repair the power, and it is at this crucial moment the film stops dead in its trash.

The Smog Monster finally walks in-between the partitions just as Godzilla arrives and blasts one of them with its ray, activating the electrodes (how it knew this was what was needed and why the current keeps continuously shutting-off we never learn), scorching Hedorah who collapses to the ground.

Yet Godzilla senses something is amiss and reaches inside the monster, yanking out two objects which - according to Nakano - are not its eggs, but its eyes before frying them into crusty dust.

Hedorah is not quite dead however and takes off only to be followed and caught by a flying Godzilla that gives the slimy beast a good thrashing before bringing it back to the site where the soldiers turn on the juice only to have it fizzle-out a second later. A disgusted Godzilla then blasts the electrodes again, reducing the once-powerful Smog Monster into piles of acid silt.

Godzilla then raises its crust-covered head and glares at the soldiers who shiver and gasp, fearing that the mighty monster is preparing to attack them, but the battered beast simply turns away and heads back out to sea. As the sun rises over Mount Fuji, Ken arrives just in time to call-out "Thank you!" and wave goodbye. "Godzilla lumbers off to rest," Gary Gerani wrote in his review of the film for The Monster Times, "until the next catastrophe."

 

A Closer Look:

 

Following the modest success of Son of Godzilla, Ishiro Honda returned to the series for the first time since Invasion of the Astro Monster, and while never a fan of Minilla, the director nevertheless included the little monster in the 1968 release Attack of the Marching Monsters, the first all-star mega-monster brawl. Honda was fascinated with the concept of depicting the environmental infrastructure involved in keeping all of the monsters confined on Ogasawara Island (an archipelago more commonly known as the Bonin Islands), but Tanaka was only interested in a children's book version where Godzilla and other Toho monsters are being manipulated by aliens intending to conquer the world. Filled with scenes of flying saucers, elaborate military hardware, massive destruction, and a most-capable cast, the film lacked heart; no doubt a reflection of a director who had long-since lost patience and interest with the series. 

The following year saw the release of what some Godzilla fans consider the "lowest point" in the series: Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara, which dealt with the personal struggles of a bullied latch-key kid who retreats into his imagination and finds solace by befriending Minilla and inspiration from the King of the Monsters (although the boy is understandably intimidated when finally meeting the Big G in person). Again directed by Honda, it was the most-personal of his Godzilla films, sprinkled with bad comedy involving clumsy crooks and an eccentric inventor/neighbor, but the film's attendance of 1,480,000 fell far-short of Marching Monsters' 2,580,000.

So it seemed to Tanaka that the message was clear: no more warnings and no more lessons; audiences wanted entertainment, not elucidation. Or so it seemed . . . 

Mad Scientist publisher Martin Arlt wrote that "Godzilla vs. Hedorah has long been considered a low point in the series by Godzilla fans. In recent years, that opinion has begun to be reevaluated. More and more fans are looking past the low budget, simple miniatures, and even the flying Godzilla to see that Godzilla vs. Hedorah has a lot going for it." True, but it has a lot going against it as well.

"In July of 1970," director Banno remembered, "I heard news of a lot of girls fainting in school because of air pollution (40 high school students were exposed to photochemical smog and required hospitalization - PHB). The environmental problems in Japan just started becoming evident. So, for me, the worst and most evil thing during those days was the pollution problem. That's how I got the idea of the scenario and also the title song for Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster."

Banno had participated in the planning of the Japan World Expo whose theme had been "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." As he later recalled, "On the way back from the Expo, we passed through a town called Yokkaichi and then through Tagonoura (a city located in the Mie Prefecture. From 1960 through 1972, the residents suffered health problems caused by the emission of sulfur oxide into the atmosphere from local petrochemical and chemical plants. In Japan, a disease called Yokkaichi zensoku - Yokkaichi Asthma - derives its name from the city and is considered one of the "Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan" - PHB). When we were scouting locations later on, the beach was filled with foam and it smelled like rotten eggs; it made you feel like you couldn't live in a place like that."  

Hedorah is only Godzilla film on record where a grimy cat meows on slime-covered stairs, where a man visualizes roly-poly fish heads dancing in a bar, and where a baby wails-away in chest-deep filth. It is also the only Godzilla film ever made where the King of the Monsters actually flies, a moment described by one author as "the single most notorious scene in the entire Godzilla series." As far as the film itself is concerned, one kaiju writer called it "the most bizarre in the entire series" and another as a "truly bizarre and outrageous entry." Another considered it "certainly the most gruesome film of the series," while still another writer labeled it as "the single strangest and most surreal entry in the entire Godzilla canon" and "a major misfire." As for Professor Tsutsui, he adroitly considered it as "one of the most peculiar movies in the entire Godzilla opus." 

The connection between children and Godzilla was certainly not new by 1971; in fact King Kong vs. Godzilla had a scene where a pudgy little kid wants to see the beast in person even as the rest of the city is scrambling to escape; children have a long history of loving dinosaurs and monsters, and All Monsters Attack's Ichiro dreams of visiting Monster Land. The main thrust toward children was essentially provided by Daiei's Gamera series, where children had a distinct appreciation for the flying turtle which seemed to return their affections, so for purely commercial reasons a decision was made to further stress and cement the bond between kids and the King of the Monsters.

Ken also admires Godzilla, but unlike Ichiro - who only has one Godzilla toy hidden away in a closet - Ken has an extensive collection which brings up an uncomfortable question: why is there a market for a monster known for killing thousands and destroying everything in its path? Ken also dreams about Godzilla, but unlike Ichiro, who never really meets the monster in the flesh, Ken can sense the monster's presence and knows it will eventually defeat Hedorah (although The Godzilla Tower website points out that when Ken dreams of Godzilla spraying its death ray upon the ocean's surface, it shows "Godzilla burning up water pollution, and creating air pollution!").  

Mr. Marrero observed that "Godzilla had changed beyond recognition. From the death-ray-spewing horror of 1954 to the clownish figure made for the benefit of undemanding children, the energy and mythical qualities Godzilla had once possessed had vanished with this film." However, as Mr. LeMay has pointed out: "What many critics hate about the film is also what others love about it." Described by Mr. Galbraith as "an unfortunate pastiche of kiddie fare, social commentary and standard monster movie shenanigans," in reality Hedorah is an urgent message delivered by a pizza boy, an air-raid siren blowing bubbles, and Mister Rogers smoking a cigar. Mr. Barr has commented on the film's "not-so-subtle, over-the-head clobbering of the theme of pollution," but as Mr. Bogue has indicated, "the movie's schizophrenic underpinnings ultimately hijack its potential."

Certainly the movie contained a message of great import in the tradition of earlier Godzilla films which sporadically commented on social, environmental, or political issues (Fukuda was never interested in making any statements with his Godzilla films), but here was a Godzilla film regarding an issue with even greater immediacy than nuclear war: the destruction of the environment by industrial pollution. "When we made that movie," Nakano remembered, "pollution had become a major issue, although the Japanese people didn't seem to be seriously concerned about it. Factories were polluting the rivers and the sea; we were killing ourselves with man-made pollution. 'Please, let's be careful about what we are doing' was the message of this movie." A noble endeavor indeed, "But," as authors Thomas Weisser and Yuko Mihara Weisser have asked, "isn't it logical to assume a monster who lives off raw pollution might not be a bad thing to have around?"

Commentaries on pollution were not new to the series as Honda had peppered his All Monsters Attack with shots of smog-belching traffic and industrial waste, but these were sidelines to the larger story of Ichiro's dream world, whereas Hedorah's is "a biting commentary on the state of Japan's environmental situation in the 1960s and 1970s before major reforms were made." Orson Welles once commented that "One shouldn't ever be conscious of the author as lecturer. When social or moral points are too heavily stressed, I always get uncomfortable," and this is one of the problems with Banno's handling of Hedorah. After watching All Monsters Attack, one feels concerned if not compelled to do something about the smoggy situation, but after watching Hedorah, one gets the impression that all is lost, since another Smog Monster is waiting in the waste. Banno, who had once worked as an assistant to Kurosawa, was so concerned with getting his point across he overplays his hand with grim visuals not always making sense, giving every indication of being added for shock effect, such as the startling shot of a half-buried baby crying in the mud (Banno had just 35 days to shoot the entire film, with one team filming both the effects and live-action sequences, while Yoichi Manoda supervised both the live-action and effects photography).

Banno's jarring images include cesspool stews, floating garbage, disfigured fish in formaldehyde jars, black sludge blotting-out sea life, exhaust stacks sticking up through smoggy clouds, a sizzling statue of Rodin's The Thinker, a dissected female manikin floating on sludge, and a clock chiming in the goo in an explicit metaphor for time running out. "Most of the ideas for this movie came from me," the director told Homenick. "I would fight with (co-screenwriter Takeshi Kimura, billed here as Kaoru Mabuchi) an awful lot. He became very diligent in what he was doing, but more of the environment and other themes were more of my idea . . . But everything that has to do with the environment, a lot of the influences in the movie, were things that were happening at the time." As it happened, Kimura's initial screenplay treatment was a bad omen. "At the beginning,'" Banno remembered, "Mr. Kimura was brought in by Mr. Tanaka. He had done a lot of scriptwriting for a number of SFX films. For this script, what they brought to me was basically junk. It was no good at the beginning. So I rewrote the whole thing. I said to him, 'You're not really being sincere about this. You're not working hard to make this thing work.'"

Banno elaborated further with Risaku Kiridoshi: "At the time, there was this go-go club in Akasaka called Mugen, where crowds of young people would dance jammed together in a heaving, swirling mass, just like in the movie. There was a platform up front, on which girls in miniskirts would be writhing to the music. I modeled the set on that club. But having the girl wear body paint was my idea (laughs). The red-and-blue liquids moving around in the background at the go-go club were recreated by one of the art people, who'd seen it in a gay bar in Chicago. You put some salad oil in a bowl of water and swirl it around with your finger in time to the music. Throw colored lights on it and project it onto a screen, and there you are!"

In spite of its serious intentions, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is difficult to take seriously even with its horrific images of putrefied sea life, corroded bodies, and mass destruction, but the film is more off-beat than alarming, as Banno is unable to create an ambiance of terror even when using gimmicks such as filming scenes without sound or color, and there are no shots of any wounded being brought into hospitals, or persons grieving for the dead and dying. At one point a broadcaster announces that Hedorah "has placed the entire country in a state of terror" while another tells us that "dead bodies are reportedly piling-up in the streets," but we don't sense the terror or see the bodies, just Ken and Yano's Q & A sessions. The film's moral tone is admittedly and utterly uncompromising as everyone is getting what they deserve whether they were responsible for what is happening or not, and when Yukio dies (the first significant character death in the series in years), neither we nor anyone in the film gives him a second thought.

Everybody is equally to blame and equally helpless: the adults are buffoons, the military is worse than useless, and the teenagers are reckless fools spending their remaining hours fiddling while Rome burns. Nakano reflected years later that the problem wasn't the message, but who it was meant for: "A movie about social problems wouldn't appeal to children. Mr. Banno wanted to make an entertaining film for children, but I wanted to make something like the first film, that reflected social problems. That was the main conflict between us . . . I filmed the movie from an adult point of view, even though the movie was for children." He also admitted to Galbraith, "Looking back now, I kind of feel sorry about what we did."

There is one unsettling moment when the Smog Monster larvae join together to become a single animal, an effect created with rubber larvae and placing them on either side of the water tank, then filming them until they came close together, at which time rotoscope animation completed the joining effect. "It was a unique type of filming, without retakes," Banno explained. "This scene left a big impression on people who saw it. Hedorah was emanating light and growing bigger and bigger, and this one scene explained the whole theme, which I think was captured extremely well. I think that's why it was etched into people's minds. It doesn't cost a lot of money, and if you can make something that contains such a strong sense of impending crisis, it becomes extremely satisfying. Previously, with special effects, there were many things you couldn't do without the money, but I had a strong feeling that I could do a lot of things if I just used my imagination."

Incredibly, despite the Smog Monster's deadly menace, not one single piece of military hardware is used against it: no rockets, missiles, jets, tanks, laser cannons, bullets, arrows or slingshots; just a couple of Chinook helicopters which actually compound the problem ("That maniac!"). There was a time that when monsters appeared the army arrived loaded for bear with all manner of machines, men, and the means to use them, but all the support Yano ever gets for his valiant efforts are a couple of trucks and a half-dozen soldiers. After defeating Hedorah, Godzilla seems ready to attack them, but doesn't, why? Surely the mighty monster must realize that humans were responsible for creating Hedorah just as they were responsible for creating itself, so why does it let them off the hook? Is it simply too tired or too disgusted with the whole business? Whatever the reason, the troops were very lucky, for if they were facing the Godzilla from 20 years down the road, they would have been blasted-off the face of the Earth (when the military is trying to defeat Hedorah, Banno keeps cutting back-and-forth to shots of the JSDF officer in charge played by a goggle-eyed Haruo Suzuki. The idea was to show just how ridiculous the army is, but the constant close-ups of the sputtering officer reduces the film to the level of self-parody).

Hedorah also reveals its low-budget trappings. Whereas Ebirah and Son of Godzilla cosmetized this to a certain extent by having events taking place on undeveloped islands, Hedorah happens in a suburban setting, yet during their battles, the two monsters do not destroy any structures and spend most of their time in vacant lots or open country, "devoid of vegetation and detailed geological formation. The barrenness draws the eye to it and detracts from believability." Only two sets were built: the Yano's living room and the discotheque (it's interesting comparing the discotheque scene in Hedorah with the waltz sequence in Godzilla's Counterattack where that dancing was also disturbed by a monster's approach). There are no scenes of mass panic or organized evacuations and there doesn't seem to be anyone living in the city at all: when Ken is dashing home only to come across corpses, he seems to be the only one around.

As far as Godzilla's new-found ability to fly is concerned, it was no worse than when it danced the night away on Planet X, and happily, neither action ever occurred again in the series. According to Tucker, "Banno said of the notorious scene in which Godzilla flies, 'I asked everyone in the company, should he fly or shouldn't he?' Finally, someone in the public relations department said that children might like the idea. But producer Tanaka was absolutely horrified when he saw it. 'What have you done? You've just completely ruined the character of Godzilla!'" An odd thing to say, considering Tanaka was the driving force behind softening Godzilla's character over the years. "We made Godzilla fly in that movie," Nakano affirmed years later, "that was outrageous, we probably shouldn't have done that. But Mr. Banno was looking for something extraordinary, and even though there was no flying sequence in the script, we added it." As Banno explained, "We got the idea from seahorses (that) blow air from the mouth, and move backwards."

Still, there is much to be said about a film which was in its own modest way quite visionary, predicting mask-wearing city dwellers, islands comprised of toxic waste anticipating "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch," multiple split-screen images of people screaming at the viewer predicting cacophonous cable news channels, and may have influenced the animated feature film Ferngully: The Last Rainforest where the malevolent nature spirit Hexxus also drinks oil and sucks smog. "It was imperative that we make graphic the accumulation of numbers of everyone shouting their piece at the same time," the director told Eiga Hi-Ho magazine. "to show that, in reality, this is futile in fighting pollution. In effect, human beings are powerless."

Tanaka had reportedly asked Honda to check-in on Banno's progress during the filming by viewing rushes and making minor suggestions, but just how much influence Godzilla's director had on the production is unknown, although there are numerous moments recalling that earlier masterwork. As with Serizawa, Dr. Yano spends much of his screen time with one of his eyes covered and also has an aquarium eventually filled with dead fish, a deep-sea diver has an underwater encounter with a monster, oxygen is again used as a weapon, men playing a board game are killed by a monster, a group of people are felled in an instant, the final battle between the beasts takes place at Sakaizawa which sounds a bit like Serizawa, and when Yano explores the ocean bottom, one of the first things he comes across is a deep-sea diving helmet (actor Tadashi Okabe, billed as a "scholar" who is interviewed about Hedorah's various stages, was a Godzilla alumni; he played the man taking radiation readings above the surface of the sea prior to Serizawa's death-dive). And when the students start brazier fires during the concert, it recalls a windblown brazier in Godzilla at the start of the Odo Island storm sequence.

Smog Monster presented Godzilla with its first truly heroic role and one it would continue playing throughout the rest of the decade. While some have argued the creature is only protecting its immediate environment rather than the entire planet, it seems clear that the former scourge of humanity, here first glimpsed against the backdrop of a Rising Sun is now, officially, the "Defender of Japan." To quote Welles again: "As long as there is melodrama, the tragic hero is something of a villain." In Hedorah, Godzilla is the tragic hero.

At the end of the film as the triumphant but battered beast leaves the scene like a wounded western hero not unlike Alan Ladd at the conclusion of Shane - which was wildly popular in Japan - it suddenly turns and looks back as Ken scrambles-up an embankment and calls out to the monster which nods in acknowledgment before heading back toward the sea. It's a memorable ending to an unforgettable film, but it makes no sense at all. Why should a creature whose very purpose is to punish Man for his atomic tinkering bother to defend the Earth in the first place (at one point even the tripping Yukio asks, "Why is Godzilla here?"). Making Godzilla a hero was a controversial move many felt was a mistake; it would have been more apropos having the fire-breathing monster itself represent pollution or just make the film about Hedorah.

One of the film's more-arresting moments occurs when Hedorah gets satiated on soot, and there is a particularly unsettling scene when Ken's phone call to his dad is interrupted by massive explosions followed by close-ups of crumbling leaves and sounds of wailing sirens; when Ken runs past a playground's corroded Jungle Gym, it brings to mind the wilted Jungle Gym standing as a grim reminder of the Nagasaki atomic-bombing in Kurosawa's Rhapsody in August (Hachi-gatsu no rapusodi). Hedorah was the deadliest enemy Godzilla had ever faced, and the film's on-screen death count rivals that of Godzilla. Of particular note is Banno's harsh treatment of the young people: the teenagers dance in wild abandonment in a discotheque against backdrops of pulsating blood spots, animated dancing skeletons, and wall-mounted portraits of famous musicians who died from drug overdoses, stressing a celebration not of life, but death.

The commentary is bold and biting and the premise is as absolutely up-to-date as it is morally uncompromising, but there are some serious flaws, including a not very engaging cast playing not very engaging characters, in particular the child actor portraying Ken (Hiroyuki Kawase), considered by one aficionado as "a hyperactive, whiney-voiced imposition." The youngster simply doesn't have the emotional range necessary to be convincing or moving - particularly in the scene where he cries-out for his father by the shore - and spends the greater part of his screen time staring blankly into the camera.

None of the adult leads are particularly noteworthy either. Akira Yamauchi plays nearly all of his scenes laying flat on his back on the living room floor (don't they have a bedroom?) negating any energy to his otherwise inert performance, while his nagging wife (Toshie Kimura) won't even let him watch the late-night news during the crises! One might expect him to argue with her as she hovers over him like a harpy, but instead he simply rolls over and goes to sleep, avoiding a potentially-arresting scene, and that's the problem with a picture stressing pollution over people.

Yano is hardly an impressive figure, arriving at the Sakaizawa site after being ignominiously transported in the back of a station wagon and even knocks his noggin while trying to sit up. Keiko Mari plays the dense dancer Miki, and alleged college student Yukio (Toshio Shiba) is simply a defeatist: instead of galvanizing his friends by organizing a resistance to Hedorah or bugging some bureaucrats to get them to listen to the concerns of Japan's Youth, he retreats with them all to an open field for an impromptu rock concert, and since drunks don't typically hallucinate the way he does in the nightclub (like Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend), he's most likely dropping acid into his drink. The best actor of this otherwise soggy set is Yoshio Yoshida as fisherman Gohei who conveys a real sense of urgency and danger, something of a lesson to his peers.

As David Kalat has pointed out in his fine analysis of the film: "By presenting the protest party on Mount Fuji as absurd and self-defeating, The Smog Monster bites the hand that feeds it. Environmentally aware teenagers are among those most likely to go see an environmentally oriented Godzilla movie. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the age of the hippies and Woodstock, staging a music festival to protest pollution is exactly the kind of response such a group would have had. The teenage philosophy of that era sincerely believed in the power of music and good feelings to effect social change. Events like Woodstock were premised on the philosophy that, through their music, youth culture could change the world for the better. The Smog Monster spits in their faces, both literally and figuratively." In Japan's Green Monsters it is noted that these so-called hippies are shown "as a form of social pollution, not equal with the threat posed by industrial pollution, but nonetheless deserving derision (which) despite being well-intentioned, are portrayed as oblivious, ineffectual, and occasionally counterproductive . . . The characterization of the hippies as naive and irresponsible throughout the film represents a harsh criticism of the counterculture youth."

There is talk of an "All Japan Youth Federation" organizing "A March of One Million" to meet on top of Mount Fuji; not for protestation, but for a celebration marking of the End of the World. In return, Banno "punishes" them by having Hedorah kill almost all of them (he even holds on a shot of their soiled and dead bodies for a full ten seconds), yet in doing so insults the very audience the film's message is aimed at, bringing to mind the 1969 Star Trek episode "The Way to Eden" where a group of peace and freedom-loving  Space Hippies hijack the Enterprise in order to take them to an idyllic planet only to find it painfully inhospitable.

Additional hippie customs which in all likelihood turned Banno off were Free Love, draft-dodging, social rebellion, and the use of hallucinogenic drugs, and the director may have seen these Youth Movement "happenings" as nothing more or less than a shirking of responsibilities, starry-eyed idealism, and showy self-indulgence. The young people sing and dance about the pollution problem but do nothing meaningful or practical about it: there are no boycotts, no ideas, no proposals, no petitions, no civil disobedience, or rioting in the streets. On the other hand there are no military responses, no emergency international conferences of Earth's scientists or duels in the Diet; although future Godzilla director Shusuke Kaneko would make his own observations on wayward Japanese youth 30 years later in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaiju Sokogeki), aka GMK.

But the film's fatal flaw is its inept and completely unsuitable musical score by Riichiro Manabe, one which works against the film by inadvertently trivializing its horrific images. As Lawrence Tuczynski has related, most of the music "is easily forgettable. It often lacks rhythm or sense of movement, almost as though it's marking time." Godzilla's theme is bad enough, "a strident, squawk-like fanfare for Godzilla which suggests a waddling duck is the hero" with its slide trombones and blaring trumpets augmented with plucked violin strings. Hedorah's theme is hardly any better with chimes and xylophones, hardly the sort of music inspiring horror or awe; we can only imagine what the effect might have been had we heard Sato's innovative instrumentations or Ifukube's dirge-like motifs when the sludge is seen spreading all over the ocean, instead of Manabe's plucked Jew's harp. Many scenes needing thoughtful musical support are weakened if not competely ruined by the buoyant combination of xylophone, vibraphone, chimes, steel drums, and wavering organ, such as when Hedorah is airlifting Godzilla to Mount Fuji. Even when Yano conducts his living-room experiment while watching the two tiny tadpoles become one living being, Manabe's Ding Dong School ditty reduces what should have been a mind-boggling event into a fairly-interesting science project (Banno's direction doesn't help either, as everyone seems fascinated instead of frightened).

There are only two instances when the music is appropriate: one is the instrumentation of steel drum and organ heard during the underwater scene showing decaying animals and garbage on the bottom of the sea. Martin Arlt informs us that "All the scuba diving footage was actually filmed in the ocean. For shots showing garbage on the sea floor, props were brought 20 meters (66 feet) down to the ocean floor for filming. However, it is unclear if the props were recovered after filming. One would hope that a film demonstrating the dangers of pollution wouldn’t contribute to the problem by leaving fake garbage behind on location." The other is at the very end of the film when Godzilla is staggering-off into the sunrise, accented by a mournful cello solo in a respectful elegy to a lonely soldier winning-out against all odds. Yet this immediately degenerates back into more jazzy and uplifting brass as if all is well again, which is completely at odds with subsequent shots showing a polluted ocean and another emergent Hedorah.

 

A technician places an unhappy baby into a container surrounded by sludge.

Yoshitami Kuroiwa's creative editing has some nice transitions: as Ken looks into the tide pool, cameraman Yoichi Manoda zooms-in on a dead crab, then a sudden surge of water takes us back to the boy being hit by a wave generated by the surfacing Hedorah. Soon afterwards in Dr. Yano's living room, as two members of a camera crew prepare to take a close-up of Yano's injury, Kuroiwa cuts to a TV broadcast describing what lead up to the event. During the animated sequence when Hedorah is sipping on oil ships, the final shot shows a smog-covered sun, which then transitions over to the real thing as Godzilla comes into view.

Hedorah - described by one author as "a mountain dump of industrial waste" and another "as an ambulatory pile of sludge" - was so troublesome that the King of the Monsters can only defeat it with human help, initiating a trend lasting until the end of the decade. Hedorah comes the closest to actually killing Godzilla by nearly drowning it in sludge as it flails impotently about while shooting its ray into the sky in a thoroughly dangerous stunt, and never before has the Reptile King appeared so utterly helpless (so much so that Banno cuts-away from the action at this point, and when we return to the fracas, the two entangled monsters are now seen rolling down Mount Fuji without any explanation of how Godzilla got itself free).

It was up to legendary effects production designer Yasuyuki Inoue to create the Smog Monster based on Banno's designs: "I had this feeling that if it didn't have enough volume, it wouldn't work. Since it was born from sludge, it had to be dirty, but dirt is disgusting. The material was sponge. We painted over it and covered it with dust which reflected the light. Mr. Banno would often come over and say, 'Mr. Inoue, let's make it even uglier.' I did everything, including the color. With that we had a big problem, figuring out how far to go, and the director wanted it to be flashy. Every now and then the reflections would be interesting, so the sense of evil was strong. Just the paint was heavy, more than 10 kg (22 lbs). Mixed with rubber, it was dripping. We wanted it to have an even more muddy appearance, so it quickly became very heavy." During filming, Banno would occasionally come by and plaster the costume with more powdered paint.

A motor was installed in the outfit's shoulders to rotate the neck, while movements of the upper eyelids were accomplished with wires activated by the actor inside the costume. It was established that unlike an Earth-mutation spawned by pollution, Hedorah was the seed of an alien life-form raised in sewer sludge, created "when an exploding star sent a mysterious spoke careening into the fetid waters of Japan's Suruga Bay," which was a regrettable concept, as the situation would have more sickening immediacy had Hedorah been a homeboy (the creature's name was originally Pikagon, taken from the concept of photochemical smog). "Hedorah's eyes were modeled on female genitalia," Banno stated. "I drew the kind of crude picture you find on the walls of a public toilet and handed it to the modeling staff. I said, 'This is what I want Hedorah's eyes to look like.' Well, come on, vaginas are scary (laughs)!"

Inside the 150 kg (330 lbs) Hedorah costume was Kengo Nakayama, a man who 12 years later portrayed Godzilla under his stage name, Kenpachiro Satsuma. As Brian Solomon has noted, "When Satsuma suffered the misfortune of an appendicitis while in costume, he had to be rushed to the hospital in the suit, which was so difficult to get off that doctors had to cut through it to perform emergency surgery." Even though playing Hedorah was agonizing, Satsuma developed a fondness for Nakano: "We had a very good relationship during the filming of Hedorah, and after that Mr. Nakano cared about having me for the next role . . . Mr. Nakano tries to care about each actor and staff member . . . taking into consideration their feelings and idiosyncrasies. He cares very deeply for people."

Hedorah is appropriately ugly if not terribly frightening, and became the first of many evolving monsters Godzilla faced in future years. It creeps, it leaps, it slides, it glides, and the idea of a monster created by, living on, and spreading Man's toxic waste was a winning concept. Although Hedorah doesn't have much of a personality, it certainly has an attitude, laughing derisively at Godzilla while mirroring the reptile's "get lost" gesture. Its design was acceptable if unwieldy, which is the main reason why the battle scenes are somewhat stagnant, slowing-down an already sluggish film (the moment when Godzilla repeatedly picks up the Smog Monster and throws it down set a bad precedent as this maneuver would reappear in future Godzilla films).

For the first time since Rodan gave it a ride in Three Greatest Monsters, Godzilla is carried aloft only to be unceremoniously dumped to the ground. There is however one marvelous moment after Godzilla has seized Hedorah's eyes out its of body and then fries them with electricity, reducing them to mere ashes: Nakano cuts to an intense close-up of Godzilla stiffening its upper lip in a singular display of absolute resolution (although why it is never affected by the electricity is never explained).

Nakano was making his special effects supervisory debut in the Godzilla series after 11 years and 27 films at Toho in various tokusatsu (special effects) assistant director roles. "At first," Nakano told Stuart Galbraith, "I hated what I was doing, but later on I realized that special effects are at the core of movie making. Movies are made from hard and soft elements as a combination medium. Special effects are all about techniques, and I thought by learning techniques, I could develop a vision of my own." 

As with the previous Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah was a truly unique entry in the Godzilla canon, but the only thing worse than a mistake is a missed opportunity, and to this end Hedorah must be considered as the greatest missed opportunity in the entire series. Perhaps a portion of the problem was that the film was made in 1971 and not 1961, when the prevailing A-List studio talent and bigger budgets could have resulted in a truly great Godzilla film; instead we have a film not as strong as the sum of its parts, and one which ultimately fails to galvanize its audience into action or outrage. The film is memorable but not moving, ending not on a note of optimism but pessimism, as there are no calls for action, no solutions or promises for a better future, only a grimly unavoidable present. The last two shots show the famous Japanese woodblock print of Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" followed by yet another Hedorah peering above slimy waves, but thanks to Manabe's rousing theme, the inference is that Godzilla will be ready to defeat Hedorah anytime, and anywhere; as it happened Hedorah did return after a 33-year absence for 33 seconds of screen time in Godzilla: Final Wars (Gojira: Fainaru Wozu). Had the movie instead been about the travails of those mysterious Hill People and their struggles to survive, it would have made for a more-intriguing film.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is the film where the authors of the Japanese Cinema: Essential Handbook asked "What the hell has happened to Godzilla?" There has been much discussion as to why the film did not completely succeed; some have speculated it was too grim, while others argue it wasn't grim enough. Its use of cartoon animation targeted preschoolers, and no doubt the intent was to have the kids identify with Ken, which could be the reason why he asks his dad so many damn questions. "I really did try to do new things to get my message across. I included animation scenes in the film for the children and was aiming for a darker look to approach an older audience as well," Banno told devotee Jorg Buttgereit.

Despite Hedorah's weaknesses many still hold this film in high regard - as if intent surpasses achievement - and although the road to Hedorah may have been paved with good intentions, there are far too-many potholes (Inoue - who also designed the live-action sequences - found working on Hedorah to be such a debilitating experience he quit Toho after a 17-year career). It would be a long time before another Godzilla film would attempt to make such a thought-provoking and socially-relevant statement, and if there was ever a Godzilla film ripe for a remake, this is it.

There are those who feel Hedorah has been given a bad rap after all these years, and among its more ardent supporters is Mike Bogue: "I think most baby-boomer G-fans regarded Godzilla vs. Hedorah with ridicule because they emphasized its weakest aspects - i.e., the sad spectacle of a model Big G whizzing through the air, composer Riichiro Manabe's 'drunken samurai' Godzilla theme; young people singing a maddening eco-conscious anthem at the drop of a DDT-fried sparrow; etc. . . . However, the pendulum has swung the other direction, and now the film's strongest aspects - i.e., vivid depictions of rampant pollution; Hedorah's toxic fumes reducing dozens to desiccated skeletons; the harsh deaths of the mah-jongg players; etc. - are emphasized over/against the film's failings."

This kind of validation just won't wash; to ignore a movie's failings so one can hoist it onto a platform of respectability is like saying if you discount The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad's terrific special effects, fantastic musical score, and terrific performances, it's a really lousy film. In his book Japan's Favorite Mon-Star, Steve Ryfle asserted that the original "Godzilla is not a perfect film," which is an attempt to downplay any overt praise for a great film, but if one ignores a film's flaws, then how can one appreciate its strengths? I don't mean to keep flogging a dead Hedorah, but the truth of the matter is that good films don't need to be defended and are able to stand on their own merits, without making any excuses for them and downsizing their failings. In the final analysis Banno missed the mark by overshooting it (just to make sure we comprehend what the film was trying to say, at one point Yano looks directly into the camera and says, "We have to do something before it is too late").  

The Godzilla Encyclopedia - which unashamedly and inaccurately touts itself as "THE definitive crowd-sourced guide of all media related to Godzilla from the original Japanese movies by Toho, to the latest comic book series from America!" - again evades the issue of whether a particular Godzilla film is good or not by stating that "Critical reaction to (Hedorah) has been mixed, with some embracing its eccentricity and others deriding it," again without offering any supporting evidence one way or the other. Mr. Bogue points out that "Fans such as (John) LeMay state that the movie 'is now considered a classic, with a relevant social subtext,'" and Bob Schneider is another fan, writing that "There's something about the Japanese monster movies that's a little quirky and weird, which I consider a breath of fresh air." For Herr Buttgereit's part, there is no question the film is worthwhile: "To me it was, and still is, an example of innovative cinema. From today's point of view, the 70's style/look blows you away." Max Della Mora wrote that "The entire atmosphere which wraps the movie is absolutely singular. Dark and gloomy, far from the solar photography of the preceding pictures which all take place on luxurious tropical islands, here the theater is a dead sea filled with factory discharge, oil refineries, a forest made of smoke stacks with huge clouds of smog," a view shared by Sean Rhodes and Brooke McCorkle, who agree that "Godzilla vs. Hedorah succeeds as a dark, bleak film." Too bad it didn't succeed as a good film.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah will likely remain the most controversial Godzilla film of them all - appropriately produced during the most controversial Godzilla decade of them all - its legacy assured with its slap-in-the-face significance, and boldly goes about its business even if not everyone gets the point (Haruo Nakajima once told Guy Tucker that "I didn't understand what the film was all about!"). As far as Banno's legacy is concerned, he will always be remembered as "The Man Who Made Godzilla Fly." "I must be," Teddy Johnson sighed, "the only G-Fan around who loves it when Godzilla flies in that movie." No comment. 

Simply put, Godzilla vs. Hedorah was the film Yoshimitsu Banno wanted to make, and he made it his way. In James Russo's review of the film's DVD release, he wrote that "Many Godzilla fans felt the film went too far off course from previous releases, while some more open minded followers and critics felt the new direction was refreshing, and many have noted the film as an interesting pop culture statement against the dangers of pollution." That's probably the nicest way to remember it, and it's safe to say people will be talking about this film right up until the moment Mankind has wiped itself out and cockroaches have taken-over the Earth.

Speaking of which . . .

Chapter Five

 

Earth Destruction Directive:

 

Godzilla Against Gigan

 

(Chikyu Kogeki Meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan)

 

< Released March 12th, 1972 >

"Godzilla never means to be evil. People and cities just get in Godzilla's way."

- Krystyna Poray Goddu, Movie Monsters

 

The Film:

Our story starts with Godzilla taking a stroll on Monster Island during a dust storm, where - as if still angry from its thankless attempts in saving humanity the year before - it turns toward the camera and spits out its radioactive flame directly at the viewer.

Then, against a backdrop of the Godzilla Tower's interior Control Room, we hear a rousing score laced with strident brass, rapid bow strings, and pounding timpani, a true "March of the Monsters" score and an exciting piece of music promising chills and thrills, and anyone watching this for the first time could never know this is the highpoint of the film.

We then see various manga panels showing military hardware being crushed and panicking people looking upward and screaming "Monster Shukra!," the not-so inspired work of Gengo Kotaka (Hiroshi Ishikawa) who is presently receiving a dressing-down from a potential supervisor for presenting an incomplete story.

Still, the department head is intrigued with the concept of Monster Shukra, described by Gengo as an outer-space creature created by the negative energy and telepathic waves from unhappy kids, calling it the "Monster of Homework." Gengo identifies the beast as a representation of "what kids hate most."

"It stinks!" says the boss, thus terminating the interview.

The despondent Gengo licks his wounds by hanging-out with his girlfriend Tomoko Tomoe (Yuriko Hishimi) who insists he keep trying and even has a new referral for him from a company called "The Construction Committee For Children's Land."

The site, currently undergoing construction, will have a monorail, a Ferris wheel, a large artificial lake, a carousel, a waterslide, a wire-suspended tram, a playground, a library and a cafeteria, all dominated by the park's centerpiece: a 50 m (164 ft) tall Godzilla statue serving as an observation tower and observatory housing a permanent exhibit on "past, present, and future monsters" (the site seemingly has everything but parking and bathrooms).

The wanna-be manga artist meets the Secretary of Children's World Land, a curly-haired and mustached man named Kubota (played by a smarmy Toshiaki Nishizawa) who tells the cartoonist that "This is a place where children will learn about the concept of peace, the only thing that will save the world" (it will later turn out that "peace is the furthest notion on their little cockroaching minds").

Gengo is surprised, replying that "Everything is pretty peaceful," blissfully unaware of the then-waging Cambodian, Sudanese, Chadian, and Laotian Civil Wars, the Mexican Dirty War, the Italian Years of Lead, the United Kingdom's Troubles, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Insurrection, the Basque, Papua, Xinjiang, Philippine and Colombian Conflicts, the Eritrean and Angolan Wars of Independence, the Sarawak, Northeast India, Bangladesh, Katanga, Naxalite-Maoist, Malaysian and Thailand Insurgencies, the Nicaraguan, Italian Reggio and Dhofar Revolutions, the Portuguese Colonial Wars, the Rhodesian Bush War, the South Africa Border War, the Araguaia Guerrilla War, and that "crazy Asian war" in Vietnam.

However, even a dullard like Gengo senses the irony of combining monsters and peace, but Kubota assures him that this is a perfectly normal association. When Kubota asks if Gengo has any ideas, he shamelessly - but quite understandably - promotes his own Shukra project, along with a new one: Mamagon, the "Monster of Strict Mothers." Kubota somehow sees potential with these two monsters.

When Gengo wonders if the Monster Land monsters will be part of the new exhibit, Kubota makes the startling statement that all the monsters there will be destroyed - although he never states why or how - and it is at this point the promising scene comes to an abrupt end.

Gengo returns to his studio where he cranks-out several designs of his two monsters, complaining to Tomoko that he doesn't like his new boss. She advises him not to be so particular before getting a gander at his Mamagon, noting a distinct resemblance to the creature's body colors and the red-and-white dress she is wearing, motivating her to utter the deathless line: "You cheeky pig!"   

The next day Gengo is about to enter a tall building housing the Children's World Land Committee office when he bumps into a young woman dashing out, making her drop a small circular container. Seconds later he bumps into Kubota who demands to know where the girl went, so Gengo sends him scurrying-off in the wrong direction before picking up the container and placing it in his shoulder bag.

Gengo then walks into the office where he plays hide-and-seek with a security camera before inadvertently dislodging a large model of the Earth. A transparent phone rings so naturally he picks it up and is told to enter through a door, whereupon he stumbles and falls flat on his face into the next room and meets the surprisingly young Chairman, Fumio Sudo (Zan Fujita).

A moment later a breathless Kubota rushes in with news that the girl escaped with the "Action Two" tape. Gengo surmises she is an industrial spy, but Fumio tells him she is much worse - "an enemy of peace" - and another potentially intriguing scene comes to an end.

That evening as Gengo lazily lopes up some stairs, the same girl who had dropped the tape confronts him and demands he give her the tape, stating "I know you picked it up!"

Gengo feels a sharp object placed between his shoulder blades before manfully passing-out.

He is eventually revived in his apartment where he learns that the man who stuck the object in his back is a pseudo-hippie named Shosaku Takasugi (Minoru Takashima) who was in fact holding a corncob, and the girl is Machiko Shima (Tomoko Umeda). They are not robbers but friends trying to find out what has happened to Machiko's brother Takeshi, a computer technician employed at Children's Land, whom she has not heard from for several days. When she went down to the Center, she was told he was fired for not coming to work, but in his diary, he wrote that Children's Land is a "horrible" place to work, an "enemy of peace," and refers to "those tapes," one of which was stolen by Machiko.

It turns out that Takeshi Shima (Kunio Murai) is still working at Children's Land where he complains to the Chairman and Secretary about being held against his will, but Kubota replies this is not the case, as he is simply working overtime!  

Suddenly lights flash, bells rings, and a strange buzzing sound fills the air as the "Action Two" tape is being played from somewhere by someone. Takeshi immediately demands an explanation and is immediately knocked-out.

Gengo, Machiko, and Shosaku are the ones playing the tape on a reel-to-reel machine but can't make heads-or-tails of it even when Gengo speeds-up the sound, which unknown to them wakes up Godzilla on Monster Land. Godzilla then orders Anguirus to leave the island and check things out, and the spiny monster dutifully obeys.

The next day Gengo is snooping around the top of the Godzilla Tower when he discovers an empty room with a bunk bed, an ashtray containing several cigarette butts, and a metal lighter which he promptly pockets and brings to Machiko, who identifies it as belonging to her brother.    

Gengo then reveals himself as a master of insight, speculating that the Chairman seems much too young at seventeen (when he actually appears to be in his mid-twenties) for such an important position. Gengo also believes the Chairman is mainly interested in the "Nebula M Space-Hunter" but has no idea what a "Nebula M Space-Hunter" is.

The three decide to do some independent research on Children's Land, and while this is happening, Anguirus - whose buoyancy is remarkable considering his heavy body armor - madly paddles through the ocean.

The three later compare notes. Since Fumio and Kubota both hail from Yamano City, Gengo and Shosaku travel to Fumio's house where a woman tells them that he died one year ago that very day. She then brings out an album containing photos of Fumio and Kubota, as apparently both died when climing nearby Mount Ikari.

Back at the Tower, Fumio and Kubota receive a space message advising them to "prepare for arrivals," so Fumio orders the "Action One" tape played, and just as soon as Kubota starts playing it, Anguirus enters Sagami Bay.       

People evacuate as Anguirus approaches, and as it reaches the beach in a scene remarkably free of tension or suspense, it pauses to look at the massive military hardware confronting it.

As soon as searchlights are switched on (as Anguirus roars without opening its mouth), all hell breaks loose as the army opens up with everything it has: bazookas, missiles, tanks, Maser Cannons, you name it; rarely has a monster been confronted with such a formidable amount of firepower. One minute later, the battered beast turns tail.

Back at the Tower, Fumio and Kubota discuss their unwilling captive who is at that very moment pacing up-and-down in his cell. Just then Gengo walks into the corridor outside the room and peers through the keyhole at the same moment Takeshi is running a wire through it. Kubota then appears demanding to know what Gengo is doing there, and Gengo tells him that he was looking for him, wanting to know if he liked his drawings.

Kubota is not a man of infinite patience and quietly chews the artist out, telling him he has no business being there at such a late hour, and to see him in his office the next morning. There are no hard feelings however, as just after Gengo enters the elevator, Kubota tosses him a pack of cigarettes, and as the door closes, Fumio shows up where arguably the most memorable dialogue exchange in the entire Seventies Series takes place:

 

Kubota: "What do you think about him?"

Fumio: "Stupid, and yet cunning." (I think he has it backwards)

 

And so the stupid and yet cunning Gengo approaches his apartment and stamps out his cigarette, failing to notice it contained a miniature transmitter. Mere seconds after entering his apartment to tell Machiko and Shosaku that Takeshi is indeed being held captive inside the Tower, Fumio, impeccably dressed in classic Seventies attire (wide lapels, tan leisure suit, gray-mottled tie and hot pink shirt), enters with two henchmen.

Kubota then retrieves the tape (which is rightfully his), and just after his guards pull-out their odd-looking pistols, Tomoko enters and roughs-up the intruders who run away like rabbits.    

The next day the Forlorn Four are telling their story to a skeptical police official when an announcement comes over the PA from the Monster Island Control Center that Godzilla and Anguirus have "broken out" from Monster Land and are heading for Kanto.

Fumio and Kubota spring into action as the Chairman boasts that "This is the day we have been waiting for.  We came to this planet searching for eternal peace for us all, and it was worth it."

He then runs both Action Tapes as high-frequency waves penetrate far out into space. Soon two strange lights appear before changing into odd patterns becoming King Ghidorah and a new monster: Gigan.

Gengo and his girlfriend ascend the Tower's outer stairway and eventually reach Takeshi's cell when two security men show up and walk into his room with space guns drawn, but fortunately they are soon immobilized by Tomoko's karate chops.

Before the three can escape however three more guards show up with Kubota and are taken prisoner, and it's there and then Fumio gives them the bad news: they are to be used as "uniforms (receptacles) for our friends who are coming soon." Kubota adds: "We solidify the afterimages of you humans and reflect them." He then shows them a film of his planet with surroundings strangely similar to Earth's including industrial pollution - courtesy of footage from the already notorious Godzilla vs. Hedorah - and snarled exhaust-belching traffic including a Coca-Cola delivery truck; clearly an alternate universe. As a result, the humans inhabiting their planet died-out after a mere two billion years, "because they were reckless in their aspirations." 

The Earth, Kubota explains, is headed for the same imminent demise, but fortunately the life forms taken-over by Kubota and his comrades saved their planet, which is nearing the natural end of its own lifespan.

"Conditions (on the Earth) are very favorable," Fumio informs them, "we will soon make it peaceful."

Gengo then asks the $64,000 question: "Peaceful for whom?"

"For our species," Fumio replies. "A species that can survive under even the worst possible conditions."

Then - in the film's best moment as impossible to explain as it is chilling - an arbitrary flash of lightning kills the power and the emergency lights switch on revealing the shadows of large cockroaches looming behind Kubota and Fumio.

The military again assembles as King Ghidorah and Gigan arrive to slowly circle around the Tower before receiving orders from the aliens to make a mess out of Tokyo, which they accomplish most efficaciously in a non-stop effects sequence lasting eight and a-half minutes.

 

   

The Odd Squad:

Takeshi Shima (Kunio Murai), Gengo Kotaka (Hiroshi Ishikawa), Tomoko Tomoe (Yuriko Hishimi), Machiko Shima (Tomoko Umeda), and Shosaku Takasugi (Minoru Takashima).

 

Godzilla and Anguirus finally arrive (Rodan and Mothra would have gotten there faster, just sayin'), and the battle begins as Godzilla and King Ghidorah renew acquaintances amid massive explosions and flaming debris, with the two Earth monsters getting the worst of it as Ghidorah creates an inferno in a fuel-tank field.

Outside the Tower, Shosaku and Machiko tie a rope around a support structure, then flash a signal light spotted by Tomoko. After Gengo acknowledges the signal by lighting his cigarette, Shosaku inflates a large balloon tethered with the rope toward the top of the Tower, where Gengo and Takeshi grab hold of it.

The three then slide down the rope just as the balloon bursts and the aliens destroy the escapee's departing car which happens to be unoccupied (a bit repeated in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla). Later at the military's Command Headquarters, after an exasperated officer-in-charge tells Gengo and Takeshi that "Godzilla is our last hope," the two young men suggest an inward rather than an outward attack on the Tower might succeed.

The beasts continue their battles as Godzilla and Anguirus are plainly having their troubles, particularly Godzilla, who has its shoulder sliced-open by Gigan resulting in a veritable geyser of blood (the first time its blood has ever been seen on-screen, a no-no during the Tsuburaya Era).

Godzilla collapses onto the ground, and after it manages to struggle back on its feet, Gigan whizzes by and knocks it down again. The Mighty Monster rises once more only to be knocked back down by Gigan only to rise again and be knocked-over by the flying monster. Godzilla then faces the Tower which unloads a laser beam, creaming the Big Beast. Gigan activates its circular-saw stomach but Anguirus is unimpressed and charges just in time to gets its faced slashed by the blades, gushing blood all over the camera lens.

Gengo, Shosaku, Machiko, Tomoko, and Takeshi arrive along with a squad of soldiers carrying boxes of TNT which they place inside the elevator. Then the hippie, the yuppie and the yippee attach a large black-and-white manga drawing of the five of them pointing their guns inside the the elevator before it is sent upwards, and as the doors open, the guards fire at it, detonating the explosives and destroying the Tower Control Room as the whole shebang blows up. Fumio and Kubota become roasted roaches, realizing their plans for world dominion have failed, and they would have succeeded if not for those meddling kids.

This should have be the end of the film but it continues for another 13 agonizing minutes as a gravely-wounded Godzilla and Anguirus pull themselves together while Gigan and Ghidorah are disoriented since they are no longer receiving commands. Nevertheless Ghidorah sends Anguirus flying while Gigan uses it scythe-like hands to poke-away at Godzilla's head before sending the Reptile King smashing into what's left of the Tower.

Godzilla suddenly becomes a renewed monster and grapples with Gigan as Anguirus and Ghidorah continue their struggles - with Anguirus coming-out on the short end as usual - until Godzilla comes to its rescue. The two monsters then converse a moment before Anguirus does a spiny back flip onto Ghidorah's chest while Godzilla shoots Gigan out of the sky.

Godzilla throws Ghidorah to the ground several times before both Ghidorah and Gigan dash away. Godzilla and Anguirus then leave the rubble of Children's Land, and as the young heroes wave and call-out their goodbyes, Godzilla turns and roars before it and Anguirus swim towards the sunrise to the tune of "Go! Go! Godzilla!" ("Yuke! Yuke! Gojira!"), a promotional song for the film written by Sekizawa, arraigned by Kunio Miyauchi, and sung by Susumu Ishikawa and the Toho Children's Choir:

"Ikuzo dokodemo seigi no tameda

Hiroi unabara aranami kette

Mezasu ha warui kaiju da

Dekkai karada ni dekkai koe

Kyo mo tatakau bokura no Gojira

Ganbare ganbare bokura no Gojira

Ganbare ganbare bokura no Gojira . . ."

 

"Wherever you go, for the sake of justice

The wide sea, kicking up raging waves

An evil monster awakens

A huge voice from a huge body

Our Godzilla fights today as well

Give it your all, give it your all, our Godzilla

Give it your all, give it your all, our Godzilla . . ."

 

Mankind gets a victory, the Earth is saved, the villains are vanquished, and Gengo can finally change out of that dress.

 

 

A Closer Look:

 

By the time Godzilla vs. Gigan rolled around, the Godzilla series was being produced with two target audiences in mind: kids and young people, leaving adults in the rear-view mirror. As one author put it: "Tokusatsu cinema had always appealed to the young, but it seemed the audience had been growing steadily younger over the years, to the point that Godzilla movies had become a destination for parents to drop off their little kids while they went about their daily errands: Godzilla as babysitter, if you will."

There is a moment in Gigan when Gengo, Machiko, and Shosaku are seated together in Gengo's apartment when they decide to investigate Children's Land. As they stand up, Gengo - for no good reason - tosses his half-finished banana up in the air, and this apathetic attitude appropriately sums up the entire enterprise, the first in the Showa Series "where Godzilla more often than not felt like a guest star in his franchise." When Howard Thompson of The New York Times went to review William Castle's The Tingler, he wrote that "It failed to arouse the customer seated in front of this viewer yesterday, a fearless lad who was sound asleep, snoring. Just keep us awake, Mr. Castle." Godzilla vs. Gigan may not necessarily put one to sleep, but a nice nap might be in order.

Jun Fukuda was back directing a Godzilla film for the first time since Son of Godzilla five years earlier - during which time Honda had directed two and Banno one - but Fukuda was no doubt reluctant to return, hoping others would permanently take-over the Godzilla reigns. Banno was available, but Tanaka was so shocked by what the director had done with Hedorah, he banned Banno from the series, so Fukuda and Sekizawa were the obvious (and safe) choices. Fukuda may have realized that despite its dodgy reputation Godzilla vs. Hedorah was going to be a tough act to follow, but if you've ever wondered what happens when a film is being produced with a burned-out screenwriter and a disinterested director, there can be no better example than Gigan, a film Barry Kaufman felt "is only marginally more insulting to the Godzilla legend than it is to its audience."

Gigan is that rare film failing on every level: the camera work is below par, the editing is erratic, the effects slipshod, the acting abhorrent, and the directing reaches the lowest level of competency. The only satisfying aspect of the film is its score, and even that has its limitations. Fukuda's apparent indifference to this particular venture contaminates every scene; Banno may have overplayed his hand with Hedorah, but at least he had the courage of his convictions. Instead, Fukuda's film is cavalier in nature, reflected by a cast which appears uninterested and even unrehearsed; when Tomoko dishes-out her karate chops, her moves aren't very crisp, and when Kubota slugs Takeshi, it plays-out like low comedy (evidence of Fukuda's not being fully engaged can be seen when Gengo and Takeshi are having their little tug-of-war with the wire in a clumsy attempt at humor during what should have been a very tense scene).

The screenplays of Shinichi Sekizawa are legendary but not always for the same reason. He became the most prolific Godzilla scenarist of all time with no-less than 10 films to his credit, from the comic King Kong vs. Godzilla to the grave Mothra vs. Godzilla, from the energetic All Monsters Attack to the insipid Son of Godzilla. He also had many fabulous fantasy films to his credit, not the least of which included Mothra, Submarine Warship (Kaitei Gunkan), and The Lost World of Sinbad (Daitozoku). Authenticity was never a critical concern with any of these films, but the intent was always that they should be taken seriously in the context of a world holding onto some sort of logic, but in Gigan, that approach has been completely abandoned. In Sekizawa's Three Greatest Monsters and Ebirah there are numerous moments not making a whole lot of sense, but Gigan has very few that do (the structure is odd as well: during the film's first half there is very little action, but during the second half, there is nothing but action). 

Some familiar Sekizawa bits are repeated such as Godzilla wiping its mouth and the inveterate boulder-bouncing bit. Other routines previously employed by Sekizawa included monsters destroying a structure standing between them (King Kong vs. Godzilla), an alien tape-recording being played on an Earth reel-to-reel tape recorder (Astro Monster), aliens reverting back to their original form after they are defeated (Marching Monsters), and when Tomoko springs up some stairs ahead of the laboring Gengo, it reminds one of Saeko out-pacing Goro in Son of Godzilla.

Gengo is an aspiring manga artist with a modicum of talent, but he doesn't push the envelope, he just licks the stamp. He submits a story to a potential editor about a homework monster which wasn't even his idea, but has done nothing with the concept, other than take a few furtive steps. He is resolutely unambitious, needing to be constantly motivated by his assertive girlfriend, and the reward for her efforts is Gengo creating a monster based on her personality. When Gengo meets Kubota, the Secretary explains the nebulous connection between peace and monsters, but assures the artist that kids will understand the concept, before casually adding that the Children's Land Committee will destroy Monster Land; an incredible admission Gengo casually accepts without notifying any of the authorities!

Machiko runs out of the Children's Land's office and drops the tape she somehow managed to steal, but how, when, and why did she steal it, and why doesn't she threaten to make public or play the tape unless the aliens release her brother? When Gengo tells her that she dropped the tape, she just keeps running, and why doesn't Gengo give Kubota the tape and instead send him off on a wild Gabara chase; because he doesn't like the man who just gave him a job?

When Gengo enters the Chairman's foyer, why does he play hide-and-seek with a security camera before picking-up a ringing telephone and answer it in a girlish voice, and why doesn't Fumio chew him out for knocking the globe over since he's supposedly watching his every move (Fumio could have used some of those cameras in the corridor outside Takashi's cell and the Tower's perimeter). When Machiko confronts Gengo, how does she know he took the tape, and when Gengo feels an object pressed against his back and passes out, Shosaku holds up his corncob and says, "He must have thought it was a gun," but wasn't that the idea?

When Machiko tells the police that her missing brother was last seen at Children's Land, why don't the cops take her seriously, and since there are never any sentries posted around the Tower and doors are often left unlocked, why doesn't Takeshi just walk out of the facility on his own?

After Gengo examines Takeshi's empty room he leaves the chain-smoking electronics expert without a lighter, but Takashi doesn't complain about it being missing, and when Kubota spots Gengo spying outside of Takeshi's room, why doesn't the alien fire him on the spot? This is of course when Fumio makes his famous "stupid yet cunning" observation, but why would anyone wish to keep a snoop hanging around who is both cunning and stupid; especially cunning since he might find out what they're up to, and by the way: why did they hire him in the first place?  

Even though the "Action 2" tape was manufactured in Outer Space it can easily be played on an Earth-manufactured reel-to-reel tape-recorder, and when Gengo speeds up the tape, how is Godzilla able to hear it (when Godzilla had spoken to his fellow beasts in Three Greatest Monsters he made animal sounds, but here he makes weird noises using the not-very-original method of slowly moving an LP album under the stylus of a record-player)? Godzilla sends Anguirus off to find out what is happening, but why doesn't the King of the Monsters go instead? The military mercilessly pounds away at Anguirus (minus an aerial or naval assault) when it shows up alone, yet when it and Godzilla arrive together, the army makes no move against them.

Gengo tells his two friends that Fumio is working on "The main orbit of the Nebula M Space-Hunter" and tells a Yamano priest that "Fumio is extremely brilliant, solving the kind of math equations even professors can't solve;" all this after having a brief glimpse of some oblique mathematical calculations Gengo could never understand even if they were explained to him. When Kubota and his associates arrive at Gengo's apartment to retrieve the tape they are prepared to shoot Machiko, Shosaku, and Gengo, but would they really kill them and risk an investigation? The Monster Island Control Center makes a big deal announcing that Godzilla and Anguirus have departed Monster Island, but why didn't they make a similar announcement when Anguirus took its leave?

Kubota and Fumio tell their captives they are really cockroaches taking over human forms because of their convenience, but still have the shadows of cockroaches even in human form. The aliens intend to convert their captives into giant cockroaches except for Takeshi whom the aliens consider as the pick of the litter (this is what happens when you aim low), and Kubota tells Gengo, Tomoko, and Takeshi that his kind "took over our planet and paved a new road to prosperity" after becoming large cockroaches who could think and do all sorts of wonderful things, but how did he and Fumio get captured by the aliens before getting turned into roaches, and how and when did the aliens arrive on Earth? The aliens control the space monsters with two tapes - presumably one for Gigan and one for Ghidorah - but when the tapes are destroyed, why do the space monsters continue attacking the Earth monsters?

The means by which Michiko and Shosaku are able to free their friends from the Tower is acceptable enough - in fact considering the context it's one of the more credible moments in the movie - but how are they able to get their car to move by itself before it was blown up? Gengo says "(The aliens) are very predictable," but if so, why did they let them blow up the car, and after learning that his prisoners have escaped, all Kubota can do is dish-out a couple of insults to his guards and doesn't even attempt to have the kids recaptured!

Gengo and Takeshi go to Defense Force Command Headquarters where they manage to convince the Commander to infiltrate the Tower, but why doesn't the officer just order the air force to obliterate it? Takeshi knows all about the laser beam because he worked on it, but didn't he think it odd having such a deadly device as part of an amusement park? And when the Tower is destroyed, why do Fumio and Kubota turn back into bugs? How could the guards not possibly know they were shooting at a large black-and-white drawing (unless cockroaches are color-blind and lack depth perception), and how did Godzilla suddenly get strong again after being flung into the Tower, and what in blazes is a "Nebula-M Space Hunter anyway?"

If Son of Godzilla had the most likeable cast ever to grace a Godzilla film, Gigan holds the opposite honor, so let's start at the top, or should I say the bottom?

Gengo Kotaka is without doubt the most insipid, obnoxious, lazy and unlikeable leading man ever to "grace" a Godzilla film and probably one of those guys who has to sit down to pee. How Hiroshi Ishikawa even got the part is a wonder, since his performance has all the charm of an cold sore, and all the warmth of a snow pea. Disheveled and disinterested, he seems constantly distracted, laughs at everything whether it's funny or not, and makes silly gestures and expressions, his attitude of supreme indifference mirroring that of a stereotypical pothead (at the end of the film when the actors are watching Godzilla and Anguirus walk away, Ishikawa simply stands there looking stupid, which he's brilliant at, by the way). As in Hedorah, the film centers around the actions of young adults who are not exactly the best and brightest representatives of their generation.

Minoru Takashima (Shosaku) spends much of his screen time gobbling down phallic-shaped food while Tomoko Umeda (Machiko) is in such a constant state of distress and becomes so annoying we wish she would turn into a cockroach. Kunio Murai (Takeshi) does what he can with the weak material he is given, while the only reason Yuriko Hishimi (Tomoko) stands out from the crowd are her vibrant looks and flashy red-and-white checked outfit which is apparently the only one she owns.

Since Gigan stars the most improbable heroes ever to appear in a Godzilla film, it's only fair they be countered with two of the most unimpressive villains ever to appear in a Godzilla film. Whatever their skills may have been as actors, playing convincing villains was not in the realm of either Toshiaki Nishizawa (Kubota) or Zan Fujita (Fumio Sudo), particularly Nishizawa, with his mop-top hair and large glasses (what villain ever wears glasses?). What makes their roles a bit more intriguing is the possibility of their being the first gay couple in the Godzilla series, which could explain Kubota's flamboyant attire, the sly looks he gives Gengo, and album photographs always showing the two of them together; was Mount Ikari their Brokeback Mountain?

A big deal is made about the Chairman looking very young when it doesn't matter one way or the other; in fact Sudo's screen presence was so underwhelming Fukuda gave him intense close-ups during critical moments in order to make him appear more menacing, but it doesn't work, because there's nothing unique about his appearance or his acting. Just as in Hedorah, the best performance comes from an older character actor, in this case Zeko Nakamura as a wiseass priest.

Godzilla now appears to be in semi-retirement, comfortably residing on Monster Land with his fellow beasts with Minilla nowhere in sight (presumably playing somewhere). The costume is in very bad condition; the King of the Monsters should be hibernating, not molting. Sadder still was the fact that this was Haruo Nakajima's final performance as Godzilla; now 43 years old, he found playing Godzilla both a chore and a bore, and retired, making ends meet by working in a bowling alley.

Years later, Nakano reflected on his relationship with Nakajima: "Inside the Godzilla suit, it was very dark, lonely and isolated. Usually, the person who wears the suit becomes nervous and anxious. During summertime, when it's very hot, it can become hell in there. But Mr. Nakajima always persevered. He acted underwater scenes in the suit, he was buried underground, he withstood pyrotechnic explosions, and through it all he was always Godzilla. That's why the series succeeded." Regrettably, Nakajima was unable to return the complement, telling Norman England that "Nakano, while a kind man, was Tsuburaya's assistant for many years. Directors and assistant directors are very different types. Nakano took over, but retained his assistant way of thinking. We did not communicate well." Many years later - still spry and alert at the age of 87 - Nakajima said this of the character he had played for so long (18 years) and so well (12 films): "In the end, the Godzilla I played remains on film forever. It remains in people's memory, and for that I feel really grateful."

It is we who are forever grateful, Nakajima-san.

After hearing the buzzing sound emanating from Children's Land, Godzilla - in an action fitting for The Monster King - sends Anguirus scurrying-off since there are no longer any preventative measures keeping them on the island (apparently things are now being run on the Honor System), but as it turns out, Anguirus was a bad choice.

The relationship between the two beasts was a true love/hate bond. When they first met they didn't exactly get along, so we must assume that this is another Anguirus, just as this is a different Godzilla. With the help of other monsters they fought King Ghidorah in 1968, but five years later against two space monsters they never work well together, and Anguirus did even worse when going it alone. Still, someone at Toho felt they made a good team if only visually: two old-school dinosaur-type Earth monsters up against avant-garde alien beasts. Oddly, during its combat against the two space monsters, Godzilla seems out of practice as it only uses its atomic breath once to shoot the 65 m (213 ft) Gigan out of the sky.

The Godzilla Tower's laser proved to be one of the most effective weapons ever used on the King of the Monsters, but why didn't Godzilla just blow it up, whack it with its tail, or simply get out of its line-of-sight? Godzilla doesn't bother too much with Ghidorah, instead leaving that up to his old chum Anguirus, who is totally overmatched. The fight between Godzilla and Gigan is difficult to watch, especially when Gigan holds the badly wounded Godzilla by the neck and pokes away at its face; against Hedorah, Godzilla may have looked helpless, but here it looks positively pathetic.  

Filming the battle - which one writer considered to be "repetitive and tedious" - was a challenge for Nakano: "As films done using CinemaScope are in wide-screen, it conveniently captures two monsters next to each other. Because of this, the sideways movements of the monsters become more abundant. In truth, I was disappointed, and in the latter half, I altered the monsters' movements to go up and down, even though it was CinemaScope. There were many arguments for and against this, but the biggest problem with CinemaScope was doing a full-body shot of King Ghidorah. Eventually, it was just my sense of rhythm, but I wanted to show the monsters from different angles, and so we did that. The aim was to make the fight as interesting as we could."

The battle between Godzilla and Hedorah was notable for its lack of industrial annihilation, but here there are more crumbling buildings than one can count (the destruction of Tokyo by Gigan and Ghidorah alone lasted over four minutes), but the final 15-minute fight isn't terribly interesting to watch. Ghidorah keeps blowing-up so many damn refinery storage tanks it gets monotonous, and when we cut-away from the over-loaded effects footage, we're almost grateful seeing what the kids are up to. As far Gigan's design goes, some love it while others loathe it, but it's acceptable as far as space monsters are concerned in a unique combination of part-living creature and part-machine, although the concept of the knee pads warrants some wondering.

"The main idea behind Godzilla vs. Gigan," Nakano related years later, "was to create a monster that was completely different from the previous film. We decided to work on the new monster in every detail, such as the size of the hands, and we wanted to add a mechanical feel to it. That's how we invented Gigan, whose hand was a sickle, and stomach was a big knife. Gigan's mouth, back and chest are colorful; there is no other monster like it."

Indeed, no one was ever quite as excited about the concept of Gigan than Teruyoshi Nakano:

"I began with the idea of a dinosaur, something big, and then went on from there. There is a theory that the dinosaurs walking the Earth were richly colored . . . I thought about what the Earth's temperature was around the time dinosaurs lived, and got the impression that it was really high. I thought that for the dinosaurs to survive in such heat, their color would have to be good for thermal transpiration. Why does it have to be richly colored? A dark shade is good for heat absorption, and a body that huge couldn't maintain that. That's why I thought I should make it a color that would be good for heat emission. Birds in the south, like the Bird of Paradise, all of them have pretty colors. I thought that was a good effect, and so the color was made like that. I thought about it, and combined the many heat preventive measures, as well as the characteristics of reptiles.

"At the same time, I kept wondering why the dinosaurs were so big. I figured that it was because all animals strive to show themselves as bigger to intimidate their opponents. The peacocks spread their tails, and even cats when they get angry make their backs appear bigger and more rounded. So I thought that in the world of dinosaurs as well, they did everything to make themselves seem bigger. This was my own judgment, my own theory. But I think it was that way. But then, what way is good to show oneself being bigger? With monsters, at the time of charging into battle, they spread out their arms, so I was asked to design it that way.

"To make it seem bigger, the hands became like reeds, larger than necessary. Usually, they would be smaller, placed beside the body; and then at the time of entering the second stage, where it needed to make itself look bigger, I wanted it to be a design decided by shape. When seen from the front, it doesn't seem different, but when the body turns slightly and the arms spread out, it shows the size. There was also the moment of confrontation with Godzilla. At the time of being attacked by an enemy, probably for self-defense, which one is trying to make itself look even a little bit bigger? I thought a lot about the color, such as giving the monster a polka-dot pattern, but it just didn't look right. Using a color close to the primary ones, it didn't convey a large size. I was thinking what would be a color that was gaudy enough but wouldn't impede the perception of the size, and so I arrived at this one.

"It turned out to be a magnificent creation! Up until then I had made many a monster, but this one was truly splendid. Even in Japanese history you can see that, in Nara. The formal and informal court dress in Fujiwara times, or court ladies' ceremonial dresses, those clothes were meant to represent a person's dignity; you could say that those clothes were meant to make the person seem more important . . . Amongst this there is an appreciation of beauty and sophistication specific to Japan. In reality, that kind of feeling was put into Gigan. This stripped patter comes from the ceremonial dress; by slightly moving each of the kimonos, there are colors showing at the sleeves. It's truly beautiful and luxurious, and gives a feeling of extravagance. The layering of color, as well as the shifting of the color of the same tone, is an ancient technique. There are five or six steps from the deepest to the palest color. Even in modern day aesthetics, I think that it's a logical color scheme. And so, there is the magnificence, the size, and the power; it was truly a Gigan!"

Gigan was hardly without its faults as a monster however, as G-Fan's editor has pointed-out: "Gigan has always worked with a partner, first King Ghidorah and then Megalon. Though seemingly chummy with his cohorts, he often gets upset over his partners' mistakes, even though he's guilty of a few himself, such as slamming into Ghidorah in an attempt to attack Godzilla. Loyalty is not one of Gigan's better qualities either; he tried to run out on Megalon when their battle with Godzilla and Jet Jaguar started to go badly."

What really makes Gigan work is the spirited performance of Kenpachiro Satsuma (still billed as Kengo Nakayama) giving the beast an attitude of taunting malice. "Gigan had more specific arms and legs than Hedorah," the actor explained. "You could do moves like brandishing the claws; you could imagine more ways to move in a suit like that." On the other hand, it was not a piece of cake: "But the feet were so big, that they easily caught on other objects or on my opponent, and I tripped a lot."

Gigan was not the first Godzilla film to use stock footage, but it was the first to use it in such copious amounts, setting the record at a dozen films - from Rodan through Sanda vs. Gaira - as well as being the only Godzilla film to use stock music along with the stock footage. In one scene footage from previous films shows the military arriving from all points of the compass to confront Anguirus, even though the monster is approaching from only one direction. Here it is not so much a case of budget cuts but budget banality, as the intercutting of the old with the new footage is haphazard without any regard to continuity, particularly when taking into consideration the different appearances of the monsters and the uneven blending of day and night footage (Nakano would be the first to state he didn't enjoy using stock footage but budget constraints gave him no choice. In any event he darkened some of the daytime footage so the difference between the two film stocks would hopefully not be too obvious). When Anguirus charges at Ghidorah and bites its neck, the Space Monster lifts Anguirus up into the air before dropping it to the ground via stock footage from Marching Monsters, which is what happened when Anguirus tried this four years earlier. Apparently Anguirus has a short memory.

The days when live-action footage of army units approaching and people running away were seamlessly interwoven with the effects footage had long since faded into memory; now it's all about the effects, only Nakano doesn't always use them to their best advantage. Some of the stock footage shots are grainy while others are pristine, and while Nakano sometimes shoots from ground-level, he rarely uses low-angles. Many of the shots are so close to the action the effects lack a sense of scale, and whenever the earlier effects shots are used - particularly with King Ghidorah - the difference between Tsuburaya's dynamic work and Nakano's could not be more striking, and the use of slow-motion (sometimes super-slow-motion) is used so often, it decelerates the entire picture.  

There are some fine effects shots such as Godzilla and Anguirus leaving Monster Land (to the wildly inappropriate strains of the powerful "Opening" music from Ifukube's Great Space War), a shot of Ghidorah standing in front of a firestorm, an outstanding ground-level tracking shot of Gigan and Ghidorah marching through the flaming countryside, and a terrific reverse-tracking shot of the Earth in Space, only there are no stars (when Kubota opens a window in the Tower's Control Room displaying the night sky, there are stars, all four of them). And the earlier space-berserking, wing, tail-and-head waving and leg-kicking Ghidorah described by one aficionado as "that most dynamic of Toho's beast stars" has been replaced by a stiffened effigy which rarely moves its wings and glides around; can it be this rigid kite was once "The Demon of our Galaxy?" And whereas the earlier Ghidorah was not terribly mobile on land, this one is as static as a statue, simply due to the unfortunate fact that "Toho no longer had enough men in the effects department to properly operate the suit's two wings, two tails and three heads." The point has always been made that knocking Nakano isn't fair and it was not his fault for not having a decent budget (Michael Bogue has pointed out the film is so low-budget we never see the spacecrafts the aliens arrived in). But while it's true you don't have to be daring about what you're doing, you should care about what you're creating, and Gigan isn't so much about a director's reach exceeding his grasp, but how he lost his grip.

The film's most-outstanding element is its score, essentially a hodgepodging of cues from earlier Ifukube films, again due to budgetary concerns. We hear selections from Submarine Warship, Frankenstein vs. Subterranean Monster Baragon, (Furankenshutain tai chitei kaiju Baragon) Attack of the Marching Monsters, Latitude Zero (Ido zero daisakusen), Great Space War, Three Greatest Monsters, King Kong's Counterattack (Kingu Kongu no gyakushu), and Mothra vs. Godzilla; no doubt it saved Toho some change as the maestro was most-likely paid a royalty fee for the use of his stock library music rather than an original score.

The problem is that for those familiar with this music it takes them back to scenes from those particular films, and some of the selections are clumsily edited, such as when the gas-attack music from Marching Monsters is used as Anguirus is being defeated by the military, which carries-over into the following scene where Fumio and Kubota decide to kill Takeshi, because the cue lasted longer than the battle scene. Elsewhere the battle music from Mothra vs. Godzilla is heard when the monsters are fighting, but when we cut back to Machiko and Shosaku stringing-up their rope, the music continues at a lower volume. Of greater relevancy is that this musical mishmash produces a disjointed score without a common theme and is all over the place. Some have surmised that original cues included the splendid "Main Title" music, but this was not the case (for more information about the score, see the "Godzilla vs. Gigan" CD soundtrack review on the Godzilla Monster Music website). There are also moments when music would have helped, such as when Gengo and Shosaku learn that Fumio and Kubota have disappeared, when Gigan and Ghidorah first arrive, and when Tomoko and Gengo hustle-up the stairs on their rescue mission.

Given the abject lameness of this film it is amazing how some have read subliminal messages into it as if trying to lend it a certain legitimacy, such as Jason Barr, who wrote about the film's "message underneath the surface, a condemnation of American infiltration and the manipulation of the Japanese economy, which can only be rectified by the destruction of the symbols of the invaders' aggression." Even such a respected kaiju auteur as David Kalat felt the film has more than meets the eye, stating that "outside the narrative" the monsters in Gigan "represent important issues (Cold War nuclear policy, capitalism, communism, environmentalism), which can pose a threat to authority figures who may wish such issues not be discussed. By replacing monsters with models, the cockroaches can limit their expressive power . . . A totalitarian state enforces peace by suppressing differences of opinion and stifling debate on controversial issues.)" All very fascinating, but if these concepts were ever intended by the filmmakers, they never said so.  

The only accurate statement which can truly be made about this puerile charade is giving viewers a pleasant diversion, and why do people always have to be enlightened when watching a Godzilla movie, and why must we always ponder predicaments or weigh the worries of the world? It's true that none of the Godzilla films were ever made with the intent of being scrutinized and studied, and many before and after Gigan have had the logic of a madman's dream. These arguments only hold water if the series was never meant to be anything more than visual popcorn, but the reality is this was once a serious series with meaningful messages. In discussing this film on his Kaiju Film Database website, Jon@UnCanny asks: "What Godzilla fan can resist a super smack down between Godzilla, Anguirus, Gigan, and Ghidorah!?" It turns out quite a few.

As with Hedorah, the film ends not on a note of determination but of resignation. There is a brief revisitation of the industrial pollution premise (the third consecutive Godzilla film to comment on the issue) and there is some meaningless dribble about "when technology advances we come to depend more heavily on machines." After the aliens have been defeated, Machiko pontificates that "peace is a hard thing to achieve," motivating Takeshi to reply that "advancements in technology can be convenient, but peace seems to move further away," just as quality was moving further away from the series.

Many have suggested that had Fukuda been given more time, a better script, better actors, and a bigger budget, he might well have made a better film, while others remain perfectly satisfied with the result. Say what you will about Gigan but figures don't lie, and it would eventually become the highest-grossing Godzilla film of the 1970s, with ticket sales up 40,000 from Hedorah's 1,780,000.

At the end of the film, Takeshi mordantly reflects that "perhaps one day cockroaches will inherit the Earth." If they ever do, they're bound to make better films than Godzilla vs. Gigan.

Chapter Six

 

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Gojira tai Megaro

< Released March 17th, 1973 >

"As long as the public continues to be disappointed in its human heroes, it will turn to Godzilla for selfless and mighty action."

- Jeff Rovin, The Fabulous Fantasy Films

 

The Film:

 

An introduction comprised of cheerful flute, guitar and slide-trombone leads us to the first of nearly 200 explosions followed by stock footage of the destruction of Letchi Island from Ebirah and the gas-shrouded chaos on Monster Land from Marching Monsters. We then see new footage of Godzilla and Anguirus wandering about as if in a daze, with Godzilla being completely freaked-out and poor-old Anguirus stumbling out of sight (typical).

This tumultuous spectacle is followed by the earlier orchestration accompanied by a cello solo rendition of the "Main Title" music praising the real star of this show: the robotic Jet Jaguar.

During a lovely afternoon at Lake Kiriyama, a small boy named Rokuro "Roku-chan" Ibuki (yes, Hiroyuki Kawase from Hedorah) is riding a large, dolphin-shaped water-cycle. He is watched by his older brother Goro (Katsuhiko Sasaki), and Goro's best friend, Hiroshi "Jinko" Jinkawa (Yutaka Hayashi).

Suddenly the land trembles and Goro calls out for Roku to head in, but the boy is unable to do so. Goro then fires-off a rocket line (which he apparently carries for such contingencies) and Roku is able to catch it, enabling the men to pull the kid to safety as massive underwater lights flash, huge steam clouds erupt, and seconds later an enormous whirlpool completely drains the water from the lake in the best beginning to a Godzilla film in at least five years.

The transition into the next scene is so jarring it seems like something from another film as Goro, Roku, and Hiroshi appear curiously unaffected by what they've just witnessed; indeed they look quite content as they take a sunset drive in an open roadster, augmented with an improvisational freestyle jazz arrangement of flute, guitar, and soft percussion.

A radio broadcast informs them that the earthquake was caused by "the second nuclear bomb test" and that more tremors are to be expected, but there is no mention of the lake being drained, and the eye-witnesses never informs anyone of this incredible event.

Goro figures that "We'll wind up just like the Mu Continent and Lamoria (aka Lemuria) if we don't watch out," both legendary island nations which sank into the sea.

The three arrive at Goro's windowless, two-story, box-shaped shanty just in time to discover there's been a break-in; not only that, but the breakers are still in: one of whom is Seatopian Agent One (Kotaro Tomita) popping-out of a closet long enough to knock Goro on the head and knee-punch Roku into unconsciousness.

Hiroshi then walks in to discover another intruder: Seatopian Agent Two (Ulf Otsuki), and the two trespassers quickly subdue him as well and run off, but not without leaving behind a tiny red square-shaped object (Agent One is wearing black clothes and Agent Two is in gray clothes; some sort of status thing).

After checking on Goro and Roku, Hiroshi hears an engine start, gets in his rod, and chases a Mercedes driven by the two intruders.   

Goro and Roku find their house has been turned topsy-turvy but with nothing apparently stolen, although the boy spots a smudge of red sand on the floor (we never learn where it came from unless it was in one of the agents' shoes).

The car chase continues with that same cheery flute music until one of the agents throws a fire-bomb out his car window, allowing them to escape.

Back in Goro's mini-laboratory the young professor tells Hiroshi and Roku that "The situation is awfully strange," although he ain't seen nothin' yet. It is then decided to examine the sand under a super-microscope in a local laboratory's "Honda Room" (catch on?) where Hiroshi learns the sand came "from a stratus 30 kilometers (18-1/2 miles) beneath the sea," adding, "The only other place that has that sand is Easter Island."

Goro then puts the final touches on his pet project: a tall, pleasant-looking robot.

Goro and Hiroshi discuss Easter Island and its famously large "Moai" monoliths, at which point the camera dollies-in on a close-up of Goro slowly looking up and taking a cigarette out of his mouth in a promising buildup to a big discloser, but all he says is: "That doesn't help us get any closer to the people behind this."

The Mercedes men are in the neighborhood taking a leisurely drive while listening-in via a concealed miniature microphone they placed in Goro's lab to the inventor's uncontained excitement at the now operational status of his "Jet Jaguar."

The agents slowly close-in on an unsuspecting Ken who is happily riding a tiny motor-scooter. They pull-up beside him, stop his scooter, then grab and toss him in the backseat of the car, and as the vehicle pulls away, the Second Seatopian Agent can clearly be seen throttling the kid.

Jet Jaguar (whose robotic noises were achieved with a combo organ) walks around as Goro explains it has been given all sorts of wonderful abilities. Then the doorbell rings and Goro sees an unhappy Ken looking up at the security camera, but out-of-sight are the two agents, and after Goro unlocks the door, one of the men fires his gun and carries the boy's limp body through the doorway; has the man killed Ken? No, the boy is merely unconscious as the agents shoot their gas guns at Goro and Hiroshi, knocking them out while the robot stands and does nothing.

This is where the plot sickens. The First Agent contacts his leader: the Honorable Emperor Antonio, Ruler of all Seatopia (Robert Dunham), who says "Good work, you've done well" (little does he know he spoke a tad too soon).

As the Emperor kneels in front of a Moai statue, six dancers elegantly clad in flowing gowns and cone-shaped hats cavort very slowly in a circle watched by 52 onlookers bowing and kneeling in reverence.

Tony then stands, raises his arms, and faces the Faithful 52:

"My people, today, Seatopia goes to war. After three million years of peace, we finally have to fight. We do not want to make war, but the people of Earth leave us no choice. With their nuclear tests they've already destroyed a third of our country. We must fight for the sake of Seatopia. We will give the Earth people a taste of their own medicine! But now, Seatopia goes to war for the sake of peace!! For the sake of Seatopia!!!"

Everyone rises to their feet as lights flash and a bright beacon shines in a dark cave.

With his eyes wide-open and his arms outstretched, the Emperor exults: "Megalon! Megalon! Wake up, Megalon! Rise to the surface of the Earth! Destroy all Mankind! In the name of peace, the honor and sake of Seatopia!"

The beacon glows red and becomes more intense.

"Go, Megalon!"

Sparks fly and smoke sizzles. The Earth trembles. Then, massive explosions send shards of rocks flying-off in all directions as a weird form rises from the rubble: a huge, ugly wasp-like monster with drill-shaped hands and glowing antennae. The Mighty Megalon has awoken!

It spreads its winds and through a convenient shaft in the strata, rockets upwards.

Goro and Roku lie bound and unconscious inside a large metal storage container loaded onto a flatbed truck, and after waking up, try to free themselves.

Hiroshi is also tied-up, sitting in a chair in Goro's lab while the First Seatopian Agent puts a data-card file into a console and watches as another one pops out. A second later Jet Jaguar begins to move, walks outside, and then flies away.

Two men hired to drive the truck are sitting next to the Second Seatopian Agent who has paid them ¥100,000 ($913 in today's U.S. currency, over $450 apiece!) to take the container to the now-dry lake bed.

Hiroshi regains consciousness and spots the First Seatopian Agent, prompting this amusing conversation:

 

Hiroshi: "Where are you taking my two friends?"

Agent:    "To the Land of Seatopia."

Hiroshi: "Seatopia?"

Agent:    "That's correct. It's a country below the surface of the sea. It                  was engulfed by an earthquake three million years ago.                  Most of our people survived. We've created our own                                  oxygen supply and later constructed our own sun."

Hiroshi:  "Then, the legends are true!"

Agent:    "We are a very advanced race. Our scientists are far more                  intelligent than yours."

Hiroshi:  "If you're so superior, why steal a robot?"

Agent:    "Seatopia doesn't have many citizens. For the sake of our                  peace, we needed to steal it and create an army."

Hiroshi:   "Oh! You mean you're TOO DUMB!"

 

Seatopians are a proud and noble race, but have notoriously short fuses, so the aggravated agent gets up and slaps Hiroshi, who manages to free himself before beating-up the agent and getting two words out of the Seatopian slime-ball before he passes out:

"Container . . . truck . . ."

This is all the information Hiroshi needs so he dashes out to his car, leaving the prostrate agent on the floor with his weapon at his side!

(Now I really should mention that the literal translation of Hiroshi's slap-provoking words were: "Really? Then why did you kidnap my friends?," but obviously someone at Cinema Shares - the company distributing the film in America and doing the dubbing - felt "you're too dumb!" was more of a motivation, and I think we all agree).

Goro and Roku have also managed to free themselves but are being jostled around in the container. After the First Agent has recovered, he radios that Hiroshi is on the loose and must be stopped, leading us to another car chase with Hiroshi this time being pursued. He spots a small red car following him and manages to temporarily evade it, but another chap joins the chase on his oil-burning motorcycle, again with that jazzy flute music.

Hiroshi careens down some stone steps and a steep embankment before speeding into a construction zone in a box canyon and evades his pursers. 

Megalon has reached the surface and shakes off some dirt before striking a dynamic pose, ready for action. Jet Jaguar then arrives to guide Megalon to its next destination: Tokyo! Meanwhile, the military gets its act together.

After the nervous truckers toss the Seatopian out of their vehicle, they drive to the edge of a large dam before tilting-back the loading ramp, but Goro and Roku make no noise to alert the drivers. Despite the truckers' considerable head start however, Hiroshi pulls up just as Megalon arrives.

The two frightened drivers rush past Hiroshi and speed-off in his car as Megalon breaches the dam. It closely examines the yellow storage container which is now sliding-off the truck. Megalon raises one of its arms, striking the underside of the container and sending it flying where it crashes to the ground, opens, and spills out an unconscious Goro and Roku. Fortunately Hiroshi soon finds them little the worse for wear.

The three then watch as Jet Jaguar arrives to continue guiding Megalon (presumably the robot was busy giving itself an oil job) and that's when Goro guesses that the robot has been re-programmed. This does not pose too much of a problem however as Goro pulls out a pendant attached to a chain, which he explains "is an ultra-sonic computer transmitter that I made in case the main computer failed."

The military lets Megalon have it, and although a similar amount of firepower made Anguirus beat a hasty retreat, Megalon not only holds its ground, but gives back better than it gets, blowing up tanks and masers with lightning bolts radiating from its glowing antennae.

Goro arrives at a nearby military base and convinces the local commander to take him to Jet Jaguar's location, since Goro's transmitter needs line-of-sight to work.

After dusting-off the military, Megalon happily hops through the countryside as Goro gets transported by jeep and then helicopter to where he can see the robot before redirecting it to Monster Land and bring Godzilla.

Somehow realizing this, Seatopian Agent One radios a very understanding Emperor who advises him to stay put before giving another minion another order: "I want you to contact Star-Hunter Galaxy M-1 and have them send Gigan over right away" (why didn't he do that earlier?).

Megalon is now hurling itself all over the place, because - as Goro explains to the commander - "it's lost its controller" (?).

Jets then attack the insectoid in a ferocious battle lasting one minute comprised of 50 separate shots for an average of one shot every two seconds. The short skirmish over, the victorious Megalon hops away.

Hiroshi and Roku ride a motorbike into town and walk into an abandoned hobby shop where they avail themselves of a large scale-model of an F-86 jet and its radio-control unit.

On Monster Land, the previously panicked reptile is calmly contemplating its navel when the robot arrives and uses sign language to persuade the Big Beast to follow it by jumping into the sea, which Godzilla does faster than you can say "stock footage."

Back in Tokyo, Megalon is making a mess out of everything, not only with its lightning ray, but with red fireballs erupting from its mouth. 

Hiroshi and Roku - who have not (or would not) call the police - arrive at the house and sneak up to the front door, wearing hardhats. Hiroshi hurts a rock at the security camera and disables it, prompting the Seatopian agent to open the front door only to be met a moment later by the F-86 model flying into his face. Though bloodied and bruised the agent gives a good account of himself before Hiroshi and Roku knock him out again.

At that very moment Goro, who has somehow gotten permission to drive an army jeep by himself, arrives and springs up the steps, but after hearing Megalon approaching, they leave the agent on the floor once again and speed-away in the jeep.

Megalon is still hopping around, dislodging a large boulder which flies into the air and lands on the agent who is running madly through the countryside, crushing him to death.

The Emperor receives word that Gigan (King Ghidorah apparently not having been summoned) is on its way as both nighttime and daytime finds Megalon blowing-up ships and refineries.

Goro, Hiroshi, and Roku return to Goro's house from wherever it was they were just in time to greet Jet Jaguar, but a moment later the robot flies away despite its inventor's efforts to call it back with the mini-computer. As usual Goro has anticipated such a situation: "I set up Jet Jaguar's programming with a feature enabling it to act on its own."

What happens next is pretty precious: after meeting up again with Megalon, the robot lands and increases its size to the same scale as the insect before slowly walking up to it and unloading a haymaker sending the Seatopian God spiraling to the ground.

As Goro, Hiroshi, and Roku arrive on the scene (with no one else around), Goro has yet another explanation: "Jet Jaguar must have programmed himself to grow larger in order to keep the monster" busy until Godzilla arrives.

Jet Jaguar has the better of his battle with the Big Bug until Gigan arrives and the robot soon finds itself outmatched by the two ugly monsters until Godzilla scampers onto the scene and shakes hands with the cyborg (italics mine).

Godzilla tears into its two opponents with a speed and ferocity rarely seen and proves more than a match for them, but only temporarily, as Gigan takes-off and skims Godzilla, slicing thru its shoulder and causing blood to spurt-out exactly as it did the year before, which it should, since it's from footage shot the year before. Godzilla gets up - looking nothing like it did a moment ago - until Gigan knocks it down three more times like it did the year before (Godzilla, like Anguirus, has a short memory). Then Gigan tries to fly away only to have Godzilla blast it out of the sky and onto the same building it did the year before.

From this point on the battles are non-stop as The Ultimate Monster Tag Team (what J.D. Lees called "one of the great kaiju battles of Japanese cinema") begins with Jet Jaguar tussling with Megalon while Godzilla gives Gigan all it can handle until they change partners like square dancers.

The reptile and the robot soon find themsleves surrounded by a circle of flames caused by Megalon's fireballs until Jet Jaguar lifts Godzilla out of the danger zone, stunning Gigan and Megalon (what did they think the robot was going to do?). Moments later Jet Jaguar breaks Gigan's arm and then tosses the broken bird up into the air so Godzilla can zap it and send it crashing onto the same bridge it had fallen onto the year before. Then it flies away leaving a prostrate Megalon flanked by our two heroes.

 

      Godzilla (Shinji Takagi) takes up arms while Jet Jaguar (Tsugutoshi Komada)   takes a tumble.

As Jet Jaguar holds onto Megalon, Godzilla signals for the "Number Two Maneuver" consisting of a levitating back-slide which it performs not once, but twice, bashing into the bug in what Godzilla scholar Ken Bockelmann called "Godzilla's Most Embarrassing Moment." Godzilla then tosses Megalon up-and-down several times until the flying demon zooms back to Seatopia.

Jet Jaguar walks up to Godzilla and again shakes hands with the somewhat bewildered beast. Then Godzilla turns and heads for home as - for the last time in a Godzilla film - a child calls out to it while waving goodbye to the departing leviathan, which on this occasion doesn't stop, but just keeps on going.

The three observers reunite with the robot which has returned to its normal size, but when the boy asks it to return home with them, Jet Jaguar just stands there, until Goro gives it the same request through his miniature transmitter, at which point the robot instantly obeys. Could Goro have another explanation? You bet he does: "Of course, it's possible he thinks his job is done; however, I'm not sure if he is just waiting for the next time when he's needed again." "Let's hope," Hiroshi hopes, "that day never comes."(!)  

This is followed by some pointless chatter about leaving the Seatopians in peace (but without any discussion about banning nuclear weapons which caused the conflict in the first place). The film's final image is scored with the jaunty "Godzilla and Jet Jaguar - Punch! Punch! Punch!" song written - as usual - by Shinichi Sekizawa, arranged by Riichiro Manabe, and sung by Masato Shimon:

"Sora ni kagayaku makka na taiyo

Jetto Jagaa Jetto Jagaa!

Bokura no Jagaa!

Chikyu no abunai sono toki ha

Warumono domo ni mouretsu panchi

Gojira to Jagaa de panchi panchi panchi!

Minna seigi no tomodachi da . . ."

 

"Bright red sun sparkling in the sky

Jet Jaguar, Jet Jaguar!

Our Jaguar!

The time is dangerous for the Earth

Even though with the villains, intense punch

Godzilla and Jaguar together, punch, punch, punch!

Everyone is a friend of justice . . ."

 

The robot carries a happy Roku on its shoulders flanked by a smiling Hiroshi and Goro with the robot hailed as a hero and Godzilla's participation an already forgotten memory.

 

A Closer Look:    

→ THE REVIEWS ARE IN: ←

"There is probably no more widely accepted dogma than the belief that Godzilla vs. Megalon is the worst Godzilla film not made by Roland Emmerich."

"This film is often criticized by G-fans as being the worst Godzilla movie of all time . . . this ultimately left a negative image of Godzilla in the minds of most Westerners that persists to this day."

"The cheapest, the shabbiest, and the worst film in franchise history"

"Clumsy-footed entry in the Godzilla series."

"This is the height of cartoonish ridiculousness in the Showa series."

"Godzilla vs. Megalon continues to represent the Big Guy at his absolute worst."

"Widely considered one of the weakest films in the Toho series."

"A new low in the series."

"This movie goes in so many different directions it's crazy . . . It's hard to sit through it and not laugh . . . an awful excuse for a movie and the one that ruined Godzilla."

"Godzilla vs. Megalon is the film that is most responsible for the bad reputation Godzilla films in general have had in the U.S. It is considered one of the worst in the series and was the first one to sell less than a million tickets in Japan in its initial release."

"Godzilla vs. Megalon has attracted the ire of many Godzilla fans in the decades since its original release."

"Oh, this one is bad. Incredibly, undeniably, mind-numbingly bad! O.K., so maybe it's not quite that bad, but it still isn't good!"

"It may be safe to say that the (Godzilla) film with the smallest number of defenders would be Godzilla vs. Megalon."

"It is childish in the upmost; the monsters hop through the battles, effects are awful, and the little kid in the film is so annoying that you wish a 16-ton weight would fall on his head and silence him."

"The cheapest of all Godzilla movies . . . Everything looks shoddy, from the special effects to the costumes and music."

"By far the worst film in the Godzilla series."

"Made strictly for the only the most undiscriminating elements of the under-8 crowd, this film answers the question, 'How low can you go?'"

"Toho's Godzilla series hit rock bottom with this travesty, a terrible film . . . The result will send even the most tolerant kaiju eiga fans climbing the walls."

"Barebones production values . . . universally regarded as the worst of all Godzilla movies."

"The worst Godzilla film of all. Aimed at a juvenile audience, with a slow-moving plot, horrible score, laughable battle scenes, few new destruction scenes, padded with stock footage and populated with a small cast, Godzilla vs. Megalon brought the Godzilla series to an all-time low."

"Inferior to all previous Godzilla films."

"This movie is goofy. The movie is not totally goofy, though. It is also pathetic, stupid, and just plain bad . . . this movie is the stupidest, lamest, most pathetic, and goofiest of all the Godzilla movies."

"Fingernails-on-blackboard groaner . . . the series' creative nadir, the celluloid apotheosis of rib-splitting cheesiness."

"This movie is so microwave pizza!"

It only seems apropos to begin my discussion of this film with such contentious comments, as it is safe to say that Megalon has become the whipping-bug of the Godzilla film series, a reputation as understandable as it is undeserved. To be sure the film doesn't bother with basic elements such as plot or characterization and instead settles for the most-rudimentary of storylines and 81 minutes of non-stop action worthy of the Keystone Cops; this isn't a question of pace, it's a runaway train. It shouldn't work as entertainment but does in a case of commotion over cleverness, and even while watching it - even though your mind is telling you that what you are seeing is nothing short of ridiculous - the movie succeeds because your mind won't be able to focus on anything else, leaving one at the end feeling affably apathetic, like slowly freezing to death. Watching Godzilla vs. Megalon is like watching a multi-car crash in slow-motion; it's appalling but you can't look away, and while many enjoy the ride, others feel they've just been taken for one.

Guy Tucker wrote that Megalon "looks like it was put together over a couple of weekends by guys with a lot trains to catch," adding that it took six months to make. However, Nakano is quoted in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! as saying, "I remember Godzilla vs. Megalon was a very short shoot, probably about three weeks. That movie seemed to take forever to develop, then it went into production without enough preparation. There was no time to ask Mr. Shinichi Sekizawa to write the script, so he kind of thought up the general story and director Fukuda wrote the screenplay, which was completed right before crank-in. But it was not unusual." Actor Yutaka Hayashi (playing Hiroshi Jinkawa) told Brett Homenick the filming took "about two months," and director Jun Fukuda told David Milner, "We spent four months working on the film. The production budget for it was even smaller than the one for Godzilla vs. Gigan, so we had a very difficult time making the movie." Fortunately, Mr. Homenick - the film's ultimate champion - has sorted it all out, stating unequivocally that "Jun Fukuda and his production team worked on the film for a total of four months, with shooting lasting only three weeks." So the good news is, we now know it took three weeks to make Megalon. The bad news is, it looks like it took three days.

It's never easy making an intelligent, moving, and meaningful work of art, so Megalon goes pell-mell in the opposite direction and doesn't even try. It hasn't the slightest resemblance to anything even remotely realistic, and while some delight in its all-out fantasy, other prefer the more disciplined appeal of character and situation. Some movies are embarrassing to watch due to their lack of spirit, originality, or creativity, and while Megalon has all three in abundant supply, its main misfortune is an overall impression of laziness infecting every frame.

Stan G. Hyde is diplomatic about the whole situation, stating that "If you don't take (Megalon) too seriously, it is a lot of fun," and that is its charm and crudeness, its delight and downfall; there is so much insanity in this film, that the "s" falls out. Godzilla vs. Megalon is yet another Godzilla film where the King of the Monsters is not the main monster, but a supporting player who pops-up in a cameo like Orson Welles in order to lend an otherwise feeble effort a little class. This is not surprising when one learns the film was originally intended to be only about the adventures of Jet Jaguar, with Godzilla eventually added as an afterthought for better box office receipts. The one thing that can be said about Godzilla vs. Megalon is that it's better than Godzilla vs. Gigan, but that's not saying very much.

Megalon is an altogether more-entertaining film than its predecessor - its arguably the most entertaining Godzilla film of the 1970s - but only in the sense that watching the explosion of a fireworks factory is more engaging than seeing a boat sink; there are tons of action and effects work and some of the characters are actually likeable. At one point the Second Seatopian Agent rolls down a steep embankment after getting tossed out of a truck, and while not all that spectacular, when compared to Gigan, it's positively breathtaking. One senses that Fukuda had finally accepted his fate as the series' principle director, and as a result, his work seems much-more relaxed, like a man who no longer cared a whole lot about what he was doing (one bit of action filmed but later deleted had Godzilla using a telephone pole as a lance and one of its branches as a toothpick in a tribute to the main character from the popular Zatoichi Series; more's the pity it wasn't since it's totally in keeping with the zany nature of this film). 

By this point in the series there was no longer any raison as to why things happen, they just do, so no explanations are required since none would suffice; forget about throwing logic out the window, because now we're in the basement. In Kurosawa's Ran a character states that "In a mad world, only the mad are sane," but Megalon's mantra seems to be, "In an ridiculous world, only silliness makes sense."

You'd think the library of special effects stock footage would have been exhausted by now, but no, here it is again (mostly from Gigan), such as the business of Megalon trying to escape the masers by dashing through the woods - from Sanda vs. Gaira - and Gigan's claw from Gigan can be seen when Megalon jabs at the jets. There's no attempt to try matching any of the new footage with the old as shots are simply repeated and reversed with stock shots of nighttime white Maser Cannon rays turning blue in the new daytime footage, and the usual glaring differences with film stocks. What we really have here is "Godzilla vs. the Stock Footage" and sometimes the footage doesn't even match itself: at one point, after Godzilla blasts Gigan flying from right-to-left, the space monster crashes into a building flying from left-to-right, but then poor continuity is the least of this picture's problems. 

When asked about this matter years later, Nakano had either a reason or an excuse, depending on your point-of-view: "I hated (relying on stock footage), but there was no choice. Of course it hurt me when I had to re-use those scenes, but there was no other way; we did not have the time or the money. So, I tried to confront this situation as a challenge: how could I creatively edit the footage to create a completely new scene? I tried my best, but of course if you watch the movie you will recognize that these are scenes from previous films. When we edited the footage, we tried to make the old film look new, and the new film look old, so it would match and flow together smoothly."

As far as Greg Shoemaker was concerned, Nakano was "at his best when required to deliver cartoon animated rays and force fields and spectacular pyrotechnics. With few exceptions, he's at his worst when asked to produce miniatures, latex creatures, and visual effects photography. This area of weakness, unfortunately, is the heart of (Megalon)."

As the film begins we learn that in 197* (no one had the guts to give an actual year) "on an island near the Aleutians, a second underground nuclear bomb test was carried out." Setting the record straight, the first underground nuclear test was conducted on November 29th, 1951, in Nevada, as was the second on March 23rd, 1955; however three underground nuclear explosions did occur in the Aleutians on Amchitka Island on October 29th, 1965, October 2nd, 1969, and November 6th, 1971, all conducted by the Americans. Next we are told that "The effects of the explosion were widespread, affecting even Monster Land in the South Pacific." That's all well and good, but why are there explosions happening all over the place, and if a nuclear test was responsible for draining the lake, then what are all those bright underwater lights seen flashing beneath the surface?

When the Seatopian agents are first discovered hiding in Goro's dwelling, they scamper off. Why? So there can be a car chase. The next day, despite the recent break-in, Roku rides his little motor-scooter unsupervised. Why? So he can be kidnapped and used as a lure for the agents to get back into the house (only why bother kidnapping the inventor since the robot can be programmed without his help, and why kidnap him at all when he could be forced at gun point to run everything from his cozy little lab?). The agents make a mess out of Goro's house but don't steal anything. Why? So they can come back later. They don't destroy the robot because they intend to use it to guide Megalon. Why? Because the underground fiend needs a friend.

It is a true fact that Goro is an amazing inventor, although perhaps not quite in the same league as Forbidden Planet's Dr. Morbius with his Robby The Robot, a contraption which is able to whip-up delicious dishes at a moment's notice (it even manufactures the raw materials). However, Jet Jaguar is very impressive in its own right, schooled in etiquette and martial arts, able to fly, reprogram itself, and grow to the highest heights, although oddly not programmed to speak - instead using International Monster Sign Language (IMSL) - and has no weapons. According to Peter Lovold, "Jet Jaguar was not actually built to battle monsters, but more to serve as inventor Goro's version of a protocol droid," uncannily anticipating Star Wars' C-3PO five years later, a cyborg not nearly as versatile. Unlike the robot's Ultraman inspiration, Jet Jaguar has an apparently limitless power supply, but why did Goro build the robot in the first place? For fun or profit? Something to fill his lonely hours? No, so the Seatopians can use it for their nefarious purposes!

The launching of Jet Jaguar is the single seminal event the citizens of Seatopia have been waiting for all these many years, because as soon as it gets going, so do they; although how they even learned about the robot and how they were able to re-program it and how Megalon would know to follow it are only a few irrelevancies in a film overstuffed with them. Hiroshi chases after the two Seatopian agents in his car, then is later chased in his car by another car and a motorcycle, then later chases a truck (these chase scenes are fairly interesting and contain a modest amount of stunt work but give every indication of being added to extend the film's running time).

The First Seatopian Agent knocks Goro and Roku out, then comes back later and knocks Goro, Roku, and Hiroshi out, then later gets knocked-out by Hiroshi, and then later gets knocked-out by Goro and Roku. After letting Hiroshi escape, the First Seatopian Agent radios this information to a car apparently waiting 24/7 for just such an emergency (showing how little faith the Emperor had in his agents' abilities), and just in case that's not enough, a motorcyclist is standing by at the ready.

Goro and Roku are tied-up and placed in a well-lit storage container on the back of a truck. Why? So it can slide-off and be batted into the air by Megalon who has decided to destroy a dam without any instructions from the robot (it will later do the same thing to Tokyo, again without any guidance). How the two were able to survive such an uncontrolled and violent landing we'll never know, but why did the agents go through all that trouble in the first place? Why not just drive the captives to the dam in the Mercedes, and why take them there at all, and why doesn't Hiroshi tell the truck drivers about his trapped friends in the container?

The First Seatopian Agent certainly has his troubles: Hiroshi beats him up and escapes, then the agent loses control of the robot, telling his boss that "It's heading to Monster Island to find Godzilla" (how does he know that?). Later, Hiroshi and Roku throw (or guide) a model jet into the agent's face before beating him up, and when last seen, the agent gets buried by a boulder; talk about a bad day at the office! But why did he leave the house and instead just wait for everyone to come back since he still has his stun gun?

Now the "kiddy-element" had fully dominated the Godzilla films; there was even a series of single-45rpm and 33rpm-album records comprised of jaunty Godzilla stories and songs. There were adventures on Monster Land, one kid rode Godzilla like a bronco, and the artwork on one record showed Godzilla, Gigan, and King Ghidorah as members of a rock band: Ghidorah on alto-sax, Gigan on drums, and Godzilla as lead-guitar vocalist (naturally). As with Gigan, the bad monsters run away and the bad guys die, although when Jet Jaguar breaks Gigan's arm before grabbing its head and lifting it's quivering form up in the air, it seems unnecessarily violent for such a G-Rated enterprise, but no worries; as the space monster flies away, its arm seems to have healed.

The film is a low-budget version of Submarine Warship, but whereas that earlier script was moving and compelling, this is just Sekizawa ripping-off his earlier story without the human-interest element. As with the Mu Empire and Latitude Zero's Black Rock inhabitants, Seatopia has survived a natural disaster and learned to manufacture its own oxygen and sun. But while the Mu Empire and Black Rock are eventually destroyed, Seatopia survives and just goes back to doing whatever it was doing as the Emperor gives the order to "Route all energy to closing the portals. All units are to be on immediate stand-by," although we never see any closing portals or any units standing-by.

There is some good news. Unlike the performances in Gigan, the actors in Megalon actually seem to care about what they're doing, particularly the likeable Katsuhiko Sasaki as Goro Ibuki, and even Hiroyuki Kawase as Rokuro is more endurable than he was in Hedorah. But the film's most memorable character is Antonio, King of All Seatopia, played by American Robert Dunham. "I worked about five days on that movie," he recalled years later. "I got a lot of kidding on that one. They had at least a dozen sound stages, and when you were going for lunch at the commissary you wouldn't take your makeup off. You just go and have your lunch and go back on the set and touch your makeup up, and you're ready to roll again. So, I got a lot of ribbing about wearing this uniform." Had the motorcycle driver been Antonio himself, with His Royal Majesty gloriously attired in his Megalon regalia and white robes flowing in the slipstream, it would have made for a truly memorable image.

The red car pursuing Hiroshi into the canyon was built by Dunham as a kit car on a Volkswagen chassis specifically for movie rental, and while a stunt driver drove it, Dunham rode the motorcycle during the chase scene: "There really wasn't much to the 'assignment'" Dunham told Kip Doto. "Nothing really dangerous was asked for or even attempted. Running up and down an off-terrain setting, coupled with a few power slides in the dirt and a jump over a small car are not exactly considered 'prime time' for a stunt driver. The leap over the car was accomplished by using a small ramp placed out of camera range on the other side of the car." Dunham drove the bike into the shed, but let someone else have the privilege of being slimed with cement.

One of the weaknesses of the 1970s Godzilla films was the lack of familiar faces from the Old Glory Days, but this time we have Durham, who had a nice part in Mothra, a nifty one in The Green Slime (Ganma dai-3-go: Uchu daisakusen), and a nicer one in Giant Space Monster Dogora (Uchu daikaiju Dogora). Durham goes about his business in a workmanlike manner, strikingly attired in Greek-style over-the-shoulder toga with his Marine Corps tattoo clearly visible, Barbarella boots and adorable Megalon tiara, his Seatopian speech delivered with all the authority of a businessman giving a PowerPoint presentation. When told Gigan is on its way, he seems rather sad, either from ruminating over his failed agents' attempts to control the robot, or his regret in his real-life agent getting him this part.

To Dunham, Fukuda lacked confidence as a director. "He was a little bit unsure, so a lot of times he would shoot a scene from three different angles, instead of using three different cameras, then he'd sit around for a half an hour and decide whether he wanted to take that one or not . . . Fukuda looked like he was under some pressure, and this resulted in a lot of retakes that we, the actors, felt we had done pretty good. Sometimes he'd say OK, but wouldn't strike the set. Then he'd go home, think it over, and the next day we'd reshoot it" (Fukuda does miss some little details: when we cut to an elevated shot showing the boy being shoved into the car, his motorbike is seen resting on its side-stand instead of laying flat on the ground).

Once again Riichiro Manabe's music is a major detriment, although this time not as glaringly obvious as in Hedorah, because Megalon is not trying to be serious. When the military is on the move he provides his usual mixture of brass, electric guitar, and steel drum supplying neither suspense or thrills, and when the motorcyclist is unfortunate enough to get cement splattered all over him, we don't hear a triumphant fanfare for Hiroshi or a defeatist tune for the rider, but "wah-wah" trombones reminding us that this is film is all about visual thrills. As Lawrence Tuczynski observed, "Manabe often composes off-beat (and even off-key) pieces, eschewing for the most part an orchestral sound. Since Godzilla vs. Megalon is an off-beat, off-key film, the music is strangely appropriate."

When Jet Jaguar is first activated by Goro, there is no music marking this momentous occasion, but when it is activated by the Seatopian agent for nefarious purposes, instead of being creepy, the music is cheerful. For the Seatopians' ceremonial dance, Manabe gives us a rambling torrent of shrill whistles, wavering electronic music, and trembling violins, although the music heard during the sand examination scene - tapped piano key and gently swirling flute - clearly reveals Ifukube's influence. The battle music is stranger still: more electronic music, slide trombones, strummed guitar, plucked banjo, and once again that jarring Jew's harp. During the crucial moment when Godzilla is trying to pull Jet Jaguar up on its feet with fires raging all-around them, the composer offers-up a quivering organ gradually rising in its octaves, a motif better suited for a corny carnival act or a silent film where the helpless girl is being tied to the railroad tracks.

Now the frighteningly destructive beast which once grabbed an entire train car in its mouth only to toss it down as though it was a toy (with awful consequences) is such an alien a concept it must have seemed impossible for anyone to have imagined such a dreadful creature ever existed, instead of it now looking and acting "like a gentle, cute puppy." Those then seeing the 1954 version for the first time must have thought it an abhorrent obsolescence when people back in the day were alarmed over nuclear weapons; now an irrelevant concern bringing-back too many unpleasant memories. Time, Toho felt, to move on to more pleasant distractions.

As far as Godzilla itself is concerned, the costume is simply awful. Lacking any hint of body sculpting or muscle tone, it looks like the team mascot for the Sendai Salamanders. It's the worst the beast has looked since Son of Godzilla and close-ups of its face during its stay on Monster Land are positively ghastly (the costume worn by Shinji Takagi was made in a week and looks it), and this younger and friskier Godzilla would never be seen again (in some of the more-recent films, the monster seemed almost reluctant to fight, but here it can't wait to wade into the fray).

What kind of a creature is Megalon? A colossal cockroach? A wowser of a wasp? A considerable cicada (spending much of their lives underground) or a giant June Bug? Toho Kingdom calls it an "insect beetle" while Mr. Lees defines the demon as a "coleopteroid." Its design is so nebulous that many just call it an insect and leave it at that, although Brett Homenick identifies it as "a subterranean critter." According to official Toho sources: "The design for Megalon was inspired by insects, such as a dragonfly, locust, crickets, and rhinoceros beetles. Not only the shape, but also the movements were based on those insects. It jumps just like locusts; these movements were achieved by moving the costume with piano wires."

Here's what Teruyoshi Nakano had to say about Megalon's design:

"Because it was an insect, there was this conception that it would obviously fly. There were many points to consider whether it was a good or bad idea, as children observe a lot of insects everywhere, and their scrutiny is more severe than that of adults.  And so, because we made it with insects in mind, I wanted to get the children to feel that it's a huge bug.

"I was thinking that to the unobservant adult eye, it would become a very strange type of creature, and I was wondering if the feeling of size would work. When it comes to children, I remember that they enjoyed it very much - in any case they were the target audience - but when it came to middle and high school students, I didn't know if they'd accept it or not.

"As for the movements, there was wirework as well as composite photography, and we also did some close-up photography of the movements of actual insects as well; I remember that we moved the costume along with those. The point was for the children to think that it was truly an insect and for it to resemble an insect in every way. So I thought it would be good if we had such movement, and that's why we did it like that."

This was Megalon's only appearance in a Godzilla movie - possibly because the monster's "greatest weakness is perhaps his apparent stupidity" - and sounds a lot like Varan (or is it Baragon?). The old Fukuda/Nakano convention of having a monster being woken-up is revisited, but stunningly, there is no battle with boulders. Gigan makes a return engagement but never utilizes its two main weapons: its eye beam and buzz-saw belly.

Unlike Gigan where the war was mostly a stop-and-go affair, in Megalon it is a frenzied fracas with much-greater creative flair and mobility: Megalon rapidly flying circles around Jet Jaguar causing the robot to lose its balance, the robot pulling the bug out of the ground by grabbing hold of its drill-bit arms, Gigan and Megalon bashing Jet Jaguar back-and-forth like a beach ball, Gigan repeatedly hitting the robot up in the air, and an astonishing moment when the space monster threatens to decapitate the robot unless Godzilla does something (like what, surrender?).

During these fights editor Michiko Ikeda keeps cutting back to Goro, Roku, and Hiroshi watching and making inane comments which breaks-up the momentum of the fights. Watching the series of skirmishes the viewer isn't sure if they are meant to be taken seriously or not - after all, it's no fun watching Godzilla getting pummeled - and much of it is filmed with shaky, extreme, and rapidly-edited close-ups of the monsters, so it's hard to tell what's happening. High-speed photography is again a rarity as are low-angle shots, but there is one terrific one of Jet Jaguar and Megalon crashing to the ground. The draining of the lake, Megalon's attack on the dam, and a splendid shot of Tokyo in flames also rate among Nakano's finest work. Nakano had been given the well-deserved nickname of "Mr. Explosion," yet, as one writer stated, Nakano's work still looked "like some of the old work of Tsuburaya." It was in 1973 that Toho officially conferred upon Nakano the title of "Tokugi Director" (Tokugi being the shortened form of tokushu gijyutsu, or special techniques).

As Nakano remembered, "The dam miniature wasn't very big. Since there is a human inside Megalon, we did the calculations from there, and it was quite straightforward. As Megalon is coming closer to the dam, the water is splashing around; I felt that as Megalon is performing this action, the water would surely splash around. And then, before Megalon's shape appears, we created the atmosphere with the water spraying, and then as he appeared, we did it using the usual techniques. I wanted to do this type of montage: the previous action, with foreshadowing and everything as it comes closer and closer and closer. With the force of the pressure, it came through well.

"Anyhow, the small budget, the short time schedule, and problems like how much could we do were aplenty, and we had to work through them. But still, even with such a small budget, we had to present some sort of outline, there was no other way. So we decided things in advance. The regulations had started already at the stage of writing the script. In the Golden Age it would take about 90 days, but in our time, it wasn't even a third of that. I think it was about a fourth of that, and in that time we tried to make it as efficient and entertaining as we could, and thinking in what style we would have to do it. Obviously there were desperate moments where we wanted to do something, but there was no time for it." When he thought back to what he had to work with when compared to the Tsuburaya days of more time and money, Nakano admitted that "It was a time of dark clouds, like a standstill."

To make matters worse, the editing of the effects is often slipshod, such as the particularly glaring example when Godzilla is trying to hoist the robot up: we see previous shots when they clearly still have a long way to go, and even when we see a long-shot of Godzilla and Jet Jaguar standing back-to-back encircled by flames, it is carelessly intercut with the reptile still trying to help the robot out of that damn hole (and what kind of music does Manabe give us? That jazzy flute solo again!).

The film's dramatic highpoint is undeniably the long shot of Godzilla and Jet Jaguar surrounded by a circle of flames. Visually it is quite impressive and the movie's most memorable image, but it recalls another awkward moment in 1955 when Godzilla was forced back from another fire. It becomes a moot point because Jet Jaguar picks Godzilla up - a strong robot - and gets them away from the fire; Meglaon's "what's up with that?" gesture again reminding us not to take anything we see too seriously.   

There was a half-hearted attempt to imply that if nuclear tests did not cease then Mankind would be doomed, which was the same message stated at the end of the very first Godzilla film, only in Megalon it is stated at the start, diminishing its significance - Hiroshi even makes a joke about it - giving the impression of someone grudgingly fulfilling an obligation instead of addressing an important issue.

Godzilla vs. Megalon would have worked better as an episode in the "Godzilla Zone Fighter" television series or a live-action cartoon, but had no business being a full-screen feature people come and pay to see. Some argue that even with its avowed shortcomings the film has a certain kind of charm, but it's the charm of a cheaply-made exploitative 1970s film. Some special effects shots in Megalon would previously have been regulated to the cutting-room floor when earlier standards were higher (many of them were originally executed and filmed by Tsuburaya's team which receives no credit), but by this point in the Godzilla saga it was all about pleasing the young and the young-at-heart, and for many, it still does.

Even the moment when Godzilla employs for the first and only time its parallel-to-the-ground back-sliding leg-kick into Megalon's mid-section has garnered some praise, one writer going so far as to call it "the saving grace of the film" (this quote is attributed to the Barry's Temple of Godzilla website review of the film as stated in The Godzilla Encyclopedia; however Barry S. Goldberg's actual comment was "I would have given this movie a 'BOMB' rating, except for one scene involving a flying kick, Godzilla-style, which is so bizarre that I am shocked speechless every time I see it!").

Fans of the film point out that there is nothing wrong with this bit of physical business; after all, why is Godzilla flying or doing a reverse layback slide more preposterous than breathing radioactive fire or using its Sonic Pulse? Nothing, except that when Godzilla flies or slides it is doing a silly battle maneuver, as opposed to using its breath or Pulse, when it is trying to kill something.

Others state it is simply unfair taking potshots at Megalon since the film was never meant to be taken seriously, so why knock it, observing that other iconic figures such as Batman and James Bond have gone through various permutations as well, so what's wrong with giving Godzilla a comedic change of pace? Possibly because neither the Dark Knight or 007 were originally intended as cautionary tales about nuclear obliteration, and to this day, when many people think about Godzilla films, this is the one that comes to mind.

One certainly cannot blame the cast and crew as they were only doing their best with what little they were given, so the blame must be directed toward Tanaka, who desired to drain until the very last drop whatever proceeds were to be made on a very lucrative franchise. "Basically," Toho producer Shogo Tomiyama said, "Mr. Tanaka was a 'movie man.' Movies were his whole life, that's all he thought about. He lived and breathed movies. So whether he was in the bath, or eating lunch, he was always thinking about movies. As far as Godzilla goes, Mr. Tanaka would always say that even though he's scary, he's still cute."

Few films stir the heart and soul of Godzilla fans as much as Megalon, which doubtless will remain one of the most talked-about Godzilla movies for many years, with as many adoring it as those wishing it had never been made. For Godzilla purists the whole idea of this film has grown into nothing less than a profane abomination, unless one considers Godzilla unworthy enough to be treated seriously; then again, to some the whole idea of being a Godzilla purist is ridiculous; start getting pure about Godzilla, and it's all over.

While many admirers have recommended a re-evaluation of Megalon is in order, others have suggested it would take a reconvening of the Nuremburg Trials to do it justice. The supreme nuttiness of Megalon set a standard for Godzilla nonsense remaining unassailed until Final Wars, a film with all the subtlety and refinement of an insane asylum at the height of an electrical storm.

Whether one considers it as a diversion or disgrace, an enjoyable romp or a joyless slog, Megalon remains the most heavily criticized film of the Godzilla series. "Emotion," wrote film critic David Thomson, "cannot be defended or denied," and this is certainly true in the case of David McRobie, who is not a defender of the film as he is defensive, lecturing those who mock Megalon to "lighten up on the film." Scott Grieb stated that "In a world filled with lots of bad, Godzilla brings innocent fun and a lightheartedness. Yes there were times when the movies had mature messages, but Godzilla became a symbol as a family friendly icon, that parents could use to teach their children messages while letting their imaginations run wild. For this, I salute the Big G, for capturing the hearts of children young and old."

Sean Kotz concurs: "I can easily look past the absurdity of some of the film elements; in fact, I can even rejoice in them." And Mr. Lees agrees, adding that there is "No need to apologize: the element of far-out fantasy is one of the selling points of kaiju eiga." He's right; it's too late to apologize anyway.

But of all those who adore this film, none have gone on-the-record so fervently as Brett Homenick, praising it in a 2005 G-Fan article: "It's probably a fact that Godzilla vs. Megalon is the most despised made-in-Japan Godzilla film of them all. With this retrospective, I hope I have encouraged more than a few Godzilla aficionados to reexamine their negative opinion of the film. If G-Fan readers begin to see Godzilla vs. Megalon through a more positive perspective, then I've done my job."

He needs to work overtime.

Chapter Seven

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla

(Gojira tai Mekagojira)

< Released March 21th, 1974 >

Wagura: "'When a black mountain appears above the clouds, a huge monster will appear to try and destroy the world.' The ancient prophecy is coming true."

 

Saeko: "Yes, but I never would have guessed that the monster could be Godzilla!"

 

The Film:

 

Thumping drums, low brass, blaring horns, and oscillating organ accompany the Toho Logo followed by an electrical guitar, plucked violins, and soft coronets leading us toward a snowy panorama. It seems one of the boulders is moving, but it is our old friend Anguirus - having recovered from his tumble on Monster Land the year before - roaring its mournful cry (on either Monster Land, Siberia, or the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand, depending on the source material one reads) surrounded by stormy seas. A bright light flashes as steam issues from a tall peak which explodes into flames as an unseen Godzilla roars, followed by the opening credits and a series of photographs of Okinawa embraced by very pleasant Masaru Sato music.

A woman is heard humming, and soon we see a member of the Royal Okinawan Azumi Family in the shrine's courtyard: Priestess Nami (Beru-Bera Lin) carrying a large crown as part of a ceremony watched by several tourists, among them are Keisuke Shimizu (Masaaki Daimon), Japanese supervisor of a local construction project, and his visiting brother, Masahiko (Kazuya Aoyam).

Nami suddenly drops the crown and freezes in fear as she sees a vision of King Ghidorah causing mass destruction and panic before she passes out.

Moments later her grandfather Tengan, the Azumi High Priest (Masao Imafuku), arrives to revive her, and it is then she tells him that a monster will soon appear.

Keisuke drops his brother off at a popular tourist attraction: the Gyokusen Cave, where he discovers a strange, shiny, and hissing (!) metallic object.

After arriving at the construction site, Keisuke learns that an excavation has unearthed a cave containing a chamber with walls covered in colorful drawings as well as an inset holding a small animal statue with glowing eyes.

After exiting the cave, Keisuke is hounded by reporters demanding they be let in. It's all he can do to hold them back, but a woman manages to get through; it is Saeko Kaneshiro (Reiko Tajima), a researcher from Shuri University's Archaeology Department who informs him that the drawings were made by Okinawa's ancient ancestors. She also identifies a portion of the artwork depicting a floating mountain and twin suns as part of a prophecy.

One drawing of particular interest is the likeness of the small statue in the recess, which Saeko identifies as King Caesar (aka Seesar, Shisa, and Seesaw, described in one issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland as having been "lion around for ages"), Guardian of the Azumis, a larger figure of which is perched atop the entrance to the Azumi Shrine. It seems that many years ago the guardian saved the Royal Family from Japanese mainlanders invading the island.

Saeko examines the drawings in a room at the university where she deciphers the message in the mural: "When a black mountain appears above the clouds, a monster will destroy the world." Suddenly the doorknob turns and the door slowly opens revealing a goateed man: Black Hole Alien Agent Yanagawa (Daigo Kusano) preparing to enter the room, only to be scared-off by the approach of a tall imposing figure wearing sunglasses and a full-length black coat with an upturned collar: Interpol Agent Nanbara (Shin Kishida), who also has a look-see into the room.    

Saeko travels on a DC-9 to Tokyo and spots Keisuke taking a long-overdue vacation, telling him she is taking the statue to Johoku University's eminent archaeologist, Professor Wagura (Hiroshi Koizumi). Sitting in a seat in front of them is the tall stranger who identifies himself as a scandal-hunting freelance journalist interested in writing a story about the statue.

Excited conversations amongst the passengers alert everyone's attention to a strange sight: a huge dark cloud looking like the "black mountain" described in the mural. Saeko explains there was an addendum to the prophecy: "When a red moon sets and the sun rises in the west, two monsters will appear to save the people," causing Keisuke to reflect on Nami's horrific vision.

After a taxi takes them to the professor's home, Saeko learns that Keisuke is Wagura's nephew. When Keisuke asks where his brother is, Wagura discloses the young man took the metal he found in the cave to another eminent scientist, Professor Miyajima (Akihiko Hirata), who determines it is Space Titanium. Then an earthquake - the tenth in as many days - strikes, startling the professor's daughter, Ikuko (Hiromi Matsushita).

Keisuke is preparing for bed at Wagura's house when he hears a strange noise. In the living room, Wagura and Saeko study some of the drawings when the alien agent enters and demands the statue at gunpoint, but fortunately Keisuke arrives and dukes it out with the intruder. Wagura hands the statue to Saeko and tells her to scram, but then watches as the two men struggle (at one point Keisuke forces the agent to drop his gun and the professor picks it up, but being a learned man, doesn't know what to do with it).

The intruder runs away leaving the statue safely in Saeko's hands observed by the eavesdropping Interpol agent.

The next day a series of enormous explosions shakes Mount Fuji as a huge rock elevates and then descends, exploding (naturally) to reveal the King of the Monsters, whose strange-sounding roar no one notices. Stricken with anxiety, Keisuke announces his intention to head for Fuji and check-up on his brother and the professor, but Wagura advises against it, advising him that the area - like love - is a battlefield. Keisuke decides to go anyway.

At the Azumi shrine the old man fills his daughter in on the details, admitting that while King Caesar can defeat Godzilla, no one can awaken the Azumi god unless proper steps are taken. He subsequently falls to his knees, begging the statue to come to their rescue.

Godzilla continues on its deadly rampage, pausing to turn a high-rise building into a low-rise building, when it stumbles over Anguirus who has risen to the surface. The spiny beast charges only to be drop-kicked onto a bridge, an event watched by Keisuke speeding to the scene in his 1974 Toyota Corona 2000GT (his job as a construction supervisor apparently doesn't pay that much), astonished at seeing the two old friends fighting each other.

During Anguirus' second charge it tears-away a portion of Godzilla's "flesh" revealing a shiny piece of metal. The two continue battling until Godzilla breaks Anguirus' jaw, sending it moaning in pain as it retreats underground, where it would remain for the next 30 years.

Keisuke arrives at the demolished lab finding no one around, but discovers something else: a larger piece of the shiny metal similar to what Masahiko found, which Miyajima identifies as Space Titanium. Keisuke also learns that the professor smokes an unusual pipe with the bowl and stem having been made out of two different metals; when placed apart they create magnetic waves destroying the positive and negative electrons.

That evening Godzilla lays waste to an oil refinery as Miyajima, Keisuke, Ikuko, and Masahiko arrive to witness the destruction first-hand. The creature starts moving toward them when it gets stopped in its tracks as a second Godzilla emerges from under a building, prompting Keisuke to utter the immortal words:

"Two Godzillas! What does it mean?"

It means a bataille royale, and as the first Godzilla (which facially looks different from a moment ago) prepares to attack, the action is being watched on a monitor by a cigar-smoking man with blue cheek rogue and a shiny aluminum getup: Black Hole Alien Leader Kuronuma (Goro Mutsumi). Kuronuma is a member of the Simian race working in an underground command center surrounded by high-tech equipment and several Simians.

During the fight, the second Godzilla manages to tear-away a larger chunk of the first Godzilla's flesh, revealing a metallic structure which can mean only one thing: the Godzilla that came out of Mount Fuji is actually a giant robot. Miyajima acknowledges that, "You could call it a MechaGodzilla!"

A moment later Kuronuma flips a switch causing the first Godzilla's outer skin to disappear revealing an awesome cyborg which immediately launches finger missiles at Godzilla, sending it careening to the ground. MechaGodzilla then activates laser eye-beams countered by Godzilla's atomic breath, resulting in a massive explosion, disabling the robot and launching Godzilla into the harbor where it sinks, leaving behind a huge pool of bubbling blood.

After Kuronuma orders the stricken robot back to base, Miyajima decides to take Ikuko and Masahiko with him to the Gyokusen Cave. "I'm certain," he says, "that MechaGodzilla is being remotely-controlled by spacemen."

At the aliens' command center, Kuronuma is told the cyborg's head repairs will be time-consuming, prompting an aide to tell his superior: "Chief, if we lose too much time, headquarters will discover our mistake," but this is not an issue with the leader, who merely replies that they need "an Earthman who knows space technology." Fortunately, one is already on the way.

Wagura tells Keisuke and Saeko that he has finally deciphered the statue's markings explaining where to find King Caesar: "When the sun rises in the west, then place this statue on the sacred shrine above the gate of Azumi Castle." This is bad news for Kuronuma as it means the god can now be awoken. "We'll be in trouble if King Caesar brings other monsters to life" he mutters.

The next day Saeko and Keisuke take the statue with them on the Queen Coral cruise ship enroute to Okinawa, unaware that the "scandal hunter" is watching their every move. Miyajima, Ikuko, and Masahiko are exploring the cave when a bright light flashes, causing the professor to drop his metallic pipe.

Moments later the three explorers find themselves unwilling guests of Kuronuma who is plainly pleased meeting Miyajima and offers him a "Hedorah's Choice:" agree to repair the robot or see his companions die.

After Keisuke and Saeko have a sunset dinner - during which the contractor suspects they are being watched - they stand along the railing and gaze-out over a shimmering sea, when Saeko states she can hear Godzilla roaring, and at that very moment on a stormy island the wounded creature is revived by several lightning strikes (a treatment the badly-wounded Anguirus could have used).

The alien manages to gain entry into Saeko's cabin where he steals the statue while she sleeps, but his reverie is brief, for shortly after returning to his own cabin he is immediately set-upon by Keisuke (where did he come from?) and the two resume their struggle. After the agent slices Keisuke's hand with a knife, Keisuke picks up the agent's gun and shoots him in the face!

What happens next almost defies description (it certainly defies explanation) as the agent collapses, his face partially-melting away revealing a ghastly green gorilla face dotted with crusty protrusions. The ape-man grabs the statue and escapes with Keisuke in hot pursuit, but the pursuit ends when the alien springs upon Keisuke and retrieves the gun, ordering him to stand by the railing. An instant later the alien is shot by an unknown assailant, sending the screaming Simian spiraling overboard and taking the statue with him.

Saeko arrives, and as she tends to Keisuke's wound, he gives her the bad news: the statue is gone.

Not for long however as the next morning she learns that Keisuke had a decoy made of the effigy, with the real deal stored in the ship's safe. Shortly thereafter they arrive at Okinawa and check into their room at the Naha Hotel, where the receptionist tells them that Miyajima, Ikuko, and Masahiko have not been seen for several days. Keisuke drives toward the cave while Saeko stays in her room, unaware that someone is watching her . . . 

As soon as Miyajima completes his patch-job on the robot, Kuronuma summons him for a toast, but the professor is not in a celebratory mood and insists the prisoners be released. Instead, the alien has him thrown into the same "Execution Room" which is a chamber slowly filling with hot steam and heat lamps with the intent of frying them all to death.

After entering the cave, Keisuke spots the professor's pipe and retrieves it seconds before an armed alien sentry appears, but "Johnny-on-the-Spot" Nanbara - who now identifies himself as Interpol Agent Nanbara and the one who had shot the gorilla guy on the ship - knocks the alien out. After reviving the bastard, Nanbara and Keisuke use him to gain access to the complex, and in doing-so knock out another sentry before getting into the aliens' outfits.

They soon find the Execution Room, knock out another sentry, break-in, and disable the heating elements. Two additional sentries arrive but Nanbara shoots them and the five escapees run for Keisuke's car.

Keisuke is about to turn on the ignition when Nanbara suspects the car has been booby-trapped, and soon after taking cover, Nanbara pulls a long wire attached to the key and the vehicle explodes.

After noticing how the sun now looks like a red moon, the group decides to split up, with Keisuke and Ikuno heading for the castle while Nanbara, Masahiko, and the guilt-ridden Miyajima will go back and destroy the aliens and their infernal robot, but not before Keisuke thoughtfully returns the professor's pipe to him. The three re-enter the complex by duping and killing the same guard they had earlier used to break-in (and who incredibly still has a job there) but are soon captured.   

Keisuke, Saeko, and Ikuno arrive at the shrine only to be met with a hail of bullets as two aliens are holding Nami and her grandfather hostage. A moment later the aliens are shot dead by Nanbara's partner, Interpol Agent Tamura.

A mirage appears, giving the impression that the sun is rising in the west, so the statute is placed atop the shrine, and as the sun's rays strike the statue's eyes, beams of light streak towards a hill creating another explosion, and as the smoke clears, the sleeping King Caesar - a bipedal lion with long shaggy ears that has somehow slept through the detonation - can be seen, motivating Kuronuma to order MechaGodzilla launched to kill the ancient idol.

Nami then dashes toward the shore and sings a little ditty to the deity written by Fukuda/Sato and sung by Barbara Lynn:

 

"Kurai yoru no tobari ga kieru

Asa ga kitara, nemuri kara, samete hoshii no

Watashi no Shisa, hoshi no hamabe de matteiru no

Shisa, chikara tsuyoku aoi koraaru wo koete . . ."

 

"The curtains of dark night vanish

When the morning sun rises, from sleep, he awakens for our wish

My Caesar, waiting with the starry beach

Caesar, your strength intensifies, crossing the blue choral . . . "

 

Despite its noble fighting spirit, King Caesar is no match for the cyborg, which prepares to finish it off until a series of underwater explosions announces the arrival of a good-as-new Godzilla making its way inland.

Tied to chairs inside the Control Room, Miyajima, Nanbara, and Masahiko are forced to watch the battle on monitors; but they are not idle spectators as Nanbara is able to remove his ring and undo his shackles while Miyajima takes out his pipe.

Unlike the Godzilla in Megalon which merrily skipped to meet its foes, this one approaches in a more-determined fashion as it again faces MechaGodzilla which shoots a limitless supply of ammunition from its eyes, mouth, chest, mid-section, knees, fingers, and toes, and can even simultaneously zap Godzilla and King Caesar standing on opposite sides of it. The robot can also surround itself with a force-field and continues to fire-away at the two gods causing panic and confusion and giving Godzilla more trouble than Megalon and Gigan combined.

The robot lifts-off and relentlessly strikes Godzilla with laser beams causing torrents of blood to erupt from the creature's neck before Godzilla falls and lies helplessly on the ground, giving MechaGodzilla the opportunity to impale it with several missiles; never before has Godzilla taken such a pounding. Godzilla then rises to its feet and forces the missiles out of its body; its dorsal fins sparkling as it turns itself into a magnetic pole, forcing the flying robot to come toward it.

Unable to resist the monster's magnetism the robot is seized by Godzilla, and aided by King Caesar's relentless attacks, the King of the Monsters manages to decapitate its metallic double.

The stunned Kuronuma "can't believe it. The magnificent machine, MechaGodzilla, has been defeated!" More bad news is on the way as the now-freed Nanbara tosses the two sections of Miyajima's pipe at opposite ends of the control panel creating a short-circuit. After overcoming the operatives, shots ring out and Kuronuma and his operatives die before turning back into Simians.

Suddenly the Control Center goes out-of-control and sparks fly all around as Miyajima shouts "It's dangerous!" and the three hustle-out of the cave and the compound.

MechaGodzilla explodes sending Godzilla into the sea, but the reptile is still alive and well. King Caesar returns to its lair moments before another explosion seals it back up inside the mountain.

As the camera dollies back from the smoldering hill and stirred water, the scene splendidly dissolves into a shot of Nami placing the statue of King Caesar - with its eyes still glowing - inside the sacred shrine. All is well: the statue has been safely restored to its proper place, the ancient ancestors of Azumi can now rest in peace, the aliens have been defeated, MechaGodzilla has been destroyed, Godzilla has survived, Miyajima, Nanbara, and Masahiko have successfully carried-out their mission, and Ikuno, Masahiko, Saeko, Keisuke, Nami, and even her grouchy grandfather are all happy smiles; even the large statue of the Lion God itself seems pleased as "The sun has set on a never-to-be-forgotten nightmare."

 

A Closer Look:

 

Produced as the franchise's 20th Anniversary Release, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla created little stir when first released other than introducing a new and deadly foe for the King of the Monsters, yet it was the most-satisfying and likeable film since Ebirah; involving without being insulting, and childlike without being childish, "with no child actors in sight." Reaching a happy medium between the absurd and the acceptable, the music is enjoyable, the camera work is creative, and for the first time in a long time, the characters are appealing, believable, and memorable.

The original draft was written by Shinichi Sekizawa and science-fiction writer Masami Fukushima before being adapted by Fukuda and Hiroyasu Yamaura. There are the usual conundrums, the first of which takes place less-than a minute into the movie, with Nami's vision clearly showing King Ghidorah running amok; however fans of the Three-Headed Monster were no doubt disappointed since it never again appeared. It is not clear why Anguirus is in the snow country (presumably roaring to alert Godzilla about something) or why there is a piece of Space Titanium lying on the cave floor or how the Black Hole Aliens were able to build a massive underground complex undetected. And why wouldn't Nami and her granddad - descendants of the Azumi Royal Family - not know about the location of the underground shrine, since the Japanese researchers could have saved themselves a whole lot of time and trouble simply by asking them to explain the meanings behind the various ancient symbols and drawings.

In Hedorah, Gigan, and Megalon, the police and the military - if and when you could find them - were skeptical about the presence of monsters (you'd think they'd learned something after 20 years of terror), but this is the first film where neither is ever informed about them. When Miyajima, Masahiko, and Ikuno are being fried In the Heat Chamber in a time-honored plot device (by slow-roasting their captives the aliens give Keisuke and Nanbara the time needed to effect a rescue), no one tries escaping or figuring out how to stop the heat, nor do any of them remove any of their clothing, and Keisuke and Miyajima take-up precious time getting into the aliens' attire.

The aliens' notion of disguising the giant robot to look like Godzilla was as pointless as disguising themselves, and initially one gets the impression Godzilla will be unfairly blamed for all the destruction the robot causes, but nothing is done with this interesting concept, although Peter Lovold thinks the robot "was disguised as Godzilla to divert any suspicion of outsider involvement." However J.D. Lees has several reasons for this ploy: "First, since Godzilla had become a protector of Earth, to have him appear to return to evil would surely demoralize humanity. Second, since Godzilla had shown himself to be nearly invulnerable to attack, maybe the aliens hoped their disguised robot would not be challenged by Earth weaponry. Third, maybe the aliens wanted to get away with a lot of destruction before anyone realized there was an invasion from space underway. And fourth, perhaps the aliens disguised MG because it was a cool thing to do. Can't aliens have a sense of humor?"

Then there is Mike Bogue's explanation: "The subterfuge appears to serve no purpose as far as advancing their plans to conquer Earth. However, the motive could have to do with Simian psychology; after all, the Simians themselves appear in the cloaked form of humans, so perhaps any implement of invasion would likewise 'need' to be disguised in a form familiar to the denizens of planet Earth." The day is eventually saved the same way it was in Astro Monster: in that film, the aliens neglected to search Tetsuo Teri who is able to retrieve his Ladyguard Alarm and inflict mayhem. Here the aliens forget to frisk Miyajima, so Nanbara is able to use the professor's pipe and destroy their equipment.

It was Tomoyuki Tanaka who came up with the idea of creating a monster robot patterned after Godzilla, yet such a concept was hardly new, as seven years earlier there was a robotic Kong in King Kong's Counterattack. The aliens have constructed MechaGodzilla (portrayed by Isao Zushi) for the expressed purpose of conquering the world, rightly figuring their main foe would be Godzilla - now clearly established as Defender of the Earth - and they are concerned about King Caesar, but as it turns out, they shouldn't have been. Nanbara tells Keisuke that Interpol has been watching the aliens for six months in a covert operation (which could explain why the local authorities know nothing about them), and while the aliens have the cave's interior under constant surveillance, someone must have been asleep when Masahiko found the Space Titanium fragment, and had Kuronuma not turned-off his monitor after the car exploded - he certainly wasn't paying attention when Nanbara rigged the wire to the car's ignition - he would have seen Masahiko, Miyajima, and Nanbara on their way back into the cave.

A possible subplot regarding the encroachment of Japanese developers on ancient Okinawan artifacts was all-but ignored, no doubt due to political ramifications regarding the intimidation toward the local inhabitants by some 50,000 American soldiers still stationed there - a very-real problem which has existed since the end of World War II - and whether or not Black Holes have planets in them is a question for Neal Degrass Tyson (here Jason Barr sharpens his pontificating pencil, writing in Kaiju Cinema that "MechaGodzilla, under the control of the Simians, can be seen as an extension of American aggression into Okinawa . . . The stars of the film, Godzilla and King Caesar, Japan and Okinawa, untie in order to repel the deadly and intensely aggressive MechaGodzilla, eventually emerging victorious . . .  tradition wins: King Caesar, along with help from his newfound ally, successfully protects the island, a clear example of contemporary wish fulfillment for the Japanese and in particular the Okinawans."

Ah, but is King Caesar an animal, a machine, or a living god? The Toho Kingdom website feels that "Although King Caesar looks like a flesh and blood monster . . . the Okinawa monster was instead constructed from a variety of materials.  Using gold as frame work to build out a bone structure, the body was then reinforced with a concrete, brick-like body. In the head, a Prism Eye was installed, a gigantic U-shaped crystal that could reflect energy back at its source. To power the ancient machine, energy crystals were installed in the belly of the monster." The Kingdom has no apparent notion of how it was built, or who built it and why, and if it was built, then who or what is controlling it? They then conclude their argument admitting that "Given that the monster was built, it's hard to imagine what threat the Prism Eye was originally envisioned to combat," but why not just call it a living god a be done with it?    

Miyajima is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who deserves his reputation given his ability to work with alien technology, but how do the aliens know he will come to the cave so they can capture him; for that matter, how did they learn that Wagura had finally deciphered the hieroglyphics? Keisuke and Saeko congratulate their cleverness in outsmarting the aliens by taking a cruise ship to Okinawa, but they didn't fool either the alien agent or Nanbara. Stuart Galbraith writes in his Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films that "Miyajima is killed," although this is clearly not the case, as he is seen scampering to safety along with Nanbara and Masahiko, which brings up an important issue: the death of a significant character, imparting a serious note and lending the film a tinge of realism (not in this case however and rightfully so, since Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla is a "feel-good" film where Miyajima's death would have ended the proceedings on a sour note). 

Another first for a Seventies Godzilla film is having an intelligent and professional woman as one of the central characters: Nami, researcher and teacher-assistant for Shuri University, and who - as with Ken in Hedorah - seems to have a subliminal connection with Godzilla as she is able to detect the monster's roar from many miles away. Keisuke's comment about taking his "first vacation in years" no doubt struck a chord with Japanese audiences, as only 17% of Japanese employees normally take any time off; in fact the average Japanese worker typically uses only seven out of 18 vacation days allotted each year.

There are many terrific scenes sprinkled throughout the film: the confrontation between Kuronuma and Miyajima, the initial battle between Godzilla and his metallic foe in the exploding (1/25th scale) oil refinery set, Ikuno and Keisuke's dinner in the diner (the production costs for filming onboard the cruise ship were offset in exchange for a promotional tie-in), Godzilla's lightning regeneration, Nami's sand song, the destruction of the alien base filled with crazy sound effects, shaking camerawork, and aliens bumping into each other in their frantic attempt to escape among a myriad of explosions; even the brief slideshow with Ikuno and Wagura has a pleasant warmth to it. Part of the movie's comforting appeal can be found in the scenes onboard the cruise ship, the island photography, and the tours in an actual cave, almost like taking the viewer on a mini-vacation; although when the first shot of the ship comes into view via a stock aerial shot accompanied by cheery bells and flutes, it is a bit jarring as if a commercial has just interrupted the film, which in a sense it has.

There are other nice little moments: the alien agent's rapturous gaze at the stolen statue in Saeko's cabin, his tossing deck chairs at Keisuke, the chuckling of various characters (the alien sentry, Kuronuma, even Nanbara joins in), and Tamura's coldly-professional examination of the two aliens he has just killed without warning; here is the charm lacking in the decade's earlier films. The dialogue is also memorable with lines like "On a beautiful night like this, you should talk about love!", "I admire you're deductive processes," "Did you notice the color of the Moon?" (which some hear as "Do you know she's the color of the Moon?"), and the amusing celestial passwords "Alpha/Centarus" (also memorable - but for the wrong reason - are the two scraps between Keisuke and the agent; the first a pillow fight and the second when Keisuke demands the alien talk even as he's chocking him).

There are some continuity issues: when Miyajima is thrown into the Heat Chamber he lands on his back, but when Ikuno and Masahiko rush-over to him, he is on his stomach. After Miyajima, Nanbara, and Masahiko decide to destroy the aliens, Keisuke hands the professor his pipe and Miyajima holds it facing in one direction, but in the subsequent shot, he is holding it in the opposite direction, and when Godzilla is first glimpsed on the stormy island it is walking from right-to-left, but in the next shot, it is now facing left-to-right. On the plus side, the miniature sets are the most expansive ever for a Fukuda film up to that point, and the alien costumes are la haute couture: white lace with gold trim stylishly topped-off with gorilla-skull belt buckles. In all it becomes a very pleasant way of spending 84 minutes and is essentially a kiddy film; hectic but harmless as again only the bad guys die. As Guy Tucker has noted: "Teruyoshi Nakano was a respectable director, doing the best he could, but he did not have the pull with Toho that would have been necessary to reinvigorate the genre, and reverse the way it was being betrayed by the market. Sekizawa did not think it was necessary to gear everything so obsessively to the kids. He thought the adults were staying way because Toho was only interested in the bottom line, and the adults could see through it."

Masaaki Daimon is pleasant as Keisuke (he won the Nippon Award for Best Newcomer that year) and pairs nicely with Reiko Tajima as Saeko, and unlike previous male-female relationships, there is no romantic aspect to it, which is rather refreshing. Goro Mutsumi is great as the sardonic, cognac-guzzling, cigar-chomping Kuronuma, and the multi-talented Shin Kishida (actor, theater manager, screenwriter, artist, fencer) lends an imposing impression as Nanbara. Kishida gained his greatest fame as the Japanese Dracula in the second and third of director Michio Yamamoto's "Dracula Trilogy," but sadly, the actor - who smokes like a chimney throughout the film - died from esophageal cancer only eight years after MechaGodzilla at the age of 43. Even the supporting players are first-rate: Kazuya Aoyama as Masahiko Shimizu, Hiromi Matsushita as Ikuko Miyajima, and Daigo Kusano as Yanagawa. Beru-Bera Lin is appropriately wholesome as Nami, and Masao Imafuku is delightfully over-the-top as a high-strung High Priest.

But the real acting highlights come from respected character actors long-appreciated for their genre performances and something sorely missing after Son of Godzilla: Hiroshi Kozumi, Akihiko Hirata, and Kenji Sahara. Fukuda shrewdly played on their stereotypical skills: Kozumi is a scientist able to decipher native jargon, Hirata is a scientist tortured by guilt, and Sahara is a cordial cruise ship captain. Hirata gives a particularly fine performance as the blackmailed Miyajima; the scene when Kuronuma puts a space gun on the scientist's chin and forces him to make a terrible decision in order to save his family's lives is one of the few effectively dramatic moments in Fukuda's oeuvre. Fukuda's directorial prowess is at its best except for the clumsy moment when Nanbara frantically and none too convincingly removes Miyajima and Masahiko's shackles as the Simian's circuit board goes bananas (sorry).      

Michiko Ikeda's editing moves things briskly along and Masaru Sato's satisfying score was his last one for the series, highlighted with xylophone, tom-toms, vibraphone, organ, brass, and that ever-present electric guitar. Organ, guitar, and low woodwinds creepily color the aliens' transformations, and Sato recycles a portion from his Son of Godzilla music during King Caesar's battle with MechaGodzilla, but the composer's use of blaring trumpets and pounding piano when Keisuke encounters the sentry is a bit much. Sato's selections for the first fight between Keisuke and the alien agent is an bizarre blending of Latin American guiro, tambourine, and rolling timpani punctuated with brief organ notes, although for some reason Sato didn't score the deck pursuit or the scenes in the sauna. 

Yuzuru Aizawa's camera work shows a willingness to try new things as there are intense close-ups of objects and eyes as well as multi-paned images, tinted filters, POV shots, warm tones achieved with attractive backlighting, and there is a particularly ingenious shot showing flames reflecting off of Keisuke's windshield after the group arrives at the exploding dock. The cinematographer frames actors in clever compositions and keeps the camera fairly close-in on the action creating an intimacy with the viewer, although some of the hand-held shots are more than a little shaky, and the day-for-night photography during the pursuit onboard the cruise ship looks more like day-for-day (effects cinematographers Motoyoshi Tomioka and Takeshi Yamamoto made worthwhile contributions as well, such as an effective tracking-in shot of the rain-regenerated Godzilla).

Nakano asked himself, "What will happen if you turn Godzilla into a robot, and how to do it without destroying Godzilla's form? First of all, I got a tin plate Godzilla toy and said I wanted to smash it. Because making curved lines is difficult with metal work, we used as many sharp angles as we could, which is good, because it gave a feeling of sharpness, and which is why I said I wanted to smash it as much as possible. As we were crushing it, the form came about. When you smash hard things, this is the result. When you flatten Godzilla's nose with a hammer, it becomes like this, and then if you strike it on top of the head, it changes shape, and so I gave the instructions to design something on the basis of this smashed-in shape."

Godzilla and Anguirus had now become the most-comfy combination since ancient ruins and yogurt, but oddly they never share a scene together; in fact the once-mighty Anguirus is now the Rodney Dangerfield of kaiju. It made no appearance in Hedorah and in Gigan it might have fared better had it just stayed home, gaining the dubious distinction of becoming one of the very few Japanese monsters turned away by military action, and was more of a hindrance than a help during the battle scenes. Anguirus calls out to Godzilla at the beginning of the film and spends ten days burrowing underground causing ten days of earthquakes on its way to battle MechaGodzilla (which it somehow knows is in the neighborhood), but all it manages to do for its troubles is get kicked around, get its jaw busted, and humiliatingly forced to retreat.

"At the time of making each of the monsters," Nakano said, "I am thinking in my own way, because I'm desperately trying to tackle it. Then, when MechaGodzilla is moving as the costume, and it moves along with the way I conceived it, it's a event giving me great pleasure. But the judgment of whether the design is good or bad is not up to me, but to the people coming to see it. As for me, the chief concern was the costume: can it be on par with Godzilla? When confronted with the costume that was made to easily move in a graceful way, can it compete? That was my biggest worry. Finally it worked, though it took a lot of hard work getting there.

In one of the movie's best scenes, MechaGodzilla (Ise Mori)

reveals itself to Godzilla (Isao Zushi).

.

"As much as I can do, if I don't do it thoroughly, I think it would be boring. Luckily, we made a costume which had a mechanical feeling to it. Even though we did some extravagant things, they will get a response, and combined with the visual effects, it won't be considered as strange. In any case we were thinking we should do everything that was possible to do."

King Caesar was based on a traditional Okinawan cultural artifact decoration resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, known from mythology as the "shisa" aka shisi (and not a shiksa which is a different thing entirely). Okinawans place pairs of shisas on their rooftops, gates, and at the entrances to Buddhist temples, since shisas are wards believed to protect them from evil. Shisas with closed mouths are males, whereas those with open mouths are females - we won't go there - but since King Caesar has an open mouth with closed teeth, we will assume it's transgender. Ed Godziszewski described Caesar as resembling "an overgrown cocker spaniel," but in the eyes of William Tsutsui, it is "an Okinawan lion god whose menace was undermined by fuzzy, floppy ears, a dustmop tail, and abdominal scales that looked just like cedar shingles." That's pretty rough, but Greg Shoemaker digs even deeper: "King Seesar is no lion-monster and falls far short of the picture painted by the legend. It is more a refugee from a Japanese superhero TV series and less a lion because of its bat face and poodle hair cut. Seesar is an amphetamine-driven scrounger in combat, and its antics remind one of Bert Lahr's excitable lion from the  Wizard of Oz" (incidentally, King Caesar's eyes were made from a car's taillights; year, make and model anyone?).

The wire works are below par and shadows can be seen on the background diorama during the nighttime battle between the two Godzillas. The old routine of a monster hiding behind a rock is revisited and there are inconsistencies with the Godzilla costume used for the real Godzilla and the MechaGodzilla impersonator; however MechaGodzilla's design is splendid and made numerous appearances in future films (as for the noble King Caesar, it was popular with fans and returned in Final Wars).

Fans of Ebirah may disagree, but Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla is probably Jun Fukuda's best Godzilla film. It was also his swansong from the series. "I switched over to making documentaries," he said, "mostly for television, partly because as the time constraints became tighter and tighter, the budges became smaller and smaller. Because of the conditions, we were having to rewrite screenplays. I began to dislike being involved with that kind of filmmaking." He told Galbraith that "I give all of my Godzilla films a minus score." For his part, Nakano also looked back on the Seventies with some regret: "I think mine was the toughest period of time in Godzilla history." When talking to Dave Milner, Fukuda was even more downbeat:

 

Milner:    "Are there any with which you are especially unhappy?"

Fukuda:   "Many."

Milner:   "Which of the science fiction films you directed are your                    favorites?"

Fukuda:    "None of them" (Jun Fukuda died on December 3rd, 2000).

 

End of story? Not quite. There was one final film to be released and the 15th in the series, the swansong of the Seventies and the last one directed by Ishiro Honda (it would also be his last feature-length, solo-directorial effort): MechaGodzilla's Counterattack (Mekagojira no gyakushu) was the decade's only anomaly, filled with personal loss, tragic deaths, heartache, heartbreak, and a tragic ending. It was the most serious and only adult Godzilla film of the Seventies and bombed, becoming one of only two Godzilla films making less-than a million dollars as well as being the lowest-attended Godzilla film of them all. Yet despite Fukuda's harsh assessment of his own legacy the fact remains that millions around the world love his Godzilla films and enjoy watching them at a moment's notice, for their lack of pretentiousness, their outstanding visuals, and their enjoyable action.

And they were certainly unique. Perhaps Ben Patton summed up the 1970s Godzilla films best when he wrote: "I am not ashamed to say I enjoyed the Godzilla movies of the Seventies. So what if they were a little hokey? They were still a lot of fun and had some pretty

cool monsters."

Chapter Eight

 

The Return of Godzilla (aka) Godzilla 1984

(Gojira)

< Released December 15th, 1984 >

"Didn't you sense it at the nuclear plant? When Godzilla was defeated at Odo Island (sic) 30 years ago, it became a legendary monster. When the world becomes unbalanced, natural disasters occur, and monsters even appear. We've seen this the world over, in different mythologies. Godzilla is truly a sign of the end of times for humanity." - Professor Hayashida

The Film:

Heavy bow strings, shimmering cymbals, and cascading woodwinds serve as a preamble to three katana symbols spelling-out "Gojira" in only the second time this has happened since the creature's introduction 30 years earlier. The brief opening credits are superimposed over live-action night shots of boiling magma and searing lava, and the music is bleak, forceful, and dramatic - if a tad portentous - making the meaning clear: for the first time in nearly ten years, this was going to be a serious Godzilla film.

The fishing vessel Yahata Maru No. 5 is being pulled near Daikoku Island in the Izu Island chain during a severe storm three months after the "Daikoku Eruption." Among those trying to maintain their balance on the swaying ship is science student Hiroshi Okumura (Shin Takuma), who suddenly hears a monstrous roar as the island blows itself apart before he and the others are knocked off their feet.

A then rather abrupt dissolve takes us to Tohto Times reporter Goro Maki (Ken Tanaka) serenely sailing his yacht and listening to a pleasant little song on the radio called "Goodbye My Love," released as a 45-single in a pre-release advertising scheme, orchestrated in a nice Eighties vibe:

 

"Concrete no mori wa

Shizumu yuuhi o kakushi

Kodomotachi dake ni nemuri no epilogue

Itsumo mukuchi na anata . . ."

 

"The concrete forest

Hides the setting sun

An epilogue to the sleep of children only

You're always so quiet . . ."

 

Then a news flash announces the disappearance of the very vessel which he has just come across.

After calling out and getting no response, he boards the boat only to discover rancid smells, tossed-about equipment, slime-covered floors, mummified corpses, and a barely-living Hiroshi in a locker.

Then something discovers him: a giant crab-like parasitic sea louse known as a Shockirus (aka Shokilas; presumably two or more are a Shokira) that attacks and nearly kills him before a revived Hiroshi kills the creature.

Shortly before being rescued by a coast guard helicopter, a bandaged Hiroshi tells Goro his incredible story of the island rising up out of the sea, and of a giant monster spewing-out a bluish-white ray.

Back at his home in Oshima, Izu, Goro phones-in his story to an unreceptive audience. Hiroshi is recuperating in a police hospital when he is visited by Professor Makoto Hayashida (Yosuke Natsuki). The professor shows him photographs of the original Godzilla which the young man more-or-less identifies as the creature he saw (and which is not in this film). Makoto theorizes the volcanic eruption three months earlier had resurrected the beast, and that the sea lice grew large feeding on the radioactive monster.

This horrific news is relayed to Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura (Keiju Kobayashi), who first makes the odd comment that "I was hoping to finish out my term without incident," before ordering a security lid capped on the entire incident to avoid a national panic, a decision annoying Goro to no end. After complaining about this to his editor and told the reason why, the boss recommends he interview Hayashida.

After Goro arrives at the Hayashida Bioscience Institute, he asks the professor if hatred or revenge motivated him to study Godzilla, since it killed his parents 30 years ago, but Hayashida no longer bears any bitterness toward the beast:

 

Goro:           "Professor, is Godzilla an animal? A beast created through                      radiation, or a monster? That seems to be the general                      consensus."

Hayashida:  "It was Man who created that 'monster.' Mankind is far-                     more monstrous. You could call Godzilla a nuclear                                      weapon, a living nuclear weapon. It does as it pleases                       and continually destroys. What's more, Godzilla is                                       immortal."

Goro:        "So, do we just give up?"

Hayashida:  "I didn't say that!"

 

After a young girl serves them some tea, Goro recognizes her from a photo he found on the unconscious Hiroshi; it is Hiroshi's sister Naoko (Yasuko Sawaguchi), who has not yet been told her brother is alive.

Goro takes the opportunity to meet her as she leaves the clinic, when she tells him Hiroshi works part-time on fishing vessels to help pay her tuition and cost-of-living expenses. He then reveals where she can find him, and the sweetie scampers off.

After running to the hospital, barging through security, and entering her brother's room, her joy is short-lived when she learns the reporter has tricked her so he can photograph their little family reunion.

A Soviet nuclear-powered submarine is prowling south of Hachijo Island 50 km (31 mi) north of Aogashima when it is alerted to the presence of an oncoming underwater object emitting "active sonar." The captain orders the firing of two torpedoes striking the object moments before the vessel is destroyed.

Suspecting an American submarine is responsible, the Soviets go on a full war-footing as America and its allies do likewise. Soon afterwards the PM is shown images of the unknown object taken shortly after the sub's sinking by a patrolling aircraft. He decides to hold a press conference about what had actually happened to the sub and the fishing vessel, and the embittered Hiroshi is put on public display as newspapers scream the news that "Godzilla Lives!"

That evening, Goro pays the clinic a visit to find a despondent Naoko holding a copy of the newspaper containing the reporter's formally-suppressed article, and the photo of her and her brother.

"You're a splendid reporter," she whispers, unable to look at him. "I . . . I misjudged you." She then bolts past him and tosses the paper away.

At the inaugural meeting of the Godzilla Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters, it is revealed that Japan now has a new weapon: a flying armored vehicle called the "Municipal Air-Defense Fighter Super-X" coated with a titanium alloy able to withstand the monster's ray, as well as cadmium missiles used to control nuclear reactors.

Hayashida tells Goro and Hiroshi that the monster sought the sub for its nuclear energy, and for this same reason, it will attack one of Japan's nuclear facilities. 

The professor proves right as acid rain, for soon afterwards the monster (sounding a bit like the growling Sanda; in fact the sea louses sounded a lot like the Kamacuras) approaches the Shizuoka Prefecture's Nuclear Power Plant at Ihama. Hayashida, Goro, and Hiroshi arrive in a Self-Defense Force helicopter to film the attack, watching as the beast destroys the facility and takes hold of the reactor. The surging radioactivity makes the monster's dorsal fins flicker and glow, and only a flock of migrating birds makes it break-off its attack.

After examining the photos taken of the attack, Hayashida surmises a magnetic area in Godzilla's brain responded to the birds, so he sends Hiroshi to accompany a geologist friend named Minami (Hiroshi Koizumi) on a visit to the volcanic Mount Mihara at Oshima.

During a GECH briefing, Minami and Hayashida suggest Godzilla can be lured and destroyed at the volcano via a "synthetic sound wave" mimicking bird cries before inducing an eruption, so the Prime Minister gives them the go-ahead, while still keeping his military options open.

However, it is not Hayashida's intent to destroy the monster: "I would hope that, at the very least, we can send Godzilla back to where it came from."

After arriving at Japan's Parliamentary Building (aka the Diet), Russian Ambassador Tehski and his American counterpart Rosenburg insist nuclear weapons be used against Godzilla. At a meeting of the Japanese council shortly thereafter, the merits or lack thereof are hotly debated; among the important points brought up are whether such a weapon would even kill the monster, the resultant property damage and danger to civilians, and whether the Russians and Americans simply wish to test their weaponry under real-world conditions.

At the next and ultimately conclusive meeting with the envoys, the PM makes the following announcement: "Our country adheres to three Non-Nuclear Principles: the Non-Possession, Non-Production, and Non-Introduction of Nuclear Weaponry. It is my wish to preserve that policy in this instance as well."

This statement does not go over with the diplomats as the Russian criticizes Japan's "selfish" attitude in denying his country the opportunity to destroy Godzilla for destroying their submarine, while the American ambassador puts it more bluntly: "This is no time to be discussing principles!"

But the PM is a man not only of courage but of conviction, stating that "There is no such thing as 'safe' nuclear weaponry. What's more, should we use them just once, it would destroy the balance of power that has made them a deterrent force. It would lead to the world's end. That is the nature of nuclear weapons." He then chastises the two countries for their lustful urges to use such weapons.

That evening one of the envoys (actually Colonel Kasirin, a Soviet Political Operative, aka "spy") boards the Soviet cargo ship Barashevo and reluctantly disengages the control unit to an orbiting missile-launcher.

After it is announced that Godzilla is approaching Tokyo, the police and military scramble into position and people begin evacuating. Godzilla then surfaces in Tokyo Bay - rather spritely compared to its measured rising 30 years earlier - but unlike that unopposed appearance, this time a jet squadron immediately attacks with bullets, canons, and missiles, only to lose two of their number when the creature sends them to a watery grave via its atomic breath.

Godzilla submerges, but in so doing forces the Soviet ship against the dock, resulting in the ship's system going haywire and activating the missile control despite a heroic but fatal attempt by Kasirin to stop it.

The monster resurfaces facing an impressive number of tanks and missiles which it promptly sweeps into oblivion with its ray. It then makes landfall and strolls into Tokyo pausing only to blow a helicopter out of the sky, where it crashes onto bumper-to-bumper traffic, causing a massive chain-reaction of explosive destruction (despite this calamity, one of the officials later tells the Prime Minister that the "evacuations are going well!").

Incredibly, despite the advanced warning of the creature's approach, a commuter train arrives, its path crossing directly ahead of Godzilla, a situation made worse when the engineer freaks-out and slams on the brakes, causing the train to stop right in front of the monster. After picking up one of the cars and giving it a cursory glance, Godzilla tosses it away before destroying the rest of the train and moving on.

A helicopter takes Goro to the top of the building housing Hayashida's laboratory where the professor and his daughter are making final preparations just as three mobile Hyper-Laser Cannons head toward the monster.

After scaring the carp out of a transient (Tetsuya Takeda) who had gained entry into a high-rise restaurant, the creature pauses, giving Goro a splendid opportunity to aim the professor's high-frequency apparatus at its head as Hayashida activates sound waves which immediately calms the beast.

Unfortunately it is at this very moment that a blast from one of the Hyper Cannons hits the beast squarely on the skull, causing it to whip its tail around and strike the building, shaking the clinic and disabling the elevators, including an automatic steel shutter leading to the roof.

The Super-X and its crack crew arrives finding the monster seemingly waiting for them, and as Godzilla roars at flares launched by the Super-X, cadmium missiles are fired into its mouth, subduing Godzilla which then crashes into a building.  

The Soviet missile is accidentally launched towards Japan, but fortunately, the Americans have agreed to shoot it out of the sky.

As Goro unwisely tries prying open the shutter door with a power tool, the blade separates, sending a piece slicing into his shoulder.

Hiroshi then arrives in a military helicopter, and after a large glass window is shattered by an explosive charge, he is lowered by a rescue cable to the ledge, where after some difficulties he, Hayashida, and the high-frequency unit are air-lifted to the chopper, leaving Goro and Naoko behind.

As Naoko later tends to Goro's wounded shoulder, she admits to being frightened. In trying to reassure the girl, Goro pulls her roughly toward him, and after gazing at him for a moment - in the film's biggest directorial blunder - they embrace and she presses against his bloody wound (we've gone from "Awww!" to "Owww!").

The two missiles collide in space with the resultant radioactivity drifting down into the stratosphere creating an electromagnetic shockwave and a massive power outage. The loss of power also affects the Super-X which is forced to land as a series of lightning strikes revives the monster.

After the Super-X manages to take off, a furious battle ensues between it and Godzilla, which Godzilla wins after disabling the Super-X with its ray before toppling a tall building on top of it.

Meanwhile, the helicopter carrying Hayashida and Hiroshi lands at an army base at the crater's outer-rim.

In their attempts to escape from the broken building, Naoko and Goro discover that a section of the stairwell has collapsed, but by the happiest of circumstances, the transient arrives and helps them climb down a fire hose.

The monster makes for the trio causing the stumble-bum to die (or pass out) before getting closer-and-closer to the couple, but then Hayashida's high-frequency waves - which can cover quite a distance and take some time to take effect - entices the beast toward Mount Mihara, where a multitude of explosive devices await it.

The monster reaches the outer rim and pauses as if suspecting something strange before moving toward the opening and sliding down an embankment, coming to rest on a ledge just above the boiling lava.

Hayashida seizes the young man's shoulder (a somewhat forced dramatic moment) prompting him to push a button activating a series of explosions and causing the monster to plunge into the pit, and although the professor and Prime Minister seem to be having second thoughts about the entire affair, a helicopter taking Goro and Naoko to the scene shows them looking quite content at the outcome.  

 

A Closer Look:

 

MechaGodzilla's Counterattack premiered on March 15th, 1975, and was on-screen for three weeks until April 4th, after which there were no new productions of Godzilla movies until 1984 after nearly a decade of darkness. During that period there were rumors of various Godzilla film productions including at least eight different scripts being considered by Toho - some written by leading science-fiction writers throughout the country - but none deemed good enough to follow-through with.

However, every now and then it seemed that a new Godzilla film might be made, such as 1978, when there was talk of a U.S. - Japanese collaboration between Toho and Henry G. Saperstein and Associates, but a concrete agreement was never reached. Then, in 1983, there was word about a possible 3-D film made in America, but that didn't pan-out either. In the meantime there were newspaper stories discussing "The Revival of Godzilla," but nothing happened.

Even so, just like in a Godzilla film, though the monster was never seen, people were still talking about it and waiting for its return. Then in 1978 - as if testing the waters - Toho Records released the original soundtrack to Godzilla, selling over 10,000 copies and rekindling people's memories. That same year, Asahi Sonorama (a Japanese book, magazine, and manga publisher) began printing Godzilla materials aimed - not at children - but adults, including The Great Men of Special Effects Cinema: Godzilla, a compendium concerning Godzilla films with plot details, movie stills, posters, and interviews with staff. Two years later, Toho-owned cinemas showed all 15 Godzilla films, and the Odakyu Department Store in Shinjuku held an event called "The Great Godzilla Exhibition." The number of various publications grew as did overnight showings of Godzilla films, with some cinemas being packed to standing-room only.

Finally, serious discussions for a new Godzilla film began in 1977 within the studio as well, and the opportunity for Godzilla's return grew, with 1982 being the 50th Anniversary of Toho Studios. At the Toho Hibiyaeiga Cinema in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, an exhibition called "Masterpieces from Toho's First 50 Years" was held, with the most popular films being Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra; the theatre was overfilled, shows sold out, and lines formed around the block for the next showings (many feel this was the event that convinced and motivated Toho to make another Godzilla film).

In March of 1983 the planning for Godzilla's revival officially began at Toho, and in April, an official revival festival was scheduled. Beginning with the Tokyo Milano Amusement and Entertainment Complex in Shinjuku, the 1983 "Godzilla Revival Festival" played in 62 cinemas throughout the entire country, and by November, over 200,000 people had gone to see it. In June, research on an animatronic, computer-controlled machine later called the "Cybot Godzilla" commenced, and in August, a new scenario was submitted by Hideichi Nagahara. By October, the first draft of Godzilla’s Return was completed.

In November, a "Revival Preparation Committee" (later called "The G Committee") was officially established, and on December 26th, the committee officially announced to the world what hundreds of thousands had been hoping for: the start of a new Godzilla film. On January 22nd, 1984, the third draft of the scenario was completed, and on February 20th, a nearly-completed version was submitted, with the final version approved on June 4th. Between January and February the main staff was also selected, with long-time Godzilla producer and "parent" Tomoyuki Tanaka named as head of production, while Koji Hashimoto would direct the film and Teruyoshi Nakano supervise the special effects. Between March and April various preparations such as casting were in progress, and on June 12th, a meeting regarding the special effects took place with directors Hashimoto and Nakano. On the 29th the rest of the staff received final preparatory instructions, and on July 7th, filming officially began.

Shooting progressed in absolute secrecy; even Toho employees couldn't visit the set unless they had an ID card. On the 20th of July the shooting of the Cybot Godzilla scenes were completed while work continued filming the Godzilla costume action. Then, after two years of preparation, three months of shooting, and ¥1,500,000,000 (equal to nearly $6,000,000 based on exchange rates from 1984), production wrapped on October 4th. 

While many consider Godzilla's Counterattack as the most-obscure Godzilla film ever made, in many ways that recognition could be granted to The Return of Godzilla. Not considered part of the Showa Series - which ended with MechaGodzilla's Counterattack - it really doesn't seem to belong to the Heisei Series either, and was essentially a stop-gap measure filling the void of non-production; all the same, it was considerably better than nothing. 

Many were pleased seeing Godzilla becoming mean again. "The fans did not like Godzilla when he was good," declared Masaru Yabe, a Toho spokesman at the time of the film's release. "They wanted to see a bad Godzilla. They wanted to see him eat Tokyo again." This was confirmed by Associated Press writer Terrill Jones: "A bad Godzilla is stronger. Anyway, Godzilla's so big he'd crush everything wherever he went, whether he was good or not." With this picture, "Godzilla," wrote Adam Woog, "stopped being friendly. Once again he became a terrifying and destructive force," a concept Mort Todd found irresistible, exclaiming: "He was an angry lizard again!"

Tanaka also agreed that the film was to be a solemn venture: "It will be a serious film, just like the first movie which was a reaction to uncontrolled atomic bomb testing in the atmosphere." After a nearly ten-year absence from the screen, Godzilla returned in a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring the monster's 14 subsequent appearances, which according to Toho had been seen by 65 million Japanese. Motivated by the success of recent Toho monster film revival festivals - as well as merchandising - for the first time since the mid-Sixties, a Godzilla film looked as if a significant amount of money had been spent on it, although Ed Godziszewski felt that "much of the film gives the feel more of a TV melodrama than that of a large scale motion picture."

Most significantly of all, the tongue-in-cheek and outright outrageous approach of the Seventies had been regulated to the past. As Hashimoto stated at the time: "In the first Godzilla movie in 1954, the monster was awakened by a nuclear explosion and the message was against nuclear testing. This time the theme is broader; the risk of nuclear energy in all its forms. This is the message I want to spread to the world through this film."

Producer Fumio Tanaka stated that "The original story was written long before the decision to produce was made. The story featured Gojira doing battle with Bagan, a monster that took three different forms. A number of Toho executives wanted Bagan to be in this because they felt the film would have a greater chance of success with two monsters battling instead of one alone. But Tanaka decided to have Gojira alone; he wanted the film to be similar in tone to the first Godzilla." This caused an immediate issue according to the book Godzilla, King of the Movie Monsters, in that "The film offers nothing new to the screen that the original Godzilla movie already established."

Possibly the most-anticipated Godzilla film of all time, The Return of Godzilla was a reworking and continuation of the Godzilla films of the 1960s, and while refreshingly serious and produced with the best production values since Attack of the Marching Monsters, Return was unable to match the earlier film's captivating quality and zest. As it happened The Return of Godzilla broke no new ground and is fairly conservative in both its approach and execution, and whereas recent Godzilla films had more action than emotion, Return had little of either and at times is tedious, prompting author August Ragone to comment that "(Godzilla's) presence is more akin to that of a dinner guest who doesn't know when to leave."

Having Godzilla as the only monster was a huge gamble since it meant the characters and story would have to be strong enough to stand on their own merits, and unfortunately Return was not able to carry that weight. On paper it must have seemed a cinch with personal, political, and military conflicts along with the threat of a global thermal-nuclear war, and the concept of luring Godzilla to its death by replicating bird sounds (noting the generic similarity between birds and dinosaurs) is not off-beat enough to be interesting and did not translate into compelling cinema. As one writer wrote in 2004, the idea itself was "like something out of a fifties Grade-B sci-fi flick. It makes getting rid of Godzilla amazingly simple, but it is perhaps the least satisfactory strategy of defeating Godzilla to be found in any of the monster's 28 films." The film certainly has its share of action scenes, including a storm at sea, the destruction of a nuclear facility and a Soviet sub, a high-rise rescue, a nuclear explosion, and the eruption of a volcano (the tried-and-true conclusion for many a Toho fantasy film), but their dramatizations are lackluster and uninvolving.

In many ways the film was not as much a step forward as it was a look back, and is more routine than revolutionary, adhering to plot elements long considered tried-and-true. The monster's attack on Tokyo is handled in a comparatively casual fashion (it almost appears to be sleepwalking and at one point stands around doing nothing) and lacks dramatic tension. Few civilians die on-screen and the destruction doesn't seem nearly as bad as before; only an occasional skyscraper as opposed to the first film when the whole city went up in smoke. In previous Godzilla films the beast couldn't wait to knock buildings down, yet the destruction caused by this Godzilla seems more accidental than intentional. We never see any of the dead or the suffering of the wounded, and even Godzilla's spectacular death-dive into the molten lava is not nearly as affecting as watching the 1954 version dissolve into nothingness. 

Hayashida discusses the creature's nuclear origins, but although there is a brief mention of Odo Island, there are no further allusions to those earlier events - no flashbacks or any mention of Yamane or Serizawa and his Oxygen Destroyer - and when Goro walks into Hayashida's brightly-lit lab, it is in sharp contrast to Serizawa's dark underground den of cathode-ray tubes, dusty books, and massive aquariums, as if the filmmakers were intentionally avoiding any melodramatic underpinnings. 

Even so, moments in Return recall those from Godzilla by repeating a formula which had once worked so well: a ship destroyed at the beginning of the film (this time the Yahata Maru No. 5 in a nod to the Eiko-maru No. 5 from the first film, in itself a reference to the Daigo Fukuryu Maru No. 5 which suffered fallout from a nuclear Pacific test and Godzilla's inspiration), the desire to keep a security lid on the monster, newspaper headlines screaming news of the monster's existence, a missing brother, a jet attack in Tokyo Bay, technicians hurriedly snatching-up documents before scrambling-out of a building about to collapse, bureaucratic bickering, a defense official broadcasting a radio report during the monster's attack, the monster's rampage broadcast on television, shots of the military assembling, people evacuating, a young female daughter assisting her (again apparently unmarried) professor father who is another sullen fellow not wishing to harm the creature even though everyone else feels the exact opposite, the creature approaching high-tension wires, the  destruction of a commuter train, a girl tending to her boyfriend's injury, a close-up of the creature's foot approaching fleeing civilians - in this case an 18 m (60 ft) prop requiring a one-ton crane to move - a woman falling while trying to escape the monster, and a close-up of the creature roaring and coming into view from behind a cloud of smoke. There are also a number of references to earlier Godzilla films: Godzilla destroying a submarine (King Kong vs. Godzilla), Godzilla being revived by lightning strikes (Ebirah, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla), a scientist whipping-out a dinosaur book, a person identifying a monster after seeing its photograph, the military distracting the beast with parachutes flares (Counterattack), and happy observers in a helicopter at the film's conclusion (Marching Monsters).

In terms of outright remakes some of the scenes in Return are equal or superior to Godzilla, such as the monster's arrival in Tokyo Bay, but the most glaring comparison occurs during Godzilla's attack on the commuter train, which pales in every aspect to the original. For one thing, the train passes through town despite the fact that - unlike the first film - the city is well-aware that an attack is imminent (it's been going on for nearly ten minutes). In the first film there was no way the engineer could stop the train in time, but here the idiot applies the brakes, making the train stop right in from of the monster. In the first film Godzilla grabbed a train car with its jaws before viciously hurling it to the ground, but this Godzilla leans over to pick it up before carrying it awhile and then off-handedly tosses it away. The entire sequence is over-lit and the score is comprised of twirling flutes, swirling violins, and rapid cellos reminiscent of John Williams' Jaws; as if this wasn't bad enough, some of the extras are smiling as they toss themselves unconvincingly around (in slow-motion in a injudicious attempt at making the scene more dramatic), and there is a silly shot of a smiling priestess put in as a satirical slap at Christianity.

Tanaka had initially asked Honda to retake the helm for this film, but the director had several reasons for declining, such as the death of his longtime friend and collaborator Tsuburaya, as well as the unhappy experience Honda had while directing MechaGodzilla's Counterattack due to Tanaka's constant interference. In fact, Honda was then happily engaged as first assistant director for his friend Akira Kurosawa; however he did recommend Hashimoto for the job. Hashimoto previously assisted-directed six of Honda's fantasy films as well as Shiro Moritani's Tidal Wave (Nihon Chinbotsu) and had co-directed Bye Bye Jupiter (Sayonara Jiupita), a film one present-day reviewer complained: "This is one of the worst Japanese big budget films I've run across."

Hashimoto met Honda at the director's home prior to filming in order to receive some instructions, a little encouragement, and perhaps a word of caution or two. Be that as it may, Shinichi Sekizawa told Tucker that "The industry tends to put too much responsibility on new directors and gives them material that isn't always interesting to them. I don't think Hashimoto was really interested in Godzilla," a comment which may explain the nonchalant nature of his film.

Hashimoto's direction fails to create any sense of fear, confusion, or helplessness. His footage is not terribly dynamic and he plods the film along with a detached cast, a bland script, and average special effects (the matte work is nothing to write home about). The establishing shot of the Soviet crew shows them all in a brightly-lit environment which works against conveying any tension, although Hashimoto tried imparting some anxiety to the scene by having them perspiring heavily (maybe the sub's air-conditioning was on the fritz). And when NHK-TV announcer Taketo Morimoto reports on Godzilla's attack, he does it with all the alarm of a man giving a weather report.

On the other hand, Hashimoto's handling of the Soviet sub disaster, the progressively closer-in shots of an angry Russian ambassador yelling at the Prime Minister, the two Godzilla press-conferences, and the panic at the nuclear facility are well-executed, as is the moment when the monster walks over the GECH, but the episode where Hayashida, Goro, and Naoko are trapped in the tall building - consisting of 11 separate scenes taking up 10 tenuous minutes of screen time - is not very interesting.

Little is done with Professor Mayashita's forgiveness of the monster and Hiroshi's hatred of it, as they have no heated arguments such as the one between Yamane and Ogata. When Goro points out that Godzilla's two attacks took it successively farther away from Japan, Hayashida murmurs, "But it will come," yet Hashimoto doesn't cut to a close-up of the actor which downplays the significance of his observation, and when Hayashida checks the reading on the "Radioactivity Indicator No. 15" during Godzilla's attack on the nuclear facility, he seems more pissed than petrified.

The script identifies numerous locales and individuals in the format of a biographical war film, but these less-than critical disclosures slow the film down, and there are lapses both in continuity and plot: Goro remains onboard the Yahata Maru even after spotting the ship's mummified captain (I would have gone over the side at that point), and how does he manage to board the boat? Hiroshi claims to have seen a monster so big he couldn't identify it even when shown photos of the first Godzilla - he hardly reacts to seeing them - but Hayashida knows it is Godzilla and his word alone is good enough. Gone is the once-pervasive skepticism which is a nice change, although it may have been more effective had members of the older generation been the ones expressing dread, while the younger crowd with no present-tense memory of the monster be less-concerned and even skeptical about its existence. Hayashida states Godzilla was driven to the surface by a volcanic eruption occurring three months earlier, but no one can explain why the Big Beast didn't appear right then and there, which would have been a spectacular introduction and would be in the next film.

Not a whole lot is done with the idea of a Godzilla security lid, and frankly it isn't much of a lid, given that the military, police, security guards, the coast guard, and other local authorities know all about it. Even though Goro's editor tells him his story cannot be published, he allows his employee to interview people for an article that may never see the light of day (one must assume Goro didn't mention the Yahata Maru incident to any of his co-workers). There seems to be no reason not to tell Naoko about her brother lodging at the hospital other than allowing Goro to set up an ambush for photographic purposes when he could just as easily have staged the event, and when Goro tells Naoko her brother is alive - while cruelly teasing her in the process - she just stands there looking stunned instead of urgently demanding to know where he is.

And so Goro goes ahead and blabs the news about Godzilla to Naoko but suffers no punitive action for it; who gave him permission to blow the security lid, and what's to prevent Naoko from blabbing about it? When she dashes-off to the No. 2 Police Hospital on foot - Goro doesn't even offer to take her there - she finds her brother by crashing through some mighty inefficient security guards, but how did she know he would be in that room; what did she do, ask the receptionist? When Hayashida examines the photos Hiroshi took during Godzilla's attack on the nuclear plant, one shows a flock of birds, but no one was taking pictures at that point, and why do Hiroshi and Goro keep hanging around the lab?

Some viewers may find uninteresting and repetitious the scenes where the original Godzilla legend is revisited, but these were included to condition audiences in accepting a more-serious version of the monster. The Russian - American crises forces the PM's hand in revealing the monster's existence, but what if he had just kept quiet about it for security reasons and let the Russians blame the Americans for the sub's destruction? What if, after Japan revealed the undersea photo of Godzilla, the Soviets denied it as "fake news," bringing the world closer to a nuclear confrontation? Although it is acknowledged the monster consumes radioactive material, there is never any debate about shutting down any of Japan's reactors, and when a security guard ends-up mere feet away from the monster's feet, he doesn't suffer any effects from radioactivity.  

There is no coordination between the various factions fighting the monster - the Super-X, Hyper Cannons, and the professor's plan - and the Cannons are strangely silent after Godzilla has been revived by the lightning; it also seems strange having the military patiently waiting until the creature surfaces in Tokyo Bay before loading the cadmium missiles onto the Super-X. The Super-X was initially built secretly for national defense - although it's hard to imagine how such a slow-moving craft could be effectively used in such a fashion - but is fortunately versatile enough to be refitted to fight Godzilla, although it may have been more interesting had the vehicle been built specifically to fight the monster. There are also a couple of timely twists of fate, such as when the transient walks by Goro and Naoko at just the right moment, and when Godzilla pauses in the perfect place so that Hayashida can implement his frequency modulator.

When Goro and Hayashida first meet, the professor hands the young man an American dinosaur book in a now familiar routine, but Goro never looks at it, so we never learn what the point was in handing him the book in the first place (what was inside, a photo of Godzilla?). Naoko severely strains her knee when Godzilla's tail buckles the building, but she is soon able to scamper-up some stairs, and after Goro has a piece of his shoulder torn-off by a saw blade, he can still hold onto a helicopter's rescue cable. The impact of the monster's tail hitting the building shuts off the electrical power, yet the emergency lighting is still quite bright, whereas a darkened interior would have lent the scene more drama.

There are all kinds of overlooked opportunities: Goro inspects the derelict ship during the daytime when a nighttime search would have been more suspenseful, and we never see the sea lice attack the nine-member crew anymore than we see the much-discussed Daikoku Eruption. Much is made over what would happen if the creature's existence is announced - that it would plunge the nation into panic and stocks would plummet and a political uprising would occur - yet when the truth is announced, very little of any of that takes place, which is an utter shame. Hayashida, Goro, and Naoko are trapped in a high-rise building but have plenty of time to allow the professor and Naoko's brother to be airlifted to safety, but what if the building was heavily damaged, or even on fire? The film even commits the Cardinal Sin of (apparently) killing-off the comedy relief!

Now seems like a good time to discuss the five scenes involving the American and Soviet diplomats pressing their points to the Prime Minister - the diplomats arrival, the two debates in the Diet, the conference, and the last scene in the Prime Minister's office - mainly due to the amount of screen time (over seven minutes) spent on them. The debates are oddly staged in that three different languages are being spoken, but since there are no interpreters translating anything, we must assume everyone is able to understand everything. The actors playing the diplomats are acceptable, although the American actor's voice didn't record particularly well (reminding one of Harold S. Conway's nasal whine), and it seems unlikely although not implausible that a shouting match could take place between prim and proper foreign diplomats and a distinguished Head of State, but this essentially was a watered-down version of the political free-for-all from the 1954 film.

The scene where the all-male Japanese bureaucrats discuss their limited options was deemed crucial in order to show them agonizing about what to do, and while the intent was certainly sincere and properly motivated, the dialogue appropriate and the actors convincing, the debate is not especially electrifying. The most logical explanation for it being in the film at all was because it was produced by a generation with fresh memories of the catastrophes of World War II - which are never mentioned - but for contemporary viewers it must have seemed like so much ancient history. As author Hiroshi Tasogawa has explained: "Gaps between generations regarding war are common around the world and Japan is no exception. Among generations of the Japanese are three deep divides: among those born in the Meiji and Taisho eras of 1868 to 1926, those who experienced World War II, and those who became adults after the war." What was pertinent, is now passé.

By this time Godzilla is an essentially local issue as opposed to the global threat it once represented. It did take some chutzpah on the part of the filmmakers to involve real countries (no Red Bamboo here) and calling-out the U.S. and U.S.S.R. for their nuclear desires, yet the film ends-up choosing sides, since it was a Soviet sub getting sunk; no American vessels are destroyed, and after the missile is launched from a clandestine Soviet ship, it is America saving the day. The orbiting missile launchers were probably inspired by then-President Ronald Reagan's proposal made the previous year for the creation of a Star Wars-inspired, space-based anti-missile system called the "Strategic Defense Initiative," and we can rest assured knowing they are at this very moment secretly orbiting the Earth. For the first time humanity is able to neutralize Godzilla's deadly beam, and for the first time in a long time, we see military personnel being killed by the monster.

 

        Godzilla (Kenpachiro Satsuma) stalks the Super-X.

Screenwriter Shuichi Nagahara took another page from the first Godzilla film by incorporating a multi-plot thread, but had Return only been about Hayashida's internal conflicts - or civil servant sniping as in Godzilla Resurgence (Shin Gojira) - it would have had far-greater focus. While the story's structure flows nicely and is fairly linear, there are a number of subplots running parallel with each other: at one point we bounce around between the oncoming missiles, the Super-X's cadmium attack, and Hayashida's confinement. "What's different," John Stanley wrote, "is sympathy toward the monster, as if the juggernaut was just looking for a little love. Forget that the large lizard just crushed 3,000 Asians."

Godzilla had its sentimental moments, but Honda never overtly courted or forced it on his audiences the way Hashimoto does here: when Hiroshi is lowered via a rescue cable to the window ledge (rather than having properly-trained military personnel handling the operation) and is reunited with his sister before they must again say goodbye, Hiroshi tells Goro to look after her as she stares at her brother in wide-eyed adoration. The problem is we never feel anything substantial toward either brother or sister, or for that matter Naoko and Goro, even when they are in the medical station when she tells him she is afraid and he says, "I won't let you die." Such reassuring moments were a Honda trademark, but they are not carried-off as convincingly here, mainly due to the fact that the two romantic leads have absolutely no chemistry together. Zero. Zilch. 

Portions of the film lack originality: Goro's touching of the sitting figure in the dark causing it to slowly turn around and reveal a mummified corpse is right out of Psycho, and Goro's subsequent struggle with the sea louse recalls Galen Bradwarden's tussle with a baby dragon four years earlier in Dragonslayer. And while Goro's impotent efforts at trying to force-open the corrugated door brings to mind similar failed attempts by earlier Honda heroes, his character is so downright unappealing we end up watching with comparative disinterest. There seemed to be a serious attempt made to downplay any frenetic action as in a Seventies film, but this works against Return, resulting in it being not nearly as entertaining. Hashimoto seems to be going out of his way to avoid conflict: when Goro returns to the institute after the professor and Hiroshi have read his newspaper story, Hayashida laconically hands the paper to Hiroshi instead of throwing it into the fireplace, and when Goro walks in, Hiroshi just brushes past him instead of getting in his grill for duping his sister (as for Naoko, she just leaves the room instead of shouting, "How could you do this to me?").  

Which brings us to two of the film's biggest flaws: the characters and the actors playing them, such as the morose Hayashida, the cynical Goro, the embittered Hiroshi, and the naive Naoko. Best of the bunch is Keiju Kobayashi as the angst-ridden Prime Minister, whereas the younger actors look uncomfortable and embarrassed. Ken Tanaka plays Goro Maki, easily the most unappealing leading man in the series since Gigan's Gendo. He takes Hiroshi's photograph without permission and tricks Naoko without apology, and it doesn't help that the actor's leaden performance is so nondescript, some viewers never realize he's the same person who finds Hiroshi on the derelict ship! 

Another major letdown is Yosuke Natsuki as Hayashida. Natsuki was another member of the Old Guard and the leading player in Dogora and Three Greatest Monsters, but was never an engaging actor and his performance - as with so much of the film - is dispassionate. Even when talking about how his parents were killed by Godzilla or when the officials are doubting his plan will work, he appears largely indifferent. His biggest opportunity for emoting is when he freely admits he really isn't all that interested in killing Godzilla and just wants to send it "back to where it came from" (which was not a volcano but the bottom of the ocean), yet there are no signs of contrition or confliction; instead he just sits there sipping his coffee.

Part of the reason for his laconic portrayal could be that Natsuki knew he was filling-in for a man originally slated to play the part: Akihiko Hirata, who had gone on tour to promote the film but died of lung cancer at the age of 56. "We really wanted Mr. Hirata to be in the movie," Hashimoto recalled, "even in just one scene as a scholar - an easy scene - but he passed on. It was really too bad." Natsuki agreed, saying, "I learned that Mr. Akihiko Hirata had cancer after we started, and I learned that he had been looking forward to appearing in the film until he was hospitalized. The role would have been perfect for him." It's never easy for an actor to take on a role knowing he wasn't the first choice, and perhaps Natsuki felt so guilt-ridden he held back, not wishing to shine in a role meant for someone else.

Not much better is Yasuko Sawaguchi as Naoko who somehow won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Newcomer that year (possibly she was the only nominee). Although Toho billed her as the "Cinderella Girl," the critics more-cynically christened her "Cybot Sawaguchi." A mere 19 years old at the time, Return was only her second film, and her inexperience shows in every scene, as she is unable to convey very much emotionally other than looking sad (at one point she says, "I'm scared" but doesn't look scared, just sad). It certainly didn't help that her role reverberated back to those typically helpless females from earlier decades in yet another indication of Return's regressive quality (just as with Emiko no one ever asks - nor does she ever voice - her own opinion as to whether or not Godzilla should be killed).

Hashimoto cast other Old Guard members such as Hiroshi Koizumi in a cameo as Professor Minami, the marvelously gravely-voiced Etiaro Ozawa, and Yoshifumi Tajima, who at one point gets a nice close-up when discussing the possibility of the volcano erupting and threatening nearby residents; a nice touch since he played reporter Izeki, who was present when similarly-voiced concerns were raised in Rodan nearly 30 years earlier (Return was the versatile character actor's last film as he soon retired from filmmaking and lived until 2009, passing-away at the ripe old age of 91).

At last, Teruyoshi Nakano had a budget he could comfortably work with, and the result is his best effort in the series; he also won the Best Special Effects Award for this film which he probably saw as vindication (he retired three films and three years later). One of his biggest challenges was the larger-scale Godzilla, now standing at 80 m (262 ft) - oddly, no one in the film comments on this startling growth-spurt - meaning that the vast majority of the miniatures would have to be reduced from 1/25th to 1/50th scale, with the exception of the elaborate Shinjuku District set built at 1/40th scale costing ¥130 million ($1,521,000 in today's currency) taking 40 months to construct. Real glass was used for the windows in some of the high-rise buildings, although some structures only had facades built in order to save on construction time and costs.

The resulting lack of detail becomes all-too-obvious, especially with the vehicles. However, Nakano stated at the time: "That set was the most realistic in Toho's experimentations for horror and science fiction movies. Moreover, the miniatures of Tokyo were the most expensive in the company's history." Not everyone was as impressed however, such as Shinji Higuchi, an anime storyboard artist and special effects supervisor who worked on Return as a special effects assistant: "My job was to stand next to Godzilla all the time and do maintenance on the costume - which meant I was always standing next to Godzilla - and from there, I could see things from Godzilla's point of view; in other words, I was always in the center of the set. I could see problems of that film from there. I was very disappointed. I realized that special effects filming in Japan was in the worst state." He left Toho soon afterwards to work on the now highly regarded 1990s Gamera trilogy.

Nakano's handling of the nuclear plant attack, the Super-X firing the cadmium missiles into the creature's mouth (the concept of firing projectiles into Godzilla would resurface in subsequent films), a rapid zoom-in of the creature's eye, and the jet attack are all outstanding. There are many creative touches: the camera rising like a curtain to reveal Godzilla, a POV shot from the beast's perspective as it approaches the nuclear plant, Godzilla's shadow falling over a crowd of people, and extreme low-angle shots of the monster; but even Godzilla's great height could not enable it to tower over the numerous sky-scrapers now dwarfing a monster which once dwarfed them.

Another problem was with the monster itself as described by Robert Greenberger: "Godzilla had been solidified into an entertaining monster, at times lovable, at times to be feared." The costume was designed by Shingo Yasumaru and meant to combine the features of both the original Godzilla and the "Mosu-Goji" design from Mothra vs. Godzilla, yet it looked the most-rubbery of all of the costumes, which is odd, since it was constructed by Toho veteran Noboyuki Yasamaru, whose creations included the gorgeous Gorosaurus, the hulky Hedorah, and the garish Gigan. The head lacked definition and an unfortunate decision was made to have its eyes looking continuously upward; as a result the beast looks more absent-minded than strong-willed.

Then there was the performance of Kenpachiro Satsuma (again billed as Kengo Nakayama) who despite his best efforts was unable to endow the beast with any sense of animation. There were a number of factors for this such as Nakano's unsure direction and Satsuma's unfamiliarity and difficulty with the costume; understandable given it weighed a hefty 110 kg (243 lbs) - although another source stated it was closer to 150 kg (330 lbs) - and was originally designed for a much-larger man (Hiroshi Yamawaki) who later declined the role.

After some initial trial runs, Satsuma requested tiny holes be drilled into the fingernails to allow for his sweat to drip out, and rubber boots were placed inside the feet for greater comfort and control. In spite of this, his initial performance as Godzilla was not one of a convincing creature, as the actor later admitted. "It was hell to act in it." In fact there was little acting at all: "I had a tough time. I felt that the costume controlled me. I think the acting could have been better" (in time, it would be). One crucial moment occurs when the creature pauses at the rim of the crater and stares at the transmitter dish as if suspecting a double-cross - when it could have just as easily blasted the device away - but Satsuma doesn't show the creature struggling against the instinctive pull of the sound waves.    

An enormous 15 m (49 ft) Godzilla foot prop was utilized for scenes with the live-action extras and there was also a 1/20th scale foot prop constructed for the destruction of the miniatures, as well as a 3 m (10 ft) tail prop mounted on a metal rod used for close-ups of it splashing into the water and smashing into buildings, but the most celebrated effigy of all was the 1/20th scale, 5 m (16 ft) tall and 9.75 m (32 ft) long, 1.2-ton, cable-operated, computer-controlled, and hydraulically and pneumatically operated "cybot" - which even Toho admitted was more of a marketing ploy than anything else - costing the studio $420,000, although other sources placed the cost at $475,000 and even $845,000 (¥100,500,000 in 1984 currency).

Much was made at the time about the robot constructed of urethane rubber containing 3,000 parts whose movements were recorded on magnetic tape so they could be replayed as needed. The machine was doubtless inspired by the large robotic King Kong from the 1976 film, but whereas that robot did little but stand around, this robotic beast does quite a bit more, although there are glaring differences between the head on the robot and the one on the costume, which was a problem, since the robot was mainly used for close-ups of its head which often vibrated unnaturally (there was one particularly dreadful shot of the head and hands bobbing up-and-down during the jet attack). The face had the most expressions of any Godzilla face up to that point achieved through a series of pre-programmed commands. The decision to bring back the slow-moving manifestation was well-intended, but the monster appears listless, particularly when compared to the friskier creature from the previous decade. As with the monster, the film is nostalgic in nature, but this cautious approach - like Tokyo - never really catches fire.

Regarding the conception of the Super-X vehicle, model designer/builder Naoyuki Yoshimura recalled that "The design was based on the shape of a helmet crab. The crab has looked the same for a couple of billion years, so we wanted to use that strong, unchanging appearance to express the strength of the Super-X" (although a private joke circulating among the special effects staff had it resembling the flying form of Hedorah.) Production designer Yasuyuki Inoue added, "I didn't have enough time to design it; I couldn't spend a long time working on it. It was actually supposed to have one more air duct on each side, towards the middle, but by the time I realized there was a mistake, the model makers had already created the mold, so I let it go." The Super (but not very Duper)-X was operated from an overhead wire brace attached to a motorized pulley, and in an early draft was originally constructed to evacuate the Imperial Family in case of a nuclear attack.

When Godzilla blasts the helicopter out of the sky it falls onto snarled bumper-to-bumper traffic creating a chain-reaction of explosions - courtesy of reversed stock footage from Catastrophe: 1999 (Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen) - but we never see the cars or their occupants prior to the incident and witness it from a  distance, reducing its impact. Probably the movie's most memorable effects shot is Godzilla's reflection seen in the windows of the 15-story Yurakucho Mullion Building which was inconceivably excised from the 1985 American version.

The music was written by Keijiro Koroku and the soundtrack recorded on October 10th, 1984. Performed by the Tokyo Symphony, it was the first time a Godzilla score had been recorded in stereo with a full orchestra (some 40 players as opposed to the two-dozen with which Ifukube and Sato typically worked). Hiroshi Takeuchi - a scholar of Japanese special effects films and the works of Shigeru Kayama - wrote: "When I heard the music, I was immediately reminded of historical spectacles such as Ben Hur, Samson and Delilah, and The Ten Commandments. Of course, it's not to say that the sound is similar, but you can feel an element they have in common, which is the greatness of the scale. Mr. Koroku's orchestration was skillful and out of the ordinary and it took a direct approach rather than displaying eccentricity; I bow my head in earnest . . . I was worried about how the music for the new Godzilla would turn out, but when I heard Mr. Keijiro Koroku's compositions, my doubts were blown away. From the bottom of my heart, I truly praise it. This record is a monument, a monument for the great Godzilla, for Mr. Keijiro Koroku, and for us fans."

Ifukube was initially asked to write the score by Tanaka but refused; the composer's catchy comment "I do not write music for 80-meter monsters" seems a bit ingenuous, as he had no trouble writing music for 50-meter monsters. More-likely than not he was tired of being involved with the series as Honda and for the same reason: the absence of so many original filmmakers. According to one issue of Markalite magazine, the composer declined "due to health reasons," although in a later Markalite issue, it was stated the maestro "evinced no interest at all." Heard as a stand-alone score it is excellent, yet doesn't always seem in-sync with a majority of the on-screen action, ironically in-keeping with the film's generally subdued quality. Koroku's score is confident and compelling, but doesn't emphasize any emotional connections or consequences, stressing what is seen, instead of what it means.

Overall the score is very pleasant, such as when Goro is driving to meet Hayashida for the first time, with lush strings and restful woodwinds, although this hardly implicates any approaching menace. The cue when Goro and Naoko are taking their nighttime walk is reminiscent of Meredith Wilson's "Till There Was You" from The Music Man, yet when she learns her brother is alive, the music doesn't transition into anything dramatic, but just keeps going on its genial way (this theme is heard again when she expresses her anger to Goro for misleading her and when they reconcile their differences in the first-aid station, with soft strings underscoring how cute and vulnerable she is). 

At times the score is notable for its absence: none is heard during the storm sequence, the majority of Goro's onboard search, when Hiroshi and Naoko are reunited at the hospital, when Hayashida and Goro are discussing Godzilla, and the high-rise helicopter rescue. On other occasions it seems as with so much of this movie, somewhat withdrawn, such as when Hiroshi is looking at the Godzilla photographs; unlike David Buttolph's sinister use of coronets and cello when characters identify the Rhedosaurus in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Koroku employs subtle bow strings and vibraphone.

And when the music does get going it seems out of place, such as the entrance of the Super-X in a brassy motif more suitable for the Atragon or the Alpha instead of this unimposing flying machine, and when Godzilla is first glimpsed at the nuclear facility, the composer utilizes low strings and woodwinds slowly rising in their octaves culminating in tongue-fluttering French horns, again stressing the visual and not the visceral. The melody when Godzilla is strolling through the city is slow and sedate; not at all similar to the dirge-like score Ifukube composed when Godzilla first strode through Tokyo or the anarchic organ Sato was so fond of using, although Koroku did employ an appropriate elegy of short bow strings and sedate horns when Godzilla approaches the crater.

The cue when the monster grabs hold of the reactor is appropriately apocalyptic with heavy brass and strong strings, but is completely out of place when the beast picks-up the Shinkansen, with ascending-and-descending flutes, strings, and Jaws-like cello, and his use of a synthesizer for the orbiting missile launchers seems more suitable for a 1980s wedding reception. His best and most-moving moment is the mellow oboe, soft woodwinds, soothing strings, and gentle xylophone heard when Prime Minister Mitamura informs his subordinates about the outcome of his private discussion with the diplomats, giving the scene a sense of righteous resolution.

Portions of the score are reminiscent of the small and graceful snippets Ifukube composed for scenes of natural beauty, in this instance Koroku's use of soft flutes, xylophone, strings, woodwinds, and muted horns when Minami and Hiroshi visit Mount Mihara (unfortunately, when we see the boiling lava, Koroku again overstates the moment with raspy, bellowing brass); likewise, while his military music is moderately stirring, it lacks Ifukube's urgent verve. Koroku's instrumentation of the moment when the monster topples into the pit is also odd: instead of a powerfully poignant theme, the composer opts for strings, flute, and piano, which somehow seems unbefitting for the dreadful demise of a majestic monster. It may be the composer felt more secure writing tunes for tender love scenes in more-conventional films, demonstrating that, as with so much of this movie, the score was largely a hit-and-miss affair.

On the plus side, cinematographer Kautami Hara was responsible for making Return of Godzilla "one of the most lushly photographed entries of the series," and several shots are indeed noteworthy, such as the upward pan of Hiroshi holding the cleaver, and a particularly appealing close-up of Naoko gazing at Goro in the first-aid station.

Film editor Yoshitami Kuroiwa - veteran of Hedorah and MechaGodzillaʼs Counterattack - constantly cuts away from crucially important scenes, including the monster's march on Tokyo, and while this had also happened in the first film, those cut-aways were inserted to give the audience a breather during the intense attack and did not affect the scene's overall flow. There are seemingly endless shots of people being off-loaded from helicopters or dashing in-and-out of the GECH, and the totally unnecessary comedic bits with the transient - played by an amusing Tetsuya Takeda who ad-libed his dialogue - which are ill-timed and inappropriate (it seems the meeting between Goro and his editor may have been trimmed: the editor is first seen sitting down, but in a subsequent shot is walking around the room, and after Goro says "Hayashida," he starts saying something else, but the scene abruptly ends).

In a rare and reflective moment for the King of the Monsters, after destroying the Super-X, it stands amid the smoldering rubble staring and roaring at the camera as if heralding its horrific homecoming. Koroku's use of mournful oboe and sad strings as a crowd of people approach the fallen leviathan stresses this respectful attitude, as does the sadly-sinister theme when the creature arrives at the volcano. The ambivalent attitude of whether or not people wish the creature alive or dead is back, amplified after the monster has been defeated and the credits roll-over the exploding volcano accompanied by the "Goodbye Godzilla/Love Theme" composed by Koroku and sung by The Star Sisters:

 

"So this is goodbye now . . .

You turn to leave me . . .

I watch you go . . .
I don't want to cry but the tears come streaming . . .

I miss you so . . ."

 

The lyrics describe a lonely person longing for a lost love and hoping for their return, with words like "I'll be waiting for you," "come back," referring to "my friend," to "take care," and ending with "sayonara till we meet again," a notion more in-keeping with Nakano's Godzilla films where people wept and waved goodbye as the monster left town, predicting a moment near the end of Godzilla 2014 when the monster headed into San Francisco Bay amidst cheering crowds and chirping seagulls. Yet when the monster topples into the lava pit, it's roar is from the Fukuda films, as if Tanaka was deliberately distancing himself from those earlier efforts. Strange indeed to think there was once a time when the sight of the monster leaving was a godsend and the implications of its return dreaded to the max.

A meditative and reflective work, The Return of Godzilla was a genuinely noble effort, but showing the Prime Minister weeping at the sight of Godzilla's apparent destruction was a misstep, as Mike Bogue has pointed out: "It seems strange . . . that the Japanese authorities weep at Godzilla's demise, considering how many hundreds of Japanese citizens he has just killed, and considering that populous city must be highly radioactive wherever Godzilla trod." Jeffrey J. Hall also noted: "The weaponry of the JSDF may fail to defeat their foe in The Return of Godzilla, but Japanese ingenuity nonetheless saves the day . . .  Godzilla's ultimate demise is a product of cooperation between civilians and the military, with the military in a subordinate role," an ending right out of an Ishiro Honda monster movie. 

 

Happily for everyone involved, the film was an enormous success when it was released in December of 1984, with over 800,000 people seeing it on its opening day alone, which was gratifying since it was at the time the most expensive science-fiction film ever made in Japan, clocking-in at ¥2.5 billion ($10 million). Attendance was 3,600,000 and the most for a Godzilla film since 1965's The Great Monster War, although falling far-short of the humungous numbers from the first three Godzilla films. Then again perhaps its success was not surprising, given that Toho pumped ¥370,207,000 ($1.5 million) into a massive promotional campaign plastering Godzilla's image on everything from T-shirts to chewing gum labels, stickers, buttons, video games, dolls, records, inflatable plastic Godzilla coat hangers, a vinyl 1.8 m (6 ft) inflatable Godzilla, a phone number fans could call to hear their favorite monster roaring, and a Godzilla telephone receiver-holder screaming: "The end of the world is near! The soldiers have failed to stop Godzilla!"

The movie's most-accurate assessment came from August Ragone, who wrote that "The film is like a cheetah, tensed for the run, but doesn't; the intensity is there, but its potential is not unleashed," nevertheless it was an encouraging sign of things to come. At the time no one knew how well the film was going to do either critically or commercially, but Mr. Yabe proved to be fairly clairvoyant, telling the Associated Press in 1984 that "Personally, I'd like to see him come ashore in a big city somewhere; maybe San Francisco or Manhattan." Yabe got his wish with Manhattan in 1998 and San Francisco 16 years later.

And so unlike the end of Godzilla's Counterattack when the monster was quick-frozen, this time it is put to the flame, and seeing "The End" superimposed over panoramic scenery was also reminiscent of earlier Godzilla films. Tanaka succeeded in re-establishing the beast as an evil and destructive force, but while Godzilla films typically deal with damage, The Return of Godzilla is all about damage control and an apology for having allowed the series to sink into low-budget silliness, and while the filmmakers may have lost their footing here and there, the movie was still a step in the right direction.

Chapter Nine

 

Godzilla vs. Biollante

(Gojira tai Biorante)

< Released December 16th, 1989 >

Okori: "They are holding the entire nation up for ransom."

Gondo: "With Godzilla as the hostage."

 

The Film:

 

Various "Godzilla Alert Levels" depicted on a computer screen are accompanied by blaring brass, surging violins, gong, and another Jaws-like rapid strumming of cellos along with violins and xylophone as the sight of living cells become tissue, and then flesh. Strange electronic music and cymbals crash as the King of the Monsters comes into view amidst gigantic flames followed by crashing piano chords and horns sounding-out a section of Akira Ifukube's "Godzilla Theme."

Clips follow showing portions of Godzilla's battle with the Super-X, ending with the monster falling into Mount Mihara. What's left of the city isn't much as crews are busy salvaging the wreckage of the flying vehicle (and presumably the corpses inside), clearing away debris while scientists measure radioactivity levels and gather samples of Godzilla's torn-away flesh.

Three unauthorized American "Bio-Majors" from the American Genetic Corporation (aka Bio-Life Corporation) dressed as U.S. Marines are also gathering samples until they are discovered, responding with machine guns and grenades blowing away a pursuing army unit until they themselves are killed by assassin Agent SSS9 (Manjot Bedi), who transports the samples to the Saradia (aka Saudi Arabia) Republic.

Preparing to go to work at the Saradia Institute of Biotechnology is Dr. Genichiro Shiragami (Koji Takahashi) and his daughter, Erika (Yasuko Sawaguchi). Erika has successfully cross-bred wheat and cactus cells making it possible for wheat to grow in the acrid desert environment, and with the inclusion of the Godzilla cells, it is hoped this new wheat will not only be resilient, but thrive. The Saradian Plant Director (Aydin Yamanlar) is delighted since it means America will no longer monopolize grain exports, but his pleasant chat with Shiragami is cut-short by a bomb destroying the lab, the cells, and killing Erika.

Five years later at the New Shiragami Laboratory, 17-year-old Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka), a student prodigy at the Psyonic Research Center (aka Mental Science Exploitation Center), is unsuccessfully attempting to communicate via Extra-Sensory Perception with a rose tree in a small terrarium; not as odd as it seems, since plants have mental energy fields. What Shiragami has not told anyone is that he has infused some of Erica's genes (or cells; the same thing since genes make-up cells) into the plant in an attempt to keep her spirit alive. Accompanying Miki is Asuka Okochi (Yoshiko Tanaka), but the three are unaware they are being watched by two Bio-Majors as well as Agent SSS9.

That evening, Asuka dines and discusses genetic engineering in the Godzilla Memorial Lounge with her boyfriend, Kazuhito Kirishima (Kunihiko Mitamura), but their conversation is strained as he is morally opposed to the genetic research being performed at the Okochi Foundation headed by her father, Makoto Okochi (Ryunosuke Kaneda). Kazuhito is concerned because some of the Godzilla's cells are being stored there and research could conceivably create a monster much worse than the giant reptile; it doesn't help Kazuhito's conscience any that the Foundation supplies grants for the research he is conducting at the Tsukuba Bioengineering Laboratory. Fed up with it all, Kazuhito is considering an offer from a Massachusetts clinic and asks Asuka to join him, but she needs time to think about it.

The next morning Asuka arrives at the Japan Psyonics Center where Miki informs her that the ESP-gifted students have all been dreaming about the same thing: Godzilla.

Asuka takes the drawings to the National Land Agency Special Disaster Research Committee's "Godzilla Department" headed and staffed by only one person: Col. Goro Gondo (Toru Minegishi), who not only has a statue of the KingGoji in his office, but Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer leaning against the wall like an old broom. He receives a call from his supervisor, Major Sho Kuroki (Masanobu Takashima) from the Special Strategic Branch of the JDSF to accompany him on a trip to the volcano by helicopter, where Miki senses Godzilla is alive inside the crater.

At a meeting held between Kunihiko, Goro, and Kuroki at the Tsukuba Lab, they discuss "Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria" which can eat nuclear material:

 

Kuroki: "Godzilla feeds on nuclear energy. There must be nucleus-                digesting genes in the cell structure, so we need that set of                 genes in order to make the bacteria."

Goro:  "What you are saying is that something taken from                               Godzilla's cell structure can be used to make something that                 can destroy it."

 

In order for the ANEB to be used as a weapon against the nuclear-energy eating Godzilla, someone with special cell knowledge is needed, and Dr. Shiragami is just such a man. Still grieving and bitterly resentful over the loss of his daughter, the scientist politely but firmly refuses to join the team.

Kazuhito pays a reluctant visit to Mr. Okochi at his Foundation where they discuss how the ANEB could be used to counter nuclear weapons, and how America was responsible for the destruction of the Saradia Institute's lab. "Japan," Okochi explains, "has suffered the devastation brought by nuclear bombers and Godzilla. It's only right we should have a weapon that can protect us from our enemies."

He shows Kazuhito some of the precious Godzilla cells just as an earthquake caused by an eruption at Mount Mihara topples over Shiragami's rose tree, breaking through the glass terrarium and mortally-wounding the plant.

Racked with anxiety, Shiragami stares at the broken roses. "I must do something," he says to himself, "or Erika will die." He then agrees to join the project provided he can keep the Godzilla cells at his lab for one week, although unbeknownst to Okochi and Kazuhito, Shiragami's motives have nothing to do with science.

That evening Asuka and Kazuhito are by the beach:

 

Asuka:     "Will you be making the bacteria with Dr. Shiragami?"

Kazuhito: "Yes, to destroy Godzilla."

Asuka:     "I guess you don't have a choice."

Kazuhito: "But who knows whether or not it will appear? What if we                    go ahead and make the bacteria and Godzilla never shows                    up; we could be making a far-worse monster." 

 

That night - during a storm fitting for Dr. Frankenstein - Shiragami uses his expertise to combine one of the regenerative Godzilla DNA cells with genetic material from the Erika Rose (some have suggested he adds samples of his daughter's preserved skin tissue as well; in fact the texture on the monster's rose petals was intended to give the impression of scar tissue).

ANEB is not the only weapon which can be used against Godzilla however as a new fully-robotic armored flying vehicle - the Super-X2 - is nearing completion. Its most potent weapon is a "Fire Mirror" constructed of synthetic diamonds which can reflect Godzilla's deadly ray back at the creature with 10,000 times greater potency.

That evening at Shiragami's facility, the two spying Bio-Majors come across the ANEB data which the absent-minded professor has casually left lying around his lab, but the assassin is also there and a gunfight ensues. Suddenly huge plant-like tendrils seize and kill one of the Majors while the other hurls himself through a plate-glass window. The agent is also grabbed by the monster but is able to cut a portion of it away and escapes.

The next morning police arrive finding the dead Major and a destroyed lab where Shiragami shows Kazuhito one of the severed tendrils, confessing he kept the cells so he could create an immortal plant species before adding in a classic understatement: "I think now I made a mistake."

But there is more bad news as the Japanese government has received an ultimatum from a group called "Alien" representing the American Bio-Majors. The organization demands the cells or they will create an explosion at the volcano, releasing the monster. With no other choice, the decision is made to surrender the cells.

Miki senses something has happened at Lake Ashinoko near the doctor's home; a giant mutated rose has risen from the water. Shiragami explains that "What you are seeing there is no ordinary plant; it's Biollante, a spirit of a plant appearing in Norse mythology," only this plant is inhabited by a human soul: Erika's, trapped inside the monster.

As the deadline for the exchange approaches, Goro and Kazuhito are near the airport when the surviving Bio-Major arrives in a delivery van which is a mobile control center from where he will be able to switch-off the detonation device. The exchange is interrupted by the arrival of SSS9 who reacquires the cells after killing the Bio-Major driving the van, causing it to flip over. As the agent drives off, Goro and Kazuhito frantically try stopping the detonation, but it's too late as a series of explosions now sets the mighty monster free.

"Amen!" a delighted Gondo exclaims.    

After arriving at the Ministry of Defense Operations Center, Kuroki orders the Super-X2 launched where it promptly arrives above the Uraga Channel and confronts Godzilla, severing wounding it with the Fire Mirror and causing the monster to dive for cover in a rare retreat. Despite this victory, Kuroki insists false information be released to shutdown the airport and prevent SSS9 from escaping.

Biollante has now evolved to such an extent that Miki can no longer receive telepathic messages from Erika; in other words, Biollante is just a giant monster. As if this weren't enough, the Super-X2 loses its rematch with the monster, disabling the Fire Mirror.

Godzilla arrives at the lake and faces-off against the giant rose monster, and after a brief but ferocious fight, Godzilla sets Biollante aflame before the reptile returns to the sea.

Despite a massive military search, Godzilla unexpectedly appears in Osaka Bay, so it is decided to land Miki and Asuka on a helicopter platform in hopes Miki's ESP abilities mighty delay the monster's advance, but the girl is so overwhelmed by the creature's energy she blacks out.

As people are being evacuated from Osaka, Goro and Kazuhito arrive at the local office of the SOC where they retrieve the stolen Godzilla cell samples from an indisposed employee.

After a 34-year absence Godzilla revisits Osaka, destroying everything in its path as Goro and his elite trio arrive at the Twin 21 Complex with bazookas armed with AENB. The Super-X2 also appears but without the use of its Fire Mirror, so it uses conventional weaponry to lure the monster toward the center of the complex where Goro and his squad are ready and waiting.

After emptying all of its armament, the Super-X2 is destroyed by Godzilla which is then struck by two succesful launches of the AENB; Goro even manages to shoot another projectile into the creature's mouth and mocks the monster before being killed when Godzilla destroys the building ("Attacking a gigantic radioactive kaiju and then making a joke about it," wrote Jason Barr, "is just asking for trouble").

After Asuka and Kazuhito check-in on a recuperating Miki at a hospital, they wonder why the AENB has not taken effect, but Kazuhito realizes that Godzilla's low body temperature has slowed down the bacteria, so Kuroki proposes using the experimental "M6000 Thunder Control System" to generate a lightning storm.

Godzilla arrives at Wakasa Bay where 100 high-heat electrical field generators await along with Type 92 Maser Tanks, Patriot Missiles, and Cobra helicopters, and while the firepower does slow the monster down, it can still put up a fight, and destroys the armed forces (this scene was not in the script and added by Kawakita, who like Tsuburaya before him, was fond of defense vehicles).

The monster is about to attack the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant when illuminated billowing clouds and giant flashes of light are followed by millions of shining particles drifting downward. The ground opens revealing the hellish apparition of a fully-evolved Biollante with massive thorn-encrusted jaws and jaw-snapping tendrils.

During their intense battle, Biollante advances and vomits a slimy torrent onto Godzilla which then boldly sticks its head into Biollante's jaws while firing its ray before slowly retreating and heading for the ocean, only to collapse on the beach, having finally been subdued by the AENB.

An ebullient Okochi shows up to congratulate Shiragami but the sullen scientist is in no mood for platitudes: "I will not continue my work on the bacteria or Biollante anymore."

Okochi is stunned. "What are you talking about? Let's do that again!" Then, pointing to the fallen Godzilla he adds: "You've got all the cells you're ever gonna need!"

But Shiragami is unconvinced, and says (echoing a similar sentiment spoken in the previous film by Hayashida) that "Godzilla and Biollante aren't monsters. The real monsters are the humans who created them."

The mortally-wounded Biollante mournfully bellows before disappearing into millions of shiny particles ascending toward heaven followed by the vision of a smiling Erika, and as the particles streak away, Erika speaks through Miki:

"Thank you."

A moment later a shot fired from SSS9's rifle fatally fells Shiragami. Kazuhito chases after the assassin and the two grapple until SSS9 draws a bead on the scientist moments before the killer is obliterated, having inadvertently stepped onto one of the giant M6000 Sensors Kuroki activated just in time.

Kazuhito and Asuka meet on the beach and are startled by a now-revived Godzilla which heads toward the sea, and as the two happily drive-off and Miki smiles at the sky, Okochi pays his last respects to the slain Shiragami.

After Okochi exits the tent, Erika's voice is heard:

"How long have you been living in such an age? Maybe it all started when Man first left the Garden of Eden. Please think about that again."

A huge blossoming red rose orbits the Earth as the film ends.

 

A Closer Look: 

 

"In 1984," Biollante's director Kazuki Omori commented, "they remade Godzilla. And seeing the remake of Godzilla, I said, 'I think I could do a better job than this (laughs).' At the same time, the producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was thinking the same thing (laughs). And because Mr. Tanaka and I thought the same thing, we hooked up, and we said, 'We could make a better movie than this,' and that's how Godzilla vs. Biollante came to exist." 

Godzilla vs. Biollante was produced during the 35th Anniversary of the Godzilla series encompassing 16 films seen by over 70 million Japanese, but would the five-year wait be worth it?

In his influential essay "Mad Science: The Role of Science and Scientists in Godzilla Movies," David Kalat brings up some interesting and important points regarding prolific Godzilla directors, beginning with Honda: "He wanted his movies to depict a utopian ideal, where in the face of adversity scientists could unite divided people to defend their world. It's a wonderful vision, but a distinctly person one." When discussing Honda's successor, Kalat points out that "Fukuda had little interest in making Godzilla movies, so the end result is very much a by-the-numbers manufactured product."

Then he gets to Omori, "A man whose artistic vision is expansive if muddled. His works benefit from some of the most intelligent and sophisticated ideas ever to be found in the series, but his films also suffer from major dramatic flaws. One reason why his movies seem so ponderous is that while his idol Shinichi Sekizawa wrote with elegant simplicity, Omori can't seem to edit his own work and packs it too full of characters and subplots. Given a single narrative role, he casts at least two characters. In the case of Biollante, this overpopulation actually helps highlight the themes. Omori has split the mad scientist role into three characters (Dr. Shiragami, Dr. Kirishima, Okochi), each of whom illuminates a corner of the bigger picture. Shiragami reminds one a bit of Serizawa - both are tortured and passionate men, even their names sound similar - but unlike Serizawa, Shiragami does his thing for personal gain through grief in yet another example of cinematic 'science gone wrong'" (strangely, Shiragami doesn't go to jail for creating a monster that kills people).      

When discussing Godzilla films, the word "significant" rarely comes to mind, but that word accurately describes Godzilla vs. Biollante, a film considered by many as "one of the finest entries in the entire series." Tanaka was now President of Toho Motion Picture Company and the film was the 17th he produced for the series. From its exciting opening to its moving conclusion, it is a Godzilla film those not fans of the series can admire. Structured with convincing acting, a fine score, excellent effects, accomplished cinematography, and an imaginative script by Shinichiro Kobayashi (the winning entry out of over 5,000 submissions as part of a screenplay contest initiated by Tanaka, noting it as "a unique and inspired" story), it is a film that not only takes chances with its mystic premise, but also kills-off several key characters.

"The original idea was to find something that could match Godzilla's power and terror if we were bringing back Godzilla," Kobayashi explained. "But simply letting the monsters fight each other had been done many times, and clearly, there was a limit to it. So, in order to bring back Godzilla properly, we had to create an opponent that can fight properly. If there was something equivalent to the terror of nuclear power, it must be the bio-technology which human beings would manipulate life, because it can be very dangerous if it goes the wrong way. I guess ethically that's where I found the connection, so the idea of a monster created by bio-technology was born. In the history of Toho's monster films, there were few monsters that originated from plants . . . so I wondered if we could create something beautiful yet terrifying . . . Godzilla has the terror of a male, so what could match that? Then, I thought it had to be a flower, which represents the mysterious yet dangerous female." In other words, Godzilla's alter ego.

 Although he enjoyed the film as a whole, Matt Paprocki had issues with the screenplay: "The first fifteen to twenty minutes of the film are horrifically confusing, as it seems everyone simply starts shooting everyone else with no identification given. Later, a lab is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, but there is no indication who did the act, which is a necessity, since the clash over the Godzilla cells is a major part of the opening act." This observation points to a similar issue another fan mentioned, bemoaning Godzilla films "convoluted with distracting side plots and an excess of characters as in (Kazuki) Omori's scripts." This raises a key question: how many characters in a Godzilla film are too many? Ebirah and Son of Godzilla are top-heavy with characters, although they appear to be acceptable exceptions, and as far as the issue of side plots being distracting is concerned, that criticism holds weight if all one wants is a straight-forward monster movie with lots of action and little else. It shouldn't be too-much trouble letting a story develop and give the audience a chance to become involved with it and its characters, so by the time Godzilla arrives, they have been primed for its appearance, and in the case of Biollante, the wait was well-worth it.

As indicated by the various "Godzilla Alert Levels" there is no longer any question at to whether or not Godzilla will reappear, the only question is: when? Unlike the more-recent Godzilla films, there is no longer any uncertainty regarding the creature's destruction; no scientists arguing for its survival, no boys shouting "thank you!" or girls singing silly love songs. As Kalat has pointed out, the story revisits the time-tested "science gone amuck" thesis but in a novel way, as the incentive is not about creating a weapon which can destroy Godzilla, as a grieving father's attempt to keep his daughter's spirit alive no matter the cost, a motive more personal than professional and as sacred as it is selfish. As it happens the story was hardly original, as Kobayashi recycled his idea from a 1971 episode (No. 34) of The Return of Ultraman, where a mad scientist splices plant and reptile DNA to create the monstrous vegetable-animal hybrid, Leogon.

Biollante was the most socially-relevant Godzilla film since Hedorah, only this time the concern was neither industrial pollution or nuclear fallout, but genetic engineering, which Omori felt "a new breed of youthful human beings will appear." The topic was timely, since genetic modification caused by human activity has been around since 12,000 B.C., when humans began domesticating organisms with genetic engineering, first accomplished in 1972. The first genetically-modified animal was a mouse in 1974, then in 1983, an antibiotic- resistant gene was inserted into tobacco, leading to the first genetically-engineered plant. Five years later (and one year before Biollante), Plant Genetic Systems genetically-engineered insect-resistant plants, and the first application of  genetically-modified organisms in food production was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Since then many advances have followed, allowing scientists to manipulate and add genes to a variety of different organisms, inducing a wide range of different effects, such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals, and even humans.

Filming began in Gotemba, Shizuoka, in August, 1989, and wrapped three months later. The first scene shot was Godzilla rising from the now-erupting Mount Mihara on Izu Oshima (the volcanic set was made by piling-up soil with bulldozers) in the monster's most-impressive introduction since Son of Godzilla. The scene was filmed at the East Fuji Maneuver Area which was and still is a major training ground for the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces on Honshu, and one of several military facilities located in the foothills of Mount Fuji.

One crucial plot element left unresolved is the precise moment when Shiragami infused one or more of Erika's blood cells into the rose bush, which is first seen laying on the floor next to her dead body (Omori dissolves from the shot of the dead woman's face to a close-up of Miki looking at the rose bush, implying their connections). After the earthquake has destroyed the terrarium and severely damaged the plant, Shiragami looks through his microscope and says "I must do something or Ericka will die," so the transference must have occurred after he recovered her corpse, in one of those "strange ideas" the professor admits to getting from time-to-time, since he has Miki trying to communicate with the bush five years later at his lab. As in the previous film the malfunction of a detonating device causes problems and there is a certain irony that once again it is an American explosion responsible for releasing Godzilla. 

Unlike Honda's conveying a specific message regarding a relevant social concern, Omori's script utilizes a scattergun approach involving a veritable potpourri of plot elements: the concept of "bio-banks" where the semen of Noble Prize winners can be stored to create a race of geniuses and the Japanese government's reluctance to finance such radical research, the nation's desire for self-preservation without outside assistance, a human trying to communicate with Godzilla (possibly inspired by a moment in Godzilla 1985 when retired reporter Steve Martin made the suggestion), an Anti-American allusion since that country monopolizes the genetic worldwide market, international blackmail, Mideast politics, the dangers of scientism, deliberately misinforming the media, and the concept that nuclear power plants - vital for Japan's power grid - serve a darker purpose in attracting Godzilla. Even the idea of using AENB brings up a prickly problem: after much effort and ammo, the bacteria does begin taking effect, yet the weakened monster must then take on a fully-evolved Biollante, so if Godzilla is put out of commission, Biollante would wreak destruction on Japan unopposed.    

 

Kazuhito Kirishima (Kunihiko Mitamura), Genichiro Shiragami (Koji Takahashi),

Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) and Asuka Okochi (Yoshiko Tanaka) gaze in awe at Biollante.

 

Biollante is sprinkled with intriguing characters: the cynical Goro, the grief-stricken Shiragami, the conflicted Kazuhito, the fatally-efficient Agent SSS9, the jovial Okochi (whose "reality is reality" comment recalls Ms. Ozawa's cry of "The truth is the truth!" from Godzilla), and the telekinetic Miki. Conflicts abound between Kazuhito and Okochi, Goro and Kuroki, and even Kuroki and General Hyodo, who are constantly at odds, with the younger officer consistently overriding the senior military man's objections (one disagreement concerned the implementation of the untested "M6000 Thunder Control System;" when Kuroki arrives at the Wakasa Bay Operations Center, the sulking general refuses to acknowledge the young man's arrival). Their spats come to a respectful conclusion when the general hands Kuroki's cap back to him as Godzilla departs; or is it possible the general is rubbing it in because Kuroki ultimately failed to kill the monster?

The film deals with spirituality without mentioning any specific religion, although Mark Justice found a profound Shinto influence: "After Dr. Shiragami's daughter, Erika, is killed by a terrorist bomb, he splices some of her DNA into the already mutated genetic structures of a rose and Godzilla, creating Biollante. Though it is Dr. Shiragami who acts as a catalyst, it is his belief in the never-ending Divine Spirit, in this case Erika's spirit, that serves as the impetus for creating Biollante. Being part Godzilla, rose, and Erika, Biollante fully represents the Shinto concepts of change, renewal, and the continuance of the Divine Spirit. As the Divine Spirit is in all of creation, including DNA, Biollante is the Divine Spirit of all of its donors. By being part of Biollante's genetic makeup, Erika's sprit is renewed and given physical life again. That this life is in a changed form is a reinforcement of the notion that the Divine Spirit continues after the termination of the earthly effort, even if in a different physical form." 

For his first Godzilla film, 37-year-old Kazuki Omori also wrote the screenplay, and he seemed to be on a mission to separate his approach from Return of Godzilla's by killing-off Erika's character; not so coincidentally played by Yasuko Sawaguchi (Naoko in the 1984 film), who by then had appeared in four films and two television series, and the confidence that comes with experience showed. Omori's vision is also a distinctly darker one than Fukuda's: Biollante begins with people being killed, and whereas the transient in the skyscraper comically taunted the 1984 Godzilla and lived however briefly to tell about it, Goro is immediately killed after giving Godzilla some lip.

Omori is a curious figure in Godzilla lore. Unlike Honda who held Godzilla in the greatest reverence, or Fukuda, who adored the first Godzilla and was reluctant to helm any sequels, Omori always made it clear he was never a fan, yet had no problem being involved with the series; after all, work is work. "I'm not such an enthusiastic fan (of Godzilla)," he once told Markalite magazine. "Although movies are, more or less, in some ways unreal, or complete fabrication, Godzilla seems like the biggest fabrication of them all. A monster which can never exist in reality, moving violently around . . . I used to watch old monster movies until a time, but it turned into something akin to professional wrestling . . . and I felt foolish (watching them)." However, films such as Aliens "that can even bare the satisfaction of adults . . . I've been thinking that I can make a Godzilla from this type of approach." 

Omori guides his film along with confidence and control (he was no novice; Biollante was his 12th feature film), and his attention to detail is flawless. The director's handling of action scenes - the Bio-Major Squad's escape, Biollante's attack in Shiragami's lab, the abortive exchange of the G-Cells at the airport, and Kazuhito's fight with the assassin - are as accomplished as the quieter ones, although it would have been a poignant moment if, after being told the Godzilla cells have been lost and then giving the directive to have Shiragami killed, the Saradian Plant Manager showed a tinge of regret in ordering the execution of his former friend and associate.

Koji Takahashi plays a conflicted scientist very much in the Serizawa/Miyajima mold as another unmarried professor with a young daughter, only this time the daughter is an accomplished chemist. Takahashi - who slightly resembles Hirata - conveys an air of quiet desperation and even talks as Serizawa might, at one point commenting that "solitude weighs heavily" (the Hirata connection goes even deeper when one learns that the part of Keiko Owada - the Prime Minister's representative - was played Hirata's widow, Yoshiko Kuga). The part is an interesting one as Shiragami has no compunction creating a deadly monster plant if it means keeping his daughter's spirit alive and is defiant about it to boot; nevertheless his death - along with Agent SSS9's - comes as a shock. Other outstanding performances include the charismatic Toru Minegishi as loose-cannon Colonel Gondo, and there is a charming reference to the past with the casting of Masanobu Takashima - son of Honda film-veteran Tadao Takashima - as Major Kuroki. Another member of the cast with a blast from the past was Katsuhiko Sasaki, leading actor in Megalon and MechaGodzilla's Counterattack, here playing the thankless role of an army captain, although his talents were better served in the next Godzilla film.

Yoshiko Tanaka and Kunihiko Mitamura are excellent as the two romantic leads, and Kazuhito is a bit of an eccentric himself - running around in sockless white sneakers even while wearing tailored business suits - and Megumi Odaka's performance as the psychic Miki marked the beginning of her character's appearance throughout the next five Godzilla films. Biollante was only her second film, and although she does a fine job here, in time her lack of ability became more evident. Her character is more-or-less essential to the overall plot, and while Miki's presence is appreciated, there is still a touch of the old male chauvinism when Kuroki states he believes in her ESP abilities even though she "is only a girl." For her part, Odaka enjoyed the experience: "I've never seen Godzilla on the big screen, so I can hardly wait. But I also had fun shooting; especially the helicopter scenes, that was fun!"

The movie's most bizarre casting was Demon Kogure (aka Demon Kakka), a recording artist and lead vocalist for the popular R & R group Sekimagumi (The Holy Clan of Evil) and the founder of Akumakyo, a demoniac religion. The singer won first prize in a "Godzilla Scream Competition" in 1984, and his aim - as with Godzilla - is to conquer the Earth, although - unlike Godzilla - he wants to do it with heavy metal music. Kogure was such a huge fan he repeatedly pleaded with Toho on his radio show (not as the TV host he plays in the film) to cast him in Biollante. And so as the picture neared the completion of filming on October 28th, he got the ultimate wish every Godzilla fan has, and when his character exclaims "I've been waiting for this moment!," the musician unmistakably meant it. 

Derrick Holmes (Bio-Major Michael Low) remembered the scene where his character is killed by Biollante: "I will never forget it. She showed me no love. I was in the middle of a gun fight when this very fast, very long, and very big green plant-looking thing flew around my body. All I could feel at first was the slime. Lots of slime. Before I knew what was happening to me, I was being crushed like a snake steak. In order to get the shot right, we had to wrap Biollante's branch around my body and add plenty of slime, then they pulled until the branch unwraps itself from my body. We did this several times. The special effects crew added the finishing touches by reversing the film. This gave the effect that she was reaching out and grabbing me. She snatched me and pulled me closer so she could choke me. We used the same technique for my neck as we did for the body. Getting snatched was difficult because three crew members pulled me into the air going backwards. During rehearsals, I had a mattress to land on. There was no mattress for the real take. Fortunately, practice paid off, and I did not get hurt."

Koichi Sugiyama - whose music for the NES hit game "Dragon Quest" made him a colossal favorite with the kids - composed a fine score, even though one writer labeled it "very lackluster and unappealing" and another as a "disaster." Despite the spiritual overtones, Sugiyama opted for a score more heroic than holy and more epic than evangelistic, dominated by pulsating brass and soaring violins. One highlight is his cue for the naval encounter with Godzilla in the Uraga Channel, with brisk violins, shrilling flutes, strident cello, and staccato brass. The film's action sequences are flavored with swirling violins, pounding timpani, and pulsating woodwinds; although one musical misstep occurred during the chase between the Bio-Squad and the Japanese military in a bizarre disco-esque version of Ifukube's "Main Title" Godzilla music smattered with energetic electric guitar, blaring trumpets, and strident strings. 

"Sugiyama has a crisp, upbeat style" wrote Lawrence Tuczynski, "though he also has composed an appropriately menacing theme for Biollante. Some have complained the new themes are too much of a departure, and too imitative of John Williams and other western composers, but no one denies they are competently produced and make good listening." Sugiyama's theme for Ericka - unlike Koroku's saccharine song for Naoko - hints of sadness and remorse, but also rejuvenation, and as the music soars with tender strings, gentle flute, and flowing harp as her soul ascends toward heaven, it is one of the most majestically melodic moments in the series. The mobilization music is appropriately comprised of stirring strings, crashing cymbals, whirling flutes, and throbbing French horns, while the scenes between Kazuhito and Asuka are laced with a gentle tension consisting of tentative piano and silky strings. The "creation" music heard when Shiragami mates the cells is a softly-punctuated French horn and rhythmic violins increasing in their intensity accompanied by rapid strings and staccato xylophone.

Ironically, despite this fine score, what really got audiences going were the little snippets of familiar Ifukube themes (apparently the composer was "never considered" by Omori to score the film), such as the shimmering gong leading us into a portion of "Godzilla's Theme" when the JPC children all share the drawings of their common dream, when the army units set-up the M6000 System, and when the maser beams first strike Godzilla. When David Milner asked what he thought of Sugiyama's score, Ifukube candidly replied that his "impression of Godzilla vs. Biollante is actually quite negative, both in terms of the direction and the music. The music heard during the sequence in Saradia, for example, is just ridiculous. Some modern Arabic music should have been put there, but the composer instead just used European music. By the way, during the production of Godzilla vs. Biollante, Toho asked my permission to use some of my music in the film, and I said that they could as long as it was not done in a popular style. Then, just before the film was completed, a Toho representative came to me and said, 'well, it became popular music.' By that time, it was too late to do anything about the situation."

On the whole, Michiko Ikeda's editing is excellent - although Guy Tucker labeled it "neurotic" - as scenes convey crucial information in a clear and concise manner and are short and to the point, but a number of them could have been eliminated, such as the conversations in the car between Kazuhito and Goro, Shiragami's play-by-play during the battles between the monsters, Kazuhito and Shiragami chatting in the helicopter while Kuroki naps, and the ridiculous moment where Goro and Kazuhito overcome the Saradian employee so they can retake the cells; the employee wearing a hard hat so it could be used for a corny sound-effect. The film's action and plot-driven tempo belie its 104-minute running time and scenes steadily build in tension and momentum toward a happy/sad conclusion. Cinematographer Yudai Kato was very creative with fluid camera movements comprised of numerous tracking shots, pans, and lighting (the nighttime shadow of a person approaching an open door leading to Shiragami's lab recalls a similar moment from Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla).

A former assistant to Tsuburaya, Koichi Kawakita was given the job of creating Biollante's special effects partly due to his work on the July 1989 release of Gunhed (Ganheddo) which originally pitted Godzilla against a supercomputer (he had also worked with Hashimoto on Sayonara Jupiter). In 1988 he was given the supervisory job, becoming the fourth special effects director for the Godzilla film series. In his review of Biollante, Ragone reported that "With a shooting schedule of only three months in which to complete a myriad of effects sequences, Kawakita and his crew were under an unjust amount of pressure." Even so, "The end results . . . are more consistent overall than Nakano's work in whole or part on 1984's Godzilla," adding that "Godzilla is simply beautiful, this has to be my favorite rendition of the beast since Mothra vs. Godzilla; everything about the prosthetic is animalistic . . . looking like a big mean bear, ready to eat you and your picnic basket."

"In the first film," Kawakita commented, "we received a shocking feeling from that mass of black fear approaching. I tried to create the same atmosphere, but it was pretty hard." On one occasion during filming, a reporter visiting the set asked Kawakita: "Every time Godzilla takes a step, something explodes, doesn't it?" Kawakita smiled and answered: "No, even before stepping, an explosion goes off," making his crew dissolve into laughter.

The effects consisted of numerous technical refinements such as digital matting, remote-control helicopters, and computer animation (there were still some old-school methods such as the Super-X2 being guided by overhead piano wires and its missiles propelled by gunpowder). The miniatures were now reduced to 1/50th scale and the buildings constructed mainly from plywood and acrylic boards complete with interior lighting, while those destined to be destroyed were made of plaster containing built-in packages of gunpowder. Background fires were achieved by placing gasoline-saturated cloths in round metal tanks, and to achieve realistic coloration in miniature, water and bath-cleaner were mixed together to form the Hirano River running through Osaka. The Type 92 Maser Tanks were designed by Ko Yokoyama and detailed by Takashi Naganuma at Toho Arts, and along with the army tanks, built at Ogawara Modeling; the Godzilla costume was also constructed at Toho Arts. Titanium tetrachloride was used to simulate the damage to Godzilla from Biollante's sap, and when the plant-monster "rose" from the ground, it was placed on a platform lifted by a forklift truck. "We couldn't decide on Biollante's appearance," Kawakita admitted years later. "It was supposed to be a combination of Godzilla, a rose, and human cells. So, the original idea from Mr. Kobayashi was a flower with a human face in the middle, and it talked. It was far different than what I had in mind, so we really struggled coming up with a design."

Fuyuki Shinada supervised the month and a-half long construction of the first form of Biollante at Buildup Co., Ltd., while Biollante's second form (its head modeled by Kyoichi Shimazaki) took nearly a month to make. The Super-X2 was manufactured at Beagle Corp. which made two models - a larger one with more detail for close-ups and a smaller one for action and long shots - while its hangar area was designed by Tetsuzo Osawa and built by Marbling Fine Arts. The crystal fire-mirror was made from a collection of fine acrylic parts and its surface was fashioned by pasting-on a honeycomb-patterned sheet mirror. A chlorofluorocarbon propulsion system was used when the vessel was launched, and the Thunder Control System area was conceived by Tetsuzo Ozawa and positioned by Takashi Naganuma. For the climatic confrontation between Godzilla and Biollante at Lake Ashino in Wakasa, which was filmed on the 1650 m² (17,760 ft²) Stage No. 8, the mountains were built with wooden frames before being covered with flax cloth upon which soil and miniature trees were placed. Taking a page from Tsuburaya in a technique the effects master famously-employed on The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya (Hawai Mare oki kaisen), the mountain platforms were moveable depending on the required angles and camera placements. 

In the more-recent Godzilla films up until then - including The Return of Godzilla - the military made only a Spartan appearance, but in Biollante they throw everything but the kitchen sink at Godzilla (leaving Biollante alone) with tons of tanks, an armada of aircraft, a bevy of MBT-92 Beam Cannons, a multitude of missiles, and a heck of a lot of helicopters which normally do not fly during heavy rain storms at night, but help serve the dramatic ambiance; although the Pac-Man sound effects used for the Fire Mirror computer display was an unfortunate choice.

Kawakita's effects are excellent and the Big Beast never looked better. The construction of its head and body was sculpted and supervised by Tomoki Kobayashi with two rows of shark-like teeth, eyes with narrower openings than before (including for the first time a yellow as opposed to a white sclera), a fluid and textured tongue, a convincing muscle structure, and greater flexibility in the neck, giving the creature the ability to turn its head as well as look up and down. Most importantly of all, it has become a fully-living and thinking creature reacting as any animal would, whether roaring in triumph, advancing on a city, or feeling discomfort. The molding of the costume and sculpting of the face are very realistic, and since it was the first Godzilla film where the 5 m tall cable-controlled anamorphic face and head were constructed from the same mold as the costume, there were no more discrepancies. One moment in particular is fantastic: during Godzilla's first encounter with Biollante after Godzilla has blasted Biollante's withdrawing tendrils, the Reptile King rears its head back and roars before leaning-in towards the camera for an extreme close-up; it has a wonderful serpentine look, and the shot of it diving into the water after suffering hits from the Super-X2 is nothing short of sensational.

Satsuma and Kawakita didn't exactly hit-it-off right away as the actor later remembered: "Kawakita and I had a bad relationship at first. I met him in the studio when making The Return of Godzilla. He was directing the 'making-of' video and asked me to don the suit, but when he asked me, I was watching TV and relaxing. It is impossible to simply jump into the suit and be Godzilla. It takes preparation, and I told him quite frankly to go away. He must have thought I was terribly arrogant. For the next film he became my boss, and though he remembered this incident, he knew I was best for the role because I'd done it before. The two of us had a kind of rivalry going on throughout the Heisei Series that I feel helped to make for better films."

When asked if he experienced any difficulties wearing the costume during the fights with Biollante, Satsuma answered: "It was hard, because Godzilla had to perform most of the action. For the reaction to Biollante's tendrils, I had to express (through the suit) that there was a lot of pressure being applied (to Godzilla) by them, though there wasn't any actually. I normally use 70% of my strength in the monster suit. Using my full 100%, I won't last long. But if I am instructed to, 'Be more violent. You need more power!' then I use all 100% of myself (laughter)! Since Biollante is controlled by piano wires, in a sense, it's like a battle against the operators. It was difficult to get the timing down." As if all this weren't enough, he was often badly cut by iron wires inside the costume, suffered electrical shocks, and pyrotechnic staples cut into his knees. Even with all this Satsuma considered the Ashinoko battle with Biollante his finest moment as a Godzilla actor.

"The Godzilla costume used in The Return of Godzilla," he reminisced, "was made to fit a man who was larger than I am, but he quit at the last minute, so I took over the role. This, along with the fact that the costume weighed 111 kg (245 lbs), limited what I could do in it. On the other hand, the Godzilla costume used in Godzilla vs. Biollante was made to fit me. In addition, it weighed only 80 kg (176 lbs). I felt that the Godzilla costume used in Return controlled me, but that I controlled the one used in Godzilla vs. Biollante." He told Ed Godziszewski that "it fit very nicely and gave the strongest visual impression of a monster."

Moments during the beginning and end of the creature's Osaka rampage recall moments from its main Tokyo attack from Godzilla; at times only parts of it are visible, and after destroying the Twin 21 Complex, we are treated to a splendid (and rare) view from behind of its dorsal fins with their tips streaking shadows through the smoke. Overall Satsuma's performance is a vast improvement over his rookie experience, although one scene was still fraught with peril, as one writer later related:

"Even with a more comfortable costume, Godzilla vs. Biollante was still a difficult shoot for Satsuma. This was Satsuma's first experience with extended shooting in the water tank. Keeping his balance while walking in the water tank was very difficult; while being buffeted about by waves, Satsuma had to lean forward to maintain his center of gravity while walking across the floor of the tank which had been made slippery due to algae and debris. Worse yet, he had a brush with death; while filming the Uraga Strait battle, an underwater explosion tore off the cover of a storm drain in the big outdoor pool, and had he wandered into that hole, he would have plunged 4 m (13 ft) to the bottom. Given the weight of the suit when waterlogged, it would have been impossible for the crew to extricate him from his predicament before drowning."  Shooting in an outdoor tank created other unique problems: at one point during a shot where the Super-X2 approached Godzilla, the crew noticed a large black shadow between them. "This was quite a surprise to the crew as well (it was early fall); the shadow was a swarm of dragonflies coming in to lay eggs on the water."

"The Great Toho Pool" was originally built for the 1960 Storm Over the Pacific (Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi) under the guiding impetus of Eiji Tsuburaya. At the time of its construction it was the largest effects pool in the world, measuring 4,000 m² (43,000 ft²). The pool was demolished in 2004 - ironically during Godzilla's 50th Anniversary - due to studio remodeling, aging concrete causing deterioration and leaking of the cement, and a lesser-demand for its use; since then a studio has been built where The Great Pool once stood. "The one thing that was lost," Kawakita sighed 20 years later, "was the great pleasure of working within the dynamic vastness of that pool."

Satsuma wasn't the only one endangered as during two consecutive days of filming, two cameras mounted on a motorized launch commandeered by Kenichi Eguchi for aerial point-of-view shots of Godzilla in Uraga Strait, unexpectedly stopped, hurtling him and the cameras into the pool, granting him the nickname of Hatarakimono ("Die-Hard"). Eguchi was unharmed, and although the cameras were damaged, they were later repaired (this was of course all necessary in the Days Before Drones). "Using a launch had been done many times before," Eguchi pointed out. "But in this shot it was supposed to be the POV of Super-X2; not the POV of the ships, since it had to be flying in the air. If shot from the launch it would be too low, so the camera had to be positioned a little higher. So I was holding the camera while trying to get the shot from a higher angle, and I lost my balance and fell into the pool, holding the camera. This happened several times."

Numerous effects were filmed but not used: a shot of Godzilla approaching Biollante in Ashinoko Lake from Godzilla's perspective (the pool taking-up nearly half of Stage No. 8), a scene where a small two-man JDSF speedboat is attacked and sunk by Biollante, a stop-motion sequence showing Biollante's tendrils encircling Godzilla, a shot of Godzilla's head seen from Biollante's perspective, a close-up of Godzilla slowly regaining consciousness with its head still partially-submerged in the Sea of Japan, and a interesting sequence filmed via cartoon animation where Biollante actually swallows the defeated Godzilla before the plant monster dissolves into the sky ("It was supposed to transfer from the real shot to the animation shot," Kawakita explained, "but it was just too flat. And worse than that, you couldn't feel any emotions from the animation"). The most-regrettable deletion was a remarkable moment where Biollante's descending spores created a rose-covered countryside which captivates and calms Godzilla in a beautiful piece of acting by Satsuma, but the sequence was discarded since the scale of the roses was too large. "I have always felt Godzilla should express its emotions," Satsuma stated, "which is very difficult given the range of movements and expressions the costume can make. So, whatever Godzilla does, I always try to add little movements that will show his emotional state. I believe Godzilla is a very emotional creature."

Since a new generation of filmmakers were working on the Godzilla series, originality was rampant, such as the use of reflectors positioned above the pool, the idea of special effects lighting director Kaoru Saito: "We thought it would be useful, better than the dull surface. So we tried, and it looked so much better in the dailies. It didn't look like a pool." Additional innovations included an elevated tracking shot of a camera-mounted miniature helicopter firing its missiles at the monster, the previously-mentioned r/c helicopters - during his first job as a special effects director Kawakita utilized radio-controlled miniature Zero fighter planes for the 1976 Zero Pilot (Ozora no samurai) - as well as filming Godzilla's attack on Osaka at low-angles outside the set's perimeter and at higher angles inside the soundstage for greater contrast and theatrical effect. The miniature river flowing through Osaka was constructed larger than the 1/50th scale to better emphasize the water's reflective quality, and there was an imaginative shot seen from Godzilla's perspective as it surfaced in Osaka Bay (with the Minato Bridge clearly visible in the background) filmed from a water-proof "guillotine" camera raised from underwater.

But the movie's most-celebrated effect was a breathtaking tracking matte shot from the lakeside onlookers up to the giant rose in the water. As explained in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla: "The live-action plate of the media massing on the shores of Ashinoko was shot using 8-perf (perforations, the sprocket holes placed onto the film - PHB) and Biollante was shot in the indoor water tank at Stage No. 8, also in 8-perf. The two shots were composited in a 70mm negative at 4-perf, and an optical manager was then used to scan the scene, starting with the live action element and then panning up to the miniature element. The finished effect is both seamless and strikingly realistic," and this was the first time this technique had ever been used in a Japanese film. 

In The Return of Godzilla the monster seemed almost reluctant to destroy Tokyo, but in Biollante it can't wait to get to the Osaka Business Park (assembled on Sound Stage No. 2) in a dramatic 1:16 minutes filled with massive destruction and outstanding photography conveying Godzilla's unstoppable power. This time fire consumes the city and even more significantly, the beast is rarely-seen dwarfed by any of the high-rise structures. The creature's final battle with the 1/40th-scale Super-X2 had a more-exciting musical score, better camera angles, and is generally-more creative, such as when a bright explosion appears behind Godzilla just as the flying vehicle comes into view. And while Nakano did film several low-angle shots of the monster in Return, Kawakita films them as tracking shots, as well as filming Godzilla's attack in the TCM field during a rainstorm; the water coming from a hose connected to a fire hydrant outside the soundstage with an atomizer making the droplets appear smaller for close-ups.

Biollante - which one writer felt "might be the most original creation that is featured in a Godzilla movie" - reached its final design stage only after over 100 conceptual concepts, yet even when faced with the hellish visage of a charging Biollante with its terrible tendrils wildly waving around (taking a dozen technicians manipulating over 30 piano wires to operate the monster, with fly ash spread all-around shot from underneath the frame with compressed air), the King of the Monsters stands its ground. "For that scene," effects designer Takashi Yamabe remembered, "Biollante was placed on a flat car and attached to wires which we pulled with all our might. I think the actor inside the suit must have been most uneasy, because he was sitting on that flat car in a posture for fishing. To put it another way, he was holding a thick rod which supported Biollante's head. He could have been knocked down if we pulled the car unexpectedly, or even thrown-off the stage if the car was pulled with too much power."

Kawakita's staff did an impressive job manipulating Biollante - particularly the tendrils which snap, hiss, and spurt burning slime - and also when the massive monster charges in two of the great "money shots" in the series. Masashi Takegami was inside a cast iron platform in the enormous costume; the head section alone weighed 20 kg (44 lbs). "We were working on Godzilla vs. Biollante," related Takuya Yamabe, co-owner of Tokyo's Bishop Studio which constructed Biollante, "whose special effects were pretty much shot in the order they took place in the plot. Because the main battle with Godzilla took place at the end, the staff was very fatigued and the back of Biollante's head was blown away by accident. So we had to repair the damage on the set . . . for a human it would have been instant death. But in the case of Biollante, we just collected, bonded, and sprayed the pieces. Good as new!"

"To put it simply," Kawakita said years later, "between myself, producer Tanaka, and writer Kobayashi, there was a gap between the images we had in our heads. It couldn't be helped because it was a new attempt at a monster that was born out of biotechnology. But I think it was even worse because the staff didn't know much about the actual state of Biollante until it got brought onto the set. The shooting time was short, but it wasn't a rough and hurried production. While filming, I kept thinking that if I can't make Biollante work, it wouldn't do. What I would say on the set might not always work, but there was always something in my head. When we actually moved it, it was hard work, but when you see something defying logic, it's a visual shock, isn't it? I thought about it for a long time, and I think that's why I was able to pull this scene off . . . that was the last shot done in the studio; the Lake Ashino scene was very troublesome, but even so, our crew managed it quite well. But the fundamental problem was that there was never enough of a budget or time (ironic smile)."

For the first time - in an action repeated in future films - Godzilla sticks its head into its opponent's mouth to more effectively use its atomic breath, and the battles between the two beasts are forceful, full of surprises, and augmented with little details, such as having miniature searchlights swaying in the background. Biollante was Godzilla's first "Monster vs. Monster" combat in over 15 years, the first since '71 when it battled another monster without any support from either humans or monsters, and was a completely serious conflict. The giant reptile faces one of its most difficult foes and the mutated plant towers over Godzilla which seems over-matched and is forced to use its "Sonic Pulse" for the first time (one minor effects faux pas is when Godzilla stands up after being revived by the seawater when its jaws stiffly flapped open).

At one point in the film, Shiragami admits to Kazuhito that "I guess it's time for my generation to move aside. From now on, it's up to you guys." The younger man replies that "If we continue to do the same thing, we can't call it a new era," and it's tempting to place Tanaka and Kawakita in those roles as an on-screen admission that it was indeed time for the series to become more cerebral, more emotional, and more mature. Despite minor continuity errors with the effects and some jarring musical edits, Biollante was the best Godzilla film since Mothra vs. Godzilla, but still has its fair share of detractors, including Guy Marine Tucker, who in 1996 considered it "the worst of the series - yes, worse even than Megalon," while Matt Paprocki declared that "Godzilla vs. Biollante is not a perfect film" (here we go again . . .).

Godzilla vs. Biollante marked a true turning point in the series, and while several excellent films followed in quick succession (five over a five-year period), none surpassed its originality, audacity, and spirit. With a production cost of $10.7 million it was the most expensive Godzilla film made up to that time and was seen by 3.6 million people, and while not the overwhelming money-making success Tanaka had hoped for, he must have been satisfied knowing the series was in good hands.

Chapter Ten

 

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

(Gojira tai Kingu Gidora)

< Released December 14th, 1991 >

"Godzilla suddenly disappeared from the Sea of Japan. Now King Ghidorah has appeared over the Pacific Ocean. It is confirmed that King Ghidorah is already heading Japan. We're in more danger than ever before."

- Takehito Fujio

The Film:

 

A crashing of piano chords is followed by a slow, rhythmic piano (an Ifukube trademark, possibly played by the composer himself) and drums takes us into the future: it is 2204 A.D. as a small submersible searches the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk when it comes upon the incredible sight of a huge, two-headed monster. Among the passengers are a young woman and an older man, revealing it's all that's left of the three-headed King Ghidorah minus one of its heads.

We are then transported to 1992 as a UFO skitters across the night skies of Tokyo. The next morning, Super Mystery Magazine writer Kenichiro Terasawa (Kosuke Toyohara) answers the phone at his house and discusses the incident with his editor and girlfriend, Chiaki Moriyuma (Kiwako Harada). She suggests he write an article about the UFO, but Kenichiro is more interested in talking with a man named Masakichi Ikehata (Koichi Ueda), who recently created a commotion at the Fukuoka "Dinosaur World" exhibit when he was arrested for bellowing into a loudspeaker:

"A long time ago, I saw a living dinosaur. You don't know what it was like, but I certainly do! That dinosaur is always watching us from somewhere, and if we ever become helpless and desperate - right when we're about to be broken - the dinosaur will always come. I encountered it on the doomed battlefront of the war, but is our country still safe? It seems peaceful, and you think nothing could possibly happen to us, but we've lost our will to live. Listen to your heart!"    

Kenichiro interviews Ikehata who runs a small restaurant and hears his strange tale of a dinosaur which saved the soldier's garrison on Lagos Island in February of 1944 from invading American troops.

The writer then pays a visit to dinosaur expert Professor Mazaki (Katsuhiko Sasaki) - author of the treatise "Doubts on the Extinction of Dinosaurs" - at the Department of Engineering's Science Research Center, who definitely believes the man's story.

During his research into the dinosaur story, Kenichiro learns that Lagos Island (near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands) was subjected to numerous hydrogen bomb tests and speculates they transformed the dinosaur into Godzilla.

Kenichiro takes his theory to Yasuaki Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya) - presently head of the Teiyo Business Group and owner of Dinosaur World - on the top floor of the 234 m (768 ft) Fukuoka Tower. It turns out Mister Shindo was once Major Shindo commanding the Lagos garrison, and while at first reluctant to discuss the incident, Shindo discloses he did indeed see a dinosaur on the island and has three photographs to prove it.

A contingent of army troops surround the saucer which has landed in a large field near Mount Fuji. Takehito Fujio (Tokuma Nishioka), President of the Paranormal Research Center, and Ryuzo Dobashi (Akiji Kobayashi), Chief of the Security Agency, meet three individuals who have beamed-down from the saucer: two are Caucasian - Wilson (Chuck Wilson) and Grenchiko (Richard Berger) - and a young Japanese woman named Emmy Kano (Anna Nakagawa). They describe themselves as representatives from the "Earth Union" (aka Futurians), their flying vehicle as a Mother Ship/Time Machine, and request a meeting with the Prime Minister.

After the three arrive at the meeting via teleportation, Wilson gives the gathered officials some very bad news: "Using the Earth Union's Time Machine we've been sent back to warn all of you. We wish to change incidents that are about to take place here, things that have caused catastrophes in the 23rd Century. We came here to warn you all about your country's gloomy future. In the century that we come from, there is no longer any Japan." The reason is sinisterly simple: Godzilla will attack Japan in the next century, destroy the country and infuse it with radioactivity, rendering it uninhabitable.

To cement their argument, Emmy has brought her with an old book called The Birth of Godzilla, a book Kenichiro has started to write, but not yet finished.    

The solution is to go back to February of 1944, find the dinosaur on Lagos Island, then transport it to another location where it will never be exposed to nuclear tests.

Mazaki stares at Kenichiro's book and tries taking it all in. "Godzilla," he murmurs, "will no longer be a part of our history."

Kenichiro and Mazaki - along with Paranormal Research Center member Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) - have accepted the Futurians' invitation to join them on their trip back through time.

The next day, Kenichiro, Mazaki, Miki, Ryuzo, and Takehito enter the Mother Ship and are told that Kenichiro, Mazaki, and Miki will be joined on this unique expedition by Emmy and someone - or rather something - else: M-11, a human-like android (Robert Scott Field).

While preparing to leave, Kenichiro must ask Emmy a question: "Did my book become a best seller?"

"Actually," Emmy admits, "hardly anyone even knew about your book."

A moment after entering the vehicle they are greeted by three small flying animals both cute and scary created through biotechnology called "Dorats."

The vehicle lifts-off and travels back in time to February 6th, 1944, on Lagos, where the passengers find themselves smack in the middle of an American naval bombardment. Despite the danger, M-11 is able to reach the cave where Shindo and his garrison are sheltering.

The next morning American forces nearly obliterate the Japanese but are stopped by the appearance of a large Tyrannosaurus Rex-type dinosaur. The Americans immediately shoot at it but the creature kills a number of them before forcing the rest onto the beach where it is severely wounded by a naval bombardment. In spite of it injuries it manages to kill the remaining American troops before returning to the jungle.

Eight evenings later, Shindo and the surviving members of his squad pay tribute to the fallen dinosaur: "We deeply regret that we must leave our savior behind. Though we weren't able to seize this island, please forgive us. There is nothing that we can do. We can't mend your wounds. We cannot take you to safety. We hope your wounds heal quickly, and that you will recover to full health. We, the Lagos Garrison of the Japanese Army, will never forget how you saved our lives, never!" According to Mike Copner, "This establishes Godzilla as a protector-monster for Japan, always and forever."

After the troops leave to board a waiting submarine, M-11 transports the immobile animal to a location in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska. Moments prior to their departure, Emmy sets the Dorats free.

Upon returning to the present day, the relief at finally having rid Japan of the demon is only momentary as another monster has appeared: King Ghidorah, which promptly devastates Fukuoka with shock beams emanating from its three heads and massive energy fields. Miki surmises King Ghidorah evolved from the Dorats Emmy left behind on Lagos Island, but why would she do this?

Wilson and his team plan to manipulate the flying monster and destroy Japan before rebuilding the island nation. Emmy is outraged, telling them that "We came here to warn the people of the 20th Century. This is pretty much terrorism. You've gone too far!"

That evening, Emmy visits Kenichiro and explains the original intent of her mission as a member of the Equal Environment Earth Union: to equalize the power of all (by then non-nuclear) nations on the Earth. "Actually," she explains," Godzilla didn't show up until the 23rd Century, it's all a lie. Later on, Japan will become even stronger and be the richest nation of the 21st Century. With all this wealth and great power it will buy-up nations. No nation will compare to it." In order to prevent this from happening, Wilson and Grenchiko have decided to use the flying monster to destroy Japan before implementing their operation.

At a meeting at the Diet, Ryuzo suggests resurrecting the submerged dinosaur with nuclear weapons, and the man with the capability to do it is none-other than the head of the Teiyo Group and a now-familiar face: Shindo, whose company owns a privately-commissioned and secret nuclear mini-submarine armed with torpedoes.

Miki senses Godzilla is alive as the dinosaur had been transformed due to the sinking of a nuclear sub in the Bering Sea years earlier (although why she didn't sense this the moment they returned from the past is unclear). Since Shindo's sub will no longer be needed, Emmy and Kenichiro drive over to stop him, but are halted by M-11, who brings Emmy back to the Mother Ship. She has had enough however and replaces M-11's CD instructions with new ones (note the collection of toy robots in the background).

A fully-revived Godzilla sights Shindo's sub and sinks same before emerging from the sea and heading for Japan. After destroying a squadron of JSDF jets, King Ghidorah is guided to battle Godzilla at the Abashiri Plains, a confrontation Shindo watches with interest, saying, "Once again, you fight for us."

As the battle between the beasts rages, King Ghidorah holds a distinct advantage until Emmy and Kenichiro destroy the main computer controlling King Ghidorah, giving Godzilla the chance to blow-off one of its heads, puncturing a wing, and sending the now two-headed monster falling into the ocean.

With M-11's help, Emmy and Kenichiro overcome Wilson and Grenchiko before teleporting the Mother Ship at Godzilla's feet seconds before the beast obliterates it.

As the monster continues on its destructive path into Sapporo ("Does this look like the same beast that was once your savior, Mr. Shindo?" an embittered Ryuzo wonders aloud), Kenichiro arrives at an audacious plan: have Emmy and M-11 return to the 23rd Century, locate King Ghidorah, revive it as a robot with their advance technology, then return to the present day and fight Godzilla.

Emmy agrees, and just before she and M-11 depart in the Time Machine, she says to Kenichiro:

 

Emmy: "I like this era very much."

Kenichiro:   "You're joking! Aren't we primitive?"

Emmy: "I'm not joking."

Kenichiro:   "Then why?"

Emmy: "Because there are people like you here."

 

After returning to the 23rd Century and using the tiny submersible to find King Ghidorah (marking the point where the film began), Emmy manages to convince a reluctant superior to follow through with her plan.

Godzilla then turns toward the Shinjuku section of Tokyo (the first time the monster has attacked a city in broad daylight in over 20 years) when Ryuzo receives a phone call and is shocked to learn that the person on the other end - Mr. Shindo - has refused to evacuate:

"This is the way I want it. Let me have it my way. My life should have ended on Lagos Island. I was saved by that dinosaur, enabling me to live and rebuild this country, and the fact that now it is being destroyed by that same dinosaur is so very ironic . . ."

What follows is the finest scene in the film and arguably the entire series, scored with pulsating piano, somber strings, and muted horns, as Godzilla approaches the steel-and-marble 48-story-tall Tokyo City Hall (built in 1/50th scale) in Shinjuku, known sardonically by the locals as the "Tax Towers." Godzilla and Shindo exchange glances before recognizing each other seconds before the monster blasts the businessman into eternity.

All seems lost until Mecha-King Ghidorah arrives, piloted by Emmy. The two titans struggle and for a moment it seems MKG has won, only to be disabled by Godzilla, knocking Emmy out.

Emmy regains her senses just in time to operate a massive Machine Hand clamping around the King of the Monster's midsection before lifting it into the air; but after carrying the giant reptile only a short distance, Godzilla blasts its ray into the flying robot, causing both to crash into the sea. Fortunately, Emmy safely emerges from the water.

None are as greatly relieved as Kenichiro, who admits that "I'll have to live for 200 years to thank you!"

Emmy has something to say as well: "Kenichiro, there's something I never had the chance to tell you: you are a distant grandfather of mine." Then, just before transporting herself back into the future, she adds: "Farewell, my homeland!"

Kenichiro and his girlfriend watch Emmy depart while Godzilla and Mecha-King Ghidorah lie motionless at the bottom of the ocean until an awakened and enraged Godzilla spews forth its ray.

The beast will be back!

 

A Closer Look:

 

"With Godzilla vs. Biollante," Tanaka explained during a press conference prior to the release of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, "we failed to make a story which could be fully enjoyed by children, it was too adult. So with this new film, we will make it more engaging for children." Once again, Kazuki Omori directed with great proficiency scenes such as Godzillasaurus' attack on the American troops, the shelling of Godzillasaurus, the soldiers' salute to Godzillasaurus, and Shindo's farewell to Godzilla. Omori's placement and movement of his actors are skillfully handled (his actors are often introduced in a creative fashion, such as a close-up of Shiragami taken from underwater in Biollante, and a door panel sliding open revealing Emmy preparing for her clandestine mission in King Ghidorah).

Omori wrote another intelligent script with numerous subtexts including wacky war veterans, private corporations arming nuclear vessels, the possible netting of a dinosaur in 1977, Japan's booming economy in the 1990s, and the sinking of a nuclear sub in the Bering Sea. Omori also makes sociological comments about Japan's burgeoning wealth, an utopian Earth without nuclear weapons (a concept Honda earlier touched-on in Latitude Zero), and a controversial comment about Japan's former military might (which Honda had covered in Submarine Warship).

King Ghidorah was a much-more political film than Biollante and the first to elaborate, explain, and indisputably verify Godzilla's origins. The initial theories proposed by Dr. Yamane suggested the monster was a dinosaur mutated by hydrogen bomb explosions without giving any specifics or naming any names, but Omori takes this several steps further by affirming that Godzilla was created by American Bikini Atoll tests in 1954. And whereas Godzilla indirectly hinted at America's involvement in World War II, Omori goes right for the gut, not with an apology, but with empathy for the Japanese soldiers' doomed plight showing them being wiped-out by the American forces; a moment punctuated by Kenichiro and Mazaki's horrified reactions (for the historical record, Japan had been fighting a defensive war since 1942's Battle of Midway, and were by 1944 solely-concerned with saving their homeland, although what the Japanese troops were originally fighting for - the brutal domination of Southeast Asia - is never discussed).

One scene everyone noticed at the time of the film's release was the American soldiers (played by American servicemen stationed in Japan) being slaughtered by a monster protecting, however inadvertently, Japanese troops who die bloodless deaths while plenty of blood is shorn by the Americans. The scene generated a modest amount of controversy but really didn't stir the pot all that much for a genre many refuse to take seriously, although those involved with the production certainly were, including Honda. Always sensitive to Japanese - American relations (he often showed representatives of the two nations interacting), he felt "Omori went a bit too far. He doesn't blame the (American) soldiers, but I feel that he went too far." As if anticipating trouble, Omori admitted during pre-production that, "In writing this story, I wanted to create a screenplay that dealt with Japan and its place in the world community. Japan is not well liked today, and may be hated in the future!" However, Satsuma was more insightful: "I thought the American people were more open-minded than that. That sort of reaction seems a bit extreme to me, especially since the war was finished half-a century ago."

Voicing another opinion was Toho spokesman Hidekichi Yamane: "Of course, I realize it may be unpleasant for Americans to watch . . . But I think it's not as bad as those Hollywood war movies that portray Japanese soldiers with buckteeth." "I don't know why (Omori) got some bad, anti-American press over the film," Robert Scott Field reflected. "We kill Russians, Japanese, and Germans in our movies, and no one calls us anti-those countries." When Norman England asked Field if he thought Toho was making a nationalist statement with the film, the actor answered, "Some of the guys at Toho, well, they say things like the reason we lost the war is because you guys are so big, you eat meat and you have more strength. I think this film may be their way of getting even." 

Daniel Kahl (playing Major Spielberg) told a G-Fan interviewer that "As I'm sure your readers know, every Godzilla movie is anti-American. That's what makes them so much fun." And what did the director have to say after the film was released? "I am not anti-American . . . I just wanted to make a movie with American army people in it . . . I love American war movies, but looking at all the ones I've watched over the years, Americans never lose. And so I thought they should lose at least once!" Richard Berger (Futurian Grenchiko) said, "If the film was intended to convey an anti-American sentiment, I honestly don't think the fans in Japan were that interested in it. They just wanted to watch a fun movie starring Godzilla and King Ghidorah" (as it happened, neither Tanaka nor Shogo Tomiyama - the latter now the series' hands-on producer - expressed any concerns when the film was released). But there may be more to the story. In the film, Ikehata confesses to Kenichiro that "We thought we would never see our homeland again" (indeed millions never did), but he is now is a restaurateur and Shindo is a powerfully-influential business man. At another point Mazaki comments on "the very men who rebuilt our country and economy," and during the World War II segment, Shindo tells his troops that "Our deaths will be the flesh and blood of an even greater and stronger Japan!"

The director adds a brushstroke of sentimentality during the two parting scenes between Emmy and Kenichiro, and there is a nice moment when the young man is joined at the end by his girlfriend as Emmy flies-off in the Time Machine. The script is not without issues however as nothing is ever said about the two army helicopters obliterated by the time-travelers' force field, and that Emmy - whose activities are closely monitored by Wilson - was able to redirect M-11's encoded mission statement without interference, and who and why did someone decide to name the three-headed flying monster King Ghidorah? As far as the island incidents are concerned, it seems odd that Godzillasaurus should be the only dinosaur on the island, as hypothesized by Allen A. Debus, "Like so many sci-fi crypto-'survivors,' Godzillasaurus seems to be the last of its kind." Steve Ryfle documents that "Because the dinosaur's arms are shorter than Godzilla's, the costume had no arm-holes; instead, (Wataru) Fukuda kept his arms inside the suit and controlled the movements of the Godzillasaurus' tiny forearms with handles. The Godzillasaurus scenes were shot outdoors, in natural sunlight, on the Toho Studio's lot, and real octopus blood was utilized for the creature's wounds to heighten the realism."

From the standpoint of historical accuracy, Shindo would almost certainly have died leading his troop's charge while shouting "Banzai!" (back then meaning "Long live the Emperor!" but nowadays "Hooray!"), and the U.S. naval gunners would have to be mighty proficient not to kill any Marines during the shelling of Godzillasaurus. It also seems unlikely that a U.S. naval commander would take it upon himself to cancel his instructions to take the island due to the dinosaur and leave American corpses lying around.

As far as the film's concept of time travel is concerned, the main problem with it is time travel, a point commented on by many such as Mike Bogue, who wrote the film offered a "paradox-laden time travel plot line that really makes no sense whatsoever." Emmy shows Kenichiro a book he wrote in the future called The Birth of Godzilla, so a trip is taken to Lagos Island so the Godzillasaurus can be relocated elsewhere before it becomes Godzilla. The mission is summarily accomplished, but when everyone returns to the present, Godzilla should no longer be in anyone's memory, and there should be no book.

Ed Godziszewski brings up another matter regarding the 1944 capture of the Godzillasaurus, "since this is the monster which ravaged Tokyo and was disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954, and the Godzilla that appears in 1984 is a different creature of the same species - what happens to the latter beast?" Skip Peel has offered a possible solution to this conundrum: "You can time travel, but you cannot change history and there are no parallel worlds. What a time traveler did in the past occurred naturally, just the same as the activities of the beings of that time. In other words, the time travelers to Lagos Island had always been there (speaking historically from our future perspective). Since the first Godzilla was awakened by undersea tests, M-11 must have put his in the Bering Sea at the spot where he was originally exposed to the radiation. As for Ghidorah, I like to theorize that Wilson and company obtained genetic material from the Ghidorah presumably killed at the end of Attack of the Marching Monsters in 1999 (the year the story took place - PHB), engineered the Dorats from it, then travelled back to Lagos on the pretence of destroying Godzilla to create a new Ghidorah via bomb tests. As to whether the new Ghidorah remained for the next fifty years, that remains a problem."

J. D. Lees disputes this concept: "If you subscribe to a linear concept of time travel (as G vs. KG apparently does), then the events of the present cannot depend on someone from the future doing something in the past. For example, if Godzilla's existence depended on M-11 moving the Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea, how would M-11 (in the future) have been aware of Godzilla and the connection with the Godzillasaurus in the first place, 'before' he had actually done the deed? As for my own future, I think I'll refrain from further debate over time travel in G vs. KG until I've got it all figure out. "And that," he concluded, "won't be for a while" (he was right; it would be another eight years before he approached the subject again and in far-greater detail with "G vs. KG: It's About Time: A Controversy of the Past Appears in the Present" in G-Fan No. 61, as well as "Implications of Time Travel in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" in a 1995 Special Collection No. 1 issue of G-Fan). The notion that the same person cannot exist twice in the same time period is rather forced - one can only imagine Shindo's shocked reaction seeing his younger soldier-self and vice-versa, although it would have made for an interesting confrontation - then again, there are only so many seats in the Time Machine.

There are too many comments about how Japan is doomed and how strong Godzilla is, and there are moments harkening back to previous Godzilla films: Godzilla destroying a submarine, Godzilla picking a monster up by its tail before flinging it to the ground, Godzilla being forced-back by an onslaught of weapons, King Ghidorah being controlled, a main character dying in a tall building destroyed by Godzilla, Godzilla being airlifted, and calculations determining where the monster might strike next. There is also the depressing notion that even after traveling back in time and snatching Godzillasaurus to relocate it to the frozen north, none of this will prevent the dinosaur from mutating into the giant radioactive reptile thanks to Man's nuclear waste. Thus, no matter what course humans may take to try and correct their atomic errors, it is too-little too-late, having long since turned the contaminated corner. It seems that Godzilla - like death and taxes - is inevitable.   

The idea of having someone on a direct eye-line with Godzilla went as far back as the first film, only this time it has relevance, meaning, and emotional context. As Shindo and Godzilla face each other (Omori wisely eliminates the sound effects and uses only Ifukube's music and Godzilla's roar, lending the scene an eerie ambiance), each reacts each in a similar fashion, and for the first time we see into the monster's mind as it flashes back to its memory of Shindo. The scene is poignant, reverent, and ironic, and while some wonder if Godzilla killed Shindo because it didn't recognize the ex-soldier, it seems more-likely it destroyed the tycoon because it did recognize him; not in a case of blind rage or a simple act of revenge toward one person, but because Shindo is a member of the same human race that attacked, nearly killed, and left alone to die before turning it into a monstrous radioactive reptile.

 

Meet the Futurians: Emmy Kano (Anna Nakagawa), Wilson (Chuck Wilson), and Grenchiko (Richard Berger).

For some reason it was deemed necessary to have the silly and totally unnecessary "Go ahead!" "Make my day!" Sudden Impact salute and the conversations between the naval ship commander and "Major Spielberg" in a blatant attempt at pandering to American audiences (regarding the context of the Commander's comment regarding "Little Green Men," the idea of aliens being both little and green predates to the early part of the 20th Century, coming into wider and more recognizable use by the 1950s). "I was excited to do the film," Gilbert recollected, "because hey, not everybody gets to be in a Godzilla movie! I used to watch them on television when I was a kid. We did all my scenes on a real ship, a Japan Naval Self-Defense Force ship that was docked in Yokosuka. Everything was shot in one day."

Omori again populates a Godzilla film with an excellent cast. Emmy Kano, wonderfully played by 26-year-old Anna Nakagawa (who sadly died of uterine cancer in 2014 at age 49), was the strongest female character ever to appear in a Godzilla film up to that point. Previous females had either been weeping willows, professional women subjected to ridicule or bullying from their male counterparts, or customary eye candy; even the spunky native girls Daiyo and Saeko occasionally cowered in front of the men, and Gigan's Tomoko was little more than a kicker of feeble male ass. On the other hand, Emmy is courageous, skillful, focused, persistent, and resilient. She is blunt but not brusque, and can be humble, but never humbled. She is willing to consider and accept other people's suggestions, is not easily intimidated, and her spirited take-charge attitude endears her to the audience. 

Omori also cast actors from previous Godzilla films such as Katsuhiko Sasaki - terrific as dinosaur-loving Mazaki - and Megumi Odaka, who is much better this time around as an empathetic Miki. Also in the cast is an all-but unrecognizable So Yamamura playing the Prime Minister (he had previously played the Prime Minister in Shue Matsubayashi's nuclear war masterpiece The Great World War (Sekai Daisenso) - a film that makes Stanley Kramer's On The Beach look like a walk on the beach - and the always-welcome Kenji Sahara in the non-descript role of Minister Takayuki Segawa, but it is Yoshio Tsuchiya who steals the show as the former combatant/now capitalist Shindo. He is especially outstanding bidding Godzillasaurus a tearful goodbye, and his confrontation with the creature which once saved and will soon end his life was a seminal moment for the series and the actor.

"I really enjoyed making it," he told Tucker. "It was quite moving for me." In an interview for Markalite he added: "I play a character who is intent on saving Godzilla," and to Steve Ryfle he made an interesting admission: "Mr. Shindo is my all-time favorite movie role, believe it or not. I was chosen for that role because I am the only one who can talk to Godzilla. I understand where he comes from, and what is in his heart, just like Shindo does. Even though Godzilla is only a fictional character, he is very real to me. I have an affinity for him that is difficult to describe."

"In the previous movie," Omori told Brett Homenick, "some of the famous actors or actresses would have a chance to be in this as well, but they were not around to to do this. Akihiko Hirata is the name of one of the famous actors, and before Biollante, we wanted to work together, but he passed away before Biollante was in the process of being made, so we weren't able to work with him. In Biollante, there's a big role that I wanted him to play, and I wanted to ask him to do that role. But because he passed away, I found someone of equal quality to play that part. Yoshiko Kuga is the name of the actress in the movie, but Mr. Tanaka said having a woman do that kind of a role is not good, so I had to change it again. So I changed it to a man . . . And because he passed away, we thought who could be the opposite of a (crying) Godzilla, and Mr. Tsuchiya's the only one we could think of worth in that role . . . And so Mr. Tsuchiya, when we brought this to him and said, 'We'd like you to do this role,' he says, I've been waiting my whole life for this role.' So I personally think we found the right actor, and we have Godzilla crying in the face of this human being, and I think of all the movies in the Godzilla series, this has to be the best scene, in my personal opinion. But Mr. Tanaka said, 'Why is Godzilla crying?'(laughs)."     

Kosuke Toyohara - playing an intense Super-X2 weapons-controller in Biollante - is also terrific, and even the minor role of his girlfriend Chiaki is played not by a novice, but by experienced actress Kiwako Harada (King Ghidorah was her ninth movie role). One actor displaying real versatility is Koichi Ueda, who in the previous film had played sour General Hyodo, here playing the flipped Ikehata (he can be seen in a brief close-up during Shindo's salute to the dying dinosaur), and it would be his second of 13 record consecutive appearances in the Toho-produced Godzilla films.

American-born Robert Scott Field is excellent as cyborg M-11. "As a boy I always thought it would be great to be in a movie like this," he told Norman England. "I immediately called my father and said, remember those movies I used to always watch? Well, I'm going to be in one! This was the big time to me. Any other movie in Japan wouldn't have been as much fun . . . It couldn't have been any better. And the part of M-11 was perfect for me. I don't think that anyone else could have done it, it was mine. I loved to run, I loved to get burnt, I loved the action." Scott doesn't play the android as a stiff, impassioned hulk, but a fully-functioning robot with a hesitant volatility - his low-key, monotone delivery solidifies this impression - giving the machine an aura of charming menace and brutal efficiency (the only flaw was having Field yell a second before the automobile collision; would a robot be programmed to do that?). 

Field did his own stunts and some of them were dangerous, such as the scene on Lagos Island when he was being lowered from the Time Machine. "I was being lowered by piano wires. In fact, I almost fell down once because the harness broke. It was strong vertically, but not horizontally. Because of my weight, I started tipping forward and it finally broke. I had to grab the piano wire; it probably saved my life." Equally risky was the scene where he was running after Emi and Kenichiro: "They had me on a little trailer and were pulling me with a car. I might have been history if that trailer had given way! I was held down with ropes, because any little bump in the road and I'd have fallen off" (the actor does a great job keeping his eyes open and not blinking due to the force of the airstream).

Not since 1975 had there been a Godzilla film scored in its entirely by Akira Ifukube, who remembered years later: "My daughter said, 'However you try to escape Godzilla films, they use your name and your melodies, so why not go ahead and do the next one?'" And while certainly effective with his "Main Title" music making one's pulse jump from the get-go, the score lacks originality. The reintroduction of previously-used music can sometimes be jarring, such as in Gigan, when Gengo pushes an elevator button to the strains of Undersea Warship making one think a Mu agent was about to appear (which would have been nice), but here it was re-orchestrated before being newly-recorded, so the cues are not as distracting, with the exception of the King Ghidorah jet chase music, culled from the Rodan chase music from the 1956 film (Ghidorah even roars like Rodan).

Many cues were borrowed from previous tracks, such as during Kenichiro and Emmy's nighttime conversation - a variation of Ifukube's "Main Title" music from the 1959 Whistle in My Heart (Kotan no kuchibue) - and the confrontation between Shindo and Godzilla was loaned from a portion of the maestro's score from his 1966 Daimajin. Ifukube includes a rousing reworking of several cues from King Kong vs. Godzilla such as when the UFO is first seen, when the Army troops first come upon the Time Machine, King Ghidorah's attack on Fukuoka, and Godzilla's final battle with Mecha-King Ghidorah. A snippet from the monster attack music from Attack of the Marching Monsters was used when the military is on the move, and Ifukube sponged a portion of his score from the 1957 The Last Escape (Saigo no dasso) during the soldier's story about his stay on Lagos Island.

"I still have to face the same problems," the composer confessed to Steve Ryfle, "not enough time, not enough money. I always have to make last-minute changes because of editing, and often it is frustrating. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the Japanese air force allowed Toho to use actual footage of F-15s for the sequence when Ghidorah fights the jets, but the decision was not made until the day before the score was going to be recorded. I didn't have time to write new music for that scene, so I ended up using a theme from Rodan, from a very similar scene in which the Rodan monster battles with jets. It was just a matter of finding a piece of music that fit. Those kinds of constraints are aggravating because I am never satisfied with the music. It doesn't sound fresh."

As mentioned earlier, the opening scene with the submarine is flavored with the slow, steady pounding of a single piano key accompanied by low woodwinds - signature Ifukube motifs - but even so, it was only a reworking of King Ghidorah's original 1964 theme, which itself was a variation of the outer space Moon-walk music from Ifukube's Great Space War heard in a minor key when the Dorats are introduced, with playful piano and flute (Ifukube also used bits and pieces from his epic 1959 score from The Three Treasures (Nippon Tanjo). There are also imaginative musical moments such as when Wilson discloses the news that King Ghidorah has appeared: Ifukube introduces a shimmering cymbal just prior to the film cutting to a shot of the flying monster.

Ifukube keeps things interesting with unique orchestrations, such as the harp and flute during Kenichiro and Emmy's evening discussion, a prepared piano throughout M-11's laser fight, subdued horns in the flashback sequence (hinting at Japan's doomed military operations), and bongos and vibraphone when Kenichiro and Emmy are beating the wax out of Wilson. During Godzillasaurus' first appearance and Godzilla's attack on Sapporo, the composer made use of measured piano and drawn-out bow strings peppered with sinister brass, implying the creature's awesome power. The music during Kenichiro and Emmy's goodbye scenes are quintessential Ifukube: lilting violins, gentle flute, and plucked harp, although one odd orchestration is the harp glissando heard when the mighty Godzilla first rises from the depths. But the most significant aspect of the score was having Ifukube returning to the series after so many years. "After the screening of King Ghidorah," he remembered, "many old-timers saw it with their children and even grandchildren, and they came up to me and said, 'Well, we really enjoyed it.' So I was not reluctant at all after that."

Yoshinori Sekiguchi's camerawork shines even more than in Biollante, such as a rapid tracking-in shot of the Japanese soldiers huddling in the cave during the bombardment (increasing their sense of desperation), and lighting technician Tsuyoshi Awakihara bathed Emmy in a strong, direct light when she tells Kenichiro about how strong Japan will become. Sekiguchi utilizes several setups within a scene, such as the car pursuit by M-11 (while exciting enough with its Terminator influence, it makes one wonder how M-11's car was able to propel itself in a straight line without the robot's foot on the accelerator, and whatever happened to that poor schmoe set aflame from the explosion?).

Michiko Ikeda's editing holds the viewer's interest even during expository scenes, such as when Kenichiro and Chiaki first meet Shindo:

 

FIRST SHOT: Low-angle shot of high-rise building.

SECOND SHOT: Rack-focus from a close-up of dinosaur models in foreground to medium close-up of Shindo sitting and laughing, before panning and tracking to the left as he stands and then walks, sitting in left foreground.

THIRD SHOT: Two-shot medium close-up of Kenichiro and Chiaki sitting on sofa.

FOURTH SHOT: Medium close-up of Shindo.

FIFTH SHOT: Close-up of Kenichiro.

SIXTH SHOT: Over-the-shoulder close-up of Shindo seen from behind Kenichiro, into medium close-up of Shindo, before camera elevates and pans to the right as Shindo stands up and walks from left-to-right.

SEVENTH SHOT: Reverse-angle medium shot of Chiaki, Kenichiro, Shindo, and Shindo's assistant, followed by rack-focus close-up of Shindo walking into foreground.

 

The scene consists of seven separate shots with a running time of one-minute and seven seconds for an average of a less than ten seconds per shot. Further adroit editing is seen when Takehito and Ryuzo are walking toward the saucer: first they are seen walking toward the rear of several tanks, then the next shot shows them walking in front of the tanks. When Wilson, Grenchiko, and Emmy have transported themselves into the briefing room, there are reaction shots of the startled members before everyone is next seen seated around a very long table, dispensing with time-consuming introductions (the Godzilla films always seem to have very long tables in them), and when Miki and Mazaki are in the helicopter searching for Godzilla, there is an aerial tracking shot of the ocean followed by their horrified reactions before cutting to the surfacing Godzilla.    

The effects are again expertly handled (Kawakita initially wanted Godzilla to fight MechaniKong; nevertheless his efforts on this film resulted in a Japanese Academy Award); the Mother Ship and Time Machine are skillfully conceived and convincingly designed (there is once more a massive military response, but no Super-X3), while the manipulation of King Ghidorah required no-less than 12 technicians operating 32 wires for a costume weighing nearly 300 kg (661 lbs). To aid in the manipulation and to avoid confusion when directing the heads independently, they were identified as Ichiro (One), Jiro (Two), and Sanro (Three). When in flight, the massive wings and tails were manually operated by nine technicians; however the massive buildings look a bit flimsy, indicative of their hollow structures. During the scene when King Ghidorah is strangling Godzilla, effects technician Makoto Kamiya revealed that "We made the foam that comes out from the mouth by foaming a cleaning liquid and pumping it through a hose." When Godzilla blasts-away one of Ghidorah's heads, Kawakita did not want to see blood, but a kind of golden dust. Why? "I wanted to make the scene dreamlike. This was also used in subsequent films, it was my great fixation."

When Godzilla is grabbed by Ghidorah's mechanical arm during the battle in Shinjuku Center, a 2 m (6.5 ft) model of the prop was constructed, while a Bandai plastic model of the King of the Monsters was modified for long shots showing Godzilla being carried over the Pacific Ocean. The battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah at Abashiri Plain was the last sequence filmed (production wrapped August 2nd, 1991) and influenced by Noriyoshi Orai's conceptual poster art for the theatrical release showing Ghidorah's necks encircling Godzilla. Kawakita remembered: "As for the construction of Godzilla, I thought the previous one was perfect; however I did some modifications, because you have to make it even better, but I was more interested in modeling King Ghidorah. What I thought about most was: it is good to make the neck like a giraffe as in the Showa Series? Such a concept! I asked Mr. Noriyoshi Orai to draw a picture of his original poster, and the face and angles were very sharp and the three-headed dragon was golden. It emitted red and blue beams which I thought was good. We constructed a model by referring to his illustration, and soon after that, we decided to continue with the production."

When Mecha-King Ghidorah appears in the sky, Kawakita admitted the influence was King Ghidorah's initial arrival in Three Greatest Monsters. "I continued with the idea of it appearing in a ball of fire in the sky, but if we didn't do a variation of it, there would be nothing special about the Heisei Revival. Next, when it came to showing the fighting style of King Ghidorah, there was not only going to be hand-to-hand combat, but the use of light beams, as I again wanted to emphasize the difference. Because King Ghidorah is a monster that is completely unable to move, shooting the hand-to-hand combat was difficult, which was another issue (bitter smile). If I say things like that, some people may not like it, but I don't recall too many accidents on the set, especially with Mecha-King Ghidorah, which was so huge and suspended on wires; those things break all the time. In any event the filming of the battle can be said to be a new form of fighting in the Heisei Versus Series."

Even for a big-budgeted production as this, corners were cut whenever feasible and not blatantly obvious, such as reusing the Soviet sub from Return of Godzilla for Shindo's sub, and the survey vessel seen at the beginning of the film was a redressed version of the "Wadatsumi" vessel from Tidal Wave. While Godzilla's origin may have been more-defined, King Ghidorah's was completely changed, as it was no longer a space monster but a creature created through bio-chemistry with a dash of nuclear energy; Godzilla had not seen the flying monster since 1972. The Dorats were disappointing, and not only for the audience. Several preliminary drawings of the critters were outsourced to a model-making company, but the day before shooting their scenes, Kawakita's crew were shocked when they received the completed versions of what were considered the least-desirable of the designs; however there was no time to make replacements, and so were reluctantly used (Galbraith described them looking "like something one might pick up at Toys R Us").

As in the previous film, Godzilla has two main battles, but unlike Biollante when the monsters fought face-to-face, Godzilla - now standing at a 100 m (328 ft) - must fight two flying monsters: King Ghidorah and its mechanical iteration. This certainly was no-longer the same Godzilla which had once played tag-team wrestling and merrily scampered towards combat, as "The Heisei Godzilla style is attack-and-destroy style," Satsuma explained. "It is merciless destruction. Nakajima's style is always with his hands in the air, but I never do that. My Godzilla is very violent. He is full of rage." Both battles are well-staged, with the Sapporo conflict a particular standout (sharp eyes can spot Kawakita playing one of the fleeing citizens!).

Godzillasaurus (Wataru Fukuda, who played MechaGodzilla in the next film) is beautifully designed, as is the Three-Headed Monster (Hariken "Hurricane" Ryu). Both are shown to excellent advantage, particularly Ghidorah, as there are several splendid shots of its shadow passing over panicking populaces, and the monster's heads moved with greater fluidity than ever, with opening-and-closing jaws, twisting heads, and revolving horns. However, it is not the fast-flying monster from its first appearance but a relatively sluggish and rarely flapping and gliding beast which often soars in slow motion, making it difficult to understand how it could possibly overtake supersonic jets - although at one point Kawakita gives us a marvelous long shot of King Ghidorah chasing one - and a number of explosions caused by the beast's passing over the city were simply superimposed over live-action footage. 

Ryu had his difficulties with the King Ghidorah costume: "In the beginning I just felt like the whole thing was going to collapse on me. It was very claustrophobic; that was my first feeling. The reason for my uneasiness was that there was no way for me to escape. There's a panel that comes off, and I'd climb in through that. Inside, I could see all the foam, and steel, and plastic that was in there, both to keep the suit from coming apart and to protect me, but there was so much of it that there was very little room, and it was a little frightening at the beginning. But worse than that, once I was inside, the panel was closed and bolted shut, and there was no way I could get out by myself, so that was a bit worrisome as well. The wings weighed between 30 and 40 kg (66 and 88 lbs) apiece, so you're looking at 70 - 80 kg (154 - 176 lbs) for just the wings. Then you have the rest of the body which was very heavy. Even though there were wires attached to it to keep it upright, during filming scenes in the movie, they'd have to loosen the wires so Ghidorah could move around, so almost all of the weight would be on me. That was one of the hardest things, that the suit was so very, very heavy."

Godzilla had undergone some slight alterations since Biollante with a fierce face, glaring eyes, and unsettling close-ups of the snarling and very canine-looking beast. The monster is the most-powerful version yet, utilizing its Sonic Pulse to devastating advantage, and has grown larger as evidenced by its crashing through high-tension towers, the tops of which now only reaching its waist. As with Biollante there is a video-game aspect to some of the battle scenes, and even though Godzilla is back to being an uncontrollably marauding beast, there is still some of the old Seventies sympathy for it during the moment when - after being told by Wilson of Godzilla's destructive intentions toward Japan - Ryuzo wonders, "Would Godzilla do that to us?" and Minister Segawa shakes his head and replies, "It's unbelievable!" (apparently they were both out of town in 1989). As to the previous decade's incarnation of the beast, Kawakita was both philosophical and fair: "Looking back, I think we may have erred in the Seventies, but it was also a product of the times, and that's just how those movies went."

Godzilla's adversaries were gradually becoming more difficult to fight, and once again the monster needs outside help to defeat an opponent (there are echoes of Gigan as the Futurians initially control the flying monster only to lose it, yet the Golden Dragon continues its fight without assistance). Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was the film where David Annandale confirmed that Godzilla had returned to not only being an unholy terror, but "the terror of history itself. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the characters attempt to alter the history that birthed Godzilla. They fail. Instead of ceasing to exist, Godzilla becomes even bigger than before. He is inevitable. The comforting illusion of abolishing history is precisely that: an illusion."

Exciting, poignant, controversial and thoughtful, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was another triumph for the Omori/Kawakita team. The film's final scene harkened back to the original as we again see it underwater amidst a slew of boiling bubbles; only this time the monster is not being destroyed, but is very-much alive. The film reinforced the notion that even such an incredibly destructive monster as this merits admiration and even empathy when its chips are down. One loves it, hates it, respects it, and fears it because we recognize something of ourselves in it: a lonely species prone to blind anger, anguished memories, and wanton destruction. It should not be surprising then why we feel so ambivalent about killing a creature that would like nothing better than to cremate its creator.

Chapter Eleven

 

Godzilla vs. Mothra: The Battle For Earth

(Gojira tai Mosura)

< Released December 12th, 1992 >

"We have Battra coming from the ocean and Godzilla in the mountains. What now?"

- Jyoji Minamino

 

The Film:

 

A meteor hurtles toward the Earth before splashing into the Ogasawara Trench, and as Godzilla roars, a typhoon batters a southern Indonesian island; moments later a portion of the cliff is worn away, revealing a huge and wondrously-colored egg.

One month later, 30-year-old Takuya Fujita (played by 27-year-old Tetsuya Bessho who improvised all his physical business during this scene), an archeologist and former assistant professor at Toto University, is in Bangkok poking into a recess in an ancient chamber where he grabs hold of a small golden ganesh idol statue. Suddenly the ground shakes, the walls tremble, and Takuya barely manages to escape without injury before being apprehended by the local authorities.

Takuya is resting in his cell when he receives three visitors: Yuzo Tsuchiashi (Akiji Kobayashi), a representative from the National Environment Planning Bureau, Kenji Ando (Takehiro Murata), Secretary to the President of the Marutomo Company, and Takuya's ex-wife, Masako Tezuka (Satomi Kobayashi), who has custody of their young daughter. The three offer clemency to Takuya if he will lead an exploration paid with Japanese funds to where the mysterious object landed: Infant Island, now owned by the Marutomo Company.

At the NEPB's Control Center, Professor Fukazawa (Saburo Shinoda) and Environmental Planning Board Chief Jyoji Minamino (Akira Takarada) comment on the worsening of the planet's abnormal atmosphere and rising sea levels. "Men are destroying the very Earth they live on," comments Minamino, to which Fukazawa replies, "I am afraid it looks like we may be headed for Doomsday." Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) is there as well, revealing that the meteorite has awakened the hibernating Godzilla.  

From a deep-sea trench emerges a huge and horrible caterpillar-like creature: Battra.

Traveling by speedboat, Takuya, Masako, and Kenji arrive at Infant Island and embark on a difficult journey fraught with peril. At one point they come upon a desolated embankment, motivating Masako to say, "Men are destroying what nature has been creating for billions of years."

In a cave behind a waterfall the three look at colorful drawings tens of thousands of years old. Suddenly sunlight pours-in through a pattern chiseled in a wall, and as they watch the sunlight traveling across the floor, it guides them toward an opening. After passing through it, they walk into more lush jungle before coming upon the massive egg.  

Hearing soft voices calling them, they look down and see appearing from behind a small yellow orchid, two lovely young native women no more than a foot tall who identify themselves as the "Cosmos" (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa). The women explain that over 12,000 years ago, an Earth guardian named Mothra and the cosmos were in perfect order; or at least until scientists created a device to control the climate, which, the girls explain, "greatly offended the Earth. The Earth is a living being which can also be offended."

As a result, Battra was created to destroy everything threatening life on Earth - including the Climate Controller - and Mothra battled Battra to save the cosmos, resulting in Battra retreating to the Northern Sea. However, the monster's destruction of the Climate Controller resulted in massive flooding destroying much of Infant Island and forcing Mothra and the remaining Cosmos to live inside a mountain. When the meteorite arrived, it resulted not only in typhoons and landslides, but awakened Battra as well.

On the island where the Marutomo Architectural Office of the Marutomo Construction Corporation is located, CEO Takeshi Tomokane (Makoto Otake) drives his white Mercedes convertible through an unruly crowd protesting the construction of his new golf course which has caused much devastation to the island. Arriving at his office he is informed about the egg which he immediately orders brought to Japan.

Mothra's egg is subsequently towed out to sea at the same time Battra surfaces, and after a brief battle with some jets, the ugly animal submerges only to appear in the Chubu Region, destroying much of the downtown area including the Nagoya Castle and TV Tower. Neither tanks nor MBT-91 energy-directed vehicles nor MBAW-93 Twin Maser Tanks can stop it; in fact they are stopped by Battra's powerful plasma eye rays before the beast burrows back underground.  

The captain of the vessel towing the egg sees something large approaching on sonar before a massive bolt of energy erupts from the water seconds before the King of the Monsters appears. It approaches the egg which flashes with an intense light, motivating Takuya to grab hold of the ship's winch and release the traction cables tethering the egg, which he accomplishes after a brief scuffle with Kenji.

Mothra punches through the eggshell and manages to get into the water just as Godzilla blasts the egg to bits, and after two brief battles, Godzilla easily defeats the larvae.

Battra arrives on the scene and tosses Mothra out of its way before engaging Godzilla in mortal combat, and the battle is so intense, they disappear into a deep-sea trench while Mothra swims back to Infant Island.

Later that night in Manila - as the Cosmos sleep in a coat's lapel pocket and Kenji gets blitzed in a bar - Masako and Takuya talk-over old times when they were a young, happy, and married couple.

The next morning they discover Kenji has abducted the Cosmos and taken them to his boss, and far from being disappointed with losing the egg, Takeshi is ecstatic over getting the girls.

After arriving at an airport, Takuya and Masako spot their young daughter Midori (Shiori Yonezawa) who has been brought to the airport by Masako's sister (Yoshiko Tanaka), and her husband, Professor Fukazawa, but Takuya ditches the mother-and-child reunion.

Then - in one of the film's best scenes - the Cosmos walk up to a window, look out toward the setting sun, and sing the famous "Mosura no uta" ("Song of Mothra"); what follows is the Malay version of the lyrics. The music was composed by Yuji Koseki with lyrics possibly written by Shinichi Sekizawa, although some have suggested it may have been Ishiro Honda:

 

"Mosura ya Mosura
Dongan kasakuyan
Indo muu
Rusuto uiraadoa
Hanba hanbamuyan
Randa banunradan
Tounjukanraa
Kasaku yaanmu . . ."

 

"Mothra oh Mothra

If we were to call for help

Over time

Over sea

Like a wave you'd come

Our guardian angel . . ."

 

Mothra hears the song and heads out to sea.

The Cosmos are then abducted again, this time by Takuya (although it is not clear how or when he got hold of them) who tries selling them to an American entrepreneur, but the deal apparently goes nowhere.

A naval and aerial assault fails to stop the swimming Mothra which manages to destroy a vessel and swim through barricades of fire. As Mothra crashes into Tokyo in its search for the girls, Miki can hear their song with her telekinetic powers, and guides Masako and Midori to the Akasaka Hotel, where they confront Takuya who is holding a small wicker basket containing the Cosmos:

 

"Daddy," Midori whines, "I don't want you to be a thief."

A shocked Takuya looks at Masako.

"I didn't tell her," she says, "she just knows."

Takuya is deflated. "After this, I wanted to start my life over again."

"Alone?" Masako asks.

"I'd like to be with the two of you."

"Well, if you sell the Cosmos, it just won't be possible. I won't have it."

"And if I don't?
Masako smiles. "I believe we can work something out."

 

A wide-eyed Miki then shows up (where has she been?) with news that Mothra is close by and indeed it is, crashing its way through Tokyo resulting in a amusing moment as an angry Takeshi shouts: "Go on, destroy the city! I'll just build it again, you'll see!" Finally the colossal caterpillar removes a section of the hotel's wall, but after Takuya takes the Cosmos to where the massive creature can see them, they assure the Big Bug that all is well.

Not for long however as moments after the worm turns, a tank commander on his own authority orders his platoon to open fire, severely wounding the insect which somehow manages to reach the Parliamentary Complex.

As dusk approaches, Mothra cocoons itself, but this serene scene is ruined by an enormous earthquake and a massive eruption at Mount Fuji as Godzilla - rising like a demon - begins another hellish journey, a horrific sight watched on television by Kenji and his boss.

"The Earth," Kenji moans, "is having its revenge."

Takeshi is not interested in ethics and fires his employee on the spot. Kenji exits, leaving his former chief crying on the carpet.

Lights flash inside the cocoon as the soft covering begins moving as millions of tiny golden particles fill the sky. Soon the head of a fully-grown Mothra emerges, and with billowing wings, gently rises into the night.

Not so mellow is Battra's transformation as the horrible caterpillar becomes an even more horrible flying creature attacking the Noto Peninsula.

After a brief one-sided battle with army forces (including helicopters sounding like the Tie-Fighters from Star Wars), Godzilla approaches Yokohama, noted for its massive "Cosmo Clock 21" Ferris wheel. The two flying insects fight, but the noble moth is no match for Battra.

The equation soon shifts as Godzilla arrives, and while Battra initially holds an advantage, it soon finds itself on the receiving end of Godzilla's powerful ray. Mothra then manages to put the mighty reptile on hold long enough for a remarkable moment: as the two bugs face each other, Mothra infuses the injured Battra with a myriad of bolts, waves, and particles of energy, restoring Battra's power just as Godzilla returns.

Using a combination of antennae laser beams, neutralizing particles, and wing-born lightning bolts, Mothra renders Godzilla's ray totally ineffective, but Godzilla unleashes its Sonic Pulse, causing Mothra to crash onto her back near the base of the Ferris wheel. The falling wheel nearly crushes her, but she is saved by Battra which sends the wheel careering into Godzilla.

"You saved me," the once-evil insect seems to be saying, "so now I'll save you."

The three monsters engage in a massive fight until an overwhelmed Godzilla drops to the ground. Battra seizes Godzilla, but the reptile bites Battra's neck, releasing a torrent of sticky yellow blood. Mothra grabs Godzilla's tail, and a moment later the two insects lift the monster off the ground and carry it away, but Godzilla is far from finished, and fatally zaps Battra with its ray. As Mothra lets go of Godzilla's tail, Battra and Godzilla plummet into the sea.

Mothra then circles over the point of impact sending shimmering particles recreating the Mothra symbol on the surface of the sea.

The next day Mothra is at the Tachikawa Military Airfield along with the Cosmos and a crowd of on-lookers. As it turns out, Mothra's mission has only started, as another meteor is due to strike the Earth seven years into the future. Battra was originally supposed to destroy it, but now Mothra will try diverting it, and as the Cosmos bid farewell, they levitate and merge with their god before the magnificent moth flies away, and even three military chiefs wave their caps in a respectful goodbye (a nice touch).

The Cosmos speak: "If the world lives to see another century, please remember what Mothra did for you and the planet you live on."

A Closer Look:

 

Possibly due to the fact this was Omori's third consecutive Godzilla screenplay and his third in four years, Godzilla vs. Mothra is inferior to his earlier efforts and a derivative work, taking plot elements from Mothra's 1961 and 1964 films: the Twin Fairies (now called the "Cosmos" instead of the "Shobijin") being abducted by an evil entrepreneur, a rescue attempt made during a catastrophic event, a manmade wall of flames on the ocean's surface breached by a giant swimming caterpillar that destroys a vessel, the caterpillar creating destruction throughout Tokyo in its search for the girls, a child's affinity for the Little Beauties, people looking under a table for them, the egg being exploited as a commercial venture, the twins cowering in front of a leering exploiter, a confrontation between the nasty head of a corporation and his former "yes" man who now says "no!" and a farewell at the airport.

Omori again takes-on relevant social and environmental issues; on this occasion climate change and rampant commercial development, specifically golf courses, as Marutomo's construction resulted in the partial-destruction of Infant Island and exposed Mothra's egg. The wide-spread development of island golf courses was pertinent at the time, as pointed-out in a 1994 New York Times article:

"Asia is being carpeted with golf courses. Planeloads of foreign golfers descending into Kuala Lumpur see an airport surrounded by three golf courses, and there are 40 other courses within an hour's drive, most of them built in the last five years. The booming economies of Asia have created the fastest-growing market on Earth for the golf industry. But while the rush to build new courses has delighted land developers and the manufacturers of golf gear, it is alarming Asian environmentalists.

"They warn that unrestrained development of golf courses is tearing up some of the last pristine stretches of the Asian wilderness, throwing thousands of farmers off ancestral lands, stealing precious water supplies and contaminating the soil and air with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Many also see golf as a symbol of the growing disparity between the rich and poor in Asia.

"The golf boom has been most explosive in the nations of Southeast Asia, which offer tropical weather and plentiful, relatively inexpensive land. In Malaysia, there are now 153 golf courses, triple the number in 1985, with more than 100 others on the drawing board. This growth has been nearly as extensive in Thailand and Indonesia. The frenzy has begun to spread to China, Vietnam and the Indian subcontinent.

"It is the Japanese enthusiasm for the sport that caused golf courses to spread across the rest of Asia as Japanese golfers in the 1980s searched for an alternative to the expensive greens fees at home. Japanese investors have financed the construction of hundreds of courses in recent years in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Hawaii. Asian environmentalists, however, point to development after development where farmers have been forced off their land, sometimes at the point of a gun. In Indonesia, where many of the country's best golf courses are owned by members of the family of President Suharto, environmentalists and peasant farmers have been roughed up or arrested by the Indonesian authorities as they protested golf course developments."

Moments in Godzilla vs. Mothra imply a pre-ordained destiny since the meteorite crashing into the sea revives not only Godzilla, but Battra as well; however it is never made clear why a convicted felon would be asked to lead an expedition, or why the Indonesian government would agree to such a scheme, and why a properly-outfitted and qualified team wasn't sent instead. If Ebirah was the first Godzilla film made for young people and Son of Godzilla the first for children, then Godzilla vs. Mothra is a family affair: there are no significant deaths of any human characters (Kenji's confrontation with his superior is a far-less bloody and fatal affair than the argument between Torahata and Kumayama in Mothra vs. Godzilla), and it appears that Takuya and Masako will get back together and receive marriage counseling for the sake of their daughter.

There are some minor quandaries such as the sunbeams traveling much too quickly in the cave (it would have made more sense having the light already showing them the way out), and there are no other entities on the island, only the two Cosmos. The Mothra larvae searches for the girls in Tokyo, and when it finds them they tell it that all is well, but why didn't they communicate that before Mothra leveled the city, as opposed to the original Mothra when the girls were truly in a desperate situation?

On this occasion the film's main character is not a scurrilous opportunist or a clumsy doofus but a charming rouge who steals ancient artifacts, lags behind on his alimony, and mischievously teases his ex-wife. A former professor of archaeology - who was probably sacked due to his questionable qualifications - Takuya is not without heart or feeling as he is seen smiling warmly while looking at a photo of his daughter. His running away at the airport comes out of a sense of shame and silent admission of his failings as a father, and it is satisfying seeing such a sensitive human element put into a Godzilla film (Takuya presumably stole the Cosmos with the intent of selling them so he could pay his child support). As it turns out, Mothra and Battra are not the only evolving entities, but Takuya, and even Kenji, who regains his integrity even at the cost of his job.

The Toho team held a special reverence for Mothra and always treated it with the greatest respect; when the giant moth swoops over a crowd of citizens, they gaze up at it not in fear, but in wonder. Godzilla and Mothra had a long history together and it was a complicated one, Godzilla having first battled the Big Bug in their epic 1964 encounter, when in a shocking moment it actually killed the Monster Moth only to be defeated by its two progenies, although Godzilla fatally-wounded one of them. Later that same year, after the surviving caterpillar caught up with Godzilla when it was fighting Rodan, it calmed both monsters down by reasoning with them, and as a result, Godzilla and Rodan came to the larvae's aid in combating King Ghidorah. They met two years later again as enemies when Godzilla encountered the young adult flying Mothra and was quickly subdued by it, but became friends again in 1968 (Mothra returning to its larvae stage) along with several other monsters during their combined combat against the three-headed space monster.

Mothra is admired for possessing qualities diametrically opposed to Godzilla's, but even so, the giant moth is quite capable of dealing-out destruction when warranted. It uses its powers for the greater good and is a life-affirming entity unique in the kaiju eiga canon, symbolizing life, rebirth, fortitude, justice, and especially forgiveness. In the film's key moment it recognizes Battra as a kindred spirit and ceases its attack on Godzilla long-enough to heal the ailing insect despite its previous attempts to kill Mothra, giving Battra (described by one writer as "Mothra's naturally-reoccurring evil twin that has existed since ancient times") a change of heart, leading it to atone for its sins by sacrificing itself.

Omori's script takes a more lighthearted approach than his earlier efforts as Takuya's escape from the collapsing chamber, his subsequent imprisonment, and the grueling journey on Infant Island contain comedic elements; even after Takuya tells Masako he has found a cave behind a waterfall, first-time Godzilla director Takao Okawara immediately cuts to a shot of Kenji being awoken by his portable alarm clock. The problem is that Okawara can't seem to decide if he is directing a melodrama or a comedy, and as a result, his direction is more heavy-handed than heartfelt. The emotive genuineness of Biollante and King Ghidorah has been replaced by a casual smugness in a reflection of changing attitudes toward the Godzilla films, again due to Tanaka's influence (and what's with all these Godzilla figures? Goro had one in his office in Biollante, Kenichiro had one in his living room in King Ghidorah, and Miki has one on her work-station; it seems the old adage of familiarity breeding contempt no longer applies to Godzilla, as whenever it takes a tumble, the camera zooms-in on the stressed-out psychic).

The fight between Takuya and Kenji is well-staged and Masako and Takuya's chat over drinks is very pleasant, but when the Cosmos appear on the other side of an aquarium, we hear them sing, but don't see their lips move, evidence of a lack of attention to detail which rarely escaped Omori. Okawara, whose only previous directorial assignment was 1991's Reiko, the Psyche Resurrected (Cho Shojo Reiko) - he had also been the chief assistant director on Return of Godzilla - felt very differently about the series than some of his predecessors. When asked by one reviewer whether or not Godzilla vs. Mothra was too-lighthearted in tone, Okawara replied: "Films which have a pathetic feel or are on a kind of a 'mission' are films I do not like. I see this as a defect of the Japanese cinema and wish to avoid directing such a film with the new Godzilla."

Godzilla vs. Mothra is filled with intriguing characters played by a likeable cast; particular standouts are Tetsuya Bessho as Indiana Jones-wanabe Takuya, Satomi Kobayashi as the firm but forgiving Masako, Takehiro Murata as submissive Salaryman Kenji (the critics awarded him a Japanese Academy Award for Best Newcomer), and Makoto Otake as his Japanese warlord-boss Tomokane; even child actress Shiori Yonezawa is pleasing as Midori (Frank Sakai, who played "Snapping Turtle" Tsinchan in the original Mothra, was considered, but unable to participate due to a scheduling conflict). Unfortunately, all of these satisfying performances are nearly undone by Akiji Kobayashi's incessant mugging which weakens the film, although part of the blame must rest with Okawara for letting him get away with it (those who consider Okawara a better director than Omori should consider these scenes).

There are some characters inconsequential to the plot such as Minamino, Tsuchiashi, and Fukazawa. Yoshiko Tanaka - who did such an outstanding job as the female lead in Biollante - plays Masako's sister, a character who doesn't even have a name in the script and is given almost nothing to do. If the actress seems withdrawn there may have been a terrible reason for it: a former pop-singing star - and the 1989 Best Actress award-winner for her role in Shohei Imamura's grim Black Rain (Kuroi ame) dealing with the horrific aftermaths from the Hiroshima bombing - Tanaka was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. Although the cancer went into remission, it returned eight years later, and she passed away in 2011 at the age of 55; the second female lead in a Heisei Godzilla film to succumb to the disease (King Ghidorah's Anna Nakagawa died three years later). Even Megumi Odaka's return as Miki Saegusa was only necessary so she could guide Masako and Midori to the hotel where the Cosmos were being kept.

Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa portrayed the Cosmos, although they - unlike Yumi and Emi Ito and "Pair Bambi" - were not identical twins. They shared a Best Newcomer Award and sing pleasantly enough but lack the earnest vulnerability of the Shobijin or the groovy gravity of Pair Bambi, instead coming across as mildly-concerned entities (Osawa - the Cosmo on the left - looks like she's ready to burst-out laughing at any moment), and again, their existence is accepted without question or debate. Another actor fully-identified with the Godzilla series and a Mothra vs. Godzilla alumni was Akira Takarada appearing in his fifth Godzilla film; however this fine performer was given the inconsequential role of Chief Minamino (even when given a handful of dust for a part, Takarada manages to be inventive: after walking into the National Environment Planning Bureau's Command Center to announce that Marutomo's president called him up to tell him the girls have been stolen, the actor smirks and says, "He suspects that we stole them," showing a touch of ironic amusement at Tomokane's troubles).

Akira Ifukube's music makes a welcome return, but the welcome quickly wears-itself out as it again lacks originality and is essentially a reworking of his earlier tracks from Mothra vs. Godzilla as well as snippets from Yuji Koseki's majestic Mothra (even so, the score won a Japanese Academy Award that year, although Lawrence Tuczynski felt that "Probably, the award was more for his lifetime of work, rather than for Godzilla vs. Mothra in particular"). As far as the score itself is concerned, Tuczynski wrote: "Most of the music leans toward slow tunes that put you in an emotional state of sadness." The placement of some of the music is unusual as we hear a bit of Godzilla's theme during the opening storm sequence, even though the Big G is not involved in the event, and as the egg first comes into view, we hear a section from Mothra vs. Godzilla's "The Sacred Fountain," and while an undeniably lovely melody, it suffers from over-use.

Among the familiar tunes is that same segment from Sanda vs. Gaira heard during Godzilla's battle with the army, however a new cue was created for Battra comprised of blaring brass, crashing cymbals, trilling flutes, pounding piano, and trilling timpani, topped-off with flutter-tonguing trombones, while mellow brass and soft violins color the scenes with the Cosmos. Much of the music is composed of short blasts on brass with rapid cello and soft percussion, descending clarinet, shimmering strings, and quavering flutes punctuated with a gong, such as during Takuya's escape from the crumbling shrine. As the three explorers come upon Mothra's egg, the composer effectively deploys surging organ, soft timpani, flowing harp, high-pitched flute, swelling brass, resolute violins, mellow French horn, and soft cymbals. When Takuya is gazing at his daughter's photograph, Ifukube introduces a tender motif of piano, bamboo flute, and violins; however - as if in another salute to the Seventies - there are no themes for any of the human characters, only the monsters (for whatever reason Ifukube choose not to score the majority of Mothra's passage through Tokyo, although the movie's best musical moment is when the girls sing their sunset serenade version from Koseki's "Mothra Song").

The film could have used some trimming; in fact all of the scenes taking place in the National Environment Planning Bureau should have been eliminated as they are not terribly important and the information they convey is superfluous to the action. Professor Fukasawa's rescue of a mother and her daughter from the Mount Fuji disaster is an unnecessary diversion, and the bargaining scene between Takuya and the Unknown American ends without a specific resolution. 

Kawakita's effects are among the best of his career, including a break-taking shot of barrier flames erupting from the water during an attempt to contain the swimming Mothra (achieved with a water-proofed pyrotechnical device) and an splendid overhead view of ships and helicopters firing on the larvae. "Shooting in the pool was always difficult," effects technician Makoto Kamiya recalled. "Whatever you do, you run out of stamina. And the Godzilla costume gets worn-out as well, getting tattered as soon as you stick it into the water, so we often re-used costumes from previous films." Many of Godzilla's battles are fairly static affairs, but there's nothing static about its battles in Yokohama, where it is constantly on the move and attacked from all directions. It was the first time since the second MechaGodzilla film that Godzilla took on two monsters at once - this time without any outside assistance - in one of its longest and most-violent confrontations: it gets buried by a building (a Godzilla puppet was used for this dangerous shot), gets buried in a building, constantly gets zapped with various beams and rays, is rammed by a Ferris wheel, and crashes to the ground several times.

When the adult Mothra flies over Chinatown, a small miniature set was prepared. "Later," Kamiya mentioned, "this style of shooting became known amongst special effect fans as the 'Heisei Gamera Series Technique.' One time, after we finished filming Mothra, I was drinking with director Kawakita, who told me 'I really like this kind of shooting.' He was very impressed. Frankly, he enjoyed shooting diminutive sets."

"The realism is in paying attention to the smallest details," Kawakita explained. "I didn't think of such things during filming the scenes, but if you talk about the business and marketing approach, the main audience targets were preschoolers and primary school students. That's why in scenes like Mothra making a cocoon on the buildings of the Parliament House, we shot it while analyzing an actual science documentary on insects building cocoons. These are things that children learn about in lessons, so if you create something that looks too made-up, they'll quickly catch on.

"With Infant Island as well, in the Showa Era, it was a composite of the pool and a matte painting, so we made a new Infant Island compositing a collage with a picture of a famous Tahitian mountain (Mount Otemanu - PHB) and the actual ocean. Overall it's stressing the feeling of a fantasy, but it's important shots like those where you try to achieve realism; however I don't think viewers notice it that all that much (laughs)."

The wire-works with the flapping monsters is acceptable and the typhoon uncovering the egg is as good as it gets in a sequence harder to film than it looks. To reveal the egg, a floorboard supported by stilts was dropped using a scupper (an outlet on a ship's side for draining-away water; Gorgo fans will recall the word used when the baby Gorgo is being transported to England); however shooting on the open set was delayed for several days, and due to the fact it had rained the day before the scene was to be shot, the water - now mixed with dirt and sand - wouldn't budge. As a result the supporting stilts broke under the weight, necessitating repairs before the scene could be successfully filmed.

The massive but still-cramped Yokohama set on Stage No. 9 had some anomalies to it such as the Inter-Continental Hotel which had only recently been completed, while the actual construction of the Yokohama Landmark Tower - the miniature standing nearly 6 m (19.5 ft) in height - had not yet reached the top floor; the 296 m (971 ft) tall structure was eventually completed in 1993. "The illumination on the Ferris wheel is actually a clock," Kamiya explained. "The middle is the hour dial, and the lights on the circumference become the minute hand. I was in charge of deciding the speed and the timing. During filming, these shots were taken at different speeds, so matching the time and speed of the illumination was quite a chore. You could say it really should have been the job for the first assistant director!" An antiseptic solution was added to the water representing the Port of Yokohama in order to keep the stagnant fluid from spoiling.

 

 

       Takuya Fujita (Tetsuya Bessho), Midori (Shiori Yonezawa), Miki Saegusa   (Megumi Odaka), and Masako Tezuka (Satomi Kobayashi) watch with the Cosmos as Mothra hatches from her cocoon.

 

Mothra's hatching was executed in the same manner as in previous films with a staff member inside the egg pushing a model of the larvae's head through a shell made of plaster. One distinct improvement Kawakita made over the original Mothra was elaborating the moth's hatching from its cocoon, which in 1961 occurred during the daytime taking less than half-a minute and with no music to speak of other than a quivering organ key. For the remake, Kawakita wisely shot the beginning of the transformation at dusk while Ifukube added a choir singing a portion of "The Sacred Fountain;" then, when the adult begins poking through the silky membrane at night, Kawakita backlit it with searchlights and added popping flashbulbs inside the cocoon to heighten the dramatic atmosphere. He then had the Cosmos glowing in a golden light while gold dust was shot into the air, and the insect's wings were blossomed-out with compressed air (the giant insect's chirps were achieved by re-mixing an electronic organ and the strumming of tiny violins used by children. The larvae's voice was achieved the same way, played-back at a faster speed, and the electronic organ was used for sounds of the adult Mothra in flight).

The golden particles were becoming something of a Kawakita trademark, but were troublesome. "Amongst the staff we called it the 'Golden Dust Show!'" Kamiya laughed when recalling the difficulties shooting scenes with the fine particles. "Such flamboyance is good for the film, but afterwards it was horrible. Godzilla's head and body were all covered in golden dust and it wouldn't come off. Even though I washed my clothes, sometime I would forget and golden dust would come out of my pockets." Unfortunately the pipe-cleaner material used to construct Mothra is a bit of a letdown as it looks too artificial (the idea was to make it look more like a teddy bear and less like an insect and for greater contrast with the not-nearly as pretty Battra). 

Computer-generated effects were originally going to show Mothra unfolding its wings, but Kawakita was dissatisfied with the incompatible blending of the pre-programmed digital footage and the live-action analog model. "For the scene where Mothra grows wings, we initially planned to use CGI and even ordered the equipment, but the result wasn't convincing. It would have been embarrassing, so we secretly shot an analog version, and in the end we used that one. It wasn't that the CGI was bad, but at that time it didn't give a sense of conveying emotion very well. The shooting is a really good place to use analog, so we attached bamboo sticks to the back of Mothra's wings, and then when you suddenly release them, they bent in a fine shape and gave-off the feeling of a living thing. In that sense, I really feel that this work was a stopgap between analog and digital."    

Godzilla was even more indestructibly powerful as ever; we learn it is now 200 m (656 ft) in length, 100 m (328 ft) high, and weighs a immense 60,000 tons. The old arrogance is back: when a helicopter flies too-close to Godzilla, the monster doesn't pause to blow it out of the sky as it did nearly a decade earlier, but just ignores it as if unworthy of consideration. It has in fact become so powerful that fighting it is practically futile; as a result, there is no contest and little suspense as to whether or not the military will succeed (the monster again walks-out of an erupting volcano as in Biollante, only this time the sequence is much more elaborately staged).

Satsuma does a magnificent job as Godzilla, his performances improving with every film. In Return he wore the costume, in King Ghidorah he worked in the costume, but in Godzilla vs. Mothra, he has finally become the monster, the transformation is now complete. The actor portrays Godzilla as an aggressive animal with a wide range of attitudes, postures, and expressions, including determination, concern, uncertainty, and even mischievousness (at one point when the actor was wearing only the upper-portion of the costume for a water scene, he accidentally inhaled liquefied paint thinners in the rubber interior due to the adhesives not-having properly dried, resulting in his becoming violently ill). The costume was enhanced with a mechanism for raising and lowering the monster's head, and the nodding of Godzilla's head is an intriguing gesture, again raising the issue of Godzilla's emotions. This was common in the earlier films thanks to Nakajima's spirited interpretation, but Satsuma typically dispensed with anthropomorphic gestures.

There are many splendid effects sequences: Battra's assault on Nagoya (Battra a combination of "battle" and "Mothra" for a monster originally named Badora for "Bad Mothra," but dropped since it had a disharmonious sound in Japanese), yet some of the forced perspective shots of the miniature vehicles are a little off. When the two flying insects carry Godzilla away, in some shots Battra's yellow blood can be seen on the reptile's head, but in others, the blood is not visible. "We incorporated high-definition photography with this film," Kawakita said. "However, at the time, shooting in high-definition required a large vehicle like those TV broadcast vans, and it took quite a bit out of the budget, so we only used it in the nominally important scenes. Now that it think of it, wasn't it only used in the scenes with the Cosmos? The girls' clothes were orange-ish, so for the high-definition shoot we used blue and green screens. Even now, looking at those composite shots, I think it looks real, so it was worth doing it that way."

The caterpillar's invasion of Tokyo is quite good with fires and explosions worthy of Nakano - effects cameraman Masahiro Kishimoto shaking his camera to stress the destruction - but the sequence lacks the desperate drama so prevalent in Mothra partly due to its being filmed in daylight without Yoseki's operatic music and a worm which does not undulate as did the first one (which was a costume and not a prop), instead maintaining a fairly-level posture.    

Godzilla vs. Mothra was the most action-packed Godzilla film in many years ("The Battle For Earth" could more truthfully be called "The Battle For Yokohama" as that skirmish alone lasted nearly 15 minutes) with enough battle scenes to beat the band: 20 separate skirmishes lasting more than half the film's 102-minute running time:

 

• Jets attack Battra
• Battra attacks Nagoya
• Godzilla attacks Mothra
• Mothra attacks Godzilla
• Battra attacks Mothra
• Battra attacks Godzilla
• JSDF attacks Mothra
• Mothra attacks Tokyo
• Army attacks Mothra
• Army attacks Godzilla
• Mothra fights Battra
• Godzilla attacks Yokohama
• Battra attacks Godzilla
• Mothra attacks Godzilla
• Godzilla attacks Mothra
• Mothra and Battra attack Godzilla
• Mothra and Battra carry Godzilla away
• Godzilla kills Battra
• Mothra drops Godzilla and Battra into the sea

 

Despite author Brian Solomon's assessment of the film as "a thrilling romp, with some unique fight choreography and impressive effects," Godzilla vs. Mothra - while at times evoking the poetic magic of the Golden Age - falls short of Mothra's theatricality or Mothra vs. Godzilla's moral maxim. Even with a dead-beat dad, a frantic escape from an ancient booby trap (along with the traveling sunbeams more Spielberg-pandering with nods toward Raiders of the Lost Ark), an island expedition, a dash of roguery, a smidgen of spirituality, a tyrannical boss, Little Beauties, human warmth, danger, conflict, and a rotating platform which merits mention only because Okawara thought it was important enough to put into the picture, Godzilla vs. Mothra was not filled with a sense of awe so much as the sense of a series repeating itself.

Plagiaristic and preachy, Godzilla vs. Mothra also had the happiest ending to a Godzilla film since 1974's Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, which no doubt contributed to the film's outstanding success of 4.2 million ticket sales during its initial run and the most in nearly 30 years since Three Giant Monsters. It was also the highest-grossing domestic film for that year - "well over three times as many as the final Showa series offering in 1975" - totaling over two billion yen (when adjusted for inflation the highest box office success of any Godzilla film, though falling far-short of King Kong vs. Godzilla's all-time attendance record of 12 million ticket sales). As a result, this light-hearted enterprise set the stage for the next two Godzilla films. It seemed the Seventies were no longer beckoning, they were back.

Chapter Twelve

 

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II

 

(Gojira tai MekaGojira)

< Released December 11th, 1993 >

"You see, MechaGodzilla is stronger. See, it can return your heat beam.

We've got you, Godzilla!" - Commander Takaki Aso

 

The Film:

 

In 1992, the heavily-damaged remnants of Mecha-King Ghidorah have been recovered. Officials have decided to integrate the robot with the Garuda - aka "Robot One," a flying armored vehicle now deemed obsolescent - to create a new MechaGodzilla which can finally destroy Godzilla, and smug G-Force officials are confident of its success (Garudas are a race of giant birds in Hindu-Buddhist mythology).

Kazuma Aoki (Masahiro Takashima), formally head of the team which built the Garuda and an aficionado of Pteranodons (he calls them "small flying dinosaurs" when technically they were flying reptiles) has been reluctantly transferred to the G-Force team to participate in the "Robot Two" Project. Unfortunately he has his troubles: failing miserably in athletic competitions, falling asleep during important lectures, and loses his reserves of nerves spinning in a centrifuge.

The scene shifts to the lonely and remote Adonoa (aka Adona or Birth) Island where a research team led by Professor Omae (Yusuke Kawazu) and his assistant, Azusa Gojo (Ryoko Sano), come upon a Pteranodon skeleton as well as two large eggs - one of which has broken open - so they decide to secure the unbroken one and place it in their helicopter.

That night a flying reptile grown large due to radioactivity - Rodan (known later as "Fire Rodan") - arrives, creating havoc in the camp, a situation made worse when the King of the Monsters appears. The behemoths battle, giving Omae's team the chance to escape as Godzilla launches Rodan into the landscape.

At the National Institute of Biotechnics in Kyoto, Kazuma manages to gain entrance into the lab where the electronically-monitored egg sits in a glass-enclosed chamber. Azusa manages to chase Kazuma off, but not before he steals one of the samples of the strange vegetation found at the base of the egg. Later, Omae informs Azusa that the egg's glowing properties are heightened when she is not around.

Kazuma and fellow institute member Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) bring the sample to the ESP School taught by two psychic schoolteachers (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) lead by Chief Hosono (Tadao Takashima), where several psychically-gifted schoolchildren sense a soft melody. When this melody is played at the lab, the egg begins vibrating and glowing, short-circuiting the sensors and shattering the glass before a green and slimy beastie pokes its way out of the egg. Omae deduces this is a Godzillasaur (aka Baby Godzilla), a non-aggressive member of the Godzilla family which eats vegetation. It immediately takes to Azusa, and the feeling is mutual.

Godzilla attacks an oil field before strolling past the Kiyomizu-Dera Buddhist Temple and the Sanjo Ohashi Bridge in eastern Kyoto. MechaGodzilla (sans Kazuma who is nowhere around) lifts-off and confronts Godzilla, and the giant reptile is at a distinct disadvantage since its rays have no effect on the robot's diamond-coated covering. Soon the robot's multiple laser beams and plasma energy knock Godzilla off its feet followed by paralyzing missiles and further plasma blasts, hurtling the mighty monster across the valley floor.

MechaGodzilla fires two Shock Anchors into Godzilla's hide, electrocuting the monster until it utilizes its Sonic Pulse, reversing the current and disabling the machine, allowing Godzilla to recover and push the robot to the ground.

Army vehicles and slow-flying F-15s intercept the monster which puts up a brief and furious battle until emerging victorious before proceeding onto Kyoto, creating havoc and destruction wherever it goes, since it seems "Baby" is calling Godzilla.

Baby Godzilla is led into an underground cell storage room as Godzilla approaches and damages a portion of the structure, alarming Baby and making its eyes glow read, but after Azusa calms Baby down, Godzilla returns to the sea. 

Since Kazuma took an unauthorized vacation and wasn't able to take part in the first MechaGodzilla mission, he has been reassigned to supervise the G-Force Center's underground parking lot! The Baby Godzilla and Azusa have also been relocated to a special enclosure at the United Nations Countermeasure Center to better care for the animal while the robot is being repaired.

Examination of Baby Godzilla reveals the creature has a second brain in its hip area, so it is believed Godzilla must have a similar configuration. Called "Operation G-Crusher," it is decided that MechaGodzilla's next attack will concentrate on this all-important zone, which will - in the words of Commander Takaki Aso (Akira Nakao) - "paralyze Godzilla completely."

Kazuma gains access to Garuda One and suggests to Dr. Asimov that the vehicle can be linked with MechaGodzilla and increase the robot's firepower.

Back at the enclosure, the once-demoted but now-promoted Kazuma visits Azusa with his new invention: a compact flying vehicle resembling a Pteranodon, which he has cleverly christened: "Pteranodon." He fires it up and gives her a ride until he crashes it into a load of hay, but fortunately they are not injured.

Miki arrives along with several ESP students who sing a song based on the recording (composed in typically-haunting fashion by Ifukube who may also have written the lyrics):

 

" Yama ni mashimasu kami

Oki ni mashimasu kami

Sono aida ni dekita ko

Sono na ha

Nanzo nanzo nanzo . . ."

 

"The god sitting in the mountains

The god sitting in the sea

The child made between them

Its name

What is it, what is it, what is it . . ."

 

The song panics Baby but revives the injured Rodan. Miki has an explanation: "Whenever he hears the plant's music, Baby somehow gets a huge intake of power." 

The military has decided to use Baby Godzilla as bait in order to lure Godzilla to the Ogasawara Islands and insist Miki be onboard MechaGodzilla so she can use her ESP powers to locate Godzilla's second brain.

"You know," Miki later tells Kazuma and Azusa, "I use to think that fighting Godzilla was doing something worthwhile for humankind, but now I guess I've just changed my mind." Casting her personal feelings aside however, she will go on the mission.

Baby Godzilla does not like being led into the container alone, so Azusa will stay with it even when a helicopter carries it to Ogasawara.

Rodan then arrives over Makuhari City and promptly decimates it before encountering the Chinook helicopter carrying the container, causing the chopper to explode. Baby Godzilla and Azusa are in freefall (remarkably never losing their footing) until Rodan grabs hold of the container.

MechaGodzilla then takes off as does Garuda One, which is not being flown by its assigned pilot, but Kazuma!

That night Rodan is flying over the city still carrying the container. After landing, it pecks away at it until both MechaGodzilla and Garuda attack the flying reptile, which then chases the Garuda, forcing it to crash-land. MechaGodzilla then lets loose with a plasma blast hurling Rodan into a high-rise, but as the robot approaches, Rodan rises from the rubble and disables the robot's right-eye's laser cannon before MechaGodzilla delivers a close-range plasma beam-blast mortally-wounding the monster.

After a G-Force helicopter lands, its crew attempts to open the container with a blow torch (no one has the key) just as Godzilla shows up, and soon both it and MechaGodzilla recreate the 1974 moment when they intercepted each other's beams and with similar results: Godzilla gets flattened and the robot suffers severe damage, but Godzilla recovers first and tosses the robot aside before pummeling it. Kazuma is able to re-launch Garuda and in tandem with MechaGodzilla, attacks Godzilla. As Godzilla lies momentarily stunned, Garuda attaches itself to the robot, creating a "Super-MechaGodzilla."

The cyborg lets loose with everything it has and overwhelms the reptile with tranquilizer missiles until Miki, using her telepathic powers aided by a special scope and headset, locates the monster's second brain before G-Crusher Cables are implanted, and as high-voltage currents coarse through Godzilla's prostrate form, Miki activates a switch, destroying the vital organ. 

Kazuma then leaves his post (naturally without permission) via his Pteranodon flying machine as soldiers keep trying to open the container.

Baby Godzilla roars, somehow restoring Rodan, which despite having its guts blown-out is still able to fly until another MechaGodzilla beam attack decimates it. Rodan lies on the paralyzed Godzilla, and as the flying monster dies, it glows and - repeating a bit from the previous film - infuses Godzilla with new energy, mending the monster's ruptured brain while the Super-MechaGodzilla crew watch and do nothing as the flying reptile fades-away into nothingness.

A now Super Godzilla arises and in short order destroys the robot.

Soon it is time for Azusa to say goodbye to a reluctant Baby Godzilla, bringing them both to tears.

The chopper flies away as Godzilla approaches Baby, scaring the wits out of it until Miki uses her ESP powers to calm the little creature by conveying the same song which had previously frightened it. Moments later - in what is now known as the "Gorgo Ending" - Baby and Godzilla enter the ocean together.

 

A Closer Look:

("And Your Plant Can Sing")

 

This film is about Rodan and Godzilla trying to take possession of the Baby Godzilla.

That's it, that's the entire plot and purpose of this film! Everything else was put in there just to distract you. Oh sure there's also another giant robot called MechaGodzilla which nearly kills Godzilla, but that about covers it. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies (Volume 2) states: "The stellar results make Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II the best film of the Heisei series, standing out as a creative masterpiece in all aspects." High praise indeed, but let's have another look at this masterpiece.

As with any fantasy film and indeed every film ever made, the audience is asked to suspend their disbelief without complaints or questions, as any plot implausibilities will usually be overcome by a competent cast, a terrific script, and competent directing. MechaGodzilla II lacks these crucial qualities and instead is pandering and predictable. It's really all about machines which are not as interesting as monsters, and in previous films when Godzilla fought against big machines, the battles were typically brisk and exciting, not arduous and gruesome as they are here. Godzilla had already fought the first-generation MechaGodzilla twice - once with a slight assist from King Caesar and the second from a sound wave - only this time the giant machine is actually manned and not guided by remote-control. Those earlier encounters were fast-paced and fascinating, but despite all its elaborate effects, MechaGodzilla II is not nearly as interesting and we're so numb from all the explosions and fires we no longer care who wins, as long as the film ends while we're still alive.

Webmaster Chris N. had paradoxical praise for the film, stating on The Godzilla Saga website that "Toho truly surpassed itself with this excellent addition to the Godzilla mythos . . . this movie threw away any mysticism and carried the force of a war film, dealing firmly with humanity's desperate attempts to rid the world of the malevolent Godzilla. This time, however, the sides drawn were humanity attempting to defend itself with MechaGodzilla and Garuda on one side, and Godzilla and Rodan attempting to protect Baby Godzilla from humanity on the other side. As a result, the audience doesn't quite know which side to cheer for, resulting in Godzilla more or less achieving the ambiguous status that he had in the late '60s films of the Showa Series."

The movie commits the grievous error of starting without an action scene; a mistake that hadn't happened since Gigan (and we all know how that turned out), but after the first nine minutes we realize that this is going to be another exercise in major monster mayhem. Even at that, the movie never really gets going, as director Okawara was unable to endow it with any momentum, engineering a train that stops as often as it starts. The movie should be exciting and moving, but isn't, and several scenes - such as when Professor Omae discusses his theory with Azusa about why the egg is reacting to her voice - are as improbable as they are uninteresting. Despite all the worried glances, the screams and shocked expressions, the film never really grabs us and is almost too cute for own good.

In terms of dramatic realism, Miki should have died when the electrical current discharged into her helmet since it would have given the film greater impact and irony since she went on the mission despite her reservations, paying the ultimate price for compromising her moral compass (she ends-up being a traitor no matter how one looks at it). Again there are no significant character deaths and none of the fleeing populace are seen killed or injured except for maybe a few skinned knees here and there. Baby Godzilla's hatching is handled well enough (Ifukube supplying alto sax and organ emphasizing an uncertain situation), but it is not frightening, and when the 70 m (230 ft) Rodan flies over Tokyo Disneyland, it doesn't even damage it. 

Another example of dramatic dodging for what could have been a moving and thought-provoking ending also occurred in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaiju Sokogeki, aka GMK): near the end of the film, Admiral Taizo Tachibana and his faithful subordinate use Satsuma submarines armed with D-03 projectiles to attack Godzilla, resulting in Taizo being swallowed-up by the monster and losing consciousness. However, a moment later he imagines seeing his daughter Yuri imploring him to continue, at which point he launches the torpedo inside Godzilla and subsequently saves the day. Yuri had in fact nearly drowned after falling off a bridge into the ocean, but what if she had drowned, and it was her spirit convincing her father to carry-on? As it happens everyone survives and Yuri is reunited with her father; the admiral heroically strutting toward the camera with smoke billowing behind him in a shot straight-out of Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff. 

This fictional flinching reflects not only the producers' desire to give audiences a happy ending but also a lack of creative courage, a reluctance to go the distance, and not taking a calculated risk even if it means potentially alienating some audience members with a conclusion as moving and memorable as it would have been powerful and poignant. As Roman Polanski once observed: "If you want people to think about what they see and think that justice should prevail, then you have to give them something they can think about. If everything is wrapped-up in a happy ending just because the merchandising people prefer it, the audience leaves and forgets about the problem right over their dinner!"

The MechaGodzilla squad acts professional enough in a rehearsed and measured routine, and it's nice to see a female crewmember, but the sequence lacks the the rocket ship crew's anxiety in Great Space War or the proud determination of the Super-X staff, which is odd since none of the them have ever flown in the massive cyborg before. When Azusa is saying goodbye to Baby Godzilla, the blades of the helicopter are spinning, but there is no loud noise or turbulence, which would have added considerable anxiety to the scene. Important plot elements are introduced then discarded before returning back into relevance, but the movie's main mess is asking far-more questions than it answers.

Baby Godzilla is a non-violent plant-eater, but what if it wasn't? What if it was truly dangerous, had actually killed someone, and only Azusa could control it? What if the army carried through with its plan to dump Baby Godzilla in the middle of Monster Land, resulting in Godzilla trying to protect it before Gorosaurus and the gang tear it up into tiny pieces (instead we are told that Ogasawara is now uninhabited). What if Azusa refused to leave Baby Godzilla and risked her life to stay with it even as Godzilla approached?

How is it that Kazuma is never washed-out during his G-Force trials or even dishonorably discharged for being absent from MechaGodzilla's first mission? How does he gain entrance to the Institute so easily, and why doesn't Azusa immediately call security when he does? How is it that Kazuma never gets reprimanded or arrested for stealing the vegetal egg sample from the clinic, and how does he manage to gain clearance to fly the Garuda One and learn to fly it?

How is it that Azusa is not injured by the thousand shards of glass launched into the lab when the egg enclosure explodes, and why do the two psychic schoolteachers speak in unison? How does Miki's ESP powers help locate Godzilla's internal organ (unless Godzilla happened to be thinking about its second brain the moment Miki used her ESP), and why doesn't she use her ESP to warn Godzilla about the plan or try to sabotage it? When did Kazuma find the time to design, build, and learn to fly his Pteranodon vehicle, and why is Rodan so intent on breaking into the container holding Baby G? When Chief Hosono walks into the psychic classroom and sees Miki, he says, "It's lovely to see you again!," but how, when, and where did they meet? And when Hosono is told Kazuma is with G-Force, he sneers and says, "I don't trust you guys one little bit," but why?

Instead of progressing logically, Wataru Mimura's script harkens back to the dark days of Gigan and Megalon where things happened not because they made sense, but to advance a barest-of-bones plot through a marvelously fortuitous set of circumstances. Not everything happening in a film must necessarily happen for a logical reason, but even the wackiest storyline should proceed with at least a smidgen of credibility. Omori's scripts took on various social issues but Mimura's screenplay has no such intentions, just mindless mumbling at the end about how real life is better than artificial life, and how we must all fight to protect our offspring, and whether or not dinosaurs will someday re-inhabit the Earth after Mankind has disappeared (incredibly, none of the MechaGodzilla crewmembers seem the least bit depressed or harbor any resentment in failing to kill Godzilla). At one point even cuckoo birds are invoked!

After Kazuma has stolen the vegetable sample he is having lunch in the G-Force commissary (apparently he carries the sample around with him wherever he goes) and is sitting next to Miki, but she is only there so she can do her sensory thing over the sample so she can then take it to the ESP Center where the kids sense a song which is then somehow recorded onto tape via computer, but how does a dead plant emit music? When the music is played on a cassette player the sound somehow travels to where the egg is being monitored, but why do the circuits go haywire, why does the egg react to it, and why does the glass explode?

When the children sing their song, Rodan is able to hear it from half-a world away, but Miki explains that whenever Baby Godzilla hears the "plant's music" (which is not the plant's music but the children's humming interpretation of it) "Baby somehow gets a huge intake of power." Somehow is right. This sort of thing transpired in the Mothra films but were rarely questioned due to their mystical underpinnings, but in this computerized and mechanized high-tech setting it becomes impossible to explain. What superior officer would ever give his demoted underling new orders first by making a paper airplane out of them and flinging it at him, and when Kazuma comes up with a way of modifying Garuda One to merge with MechaGodzilla, he doesn't write-out a proposal like a normal person would, but ambushes Asimov and keeps him hostage on the parking lot's turntable until he gets his point across (ironically, many of Kazuma's misdeeds will ultimately benefit the overall operation).

Miki's abilities have become more than just a gimmick as her ESP powers are now comparable to a magic wand or a supernatural scepter that can be implemented at a moment's notice to conveniently tie-up whatever loose ends need tied-up. The whole bit with the plant sample does not bear close scrutiny anymore than how Miki is able to use her ESP to find Godzilla's second brain, which is no easier to explain than her ability to calm the little monster down from a distance so it can go waddling-off with its parent hearing the same song which earlier had freaked it out in the corral. And at the end of the film, when Azusa asks Miki to use her ESP powers to convince Godzilla to take Baby G away, Miki manages to do so without much trouble, meaning she is a hypnotist; Miki is now Merlin. Baby Godzilla established a connection with Azusa because it recognized her voice - even though there were plenty of other people chatting around the egg on the island - and it makes no sense that the egg can change color for whatever reason anymore than why Baby Godzilla's eyes glow red when it gets upset, although Miki feels this is happening because it is communicating with Rodan, but how does she know this?

Omae knows all about the little animal and identifies it as a Godzillasaur, a non-violent plant-eating species related to the Godzilla family that somehow managed to survive during the Deadly Days of the Dinosaurs. Author Robert Marrero pointed out that "According to Professor (Omae), these creatures were originally not meat-eaters. Instead they were gentle creatures (this contradicts Godzilla's evolutionary explanation in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, which depicted the monster as a meat-eating Tyrannosaurus-type dinosaur before exposure to radiation)." Omae also postulates the flying monster is called Rodan, but makes no further references to its origins, which is too bad, since we could have used some clips from Rodan to liven things up. He later claims Baby Godzilla's egg is "a parasite egg," since parasite eggs are eggs laid by birds in the nests of other birds, which would only make sense if Godzilla was a bird.

Officials suggest placing Baby Godzilla on Ogasawara Island as a lure - an intriguing plan sadly not carried out - but why not just take it to the shore so it can wade into the water; it's not like Godzilla won't ever return because the Japanese are having a hell of a time just keeping it away. And after Godzilla senses Baby Godzilla is at the clinic, why does it then leave? Godzilla lumbers through Kyoto because Baby Godzilla is calling it, yet when Godzilla arrives at Baby Godzilla's location, the little guy is scared out of its wits, so why does Baby Godzilla first fear Godzilla, then react violently when Godzilla is being killed, then fear Godzilla again when it recovers, and then is okay going with Godzilla at the end of the film?

The business with the Adonoa Island eggs also makes one wonder (and I don't mean Wonder Egg), although J.D. Lees understands it: "The Rodan seen in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II had hatched from the egg prior to the arrival of the scientific team on Adonoa Island. Its interest in the Baby Godzilla was as a sibling, not a parent. I suppose that eons ago, a Godzillasaurus laid its egg in a Rodan nest. Both eggs were preserved and the embryos mutated by radioactivity. Rodan hatched first, then waited for the birth of his baby brother." One egg is open from which Rodan presumably hatched, while the other contains Baby Godzilla. Both eggs became irradiated because the island is "a junkyard of nuclear waste," but we never learn when and how this happened or see any evidence of it. How did the eggs get there in the first place, and who or what laid them; surely not Godzilla! We are told Baby Godzilla is Rodan's half-brother and the battles between Godzilla and Rodan are over ownership of the egg; Baby can communicate with both monsters, and Azusa believes Godzilla came to the island to "collect the Godzillasaurus egg." Okay, but why does the children's singing upset Baby Godzilla yet simultaneously revive Rodan, and why does Baby Godzilla's roar later revive Rodan, and why does Rodan restore Godzilla to full power when the two are mortal enemies, unless it's to preserve the species, but if so, then why are they constantly fighting over the egg instead of protecting it? 

The Godzilla G-Force briefing is thorough but fails to mention the monster's Sonic Pulse - an omission which later would have grave consequences - and the film smacks of familiar moments: the shot of a flying monster's shadow seen over a city, Godzilla destroying high-tension towers, Godzilla being controlled, a person trapped in a storage container, people trying to escape only to stop at a precipice overlooking the ocean, a girl's choir, a monster approaching a buried monster only to be attacked by it (which happens twice in this film), the flash of a camera's light bulb momentarily blinding someone, a monster searching a city for its kindred, a massive robot dramatically backlit, a professor having all the answers to events never happening before, an egg found on a remote island being taken to the mainland (although this time not for the purpose of exploitation but evaluation), the singing of a song beckoning a monster; even the close-up of Azusa's feet shifting backwards amongst the flying eggshells recalls Tamie's close call with a dropped plate of food from King Kong vs. Godzilla.

The acting on the whole is unimpressive which is understandable since the characters are so unrealistic. The best of the bunch is 25-year-old Ryoko Sano as Azusa Gojo, whose sincere and affecting performance stands-out as one of the best in the series, and her scenes with Baby Godzilla are done with such conviction she imparts total believability to the costumed creature.    

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II continued the trend of immature men being paired against mature women, and with Kazuma, they hit the jackpot, because he is the most-annoying leading man since Gigan's Gengo. A petulant womanizer, he illegally parks his vehicle wherever he pleases, and his childish antics are infuriating. He is a free-spirit beyond the point of recklessness; the crashing of his Pteranodon flying machine could have killed both him and Azusa, although she doesn't seem overly upset about it, since she's "fallen" for him in the series' most-unlikely pairing since Naoko and Goro. He is also a thief and all-around pain in the butt which makes the attraction Azusa has for him difficult to swallow (in Return of Godzilla we are asked to believe a girl can fall in love with a scoundrel, but in MechaGodzilla II, we are asked to believe a girl can fall in love with an idiot).

 

Azusa Gojo (Ryoko Sano) does not appreciate the intrusion of Kazuma Aoki

(Masahiro Takashima) into her lab.

Megumi Odaka returns as Miki, and while her participation in Biollante was warranted and to a much lesser-degree in King Ghidorah, it was hardly necessary in Godzilla vs. Mothra. Here her part is more substantial, but serious concerns arise when considering the reasons for her being there. For one thing, Miki is an ardent admirer of Godzilla, yet she has joined an organization whose sole purpose is to destroy it (maybe she never got the memo). She stands with senior all-male members of the team gawking at the remnants of Mecha-King Ghidorah at the beginning of the film as Commander Takaki Aso smugly states they at last have "a robot to kill Godzilla," and while initially reluctant to assist in destroying Godzilla's brain, she ultimately agrees. Why? Because she's a submissive female who does what she's told, like a good little girl.

Azusa isn't much better: when she hears the Commander claim that Baby Godzilla "is a very important animal" she registers concern, but says nothing, and after failing to convince Minister Segawa to quit the plan using Baby Godzilla as a lure, she doesn't resign as a matter of principle, but instead goes along only to turn into a weeping willow at the end. As in Hedorah, MechaGodzilla II manages to insult the very group it was meant to champion by not implying but implicitly stating that all girls love baby animals and will do whatever men tell them to do, just to make them happy. Boys will be boys, so better let them have their giant robots.

Kenji Sahara's talents are wasted as he was obviously cast solely for the purpose of participating in a lame in-joke: when told the flying creature is called Rodan, he asks "Rodan?" (Sahara was the star of the 1956 film). Then there is Tadao Takashima in a role any actor could have handled and whose total screen time amounts to something like ten seconds in a totally unnecessary part other than his connection with another Son of Godzilla. And let's not forget Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa as two psychic schoolteachers who talk at the same time in a drowsy reference to Godzilla vs. Mothra.

The acting was not without its risks as model/actress Shelley Sweeney (playing a crewmember originally conceived as an android), recalled: "We're in the MechaGodzilla and it was quite an amazing setup. For some of the explosions, they had two 'carbs' (electrical probes) zapping each other to get a reaction from us. So when it would be the take, all of us are in the cockpit, and we're looking forward, and we're looking at this, and we're about to hit an explosion, so they hit these two carbs, plus make an explosion, and when they did that, everyone got burned! Our face got burned! Our eyes - my eyes, the next day, I couldn't see. In fact, I had to wear an eye patch for a whole week after that. I couldn't see out of my eyes. It was quite a tragedy for me because I have blue eyes, and they're really sensitive, and everyone's face got kind of burned up - it was quite a hoopla (laughs)!"  

Several scenes should have been done away with: Azusa feeding Baby a hamburger, a computer-animated sequence showing the Garuda One in action, Azusa playing in the hay with Baby Godzilla, and when Kazuma takes Azusa on a flight around Baby Godzilla's pen on his flying Pteranodon, it gives the impression of a sequence expressly created so it could display some clever digital-matte work.

Akira Ifukube's preamble contains the same cue heard in King Ghidorah when the wrecked robot was first glimpsed underwater (which only makes sense since we're seeing it again), while his excellent "Main Title" music begins with a fanfare of four short notes on trumpets and a splash of cymbals before raspy brass, resolute strings, and pounding Kodo drums take over. A fragment of the music from the "Time is running out!" scene in King Ghidorah reappears, and a portion culled from Mothra vs. Godzilla was used for Rodan and Godzilla's initial battle, but the most emotive music was meant for Baby Godzilla: sad, sweet, and sentimental, with drawn-out cello, rhythmic piano, and bamboo flute. The music depicting Kazuma's training is a stirring piece composed in Ifukube's trademark military-cadence manner with rapid bow strings and low woodwinds capped-off with a flowing harp. When Rodan takes wing, Ifukube again brings out the tried-and-true (but now overly-familiar) brass and string-flavored motif going all the way back to Monster Baran which was later used to identify both Rodan and Ghidorah in subsequent films. The beginning of the girls' "Rodan Song" had its origins going as far back as Ifukube's 1974 Sandakan No. 8 (Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo), but unfortunately the variations on this and other cues are endlessly repeated.

At this point in his career Kawakita seems to have felt the need (or pressure) to keep topping himself, but the problem is that bigger is not always better, and although the scope of the miniatures such as MechaGodzilla's compound and the Makuhari Bay Area - both built at 1/50th scale on Stage No. 9 - are unmistakably impressive (particularly when MechaGodzilla is cruising around Godzilla and hitting it with all it has), Godzilla hits the turf so often, it becomes tiresome. This was the first time the giant robot fought Godzilla in an urban setting, and filming their violent battle meant that the technicians would have to stay-up all night in order to get the robot costume back in shape for the next day's shooting. Due to the intense nature of the scene (rain had caused numerous delays on the open set), once Kawakita declared filming was finally over, some of the exhausted technicians decided to blow-off steam by gleefully stomping over what was left of the Makuhari set and satisfy a secret desire to destroy a city like a giant monster!

In many ways the film's real star is MechaGodzilla - the robot (designed by Shinji Nishikawa) returning after an 18-year absence - but the scene showing the preparations for its initial take-off is a convoluted affair lasting three whole minutes, during which time Godzilla could have destroyed half-of Yokohama. As with earlier iterations the robot has a myriad of weapons, some old and some new, including mega-buster mouth beams, laser cannon eyebeams, hip-mounted tranquilizer missiles, shoulder-mounted paralyzing projectiles, and shock anchors for administering the coup de grâce (oddly, it has no finger missiles). Unlike the earlier MechaGodzilla, this one is not quite as sinister-looking and is more-ergonomically designed, walking with steady strides as opposed to the forcefully-abrupt movements of the earlier version, yet it moves a great deal slower, which slows down the action (its top speed is rated at Mach 1 - which given its size seems problematical - and as with the original robot, somebody makes it roar just for the fun of it).

A great deal of thought went into the detail, design, and implementation of MechaGodzilla, and as much screen time was spent on it as on Godzilla, only the massive machine isn't nearly as interesting, which could be one reason why the film feels its full length of 105 minutes. Kawakita goes crash crazy: Rodan crashes into a building, the Garuda One and MechaGodzilla both crash onto concrete, and Godzilla and Rodan crash into hillsides on Adonoa Island. Hurricane Ryu played Baby Godzilla, and taking a page from Nakajima, went to the local zoo to get some ideas on how certain animals move, deciding peacocks were the best role models.

Because the robot's costume was constructed lighter than expected there were concerns over how it would stand up to the rigorous demands of filming, since its design made repairing it more labor-intensive than the monster costumes; in other words, filming would be delayed if MechaGodzilla became damaged (as a result, all its scenes were shot in-sequence over a two-month period). The sets, designs, and production values are top-notch, and the film is reflective of its big budget, but in striving to be flamboyant it crumbles into crudity, such as the horrific shot of a mortally-wounded Rodan quivering in agony while brown blood bubbles-out of its belly and saliva froths from its mouth. Few people enjoy seeing the King of the Monsters being seriously assaulted and the idea of it being paralyzed was a rather cruel concept (during the scene where Rodan transferred its life force to Godzilla, Kawakita personally helped with sprinkling the golden dust while he and everyone else wore goggles and surgical masks for protection).

Fire Rodan mostly glides, lacking the pulsating power and supersonic speed of the original, and its implementation is mostly of the stiffed-wing variety, although it still sounds like the original Rodan (Rodan's roar was achieved by recording a double bass followed by a human voice - both modified by fast-forwarding the recording - while the sound of its supersonic flight was created using the sounds of ventilators and oscillators). It does not take a stand as it did in Fukuoka Square in 1956, but thankfully doesn't talk like it did in 1964. Flying it required the use of a huge construction crane with a 20 m (66 ft) wide brace, and POV shots of the flying monster attacking Godzilla were achieved by placing a cameraman on the same crane as the prop (the battle sequence on Adonoa Island was completed in just two days, including when Rodan became part of the landscape). It is somewhat smaller than the first Rodan, and while an adherence to the factual flying reptile's physiognomy resulted in a more-accurate depiction, it lacked the twin-horned, lethal elegance of the original and is far-less destructive (like all the post-1956 Rodans it no longer blows down buildings with wind gusts but just blows them up).

The special effects director seemed on a mission to supersede Tsuburaya, and while Kawakita's work is admittedly more polished and consistent, they are at their best merely refinements of the earlier master's methods (the miniature of the Chiba Marine Stadium in Makuhari was made out of gypsum, an old-school technique going as far back as Godzilla). One example of Kawakita's attempt at trying to best Tsuburaya was Godzilla's attack on the oil refinery which closely-resembled a scene from Mothra vs. Godzilla; Ifukube even starts the cue in a similar manner, with pounded drums, quivering organ, and strident horns heard at the beginning of Mothra and Godzilla's 1964 battle to the death. This is one of the best Godzilla attacks ever filmed and is truly awesome, taking a very different approach to Tsuburaya's more-sedate version where the damage was relatively minor.

Effects filming began on April 8th, 1993 on location in Aomori in Sendai, while the first studio shooting involving Rodan swooping down on Adona Island took place exactly one month later. After filming the scenes on Adonoa Island and in Yokkaichi, the match with MechaGodzilla near the Suzuka Mountain Range was filmed beginning on May 3rd, and from June 4th onward, the same mountain range was used to shoot the battle in Otsu. The scene with the flying Pterosaur robot was photographed using a blue-screen process augmented with high-definition compositing, and five support cables were attached to the machine which was suspended under an overhead platform, with the two actors several feet up in the air with thick cushions placed underneath them for safety. The flying machine never really flew as a small camera mounted on a gimbal was rotated around it to give the illusion of flight.

The Great Pool was utilized on June 11th and 12th, during which time the battle between Godzilla and Rodan was filmed. Since Rodan's movements were achieved by suspending the prop from a large overhead crane, and because the columns of water caused by its shockwaves had to operate simultaneously, Kawakita recalled that "The timing of this was extremely difficult" for the crew to coordinate the action (the shockwave effect was achieved by placing miniature explosives just beneath the surface of the water). The effects filming took a total of 86 days and concluded on August 1st, with the final day's shooting necessitating the crew to work throughout the night for 32-straight hours without sleep (Okawara and his team began a month after the special effects team on May 24th in Kyoto).

Once more the stage is set for a extensive evening Final Act in a major metropolis (this time lasting over 26 minutes) weakened by constant cut-always to brooding bureaucrats. There are some continuity errors: at one point Rodan flies past Garuda but the vehicle doesn't explode like the helicopter did, and after Rodan has been killed by the robot, the beast is laying on its back, but when it revives, it is on its belly, and after Rodan disables MechaGodzilla's right eye, it is seen back on again. The countless optical effects and fireballs are on such a grand scale they would have made even Nakano blush - Godzilla's attack on Kyoto and the moment when the monster blasts the Tower into memory is magnificent - and the shot of MechaGodzilla depositing Rodan into the middle of a high-rise is fabulous, but with so many effects, it's all sizzle and no steak, and the film eventually comes to resemble the robot: coldly efficient and technically flashy, but without soul or sensibility.

"Since I also had a connection with the Showa series' Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla," Kawakita said (he was then the assistant special effects director), "I got unusually fired-up when it came to making a new MechaGodzilla; especially with the title sequence of MechaGodzilla at the dock, I took my time and shot it very carefully. I asked Mr. Ifukube to write the music, and I will always cherish that moment in my memory. Up until then I did battle scenes in Shinjuku and Yokohama, but because this time it was Makuhari - which didn't have as many tall buildings - I figured that the battle would work even if there was just a little damage, and since the sea is close by, it was very convenient. I think this was the biggest set prepared for the 'Heisei Versus Series,' but because it was so wide, it didn't break apart as well, which was quite difficult.

"In Makuhari there are no clusters of buildings and MechaGodzilla was more of a weapon - like a tank - rather than a monster. The light-beam battle became the main theme, and that inevitably needs space. At the time I heard people say: 'Don't use just the light beams' or 'There are too many special effects scenes' which is what was said to me. Obviously, when you think about the budget and the schedule, I can understand why they didn't want me to use so many light beams, but at the same time, what will the customer then come to see? When you think about that part, I think the answer is obvious. Children usually like colorful things like that, and since Godzilla is pitch black, the light beams are necessary, aren't they?

"When we were doing Mothra, we rejected the CGI, but this time we used it a little in the scene when you first see MechaGodzilla. Differing from Mothra, there is no need for the quality of a living thing coming through; instead, the CGI gave a gleaming sense of the material, which suits this character well. We're entering an age where we can use CGI as we feel necessary, but naturally the analogue method of shooting took up the bulk of the work." Years later he was rather reflective about the experience: "I wondered if, in a sense, this was a turning point in the series."

Satsuma again portrays Godzilla as a rampaging Super-Monster eager to make a mess out of humanity and is a true demon of destruction, and it is a credit to his acting abilities that even with this infernal aspect, he was able to embody the animal with enough character so audiences will still root for its survival. At the end of the film Godzilla looks down at Baby with an expression unlike any we have ever seen before, smiling like a satisfied parent in a look that is not plainly paternal but mainly maternal; is it possible the creature we have admired and feared for so long is actually the "Queen of the Monsters?"

But then we see another close-up - one of the best in its storied history - in front of a sparkling sea wearing a fearsome scowl with glaring eyes and glistening teeth; regal and attractive in its own uniquely-sinister way.

This time Godzilla and its progeny do not embrace in a blinding blizzard (as in that earlier film this offspring is also impervious to Godzilla's intense radiation), but the ending is hardly more satisfying since it means Godzilla is once again a protective parent. And so as Godzilla and Baby Godzilla splash their way into the surf (in a sequence filmed at Makuhari Beach in the evening for better atmosphere), we hear the lovely singing of a girls' choir for the first time at the end of a Godzilla film since 1954. Back then it was intended as hoping for better days, but this finale has no such underlying meaning (in Biollante a living rose bush holds a dead girl's soul, but in MechaGodzilla II, a girl feeds a rose stalk to a baby Godzilla. As they say in New York: "little different").  

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II did what it was supposed to do: give its audience a good show. And while attendance for the film (3.8 million) was down from the previous year's Godzilla vs. Mothra (4.2 million), the film still grossed more than $36 million at the box office (even more important were the sales of licensed products connected with the film, bringing-in a hefty $158 million).

 

At this point Tanaka and his team - although obviously proud and pleased with the profits - began feeling the same redundancy creeping-in that audiences were also becoming aware of, and so suggestions floated-around to end the series with Godzilla's death as soon as possible. The creative exhaustion resulting from cranking-out four Godzilla films in five years had now taken its toll, and there can be no better example of what happens when that happens than the next Godzilla film.

Chapter Thirteen

Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla

(Gojira tai SupesuGojira)

< Released December 10th, 1994 >

"Oh boy, more violence. How typical!" - Lt. Kiyoshi Sato

The Film:

 

As usual, a Heisei Series film begins with an interstellar object hurtling towards Earth - on this occasion a strange crystalline form spinning on its axis with music sounding like the commencement of a Queen concert - before the scene shifts to Baas (aka Bath) Island in the South Pacific where an object again explodes, stirring the King of the Monsters, and - just like they did at the beginning of MechaGodzilla II - officials gape at a huge robot being readied for operation, although this time Chief Psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) doesn't seem to be among them. The enormous robot has been named M.O.G.U.E.R.A. (MechaGodzilla having been relegated to the scrap heap) as part of "Project M.O.G.U.E.R.A." meant to kill Godzilla once and for all.

Miki is reluctant to join the Project Telepathy Section of the Counter G-Measure Team headed by Biotechnologist Dr. Chinatsu Gondo (Towako Yoshikawa) and Counter-G Committee Evolution Biologist Dr. Susumu Okubo (Yosuke Saito), since it involves controlling Godzilla through mind waves. As Chinatsu explains, "We'll plant a telepathy amplifier on the back of Godzilla's head and amplifies what it responds to. Then we can control it. Then we can save the world" (incredibly, the two G-Team members threaten to make one of Miki's students join them if she doesn't!).

Miki then senses Mothra flying in outer space releasing hundreds of tiny Mothras.

Arriving on Baas Island are G-Force members Lt. Koji Shinjo (Jun Hashizume) and Lt. Kiyoshi Sato (Zenkichi Yoneyama). After climbing rugged peaks then making their way through thick jungle, they eventually enter a small cavern looking strikingly similar to where Shoichi and Koji took took shelter 39 years earlier in Godzilla's Counterattack. As Koji and Kiyoshi peek into an adjoining valley they see three huge vertical crystals opening and closing inside illuminated, steaming craters.

Suddenly Kiyoshi is grabbed by a sketchy-looking stranger who saves him from being bitten by a poisonous spider: renegade G-Force Major Akira Yuki (Akira Emoto), who has been spending his time planting various bombs and tear gas mines on the shore. But his biggest project - which he calls his "Yuki Special" - is firing a bullet loaded with blood-coagulate into Godzilla's chest. 

The men hear a strange cry before seeing an odd-looking green creature: it is Little Godzilla.

At a G-Force meeting a NASA representative shows the destruction of an Interplanetary Research Vessel from massive crystalline projectiles.

Miki is sitting on a bench when she is visited by the Cosmos (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) warning her that a terrible space monster is approaching the Earth and for her to do everything she can to prevent it, which means joining the telepathy team. The following day the team arrives on the island and sets up base camp, and once inside their tent, Chinatsu and Susumu ready their equipment while Miki meets Little Godzilla which later manages to wander into a tear gas mine field before scampering off.

Miki then senses Godzilla approaching the island as Koji and Kiyoshi ride-off on a motorcycle they obtained from somewhere. Godzilla wades into the shoreline setting off several explosions, and although Yuki consistently misses, Koji scores a direct hit with his very first try and implants the amplifier into the back of Godzilla's neck.

Miki then puts on a special headset connected to a Psychotronic Generator and sends a message to Godzilla, ordering it to take a stroll on the beach.

We then suddenly cut-away to M.O.G.U.E.R.A streaking through space encountering Space Godzilla in an asteroid field, but the monster is too strong for the robot, and after a brief battle sends M.O.G.U.E.R.A. spiraling through space ala Darth Vader.

Back on Baas, Susumu is so impatient with Miki's progress that he ups the amps on the generator, creating a short-circuit making her black out, but Miki, the perennial team player, harbors no resentment over her second near-death experience in as many years.

Godzilla heads inland with Yuki hot on his heels. Yuki again takes aim along with Koji and Kiyoshi (Kiyoshi pulls out a pistol!), but then Space Godzilla arrives on the island and has its way with Little Godzilla until Big Godzilla shows up. The two big monsters battle as Godzilla tries protecting Little Godzilla, and after Space Godzilla severely wounds Godzilla, it levitates Little Godzilla and places it into one of the smoking craters. The space monster then flies away as Godzilla recovers and heads back into the sea without trying to free Little Godzilla (this scene was shot but later deleted due to Kawakita's objections over its serious nature; for that matter director Kensho Yamashita thought the entire island battle between Godzilla and Space Godzilla should have been eliminated).

Since the telepathy business was a wash, Chinatsu, Susumu, and Yuki return to Japan, leaving Miki, Koji, and Kiyoshi on the island for no particular reason.

Chinatsu hosts a meeting of the minds where she relates that some of the new creature's cells have been obtained (without giving any specifics as to how) and theorizes how the space monster was born:

"There were only two occasions when G-Cells were sent into Outer Space. One: a fragment of Biollante, and two: G's flesh attached to Mothra. One of these cells must have been swallowed by a Black Hole and pushed-out from a White Hole. It grew very quickly in its own evolutionary system much faster than expected. It assimilated crystal organisms and was exposed to tremendous energies from the explosions of stars, and finally, the most-horrific monster was born. That's the theory."

But even more incredible than this incredible theory is when one of the assembled guests immediately replies, "Right!"

Commander Aso grudgingly pays Yuki a visit, the maverick still looking like a hot mess even wearing his dress blues. It turns out Project T has been cancelled, resulting in Susumu receiving his walking papers. The new project is Project M (and not Project U) which involves M.O.G.U.E.R.A., but Aso - who like Yuki lives only to see Godzilla die - tells the intransient pilot that "You're the only person who can do this."

Miki is standing on the shore when another small Mothra appears and gives her another pep-talk: "This beautiful Earth is the property of every living being."

When Koji shows up, Miki confesses she is worried about Godzilla, as it's "vibrations are weak." (?) The G-Man suggests she try thinking about something else - meaning him of course - but Miki has heard better pickup lines and is much more passionate about Godzilla. She criticizes Koji for wanting to destroy the monster, and their confrontation comes to an unresolved conclusion as they look at a glorious sunset, the only worthwhile element of this sappy scene.

That evening several men invade the tent and kidnap Miki after beating-up Koji and Kiyoshi (who must have failed their self-defense training). As the two injured men are airlifted off the island the next day, Chinatsu reveals that Yuki is her brother, and that Goro Gondo - killed during Biollante's AENB Bazooka Missile Operation - was also her brother; as a result, Yuki has sworn vengeance on Godzilla.

At this point the only thing missing from this myopic mess is an appearance by the Japanese Industrial Mafia, and it just so happens they are the ones responsible for abducting Miki and are now holding her captive in a warehouse.

Yuki, Koji, and Kiyoshi arrive there that evening (how they knew she was there is never revealed) and Yuki notices there are infrared sensors, stating there are "barriers everywhere," but fortunately there are no sentries, alarm systems, security guards, motion sensors, spotlights, guard dogs, watch towers, booby traps or cameras, so they enter the grounds via a nearby sewer cover.

Poor miserable Miki has been strapped onto a large operating table and connected to the same headset as before hooked-up to another computer. Susumu is also there, explaining that "We've already input your telepathy waves into the Central Computer. Now we're going to amplify them, then we'll send them to Godzilla." He then activates a satellite dish revealing an opening through which the G-Men conveniently enter before proceeding down an even more convenient flight of stairs.   

Space Godzilla flies over Yamagata (perhaps a respectful nod to Honda's birthplace), playing havoc with the power grid.

The G-Force team arrives and shoots it out with the gangsters until one of them tips over Miki's cot to use as cover with her still strapped to it, resulting in a gun fight as the outlaw's automatic weaponry chews-up the set (Yamashita - a specialist in teen idol films who got the assignment only because Okawara was busy directing Yamato Takeru - was seemingly inspired by the Die Hard films).

The only way out of this silly predicament is a silly solution and one is handily at hand, as Miki uses telekinesis to levitate the table, giving Koji a chance to wound the escaping Mafioso. She leaves with the G-Force team as Susumu desperately tries repairing the computer while his world caves-in on him.

M.O.G.U.E.R.A. has now been repaired, and just after the highly-trained, top-flight, hand-picked crew has been given their final briefing, Yuki, Koji, and Kiyoshi walk-in and are immediately given command of the mission by Commander Aso!

Space Godzilla lands in Fukuoka, hitting the city hard and creating more craters with smoking crystalline spires. Godzilla appears in Kagoshima Bay, and even though it has obviously appeared to fight the space monster, naval units are sent to dispatch it only to be dispatched themselves by Godzilla. Godzilla then wanders through Beppu, passing by the Kijima Amusement Park with people riding the roller-coaster!

AS Godzilla mows its way though Kyushu, Yuki - a rebel to the end - diverts the intended mission from M.O.G.U.E.R.A. to G.O.D.Z.I.L.L.A. until Koji knocks him out while Space Godzilla turns Fukuoka into a fortress of smoking crystalline spires.

The giant flying robot lands and confronts Space Godzilla, sending spiraling grenade missiles toward it in the same manner as the G-Crusher cables had been launched against Godzilla the previous year, scoring several direct hits.

M.O.G.U.E.R.A. then utilizes a close-in drill attack, and although it succeeds, the robot is toppled-over by the monster. Yuki wakes up and starts giving orders which Koji and Kiyoshi instantly obey, zooming the robot out of the danger zone.

Then - like an actor late for his own entrance - Godzilla arrives and the two monsters meet amidst a cornucopia of heat rays, lightning bolts, sparks, smoke, and electrical discharges until Space Godzilla levitates Godzilla into a building.

After the KK Boys release Yuki from his bonds, Kawakita repeats a routine from the previous film by having a machine fly around Godzilla while pelting it with loads of ordinance. After Space Godzilla lands, Godzilla destroys some of the crystalline towers. 

Koji feels that "Space Godzilla is drawing energy from the Fukuoka Tower and absorbing it through the crystal objects. (Godzilla) wants to destroy them to stop the supply of energy."

As with the Garuda One separation opeation in MechaGodzilla II, Yuki then leaves the cab to pilot the Star Falcon after disengaging it from M.O.G.U.E.R.A.

As Godzilla approaches Space Godzilla, sections of crystals previously air-lifted now fall all around the giant reptile, while others collide with the monster until it (repeating a bit from Biollante) zaps some of the approaching projectiles; but whereas Godzilla's rays have little effect on its adversary, Space Godzilla strikes Godzilla with impunity.

M.O.G.U.E.R.A. transforms itself into a rapidly-rolling tank-like vehicle approaching the battle zone.

Miki and Chinatsu burst through a crowd of spectators in order to board a G-Force boat taking them to the action.

As Yuki strikes Space Godzilla with a ray-gun attack, Koji and Kiyoshi pilot M.O.G.U.E.R.A. underground and find a weak spot under the Tower which their computer identifies as the "Fukuoka Space G Energy Dome's Best Shooting Point." They fire several volleys, forcing it to fall with a little help from Godzilla.

Star Falcon teams-up with Godzilla in the fight against Space Godzilla before mating-back into the robot, and though M.O.G.U.E.R.A. destroys Space Godzilla's shoulder-protruding crystal appendages (why didn't they do that before?) the space monster inserts its tail into M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and tosses it into a building, crippling the robot. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending upon your mood at this point), Koji and Kiyoshi safely eject themselves just as MechaGodzilla's crew did the year before.

Yuki - a man who lost both his oars sometime ago - quietly murmurs while loading his weapon: "You're the reason I'm alive. I'm going to send you back to hell, back where you belong!" Then, borrowing a line from Blade Runner, he adds: "Time to die!" (it never occurs to Yuki to let the monsters fight and then go after a weakened Godzilla). 

After Koji and Kiyoshi leave the escape pod they meet up with Chinatsu and Miki and are shocked to see M.O.G.U.E.R.A. take-off as Yuki has somehow managed to restart the robot (just as Kazuma did with Garuda), but in doing so knocks himself out while the machine smashes into Space Godzilla before smashing into yet another building.

As the monsters continue fighting, Koji enters what's left of M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and finds Yuki dangling upside down with his foot caught in a partially-closed escape-hatch door, and as Koji attempts to rescue him, they have this charming chat:

 

YUKI: "You damn fool, what are you doing here? Get out!"

KOJI:   "How can I leave you here?"

YUKI: "Godzilla is emitting energy, you know what will happen."

KOJI:   "When the energy overloads, Space Godzilla will explode."

YUKI: "Everything's gonna blow up, all the way to Baas Island!"

KOJI:   "Well - in that case - I'll get blown up too."

YUKI: "You're stupid!"

 

It now appears that Space Godzilla is on its last legs while Miki uses her telepathic powers to help Koji free Yuki.

After Godzilla kills Space Godzilla - in another page lifted from the Biollante Playbook - fire consumes the deceased beast sending thousands of shining particles toward the sky. Godzilla then blasts the last vestiges of M.O.G.U.E.R.A. into a fire storm.

Miki, Chinatsu, and Kiyoshi frantically search through M.O.G.U.E.R.A.'s burning wreck and find Yuki and Koji who have somehow survived the massive explosions (why didn't Miki use her telepathic powers to find them?).

Yuki and Koji are reunited with their comrades as they watch the mighty and magnificent Godzilla stride-off into the distance.

Miki then takes the opportunity to ask Yuki an incredible question: "Do you consider Godzilla as your enemy?" (where has she been the last hour and forty minutes?)

Yuki - tougher than dirt and looking like it - lights-up a cigarette and takes a long drag before letting it dangle from his mouth like Humphrey Bogart. Staggering to his feet he admits that "Well, he's a great creature after all." He then hands his blood-coagulate bullet container to Chinatsu as Miki informs him that "Space Godzilla had the same feeling." (?)

They then rehash Godzilla and Space Godzilla's cell-connection before Chinatsu says, "If the universe is polluted, well then, another space monster will arrive pretty soon. It was a warning to Mankind."

Miki uses her telekinesis powers to dislodge the transmitter from Godzilla's neck, and the monster seemingly roars "thank you" a moment before the Cosmos reappear and thank Miki for "saving Planet Earth." Koji shows-up and asks Miki if anything is wrong, and she answers in her usually oblique manner, "Nothing at all." 

Yuki then makes a sensible suggestion shared by nearly every member of the audience at this point: "Let's go get a drink!"

But cranky co-pilot Kiyoshi cannot let things stand as they are and charges-off into the surf, howling epithets at Godzilla, but Koji is more reflective, confessing to Miki that he no longer hates the monster. Pleased, Miki asks him to shut his eyes, and together they see Little Godzilla skipping happily around Baas Island (how did it escape from that pit?), pausing every now and then to test its bubble-breath. The two then walk together hand-in-hand along the sand as the song "Echoes of Love" comes into earshot sung by Date of Birth:

 

"Hitomi wo tojite tobira hiraite

Zutto zutto tooi toki no kanata e

Sekai ga hajimaru sono shunkan ni

Futari wa fukai umi ni tsutsumareteta no . . ."

 

"Close your eyes and open the door

Far, far away beyond the time

In the moment when the world began

The two were wrapped in the depth of the sea . . ."

 

A Closer Look:

 

Whoa, that's close enough!

There are some things rational people should never try doing, and one of them is make a Godzilla film. However, once they've decide to go for it, they can proceed along one of two established routes: make a serious film filled with human emotion and a dash of social relevancy, or go whole-hog in the other direction and make a free-wheeling fantasy about monsters fighting other monsters and/or mega-machines. The pain of seeing Godzilla in less-than notable films has, up until now, been partially offset by the pleasure of seeing it in action, but there has to be a limit. Space Godzilla is the limit.

The biggest complaint people have regarding the Heisei Series is over the films' similarities, and by the time of Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, they had virtually blended-into each other, which is not surprising, since this film has so-much in common with the earlier ones: Godzilla stepping onto explosive charges, a projectile being shot into Godzilla, Godzilla being controlled, contacting it via telepathy, a monster's protective shield rendering Godzilla's ray ineffective, a jamming signal and so on. As Stuart Galbraith wrote when considering the Heisei Series: "Since 1989 Godzilla's 'character' has been pretty much the same from film to film, and the series has suffered because of it; Godzilla became boring." He added that "the series began imitating itself, with each film looking more and more like the last one." However, if Space Godzilla's intent was to make a Godzilla film unlike any before in the series, the producers succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  

Gigan was unapologetically unambitious, but every scene was necessary to the overall story. In Space Godzilla however, scenes such as Miki meeting Little Godzilla, Little Godzilla accidentally setting off tear-gas explosions, Miki and Koji chatting by the beaches, and Yuki running after Godzilla, are pointless; in fact all the scenes with Little Godzilla should have been removed. As one writer noted at the time: "Godzilla's family is expanding, and not in a good way." One gets the impression that a once-noble enterprise is being exploited by a bunch of sharp-eyed opportunists.

There is little suspense or believability and what little is left unsuccessfully strains the limits of even the most-attentive viewer at every turn, resulting in a mind-numbing (and near the end, eye-numbing) series of sporadic scenes strewn-about like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which don't fit. Amazingly, the film was even longer, as Ronald Hoerr (playing Professor Mammilov) later told Brett Homenick: "A couple of the scenes in Space Godzilla are where we're in that meeting (in) the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center . . . everybody's having this meeting. And there were a lot of speeches going on there from a lot of different people. And I guess I should have figured at the time, kids are not going to sit in the movie theater and stand for much of that. So a lot of that had to be cut, and all of that conversation about how M.O.G.U.E.R.A. gets his energy to fly and everything was completely cut. There were graphs and there were charts. I was showing things. They were just gone, and probably that was a good move when they cut that back to quite a bit less."

Space Godzilla may seem disjointed, but it really is. Screenwriters Kanji Kashiwa and Hiroshi Kashiwabara are trying so hard to be clever they outwit themselves instead of the audience; instead of making a maze, they create quicksand, with lines like "What are we doing here?" "Why is this happening?" "What's happening?" "I don't know!" "Tell me what's going on!" and "Let's go home!" (that last one especially resonating with viewers). Miho Yoneda's editing keeps things moving - if one considers running-in-place moving - since individual scenes have little in the way of vitality, which is fortuitous, since the audience doesn't have time to realize that what they're watching doesn't hold water. The problem is that, as with the various factions involved with the Godzilla Project, there is no cohesion with anything that's happening.

There were often unpleasant characters in previous Godzilla films, but Space Godzilla sets a record, as none of them are particularly appealing. The film is basically about two of them: the nonconformist Yuki and the noncommittal Miki, and their bland performances cement the tone for this maddening movie. The two are polar opposites: Yuki is proactive while Miki is reactive, and while Yuki does what he wants whether anyone likes it or not, Miki does what she's told whether she likes it or not (not surprisingly, the two barely speak to each other).

Someone - undoubtedly Tanaka - decided it was time to give Miki a love interest, but as with Return of Godzilla and MechaGodzilla II, the romantic coupling is not convincing. Koji spends most of his time stalking Miki on various beaches, and while he eventually comes around to her point of view regarding Godzilla, Miki shows herself as the sort of woman who will love a guy even if he hates everything she stands for and believes in. Miki initially displays her dislike by refusing to shake his hand and later calls him "stupid" even though they are on the same mission, yet when he elects to remain with her on the island, she is visibly pleased (it makes no sense for Miki, Koji, and Kiyoshi to remain on the island - less so since the two men share the only tent while she sleeps out in the open - other than give the Yakusa the chance to abduct her).

Miki and Koji may have their little disagreements, but as soon as he comes around to her way of thinking, she's all his and will no doubt make a loyal Japanese wife; when she levitates her cot during the gun fight, she does it to save his skin, not hers (after Koji compliments her on this remarkable ability, she coyly admits that "I've just never tried it before;" a feeble sexual innuendo falling about as flat as everything else does in this movie), and when they walk on the beach together at the end of the film, she is the one taking-hold of his hand.

Miki's telepathic abilities are again put to the test, yet despite her initial attempt to communicate with Godzilla in 1989 - which resulted in putting her into a coma and the reversal of an electrical charge onboard MechaGodzilla which nearly killed her - she is still willing to give it a go for Project G. After being hooked-up to the Psychotronic Generator she is able to convince Godzilla to walk along the shore before she again blacks-out due to an energy surge; I guess some people never learn (for some odd reason she never tells anyone about her constant visits from the Cosmos). Miki can control Godzilla via telepathy, but no attempt is made to plant a similar device on either Space Godzilla or Little Godzilla (perhaps there was only one in stock). When Koji tries to free Yuki, Miki sends Koji a telepathic message somehow knowing he is in distress, which means he must also be telepathic, since he can now read her mind prior to her giving him telekinetic abilities!

The Yakuza business is never adequately motivated, explained, or resolved (the G-Team enters the warehouse at night, but the gunfight takes place during the day). Apparently, Susumu's plan is having the gangsters torture Miki to make her make Godzilla do all sorts of terrible things - as if the King of the Monsters needs to have someone make it do all sorts of terrible things - but when she asks him why he is doing this to her, all he says is "Power!" without giving any specifics. Nakano's films may have been occasionally exasperating but they were rarely annoying, but Space Godzilla manages to be both. This is Megalon on steroids.

In Space Godzilla creativity has been replaced by contrivance, logic by lunacy, and meaning with mush; even the design of Space Godzilla was based on the Super Godzilla from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. "To continue the series," Kawakita explained, "every now and then you must present a new monster; I felt that if you didn't do something new, you couldn't go on to the next film." As far as the famous "Gravity Tornado" scene is concerned, it was never in the script, so Kawakita put it in: "Space Godzilla is a Godzilla that has acquired space powers, so I wanted such a scene. If it made a normal attack, there would be no difference between the monsters up till then, there wouldn't be a sense of a new monster."

If Return of Godzilla was a tribute to the Godzilla films of the 1960s, Space Godzilla harkens back to the Seventies with high-tech mega-robots, space monsters, improbable plots, cardboard characters, and orgasmic effects; and as with all those films, Godzilla needs assistance in order to defeat an opponent (when Susumu shrieks "What went wrong?" it recalls those questioning cockroaches in Gigan). A big deal is made about Project T, but after one try, it is abandoned. Yuki keeps bragging about his coagulated blood projectiles, but after a couple of misses, he drops the whole idea. After the Yakusas get scared-off they are never seen again, and although Yuki thoroughly despises Godzilla throughout the entire film for killing his brother, he ends up having a grudging respect for it. 

Space Godzilla is chock-full of the most grandiose effects ever displayed in a live-action film, an all-throttle no-bottle effort on the part of Kawakita's diligent staff, yet Godzilla itself has little to do, and what little it does do is hardly worth mentioning, having been firmly-regulated to supporting status under Space Godzilla, M.O.U.G.E.R.A., the Star Falcon, and even Little Godzilla. Once again the script prepares us for a major character's death and one we can easily anticipate and even look forward to, as it makes perfect sense for Yuki to perish during his final flying assault on Godzilla as Kobayashi did when he died in '55 - the Star Falcon pilot even kvetches the same way the tuna-spotter did - as well as the irony of Chinatsu losing both of her loony brothers to Godzilla. As usual, the opportunity to make a profound film is ignored, although the demise of such a scurrilous character wouldn't have made much of an impact (after all, he's only a Yuki!).

 

As M.O.G.U.E.R.A. lies wrecked on the ground, Space Godzilla (Ryo Hariya)

uses its "Gravity Tornado" to give Godzilla (Kenpachiro Satsuma) a ride.

 

As was now customary, the emphasis is not on men but machines, on this occasion the massive M.O.U.G.E.R.A., which as with MechaGodzilla, is able to split-itself into two sections able to work independently. The opening sequence showing M.O.U.G.E.R.A.'s elaborate completion stage is not terribly engaging - we're not even sure of what we're looking at since there's no explanation leading up to it - although on this occasion the amount of time spent preflighting it is mercifully short. Regrettably, the film makes the same mistake by beginning a Godzilla film without an action scene, and Kawakita still hasn't got the message that monsters fighting machines is not as interesting as monsters fighting monsters.

But of the film's biggest problème is le plus petit: Little Godzilla, which looks even more garish than either Baby Godzilla or Minilla, described by Bob Biondi as looking "like a hideous stuffed toy." Okawara was against including the 30 m (98 ft) monster, but Tanaka, motivated by the success of the 1993 children's film Rex: A Dinosaur's Story (Rex: kyoryu monogatari), wanted an updated Minilla, and he got one in spades. For the first time since '67 we see Godzilla's progeny frolicking around on an island, only there is simply no justification for it being in the film, since it appears for only a few minutes of screen time in another misguided attempt to make a Godzilla film for the whole family (one can almost hear the little tots crying-out "Mommy, mommy! Look! The space monster's hurting Little Godzilla!"). 

Space Godzilla was the first in a series of "revenge" films where individuals take it upon themselves to kill Godzilla for killing someone they respected or loved. Yuki and Chinatsu both resent Godzilla for killing Gondo, but this creates two problems not easily solved, since Gondo was not a terribly likable character to begin with, and when Chinatsu reveals the information about her brother's death, she is inexplicably smiling (maybe she's a wacko as well). The entire enterprise lacks credibility simply because it has no idea of how to get to where it's going which is nowhere in particular.

Project T's intent is to save the world from Godzilla, but the Cosmos inform Miki that Space Godzilla's mission is to kill Godzilla so the space monster can conquer the Earth (of course, if Japan disavowed itself from using nuclear energy, Godzilla would never return). Commander Aso has been given direct orders to use M.O.G.U.E.R.A. against Space Godzilla, but like Yuki, prefers using it against Godzilla, and so Aso conspires with Yuki in allowing his rebel pilot to fly the robot on an unsanctioned mission. For his part, Yuki wants to use the Star Falcon against Godzilla before eventually deciding to fight Space Godzilla, but then later wants to kill Godzilla again.

Fukuda's films were never meant to be taken seriously and often their inadvertently amusing qualities was their solely salient virtue, yet the low points of those films would be the high points here. In Space Godzilla the deliberate attempts at humor fall horribly flat: Kiyoshi gagging while watching Yuki take a shower, a crazed Susumu wearing goofy goggles like some mad scientist from a 1930s serial as he desperately tries repairing the Psychotronic Generator, the two bozos arguing over plush toys in a crane claw machine during Space Godzilla's attack, and the silly business with the spider which was probably inspired by another moment from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Then there are the usual OEQ such as how such a reckless and embittered individual like Yuki ever managed to pass his psychological evaluation and how he was able to single-handedly plant bombs on an island, but this merely points to problems with a story already bogged-down with a convoluted script containing rickety plot elements. "The continuing mystery throughout the story," wrote Hikari Takeda, "is presented with nary a clue offered as to its solution. Then suddenly one of the characters gives the audience a brief explanation, the mystery is solved, and several of the characters changed their personality."

Yuki has been on his one-man mission on Baas Island for an unspecified amount of time and apparently with commander Aso's unofficial blessing; they reveal that they aren't exactly crazy about each other, but no specifics about their relationship are given, although we learn Aso was once Yuki's commanding officer in a position Aso apparently loathed (maybe he wants Yuki to fly the mission so the jerkweed will die). When Koji and Kiyoshi arrive on the island they unwillingly take orders from Yuki without knowing what they're doing or why they're doing it ("What are we doing here?" "Don't ask me!"), and when they ask him direct questions, he either ignores them, becomes evasive, tells them it's none of their business, and at one point even threatens to shoot them! It's also strange that no one except Yuki knows about Little Godzilla as the scurvy screwball is evidently not relaying any reports regarding his activities or observations.

And so Yuki spends his empty days smoking in the hot sun making rock pyramids, burying small objects, and planting explosive devices along a specific stretch of beach where Godzilla has been known to arrive fairly regularly - presumably to check-on Little G - which is perfectly safe since the monster no longer leaves any traces of radioactivity. Nobody bugs Yuki since he is trying like almost everyone else to kill Godzilla - with a hand-made bullet he thinks will somehow pierce the monster's thick hide - although he strangely shows no interest in killing Little Godzilla, which would surely dismay daddy (Yuki admits the explosives will have little effect on Godzilla, but he plants them anyway if just to keep busy). Despite Yuki's obvious imperfections he is given command of the M.O.G.U.E.R.A. mission - although maybe not so surprising considering how poorly the previous crew did against the space monster - and almost immediately decides to chart his own course which comes as a complete surprise to everyone except the audience, so Koji knocks him out, but once Yuki is revived, Koji immediately orders him freed.

First-time Godzilla director Kensho Yamashita seems as lost as everyone else and fails to infuse the film with even a grain of substance. At one point an on-the-spot newscaster frantically announces how terrible everything is, but when Space Godzilla lands in Fukuoka, diners at an outdoor restaurant don't upturn tables while scrambling over each other like rats, but get up and leave as if unhappy with the service. Yamashita seems uncertain as to how to direct his actors which explains why so many of them appear either bored or confused. Close-ups and trick shots are inserted for their visual impact alone rather than for their emotional context, such as the "rippling effect" on Miki's face when she does her telekinetic thing, or having the camera zoom-in on her while tracking-back when Koji and Yuki come limping out of the smoke (there is one exception to these arbitrary shots, and that is a close-up of Miki's distorted reflection on a window soon after being asked to join Project T, showing her inner conflict).

Another example of pretentious camera work is a close-up of Chinatsu quickly coming out of her tent followed by an intense close-up of Yuki polishing his weapon, but their subsequent dialogue denotes nothing significant and makes little sense: she tells him to "leave Godzilla alone," yet she was the one who supplied him with the necessary ingredients for his "Yuki Special" and knows why he wants to kill the monster, thereby supporting his mission without giving any hint of their sibling relationship, which is a secret until she tells Koji and Kiyoshi when it's suddently not a secret anymore, so why was it ever one to begin with? Giving Miki the ability to levitate objects overstrains the matter of credibility even in a wacky film such as this, but why stop there, why not give her super-powers like being able to read minds, or walk through walls, or give Koji a personality?

The sunset scene between Miki and Koji on Baas Beach is one of the worst in the entire series. To be fair, both actors were essentially helpless blabbering such inane dialogue, and it isn't much of a love scene: when Koji states that life is sad without love, she charges at him - probably not the response he was expecting - yelling, "Not as sad as only thinking about fighting all the time! Don't you understand?" The Ultimate Godzilla Defender then ends her argument by pointing-out that Godzilla "also has feelings! He has feelings the same as we do!" (Miki has probably gone "bye-bye" from one too many visits from tiny flying Mothras).

For the first time in a Godzilla film a woman was not only the central character but the leading actor as well, which is unfortunate, because Miki is not strong and decisive but docile and dithering, what Barry Hatrick properly characterized as "a male pawn." She occasionally whips-up major mind games but only to help Koji out of his various jams. Like a stereotypical female she lets her emotions dictate her actions and reluctantly takes on assignments against her better judgment, motivated not by her own decisions, but by outside forces (as far as making her own decisions are concerned, even the ones she makes are awful, such as staying on the island, resulting in her being kidnapped and needing to be rescued). As for Megumi Odaka, she does her best to look sincere and concerned, but her profound lack of screen presence is a major detriment to the movie.

It doesn't help that Akira Emoto's droopy-eyed portrayal of Yuki sucks away what little vitality the film might have had right out the Exit Doors, and while Jun Hashizume was a fine actor, his ineffectual performance is another frustration. As Kazuhiko Chiba explained, "In the screenplay, Shinjo was at first depicted as an immature young man; his subsequent growth was to be overlapped with that of Little Godzilla. Unfortunately, actor Jun Hashizume doesn't convey that impression, and thus screenwriter Hiroshi Kashiwabara's aim was ruined when Hashizume was chosen for the leading role."

Yosuke Saito spends the vast majority of her screen time in a continuous state of anxiety (she keeps calling people back: she calls Yuki back, she calls Miki back . . .), but the movie's most absurd acting comes from Towako Yoshikawa as Dr. Susumu Okubo; shamelessly hamming his way through the film and dragging his character's credibility down with him. It seems impossible that Chinatsu could be so blind to Susumu's manic expressions, as from the moment we first see him we know he's up to no good, and even a child of six could sense something is seriously wrong with this guy. As far as the more-experienced actors are concerned - Kenji Sahara,  Akira Nakao, and Koichi Ueda - they simply repeat the same pointless parts they played in MechaGodzilla II with even less to do.

Takayuki Hattori's insipid music makes one yearn for Ifukube's military marches, Sato's improvised jazz, and even Manabe's mouth organ; composers who at least created film scores with continuity, whereas Hattori's is all over the musical map. Lawrence Tuczynski asserted that "Hattori has a better command of orchestration than (Ifukube), and the soundtrack has a fuller, richer sound," but added that "most of this score also sounds like it belongs in a TV movie-of-the-week rather than a big budget film." We hear a bit of Ifukube's "Godzilla Theme" when the monster approaches the island (in an otherwise interminable scene) before Hattori adds his own twist of Jaws-like bow strings and interspersed horns. He uses a smash of brass, a smattering of cymbals, curt cellos, and vibrant violins for a decent "Main Title" but later swipes a slice from John Barry's "Main Title" music from You Only Live Twice during the introduction of Baas Island in a lovely and restful combination of lilting strings, soft French horns, and gentle woodwinds. 

However, Hattori utilizes goofy flutes, silly strings, and peppered horns to identify Little Godzilla, while jittery bow strings and high-octave flutes color the NASA tragedy. Hattori's urgent violins used for the cue when Space Godzilla is flying through space is highly reminiscent of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" before the composer includes a snippet of Sato's undulating violin Kumonga music for Baas Island. M.O.G.U.E.R.A.'s theme is comprised of firm strings and blaring brass mirroring the crew's courage, but when Godzilla goes for a stroll along the beach, instead of inserting a threatening motif, Hattori uses bongo, maracas, reco reco, staccato trombone, and - most aggravating of all - four steadily descending piano notes (incredibly, this same music is used during the gun-fight scene between the G-Forces and the Yakusas!).

When Godzilla approaches Space Godzilla the composer utilizes low horns and a flurry of strings suggestive of Sam Spence's "NFL Films" music, and when Miki and Koji are having their little spat on the sand, Hattori whips-up a flowery rhapsody of overcooked fluff, with sweeping strings and low horns suitable for Ken and Barbie's wedding (actually, the scene would have worked better without any music). Hattori provided a moderately appropriate melody for Godzilla's send-off with soft horns and slow strings ending with a shimmering cymbal, strummed harp, fluttering bassoon, and swirling flute, but his most impressive piece is for Space Godzilla, comprised of low brass and heavy strings.

The whole business with the towering and undulating crystals is visually interesting, which is a good thing, since there's no other reason for them being in the movie, as Kawakita really lays-on the visuals in a gargantuan final act lasting a full 30 minutes. The Fukuoka Tower is the source of Space Godzilla's energy and the crystals are popping-up everywhere (brought-up from a pulley placed underneath the set), but how Godzilla knew about them and their power source is unknown, which is just as well since no script in the world could explain them.

Yet despite their elaborateness the effects have a tawdry aspect to them, with constant shots of yet another monster flying over yet more digital mattes of yet another city with the plethora of pyrotechnics now having lost their novelty (when the navy confronts Godzilla in Kagoshima Bay, Kawakita inserts stock footage and outtakes from the splendid Uraga Channel sequence from Biollante). Some have wondered why Kawakita didn't use digital compositing during the scene when the crystals are being launched at Godzilla, and Kawakita had an answer: "Looking back, thinking about the time and devices needed for compositions, it takes longer to shoot. Also, shooting during the miniature work, you can check on the state of the setup and see all the possibilities here and there. How things will be hit, how everything changes as a result, things like that. With digital composition, you can't tell how things look while it's happening, so by using live-action, you can adapt to what's going on and gives it a truer feeling of realism."

Kawakita's work is now more reminiscent of Nakano's than ever before, as there is seemingly an explosion every-other second, as well as a ground-level tracking shot of the massive miniature Fukuoka set built at the now-standard 1/50th scale. While Godzilla's eyes rarely moved, they seem more obvious this time and have a Looney Tunes look to them. Satsuma's performance appears indecisive as if he also is unable to make any sense out of anything and is just feeling his way around (the actor now had an air duct in the costume to allow him to breathe more freely and stay inside longer than ever before). Godzilla's movements are more fluid thanks to a radio-controlled servo-motor using compressed air to move its jaw and bob its head up-and-down as well as from side-to-side. And despite Space Godzilla's protruding appendages, it's quite cute really but has little in the way of any discernible character traits - it mainly just stands around and roars - and when the two beasts grapple with each other they look like two septuagenarians dancing the Tennessee Waltz.

Stage No. 9 was utilized not only for Baas Island but for the space fight with Space Godzilla and even the massive Fukuoka set which took over a month to construct. The Tower was the true set-piece of the scene, but its mirrored surface necessitated careful camera setups. At one point it was discovered that, after the Tower had been destroyed, it was necessary for it to still be visible in some shots, so a photograph of the Tower was enlarged to the proper scale before being plastered onto plywood where only one side of the structure would be seen.

The pattern of the Heisei Films was now set firmly in cement, with another extended nighttime confrontation between Godzilla and his foe, and there are so many sparkling explosions it looks like a 4th of July celebration at the Rose Bowl. The moment when Space Godzilla uses its Gravity Tornado to levitate Godzilla is brilliantly executed (mysteriously, the Space Monster implements this devastating and digitally-achieved maneuver only once), and how many times can we watch Godzilla getting smashed into a building?

The battle in the asteroid field is as lively as it is unconvincing due not only to a lack of any movement on the part of the asteroids but also a lack of any background stars, and so as a result the sequence looks exactly like what it was: shot inside a studio, although one of the best effects is a long shot, high-angle view of Godzilla approaching Baas Island. Godzilla's surfacing in the surf is similar to Son of Godzilla (when Godzilla made landfall in two-shakes of a Meganuron's tail), but the constant switching between the monster approaching the island and the humans scrambling around takes forever, and why is Godzilla  bothered by such minor explosions?

This latest version of M.O.G.U.E.R.A. has "all the charm of a vacuum cleaner" and lacks the kitschy qualities making the 1957 version so visually appealing and is simply another in a long line of massive machines used against Godzilla. Little Godzilla was played by "Little Frankie" - an experienced midget pro-wrestler - and Kawakita ardently instructed him on how to show the love between a child and its parent (Kawakita also insisted the wrestler actually be inside the costume when Little Godzilla is lifted by wires before being dumped into the crystalline pit). Yamashita strongly objected to the concept of Little Godzilla, telling Dave Milner after the film had been made that he considered "Little Godzilla as a very bad omen because he is so cute," while Gary of the Gory Godzilla Zone website said "Little Godzilla just looked too fake. He didn't look or act like a real animal. Also when his mouth opened you could see white wires and screws in the back of the mouth! I always cheer on Space Godzilla when he attacks him on the island." It doesn't help that Little Godzilla makes horrible little rasping sounds, whereas Minilla sounded like a squawking bird or a sad whistling puppy (Minilla's voice actually was created from the speeded-up sounds of Godzilla, as well as the cries of monkeys, sea lions, cats, bears, lions, and boars).

The production was not without its difficulties: at one point the radio-controlled helicopter used for the Kagoshima Bay sequence crashed into the pool, necessitating repairs. Scenes taking place on Baas Island were shot in The Great Pool, but since it was the end of August, the former dragonfly problem returned, making it look like giant flying creatures were crossing Godzilla's path, which may have inspired 2000's Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (Gojira tai Megagirasu: Ji Shometsu Sakusen) where the giant reptile is attacked by monstrous flying insects. During one scene when Godzilla walked into the sea, Satsuma stumbled, fell into the water, and had to be rescued (speaking of stumbling, the Space Godzilla costume was not properly balanced, and toppled-over numerous times). During the filming of the battle between Space Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A., the two flying miniatures became entangled in the wire-works, damaging the robot's wing and leg, and on one occasion the full-body M.O.G.U.E.R.A. costume fell over, breaking-off major body parts.

Spotty in its drama and jerky in its construction, Space Godzilla could almost be considered as one of those cinematic mistakes so bad it's enjoyable, but ultimately, it's only hokey and sad. As with the Fukuda films, it dwells not in the Land of Logic, but its greatest erreur was in taking the easy way out (and why should we care about what's happening when we don't care about the characters?), although the Japanese Cinema: Essential Handbook thought it "has a make-it-up-as-you-go quality which is begrudgingly endearing." Had it been released 20 years earlier it would have been perfectly positioned for its time, but instead became the Heisei Series only aberration. One could rightfully expect a dip in quality after several terrific films, only one hoped it wouldn't measure to the depths of the Grand Canyon.

But the real reason for the decline was not because Godzilla fans had become spoiled, but saturated, and as if the idea of making a family-friendly Godzilla film wasn't horrific enough, this one doesn't even qualify as fan-friendly (the film originally ran an interminable 150 minutes which was later reduced to a more-merciful 108 minutes).

Space Godzilla has its share of defenders even if they are a little half-hearted about it, such as Mr. Biondi, who wrote that even though it "will not be regarded as one of the better films in the new series, since the faulty script, severe editing and uneven score all combine to hinder it," nevertheless felt that "if watched with an open mind and not measured against others in the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla can be enjoyed as a different, and entertaining, Godzilla film." This is the old Megalon argument again: ignore all the bad stuff and you've got a good movie. It's the most desperate sort of rationalization imaginable, yet another writer felt that "On its own, Space Godzilla (is) one of the better entries in Godzilla series." Too bad it has so much unfair competition. John LeMay is not convinced Space Godzilla is a total loss either, maintaining that "Space Godzilla was a victim of bad timing" when it was really just a bad film. 

When Dave Milner asked Takao Okawara what he thought of Space Godzilla, the director answered: "Many people like that film, but I think that it has very few impressive scenes. So, I don't understand why so many people like it." "To be honest," Kawakita admitted years later, "I felt like we exhausted all we could do with MechaGodzilla II; the digital technologies, the battle direction, everything. We shot it in high definition, even though for the battle scenes between the monsters, there was really no need for it. As for the new monster, Space Godzilla, it wasn't as difficult as when we did Biollante. Since prior to that I was taking part in filming Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon (Yamato Takeru), there was no leeway in the schedule, but the staff was mainly the same, so we managed to switch-over rather smoothly.

"Different from the other films, this wasn't about showing a monster that was popular in the Showa era, this was a new monster: Space Godzilla, the robot M.O.G.U.E.R.A., the new character of Little Godzilla that would appeal to the girls, and as such it became a work full of variety. When kids looked at the poster they'd say 'I like this' or 'this looks fun to me,' so we wanted them to be able to enjoy it when they saw it, and even though it is said to be a different kind of Godzilla film, I wonder if we hit the mark there." It's a wonder he wonders.

A writer on The Godzilla Tower website also wonders. "I have no idea what they were thinking when they made this movie."

It's a big club.

Chapter Fourteen

 

   Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

   (Gojira tai Desutoroia)

< Released December 9th, 1995 >

"It's time." - Professor Fukazawa

The Film:

 

In 1996, a G-Force helicopter observes what's left of Baas Island, destroyed by a massive explosion.

That evening, after a 747 takes-off from Hong Kong's International Airport, the pilots see the incredible sight of Godzilla practically on fire - smoking, sizzling, and glowing - and after a brief but devastating assault on the city, the monster returns to the sea.

At an emergency Godzilla meeting, U.S. Special Agent Meru Ozawa (Sayaka Osawa) plays a taped message from American scientist Dr. Marvin: "As we all know, there's a hypothesis that Godzilla's power surge, which is equal to the heart in a man, is simply a nuclear reactor. Apparently, something is happening there in the reactor, in Godzilla's heart."

The person responsible for submitting the startling "A Private Consideration of Godzilla's Structure" thesis is 25-year-old Kenkichi Yamane (Yasufumi Hayashi), son of Shinkichi Sieji who was adopted by Dr. Kyohei Yamane after the young man's family was killed during Godzilla's 1954 Odo Island raid.

Kenichi's sister, Yukari Yamane (Yoko Ishino), works as a journalist for local TV station JBS. One of her recent guests was Dr. Kensaku Ijuin (Takuro Tatsumi), whose latest invention is "Micro-Oxygen." Kensaku has managed to micronize oxygen atoms which he claims can be used to help "solve our food problems," but when Yukari asks if the invention could be used for military purposes, Kensaku doubts that "anybody in this day and age would want to risk provoking a global war."

One person watching the broadcast is Dr. Yamane's daughter, the intended of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, and Kenkichi and Yukari's aunt: Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi), who expresses her severe misgivings to Yukari about the project, fearful of possible consequences should it ever be used for evil intent. When Yukari later meets with Kensaku to again express her misgivings, the doctor - who not only mentions he knew about the Serizawa story but also made references to him in his papers - amends his earlier statement, sternly telling her that "We can't allow sentimentalism to interfere with the growth of scientific knowledge."

Kenkichi is visited by G-Force Team Member Professor Fukazawa (Saburo Shinoda) who learns the lad's thesis was ignored by both the G-Center and his own professor. Although initially reluctant to join the G-Team, Kenkichi immediately changes his mind when he learns he will be working with Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka), leading the team to locate Little Godzilla.

Kensaku is working at his laboratory when an earthquake causes a sudden increase in the temperature in a tunnel under Tokyo Bay. Subsequent soil samples taken from the site (the location of where the first Godzilla was destroyed) show signs of life in Container No. 6; even so, Kensaku continues pleading his case to Yukari, assuring her he is not a mad scientist.

Kenkichi meets Miki and immediately gets on her bad side after speculating that Little Godzilla was probably killed in the Baas Island explosion "due to the nuclear fission of pure uranium generated by a gigantic underground eruption," the resulting discharge of energy causing an over-abundance of nuclear fission inside Godzilla, now boiling the waters in the Sea of Taiwan.

At another G-Force meeting Kenkichi explains there is too-much nuclear fission taking place inside of Godzilla's body: "As you know by now, nuclear fission is Godzilla's source of energy. But of course this power plant has to be cooled by air and water. However the Baas Island incident has greatly increased the rate of fission." Fukazawa asks what this means, and Kenkichi answers: "Godzilla will increase in power and finally he will explode," the results being nothing short of catastrophic.

The next day, Emiko pleads with Kenkichi:

 

Emiko:    "Listen to me, Ken. Dr. Serizawa destroyed all his research.                    There's nothing left to go on now. He didn't want his work                    used. In the end, he took his own life to save the world."

Kenkichi: "Yeah, a waste of a good man."

Emiko:    "Even if you make one, are you sure it will be used                                   properly?"

Kenkichi:   "No, I'm not sure. But auntie, this time the Earth is in                                     danger. If we don't build one, then we're finished."

Emiko:   "But still, I don't like it, Ken. Don't do it, whatever the                                        reasons are."

Kensaku closely inspects the globe containing the life-registering soil sample and finds a small hole, so whatever was in, is now out.

A night security guard at a local aquarium witnesses the horrific sight of several fish dissolving before turning into skeletons. Closer examination of footage taken of one of the fish shows the existence of a Pre-Cambrian micro-organism brought to mutated life by the OD, making the scientist even more reluctant to proceed with his experiment despite Kenkichi and Yukari's concerns. "The thing you were afraid of," he tells them, "has in fact already come true."

As Godzilla churns-up the ocean waters north of Okinawa, the discovery of pods of dead whales leads Miki to believe that Little Godzilla has been affected by the Baas Island explosion, so she unsuccessfully searches for it.

That evening massive explosions destroy several structures around the clinic as 3 m (10 ft) foot tall reptilian/crab-like multi-legged monsters appear. Despite a heroic effort by a Special Unit of the Metropolitan Police, the creatures are nearly impervious to ammunition and are capable of firing a brutal ray. One manages to trap Yukari in a police car and smashes its roof (reminiscent of a scene in Jurassic Park), and as it gets face-to-face with her, it exposes a smaller, extended mouth (as in Alien), but fortunately she is rescued at the last moment by Kensaku just as flame-throwers ignite the animal which drops molten globules on the ground as it dies. 

Godzilla appears in the Bungo Channel and approaches several nuclear reactors.

It is decided to send yet another flying vehicle after the monster - this time the Super-X3 - which has been specially adapted to deal with nuclear power plant accidents and has been equipped with cadmium missiles and ultra-low temperature laser guns freezing matter up to -200°C (-328°F).

The Super-X3 cools Godzilla down and brings its fusion under control for several hours as it heads out to sea, prompting Kenkichi to confidentially state that, "The worst is over."

It turns out that the microorganism escaping from the lab and making its way into the water supply eventually became a Destoroyah (aka Destroyer); the ultimate manifestation of the Oxygen Destroyer. Meanwhile, Kensaku develops a freezing compound which he hopes will kill the creatures.

Miki and Meru meet and discuss their ESP powers, and it turns out that while Miki admits to be slowly losing her abilities, Meru can't wait to lose hers.

At Omaezaki Beach, Little Godzilla - now a grown Godzilla Jr. - appears and follows his father toward the Bering Sea, but Godzilla's temperature has again risen to dangerous levels. Ever the one with answers, Kenkichi knows what this means: "First, his heart, the reactor, will melt down, then his outer body, then there will be nothing left." In other words, the China Syndrome, only much worse.

During a rainstorm, Defense Forces arrive en masse in hurriedly built (or modified) Mobile Micro-Oxygen Units equipped with Ultra-Low Temperature Lasers engaging hordes of the crawling creatures. The attack registers some success until the survivors manage to merge into one huge monster, wiping-out the Forces and taking to the sky, destroying everything it sees.

Kensaku concludes Destoroyah was created by the OD and is the only thing capable of fighting Godzilla, thus possibly averting disaster. Meru boldly suggests using Godzilla Jr. as bait to lure Godzilla towards Destoroyah, and although Miki is initially appalled at the idea, as usual she goes along, joining the Special Agent in a helicopter as the two gifted girls urge Godzilla Jr. toward the danger zone.

After a brief struggle with Godzilla Jr., Destoroyah takes to the sky and chases after Miki and Meru's helicopter until Godzilla Jr. shoots the flying monster down before Destoroyah resumes its land-based form, easily battling Godzilla Jr. as Godzilla Sr. arrives in Tokyo Bay.

Though grievously wounded, Godzilla Jr. manages to blast Destoroyah into a building and meets Godzilla, but Destoroyah evolves into an even larger and more powerful version which pounds Godzilla to the mat before scooping-up Godzilla Jr. and dropping it to the ground.

Miki and Meru land their helicopter which is soon destroyed by Destoroyah. They then approach Godzilla Jr. just in time to see it apparently die.

The two hellish demons resume their struggle with Godzilla loosing badly as Destoroyah drags it all around town before dumping it into Tokyo Bay.

Once back on land, Godzilla's temperature reaches the "Red Zone" as Destoroyah slices through Godzilla's body moments before the King of the Monsters - for the last time - utilizes its Sonic Pulse and regains full strength, mortally wounding Destoroyah which collapses in a massive explosion.

But the menace is far from finished as it now de-evolves into the scampering monsters which attack Godzilla, giving the Big Beast all it can handle.

With their chopper destroyed and no other way out, Miki and Meru run wildly through the flaming rubble until Yukari arrives in her TV chopper and rescues them.

The crawling versions of the Destoroyahs disappear, giving Godzilla the chance to unsuccessfully try reviving its son with an exhalation of radioactivity.

Godzilla is attacked by the flying version of Destoroyah which grabs the Reptile King around its neck before flinging it into a building near the Odaiba International Exhibition Center.

Then, at 1:33:22 (in a moment debated by many and dreaded by as many more, described by one author as "the most memorable scene in the Heisei series"), Godzilla's meltdown finally begins, and after it reaches a power level both immeasurable and unimaginable, it blasts Destoroyah which is desperately trying to fly away, only to be shot down for good by G-Force ground units and the Super-X3.

As the monster's internal temperature reaches 1,200°C (2,192°F) it becomes a smoldering inferno of massive radiation, and as particles from it rise toward the sky, the G-Forces hit it hard.

It was a creature created by Man and forced to enter a strange and savage world without its consent, and from the very moment it first appeared, people ran in terror from it, fought it, and hated the sight of it. This then is the only existence Godzilla has ever known, a life of constant conflict with machines, monsters, and men, doing everything they can to destroy it, from depth-charges to high-tension towers, from tanks to artillery, rockets and bombs, masers and lasers, and every conceivable weapon including the most infernal of all: Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer. And so for the last time Godzilla finds itself under violent attack and is nearly overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers, yet it remains as always defiant and unyielding, and in this, its penultimate moment of supreme defeat, it retains its magnificence, dying as it lived. 

Miki removes her cap in a sad salute (yes, hats off please), overwhelmed by grief as she softly says, "Our job is over now, Godzilla," while Yukari and Kensaku stare at the incredible sight from their helicopter:

 

Kensaku: "Godzilla's gone. He's turned Tokyo into a ghost city."

Yukari:    "It looks like we paid for it in the end."

Kensaku: "Paid for what?"

Yukari:    "All of it. All that stupid use of nuclear energy."

 

And as the radiation levels recede it is not Miki but Meru who senses something stirring in the smoke, and as the camera moves through the dust and debris, we see its classic lines: a saurian head, short arms, massive legs, strong torso, long tail, and three rows of prominent dorsal fins.

The creature roars as the movie ends.

 

A Closer Look:

 

It's been said that when fans of John Wayne get together, one of the topics they discuss is how seldom his character died on-screen, while on the opposite side of the spectrum, when Bela Lugosi fans gather, they often debate how few times his character didn't die. But when considering Godzilla's death it gets a little murky, since it all depends on which Godzilla one's talking about. For this particular entry in the series a number of opponents were considered to finish it off: King Kong, MechaniKong, and even the ghost of Godzilla's 1954 past in Godzilla vs. Godzilla. Ultimately it was decided to do a variation on the only weapon that had actually killed the King of the Monsters: the Oxygen Destroyer.

Not surprisingly, the fact that this time the Big Beast was really going to die created an enormous amount of controversy and interest (which was intended and accomplished), in the end becoming the most profitable film of the series. Up until this point in time the creature had only definitively died once, but during the course of the following 19 films and 40 years, it left the scene under various circumstances:

 

• Godzilla's Counterattack: Buried Alive by an Avalanche.
• King Kong vs. Godzilla: Disappeared underwater.
• Mothra vs. Godzilla: Fell over a cliff into the ocean.
• Three Giant Monsters: Standing on a cliff next to Rodan.
• Astro-Monster: Disappeared underwater with Rodan.
• Ebirah: Swimming in the ocean ("He did get away!").
• Son of Godzilla: Huddling with its son in a blizzard.
• Marching Monsters: Standing with Minilla on Monster Island.
• Hedorah: Trotting-off into the distance.
• Gigan: Trotting-off into the distance.
• Megalon: Trotting-off into the distance.
• Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla: Heading out to sea.
• MechaGodzilla's Counterattack: Wading into the ocean.
• The Return of Godzilla: Falling into a volcano. 
• Biollante: Swimming in the ocean.
• King Ghidorah: Alive under the sea.
• Godzilla vs. Mothra: Disappeared under the sea with Battra.
• MechaGodzilla II: Trotting-off into the distance.
• Space Godzilla: Trotting-off into the distance.

There was an enormous amount of anticipation and even anger for what was advertised as Godzilla's chant du cygne (a similar fuss was made when it was announced that Mr. Spock was to die in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). As producer Shogo Tomiyama remembered, "While Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was in production, I received letters from many children asking that we not kill Godzilla. It was very difficult for me not to tell them that there would be a new Godzilla." It was mainly letters from children and not adults protesting Godzilla's execution, and there were instances of audiences crying and/or walking-out when the creature died.

As it turned out, the creature's meltdown was indeed the picture's high-point in a poignant and fitting finale of effects and music, if not direction. More than 10,000 letters of protest were sent to the studio during the first three days after the movie was released from fans demanding Godzilla immediately be reborn (apparently from those not staying until the end of the film). "We had to kill him," a studio spokesman stated. "But his death does seem to have upset a lot of people." In reality the series had to end, not because the films were no-longer making any money, but for the same reason it went into decline during the mid-Seventies; the creative well was drained dry.

In writing about Godzilla's demise, Tom Tvrdik felt that "His agony brought us closer to him; the lack of respect he received from the human characters only caused us to respect him more," while Stuart Galbraith considered Ifukube's musical moment for Godzilla's death to be "moving, even if the sequence isn't." A writer for the Kaiju Film Database concurred: "Although Godzilla's 'meltdown' is incredible to look at, I feel that it was underplayed. Looking at that steaming flesh and molten ashes, I can only imagine the pain Goji was going through. But this isn't really addressed in the film. They could have shown the Monster King going insane with agony, and literally boil in rage, yet they failed to display much of either," and monster-designer Shinji Nishikawa knew the reason why: "The sequence in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in which Godzilla dies consists almost entirely of special effects footage. I feel that the (live-action) footage should not have been included in the sequence."

The main problem with Destoroyah is that audiences have come to see how and when Godzilla was going to die, so everything else leading-up to that point was inescapably pro-climatic. Yes, the bitter taste of Space Godzilla was gone, but it takes more than one terrific scene to make a terrific film. Destoroyah is a much-better film than Space Godzilla, but it is also a far-less entertaining one.

In many ways the film could be seen as yet another tribute to the original film: it begins with the monster's roar and the sound of its footsteps with the white katana symbols spelling "Godzilla" rising-up over a black background, the opening shot of the ocean's surface, a scene taking place on a cruise ship, fish dissolving in an aquarium, a scene in Dr. Yamane's study (including the same baby Stegosaurus skeleton prop), a leading man saving the leading lady from a monster, a man nearly run-over by an emergency vehicle, a scientist at the head of a line of spectators breathlessly pleading his case to a security officer, shots of the monster revisiting the Hattori Clock Tower and Parliamentary Building, and when the Metropolitan Police gather during their search for the Destoroyahs, the number "54" can clearly be seen on their helmets; even the film's final frames contained clips from Godzilla. The solution to a global food shortage had been earlier touched-upon in Son of Godzilla, and as with Miyajima in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, Kensaku has also won a Noble Peace Prize.

There are numerous highlights: the burning Destoroyah dropping its glowing saliva on the soil, a shot of navy ships trailing Godzilla, the first views of the scampering Destoroyahs, the appearance of the Super Destoroyah and its multi-legged versions attacking Godzilla (a scene which should have gone longer), and the Super-X3's freezing of Godzilla. Ironically the two best scenes are near the beginning and end of the film: Godzilla's attack on Hong Kong and the creature's destruction. However there are also several dubious shots of monsters wreaking havoc in the distance with traffic and pedestrians going leisurely going about their business as if quite used to this sort of thing by now (when Destoroyah drags Godzilla across an airport's tarmac, a 747 can be seen routinely taxiing to the terminal!).

As in the previous Heisei Series films there are many elaborate miniatures and respectable production values. The appearance of the Destoroyahs and the 13 1/2-minute battle between the crawling creatures and the Metropolitan Police is for the most part quite good, although it takes awhile to get going, and the use of slow-motion footage of policemen getting zapped dampens the scene's energy.

While Kazuki Omori's screenplay explored the unique aspect of Godzilla suffering a meltdown, there are some serious story issues. Kenichi is not a wunderkind; in fact he fails his exams, so he spends his time studying Godzilla while sponging-off his more-successful sister. The G-Center initially ignores the boy's thesis, yet after an American scientist expresses interest in it, Fukazawa goes to Kenichi's home and asks him to join the team, only to have Kenichi refuse. Then Fukazawa - without offering the young man anything in return or insisting he be involved - puts the boy's beach ball back in his chair and prepares to leave, but as soon as Kenichi learns Miki is on the G-Team, he immediately drops everything and offers to join-up, although he never explains why he is so anxious to work with her (presumably he passed his G-Force training and software courses in record time and with flying colors).

Yukari's misgivings regarding Kensaku's Micro-Oxygen are greatly reinforced after she talks with her aunt Emiko, although it seems inconceivable this is the first time Yukari has ever heard about Serizawa and his OD (wait a second: wasn't that Godzilla erased from memory by the Futurians back in '91?). Despite her concerns about the MO, she never does a commentary about it on her show - preferring to confront Kensaku at his lab - but after a brief talk and walk with him, she drops the whole thing before later changing her mind again (at one point the scientist disparages sentimentality only to later admit he's a romantic). Kensaku's MO - while similar to Serizawa's OD - is not the same thing, and whereas Serizawa had unintentionally created the OD, Kensaku smugly states he can whip one up on a moment's notice, although diffidently admitting it won't be easy. The physician also states he referred to Serizawa's notes, which is hard to believe, since we saw Serizawa burn them all.

Kensaku is hesitant to make another OD since he knows it will turn Tokyo into a graveyard, but doesn't explain how this is possible, since the device only works in water (it also seems sad suggesting that Serizawa's device was responsible for creating the Destoroyah life forms). And incredibly, despite the awesome urgency of the situation with the fate of the world at stake, other than Kenichi and Yukari, nobody else pleads, insists, or orders Kensaku to use his Micro-Oxygen: no military officials, no scientific advisors, no government spokespersons, no international diplomats, no nosy journalists, no religious representatives; not even Japan's Prime Minister gets into the act (as it turns out the whole debate about using the OD was pointless since it is never implemented against Godzilla).

This time Miki can communicate with Godzilla even without having a device shot into it's neck, but she doesn't elevate anymore objects or receive anymore pep-talks from the Cosmos, which seems odd, since she's the one who saved the world the last time they called on her (Miki was meant to die in this film but Tanaka argued against it, feeling her character might return again, which it never did).

Once again the idea of using a smaller Godzilla as a decoy is explored - this time actually implemented - and once again Godzilla needs outside assistance in order to defeat a powerful foe; in this case the Super-X3, which is so effective against Destoroyah, it makes one wonder why the flying vehicle wasn't used against it from the get-go. But the problem with this picture is that the majority of the discussions regarding what's happening and what should be done about it are held between only three people: Kenichi, Aso and Fukazawa (although Meru does pop-in from time-to-time). Even though a rawboned rookie, everything Kenichi says is immediately taken at his word and his suggestions instantly adhered-to whether they work or not, and at one point professor Fukazawa orders Commander Aso to evacuate Tokyo!     

Despite its terrific start with a steaming Godzilla attacking a major metropolis (and thankfully not people staring-up at a giant machine again), the film rapidly loses its own head of steam. A number of scenes end without resolution, the sequence with the Special Forces getting into position to fight the Destoroyahs goes on far-too long, and the cruise ship conversation between Yukari and Kensaku is hindered by distracting strong winds.

Although Okawara seems to have gained some confidence with his directorial style, the majority of his footage lacks intensity and fails to fully-engage his audience, with the static discussions held in the Control Center looking like they were staged by a community theatre production (when the Big Four are conversing about the meltdown scenario, the vast majority of their scenes show them all facing forward, with two static "takes" lasting nearly a minute each). Okawara does manage a few directorial flourishes such as a rapid zoom-in on Fukazawa after Kenichi announces that Godzilla will explode, reporters crowding-around each other trying to catch a glimpse of Kensaku as he drives away from the lab, the use of hand-held cameras during the warehouse search, the distorted image of a Destoroyah seen in a convex safety mirror, one of the approaching creatures seen through a cameraman's lens, an overhead shot of a Destoroyah trying to reach Yukari in the police car, and Yukari's helicopter landing behind Miki and Meru cowering in the flaming rubble (there seem to be shades of Honda's influence: at one point a group of scientists all gasp and lean-in together when the image of the unknown life-form is displayed on a computer monitor as well as a close-up of Miki standing-up into the frame yelling, "You can't!").

The story could have been a bitter look back, focusing more on past personalities than present predicaments, such as Dr. Yamane, a man who initially championed the monster only to see his city reduced to ashes amongst immeasurable suffering. Emiko, who had forsaken her parents' pledge to give her hand in marriage to a brilliant man, only to fall in love with someone else (and to that same rival she betrayed her solemn oath to Serizawa never to divulge the secret of his Oxygen Destroyer, hurting him beyond measure). Ogata, whose love for Emiko provoked dire and unseen consequences including the end of their relationship and Serizawa's suicide. And Dr. Serizawa, deceived on all sides and forced to make a terrible decision, sacrificing his life for his principles.

Destoroyah could have touched-upon on these issues, reflecting on profound regret instead of shallow convenience. Emiko could have insisted - indeed demand - that Yukari have nothing to do with Kensaku and angrily argue with Kenichi, perhaps even moving the callow youth to tears (instead he just sits there, munching on his melon). Regrettably, the one desire to maintain continuity meant including Godzilla Jr. (the once-former Baby Godzilla and Little Godzilla), and since it seemed highly unlikely that both Godzillas would perish, many viewers knew how the film was going to end the moment it first appeared.  

Opportunities are wasted such as the scene when Emiko tries talking her nephew out of using the OD (when she tells him that Serizawa died to save the world, the boy laconically answers that it was a "waste of a good man," but how could a good man's life be wasted if his death saved the world?). What if Emiko threatened to disown her snotty nephew if he used the OD, and what if Meru and Miki developed a sexual interest in each other - when Meru takes hold of Miki's hand in the helicopter, Miki as always just goes with the flow - and what if Kensaku was a radical renegade determined to reinvent the OD and use it despite the potential for disaster?

There are tons of discussions about what is happening to Godzilla and what it means for Japan and for the rest of world, but Commander Aso seems to be the only one really having kittens about the situation. The film's less than dire tone is established from the very beginning when Godzilla fires on a 747 but misses it, and while there are numerous military and Special Force casualties, no civilians are seen being injured or killed, and again, none of the major characters die. Several key scenes, such as the security guard's search for the strange noise in the darkened aquarium, and particularly the hunt for the monsters in the empty warehouse (a scene taking 20 days to shoot) provide ample opportunity for creepy suspense but are not as intense or frightening as they could have been.

"The Metropolitan Police vs. Destoroyah sequence originally was longer," Okawara revealed years later. "I cut it because I was afraid the members of the audience would get bored." Although Okawara came up with the idea of having the 747 fly past Godzilla during the film's opening, there was a reason why the director stopped short of having it blown out of the sky: "I wanted to have Godzilla destroy the plane, but I knew that none of the airlines would allow us to shoot in one of their cockpits if I did. As it turned out, Godzilla's appearance was impressive enough by itself, so I was satisfied anyway . . . I asked someone who worked for Japan Airlines if we could shoot in one of the company's simulators. He fortunately gave us permission. Since only the special effects staff went to Hong Kong, Mr. Kawakita had to add the footage that's seen in the windows of the simulator." "At first, it wasn't in the original script," Kawakita remembered, "but since Godzilla went through the Taiwan Sea, it was just as good for it to appear in Hong Kong. The idea was to show Godzilla making landfall in a foreign country for the first time."

The crux of the film is that Godzilla will eventually die after fighting the biggest, meanest, ugliest, and most-powerful monster it has ever faced. All to the good, but the movie's motivation to end the series this way simply wasn't compelling enough to overcome the same dog-eared Heisei Series playbook, including several of the same actors playing the same parts. With the exception of Emiko, none of the characters are particularly likeable, and as a result, we watch in quiet contemplation instead of on the edge of our seats.

While it was a wonderful decision to have Momoko Kochi return as Emiko after over 40 years, so much more could have been done with her character, such as revealing to Kensaku her feelings of guilt over betraying Serizawa and the reasons for it, but after she wakes-up from her nightmare, she is never seen again (tellingly, she has photographs of Serizawa and Dr. Yamane on display in her home, but none of Ogata; in fact he is never mentioned). Kochi is only in four brief scenes, two without dialogue (not surprisingly, all her scenes were filmed in one day), but one might have been the most moving of all: watching Godzilla's demise on television while caressing a framed portrait of Serizawa, or perhaps, Ogata.

 Sigmund C. Shen had some intriguing questions regarding Emiko's non-married status: "Why is the woman the one effectively 'punished' with guilt for the death of traditional gender roles? Why not Ogata, who pursued Emiko knowing she was promised to someone else? Why not Yamane, who arranged the marriage when she and Serizawa were just children?" This time the pandering is not toward young adults, children or family, but fans; Kochi is not put to any great advantage, does not have a substantial part, and her talents are simply wasted as she is given little to do other than look despondent, leaving one with the unpleasant impression that her casting was more of a gimmick than anything else (Destoroyah was her final film performance as the "Godzilla Princess" died from intestinal cancer three years later).

Not having Akira Takarada recreating his role as Ogata was another huge mistake, as Emiko and Ogata could have had a conversation about why they never got married, and even a scene where Kenichi could have tried asking Ogata to persuade Emiko to abandon her misgivings about using the OD. Possibly the actor was unavailable - which seems unlikely as he appeared in only one film that year - or it was felt it wouldn't work since he had recently appeared in Godzilla vs. Mothra. Whatever the reason, it's too bad he wasn't included, and this wouldn't be the last time this happened to him in a Godzilla film, as Takarada was going to appear in a cameo - not as Ogata - but as an immigration officer in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla 2014, only to have his scene eliminated. As Edwards later explained: "There was a lot of pressure to get on with the adventure and get to the monsters, you know, as soon as you can. So, lots of things came out of that part of the movie . . . and I hung onto that (scene with Takarada) till the last second, and it was still deemed, by the screenings when we tested it, that we had to get it shorter. And so that ended up having to go, which is probably my biggest regret." 

It would be nice to say that this final film in the Heisei Series had compelling characters played by charismatic actors, but that would be inaccurate. Yoko Ishino plays journalist Yukari Yamane in a role reminiscent of parts played by other leading ladies in previous Godzilla films, but sadly she - as with Yosuke Saito in the previous film - has no real reason for being there other than playing another helpless and pretty female who must be saved by her brave leading man. After Yukari's editor compliments her outspoken manner, he quickly cautions that such an attitude "could ruin your love life," and she off-handedly remarks that she considered Kensaku as a "smug and self-centered know-it-all" (he actually appeared quite polished and professional), but after one date with him, she changes her mind.

The nondescript Saburo Shinoda reprises his role as the nondescript Fukazawa, and while Takuro Tatsumi is passable as Kensaku, he lacks the tormented attitude Akihiko Hirata so-memorably brought to Serizawa. Yasufumi Hayashi is not terribly impressive as nerdish Kenichi Yamane - one expects more from the grandson of the great Kyohei Yamane - who is the fellow with all the answers and a braggart to boot, alerting everyone that he has "studied Godzilla more than anybody alive!" Kenkichi is obviously infatuated with Godzilla (he has a number of photographs, models, and even the Tokyo Marui remote-control robot of the 1954 version), yet wants it killed, although it would have been more intriguing if, as with his famous grandfather, he was obsessed with keeping the creature alive for scientific study, regardless of the risk.

As for Megumi Odaka's farewell appearance as Miki Saegusa, it is sad to see her still on the G-Team, and even harder to pinpoint just exactly what if anything she accomplished in her seven years with the organization; even more so when considering how she's slowly been losing her ESP powers. Always an unabashed champion of the King of the Monsters, she's not as concerned about it as she once was, and is much-more involved with finding Little Godzilla, and even at that she fails (when Kenichi states they must kill Godzilla the way the first one was, she stands up and shouts "You can't!" but doesn't say why, and Aso never calls her on the carpet for her Pro-G-Life attitude). She is still, in the words of William Tsutsui, "a rather whimpery psychic," and her expression as she tries making-up her mind whether or not to follow Meru on the mission to find Godzilla Jr. is one of her worst acting moments. Although not terribly believable when grieving over Godzilla Jr.'s death, she is much-more convincing bidding goodbye to her hero.

The always welcome Takehiro Murata has an all-too brief cameo as Yukari's editor, and the forceful Akira Nakao - while having more dialogue and screen-time than in all his previous Godzilla film appearances combined - is given little to do other than snarl. Masahiro Takashima also returns playing a hot-shot pilot; not boorish pain-in-the-ass Kazuma Aoki, but Major Sho Kuroki, which is odd since he is given a special introduction: entering the Super-X3 cockpit with his cap shielding his face until he sits down and looks up in an otherwise negligible appearance. Sayaka Osawa (formally Cosmos No. 2 in Godzilla vs. Mothra and Space Godzilla and a psychic schoolteacher in MechaGodzilla II) plays new spiritualist on the block Meru Ozawa, yet her role is also not terribly representative of a strong-minded and independent woman. Even though she storms-off to change Godzilla Jr.'s course without first clearing it with her superiors, she confesses to Miki that her greatest ambition is to quit and "lead a normal life, an ordinary girl with a husband and children. That's what I would like, an ordinary life!" 

"Akira Ifukube is also back," wrote one delighted fan, "giving us one of his best scores, yet injecting emotion into Godzilla's passing like no other human on Earth could even attempt." Director Kenshou Yamashita, who assisted-directed MechaGodzilla's Counterattack, agreed that "The members of the audience expect to hear Mr. Ifukube's music whenever they see a Godzilla movie." Another ardent admirer noted that, "Without doubt, the cream of the crop here is Godzilla's death march. One of the saddest pieces composed by Akira Ifukube, 'Requiem' stands all on its own as the moment of truth. That the soundtrack climaxes with such a depressing note after nearly an hour of bombastic, dramatic tones, is pure genius in itself. Ifukube's grand score shines its brightest here, reinforcing the emotional apex and scope of the scene. The song begins with a harpist playing a downward glissando, when suddenly a woodwind instrument picks up the motif at a grave tempo and is eventually overtaken by first and second violins, when ultimately a female vocal dominates the theme, which then repeats. The motif, like the scene and that which follows it, is heartbreaking, yet hopeful . . . Truly, a more personal work could not possibly exist in popular culture."              

"I thought about using the original motif for the Oxygen Destroyer," the composer remembered, "but that piece was really meant to express the tragedy of Dr. Serizawa's death. I tried using it, but it didn't feel right, so I ended up writing a new theme for the Destoroyah monster . . . The theme for Godzilla's death was one of the most difficult pieces I have ever had to compose. In a way, it was as if I was composing the theme for my own death. When Godzilla was born, a phase of my life began. Now Godzilla is gone, and that phase is over. It was very emotional."

"Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II should have been the last one for me," he told Steve Ryfle. "I had already said my goodbyes. Sayonara, sayonara . . . But then they came up with the Destoroyah concept . . . it goes back to the original . . . And especially because Tomoyuki Tanaka himself asked me to do it again . . . I really had a hard time doing this one . . . I hardly slept for four days . . . I was involved in the birth of Godzilla 40 years before, so I felt I should be there when he dies, too. At the recording session, when the orchestra played Godzilla's requiem, everyone felt a very profound sadness . . . I feel I will be the next one to die. First Godzilla, then me (laughs)!"

 

Tomoyuki Tanaka (C) visits Koichi Kawakita (L) and Kazuki Omori (R) on the set.

As it happened, Akira Ifukube, the Maestro of Monster Movie Music (although he was a great deal more than that), passed away in February 2006 at the age of 91. As Norizumi Morioka put it, "As the larger than life monsters attack and consume the screen, the music must bring out the individual auras to emit their true colors. For nearly forty years, such music was created using the best possible methods by the composer Akira Ifukube. The role the music has in presenting a monster as an actor is as great, or perhaps greater than the roles played by both directors of original scripts and special effects. The process of composing music comes at the final stages of movie making and has a tremendous impact on the outcome of the movie. In this respect, the extent to which Mr. Akira Ifukube contributed towards the success of the Toho Special Effects Monster Movies is immeasurable."

It is certainly always a blast hearing Ifukube's characteristic cues, yet this is another of the film's disappointments, mainly because there is so little of it, and what little of it there is, is not always used to best advantage, with the emphasis placed on bombastic brass, sullen strings, and - for old time's sake - an electronic organ. The idea of such a sparse musical score was not unusual for a composer who often believed less was more; Ifukube typically waits for a person's horrified reaction before introducing any music, such as when the security guard first spots the dissolving fish, a Destoroyah introducing itself to the Metropolitan Police after crashing through a ceiling, or when one of the monsters gets up close and personal with Yukari. However some scenes could have used music, such as Emiko's confrontations with Yukari and Kenichi over the OD, and when Kenichi and Yukari discuss the device with Kensaku.

Heavy horns sound-out the "Godzilla Theme;" then, as the film's title comes into view, they are preceded by a shot of the OD as a taiko drum and gong lends an appropriately Asian air to an effective overture before four brief repeated notes on horns are supplemented by swirling strings, accompanied by shots of the over-heated Godzilla (this music was also used for Destoroyah, denoting their relationship). Pounding piano and low brass color the Super-X3's introduction - although the unexceptional-looking flying machine hardly merited such a momentous score - and the composer harkens back to his classic military melodies when the vehicle freezes Godzilla, with staccato brass, drum rifts, and strong strings, including a pinch from MechaGodzilla II's attack music.  

For the scene in the aquarium, Ifukube employs shimmering strings, pounding timpani, strident piano, and electronic organ, while his motif for Godzilla Jr. is the same he wrote for the Godzillasaur in MechaGodzilla II - essentially low cello and soft piano - which seems strange, since that creature did not evolve into Godzilla Jr. (unless we skip Baby Godzilla, which is fine with me). One could argue the music is more thematic than schematic, stressing a mood and not a monster, but the confusion gets cleared-up when Kenichi points out that "Godzilla and Junior are the same species."

Sad strings and muted piano color the flashback of the fish dissolving in Serizawa's tank, and the composer reprised a brief section from his immortal "Godzilla Under The Sea" cue from Godzilla during Emiko's nightmare, with violins and low bassoon (a skip in the music hints the sequence may have originally been longer). In another signature piece, Ifukube utilizes tapped vibraphone, rapid bow strings, and low woodwinds when Kensaku discovers the hole in the glass container, and during the discussion of a possible Godzilla meltdown, the composer cleverly brings into play rolling timpani, tapped cymbal, heavy horns, vibrant violins, and reverberating feedback; then, during the animated sequence, we hear raspy, ascending trumpets and woodwinds reaching a crashing crescendo of horns, cymbal, and organ.

Ifukube again rehashes some of his Sanda vs. Gaira music with short bow strings and trumpet when the Special Forces arrive to confront the Destoroyahs, and chillingly supplies wavering organ, rolling cymbal, timpani, and additional feedback during the hypothetical meltdown sequence, but saves his best for Godzilla's demise. Fittingly entitled "Requiem," Ifukube beings with a flurry of strummed, amplified piano wires and soft percussion before introducing an ascending/descending five-note theme on trumpet in a monster's version of "Taps" with counter-pointed strings and strummed harp followed by deep woodwinds, and - most efficaciously of all - a woman's choir, lending an impression that is operatic, mystic, tragic, and deeply reverent, reminiscent of the composer's stirring "Song of Peace" from Godzilla, thus bringing us full-circle with the killing of the King of the Monsters.   

One of the film's drawbacks is Chizuko Osada's haphazard editing at the very beginning of the film, showing Miki in her helicopter watching the smoldering Baas Island, instead of starting the show with Godzilla's attack on Hong Kong (we could simply have been told about the island's destruction, although Neil J. Murphy thought it would have been better "to see Godzilla's burning condition gradually worsen as the film progressed rather than be full-blown at the outset"). Once Super Destoroyah is revealed in its final phase and takes to the sky, we suddenly cut-away to further discussions about what will happen when Godzilla overheats before returning to yet another pre-flight procedure - in fact we have to sit through this arid procedure twice - when it would have been more effective in terms of pacing, intensity, and overall flow if the Super X-3 was already on its way, as in The Return of Godzilla. Continuity becomes an issue as well: Godzilla Jr. is grievously-wounded in the chest by Destoroyah, but shortly thereafter has completely healed, and during the battle scenes in Tokyo, day turns into night in the blink of an eye. There is also far too-much cutting away from the monster fights to Miki and Meru watching and making pointless comments in their helicopter.

But the movie's most egregious editing error occurs with Emiko Yamane's introduction, first revealed in an unidentifiable rearward medium tracking shot from behind her as she watches television, and then in subsequent conversations with Yukari and Kenichi before waking-up from her nightmare; but had we first seen her sitting-up after her nightmare, the impact of her introduction would have been doubled. 

One of the film's highlights is the brutal battle between Godzilla Jr. and Destoroyah on Tennozu Isle (an area surrounding Shinagawa in Tokyo), which is exciting, involving, and dramatic, if a little gruesome. "The costume was made to be used while bending forward a bit," Ryu remembered, "so the legs and stomach were close together. But when Destoroyah came charging, the director told me to lift the head and look up more (laughs)! It was impossible, but I tried leaning on the base of the tail while bending backwards." Kawakita added the chance meeting between Godzilla and Junior at the Haneda Airport for this scene (which was undergoing renovation including a new control tower), with the now 100 m (328 ft) Godzilla and the 40 m (131 ft) Junior on a set built larger than usual at 1:25th scale. 

Kawakita considered Godzilla vs. Destoroyah as not only his greatest challenge, but the favorite of all the Godzilla films he worked on. "I was given the opportunity to show the death of Godzilla," he told David Milner in 1994. "That will never again happen during my lifetime . . . the real title is Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, but to me, the title is Godzilla is Dead. Godzilla's death had a big effect on me." For his final Godzilla film before retiring as special effects director after the 1997 Mothra II: Undersea Battle (Mosura Tsu Kaitei no Daikessen) to become a toy consultant for Bandai Corporation and create the effects company "Dream Planet Japan" - he left this world on December 5th, 2014 - Kawakita pulled-out all the stops and arguably accomplished the finest work of his Godzilla career, supplemented by Satsuma's preeminent Godzilla interpretation. "While I was sad to see the series end," Satsuma stated," I felt no sadness when filming; I only felt I had to do the best Godzilla of my career. Compared to my others, this is the one on which I used the most energy. It is my ultimate performance. After this, I never want to go back. I never can go back; I gave everything I had. If I play Godzilla again, I could never top what I did in this film." Godzilla had never looked so awesomely destructive, and it is no overstatement to suggest that Kawakita's effects work in Destoroyah are among the most-sumptuously photographed of all his Godzilla films.

"We took the Godzilla costume that had been made for Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla," Kawakita explained, "and put about 200 tiny orange light bulbs in it. We then put semi-transparent vinyl plates over the lights. There was a very thick power cable coming out of the end of the tail . . . The steam also was my idea." This is all the more remarkable when considering Satsuma's appallingly dangerous working conditions - which were certainly nothing new - lending the animal an awareness of its dilemma and its helpless struggles to stop it. As Satsuma himself acknowledged: "I personally think that a player, to do a monster, essentially has to possess three qualities. Firstly and most naturally, physical strength, followed by acting skill. And lastly, endurance, or power of will. With any of them missing, there can't be a good monster player. I call them The Three Powers."

The end of Godzilla was very nearly the end of Satsuma, as the actor later recalled: "Sometimes you see Godzilla coming out of the ocean and you see him fighting and there's gas coming out from here and there. It's carbonic-acid gas. The Godzilla suit only had 12 very small holes to allow me to inhale air. When they used the gas, I'd inhale that and faint. Godzilla nearly died six times." Director Yoshikazu Ishii elaborated, "The head of the so-called Burning Godzilla contained a mechanism to open the mouth which employed Freon gas (also nitrogen gas - PHB). During shooting of a rampage scene, the hose to the gas cylinder became detached, and Freon gas leaked into the suit. Satsuma lost consciousness inside the G-suit, and he toppled over into the flames of a gas fire at the rear of the set. The Godzilla suit caught on fire, but fortunately, the flames were quickly extinguished by the staff, and did not injure Satsuma. However, he suffered arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat - PHB) because of the Freon gas, and was immediately taken to the hospital."

Nevertheless, the actor always strove to make Godzilla look convincing: "The full range of Godzilla's expression is rather limited, so my wish is to express Godzilla's emotions in short scenes or in subtle ways (such as) stopping for a moment, and then continuing on again. But the directors did not like this kind of pausing; they have an image of Godzilla that he should constantly be in motion. But I think that just moving Godzilla is not enough. Sometimes pausing or holding an expression is necessary, but the matter of running time always leads to these kinds of things being cut." The battle between Godzilla and the Super-X3 was filmed at night on an open set from sunset until dawn over a six-day stretch, forcing the effects staff to reverse their normal day/night routine. Wax and snow spray were used to show Godzilla being belted by the freezing bullets, and to depict Godzilla's freezing, a frozen undiluted solution of Freon was placed on the upper portions of the Godzilla costume.

The scene showing the new Godzilla's birth was scheduled for the final stages of shooting. In the original script, it was through radiation emitted by Godzilla during its death throes enabling Junior to rapidly grow, but the actual explanation was purposefully more obscure. As Kawakita recalled, "After we filmed Godzilla's death, we filmed the rubble that was all spread out. We set off smoke in the middle of Stage No. 9, and backlit it. Within that you can move a tracking camera quickly over a large area, and we made it so that the smoke would clear away as it approached Godzilla. I think that made it into an attractive conclusion." To film the new Godzilla, a previously-used costume was filmed. "From the very beginning," Kawakita admitted, "we wanted to change Godzilla's design, but frankly there were difficulties with both time and money; that's why we used lights and shadows to just show the shape."

The use of CGI for portions of the monster's meltdown are outstanding (some suggested there should have been a brief glimpse of the 1954 maquette figure during this moment), as are CGI shots of multiple squads of soldiers, helicopters, and vehicles sent-in to fight the Destoroyahs. Destoroyah was played by Ryo Hariya, a pupil of Hurricane Ryu, but Kawakita remembers arguments taking place between the two actors: "Ryu was unable to convey the action he wanted while wearing the costume; it means nothing no matter how many times you do it unless you're not wearing the costume." Hariken's performance as Godzilla Jr. is also outstanding - the shot of the wounded Junior blasting Destoroyah away is a dazzling moment - although Hariya wasn't able to do a whole lot wearing the massive Destoroyah costume (designed by Minoru Yoshida) which failed to impress Steve Ryfle, who said it "should be placed alongside Megalon and Gigan in the kaiju gallery . . . Truth be told, Hedorah was a more menacing creature." This view is supported by Ken Cran, who described the monster as "yet another bipedal, winged, horned, thunder-thighed foam rubber monster totally incapable of any threatening movement beyond a few labored steps."

The designs of the various Destoroyahs are creepy and the implementation of the full-size versions are handled as adroitly as possible - as was the rare use of stop-motion - and it seemed the producers went out of their way to make a declaration, such as when one character chides another for being "sentimental" about Godzilla. As it happens the problem was not with being a sentimentalist but being a traditionalist, because it's again the men who are firing the missiles, making the decisions, and giving the orders, while the women watch, cry, and get themselves into messes. The battles between Godzilla and Destoroyah are visually interesting but basically variations of previous Heisei monster fights as the series had finally reached a rut it couldn't climb out of, becoming ritualistic and scavenging its own clichés.

It would been more poignant had Godzilla seized Destoroyah, holding it close during the meltdown, and saving humanity as it died and disappeared; an anti-hero to the end. Ironically the film's most chilling moment - what Ed Godziszewski called "both artistic and disturbingly chilling" - is the computer-generated sequence showing Godzilla's nuclear implosion/explosion happening in the heart of Tokyo and ending with a "Gorath's POV" shot of Japan in imminent peril. In a way it's too bad the film doesn't end this way, as the impact would have been stunning (as one writer recorded, "Kawakita spoke of his desire to make a film showcasing the ultimate destruction of Tokyo").

 

When all is said and done we are left with the old conundrum of whether or not Godzilla really dies. "I was the one who suggested the idea of Godzilla dying," Kawakita claimed, "but I had some trouble coming up how it would meet its end. The only thing I was firm on was the final scene, which was the roar of the fully-grown Godzilla Jr. I was constantly being asked by people writing about it: 'So how will it die?,' and I could only answer, 'Hmmm, I wonder how?'. At that time, I hadn't really made up my mind (cynical laugh)!  At first there was the idea of Godzilla dying after wildly tearing Destoroyah to pieces, but I thought that the image of Godzilla melting down all alone and dissolving was greater, and with the dancing silver dust too. Shining a light from above, we used a beam of light aimed at the moment of death."

The film shows Destoroyah dying as a result of the efforts of the JSDF, but originally another attack by Godzilla decisively killing the monster was filmed, but not used. "We wanted to show Destoroyah as a detestable enemy," Kawakita explained, "but if we didn't change the story to focus on Godzilla dying, the ending wouldn't work. Finally I thought that it dying of old age would be weird, and being killed by Destoroyah would also be wrong; I figured that a meltdown would be a dignified death. Once I decided on that, I began worrying about how to do it. Amidst that, the image of the 'Burning Godzilla' came to mind, but the specially-prepared costume was very heavy, and then from within the body you had to shoot out the Freon gas, and with all that, I thought that instead of Godzilla, Satsuma - who was inside the costume - might die first. Having collapsed so many times, he himself must have thought so as well, right?"

The final meltdown - the final effect sequence filmed - was accomplished via CGI for the long shot, but the top of Godzilla's decomposing head was filmed in live-action. "The head was made out of wax," Kawakita said, "and shot while dissolving on a burner with hot iron plates on either side, even though it wasn't a churrasco (a Spanish/Portuguese barbecue - PHB), and so we shot it. Doing it that way made it a bit too graphic, so we partially used CGI as well; what we shot using the wax was reshot with CGI, and then we got back and checked the sections with the analog version. With the processing, we tried bringing both pictures closer together. The scene of the fins dissolving was shot in this manner also, and I thought it would work this way. As a result, I actually felt I made the ending work, but it was the first time I used CGI while shooting Godzilla. I thought, finally, this was the end. Thinking about it, maybe it was also the connecting point in history, and I figured it was good timing to finish the series there, since from then on, digital would be the mainstream method."

And so as Godzilla finally fades into memory, its final roar not of pain or rage but reaffirmation, stating "As long as you humans continue to dabble in nuclear energy and weaponry, I shall return," and indeed it did, but for many, ending the film showing a regenerated Godzilla Jr. roaming and roaring through the rubble was a crucial mistake, especially after 100 minutes of build-up for what everyone expected to be the Titan of Terror's swansong. Such an annoying addendum can only be seen for what is was: a cop-out in order to avoid alienating fans of the fire-breathing monster ("You can kill Godzilla," Tanaka reportedly told his scriptwriters, "but not his son." Tomoyuki Tanaka - the "Father of Godzilla" - died 16 months after Destoroyah was released in April of 1997). And even though some claim "the death of Godzilla followed by the resurrection of Godzilla Jr. as the new Godzilla beautifully symbolized the age-old belief in the cyclical nature of things, of endings always being followed by new beginnings," to others the so-called "death" of the King of the Monsters was in reality a bit of a non-event, and this death-dodging significantly weakened the film's overall impact; as a result, we don't feel a sense of closure as much as a con job.

Yet even with this evasion Takao Okawara failed to impart his own personal stamp on the series in showing a specific resolution, but there are no scenes of women crying or men looking look away, no happily-waving natives, no cheering children or bawling bureaucrats; none of the ambivalence of a Honda ending, the exuberance of a Fukuda ending, or the ambiguity of an Omori ending. Instead, Okawara gives us close-ups of Aso, Meru, Kensaku and Fukazawa staring blankly ahead, while Kensaku looks angry and Yukari slightly stunned. Only Miki - her eyes welling with tears - has been deeply-affected by what she has just witnessed.

 

At the end of the day, Destoroyah became the biggest missed opportunity since Hedorah. The security guard's search in the aquarium, the confrontation between the Police and the Destoroyahs, the Destoroyah's attack on Yukari, and even Godzilla's immolation are good, but not as good as they might have been. Of course, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was never intended to end the Godzilla Series, but the Heisei Series, which despite its identicalness was a remarkable accomplishment crafted by stalwarts from the last generation of analog-produced Godzilla films. "Destoroyah," wrote Eric Vysther, "was not the end of the series, but really a new beginning."

Mike Bogue pointed out that "Godzilla's death was a significant movie event. For us G fans, Godzilla represents more than just another rampaging movie monster, and his onscreen death more than just a cinematic footnote. It truly represented the end of an era, a moment suspended in time," and whatever artistic merits the film may have lacked, it was still a commercial success, as over four million Japanese went to see it; second only to Godzilla vs. Mothra. In a sense it was much ado about nothing since Godzilla would and will continue to live again, in sequels, re-runs, and revivals seen through live-streaming, video tape, laser disc, CED, tablet, TV, or in a good-old-fashioned movie theater.

The King is Dead! Long Live the King!

AFTERWORD

 

It has now been more than 60 years since Godzilla was first released, and the world is a very different place, especially in Japan. Targeted for a specific audience, the film had universal appeal, and it's story, while not complex, was compelling and worked on different levels. In the years since, Godzilla has come to represent different ideologies (for example, in GMK it represented the souls of all the combatants who fought and died in the Pacific Theater during World War II). Lately its meaning has become muddled, and it is now merely a monster without any personality or subtext, just a big ugly beast that causes a great deal of damage with about as much social subtext as Mickey Mouse.

Author Adam Woog once wrote that "Godzilla was never supposed to last beyond one movie. He was never meant to become a hero or a celebrity. In fact, Godzilla was supposed to die on several occasions. He has always come back to life, however, because his great popularity demands it." And yes, more Godzilla films are on the way in both Japan and America - even a rematch with the Eighth Wonder of the World is in the works - and the Titan of Terror has become a commercial conglomerate (ironically the same terror which destroys commercial conglomerates), and each succeeding Godzilla film pulls us farther and farther away from its initially implicit warning about nuclear devastation.

Many years ago there was a much-darker side to this menace but it was a depiction not everyone appreciates; I have a neighbor who says he doesn't like Godzilla when it's a monster, which is like saying one shouldn't like the Caped Crusader when he wears a cape! This has all been very frustrating, but if nothing else, I've learned that the only thing harder than making a great Godzilla film is making a Godzilla film everyone will like. Godzilla fandom is the least-exclusive club in the world where its members pay the highest dues: our time, which we gladly give and will until the day comes when we aren't able to watch movies anymore.

James Powell expressed it best. "Godzilla," he wrote, "will always live in our minds and hearts."

As Colonel Gondo would say: "Amen!"

PHOTO CREDITS:

All Photos are Copyright of Toho Studios, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

  2)Son of Godzilla, 1967, Courtesy of Gojipedia/Fandom, Wikia.

29)Godzilla's Counterattack, 1955, Courtesty of Koji Ogawa Toho               Publications.

47)Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, 1966, Courtesty of King Record Co., Ltd.,               Star Child Records.

67)Son of Godzilla, 1967, Courtesy of Takeuchi, Hiroshi, Asahi               Sonorama Co., Ltd.

88) Godzilla vs. Hedorah, 1971, Courtesy of Martin Arlt.

100)Godzilla vs. Gigan, 1972, 1999, Courtesy of Shiro Kimishima.

  125)Godzilla vs. Megalon, 1973, Courtesy of Fangoria.

159)Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, 1974. Courtesy of Dave Ichikawa.

180)The Return of Godzilla, 1984, Courtesy of King Record Co., Ltd., Star                             Child Records.

203)Godzilla vs. Biollante, 1989, Courtesy of Junji Saito.

229)Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, 1991, Courtesy of Kinema                                           Junposha Co. Ltd.

254)Godzilla vs. Mothra, 1992, Courtesy of Kinema Junposha Co.                                           Ltd.

271)Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II, 1993, Courtesy of Shogakukan,                                           1993.

292)Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, 1994, Courtesy of Ed                                           Godziszewski.

320)Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, 1995, Courtesy of Kinema Junposha Co.                             Ltd.

432)Godzilla vs. Megalon, 1973, Courtesy of Fangoria.

FILMOGRAPHY

GODZILLA'S COUNTERATTACK

STAFF:

Producent: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Original story: Shigeru Kayama

Script: Takeo Murata, Shigeaki Hidaka

Director: Motoyoshi Oda

Photography: Seiichi Endō

Film Editing by Kazuji Taira

Art Director: Takeo Kita

Design: Teruaki Abe

Recording: Masanobu Miyazaki

Recording: Kazuji Taira

Sound mixer: Ichirō Minawa

Assistant director: Eiji Iwaya

Production Executive: Kazuo Baba

Music: Masaru Satō

Black-and-White, Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1

Sound Mix: Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Kinuta Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan

Negative/Printed Format: 35mm/Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: April 24th, 1955

Running Time: 82 Minutes, 2,238 meters (9 reels)

Budget: ¥1,000,000/Box Office: ¥1,700,000

Attendance: 8,340,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Director: Eiji Tsuburaya

Art Director: Akira Watanabe

Matte Work: Hiroshi Mukoyama

Technician: Masao Shirota

Assisstant Camera: Sadamasa Arikawa, Koichi Takano

Lighting Technician: Masaki Ōnuma (as Masayoshi Onuma)

Stunt Choreographer: Haruo Nakajima

GODZILLA'S COUNTERATTACK

CAST:

Shoichi Tsukioka: Hiroshi Koizumi

Hidemi Yamaji: Setsuko Wakayama

Kohei Yamaji: Yukio Yamada

Kōji Kobayashi: Minoru Chiaki

Yasuko Inoue: Mayuri Mokusho

Shingo Shibeki: Soōnosuke Sawamura

Shibeki's Assistant: Kōji Uno

Dr Yamane: Takashi Shimura

Dr Tadokoro: Masao Shimizu

Osaka Police Chief: Takeo Oikawa

Chief of Civil Defence: Minosuke Yamada

Capitan Terasawa: Seijirō Onda

Squad Member Tajima: Yoshio Tsuchiya

Squad Member Ikeda: Ren Yamamoto

Convicts: Shin Ōtomo, Senkichi Ōmura, Sōkichi Maki, Shōichi Hirose, Shin Yoshida

Restaurant Owner: Teruko Mita

Singer: Miyoko Hoshino

Cabaret Patrons: Hideo Shibuya, Shigemi Sunagawa

Policemen: Toku Ihara, Tadao Nakamaru

Captain of Hakkai-maru: Takuzō Kumagai (as Jirō Kumagal)

Godzilla: Haruo Nakajima

Anguirus: Katsumi Tezuka

 

EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP

 

STAFF:

 

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Director: Jun Fukuda

Cinematography: Kazuo Yamada

Production Design/Art Director: Takeo Kita

Recording: Shoichi Yoshizawa

Lighting: Kiichi Onda

Music: Masaru Satō

Sound Effects Editing: Minoru Kaneyama

Sound Effects: Hisashi Shimonaga

Sound Recording: Shoichi Yoshizawa

Film Editing: Ryōhei Fuji

Assistant Director: Ken Sano

Production Executive: Toshiaki Hashimoto

Conceptual Artist: Hiroshi Omura

Mono, Eastmancolor, Tohoscope, Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Tokyo Laboratory, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm 

Release Date: December 17th, 1966

Running Time: 87 minutes

Budget: $1,200,000

Box Office: ¥300,030,000

Attendance: 3,450,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Supervisor: Eiji Tsuburaya

Assistant Director: Teruyoshi Nakano

Director of Photography: Sadamasa Arikawa

Photography: Sokei Tomioka, Yukio Manoda, Taka Yuki

Art Director: Akira Watanabe

Art: Yasuyuki Inoue

Lighting: Kishida Kuichirō, Kiichi Onda

Compositing: Hiroshi Mukoyama

Optical Photography: Sadao Iizuka, Yukio Manoda

Practical Effects: Fumio Nakashiro/Wire Works: Fumio Nakadai

Production Executive: Yasuaki Sakamoto

EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP

CAST:

Yoshimura: Akira Takarada

Ryōta: Tōru Watanabe

Yata: Tōru Ibuki

Ichino: Chōtarō Tōgin

Nita: Hideo Sunazuka

Dayo: Kumi Mizuno

Base Commander: Jun Tazaki

Captain Yamoto: Akihiko Hirata

Scientists: Hisaya Itō, Tadashi Okabe

Ship Captain: Hideyo Amamoto

Mrs Kane: Chieko Nakakita

Farmer: Seiji Ikeda

Villager: Yutaka Sada

Young Reporter: Ken'ichirō Maruyama

Older Reporter: Wataru Ōmae

Newspaper Editor: Sigeki Ishida

Elder Native: Ikio Sawamura

Little Beauty: Pair Bambi

Escaped Slaves: Kazuo Suzuki, Shōichi Hirose

Red Bamboo Guard: Rinsaku Ogata

Red Bamboo Soldier/Native: Yoshio Nakajima

Maritime Officer: Hideo Shibuya

Studio No. 1 Dancers

Godzilla: Haruo Nakajima

Ebirah: Yū Sekita

SON OF GODZILLA

 

STAFF:

 

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Shin’ichi Sekizawa, Kazue Kiba

Director: Jun Fukuda

Cinematography: Kazuo Yamada

Art Director: Takeo Kita

Recording: Shin Watarai, Toshiya Ban

Lighting: Eiji Yamaguchi, Seishichi Kojima

Sound Arrangement: Hisashi Shimonaga

Sound Recording: Toshiya Ban, Shin Watarai

Sound Effects Editing: Minoru Kaneyama

Score: Masaru Satō

Editing: Ryōhei Fujii

Assistant Director: Takashi Nagano

Production Executive: Yasuaki Sakamoto

Mono, Eastmancolor

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Tokyo Laboratory Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Negative Format: 35mm, Tohoscope

Release Date: December 16th, 1967

Running Time: 86 minutes

Budget: $900,000

Box Office: ¥260,000,000

Attendance: 2,480,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Supervisor: Tsuburaya Eiji

Director: Sadamasa Arikawa

Assistant: Teruyoshi Nakano

Director of Special Effects Cinematography: Sokei Tomioka

Cinematography: Motoyoshi Tomioka, Yōichi Manoda

Art Director: Akira Watanabe

Art: Yasuyuki Inoue

Lighting: Funyoshi Hara, Kuichirō Kishida

Compositing: Hiroshi Mukōyama

Optical Photography: Yoshiyuki Tokumasa, Sadao Iizuda, Yukio Manoda

Practical Effects: Fumio (Nakadai) Nakashiro

SON OF GODZILLA

CAST:

 

Dr Kusumi: Tadao Takashima

Gorō Maki: Akira Kubo

Saeko: Bibari Maeda

Fujisaki: Akihiko Hirata

Furukawa: Yoshiyo Tsuchiya

Morio: Kenji Sahara

Ozawa: Kan’ichirō Maruyama

Tashiro: Seishirō Kuno

Suzuki: Yasuhiko Saijō

Pilot: Kazuo Suzuki

Navigator: Susumu Kurobe

Radio Operator: Wataru Ōmae

Surveyor: Chōtarō Tōgin

Submarine Captain: Osman Yusuf

Godzilla: Seiji Ōnaka, Haruo Nakajima, Yu Sekita

Minilla: Masao Fukazawa ("Little Man" Ma-chan)

GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH

STAFF:

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Kaoru Mabuchi, Yoshimitsu Ban’no

Director: Yoshimitsu Ban’no

Cinematography: Yōichi Manoda

Art Director: Yasuyuki Inoue

Recording: Masao Fujiyoshi

Lighting: Fun’yoshi Hara

Sound arrangement: Tōhō Recording Center

Editing: Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Production Executive: Boku Morimoto

Release Date: July 24th, 1971

Running Time: 85 minutes

Mono, Color

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Tokyo Laboratory Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Negative Format: 35 mm

Cinematographic Process: Tohoscope

Printed Film Format: 35 mm

Budget: ¥90,000,000

Box Office: ¥300,000,000

Attendance: 1,740,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Director: Teruyoshi Nakano

Assistant Directors: Heikichi Tsushima, Kazukiyo Tanaka, Kōichi Kawakita

Cinematographer: Yōichi Manoda

Compositing: Yoshiyuki Tokumasa, Saburō Doi

 

GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH

CAST:

 

Toru Yano: Akira Yamauchi

Toshie: Toshie Kimura

Ken: Hiroyuki Kawase

Yukio Keuchi: Toshio Shiba

Miki Fujiyama: Keiko Mari

Gohei: Yoshio Yoshida

JSDF Officer: Haruo Suzuki

JSDF Engineer: Yoshio Katsube

Announcer A: Susumu Okabe

Announcer B: Kentraō Watanabe

Police Officer: Wataru Ōmae

Scholar: Tadashi Okabe

TOBI Agent/Construction Worker: Shigeo Katō

Correspondent: Takuya Yuki

Helicopter Pilot: Yukihiko Gondō

Youths: Haruo Nakazawa, Tatsuhito Gō

Civilian: Yasuzo Ogawa

Mahjong Players: Kazuō Imai, Saburō Kadowaki, Masaki Shinohara, Nobuo Katsura

Men on TV: Haruo Nakajima, Akio Kusama, Soji Ubukata

Non-Commissioned Officers: Haruo Nakajima, Eisaburō Komatsu, Koji Uruki, Yutaka Oka

Godzilla: Haruo Nakajima

Hedorah: Kengo Nakayama (Kenpachirō Satsuma)

GODZILLA VS. GIGAN

STAFF:

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Director: Jun Fukuda

Cinematography: Kiyoshi Hasegawa

Art Director: Yoshifumi Honda

Recording: Fumio Yanoguchi

Lighting: Kōjirō Satō

Score: Akira Ifukube

Sound Arrangement: Tōhō Recording Center

Editing: Tamura Yoshio

Assistant Director: Fumisuke Okada

Production Executive: Takahide Morichi

Stunt Coordinator: Haruo Nakajima

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Tokyo Laboratory Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35 mm

Cinematographic Process: Panavision (anamorphic)

Release Date: March 12th, 1972

Running Time: 89 minutes

Mono, Color

Box Office: ¥320,000,000

Attendance: 1,780,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Special Effects: Teruyoshi Nakano

Photography: Motoyoshi Tomioka, Sokei Tomioka

Art Directors: Yasuyuki Inoue, Toshiro Aoki

Optical Photography: Yoshiyuki Tokumasa

Practical Effects: Fumio Nakadai, Nakashiro Fumio

Compositing: Saburo Doi

 

 

 

 

GODZILLA VS. GIGAN

CAST:

Gengo Kotaka: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Shosaku Takasugi: Minoru Takashima

Machiko Shima: Tomoko Umeda

Takashi Shima: Kunio Murai

Tomoko Tomoe: Yuriko Hishimi

Young Man (chairman): Zan Fujita

Kubota (head of the secretariat): Toshiaki Nishizawa

Henchmen: Wataru Omae, Hirofumi Kimura, Noritake Saito, Yasuhiko Saijō, Naoya Kusakawa

Old Woman: Kuniko Ashihara

Priest: Zekō Nakamura

Editor-in-chief: Shōsei Mutō

Comic Book Employee/JSDF Officer: Haruo Nakajima

Police officer: Naoya Kusakawa

Commander of the Defence Main Office: Gen Shimizu

Radar Operator: Kōetsu Ōmiya

Godzilla: Haruo Nakajima

Anguirus: Kōetsu Ōmiya

King Ghidorah: Kanta Ina

Gigan: Kengo Nakayama (Kenpachirō Satsuma)

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON

STAFF:

 

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Original Work: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Script / Director: Jun Fukuda

Cinematography: Yuzuru Aizawa

Art Director: Yoshifumi Honda

Recording: Eishiro Hayashi

Lighting: Masakuni Morimoto

Music: Riichirō Manabe

Sound Recording: Teishiro Hayashi

Sound Arrangement: Tōhō Recording Center

Editing: Michiko Ikeda

Assistant Director: Tsunesaburō Nishikawa

Production Executive: Keisuke Shinoda

Stunt Driver: Robert Dunham

Release Date: March 17th, 1973

Running Time: 81 minutes

Mono, Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1/Film Length: 2,235 meters

Cinematographic Process: Panavision (anamorphic)

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35 mm

Budget: $760,000

Box Office: ¥220,000,000

Attendance: 980,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Director: Teruyoshi Nakano

Cinematography: Motoyoshi Tomioka

Assistant Cameraman: Eiichi Asada

Lighting Technicians: Masakuni Morimoto, Umerto Essena

Art: Toshirō Aoki

Optical Photography: Takeshi Miyanishi

Practical Effects: Shōji Ogawa

Compositing: Kazunobu Sanpei

 

 

 

 

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON

 

CAST:

 

Gorō Ibuki: Katsuhiko Sasaki

Rokurō Ibuki: Hiroyuki Kawase

Hiroshi Jinkawa: Yutaka Hayashi

Emperor Antonio: Robert Dunham

Emperor Antonio's Assistant: Ralph Jesser (as Rolf Jessup)

Seatopian Agent One : Kōtarō Tomita

Seatopian Agent Two: Ulf Ōtsuki

Dump Truck Driver: Gen Nakajima

Truck Driver’s Assistant: Sakyō Mikami

Man from Unit One: Fumio Ikeda

JSDF Chief: Kanta Mori

Godzilla: Shinji Takagi

Megalon: Hideto Date

Gigan: Kengo Nakayama

Jet Jaguar: Tsugutoshi Komada

Fight Choreographer: Takamitsu Watanabe

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA

STAFF:

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Original Work: Shin’ichi Sekizawa, Masami Fukushima

Script: Jun Fukuda, Hiroyasu Yamaura

Director: Jun Fukuda

Cinematography: Yuzuru Aizawa

Art Director: Kazuo Satsuya

Sound Recording: Fumio Yanoguchi

Lighting: Masakuni Morimoto

Music: Masaru Satō

Music Arrangement: Tōhō Recording Center

Editing: Michiko Ikeda

Assistant Director: Tsunesaburō Nishikawa

Production Executive: Keisuke Shinoda

Release Date: March 21st, 1974

Running Time: 84 minutes

Mono, Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Kinuta Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan

Film Length: 2,309 meters

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35 mm

Cinematographic Process: Tohoscope

Box Office: ¥370,000,000

Attendance: 1,330,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Director: Teruyoshi Nakano

Assistant Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Cinematography: Motoyoshi Tomioka, Takeshi Yamamoto

Art: Toshirō Aoki, Kan Komura

Optical Photography: Takeshi Miyanishi

Practical Effects: Shōji Ogawa

Compositing: Kazunobu Sanbei

Composite Animation: Tadashi Kawana

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA

CAST:

Keisuke Shimizu: Masaaki Daimon

Masahiko Shimizu: Kazuya Aoyama

Saeko Kaneshiro: Reiko Tajima

Hideto Miyajima: Akihiko Hirata

Ikuko Miyajima: Hiromi Matsushita

Professor Wagura: Hiroshi Koizumi

Tengan Kunigami: Masao Imafuku

Nami Kunigami: Bellbella Lin

Nanbara: Shin Kishida

Kuronuma: Gorō Mutsumi

Yanagawa: Daigo Kusano

Tamura: Takayasu Torii

Ship Captain: Kenji Sahara

Construction Foreman: Yasuzō Ogawa

Kuronuma’s Henchmen: Takamitsu Watanabe, Takanobu Tōya

Godzilla: Isao Zushi

MechaGodzilla: Kazunari Mori

Anguirus: Satoru Kuzumi

King Caesar: Satoru Kuzumi

THE RETURN OF GODZILLA

STAFF:

Producer / Original Draft: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Cooperating Producer: Fumio Tanaka

Scenario: Hideichi Nagahara

Director: Kōji Hashimoto

Assistant Director: Takao Ōkawara

Cinematography: Kazumi Hara

Art Director: Akira Sakuragi

Music: Reijirō Koroku

Conductor: Katsuaki Nakaya

Song Composer: Takasha Miki

Stereo Sound Consultant: Mikio Mori

Assistant Sound Technician: Noboru Ikeda

Re-Recording Mixer: Noboyuki Tanaka

Recording: Nobuyuki Tanaka

Lighting Technician: Shinji Kojima

Lighting Assistant: Akira Oba

Lighting Grip: Shunji Yokota

Electrician: Hideo Inagaki

Editing: Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Set Design: Akio Tashiro

Costume Design: Kenji Kawasaki

Makeup Artist: Fumiko Umezawa

Production Executive: Takahide Morichi

Construction Coordinator: Yoshiki Kasahara

Casting: Tadao Tanaka

Still Photographer: Yoshinori Ishizuki

Release Date: December 15th, 1984

Running Time: 103 minutes/Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1, Color, Dolby Stereo

Cinematographic Process: Panavision/Film Length: 2,831 meters

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35 mm

Budget: $11,000,000

Box Office: ¥2,550,000,000

Attendance: 3,600,000

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Director: Teruyoshi Nakano

Assistant Directors: Takehisa Takarada, Takashi Wakiya, Eiichi Asada

Cinematography: Takeshi Yamamoto, Toshimitsu Ōneda

Assistant Camerman: Eiichi Asada

Art: Yasuyuki Inoue

Lighting: Kōhei Mikami

Special Effects: Tadaaki Watanabe

Practical Effects: Kōji Matsumoto

Animation: Takeaki Tsukada

Compositing: Yoshikazu Manoda

Matte Photography: Yoshio Ishii, Takeaki Tsukuda

Visual Effects: Takeshi Miyanishi

Computer Graphics: Yutaka Tsuchiya

Practical Effects: Mitsuo Miyagawa

Prosthetics Creator: Nobuyuki Yasumaru

Pyrotechnicians: Mamoru Kume, Tadaaki Watanabe

Production Executive: Masayuki Ikeda

Godzilla Costume Design and Contruction: Nobuyuki Yasumaru

Special Effects Assistant: Shinji Higuchi

 

SPECIAL STAFF:

 

Tokyo University Professor Emeritus: Hitoshi Takeuchi

Military Consultant: Hideo Aoki

Engineer: Yorihiko Ōsaki

Science Fiction Writer: Klein Überstein

Journalist: Sōichirō Tahara/Special Engineer: Toyo Tanaka

Special Advisors: Yorihiko Osaki, Hitoshi Takeuchi

Visual Consultant: Toshifumi Sakata

Consultant: Fumio Tanaka

Maintenance: Kazuo Suzuki

THE RETURN OF GODZILLA

 

CAST:

 

Seiki Mitamura (Prime Minister): Keiju Kobayashi

Gorō Maki (Tokyo Daily Reporter): Ken Tanaka

Naoko Okumura: Yasuko Sawaguchi

Hiroshi Okumura: Shin Takuma

Kanzaki (Minister of Finance): Eitarō Ozawa

Emori (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Mizuho Suzuki

Mōri (Director-General of the Defence Agency): Junkichi Orimoto

Ōkouchi (Director-General of the National Land Agency): Kanta Mori

Isomura (Minister of Home Affairs): Nobuo Kaneko

Kashida (Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency): Kiyoshi Yamamoto

Chief of Staff: Shinsuke Mikimoto

Kasaoka (Minister of Trade): Takeshi Katō

Hidaka (Director-General of the Environmental Agency): Yoshifumi Tajima

Kishimoto (Maritime Chief of Staff): Yasuhiko Kōno

Koji (Land Transport Chief of Staff): Eiji Kanai

Kiyohara (Aviation Chief of Staff): Isao Hirano

Hirotaka Takegami (Chief Cabinet Secretary): Taketoshi Naitō

Henmi (Cabinet Secretary): Kunio Murai

Secretary Ishimaru: Kenichi Urata

Akiyama (Space Act leader): Isao Hashimoto

Minami (Geologist): Hiroshi Koizumi

Gondo (Tokyo Daily Chief Editor): Kei Satō

Kitagawa (Tokyo Daily Desk Editor): Takenori Emoto

Ship Captain: Takashi Ebata/Super-X Lieutenant: Kenji Fukuda

Operator: Tetsuya Ushio/Uno: Shin Kazanaka

Kamijō (Cameraman): Shinpei Hayashiya

Newscaster: Takerō Morimoto

Father: Hiroshi Kamayatsu/Soviet Colonel Kashirin: Luke Johnson

Tramp: Tetsuya Takeda (Special Appearance)

Ihama Nuclear Plant Staff: Kōji Ishizaka

Shin Hayashida: Yōsuke Natsuki

GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE

STAFF:

Production: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script / Director: Kazuki Ōmori

Godzilla Story Competition entry:

“Godzilla vs Biollante” by Shin’ichirō Kobayashi

Producer: Shōgo Tomiyama

Photography: Yūdai Katō

Art: Shigekazu Ikuno

Recording: Kazuo Miyauchi

Lighting: Tsuyoshi Awakihara

Editing: Michiko Ikeda

Assistant Director: Hideyuki Inoue

Production Executive: Kishū Morichi

Music: Kōichi Sugiyama

Arrangement: David Howell

Soundtrack: EMI Music Japan Inc.

Sound Mixing: Yōichi Namekata / Akihiko Ōno

Godzilla Theme Song: Akira Ifukube

Director’s Assistants: Yū Kubo / Kazuhiko Fukami / Isao Kaneko

Photography Assistants: Takeshi Wakiya / Motonobu Kiyoku / Sueyuki Yamaguchi

Lighting Assistants: Kōhei Mikami / Yasuo Watanabe / Kazumi Kawagoe / Shōhei Iriguchi / Hiroyuki Futami / Ken’ya Katō

Lighting Prep: Kōsei Nakatani

Recording Assistants: Tei’ichi Saitō / Akiyoshi Watanabe / Osamu Kageyama

SF Equipment: Mitsuo Miyagawa / Kazuo Ikayama

Art Assistants: Osami Tonsho / Fumiko Osada / Hiroto Aragaki

Equipment: Eiji Suzuki

Assembly: Yoshiki Kasahara

Decoration: Akio Tashiro / Osamu Minamisawa / Yūichirō Endō / Masataka Kawahara

Decorative Lighting: Hideo Inagaki / Yoshinao Tanaka

Stills: Yoshinori Ishidzuki

Editing Assistans: Miho Itoga / Mitsuko Saitō

Negative Editing: Masami Ōhashi

Effects: Shin’ichi Itō / Yoshio Nakamura

Records: Yukiko Eguchi

Wardrobe: Kenji Kawasaki

Hair & Makeup: Harumi Ueno

Actor Relations: Tadao Tanaka

Production Relations: Takaya Fukudzuka / Sōji Fukushima

Lighting: Kaoru Satō

Modelling: Nobuyuki Yasumaru / Fuyuki Shinada

Practical Effects: Kōji Matsumoto

SFX: Tadaaki Watanabe / Osamu Kume

Assistant Director: Kiyotaka Matsumoto

Director’s Assistants: Hideki Chiba / Makoto Kamiya / Yūichi Abe

Shooting Cooperation: Yoshio Nozawa

Photography Assistants: Hiroshi Kidokoro / Masashi Sasaki / Katsumi Arita / Takahide Mashio

Lighting Assistants: Nobuyuki Seo / Hōkoku Hayashi / Takahiro Sekino / Masaaki Yokomichi / Shigeru Izumiya

Lighting Prep: Tsuneo Tanaami

SF Art Assistants: Yūji Tsudzuki / Isao Takahashi / Masato Inatsuki

Modelling Assistants: Tomoki Kobayashi

Practical Effects Assistants: Yasunobu Katori / Masahiko Shiraishi

Special Assistants: Yasushi Iwata / Toshitaka Watanabe / Katsumi Nakajō

Stage Setting: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Tadashi Ogasawara

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Editing Assistant: Yukari Yaginuma

Records: Yoshiko Hori

Biollante Design: Atsuhiko Sugita / Noritaka Suzuki / Shinji Nishikawa

Mechanical Design: Hiroshi Yokoyama

Production Relations: Tarō Kojima / Masaya Kobakura / Isamu Suzuki

Up.Art / Atelier Kumo

Alfa Planning / Ogawa Modelling

Studio OX / Beagle Corp

Buildup Co., Ltd. / Marbling Fine Arts

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 16th, 1989

Running Time: 104 minutes

Budget: ¥700,000,000

Box Office: ¥1,040,000,000

Attendance: 2,500,000

GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Optical Effects: Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Noriaki Hōjō

Motion Control: Yoshihito Kinoshita / Ken’ichi Abe

Video Effects: Kenji Hagiwara

Timing: Toshio Iwata

Effect Animation: Mitsuaki Hashimoto / Hajime Matsumoto / Masakazu Saitō

Animation: Kazuaki Mōri / Aki Yamagata / Ryūichi Akahori

Computer Graphics: Tetsuo Ōya / Hisashi Kametani / Satoshi Mizuhata

Matte Painting: Kazunobu Sanpei

Matte Painter: Yoshio Ishii

Coordinator: Toshihiro Ogawa / Katsuji Misawa

Production: Takashi Yamabe / Mitsuharu Mano

Asahi Production / Science Film Works

Cine-boy / Shimada Production

Thomasson / Nihon Effect Center

Malin Post-Production / Lighthouse

Dolby Stereo

In Selected Theaters

Dolby Stereo Consultant

Mikio Mori

Continental Far East Inc

Tokyo, Japan

Cooperation

Japan Defence Agency

Amada Co., Ltd.

Arrow Micro-Techs

Hotel New Hankyu Osaka

Ohira Special Effects

Biology and Engineering Research Department

Kansai International Airport

Shimadzu Corp.

Gakken Medical Shujuncha Co., Ltd.

Caterpillar Japan LLC

Sekisui

Sony

Sony Creative Products

Tokyo Phantom

NEW MGC

Hakone Sightseeing Cruise Co., Ltd.

ACE Co., Ltd.

Fujitsu

Bell Kogei

Pollux Hellen

Matsushita Industries

Reebok

(mentioned alphabetically)

Resource Assistance:

Education Company

Cellbank Memorial Research Center

Nippon TV

Tokyo Laboratory

Tōhō Recording Center

Tōhō Records

Kyoto Costumes

Tōhō Film Arts

Tōhō Studios

© 1989

Toho Co., Ltd

All Rights Reserved

GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE

CAST:

Kazuhito Kirishima: Kunihiko Mitamura

Asuka Okochi: Yoshiko Tanaka

Shō Kuroki: Masanobu Takashima

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

SSS9: Manjot Bedi

Mountain Staff HQ Chairman: Koichi Ueda

Super X2 Operator: Kōsuke Toyohara / Kyōka Suzuki

John Lee: Takashi Hunt

Michael Low: Derrick Homes

SDF Personnel: Kazuma Matsubara / Hiroshi Inoue / Ryōta Yoshimitsu / Tetsu Kawai

Akiyama (Gian Plant Observation Director): Shin Tatsuma

Tacticians: Shū Minagawa / Shōichirō Sakata / Ikken Matsuoka

Sirhan: Soleiman Mehdizadeh

Scientist: Abdallah Helal

Commando: Curtis Cramer / Brien Uhl / Robert Corner

SDF Personnel: Yasunori Yuge

Nurse: Masei Kuroiwa

Susan Horne: Beth Blatt

Biollante (second form): Shigeru Shibazaki / Yoshitaka Kimura

Erika Shiragami: Yasuko Sawaguchi (special appearance)

Seiichi Yamamoto (Head of Engineering): Toshiyuki Nagashima (friend performance)

Keiko Owada (Chief Cabinet Secretary): Yoshiko Kuga (friend performance)

Koyama (Director General of Defence Agency): Hirohisa Nakata

Takeda (Sci-Tech Chief): Katsuhiko Sasaki

Ground Chief of Staff: Kenzō Ogiwara

Marine Chief of Staff: Kazuyuki Senba

Aviation Chief of Staff: Yasushi Yamanaka

Abdul Saulman: Aydin Yamanlar

Godzilla: Kenpachirō Satsuma

Biollante (first form): Masao Takegami

TNN TV Reporter: Haruko Sagara

Newscaster: Hiromi Matsukawa

Super X2 Maintenance Chief: Isao Takeno

Demon Kogure: Demon Kogure

Gorō Gondo: Tōru Minegishi

Seizo Okouchi: Ryūnosuke Kaneda

Genichiro Shiragami: Kōji Takahashi

Singer calling for refuge: Yuki Saitō (uncredited)

Senri Chuo Hospital Doctor: Kazuki Ōmori (uncredited)

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH

STAFF:

Production: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Scenario / Director: Kazuki Ōmori

SF Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Producer: Shōgo Tomiyama

Photography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Art: Tadashi Sakai

Recording: Kazuo Miyauchi

Lighting: Tsuyoshi Awakihara

Editing: Michiko Ikeda

Assistant Director: Okihiro Yoneda

Production Executive: Toshirō Tokumasu

Music: Akira Ifukube

Music Producer: Masao Iwase

Music Mixing: Akihiko Ōno

Soundtrack: Bandai Visual

Director’s Assistants: Kiyotaka Matsumoto / Takashi Inoue / Takao Kawabata / Yoshiaki Kondō

Photography Assistants: Takashi Wakiya / Yūichi Tamura / Motonobu Kiyoku / Shigeki Murano

Lighting Assistants: Shōhei Iriguchi / Toshihiro Kiyono / Seiichi Shiraishi / Satoshi Tabeyama / Isao Yasui / Yoshimi Hara

Lighting Mechanics: Tadatoshi Kitagawa

Sound Assistants: Akiyoshi Watanabe / Takenori Misawa / Mitsugu Shirotori

SF Mechanics: Mitsuo Miyagawa / Kazuo Shikayama

Art Assistants: Tsuneo Shimura / Hiroto Aragaki / Akane Satō

Equipment: Katsuharu Maruyama / Yoshiki Kasahara

Assembly: Hidenori Tanaka

Decoration: Akio Tashiro / Masataka Kawahara / Yūichirō Endō / Osamu Minamisawa

Decorative Illumination: Hideo Inagaki / Masataka IIno

Stills: Katsuhiko Kudō

Editing Assistants: Miho Itoga / Mitsuko Saitō

Negative Editing: Chie Aoki

Sound Effects: Shin’ichi Itō / Yoshio Nakamura / Yōichi Nishimura

Records: Yukiko Eguchi

Future People Costume Design: Junko Degawa

Costumes: Eiichi Inage

Hair & Make-up: Makiko Hirauchi

Actor Relations: Tadao Tanaka

Production Relations: Sōji Fukushima / Norikazu Kataoka

Combat Choreography: Kanzō Uni

Practical Effects: Locust

Car Stunts: Super Drivers

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 14th, 1991

Running Time: 103 minutes

Budget: ¥1,500,000,000 ($12,000,000)

Box Office: ¥1,450,000,000 ($11,000,000)

Attendance: 2,700,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Photography: Ken’ichi Eguchi / Toshimitsu Ōneda

Art: Tetsuzō Ōsawa

Lighting: Kaoru Saitō

Special Effects: Tadaaki Watanabe

Practical Effects: Kōji Matsumoto

Modelling: Tomoki Kobayashi

Assistant Director: Kenji Suzuki

Production Executive: Tarō Kojima

Director’s Assistants: Hideki Chiba / Makoto Kamiya / Futoshi Kitamura

Photography Cooperation: Keiichi Sakurai

Photography Assistants: Masashi Sasaki / Katsumi Arita / Taku Hasegawa / Tarō Watanabe

Lighting Assistants: Nobuo Uchiyama / Masahiro Hisamichi / Masao Yamamoto / Shin’ichi Sakuma / Ritsuko Ikio

Lighting Mechanics: Tsuneo Tanaami

Art Assistants: Isao Takahashi / Noriko Saitō / Keiko Tsurumaki / Toshio Miike

Practical Effects Assistants: Yutaka Suzuki / Masahiko Shiraishi / Toshio Miike / Yū Kaneko / Yoshiyasu Mikami / Shinji Takahashi

Special Assistants: Osamu Kume / Yasushi Iwata / Katsumi Nakajō

Modelling Assistants: Naoto Murase / Tadashi Ogawa / Toshiyuki Munakata

Scenery: Kōji Kojima

Equipment: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Heizō Kamoshida

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Editing: Sae Higashijima

Negative Editing: Kazuyo Ōasa

Records: Yumi Kurogawa

Production Relations: Makoto Shibata

King Ghidorah Design: Shinji Nishikawa

Mech Design: Kunio Aoi

Storyboards: Atsuhiko Sugita

Design Advisor: Kazuo Sumiya

Storyboards: Ryū Hariken

 

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

 

Optical Supervisor: Toshihiro Ōgawa / Yutaka Onodera / Hajime Matsumoto / Takeshi Miyanishi

Effects Animation: Mitsuaki Hashimoto / Yoshiharu Watanabe / Kazuhisa Yoshizawa / Akihiro Nishiyama

Optical Effects: Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Gen Satō / Takanori Satō

Motion Control: Yoshihito Kinoshita

Photo Effects: Tadao Fujishita / Osamu Izumiya

Matte Cameraman: Kazunobu Sanpei

Matte Work: Yoshio Ishii

Computer Graphics: Ken’ichi Abe / Yuki Uzawahiro / Tetsuo Ōya / Teruyuki Imai / Ryūichi Awakura / Yoshiho Funazawa

Video Effects: Kenji Hagiwara

Timing: Toshio Iwata

Titles: Hiroshi Niyano

Coordinator: Toshihiro Ogawa / Katsuji Misawa

Producer: Takashi Yamabe / Nobuhiro Tani

Tōhō Studios

Malin Post-Production

Japan Effects Center

Sound House

Production Cooperation: Firstwood Entertainment

DOLBY STEREO

Technical Cooperation: Mikio Mori

Far East Continental Company

Cooperation: Japan Defence Agency

Public Relations Office Director

-- Japan Ground Self-Defence Force –

Ground Officer

JGSDF Eastern Army Aviation Group

JGSDF Fuji School

JGSDF Fuji School (Combined Training) Brigade

JGSDF Camp Bihoro

-- Maritime Self Defence Forces –

Maritime Staff Office

“Hiei” Corvette

“Akidzuki” Auxiliary vessel

Flying Corps 124th squad

-- Japan Air Self-Defence Force –

Air Staff Office

Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd. / Amada Co / Alpha Projects

EDDY’S 77 / LS / Ohira Special Effects

Ogawa Modelling / Gakken Co., Ltd.

Kawasaki City Museum / Kokoro / Konica Minolta

Czerny / Studio OX / Sōgeisha

Sasaki Akio Twins / Tokyo Phantom

Tokyo Planet / Toyo Keizai Inc.

Japan Golf Development / Hakubaku Co., Ltd. / Build-Up

Fujita / Fujita Vente / B.A.S.E.

HEAD IN JAPAN / Bell Kogei

Helen Pollux

Marbling Fine Arts

MOA Museum of Art / MOBBY’S

(listed alphabetically)

Resource Cooperation: Tokyo TV

Tokai University Research & Information Center

Tōhō Music Publishing

Tōhō Costumes

Tōhō Studio

Tōhō Sound Creative Studio

Tōhō Film Arts

Production: Tōhō Films

Distribution: Tōhō

 

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH

CAST:

 

Emmy Kano: Anna Nakagawa

Kenichiro Terasawa: Kōsuke Toyohara

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

Chiaki Morimura: Kiwako Harada

Yuzo Tsuchiashi: Shōji Kobayashi

Hironori Masaki: Katsuhiko Sasaki

Wilson: Chuck Wilson

JSDF Data processing workers: Tsuyoshi Jikki / Takehisa Igarashi

Masahiro Yamada / Masanori Ōba

Tsuyoshi Saitō / Kenta Nagatomo

Naotaka Fujii / Ryūzō Hayama

Masami Asai / Tomoyuki Takahashi

Muneyoshi Akita / Katsuhiko Iwasaki

Hiroki Hattori / Seiji Suga

Kōji Yano / Kunio Miyajima

Hideyuki Mihashi / Noriyuki Shimamura

Shigeru Shibazaki / Kimio Yamada

Yoshiyuki Takaichi / Tetsuo Fujii

Ryō Yamada / Akira Kanzaki

Yasunori Yuge / Motoko Nakamura

Taisei Miyamoto / Masakazu Iijima

Kihachirō Uemura / Ken Narita

Seiichi Ishii / Hitoshi Ōka

Takashi Iida

Prime Minister Hayashida: Sō Yamamura

MTC TV Reporter: Saburō Tokitō

Jun’ichi Yaoi: Jun’ichi Yaoi

US forces captain on Lagos Island: Kent Gilbert

Major Spielberg: Daniel Kahl

US Forces Aide: Jeff Berglund

Morse (Earth Federation Representative): Ginnosuke Azuma

MTC TV Cameraman: Shinji Morisue

National Research Center worker: Shingo Kazumi

Shindo’s Secretary: Ryōta Yoshimitsu

Director General of the Defence Agency: Kenji Sahara

Aviation Chief of Staff: Susumu Kurobe

Joint Staff Council Chairman: Kazuyuki Senba

Ground Chief of Staff: Kenzō Ogiwara

Marine Chief of Staff: Shin Tatsuma

Japanese Sergeant on Lagos Island: Tetsu Watanabe

JSDF data processing worker: Shigemitsu Ogi / Shōichirō Sakata / Yasushi Inoue

M101: Michael Focannon

M102: Mark Focannon

Newscaster: Nobuko Fujimoto

King Ghidorah: Hurricane Ryū (Ryū Hariken)

Godzillasaurus: Wataru Fukuda

Masakichi Ikehata: Kōichi Ueda

Godzilla: Kenpachirō Satsuma

Grenchiko: Richard Barker

M11: Robert Scott Field

Takehiko Fujio: Tokuma Nishioka

Yasuaki Shindo: Yoshio Tsuchiya

Voice from the information truck advising refuge: Kazuki Ōmori (uncredited)

GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA

STAFF:

Production: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Kazuki Ōmori

Music Director: Akira Ifukube

Producer: Shōgo Tomiyama

Photography: Masahiro Kishimoto

Art: Tadashi Sakai

Recording: Teiichi Saitō

Lighting: Hideki Mochidzuki

Editing: Miho Yoneda

Assistant Director: Kunio Miyoshi

Theme Song: Mothra’s Song

Lyrics: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Lyrics: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Lyrics: Ishirō Honda

Song: Yūji Koseki

Performance: Keiko Imamura

Performance: Sayaka Ōsawa

Feature Song: Sacred Spring

“Mahara Mothra”

Lyrics / Song: Akira Ifukube

Performance: Keiko Imamura

Performance: Sayaka Ōsawa

Soundtrack Recording: Tōshiba EMI

Production Executives: Kishū Morichi / Kōji Maeda

Director’s Assistants: Masaaki Tedzuka / Kazuhiko Honma / Reijin Kurokawa

Photography Assistants: Takashi Wakiya / Hiroshi Aoki / Takehiko Hōda

Recording Assistants: Noboru Ikeda / Osamu Kageyama / Akiyoshi Watanabe

Lighting Assistants: Kōji Chōya / Minoru Kawai / Kazumi Kawagoe / Masaaki Yokomichi / Satoshi Tabeyama / Teruo Ōsawa / Tsuyoshi Kage

Lighting Equipment: Sōichirō Yamazaki

SFX Equipment: Mitsuo Miyagawa / Kazuo Shikayama

SFX Practical Effects: Satoshi Narumi

Art Assistants: Takeshi Shimizu / Hiroto Aragaki / Toshihiro Tanaka / Rie Koiwa

Art Equipment: Katsuharu Maruyama / Shigeru Kawaguchi

Assembly: Tadamitsu Nishida

Decoration: Akio Tashiro / Yūichirō Endō / Yasuhiro Yamauchi

Decorative Illumination: Hideo Inagaki / Masataka Kawahara

Costumes: Michiko Tazei

Cosmos Costumes: Junko Degawa

Cosmos Choreography: Noriko Urai

Hair & Makeup: Yoshie Shimonabe

Stills: Yoshinori Ishidzuki

Music Producer: Masao Iwase

Music Engineer: Akihiko Ōno

Sound Effects: Hideyo Sasaki / Yūji Tan / Hiromi Ogawa / Akihiiko Okase

Articulation: Masashi Tara

Records: Kumiko Ishiyama

Editing Assistant: Yasuo Satō / Mitsuko Saitō

Negative Editing: Sae Aoki

Choreography: Takami Morioka

Casting: Tadao Tanaka

Production Relations: Hiroaki Kitayama / Hiroki Gotō

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1/Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 12th, 1992

Running Time: 102 minutes (Color, VistaVision)

Box Office: ¥2,220,000,000 ($20,000,000)

Attendance: 4,200,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

 

Photography: Ken’ichi Eguchi / Toshimitsu Ōneda

SFX Art: Tetsuzō Ōsawa

Lighting: Kaoru Saitō

Practical Effects: Kōji Matsumoto

SFX: Tadaoki Watanabe

Modelling: Tomoki Kobayashi

Assistant Director: Kenji Suzuki

Production Executive: Tarō Kojima

Director’s Assistants: Hideki Chiba / Makoto Kamiya / Yoshiako Kondō / Yoshitada Hidehira

Photography Cooperation: Keiichi Sakurai

Photography Assistants: Masashi Sasaki / Katsumi Arita / Takahide Mashio / Fujio Ōkawa / Shinji Nakada / Yasuhiro Katori

Lighting Assistants: Shōhei Iriguchi / Nobuyuki Seo / Masao Yamamoto / Shin’ichi Sakuma / Ritsuko Ikio / Takayuki Kawabe

Lighting Equipment: Mitsuneo Tanao

Practical Effects Assistants: Yutaka Suzuki / Masahiko Shiraishi / Toshio Miike / Kazuo Mihashi / Yū Kaneko / Tōru Ōgami

Special Assistants: Osamu Kume / Yasushi Iwata / Hiroshi Enomoto / Yukio Udagawa / Daichi Tetsuya

SFX Art Assistants: Yūji Terai / Isao Takahashi / Kazushi Hayashitani / Yoshiyuki Kasuga / Toshio Miike

SFX Art Equipment: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Tadashi Ogasawara

Background Painting: Kōji Kojima / Shōji Nagashima / Tomoaki Miwa

Modelling Assistants: Keizō Murase / Nobuhiro Ekubo / Naoto Murase / Tadashi Ogawa / Toshiyuki Munakata / Hidenori Komatsu / Keisuke Nagamine / Shūichi Murakami / Shin’ya Maruyama / Yūsuke Takanagi

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Records: Yumi Kurokawa

Editing Assistant: Minako Kodama

Negative Editing: Kazuyo Ōasa

Design Works: Yuzuru Yoshida / Hidemi Miyata / Atsuhiko Sugita / Kunio Aoi / Shinji Nishikawa / Kazuo Sumiya

Production Executive: Makoto Shibata

Godzilla: Kenpachirō Satsuma

Battra Larvae: Ryū Hariken

 

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

 

Optical Supervisors: Toshihiro Ogawa / Hiroshi Onada / Hajime Matsumoto / Tetsuo Ōya

Optical Effects: Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Takanori Satō / Gen Satō

Photo Effects: Tadao Fujishita / Osamu Izumiya

Effects Animation: Mitsuaki Hashimoto / Kazuhisa Yoshizawa / Akihiro Nishiyama / Fumiko Sakurai / Yoshiharu Watanabe / Takashi Tanaka / Akira Satō

Matte Paint Cameraman: Kazunobu Sanpei

Matte Painter: Toshiyuki Kimura

Motion Control: Yoshihito Kinoshita

CG Producer: Takayuki Ōguchi / Kazumichi Kiyono / Takashi Suzuki / Kaname Iuchi

Computer Graphics: Kunio Utsumi / Fumio Araki / Katsuhisa Hikawa / Kazukuni Hiraoka / Nobuaki Hosoda / Takashi Ōdate / Akemi Inoue / Junko Mizutani / Kumiko Shōji / Naohiro Saitō / Yoshio Funae / Yoshiko Itō / Yūichi Nagai

HighVision Engineering: Akio Suzuki / Mutsuhiro Harada

HighVision Transformation: Tomio Omata / Takayoshi Hosoi / Takaya Takizawa / Yoshinori Susa / Tomotarō Ishikawa

Video Effects: Kenji Hagiwara

Timing: Yoshitaka Mori

Coordinators: Masaru Nishiyama / Yoshirō Asō / Yoshimitu Saitō

Producer: Takashi Yamabe

Cooperation: Japan Defence Agency

Director of Government PR

-- Japan Ground Self-Defence Force –

Ground Staff Office

Easter Forces Department

Eastern Airforce

JGSDF Fuji School

JGSDF Fuji School (Combined Training) Brigade

JGSDF Camp Takigahara Business Department

-- Maritime Self Defence Forces –

Maritime Staff Office

-- Japan Air Self-Defence Force –

Air Force Staff Office

WOWOW / JSTV / Namco / Konica

Seiyu Group / A”LINE Ferry

Tokai University IT Center

Amami Seaside Hotel / Iizaka Onsen / Yoshikawaya

NTT DoCoMo / Ohira Special Effects

Ogawa Modelling / Gokō Seed

Shimada Production / R-Studio /  Studio OX

Sony PLC Inc. / Chelucy / Shiki Theatre Company

Terry Lane / Tokyo Phantom

Tokyo Planet / Nike Japan

Namco CG Department / Namco WonderEggs

NGC / Japan Effects Center

Hankyu Travel International Hotel / Tateyama Resort

Hotel Green Tower Makuhari

Helen Pollux / Marbling Fine Arts

Marine Post / Youmex / Lighthouse

REPLICA

(in alphabetical order)

DOLBY STEREO

DOLBY STEREO CONSTANT MIKIO MORI

CONTINENTAL FAR EAST INC.

TOKYO JAPAN

Tōhō Studios

Tōhō Music Publication

Tōhō Costumes

Tōhō Sound Creative Studio

Tōhō Developments

Tōhō Film Arts

SFX Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Director: Takao Ōkawara

Production: Tōhō Films

Distribution: Tōhō

 

GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA

CAST:

Masako Tezuka: Satomi Kobayashi

Kenji Ando: Takehiro Murata

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

Midori Tezuka: Shiori Yonezawa

Ryuzo Dobashi: Akiji Kobayashi

Aviation Cheif of Staff: Susumu Kurobe

Ground Chief of Staff: Kenzō Ogiwara

Marine Chief of Staff: Shin Tatsuma

Tank Corps Chief of Staff: Tetsu Watanabe

Cosmos: Keiko Imamura (Three-time Tōhō Cinderella) / Sayaka Ōsawa (Same – Special Award)

Yūji Sawamura / James Nugent

Nobuto Akiyoshi / Masahiro Matsufuji

Toshihiko Takeda / Arata Yamaguchi

Tamio Satō / Naoki Ichigen

Shigenao Nedzu / Kazuo Gotō

Katsuyoshi Yamaguchi / Ayumi Ishikawa

June Ortis / Andy Smith

Joshua Riverman / Coby Ditool

Jamie Cotton / Robert Zerter

Asuka Okouchi: Yoshiko Tanaka

Takeshi Tomokane (Marumoto Chief): Makoto Ōtake

Ariake Maru Captain: Shin’ya Ōwada

Minoru Ōmae (Marumoto Employee): Kōichi Ueda

Shigeki Fukuzawa: Saburō Shinoda

Jōji Minamoto: Akira Takarada

 

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II

STAFF:

Production: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Script: Wataru Mimura

Music Director: Akira Ifukube

Producer: Shōgo Tomiyama

Photography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Art: Tadashi Sakai

Recording: Kazuo Miyauchi

Lighting: Hideki Mochidzuki

Editing: Miho Yoneda

Assistant Director: Kunio Miyoshi

Production Executive: Kōji Maeda / Kiyomi Kanazawa

Director’s Assistants: Masaaki Tedzuka / Reijin Kurokawa / Tomo’o Matsushita / Atsushi Kaneshige

Photography Assistants: Sueyuki Yamaguchi / Yoshimichi Matsumoto / Takahiro Imai

Recording Assistants: Tei’ichi Saitō / Akiyoshi Watanabe / Eishō Taira

Lighting Assistants: Kōji Chōya / Nobuyuki Seo / Minoru Kawai / Takahiro Sekino / Masaaki Yokomichi / Keiji Katō / Atsushi Ogasawara

Lighting Equipment: Sōichirō Yamazaki

SFX Equipment: Isamu Miwano / Kazuo Shikayama

SFX Practical Effects: Satoshi Narumi / Toshitaka Watanabe / Makoto Funahashi

Art Assistant: Takeshi Shimizu / Tatsuya Ishimori / Yumiko Arakawa

Stage Setting: Shigeru Kawaguchi

Assembly: Tadashi Ogasawara

Decoration: Yūichirō Endō / Yōichi Kitamura

Decorative Illumination: Hideo Inagaki / Masataka Kawahara

Baby Godzilla Production: Tamotsu Satō / Sakazu Amakima / Kōji Miki / Shō Hashimoto / Takeshi Yagi / Kazuaki Shimada

Costumes: Ikuko Saitō

Costume Coordinator: Junko Degawa

Hair & Make-up: Yoshie Shimonabe / Katsurō Yoneyama

Stills: Katsuhiko Kudō

Sound producer: Masao Iwase

Sound Engineer: Akihiko Ōno

Sound Effects: Hideyo Sasaki / Yūji Tan / Hiromi Ogawa / Akihiko Okase

Articulation: Masashi Tara

Records: Kumiko Ishiyama

Editing Assistants: Mitsuko Saitō / Hideaki Murai

Negative Editing: Ryūsuke Ōtsubo

Choreography: Kanzō Uni

Narration: Kiyoshi Kobayashi

Actor Relations: Fumio Kojima

Public Relations: Ritsuko Suzuki

Production Relations: Makoto Horiguchi / Seiji Takenobu

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 11th, 1993

Running Time: 108 minutes

Budget: ¥1,000,000,000 ($9,500,000)

Box Office: ¥1,870,000,000 ($18,000,000)

Attendance: 3,800,000

 

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Photography: Ken’ichi Eguchi / Toshimitsu Ōneda

Art: Tetsuzō Ōneda

Lighting: Kaoru Saitō

SFX Assistant: Tadaaki Watanabe

Practical Effects: Yutaka Suzuki

Assistant Director: Kenji Suzuki

Production Executive: Tarō Kojima

Director’s Assistants: Yoshiaki Kondō / Yōsuke Nakano

Photography Cooperation: Kei’ichi Sakurai

Photography Assistants: Fujio Ōkawa / Noboru Iwasaki / Seijirō Fujita / Eiji Kanemoto / Katsuki Nagata

Lighting Assistants: Shōhei Iriguchi / Masahiro Hisamichi / Masao Yamamoto / Shin’ichi Sakuma / Ritsuko Ikio / Ken’ya Katō / Mitsuneo Tanao

Practical Effects Assistants: Makoto Ogawa / Yū Haraguchi / Kazuo Mihashi / Takao Okamura / Masahiko Shiraishi / Kei Kawasumi / Akihiro Tsujikawa

Special Assistants: Osamu Kume / Yasushi Iwata / Yukio Udagawa / Katsumi Nakajō / Daichi Tetsuya / Toshimitsu Takamizawa

Art Assistants: Isao Takahashi / Keiko Tsurumaki / Kazushi Hayashitani / Hideki Nomoto / Yoshiyuki Kasuga / Rie Koiwa / Yasuko Yoshino / Tomoyuki Takagi / Tsutomu Watanabe

Art Equipment: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Heizō Kamoshida

Stage: Kōji Kojima

Godzilla Modelling: Tomoki Kobayashi / Tsutomu Kobayashi / Shūichi Murakami / Naoki Nieda / Tomoko Nishi / Yōji Nagatake

MechaGodzilla / Radon Modelling: Shin’ichi Wakasa / Rikuo Mikami / Yukihiro Kanetsuna / Takuji Yokoyama / Shigeaki Itō / Masayuki Kurahashi

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Records: Yumi Kurokawa

Editing: Sae Higashijima

Editing Assistant: Masafumi Aoyama

Negative Editing: Kazuyo Ōasa

Production Relations: Makoto Shibata

Design Works: Yuzuru Yoshida / Shinji Nishikawa / Kunio Aoi / Naoshi Yasui / Atsuhiko Sugita / Hidemi Miyata

 

 

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

 

Optical Supervisors: Toshihiro Ogawa / Yutaka Onodera / Tetsuo Ōya

Optical Effects: Yoshihito Kinoshita / Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Masaharu Matsu’ura / Hirotake Yamaji / Yoshio Yoshimura / Yoshiaki Yoneki / Yoshirō Yasuda / Takanori Satō / Gen Satō

Photographic Effects: Tadao Fujishita / Osamu Izumiya / Takeshi Uchida

Effect Animation: Kazuhisa Yoshizawa / Sadao Iidzuka / Mitsuaki Hashimoto / Akihiro Nishiyama / Takashi Kawabata / Hidefumi Yamamoto / Tomoko Shindō / Yoshiharu Watanabe / Takashi Tanaka / Manabu Niwa

Matte Painter: Toshiyuki Kimura

CG Producers: Kunio Utsumi / Kazumichi Kiyono / Takashi Ōdate

CG Artists: Yoshio Funae / Takashi Suzuki / Fumio Araki / Katsuhisa Hikawa / Shinobu Suzuki / Eijin Ibe / Kaoru Suzuki / Yukiyo Ogawa / Toshiya Takahashi

HighVision Technology: Akio Suzuki / Mutsuhiro Harada / Tomio Omata / Takayoshi Hosoi / Takaya Takizawa / Yoshinori Susa / Tomotarō Ishikawa

Video Effects: Kenji Hagiwara

Timing: Toshio Iwata / Yutaka Murata

Cooperation:

Nippon Travel Agency / Konica / Seiyu Group / Sanyo

Apple Computers / Uchida Yoko Co., Ltd. / Space Communication Corporation

Es Helicopter / NR Design Office

Ohira Special Effects / Ogawa Modelling

Carl Zeiss Vision / Caravan YU

K-Swiss / Coleman Japan

Cosmo Production / Cinq Art

Cine Brand / Shimada Production

Studio OX / Step Co., Ltd. /  Sony PLC

Techno Wave 100 / Tokyo University of Technology

Tokyo Phantom / Tokyo Planet / Dokkyo University

NASDA / Namco / Nikon

Nikon Camera Sales / Nihon Effect Center

Nippon Engineering College of Hachioji / Helen Pollux

Marbling Fine Arts / Malin Post-Production

Meuron / Monsterz / Youmex

Lighthouse / Replica / Lemon Studio

WORLD

(listed alphabetically)

Original Soundtrack Record: EMI Music Japan

DOLBY STEREO ®

Excluding some screenings

Technical Cooperation: Far East Continental Company

Mikio Mori

Tōhō Studio/Tōhō Music

Tōhō Costumes/Tōhō Sound Creative Studio

Tōhō Development/Tōhō Film Arts

SFX Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Director: Takao Ōkawara

© 1993/TOHO CO., LTD.

All Rights Reserved.

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II

CAST:

Kazuma Aoki: Masahiro Takashima

Azusa Gojo: Ryōko Sano

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

Takuya Sasaki: Daijirō Harada

Atsushi Zonezaki: Ichirōta Miyagawa

Kunio Katzuragi: Ishii LaSalle

Yuri Katagiri: Shinobu Nakayama

Hiroshi Imai: Isao Takeno

Katharine Burger: Shelley Sweeney

Leo Asimov: Leo Menghetti

Ivanovitch: Vitalijj Isaef

Johnny Owen: Johnny Archer

Andy Johnson: Andy Smith

John Connor: Tom Dolan

Professor Omae’s Assistants: Masaru Sakurai / Kenji Edzure

Forest Staff Member: Shū Gō

Leaders: Yorinobu Kodama /  Tokuju Masuda

Mamoru Fujita (Asō Command Aide): Ryūjirō Oki

Minister Segawa’s Secretary: Yasuhiro Takeuchi

Tom Ozawa (G-Force A-Class Officer): Taiki Fujioka

Takafumi Kaga (G-Force A-Class Officer): Shigeru Iwanaga / Masakazu Arakawa

G-Force Control Room Team: Motohiro Toriki / Takayuki Kaneko

G-Force Special Unit Team: Yoshiyuki Takaichi / Kimio Yamada / Takeyuki Masujima / Nobuyuki Nobikane

G-Force Troops: Keiya Tabuchi

G-Force Control Room Team: Toshiyuki Takada / Kazuya Yamazaki

G-Force Troops: Ryōta Futatsugi / Yoshitsugu Kamata / Hiroshi Ōtsuka / Michika Nakamura / Takashi Kashiwagi

Control Room Staff: Hiroyuki Iwamoto / Kazuhisa Okada

G-Force Troops: Kagehisa Honda

G-Force Troops: Daisuke Yamagishi / Keisuke Sanpei / Ryūji Nagabuchi / Hiroyasu Kojima / Tatsuya Horiguchi / Yuki Iwashita / Nana Ōki

G-Force Control Room Personnel: Ran Takasugi

G-Force Troops: Sonny Imafidon

G-Force Control Room Personnel: Joanna Garhan

G-Force Troops: Marissa Piobesan

Leader: Hisa Kunihiko

Spirit Development Center Staff: Keiko Imamura / Sayaka Ōsawa

Mika (ESP girl): Mio Hirata

ESP Girls: Yuki Satō / Yū Masaoka / Yuriko Nakamura

Godzilla: Kenpachirō Satsuma

MechaGodzilla: Wataru Fukuda

Baby Godzilla / MechaGodzilla Dock Worker: Ryū Hariken

Takayuki Segawa: Kenji Sahara

Iwao Hyōdō: Kōichi Ueda

Hosono (Spirit Development Center Chief): Tadao Takashima (special Appearance)

Takaaki Asō: Akira Nakao

Hiroshi Ōmae: Yūsuke Kawadzu

GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA

STAFF:

Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Production Cooperation: Shōgo Tomiyama

Script: Kanji Kashiwabara

Photography: Masahiro Kishimoto

Art: Tadashi Sakai

Recording: Kazuo Miyauchi

Lighting: Hideki Mochidzuki

Editing: Miho Yoneda

Assistant Director: Kunio Miyoshi

Music: Takayuki Hattori

Theme Song: Echoes of Love

Lyrics: NORICO

Music: Isao Shigetō

Arrangement: Date of Birth

Original Soundtrack: Kitty Enterprise

Godzilla’s Theme Song: Akira Ifukube

Production Assistant: Shin’ichirō Arimasa

Associate Producer: Ritsuko Suzuki

Production Executive: Toshirō Tokumasu

Director’s Assistants: Okihiro Yoneda / Atsushi Kaneshige / Masatoshi Kurakata / Mitsuru Shimada

Photography Assistants: Takashi Wakiya / Sueyuki Yamaguchi / Motonobu Kiyoku / Takeshi Oki

Lighting Assistants: Kōji Chōya / Nobuyuki Seo / Takahiro Sekino / Minoru Kawai / Kazumi Kawagoe / Tsuyoshi Kage / Keiji Katō / Atsushi Ogasawara

Lighting Equipment: Sōichirō Yamazaki

Recording Assistants: Osamu Kageyama / Akiyoshi Watanabe / Eishō Taira / Takashi Kuno

SFX Equipment: Isamu Miwano / Mitsuo Miyagawa

Practical Effects: Satoshi Narumi / Makoto Funahashi / Yutaka Suzuki / Yū Haraguchi

Art Assistants: Takeshi Shimizu / Hiroto Aragaki / Yūichi Hatakeyama / Yumiko Arakawa

Art Equipment: Shigeru Kawaguchi

Assembly: Tadamitsu Nishida

Small Equipment: Akio Tashiro / Keiichi Tago / Kyōko Irie / Yasuhiro Yamauchi

Illumination: Hideo Inagaki / Masataka Kawahara

Costumes: Ikuko Saitō

Costume Coordinator: Junko Degawa

Hair & Makeup: Fumiko Umezawa

Choreography: Kanzō Uni

Stills: Katsuhiko Kudō

Records: Yacho Katō

Editing Assistants: Yasuo Satō / Kumiko Hayasaka

Negative Editing: Ryūsuke Ōtsubo

Sound Producer: Masao Iwase / Kyōko Kitahara

Sound Mixing: Akihiko Ōno

Effects: Hideyo Sasaki / Hiromi Ogawa / Akihiko Okase / Tatsuhiko Sasaki

Articulation: Masashi Tara

Actor Relations: Hiroki Gotō

Production Relations: Kiyomi Kanazawa / Seiji Takenobu

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 10th, 1994

Running Time: 108 minutes

Budget: ¥1,000,000,000 ($10,300,000)

Box Office: ¥1,650,000,000 ($20,000,000)

Attendance: 3,400,000

 

GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Photography: Ken’ichi Eguchi / Fujio Ōkawa

Art: Tetsuzō Ōsawa

Lighting: Kaoru Saitō

Practical Effects: Kazuo Mihashi

Special Effects: Tadaaki Watanabe

Assistant Director: Kenji Suzuki

Production Executive: Tarō Kojima

Director’s Assistants: Yoshiaki Kondō / Hideki Oka / Yōsuke Nakano

Photography Assistants: Toshimitsu Ōneda / Toshiaki Izumi / Masayuki Satō / Eiji Kanemoto / Takayoshi Sawai

Lighting Assistants: Shōhei Iriguchi / Tamotsu Itō / Masaaki Yokomichi / Takeshi Satō / Ritsuko Ikiori / Takayuki Watanabe

Lighting Equipment: Hiroyuki Futami

Art Assistants: Isao Takahashi / Yoshiyuki Kasuga / Kazushi Hayashitani / Katsura Yoshimura / Rie Koiwa / Hideki Nomoto

Practical Effects Assistants: Takamasa Matsuzawa / Akihiro Tsujikawa / Yoshitada Hidehira / Satoshi Tsuyuki / Akira Kanno / Makoto Ogawa / Masahiko Shiraishi

Special Effects Assistants: Osamu Kume / Yasushi Iwata / Yukio Udagawa / Katsumi Nakajō / Kazuki Hashimoto

Godzilla Modelling: Tomoki Kobayashi / Tsutomu Kobayashi / Naoki Nieda / Tsuyoshi Taono

Space Godzilla / Little Godzilla Modelling: Shin’ichi Wakasa / Shigeaki Itō / Takuji Yokoyama / Akira Yamada / Fumihiko Yagi / Nobuhiro Ekubo

Moguera Modelling: Takafumi Tanibuchi / Shunji Ogii / Masayuki Kurahashi

Mecha Modelling: Kōji Takagi / Masaharu Ogawa

Scenery: Kōji Kojima

Art Production: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Tadashi Ogasawara

Editing: Sae Higashijima

Negative Editing: Kazuyo Ōasa

Records: Kōko Kajiyama

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Production Relations: Makoto Shibata

Design Works: Yuzuru Yoshida / Shinji Nishikawa / Ryū Hariken

Godzilla: Kenpachiro Satsuma/Space Godzilla: Ryō Hariya

Moguera: Wataru Fukuda/Little Godzilla: Little Frankie

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

Production: Toshihiro Ogawa

Supervision: Yutaka Onodera / Tetsuo Ōya / Osamu Izumiya

Digital Effects: Yoshihito Kinoshita / Tadao Fujishita / Takashi Kawabata / Takashi Tanaka

Optical Effects: Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Nobuo Nakamura / Masaharu Matsu’ura / Keiji Igarashi / Hirotake Yamaji / Yoshio Yoshimura / Yoshiroō Yasuda / Atsushi Sasaki / Yoshiaki Yoneki / Takeshi Uchida / Gen Satō / Tomoaki Miwa / Takashi Shinjō / Nobuaki Sugiki

Animation Effects: Kazuhisa Yoshizawa / Mitsuru Oki / Sadao Iidzuka / Takumasa Yamaguchi / Mihoko Iwata / Naoki Yoshioka / Yoshionobu Yanagihara / Naoyasu Yutaka / Kentarō Kawajiri / Shigeru Ueda / Yukiyo Ogawa / Takako Kido              - Matte Paint: Toshiyuki Kimura

CG Director: Kunio Utsumi / Akira Ichino / Noriaki Hōjō

CG Effects: Fumio Araki / Tetsuo Maeda / Keita Nojima / Manabu Niwa / Tooru Adachi / Toshiya Takahashi / Shigefumi Takayama / Takeshi Nakayama / Kōji Suzuki

HDVS Supervision: Akio Suzuki / Mutsuhiro Harada

HDVS CG: Masayuki Iida / Tomotarō Ishikawa

HDVS Technology: Takaya Takizawa / Yoshinori Susa / Katsuhiko Tsuchiya / Takayuki Matsuyama / Haruyasu Yamazaki / Kenji Ishimoto

Timing: Yoshitaka Mori / Tarō Kuwayama

 

COOPERATION:

Seiyu Group / JOMO / Konica Minolta / A-Line Ferry / Best Denki

Apple Computers / Film Atelier

Es Helicopter / Ohira Special Effects

Ogawa Modelling / Doi

Co-op Net / System G

SystemSoft Corp / Cine Brain / Cine-Boy

Shimada Pro / Super Drivers

Sega Enterprises / Sony PCL

China Town Town Hall (Okinoerabujima) / Tōyō Models

Chūbu Stone Works (Amami Ōshima) / Nishi-Nippon Railroad

Nippon Effect Center / Nisshoku Co.

Fukuoka Hilltop Hotel / The Luigans Spa & Resort

Bonne Craft / Marbling Fine Arts

Malin Post-Production / Mizawa Production

Meuron / MONSTERZ / Replica

(listed alphabetically)

Location Cooperation: Hamada Airport / Tahara Masaki

DOLBY STEREO ®

Technical cooperation Mikio Mori

Tōhō Laboratory/Tōhō Studio/Tōhō Music/Tōhō Costumes

Tōhō Sound Creative Studio/Tōhō Film Arts

SFX Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Director: Kenshō Yamashita

Tōhō Films Product © 1994

TOHO CO., LTD./All Rights Reserved.

GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA

CAST:

Koji Shinjo: Jun Hashidzume

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

Kiyoshi Sato: Zenkichi Yoneyama

Takaki Aso: Akira Nakao

Susumu Okuba: Yōsuke Saitō

Iwao Hyodo: Kōichi Ueda

Takayuki Segawa: Kenji Sahara

Yūzō Suzuki: Hiroshi Miyasaka

Hideki Ōno: Hōka Kinoshita

Alexander Mammilov: Ronald Hoerr

Eric Gould: Ed Sardi

Frank Reynolds: Eddie Quinlan

McKay: Thom Durran

Makoto Uehara: Jin Kusanagi

Masato Wakatsuki: Tarō Horisaki

Michiya Katō (Minister’s Secretary): Senzaburō Makimura

Aides: Kanji Watanabe / Wakutarō Mitsuoka

G-Force Troops: Isao Shinohara / Ken’ichi Kōhei / Akihisa Hattori

G-Force Troops: GAZ

G-Force Troops: Hideyuki Umeda / Yōhei Ōsawa

G-Force Troops: Isao Yamazaki / Toshikatsu Izaki / Zengorō Mamiana

Business Mafia Men: Charlie Krasravski / Robert Santana / Shin’ichi Shimizu

Astronauts: Frank O’Connor / Andy Smith / Maxine Machivich

Nokono Island Police: Shinji Nasu/Announcer: Miho Arakawa

Sapporo Company Boss: Kazuki Kosakai

Sapporo Company Employee: Kunihiro Matsumura

Cosmos: Keiko Imamura / Sayaka Ōsawa

Chinatsu Gondo: Towako Yoshikawa/Akira Yuki: Akira Emoto

GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH

STAFF:

Producer: Tanaka Tomoyuki / Shōgo Tomiyama

Script: Kazuki Ōmori

Music Director: Akira Ifukube

Photography: Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Art: Yoshio Suzuki

Recording: Kazuo Miyauchi

Lighting: Hideki Mochidzuki

Editing: Dzuko Osadachi

Assistant Director: Kunio Miyoshi

Production Executive: Kōji Maeda

Associate Producer: Ritsuko Suzuki

Director’s Assistants: Okihiro Yoneda / Atsushi Kaneshige / Mitsuru Shimada / Hiroshi Okamoto / Makoto Kumazawa

Photography Assistants: Sueyuki Yamaguchi / Motonobu Kiyoku / Takeshi Oki

Recording Assistants: Akiyoshi Watanabe / Eishō Taira / Takashi Kuno

Lighting Assistants: Kōji Chōya / Nobuyuki Seo / Minoru Kawai / Masaaki Yokomichi / Kazumi  Kawagoe / Keiji Katō / Atsushi Ogasawara

Lighting Equipment: Sōichirō Yamazaki

SFX Equipment: Isamu Miwano / Mitsuo Miyagawa / Michiharu Takasu

Practical Effects: Saatoshi Narumi / Makoto Funahashi

Destroyah Handling: Masayuki Kurahashi / Kiya Sōri / Hideonori Yamaoka / Jishō Ueda / Tesshō Maru

Art Assistants:  Takeshi Shimizu / Kazuhiko Fujiwara / Akane Satō

Art Equipment: Shigeru Kawaguchi

Assembly: Tadamitsu Nishida

Small Equipment: Keiichi Tago / Yūichirō Endō / Yasuhiro Yamauchi

Decorative Illumination: Hideo Inagaki / Masataka Kawahara

Costume Coordinator: Junko Degawa

Costumes: Ikuko Saitō

Hair and Makeup: Fumiko Umezawa / Seiichi Sasaki

Choreography: Kanzō Uni

Stills: Yoshinori Ishidzuki

Scripter: Kumiko Ishiyama

Editing Assistants: Yasuo Satō / Hideki Toshimitsu

Negative Editing: Ryūsuke Ōtsubo

Sound Producer: Masao Iwase / Takao Morioka

Sound Mixing: Akihiko Ōno

Sound Effects: Hideyo Sasaki / Hiromi Ogawa / Akihiko Okase / Naoko Asari / Tatsuhiko Sasaki

Articulation Engineer: Masashi Tara

Actor Relations: Shirō Kido

Production Relations: Takaya Fukudzuka / Takahiro Kawada / Seiji Takenobu

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Negative/Printed Film Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Release Date: December 9th, 1995

Running Time: 103 minutes (Color, VistaVision)

Budget: ¥1,000,000,000 ($10,000,000)

Box Office: ¥2,000,000,000 ($18,000,000)

Attendance: 4,000,000

 

SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Photography: Ken’ichi Eguchi / Toshimitsu Ōneda

Art: Tetsuzō Ōsawa

Lighting: Kaoru Saitō

Practical Effects: Kazuo Mihashi

Special Effects: Tadaaki Watanabe

Assistant Director: Kenji Suzuki

Production Executive: Keisuke Shinoda / Tarō Kojima

Director’s Assistants: Yoshiaki Kondō / Yōsuke Nakano / Akira Kanbe

Photography Assistants: Fujio Ōkawa / Toshiaki Izumi / Eiji Kanemoto / Mitsuo Matoba / Tomo’o Ezaki / Yutaka Kawakita

Lighting Assistants: Tamotsu Itō / Takahiro Sekino / Takeshi Satō / Kan’ya Katō / Tsuyoshi Kage / Hirokazu Kumagai

Lighting Equipment: Hiroyuki Futami

Art Assistants: Isao Takahashi / Yoshiyuki Kasuga / Kazushi Hayashitani / Yumiko Arakawa / Kaoru Iwamitsu

Practical Effects Assistants: Akihiro Tsujikawa / Atsushi Tsuji / Yoshitada Hidehira / Masa Kurose / Masahiko Shiroiwa

SFX Equipment: Masato Haga

SFX Assistants: Osamu Kume / Yasushi Iwata / Yukio Udagawa / Katsumi Nakajō / Kazuki Hashimoto / Kazuya Watabiki

Godzilla / Godzilla Junior Modelling: Tomoki Kobayashi / Tsutomu Kobayashi / Naoki Nieda / Hideki Nomoto / Yōji Nagatake / Tsutomu Watanabe / Tomoko Nishi / Junji Hagii / Yūji Sakai

Destroyah Modelling: Shin’ichi Wakasa / Shigeaki Itō / Akira Yamada / Masakatsu Yagi / Takuji Yokoyama / Fummihiko Yagi / Nobuhiro Ekubo

Mecha Modelling: Masaharu Ogawa / Yasushi Kanemaki / Hiroyo Shimizu

Scenery: Kōji Kojima

Art Production: Yasuo Nomura

Assembly: Tadashi Ogasawara

Editing: Sae Higashijima / Nobuyuki Itō

Negative Editing: Kazuyo Ōasa

Scripter: Yumi Kaneshige

Stills: Takashi Nakao

Production Relations: Hiroshi Hirahara

Design Works:  Yuzuru Yoshida / Shinji Nishikawa / Satoshi Imai / Hideo Okamoto / Hideki Oka

Godzilla: Kenpachirō Satsuma

Godzilla Junior: Ryū Hariken

Destroyah II: Ryō Hariya

Destroyah: Eiichi Yanagida

 

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

 

Producer: Toshihiro Ogawa / Yutaka Onodera / Tetsuo Ōya / Akio Suzuki

Supervision: Yoshihito Kinoshita / Osamu Izumiya / Mutsuhiro Harada

Digital Effects: Tadao Fujishita / Takashi Kawabata / Nobutaka Dōki / Tomotarō Ishikawa / Tetsuo Maeda / Tomoko Hirashima

CG Supervision: Kunio Utsumi / Akira Ichino / Noriaki Hōjō

CG Designer: Rei Nomura / Masayuki Iida / Atsuhiko Tanaka / Fumio Araki

Computer Graphics: Manabu Niwa / Keita Nojima / Taikō Kaneyama / Kōji Suzuki / Shigefumi Takayama / Ichirō Inoue / Noriko Yanagisawa / Haruyasu Yamazaki

Optical Effects: Yoshiyuki Kishimoto / Masaharu Matsu’ura / Nobuo Nakamura / Keiji Igarashi / Hirotake Yamaji / Yoshio Yoshimura / Atsushi Sasaki / Akihiro Abuchi / Takanori Satō / Gen Satō / Takashi Shinjō

Animation Effects: Kazuhisa Yoshizawa / Hidefumi Yamamoto / Sadao Iidzuka / Akihiro Nishiyama / Takumasa Yamaguchi / Mitsuru Oki / Shigeru Ueda / Kentarō Kawajiri

Photographic Effects: Takeshi Uchida / Keiichi Kanai / Nobuaki Sugiki / Aki Miwatomo / Yūji Matsuoka

Matte Artist: Toshiyuki Kimura / Sayuri Sekita / Minami Tsujino

Rotoscope: To’oru Adachi / Hideki Takeuchi

Timing: Toshio Iwata

 

COOPERATION:

 

Defence Agency

Director of the Government Public Relations Office

-- Japan Ground Self-Defence Force —

Ground Staff Secretariat

Department of the Eastern Area Commissioner

JGSDF Fuji School

JGSDF Fuji School (Combined Training) Brigade

JGSDF Camp Takigahara

-- Maritime Self-Defence Forces –

Marine Staff Secretariat

Tokyo Port and Harbour Authorities

Apple Computers / Es Helicopter

CATENA / Tabix Japan

Sony / EOS / Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd.

Image And Management / Interware

Aeronautical Safety College / Film Atelier

NTT DoCoMo / Ohira Special Effects

Ogawa Modelling / Caravan YU / King Jim Co., Ltd.

Cosmos Production

Sigma A.P.O. System Sales

Shizuoka Prefecture, Omaezaki City / System G / SystemSoft Corp

Shinagawa Aquarium / Sibata Scientific Technology Ltd.

Shimada Pro / Sealine Tokyo

Super Drivers / Sony PCL / Daizukan

Tokyo University of Technology / Tokyo Big Sight / Tokyo Tatemono

Tokyo Phantom / Tokyo Marui

Nikon Instruments / Nippon Effect Center

Nippon Carbon Co., Ltd. / Nippon Engineering College of Hachioji

Newteles / Bandai / Kōdenshi

Video Focus / Mysci

Marbling Fine Arts

Malin Post-Production / Manten / Meuron / Meisei Electric

MONSTERZ / Yamato Science / Youmex

Replica / Tokai University Research & Information Center

DOLBY STEREO ®

Technical cooperation Mikio Mori

Continental Far East Inc

Soundtrack Record: EMI Music Japan

Tōhō Laboratory/Tōhō Studio

Tōhō Sound Studio/Tōhō Costumes

Tōhō Film Arts/SFX Director: Kōichi Kawakita

Director: Takao Ōkawara

Tōhō Films Product

© 1995 TOHO CO., LTD.

All Rights Reserved.

 

GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH

CAST:

Dr Kensaku Ijun: Takurō Tatsumi

Yukari Yamane: Yōko Ishino

Ken’ichi Yamane: Yasufumi Hayashi

Miki Saegusa: Megumi Odaka

Meru Ozawa: Sayaka Ōsawa

Hayami (director): Takehiro Murata

Nanjō (cameraman): Satoru Saitō

Ueda (chief of the cabinet research office): Sei Hiraizumi

Okazaki (Special Weapons Unit Assistant): Jun Fujimaki

Murata (Chemical JGSDF Unit Assistant): Takehiko Ono

Takao Tayama (Aquarium Security guard): Kōichi Ueda

Nakamura (Evolutionary Biologist): Kōichi Nihei

B=Nomura (Science and technology Agency Assistant Vice-Minister): Kenzō Hagiwara

Chief on Location: Daikishi Sugawara

Squad Leadr: Seiroku Nakazawa

Super X3 Pilot: Kensuke Aoshima

Super X3 Navigator: Hiroshi Kawasaki

G-Force Control Room Staff: Motohiro Toriki / Masaru Sakurai

Professor Marvin: Ronald Hoerr

KN1079 Pilot: Jon Gillock

KN1079 Co-pilot: Rakuki Hō

Kai Tak International Airport Controller: Shōkō Chō

Radiology Scholar: Kazuko Okada

National Public Safety Office Commissioner: Daisuke Kodera

Science and Technology Agency Nuclear Office Chief: Eijirō Akimoto

Japan Defence Agency Defence Chief: Yoshio Sakai

Japan Defence Agency Assistant Vice-Minister: Tokuji Nagura

National Land Agency Disaster Prevention Office Director: Tetsurō Kasahara

Environment Agency Atmosphere Preservation Office Chief: Chieko Inoue

Global Environment Scholars: Kunihiko Hisa / Noriko Wakihama

Ijun Laboratory Assistants A: Junko Tokuyama

Ijun Laboratory Assistants B: Toyohiro Yūki / Katsumi Ide / Chinatsu Koyanagi / Hidetomo Ukiana / Shōta Shirane

Satellite Communication Center Staff: Shelly Sweeney

Reporters: Santarō Mitsui / Naomi Uemura

Police Chief: Tatsuya Sugano

Police Officers: Tamio Satō / Tatsuhiko Matsumoto

Shinagawa Aquarium Security Guards: Norikazu Kinoshita / Masao Shimano

G-Force Control Room Troops: Tetsuhiro Hosono

G-Force Radio Operators: Gō Ajiki / Kenji Sakama

Police Officers on the Road: Kenji Edzure / Kazuyuki Okayama / Isamu Hirose / Isao Fukuda

Special Forces Staff: Takami Morioka / Shin’ichi Shimizu / Yoshiyuki Takaichi / Akio Endō / Eiji Kamata / Takashi Odashima / Takeyuki Masujima / Hirotsugu Tsujii / Michika Nakamura / Yasunaga Kobayashi / Hiroshi Nakagawa / Hideaki Ishikawa / Tōru Fujita / Takayasu Kinoshita / Jō Azuma / Nobuyuki Kawai / Muneki Karino / Keisuke Kajita / Yūsuke Nakagawa / Kenji Ochi / Shū Kawajiri / Yū Hayasaka

Temporary HQ Staff: Masazumi Nitanda

Maser Tank Staff: Minoru Ishikawa

Shū Kuroki: Masahiro Takashima

Emiko Yamane: Momoko Kōchi

Taka’aki Aso: Akira Nakao

General Gotō: Shigeru Kōyama

Mitsuru Kunitomo: Saburō Shinoda

REFERENCES

Primary Sources

ACHA Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series,               McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina

AOTGAge of the Gods: A History of the Japanese Fantasy Film,               Daikaiju Publishing, Brooklyn, New York

BB1The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Volume 1:               1965-1982, Bicep Books, Roswell, New Mexico

BB2The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Volume 2:               1984-2017, Bicep Books, Roswell, New Mexico

FANQFangoria Magazine, Starlog Group, Inc., New York, New York

GFANG-Fan, Daikaiju Enterprises, Ltd., Steinbach, Manitoba,               Canada

GFAQGodzilla FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King of the               Monsters, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Milwaukee, WI

GMMGodzilla and Other Monster Music website, © 1998 - 2017,                             Lawrence Tuczynski,               http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/godzilla.htm

GOMMGodzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of the Monsters,               Palgrave Macmillan, New York, New York

HGCHeisei Godzilla Chronicles, Kinema Junpo, Minato Ward,               Akasaka, Japan

IEOGThe Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla, Ed Godziszewski,               Steinbach, Canada

JFFJJapanese Fantasy Film Journal, Greg Shoemaker, Toledo, Ohio

JFMSJapan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of               "The Big G," ECW Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

JGMJapan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju               Cinema, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North               Carolina

JSFJapanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films,               McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina

KCKaiju Conversations website, © 1998 David Milner                             http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/

MAATMonsters Are Attacking Tokyo!, Feral House, Venice,               California

MARKMarkalite, Pacific Rim Publishing Company, Oakland,               California

SKFDSKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database, Kaiju Film Database, Jon,               D.B., https://skreeonk.com/kfn/

TGEThe Godzilla Encyclopedia: A Crowd-Sourced Guide,               CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, San               Bernardino, California.

TGSThe Godzilla Saga - Online Godzilla Compendium website,               Chris N., http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/

TGTThe Godzilla Tower website, Iguanoman, Movie Reviews,               http://www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower/Index.htm

TTEThe Toho Encyclopedia of FX Monster Films (Extended               Edition), Asahi Sonorama, Tosho Printing Company, Ltd.,               Tokyo Ward, Ginza, Japan

NOTES AND SOURCES

Foreward

     7 "I don't think . . ." Milner, David, "Jun Fukuda Interview," Cult               Movies, No. 13, 1995, pg. 53.

     9"is good . . ." Milner, David, Japanese Giants, Letters Section, No. 4,               1977, pg. 3.

     9"Then why hadn't . . ." Ibid., pg. 3.

     9"Personal taste is something . . ." Lees, J.D., "G-Mail," GFAN,               No.               16, July/Aug, 1995, pg. 12.

     9 "objective criteria . . ." Lees, J.D., "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 25,               Jan/Feb, 1997, pg. 48.

  10  "I feel that 'true fans' . . ." Twardos, David, G-Mail, GFAN, No.               18,               Nov/Dec  1995, pg. 9.

   10  "outright slapstick fantasies . . ." Glut, Donald, The Dinosaur               Scrapbook, pg. 157, The Citadel Press, Secaucus, N.J., 1980.

 

Chapter One

Godzilla's Counterattack

   11"Serizawa died in vain!" . . . Foster, Damon, "Gojira," Oriental               Cinema, Vol. 3, No. 22, 2004, pg. 7.

   14"Tasogare sesmaru" . . . Watanabe, Shogetsu, Japanese Folk Music:               Society for the Preservation of Japanese Folk Songs, Soran-Bushi,"               Lyrichord Discs Inc., Tereo LLST 7163, Year               Unknown.

   18,19"Godzilla rises from the depths . . ." Clarens, Carlos, An               Illustrated History of the Horror Film, pg. 132.

   19"the last Godzilla epic . . ." Glut, Don, "Godzilla: Tokyo's               Greatest Nemesis," Monsters of the Movies, Vol. 1, No. 5, Feb.               1975, pg. 9.

   19"with Japan caught in the middle" JGM, pg. 73.

   19"Kaiju are not so easily killed . . ." Miller, Tom, "Chronology and               Conundrums: Anguirus and Monster Island," GFAN, No. 11,               Sept/Oct 1994, pg. 36. 

   19"No production company . . ." Debus, Allen A.,  Debus, "From               Incognitum To Odo: Prehistoric Roar," GFAN, No. 76, Summer               2006, pg. 39.

   19"It is less evocative . . ." AOTG, pg. 56. 

   21"Film studios always produce . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yoshihiko, "Yoshio Irie Interview," Kaiju Conversations               website, July 1996. Retrieved from               http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/irie.

   22"absolute best part of this film . . ." Debus, Allen A., "Two               Maligned Dino-Monster Films: One pretty good, and one, … well               … not so much," Mad Scientist, No. 31, Summer 2016, pg.37.

   22"While Godzilla symbolized the horrors of war . . ." ACH, pg. 38.

   23"as a mostly undistiguished studio hack" . . . JFMS, pg. 62.  

   23"the only truly chilling moment . . ." Ibid, pg. 62.

   23"There is what is to me . . ." Okumiya, Masatake and               Horikoshi, Jiro               with Caidin, Martin, ZERO! The Air War in the Pacific During World               War II from the Japanese Viewpoint," pgs. 399, 400. 

   25"more threadbare . . ." Bogue, Mike, Apocalypse Then: American               and Japanese Atomic Cinema, pg. 176.

   25"Oda was a modest and calm person . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Five               Decades with Godzilla: G-Fan Interviews Hiroshi Koizumi," GFAN,               No. 89, Fall 2009, pg. 23.

   26,27"In a monster film . . ." Sato, Masaru, SF Tokusatsu, Vol. 1,               "Godzilla's Counterattack, Track No. 4, "Love Theme," King Record               Co., Ltd., 1983.

   29"I had to stand . . ." AOTG, pg. 54.

   30"The movements of the eyes and mouth . . ." TTE, pg. 110.

   30"One thing I want you to realize . . ." Homenick, Brett with Ragone,               August and Field, Robert Scott, "Haruo Nakajima: A Living Legend,"               GFAN, No. 85, Fall 2008, pg. 25.

   30"Working on Godzilla's Counterattack . . ." AOTG, pg. 53.

   32"would draw a precise . . ." Ibid, pg. 54. 

   32"Anguirus was the first Toho monster . . ." Russo, Mike, "Kaiju               Metamorphosis: A Look at the Varying Designs of Godzilla's Co-              Stars," GFAN, No. 57, July/Aug 2002, pg. 31.

   32"is even worse . . ." AOTG, pg. 56

   33"A mistake was made . . ." Ibid, pg. 54.

   33"the speed of the monster battle scenes . . ." Marrero, Robert,               Godzilla: King of the Movie Monsters, pg. 23.

   33"Satoh tried valiantly . . ." Schecter, David, "The Missing Music of               Gigantis, the Fire Monster," Monstrous Movie Music website. Retrieved               from http://www.mmmrecordings.com/Music/MusicGigantis/musicgiga              ntis.html.

   33"There were three cameras . . ." JFMS, pg. 63.

   33"It seems odd . . ." Ibid., pg. 63.

   34"When the Osaka Castle model was destroyed . . ." AOTG, pg.               54.

   34"Because of the model's heavy construction . . ." JFMS, pg. 64.

   34"When the two actors were fighting . . ." TTE, pg. 110.

   34,35"It cost them like $5,000 to rebuild . . ." Homenick, Brett with               Ragone,               August and Field, Robert Scott, "Haruo Nakajima: A Living Legend,"               GFAN, No. 85, Fall 2008, pg. 25.

   35"My father bought a walking penguin toy . . ." TTE, pg. 111.

   35"sadly obscure and underrated . . ." KaijuDuke (D.B, Jon), "Godzilla               Raids Again (1955)," SKREEONK!: Kaiju Film               Database website,               November 3, 2011. Retrieved from

 https://skreeonk.com/2011/11/03/godzilla-raids-again-1955/.

  36"The movie tries to keep . . ." Iguanoman, "Movie Reviews-Toho               Monster Movies-Showa Series - "Godzilla Raids Again (1955);               Gigantis,               the Fire Monster,"Godzilla Tower website, July 1, 2012. Retrieved from               www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower/Documents/Godzilla              Raid.htm.

 

CHAPTER TWO

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

   38"Fukuda's lighter touch . . ." Greenberger, Robert, Famous               Movie               Monsters: Meet Godzilla, pg. 23).

   40"Me o samashite, Mosura . . ." England, Norman, "Toho Tunes               2: Mosura no Uta (Mothra's Song), GFAN, No. 28, July/Aug 1997,               pg. 30.

   42"a little nuclear fission . . ." GOMM, pg. 84.

   42"(Godzilla) drops into the ocean . . ." Johnson, Teddy,               "Godzilla's Greatest Exits," GFAN, No. 46, July/Aug 2000, pg.               36.

   42"Once the Dell Publishing Company . .  ." Adamson, Joe,               Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of               the Marx Brothers, pg. 349.

   42"Godzilla is not treated  at all . . ." TTE, pg. 314.

   43"Toho cut corners . . ." Arlington, Taryn, "Godzilla vs. All               Comers," Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 141, March 1978, pgs.               13,14.

   43"a mélange of thrusts . . ." Greg Shoemaker, "The Toho               Legacy: Five Prolific Years of a Fantasy Film Career in               Retrospect.               1966: Crazy Adventures," JFFJ, No. 14, 1982, pg. 26.

   44"exercise in cardboard mayhem." Stanley, John, Creature Features:               The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide, pg. 219.

   44"a monster combined . . ." TTE, pg. 315.

      44,45"one of Godzilla's . . ." LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese               Giant                             Monster Movies: The Lost Films, pg.131.

   45"of rose/salmon coloration . . ." Shoemaker, Greg, "The Toho               Legacy:               Five Prolific Years of a Fantasy Film Career in Retrospect.               1966: Crazy Adventures . . ." JFFJ, No. 14, 1982, pg. 26.

   45"the monster is far . . ." Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King of the               Movie Monsters, pg. 48.

   45"Sekizawa was becoming . . ." AOTG, pg. 190.

   47"Some potential for seriousness . . ." Lees, J.D., "Godzilla's               Serious Side," GFAN, No. 68, Summer 2004, pg. 76.

   48"Kumi Mizuno works very hard . . ." MAAT, pg. 79.

   48"Even before (my contract ended . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Godzilla's               Leading Lady," GFAN, No. 102, Jan 2013, pg. 11, No. 102.

   49"couldn't hold a candle . . ." Bissette, Stephen R., "Moshi Moshi,               Mosura               No Uta: Loving the Peanuts Even When I Don't Know What               They're Singing," Monster!, Vol. 4, No. 22, Oct 2015, pg. 9.

   49"I was going for a lighter . . ." MAAT, pg. 86.

   49"Mr. Sato and I . . ." Milner, David, "Jun Fukuda Interview," Cult               Movies, No. 13, 1995, pg. 52.

   50"It looks as if Godzilla . . ." TTE, pg. 314.

   50"The editing of Ebirah . . ." LeMay, John, "Godzilla Takes A Holiday:               Godzilla vs. the Sea monster Retrospective," GFAN, No. 87, Spring               2009, pg. 24.

      50"innovative use of color . . ." Ibid, pg. 24.

  50,51"The pipes in the Red Bamboo's base . . ." Ibid, pg. 24.

   51"The special effects . . ." Ibid, pg. 24.

  52"The way of showing monsters . . ." TTE, pg. 315.

  53"the best comedy . . ." Gary, Gory Godzilla Zone. Retrieved from               http://gojirastomp.tripod.com/movies/cmonsterm.html.

  54"To me, it's better than . . ." Burton, Ronnie, "G-Mail," GFAN,

  54"Godzilla means fun . . ." GOMM, pg. 111.

Summer 2009, No. 88, pg. 12.

  54"I think that the tone . . ." Milner, David with Shibata, Yoshihiko,               "Takao Okawara Interview I, Kaiju Converstaions. Retrieved from               davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/okawar.htm.

  54"It's kind of nice . . ." Greenberger, Robert, Famous Movie               Monsters: Meet Godzilla, pg. 38.

  54"Perhaps it's time . . ." LeMay, John, "Godzilla Takes a               Holiday: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster Retrospective," GFAN, pg. 24,               No. 87, Spring 2009.

  54"one of the best films in the series . . ." Galbraith IV, Stuart,               Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, pg. 120.

  54"delightful adventure . . ." Ibid, pg. 122.

  55"another step down . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Deploy All Monsters!               A               Wonder Guide to the Best of the Japanese Monster Movies,"               Wonder, No. 10, Spring 1995, pg. 15.

  55"the first big step downhill . . ." Copner, Mike Copner, "Godzilla               Scrapbook," Cult Movies & Video, 1992, pg. 18.

  55"Godzilla's demotion . . ." GFAQ, pg. 41.

  55"brought action and adventure . . ." JFMS, pg. 134.

  55"was a much more dynamic filmmaker . . ." GFAQ, pg. 67.

  55"(Ebirah and Son of Godzilla) . . ." Ibid, pg. 67.

  55"Honda's films seem more elaborate . . ." Yeager, Jim, "G-Mail,"               GFAN, No. 15, May/June 1995, pg. 47.

  55"I believe that . . ." MAAT, pg. 84.

  56"The first Godzilla . . ." Ryfle, Steve, Galbraith IV, Stuart, Iijima, Emiko,               Fujii, Yukari, "Teruyoshi Nakano," GFAN, No. 27, May/June 1997,               pg. 17, 19.  

  56"Yes, a kind of mixed feeling . . ." totorom, "Godzilla, My Old Friend:               Akira Takarada Talks About His Career, His Co-Stars and His Famous               Classmate,'" GFAN, No. 87, Spring 2009, pg.               8.

  56"While its pulse . . ." Bogue, Mike, Apocalypse Then: American              and               Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967, pg. 196.

 

CHAPTER THREE

Son of Godzilla

  57"Life forms on a South Seas island . . ." sleeve notes from Video               Treasures' VHS 1987 release of Son of Godzilla.

   58"Half in jest . . ." Ackerman, Forrest J, "Monsters From Japan: Out of               the East, Beast after Beast!," Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 14,               March 1975, pg. 22.

   58"proceeds to beat . . ." The Moseph, "Son of Godzilla (Monster Island's               Decisive Battle: Godzilla's Son, 1967)," Reel Rundown: A Beginner's               Guide to Godzilla Movies, March 18, 2018. Retrieved from               reelrundown.com/movies/A-Beginners-Guide-To-Godzilla-Movies.

  59"Son of Godzilla . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Son of Godzilla CD               Soundtrack Review," Godzilla & Other Monster Music website,1998.               Retrieved from               http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/G5352.htm.

  59"To some . . ." Ibid.

  59"to be a very good father . . ." Woog, Adam, Monsters: Godzilla,               pg. 26.

  59"a quickie exploitation programmer." Kalat, David, "Mad Science:               The Role of Science and Scientists in Godzilla Movies," GFAN, No.35,               Sept/Oct 1998, pg. 27.

        60,61"party atmosphere . . ." AOTG, pg. 192.

61"We really had fun . . ." MAAT, pg. 87.

61"We wanted to take . . ." JFMS, pg. 141.

    61,62"It has to be said . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Music in the Key of G,"                             GFAN, No. 46, July/Aug 2000, pg. 44.

  62"My aim was to make . . ." MAAT, pgs. 86-87.

  62"were just for fun . . ." Ibid, pg. 72. 

  62"usually composers . . ." Milner, David, "Jun Fukuda Interview," Cult               Movies, No. 13, 1995, pg. 52.

  63"Does anyone really care?" Ibid, pg. 174.

  63"In the end . . ." GFAQ, pg. 43.

  63"somewhat disturbingly resembling a human freak . . ." Harmon,               Jim, The Godzilla Book, pg. 56.

  63"I like the little freak . . ." (Baker, Evan A., "Destroy All Monsters:               Eleven Giant Monsters and the Greatest Battle on Earth," GFAN,               No. 40, July/Aug, 1999, pg. 18.

  63"Though clumsy . . ." MAAT, pg. 174.

  63"Adorable comic relief . . ." Mayo, Alex, "Survivor Monster Island:               Outwit-Outplay-Outlast," GFAN, No. 51, May/June 2001, pg. 17.

  63"a shapeless, mid-gray, squeaky . . ." GOMM, pg.56.

  63"an adenoidal mound . . ." Ibid, pg. 70. 

  63"more appalling than appealing . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Son of Godzilla,"               American Kaiju website. Retrieved from               http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/sonofgodzilla.shtml.

  63"a less than adorable creature . . ." Coleman, Dave, "Sons of               Godzilla: A Brief History of the Heirs to the Throne," GFAN, No. 106,               Summer 2014, pg. 41.

  63"lovable yet somehow detestable pug . . ." JFMS, pg. 290.

  64"a face almost resembling . . ." Glut, Donald, "Godzilla: Tokyo's               Greatest Nemesis," Monsters of the Movies, Vol. 1, No. 5, Feb 1975,               pg. 11.

  64"a precocious and pug-faced creature . . ." Rovin, Jeff, The Fabulous               Fantasy Films, pg. 134.

  64"strip club by the airport ugly . . ." Brothers, Peter H., The Sons of               Godzilla, pg. 64.

  64"Aside from being kiddie-oriented . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Godzilla:               A Film History," Japanese Giants, No. 6, 1974, pg. 14.

  64"It is generally accepted . . ." KaijuDuke (D.B, Jon), "Son of Godzilla               (1967)," SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database website, January 27, 2017.               Retrieved from https://skreeonk.com/kaiju-movies/.

        64,65"Why can Godzilla . . ." Kulin, Neil, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 52, Aug/Sept,                                           pg. 7.

  65"The final scenes . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Son of Godzilla," American               Kaiju website. Retrieved from               http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/sonofgodzilla.shtml.

  65"At first we used Styrofoam . . ." TTE, pg. 322.

  65"To overstate it . . ." Ibid, pg. 323.

  65"I watched it . . ." Ibid, pg. 323.

  66"The suit was so heavy . . ." IEOG, pg. 135.

  66"Unfortunately around halfway . . ." Imamura, Michiko with               Godziszewski, Ed and Takikawa, Kuni, "Godzilla Speaks!: A               Conversation with Haruo Nakajima," GFAN, No. 22, July/Aug 1996,               pg. 50.

  66"The great cresting effect . . ." AOTG, pgs. 192-193.

  66"It would surely have been . . ." Imamura, Michiko with               Godziszewski, Ed               and Takikawa, Kuni, "Godzilla Speaks!: A               Conversation with Haruo Nakajima," GFAN, No. 22, July/Aug 1996,               pg. 51.

  68"a truly disgusting mouth . . ." JSF, pg. 152.

        68"Around the time . . ." TTE, pg. 321.

  69"I was in Team B . . ." Ibid, pg. 322.

  69"Uncertain whether this . . ." Ibid, pg. 330.

  70"an undervalued gem . . ." JFMS, pg. 140.

  70"infamous . . . detracts from the straightforward and serious sci-fi               story,"               Ibid, pg. 141.

  70"Son of Godzilla has received . . ." TGE, pg. 61.

  70"despite its flaws . . ." GFAQ, pg. 43.

  70 "is genuinely endearing . . ." Ibid, pg. 43.

  70      "an abomination . . . " IEOG, pg. 122.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

  71"There were a number . . ." Foster, Damon, "Gojira," Oriental               Cinema #37, No. 22, Vol. 3, 2004, pg. 6. 

  72"an alien life form . . ." GFAQ, pg. 280.

  76"Godzilla lumbers off . . ." Gerani, Gary, "Godzilla vs. the Smog               Monster," The Monster Times, No. 15, Volume 1, Sept 1972, pg. 15.

  76"lowest point . . ." Greenberger, Robert, Famous Movie Monsters:               Meet Godzilla, pg. 22).

        76,77"Godzilla vs. Hedorah has long been considered . . ." Arlt, Martin,                             "Godzilla Goes Green: Godzilla vs. Hedorah," Mad Scientist, No. 24,                             Fall, 2011, pg. 26.

  77"In July of 1970 . . ." Buttgereit, Jorg, "Whatever Ever Happened to               Yoshimitsu Banno? An Interview with the Man who Made Godzilla               Fly," GFAN, No. 60, Jan/Feb 2003, pg. 19.

  77"On the way back . . ." TTE, pg. 355.

  77"the single most notorious . . ." Arlt, Martin, "Godzilla Goes Green:               Godzilla vs. Hedorah," Mad Scientist, No. 24, Fall, 2011, pg. 22.

  77"the most bizarre . . ." Biondi, Robert and Roberto, John Rocco,               "Godzilla in America: Part 6: Save the Earth! Godzilla tai Hedorah,"               GFAN, No. 16, July/Aug 1995.

  77"truly bizarre . . ." N., Chris, "Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971),"               The Godzilla Saga: Online Godzilla Compendium website. Retrieved               from               www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.thesmogmonster.html.

  77"certainly the most gruesome . . ." Gingold, Michael, "Godzilla: The               Japanese Adventures," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 24.

  77"the single strangest . . ." GFAQ, pg. 119.

  77"a major misfire" Ibid, pg. 122.

  77"one of the most peculiar . . ." GOMM, pg. 61.

  78"Godzilla burning up water . . ." Iguanoman,"Godzilla vs. the Smog               Monster (1971): (Godzilla vs. Hedorah), Godzilla Tower website.               Retrieved from               http://www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower/Index.htm.

  78"Godzilla had changed . . ." Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King of the               Movie Monsters, pg. 64.

  78"What many critics hate . . ." BB1,  pg. 211.

  78"an unfortunate pastiche . . ." JSF, pg. 201.

  78 "not-so-subtle . . ." Barr, Jason Barr, Kaiju Cinema, pg. 20.

  78"the movie's schizophrenic underpinnings . . ." Bogue, Mike,               "Godzilla vs. Hedorah (aka Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster),"               American Kaiju website. Retrieved from               http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/gvshedorah.shtml.

  79"When we made that movie . . ." MAAT, pg. 113.

  79"But isn't it logical . . ." Weisser, Thomas and Weisser, Yuko Mihara,               Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook, pg. 123.

  79"a biting commentary . . ." Mustachio, Camille D.G. and Barr, Jason, Giant               Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture,               pg. 70.

  79"One shouldn't ever . . ." Callow, Simon, Orson Welles, Volume 3:               One-Man Band, pg. 98.

  80"Most of the ideas . . ." Homenick, Brett and Field, Robert Scott,               "The Man Who Made Godzilla Fly: A Conversation with Yoshimitsu               Banno,               GFAN, No. 73, Fall, 2005, pg 11.

  80"At the beginning . . ." Ibid, pg. 10.

  80"At the time . . ." Macias, Patrick, TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult               Film Companion, pg. 32. 

  81"A movie about social problems . . ." Ryfle, Steve with Galbraith IV,               Stuart, Iijima, Emiko and Fujii, Yukari, "Teruyoshi Nakano," GFAN,               No. 27,               May/June 1997, pg. 21.

  81"Looking back now . . ." MAAT, pg. 113.

  81"It was a unique type of filming . . ." TTE, pg. 358.  

  82"devoid of vegetation . . ." Shoemaker, Greg, "The Toho Legacy: In               the Final Chapter of Myth, Monsters, and Myopia the Toho Fantasy               Image Fades to Blah," JFFJ, no. 15, 1983, pg. 24.

  82"Banno said of the notorious scene . . ." AOTG, pg. 211.

  83"We made Godzilla fly . . ." MAAT, pg. 113.

  83"We got the idea . . ." Macias, Patrick, TokyoScope: The Japanese               Cult Film Companion, pg. 35.

  84"It was imperative . . ." Ibid, pg. 35.  

  84"As long as there is melodrama . . ." Callow, Simon, Orson Welles,               Volume 3: One-Man Band, pg. 235.

  85"a hyperactive . . ." Shoemaker, Greg, "The Toho Legacy: In the Final               Chapter of Myth, Monsters, and Myopia the Toho Fantasy Image               Fades to Blah," JFFJ, No. 15, 1983, pg. 24.

      85,86"By presenting the protest party . . ." ACH, pgs. 116-117.

  86"as a form of social pollution . . ." JGM, pg. 122, 123. 

  87"is easily forgettable." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Music in the Key of G:               Godzilla vs. Hedorah," GFAN, No. 46, July/Aug 2000, pg. 46.

  87"a strident, squawk-like fanfare . . ." Shoemaker, Greg, "The Toho               Legacy:               In the Final Chapter of Myth, Monsters, and Myopia; the               Toho Fantasy Image Fades to Blah," JFFJ, No. 15, 1983, pg. 24.

  87"All the scuba diving footage . . ." Arlt, Martin, "Godzilla Goes               Green: Godzilla vs. Hedorah," Mad Scientist, No. 24, Fall, 2011,               pg.20.

  88"a mountain dump . . ." Harmon, Jim, The Godzilla Book, pg. 57.

  88"As an ambulatory pile . . ." Lees, J.D., "Godzilla's Deadliest Foes,"               GFAN, No. 31, Jan/Feb, 1998, pg. 17.

  89"I had this feeling . . ." TTE, pg. 356.

  89"When an exploding star . . ." Lees, J.D. and Rebner, Jeff, "Friends &               Foes of Godzilla: Hedorah," GFAN, No. 82, Winter 2008, pg. 28.

  89"Hedorah's eyes were modeled . . ." TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult               Film Companion, pg. 34.

  89,90"when Satsuma suffered . . ." GFAQ, pg. 100.

  90"We had a very good relationship . . ." Godziszewski, Ed and               Imamura, Michiko, "Inside Godzilla: An Interview with Kenpachiro               Satsuma," GFAN,               No. 42, Nov/Dec 1999, pg. 70.

  90"At first . . ." MAAT, pg. 57.

  91"What the hell . . ." Weisser, Thomas and Weisser, Yuko Mihara,               Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook, pg. 23.

  91"I really did try . . ." Buttgereit, Jorg, "Whatever Ever Happened to               Yoshimitsu Banno? An Interview with the Man who Made Godzilla               Fly," GFAN, No. 60, Jan/Feb 2003, pg. 19.

  92"I think most babyboomer . . ." Bogue, Mike "G-Mail," GFAN, No.               105, March 2014, pg. 70.

  92"Godzilla is not . . ." JFMS, pg. 37.

  92"THE definitive crowd-sourced guide . . ." TGE, Back Cover Text.

  92"Critical reaction to the film . . ." Ibid, pg. 75.

  93"Fans such as . . ." Bogue, Mike "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 105, March               2014, pg. 70.

  93"There's something about . . ." Cura, Jaimie, "The Kaiju               Ambassador," GFAN, No. 66, Winter 2004, pg. 44.

  93"To me it was . . ." Buttgereit, Jorg, "Whatever Ever Happened               to Yoshimitsu Banno? An Interview with the Man who Made               Godzilla Fly," GFAN, No. 60, Jan/Feb 2003, pg 19.

  93"The entire atmosphere . . ." Mora, Max Della, "Godzilla vs. the               Smog Monster: A Fond Look Back, GFAN, No. 25, Jan/Feb 1997,

pg. 40.

  93"Godzilla vs. Hedorah . . ." JGM, pg. 121.

  93"I didn't understand . . ." AOTG, pg. 212.

  93"I must be . . ." Johnson, Teddy, "G-Mail," GFAN, No.57, July/Aug               2002, pg. 38.

  93"Many Godzilla fans . . ." Russo, James, "DVD Review: Godzilla               vs. Hedorah," GFAN, No. 79, Spring 2007, pg. 77.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Godzilla vs. Gigan

  94"Godzilla never means . . ." Goddu, Krystyna Poray, Movie               Monsters: From Godzilla to Frankenstein, pg. 9.

  95"peace is the furthest notion . . ." Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King of               the Movie Monsters, pg. 70.

103"Tokusatsu cinema . . ." GFAQ, pg. 115.

103"where Godzilla more often than not . . ." LeMay, John, The Big               Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films, pg. 43.

103"It failed to arouse . . ." Parish, James Robert and Whitney, Steven,               Vincent Price Unmasked, pg. 97.

103"is only marginally more insulting . . ." Kaufman, Barry, "G-Mail,"               GFAN, No. 16, July/Aug 1995, pg. 12.

109"Inside the Godzilla suit . . ." Ryfle, Steve with Galbraith IV, Stuart,               Iijima, Emiko and Fujii, Yukari, "Teruyoshi Nakano," GFAN, No. 27,               May/June 1997, pg. 19.

109"Nakano, while a kind man . . ." England, Norman, "The Men Who               Were Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 16.

109"In the end . . ." "Origins: The Man Behind Godzilla," uncrate website,              2018. Retrieved from https://uncrate.com/video/the-man-behind-              godzilla/.

110"repetitive and tedious . . ." Stanley, John, Creature Features: The               Science Fiction, Fantasy,and Horror Movie Guide, pg. 219.

110"As films done . . ." TTE, pg. 365.

 110,111"The main idea . . ." MAAT, pg. 114.

        111,112"I began with the idea . . ." TTE, pg.364, 365.

112"Gigan has always . . ." Lees, J.D., "Monster of the Month: Gigan,"               GFAN, Special Collection No. 1, Dec 1995, pg. 37.

112,113"Gigan had more specific . . ." AOTG, pg. 213.

        112,113"But the feet were so big . . ." IEOG, pg. 137.

114"that most dynamic . . ." Rogers, Tom, "Ghidrah On Film," JFFJ, No.               12, 1979, pg. 19.

114"Toho no longer . . ." LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese Giant               Monster Movies: The Lost Films, pg. 144.

115"message underneath the surface . . ." Barr, Jason, The Kaiju Film: A               Critical               Study of Cinema's Biggest Monsters, pg. 98.

115"outside the narrative . . ." Kalat, David, A Critical History and               Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series, pg. 124.

116"What Godzilla fan . . ." Jon@UnCanny, "Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972),"               SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database website. Retrieved from               https://skreeonk.com/2011/08/31/gvsgigan/.

 

CHAPTER SIX

Godzilla vs. Megalon

117"As long as the public . . ." Rovin, Jeff, The Fabulous Fantasy Films,               pg. 136.

124"one of the great kaiju battles . . ." Homenick, Brett and Lee, J.D.,               "Racing For Megalon: G-Fan Interviews Yutaka Hayashi," GFAN, No.               86, Winter 2009, pg. 16.

125"Godzilla's Most Embarrassing Moment . . ." Bockelmann, Ken,               "Godzilla's Most Embarrassing Moments," GFAN, No. 81, Fall 2007,               pg. 17.

126"There is probably . . ." ." Homenick, Brett, "Godzilla vs.Megalon,"               GFAN, No. 70, Winter 2005, pg. 53.

127"This film is often criticized . . ." Chris N., "Godzilla vs. Megalon               (1973),"               The Godzilla Saga: Online Compendium of the King of the               Monsters website. Retrieved from               http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.megalon.html.

127" the cheapest, the shabbiest . . ." Knipfel, Jim, "Godzilla Hits the               Skids: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), Den of Geek! website, May 7,               2014. Retrieved from               http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/godzilla/233260/godzilla-              hits-the-skids-godzilla-vs-megalon-1973.

127"Clumsy-footed entry . . ." Stanley, John Stanley, Creature Features:               The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide, pg. 219.

127"This is the height . . ." Vorel, Jim, "Rank All Monsters! Every               Godzilla               Movie, from Worst to Best," PASTE: Movies website,               March 10, 2014. Retrieved from               https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/03/rank-all-              monsters-ever-godzilla-movie-from-worst-to-best.html.

127"Godzilla vs. Megalon continues . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Godzilla vs.               Megalon," American Kaiju website, Retrieved from Godzilla vs.               Megalonamericankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/gvsmegalon.shtml.

127"Widely considered . . ." Gingold, Michael, "Godzilla: The Japanese               Adventures," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 24.

128"A new low . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Twenty-Five Years with               Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 1, August 1979, pg. 40.

127"This movie goes . . ." The Real McCoy, "Godzilla vs. Megalon               (1973),"               SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database website. Retrieved from               https://skreeonk.com/2011/09/25/godzilla-vs-megalon-1973/.

127"Godzilla vs. Megalon is the film . . ." The Moseph, "A Beginner's               Guide to Godzilla Movies: Godzilla vs. Megalon (Gojira tai Megaro,               1973), ReelRundown website, March 8, 2018. Retrieved from               https://reelrundown.com/movies/A-Beginners-Guide-To-Godzilla-              Movies.

127"Godzilla vs. Megalon has attracted . . ." "Megalon," Gojipedia,               FANDOM Powered by Wikia website, Godzilla Film Series: Showa               Era Films. Retrieved from http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Megalon.

127"Oh, this one is bad . . ." Goldberg, Barry S., "Movie Reviews:               Original               Series (1954 - 1974): Godzilla vs. Megalon," Barry's Temple               of Godzilla website. Retrieved from               http://www.godzillatemple.com/movie13.htm.

127"It may be safe to say . . ." GFAQ, pg. 124.

127"It is childish . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Godzilla: A Film History,"               Japanese Giants Fan Letter, No. 6, 1977,  pg. 15.

127"The cheapest . . ." MAAT, pg. 153.

128"By far the worst . . ." Rainey, Mark Rainey, "Godzilla vs. Bionic               Monster/Megalon," Japanese Giants, 1977, pg. 17.

128"Made strictly for . . ." IEOG, pg. 45.

128"Toho's Godzilla series . . ." JSF, pg. 210.

128"Barebones production values . . ." JFMS, pg. 181.

128"The worst Godzilla film of all . . ." Biondi, Robert and Rocco Roberto, John,               "Godzilla in America: Part 6: Save the Earth! Godzilla tai Megaro, GFAN, No.               16, July/Aug 1995, pg. 18.

128"Inferior to all . . ." Stanley, John, Creature Features: The Science               Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide.

128"This movie is goofy . . ." Iguanoman, "Godzilla vs. Megalon,"               Godzilla               Tower website. Retrieved from               http://www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower/Index.htm.

128"Fingernails-on-blackboard groaner . . ." GOMM, pg. 49.

128"This movie is sooooo. . ." Brothers, Peter H., The Sons of Godzilla,

pg. 128.

129"looks like it was . . ." AOTG, pg. 215.

129"I remember Godzilla vs. Megalon . . ." MAAT, pg. 115.

129"about two months." Homenick, Brett, "Racing For Megalon: G-Fan               Interviews Yutaka Hayashi," GFAN, No. 86, Winter 2009, pg. 16.

129"We spent four months . . ." Milner, David, "Jun Fukuda Interview,"               Cult Movies, No. 13, 1995, pg. 52.

        129"Jun Fukuda and his production team . . ." Homenick, Brett,                                           "Godzilla vs. Megalon," GFAN, No. 70, Winter 2005, pg. 58.

        129"If you don't take . . ." Hyde, Stan G., "Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch-                            Punch-Punch!!!," GFAN, No. 49, Jan/Feb 2001, pg. 58.

131"I hated . . ." MAAT, pg. 112. 

131"at his best . . ." Shoemaker, Gregg, "The Toho Legacy: In the Final               Chapter               of Myth, Monsters, and Myopia, the Toho Fantasy Image               Fades to Blah - Monster Menace," JFFJ, No. 15, 1983 , pg. 25.

132"Jet Jaguar was not . . ." Lovold, Peter "Chrome Kaiju: Why Build a               Robotic Monster?," GFAN, No. 80, Spring 2007, pg. 13.

134"I worked about five days . . ." JFMS, pg. 187.

        134,135"Nothing really dangerous . . ." Doto, Kip and Johnson, Bob, "Robert               Dunham: The Foreigner Who Kept Japan Safe From Monsters!," MARK,               No. 2, Winter 1991, pg. 31. 

135"He was a little bit unsure . . ." Ibid, pg. 32.

136"Manabe often composes . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Music in the               Key of G: Godzilla vs. Megalon," GFAN, No. 47, Sept/Oct 2000,

pg. 36.

136"like a cute, gentle . . ." Woog, Adam, Monsters: Godzilla, pg. 23.

137"insect beetle . . ." Toho Kingdom website, "Monster Bios: Showa               Series - Megalon (1973)." Retrieved from               https://www.tohokingdom.com/kaiju/megalon.htm.

137"coleopteroid . . ." Lees, J.D., "Godzilla's Deadliest Foes", GFAN, No.               31, Jan/Feb, 1998, pg. 13.

137"a subterranean critter . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Godzilla vs.              Megalon," GFAN, No. 70, Winter 2005, pg. 53.

137"The design for Megalon . . ." TTE, pg. 368.

137"Because it was an insect . . ." Ibid, pg. 369.

138"greatest weakness . . ." Lees, J.D., "Godzilla's Deadliest Foes," GFAN,               No. 31,               Jan/Feb, 1998, pg. 13.

138"like some of the old . . ." Arlingon, Taryn, "Godzilla vs. All Comers,"               Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 141, March 1978, pg. 17.

        138,139"The dam miniature . . ." TTE, pg. 369.

        139"It was a time . . ." Ibid, pg. 369

140"the saving grace . . ." TGE, pg. 86.

140"I would have given . . ." Goldberg, Barry S., "Movie Reviews:               Original               Series (1954 - 1974): Godzilla vs. Megalon," Barry's Temple               of Godzilla website. Retrieved from               http://www.godzillatemple.com/movie13.htm.

141"Basically . . ." Field, Robert Scott, "Godzilla's Boss: A Feature               Interview with Toho Producer Shogo Romiyama," GFAN, No. 55,               March/April 2002, pg. 18.

141"Emotion . . ." Thomson, David, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles,

pg. 384.

141"lighten up . . ." McRobie, David, "Godzilla vs. Megalon: An               Appreciation, GFAN, No.45, May/June 2000,  pg. 28.

141"In a world filled . . ." Grieb, Scott, "G-Mail," GFAN, No.74, Winter               2006, pg. 12.

        142"I can easily look . . ." Cura, Jaimie, "The Kaiju ambassador," GFAN,                             No. 66, Winter 2004, pg. 43.

142"No need to apologize . . ." Ibid, pg. 43.

142"It's probably a fact . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Godzilla vs.Megalon,"                             GFAN, No. 70, Winter 2005, pg. 59.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla

144"lion around for ages . . ." Ackerman, Forrest J, "Godzilla vs. Bionic               Monster: Who Can Resist The Transistor Terror?," Famous Monsters               of Filmland, No. 135, July 1977, pg. 17.

        149"Kurai yoru no . . ." Johnson, Ted and Cassidy, John, "Kaiju Singalong                             Time!," GFAN, No. 86, Winter 2009, pg. 28.

151"The sun has set . . ." "Godzilla vs. Bionic Monster: Who Can Resist               The Transistor Terror?," Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 135, July               1977, pg. 25.

151"with no child actors . . ." N., Chris, "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla               (1974)," The Godzilla Saga - Online Godzilla Compendium website.               Retrieved from               www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.mechagodzilla.html.

152"was disguised as Godzilla . . ." Lovold, Peter, "Chrome Kaiju: Why               Build a               Robotic Monster?," GFAN, No. 80, Spring 2007, pg. 14.

152"First, since Godzilla . . ." Lees, J.D., "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 16,               July/Aug, 1995, pg. 12.

          152,153"The subterfuge appears . . ." Bogue, Mike, "E.T. Phone G:                                           Extraterrestrials in The Godzilla Showa Series," GFAN, No. 72,                                           Summer 2005, pg. 61.

        153,154"MechaGodzilla, under the control . . ." Barr, Jason, The Kaiju Film:                             A Critical Study of Cinema's Biggest Monsters, pg. 99.

154"Although King Caesar . . ." "King Caesar: Showa Monster Bios,"               Toho Kingdom website. Retrieved from               www.tohokingdom.com/kaiju/analysis/king_caesar_showa.html.

154"Given that the . . ." Ibid.

154"Miyajima is killed . . ." JSF, pg.219.

156"Teruyoshi Nakano was . . ." AOTG, pg. 217.

158"What will happen . . ." TTE, pg. 383.

        158"At the time . . ." Ibid, pg. 384.

159"an overgrown cocker spaniel . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Twenty-Five               Years with Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 1, August 1979, pg. 40.

       159,160"an Okinawan lion god . . ." GOMM, pg. 50.

160"King Seesar is no . . ." Shoemaker, Greg, "The Toho Legacy: In the               Final Chapter of Myth, Monsters, and Myopia the Toho Fantasy               Image Fades to Blah - Monster Menace," JFFJ, No. 15, 1983, pg. 25.

        160"I switched over . . ." MAAT, pg. 112.

160"I give all . . ." Ibid, pg. 116.

160"I think mine . . ." Ryfle, Steve, Galbraith IV, Stuart, Iijima, Emiko               and Fujii, Yukari, "Teruyoshi Nakano," GFAN, No. 27, May/June               1997, pg. 25.

160"I give all . . ." Milner, Dave, "Jun Fukuda Interview," Cult               Movies, No. 13, 1995, pg. 53.

161"I am not ashamed . . ." Patton, Ben, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 75, Spring               2008, pg. 86.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Return of Godzilla

 

171"The fans did not . . ." Ross, Michael, "Godzilla Roars to Life With a               Message," Los Angeles Daily News, Dec. 21, 1984, pg. 8.

171"A bad Godzilla . . ." Jones, Terrill, "The Mighty Lizard Returns!," The               Associated Press, 1985.

171"Godzilla stopped being friendly . . ." Greenberger, Robert, Famous               Movie Monsters: Meet Godzilla, pg. 31.

171"He was an angry lizard . . ." Todd, Mort, "Godzilla, King of the               Monsters!", Monsters Attack, No. 4, Sept, 1990, pg. 31.

171"It will be . . ." "Welcome Back, Godzilla Sweetie!," Los Angeles               Herald Examiner, Vol. CIX, No 147, 1985.

          171,172"much of the film . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Godzilla," Japanese Giants,                             No. 7, Dec 1985, pg. 7.

172"In the first . . ." Ross, Michael, "Godzilla Roars to Life with a               Message," Los Angeles Daily News, Dec 21, 1984, pg. 8.

172"The original story . . ." AOTG, pg. 238.

172"The film offers . . ." Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King of the Movie               Monsters, pg. 84.

172"(Godzilla's) presence . . ." Ragone, August, MARK, "Markalite               Review:               Gojira (Godzilla-1984)," Vol 1, Summer 1990, pg. 66.

173"like something out . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Godzilla 1985 (a.k.a. Godzilla               and The Return of Godzilla)," American Kaiju website. Retrieved               from http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/g1985.shtml.

175"This is one . . ." dbborroughs, "Bye Bye Jupiter (1984): Thank God,               That Means We'll Never Have to Watch This Again," IMDb website,               March 20, 2004. Retrieved from               https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086247/.

175"The industry tends . . ." AOTG, pg. 240.

179"Gaps between generations . . ." Tasogawa, Hiroshi, All the               Emperor's Men: Kurosawa's Pearl Harbor, pg. 243.

181"What's different . . ." Stanley, John, Creature Features: The Science               Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide, pg. 219.

182"We really wanted . . ." JFMS, pg. 232.

182"I learned that . . ." MAAT, pg. 80.

        183,184"That set was . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Godzilla," Japanese Giants,                             No. 7, Dec 1985, pg. 10.

184"My job was . . ." Shimomura, Kenju, "Shinji Higuchi: His Quest for a                             Truly Japanese Entertainment Film," GFAN, No. 84, Summer 2008,                             pg. 42.

184"Godzilla had been . . ." Greenberger, Robert, Famous Movie               Monsters: Meet Godzilla, pg. 32.

185"It was hell . . ." ACH, pg. 164.

186"The design was based . . ." Miyano, Oki with Aiken, Keith,               "Production Designer Yasuyuki 'Taiko' Inoue," Japanese Giants,

No. 10, Sept. 2004, pg. 63.

186"I didn't have enough . . ." Ibid.

186"I had a tough time." AOTG, pg. 239.

187"When I heard . . ." Kayama, Shigeru, Gojira,  King Record Co., Ltd.,               Star Child Records.

187"I do not write . . ." ACH, pg. 162.

187"due to health reasons." Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah:               Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast For Godzilla's               18th Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 12.

187"evinced no interest . . ." Blethen, Harold, "Gojira Soundtrack               Doesn't Score Big," MARK, Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg. 66.

189"one of the most . . ." Ragone, August, "Markalite Review: Gojira               (Godzilla-1984)," MARK, Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg.68.

190"It seems strange . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Where There's A Will, There's a               G! Mid-Eighties Memoirs of Godzilla 1985," GFAN, No. 79, Spring               2007, pg. 22.

190"The weaponry of the JSDF . . ." Mustachio, Camille D.G. and Barr,               Jason, Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American               Popular Culture, "Japan's Anti-Kaiju Fighting Force: Normalizing               Japan's Self-Defense Forces Through Postwar Monster Films - The               1984 Reboot and               Beyond," pg. 148.

191"The film is like . . ." Ragone, August, "Markalite Review: Gojira               (Godzilla-1984), MARK, Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg. 67.

191"Personally, I'd like . . ." Jones, Terrill, "The Mighty Lizard               Returns!," The Associated Press, 1984.

 

CHAPTER NINE

Godzilla vs. Biollante

197"Attacking a gigantic . . ." Barr, Jason, The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study               of Cinema's Biggest Monsters, pg. 126.

198"In 1984 . . ." Homenick, Brett and Field, Robert Scott, "The Man               Who Revived Godzilla," GFAN, No. 78, Fall 2006, pg. 34. 

199"He wanted his movies . . ." ." Kalat, David, "Mad Science: The Role               of Science and Scientists in Godzilla Movies," GFAN, No. 35,               Sept/Oct 1998, pg. 28.

199"one of the finest . . ." GFAQ, pg. 70. 

199"a unique and inspired" Chris N., "Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)," The               Godzilla Saga - Online Godzilla Compendium website. Retrieved               from               http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.biollante.html.

200"The original idea . . ." "Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante: Godzilla vs.               Biollante: The Super-Beast Battle of the Century," Miramax, Echo               Bridge Home Entertainment, 2012, DVD Bonus Features.

200"The first fifteen . . ." Paprocki, Matt, "Godzilla vs. Biollante: An               Appreciation," GFAN, No. 65, Nov/Dec 2003, pg. 25.

200"convoluted with distracting . . ." BB2, pg. 66.

201"a new breed . . ." Yoshida, Makoto and Ikeda, Noriyoshi with               Ragone,               August, "Markalite Closeup: The Making of Godzilla vs.               Biollante - Markalite Interview, Director/Screenwriter Kazuki               Omori," MARK, Vol. 1, Summer 1990 " pg. 46, Vol. 1, Summer 1990.

204"After Dr. Shiragami's daughter . . ." Justice, Mark, "Shinto               Symbolism in Toho's Daikaiju Eiga," GFAN, No. 81, Fall 2007, pg. 32.

204,205"I'm not such . . ." Yoshida, Makoto and Ikeda, Noriyoshi with Ragone,               August, MARK, "Markalite Closeup: The Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante               - Interview, Director/Screenwriter Kazuki Omori," Vol. 1, Summer 1990,               pg. 44.

206"I've never seen . . ." Yoshida, Makoto and Ikeda, Noriyoshi with               Ragone,               August, MARK, "Markalite Closeup: The Making of Godzilla               vs. Biollante - Cast & Staff," Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg. 31.

206,207"I will never forget it . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Biollante's Main Squeeze:               G-Fan Interviews Derrick Holmes," GFAN, No. 83, Spring 2008,

pgs. 6,7.

207"very lackluster and unappealing" . . . JFMS, pg. 257.

207"disaster" . . . IEOG, pg. 59.

207"Sugiyama has a crisp . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Music in the Key of               G: Godzilla vs. Biollante," GFAN, No. 48, Nov/Dec 2000, pg. 66.

207"never considered" . . . Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah:               Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast for Godzilla's               18th Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 12.

208"impression of Godzilla vs. Biollante . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yoshihiko, "Akira Ifukube Interview," Cult Movies, No. 9, 1993,               pg. 38.

208"neurotic" . . . AOTG, pg. 242.

209"With a shooting schedule . . ." Ragone, August, "Godzilla vs.               Biollante: Has the Symbol of Anarchy Incarnate Returned?," MARK,               No. 2, Winter 1991, pg. 86.

209"In the first (Godzilla) film . . ." Yoshida, Makoto and Ikeda,               Noriyoshi with Ragone, August, "Markalite Interview: SPFX Director               Koichi Kawakita - A New Godzilla Movie by the Godzilla Generation:               Markalite Closeup: The Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante," MARK,               Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg. 51.

209"Every time . . ." TTE, pg. 345.

209,210"We couldn't decide . . ." "Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante - Godzilla               vs. Biollante: The Super-Beast Battle of the Century; Koichi Kawakita               Interview," Miramax, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2012, DVD               Bonus Features.

211"Kawakita and I . . ." England, Norman, "The Men Who Were               Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 17.

211,212"It was hard . . ." "Markalite Interview: Godzilla's Filming Witnessed               by the Monster Himself - Interview with Kenpachiro Satsuma,"               MARK, Vol. 1, Summer 1990, pg. 53.

212"The Godzilla costume . . ." JFMS, pg. 263. 

212"it fit very nicely . . ." Godziszewski, Ed, "Inside Godzilla: An               Interview with Kenpachiro Satsuma," GFAN, No. 42, Nov/Dec 1999,               pg. 70.

212"Even with a more comfortable costume  . . ." IEOG, pg. 138.

213"This was quite a surprise . . ." Yoshida, Makoto and Ikeda,               Noriyoshi with Ragone, August, "Markalite Closeup: The Making of               Godzilla vs. Biollante - They Call it 'Tokusatsu,'" MARK, Vol. 1,               Summer 1990, pg. 35.

213"The one thing that was lost . . ." HGC, pg. 208.

213"Using a launch . . ." "Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante - Godzilla vs.               Biollante: The Super-Beast Battle of the Century; Kenichi Eguchi               commentary," Miramax, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2012,               DVD Bonus Features.

214"It was supposed . . ." Ibid, Koichi Kawakita Commentary.

214"I have always felt . . ." JFMS, pgs. 263-264.

214"We thought it would . . ." "Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante -               Godzilla vs. Biollante: The Super-Beast Battle of the Century; Kaoru               Saito commentary," Miramax, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment,               2012, DVD Bonus Features.

215"The live-action plate . . ." IEOG, pg. 161.

215,216"For that scene . . ." Takeda, Hikari and Naoko, Takeda (aka               Modstoon), "Inside the Monster Factory: An Interview with the               Presidents of Tokyo's Bishop Studio," GFAN, No. 21, May/June               1996, pg. 45.

216"We were working . . ." Ibid, pg. 45.

216"To put it simply . . ." HGC, pg. 48.

217"might be the most . . ." SKFD, "Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989),"               KaijuDuke (D.B, Jon), SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database website.               Retreived from                             https://skreeonk.com/2011/10/11/godzilla-vs-biollante-1989/.

217"the worst of the series . . ." Tucker, Guy Mariner, "Godzilla vs.               Biollante: Toho Hits Rock-Bottom," MARK, No. 2, Winter 1991,

pg. 88.

217"Godzilla vs. Biollante . . ." Paprocki, Matt, "Godzilla vs. Biollante: An               Appreciation," GFAN, No. 65, Nov/Dec 2003, pg. 25.       

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

221"This establishes Godzilla . . ." Copner, Mike, "Godzilla Scrapbook,"               Cult Movies & Video, No. 4, 1992, pg. 20.

224"With Godzilla vs. Biollante . . ." Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King               Ghidorah: Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast for               Godzilla's 18th Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 12.

225"Omori went a bit too far . . ." AOTG, pg. 243.

225"In writing this story . . ." Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah:               Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast for Godzilla's               18th Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 14.

225"I thought the American people . . ." AOTG, pg. 243.

225"Of course . . ." JFMS, 273.

225"I don't know why . . ." England, Norman, "The M-11 Tapes: Norman               England Interviews Robert Scott Field," GFAN, No. 32, March/April               1998, pg. 15.

225"Some of the guys at Toho . . ." Ibid, pg. 16.

225"As I'm sure . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Famous Father From Lagos               Island: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah's Major Spielberg Tells All!",               GFAN, No. 76, Summer 2006, pg. 27.

225,226"I am not anti-American. . . ." Homenick, Brett and Field, Robert               Scott, "The Man Who Revived Godzilla," GFAN, No. 78, Fall 2006,               pgs. 39, 40.

226"If the film . . ." Homenick, Brett, "The Grenchiko Tapes," GFAN, No.               74, Winter 2006, pg. 16. 

226"Like so many . . ." Debus, Allen A., Dinosaur Memories II: Pop-              Culture Reflections on Dino-Daikaiju & Paleoimagery, pg. 305.

226"Because the dinosaur's . . ." JFMS, pg. 273.

227"paradox-laden time travel plot . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Deploy All               Monsters!: A Wonder Guide to the Best of the Japanese Monster               Movies," Wonder, No. 10, Spring 1995, pg. 18.

227"since this is the monster . . ." Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King               Ghidorah: Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast for               Godzilla's 18th Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 14. 

227,228"You can time travel . . ." Peel, Skip, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 13,               Jan/Feb 1995, pg. 8.

228"If you subscribe . . ." Lees, J.D., "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 13, Jan/Feb 1995,               pg. 8.

230"I was excited . . ." JFMS, pg. 271.

230"I really enjoyed . . ." AOTG, pg. 244.

230,231"I play a character . . ." Tucker, Guy, "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah:               Hashimoto Quits, Tsuchiya and Sahara Join the Cast for Godzilla's 18th               Entry," MARK, No. 3, Fall 1991, pg. 13.

231"Mr. Shindo is . . ." Ryfle, Steve and Kobayashi, Osamu "Sammy,"               "Reminiscences of the Vapor Man: An Interview with Yoshio               Tsuchiya," Japanese Giants, No. 9, 2002, pg. 61.

231"In the previous movies . . ." Homenick, Brett and Field, Robert               Scott, "The Man Who Revived Godzilla," GFAN, No. 78, Fall 2006,               pgs. 38, 39.  

232"As a boy . . ." England, Norman, "The M-11 Tapes: Norman England               Interviews Robert Scott Field," GFAN, No. 32, March/April 1998,

pg. 10.

232"I was being lowered . . ." Ibid, pg. 15.

232"They had me . . ." Ibid, pg. 15

232"My daughter said . . ." AOTG, pg. 243.

233"I still have to face . . ." JFMS, pg. 315.

234"After the screening . . ." Godziszewski, Ed and Imamura, Michiko,               "Ifukube on Ifukube: Interview with Akira Ifukube," GFAN, No. 18,               Nov/Dec 1995, pg. 37.

236"We made the foam . . ." HGC, pg. 99.

236"I wanted to make . . ." Ibid, pg. 104.

236"As for the making . . ." Ibid, pg. 103.

236,237"I continued with the idea . . ." Ibid, pg. 104.

237"like something one . . ." JSF, pg. 290.

237"The Heisei Godzilla style . . ." England, Norman, "The Men Who               Were Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 17.

238"In the beginning . . ." Lees, J.D. and Field, Robert Scott, "The Happy               Hurricane," GFAN, No. 60, Jan/Feb 2003, pg. 104.

239"Looking back . . ." HGC, pg. 101.

239"the terror of history itself" . . . Annandale, David, "A Monster For               All Seasons: The Many Symbolic Roles of Godzilla," GFAN, No. 69,               Fall 2004, pg. 20.

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Godzilla vs. Mothra

243"Mothra oh Mothra . . ." "Mothra's Song," Gojipedia, Fandom-Wikia               website. Retrieved from               http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Mothra_Song.

       236,247"Asia is being carpeted . . ." Shenona, Philip, "FORE! Gold is Asia Hits                             Environmental Rough," The New York Times Company website,                             October 22, 1994. Retrieved from                                                                                     https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/22/world/fore-golf-in-asia-hits-                            enironmental-rough.html?mcubz=0.

249"Mothra's naturally-reoccurring . . ." LeMay, John, The Big Book of               Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films, pg. 167.

249"Films which have . . ." Bailey, Nawan O. and Ichinomiya, Koji,               Godzilla vs. Mothra Biographical Sketches," Cult Movies & Video,               No. 7, 1993, pg. 51.

250"I regard Godzilla films . . ." JFMS, pg. 281.

251"Probably, the award . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, "Music in the Key of               G: Godzilla vs. Mothra," GFAN, No. 51, May/June/July, 2001, pg. 44.

251"Most of the music . . ." Tuczynski, Lawrence, " Godzilla vs. Mothra               CD Soundtrack Review," Godzilla Monster Music website, 1998.               Retrievied from               http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/G5363.htm.

252"Shooting in the pool . . ." HGC, pg. 114.

252,253"Later, this style of shooting . . ." Ibid, pg. 116. 

253"The realism is in paying attention . . ." Ibid, pg. 128.

253,254"The illumination on the ferris wheel . . ." Ibid, pg. 121.

255"Amongst the staff . . ." Ibid, pg. 127.

255"For the scene . . ." Ibid, pg. 128.

256"We incorporated . . ." Ibid, pg. 128.

257"a thrilling romp . . ." GFAQ, pg. 154.

258"well over three times . . ." GOMM, pg. 65.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II

264"The stellar results . . ." BB2, pg. 66.

264"Toho truly surpassed itself . . ." N. Chris, "Godzilla vs.               MechaGodzilla 2               (1993)," The Godzilla Saga - Online Godzilla               Compendium website. Retrieved from               www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.mechagodzilla2.html.

266"If you want people . . ." "Chinatown: The Beginning and the End,"               Chinatown DVD, Special Collector's Edition, Special Features. ©2007               Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. 

269"According to Professor (Omae) . . ." Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King               of the Movie Monsters, pg. 104.

269"The Rodan seen . . ." Lees, J.D. "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 15, May/June               1995, pg. 47.

272"We're in the MechaGodzilla . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Four Times               Lucky: Lovely Shelley Sweeney Has Appeared in a Quartet of G-              Films," GFAN, No. 75, Spring 2006, pg. 40.

276"The timing of this . . ." Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla Ultimate Work,               pg. 82.

277,278"Since I also had . . ." HGC, pg. 154.

278"I wondered if . . ." Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla Laser Disc Edition:               Supplements, "Behind the Scenes: Koichi Kawakita," Toho Co., Ltd.,               1993.

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla

288"Since 1989 Godzilla's 'character' . . ." MAAT, pg. 10.

288"the series began . . ." Ibid, pg. 33.

288"Godzilla's family is . . ." KaijuDuke (D.B, Jon), "Godzilla vs. Space               Godzilla               (1994)," SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database. Retrieved from               https://skreeonk.com/2011/09/10/godzilla-vs-spacegodzilla-1994/.

289"A couple of the scenes . . ." Homenick, Brett, "Godzilla vs. the               Professor," GFAN, No. 79, Spring 2007, pg. 60. 

291"To continue the series . . .: HGC, pg. 182

291"Space Godzilla is a Godzilla . . ." Ibid, pg. 182.

293"like a hideous . . ." Biondi, Robert, "'Last' G-Film Misses Mark,"               GFAN, No. 20, March/April 1996, pg. 12.

294"The continuing mystery . . ." Takeda, Hikari, "The Otaku View '95,"               GFAN, No. 13, Jan/Feb 1995, pg. 5.

296"a male pawn" . . . Hatrick, Barry, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 15, May/June               1995, pg. 13.

296,297"In the screenplay . . ." Chiba, Kazuhiko, "My Impression of Godzilla               vs. Destroyah," GFAN, No. 20, March/April, 1996, pg. 11.

297"Hattori has a better command . . ." Tuczyzski, Lawrence, "Music in               the Key of G: Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla," GFAN, No. 53, Nov/Dec               2001, pg. 77.

297"Most of this score . . ." Tuczyzski, Lawrence, Godzilla Monster               Music website, "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla." Retrieved from               http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/G1291.htm. 

298,299"Looking back . . ." HGC, pg. 182.  

300"all the charm . . ." MAAT, pg. 154.

300"Little Godzilla as a very bad omen . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yohihiko, "Kensho Yamashita Interview," Kaiju Conversations               website, Dec 1994. Retrieved from               http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/yamash.htm.

300"Little Godzilla just looked . . ." Gary, "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla,"               Gary's Godzilla Zone" website. Retrieved from               http://gojirastomp.tripod.com/index2.html.

301"has a make-it-up-as-you-go . . ." Weisser, Thomas and Weisser,               Yuko Mihara, Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook, pg. 124.

301"will not be regarded . . ." Biondi, Robert, "Godzilla vs. Space               Godzilla: A Commentary," GFAN, No. 19, Jan/Feb 1996, pg. 25.

302"On its own . . ." Lees, J.D., "Space Godzilla Draws Mixed Reviews,"               GFAN, No. 13, Jan/Feb 1995, pg. 5.

302"Space Godzilla was a victim . . ." LeMay, John, "Godzilla vs. Space               Godzilla               Retrospective," GFAN, No. 105, March 2014, pg. 21.

302"Many people like . . ." Milner, David with Shibata, Yoshihiko,               "Takao Okawara Interview III," Kaiju Conversations website, Dec               1995. Retrieved from               www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/okawar3.htm.

302"To be honest . . ." HGC, pg. 182.

302"I have no idea . . ." Iguanoman003, "Heisei Series, Godzilla vs.               Space Godzilla," Godzilla Tower website. Retrieved from               http://www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower/Index.htm.

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

307"the most memorable . . ." GOMM, pg. 70.

310"While Godzilla vs. Destroyer . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yoshihiko, "Shogo Tomiyama Interview," Kaiju Conversations               website, Dec 1995. Retrieved from               http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/tomiya.htm.

310We had to kill him . . ." JFMS, pg. 313.

310"His agony brought . . ." Tvrdik, Tom, "G-Mail Feedback: Godzilla vs.               Destoroyah," GFAN, May/June 1996, pg. 10.

310"moving, even if the . . ." MAAT, pg. 151.

310"Although Godzilla's 'meltdown' . . ." D.B., Jon, "Godzilla vs.               Destoroyah," SKREEONK! - Kaiju Film Database website. Retrieved               from skreeonk.com/2011/08/31/godzilla-vs-destoroyah-1995/.

310"The sequence in . . ." Milner, David with Shibata, Yoshihiko "Shinji               Nishikawa Interview," Kaiju Conversations website, Dec 1995.               Retrieved from              www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/nishikaw.htm.

315"The Metropolitan Police . . ." Milner, David with Shibata, Yoshihiko,               "Takao Okawara Interview III," Kaiju Conversations website, Dec               1995. Retrieved from               www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/okawar3.htm.

315,316"I wanted to have . . ." Ibid.

316"At first . . ." HGC, pg. 208.

316"Why is the woman . . ." Mustachio, Camille D.G. and Barr, Jason,               Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular               Culture. "'Was it Me? Did I Kill Them?' The Monsters and the               Women in King Kong (1933), Gojira (1954), Monster Zero (1965),               Destroy All Monsters (1968) and Gamera III: Revenge of Iris (1999):               Emiko's Silence and Suffering in Gojira," pg. 98.

317"There was a lot of pressure . . ." Acuna, Kirsten, "Why 'Godzilla' Cut               a Cameo of the Star From the Original 1954 Movie," May 15, 2014,               Business Insider website. Retrieved from               https://www.businessinsider.com/godzilla-cut-akira-takarada-              cameo-2014-5.

318"a rather whimpery" . . . GOMM, pg. 69.

319"Akira Ifukube is also back . . ." D.B., Jon, "Godzilla vs. Space               Destoroyah," SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database website, 1995.               Retrieved from https://skreeonk.com/2011/08/31/godzilla-vs-              destoroyah-1995/.

319"The members of the audience . . ." ACH, pg. 225.

319"Without doubt . . ." Sizemore, Evan, "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah CD               Soundtrack Review," Godzilla Monster Music website, April 15,               2006. Retrieved from www.godzillamonstermusic.com/G5468.htm.

319"I thought about . . ." JFMS, pg. 316.

319"Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II . . . "Ryfle, Steve," Final Notes:               Interview with Composer Akira Ifukube," GFAN, No 41, Sept/Oct               1999, pgs. 12-14.

320"As the larger than life . . ." Morioka, Norizumi, "Radiation of Sound:               Ifukube Monsters' Burning Heartbeats," GFAN, No. 24, Nov/Dec               1996, pg. 34.

322"to see Godzilla's burning condition . . ." Murphy, Neil J., "Feedback:               Godzilla vs. Destroyah," GFAN, No. 21, May/June 1996, pg. 10.

323"The costume was made . . ." HGC, pg. 200.

323"I was given the opportunity . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yoshihiko, "Koichi Kawakita Interview II," Kaiju Conversations               website, Dec 1995. Retrieved from               www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/kawakit2.htm.

323,324"While I was sad . . ." England, Norman, "The Men Who Were               Godzilla," Fangoria, No. 173, June 1998, pg. 17.

324"We took the Godzilla costume . . ." Milner, David with Shibata,               Yoshihiko, "Koichi Kawakita Interview II," Kaiju Conversations               website, Dec 1995. Retrieved from               www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/kawakit2.htm.

324"I personally think . . ." IEOG, pg. 141.

324"Sometimes you see . . ." JFMS, pg. 310.

324"The head of the so-called . . ." Ishizuka, Daisuke, "Yoshikazu Ishii               Directs G-Film," GFAN, No. 54, Jan/Feb 2002, pg. 9.

325"The full range . . ." Godziszewski, Ed and Imamura, Michiko, "Inside               Godzilla: An Interview With Kenpachiro Satsuma," GFAN, No. 42,               Nov/Dec 1999, pg. 71.

325"After we filmed . . ." HGC, pg. 203.

325"From the very beginning . . ." Ibid, pg. 204.

325,326"Ryu was unable . . ." Ibid, pg. 208.

326"should be placed . . ." Ryfle, Steve, "A movie Beset With               Problems," GFAN, No. 20, March/April, 1996, pg. 13.

326"yet another bipedal . . ." Cran, Ken, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 24,               Nov/Dec 1996, pg. 13.

326"both artistic and disturbingly chilling . . ." Godziszewski, Ed,               "Godzilla vs. Destroyah Marks Comeback," GFAN, No. 20,               March/April 1996, pg. 9.

326"Kawakita spoke . . ." Lees, J.D., "Godzilla to be 'Destroyed,'" GFAN,               No. 15, May/June 1995, pg. 4.

326,327"I was the one . . ." HGC, pg. 205.

327,328"We wanted to show . . ." Ibid, pg. 205.   

328"The head was made . . ." Ibid, pg. 207.

328"You can kill Godzilla . . ." LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese               Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films, pg. 177.

328"the death of Godzilla . . ." D.B., Jon, "The Heisei Era Godzilla Series:               Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)," SKREEONK! Kaiju Film Database               website. Retrieved from               http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/godzillavs.destroyah.html.

329"Destroyah  was not the end . . ." Vysther, Eric, "G-Mail," GFAN, No.               21, May/June 1996, pg. 14.

329"Godzilla's death . . ." Bogue, Mike, "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, (a.k.a.               Godzilla vs. Destroyer and Godzilla vs. Destroyah)," American Kaiju               website. Retrieved from               http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/articles/gvsdest.shtml.

 

AFTERWORD

 

330"Godzilla was never . . ." Woog, Adam, Monsters: Godzilla, pg. 39.

330"Godzilla will always . . ." Powell, James, "G-Mail," GFAN, No. 21,               May/June 1996, pg 10.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Adamson, Joe, Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers, Simon and Schuster, New York, New York, 1973, 464 pgs.

Barr, Jason, The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema's Biggest Monsters, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2016, 203 pgs.

Bogue, Mike, Apocalypse Then: American and Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2017, 305 pgs.

Callow, Simon, Orson Welles, Volume 3: One-Man Band, Viking, New York, New York, 2015, 466 pgs.

Clarens, Carlos, An Illustrated History of the Horror Film, Capricorn Books, New York, New York, 1968, 288 pgs.

Comicon, Virginia, The Godzilla Encyclopedia: A Crowd-Sourced Guide, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, San Bernardino, California, 2018, 274 pgs.

Debus, Allen A., Dinosaur Memories II: Pop-Culture Reflections on Dino-Daikaiju & Paleoimagery, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, San Bernardino, California, 2017, 392 pgs.

Galbraith IV, Stuart, Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1994, 424 pgs.

___. Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!, Feral House, Venice, California, 1998, 191 pgs.

Goddu, Krystyna Poray, Movie Monsters: From Godzilla to Frankenstein, Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2017, 32 pgs.

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla Ultimate Complete Work, Televi-Kun DX Collector's Edition, Shogakukan, 1993, 89 pages.

Godziszewski, Ed, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla, Ed Godziszewski, Steinbach, Canada, 1994, 258 pgs.

Greenberger, Robert, Famous Movie Monsters: Meet Godzilla, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., New York, New York, 2005, 48 pgs.

Harmon, Jim, The Godzilla Book, Psi Fi Movie Press, Inc., Canoga Park, California, n.d., 98 pgs.

Ito, Akihiko, Godzilla Graph Pack Book, Kodansha, Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd., Tokyo Bunkyo Ward Otowa, Japan, 1983, 117 pgs.

Kalat, David, A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1997, 267 pgs.

Kawakita, Koichi (editor), Heisei Godzilla Chronicles, Kinema Junpo (Shinya Aoki), Tokyo Minato Ward, Akasaka, Japan, 2009, 272 pgs. 

LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films, Bicep Books, Roswell, New Mexico, 2017, 386 pgs.

LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Volume 1: 1965-1982, Bicep Books, Roswell, New Mexico, 2017, 293 pgs.

LeMay, John, The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Volume 2: 1984-2017, Bicep Books, Roswell, New Mexico, 2018, 229 pgs.

Macias, Patrick, TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion, Cadence Books, San Francisco, California, 2001, 240 pgs.

Marrero, Robert, Godzilla: King of the Movie Monsters, Fantasma Books, Key West, Florida, 1996, 143 pgs.

Marutani, Eiji, Tsuburaya Eiji, The Director of Special Visual Effects, Asahi Sonorama Co., Ltd., 1993, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 341 pgs.

Mustachio, Camille D.G. and Barr, Jason (editors), Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2017, 206 pgs. 

Ohashi, Yukichi, Complete History of Toho's Special Effects Films, Toho Publishing, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan, 1983, 556 pgs.

Okumiya, Masatake and Horikoshi, Jiro with Caidin, Martin, ZERO! The Air War in the Pacific During World War II from the Japanese Viewpoint, Zenger Publishing Co., Inc., Washington, D.C., 1956, 424 pgs.

Parish, James Robert and Whitney, Steven, Vincent Price Unmasked, Drake Publishers, Inc., New York, New York, 1974, 266 pgs.

Rhoads, Sean and McCorkle, Brooke, Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2018, 218 pgs.

Rovin, Jeff, The Fabulous Fantasy Films, A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc., Cranbury, New Jersey, 1977, 271 pgs.

Ryfle, Steve, Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G," ECW Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1998, 375 pgs.

Sakai, Toshio (editor), The Complete Collection of Godzilla, Kodansya, Toho Films, 1984, 69 pgs.

Solomon, Brian, Godzilla FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King of the Monsters, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Milwaukee, WI, 2017, 358 pgs.

Stanley, John, Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide, Berkley Boulevard Books, New York, New York, 2000, 596 pgs.

Suzuki, Atsushi (editor), Godzilla First (1954-1955), Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (Kōji Ōgawa), Tokyo Chiyoda Ward Nishikichō District, Japan, 1994, 112 pgs.

Takeuchi, Hiroshi (editor), The Toho Encyclopedia of FX Monster Films (Extended Edition), Asahi Sonorama, Tosho Printing Company, Ltd., Tokyo Central Ward, Ginza, Japan, 1999,  554 pgs.

Tasogawa, Hiroshi, All the Emperor's Men: Kurosawa's Pearl Harbor, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2012, 337 pgs.

Thomson, David, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, New York, 1996, 467 pgs.

Tsutsui, William, Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of the Monsters, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, New York, 2004, 240 pgs. 

Tucker, Guy Mariner, Age of the Gods: A History of the Japanese Fantasy Film, Daikaiju Publishing, Brooklyn, New York, 1996, 265 pgs.

Weisser, Thomas and Weisser, Yuko Mihara, Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook, 4th Edition, Vital Books, Inc., Asian Cult Cinema Publications, Miami, Florida, 1998, 397 pgs.

Welles, Orson & Bogdanovich, Peter, This Is Orson Welles, Rosenbaum, Jonathan, editor, HarperPerennial, New York, New York, 1993, 534 pgs.

Woog, Adam, Monsters: Godzilla, KidHaven Press, Farmington Hills, Michigan, 2004, 48 pgs.

PERIODICALS

The Associated Press, New York City, New York.

Cult Movies, Videosonic Arts, Hollywood, California.

Famous Monsters of Filmland, Warren Publishing Co., New York, New York.

Fangoria, Starlog Group, Inc., New York, New York.

G-Fan, Daikaiju Enterprises, Ltd., Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.

JapanUp!, Summer Side Up Entertainment, Inc.,  Torrance, California.

The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, Greg Shoemaker, Toledo, Ohio.

Japanese Giants, Happy Enterprises, Chicago, Illinois.

Japanese Giants Fan Letter, Brad Boyle/Dave Milner, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Los Angeles Daily News, Southern California News Group, Woodland Hills, California.

Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Hearst Syndicate, Los Angeles, California.

Mad Scientist, Martin Arlt, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Markalite, Pacific Rim Publishing Company, Oakland, California.

Monster!, Wildside Publishing/Kronos Productions, Oberlin, Ohio.

The Monster Times, The Monster Times Publishing Company, New York, New York.   

Monsters Attack!, Globe Communications Corpse, New York, New York.

Monsters of the Movies, Magazine Management Co., Inc., New York, New York.

Oriental Cinema, Draculina Publishing, Glen Carbon, Illinois.

Playboy, Playboy Enterprises, Chicago, Illinois.

Wonder, Wonder Studios, Atlanta, Georgia.

WEBSITES:

American Kaiju (http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com) © 2004 Todd Tennant.

Answers in Genesis (https://answersingenesis.org/) © 2018.

Atomic Archive (http://www.atomicarchive.com) © Copyright 1998-2015 AJ Software & Multimedia. 

Barry's Temple of Godzilla (http://www.godzillatemple.com/) © Barry S. Goldberg.

Business Insider (https://www.businessinsider.com/) Copyright © 2018 Insider Inc.

Den of Geek! (http://www.denofgeek.com/us) ©2014.

Godzilla Monster Music (http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com) ©2001, 2017 Lawrence Tuczynski.

Gojipedia - FANDOM powered by Wikia (http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page).

The Godzilla Saga - Online Godzilla Compendium (http://www.angelfire.com/ego/g_saga/) © Chris N.

Godzilla Stomp [aka Gary's Godzilla Zone] (http://gojirastomp.tripod.com).

The Godzilla Tower (http://www.angelfire.com/movies/GodzillaTower).

 

IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/). An Amazon Company. Copyright © 1990-2018. IMDb.com, Inc.

 

Institute for Responsible Technology (https://responsibletechnology.org/). 

 

Japan Times (https://www.japantimes.co.j).

 

Kaiju Conversations (http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/

 © 1998 David Milner.

Monstrous Movie Music (http://www.mmmrecordings.com) © 2017 David Schecter.

 

The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com) © 2018 The New York Times Company.

 

Paste Media Magazine (https://www.pastemagazine.com) © 2018 Paste Media Group.

 

Rodan's Roost: The Kaiju Site (http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroost/).

 

Reel Rundown (https://reelrundown.com) Copyright © 2018 HubPages Inc.

SKREEONK!  - Kaiju Film Database (https://skreeonk.com) © Jon D.B.

Toho Kingdom (https://www.tohokingdom.com/).

Uncrate (https://uncrate.com) ©2018 Uncrate LLC.

Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org/).

 

RECORDINGS

Laser Disc: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, Toho Co., Ltd., ©1993, TLL2454.

LP Album: Akira Ifukube: Film Music - Complete Works, Vol. 2, King Record Co., Ltd., K22G-7044, ©1981. All Rights Reserved.

LP Album: Japanese Folk Music: Society for the Preservation of Japanese Folk Songs, Shogetsu Watanabe, Lyrichord Discs Inc., New York, New York, Stereo LLST 7163, Year Unknown.

LP Album: (The Return of) Godzilla, Star Child Records, No. K28G-7226, Liner Notes, King Record Co., Ltd., © 1984, All Rights Reserved.

LP Album: SF Tokusatsu, Vol. 2, King Record Co., Ltd., K22G-7112, ©1983, All Rights Reserved.

LP Album: Sound Effect of Godzilla No. 1, Toshiba Records, EMI Music Japan, T23-1073, Year Unknown.

LP Album: Works of Akira Ifukube, Toho Records Co., Ltd., No. AX-9882, Production Executive: Masao Iwase, Editor: Tomohiro Kaiyama, July, 1977.

DVD: Godzilla vs. Biollante: The Super-Beast Battle of the Century - Bonus Features (Special Features): "Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante" - Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, © 2012 Miramax.

CD: Destination Moon, Liner notes, David Schecter, Monstrous Movie Music, © 2012.

 

CD: Kronos, Liner notes, David Schecter, Monstrous Movie Music,     © 2012.

 

INDEX

A

Ackerman, Forrest J, 58

Adamson, Joe, 42, 394, 420

Aizawa, Yuzuru, 157

Amamoto, Hideyo, 39, 48, 338

Aoyam, Kazuya, 143

Aoyama, Kazuya, 156, 348, 372

Arikawa, Sadamasa, 29, 32, 33, 51, 52, 65, 66, 67, 69, 335, 337, 339

Arlington, Taryn, 43, 394

Arlt, Martin, 7, 76, 87, 399, 400, 424

B

Baker, Evan A., 63, 397

Banno, Yoshimitsu, 72, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 103, 104, 399, 400, 401

Barr, Jason, 78, 115, 153, 197, 399, 400, 402, 406, 409, 417, 420, 422

Barry, John, 140, 297, 404, 405, 425

Bedi, Manjot, 192, 356

Belushi, John, 10

Berger, Richard, 219, 226, 229

Bessho, Tetsuya, 240, 250, 254

Biondi, Robert, 293, 301, 399, 404, 415, 416

Bogue, mike, 7, 25, 56, 63, 78, 92, 114, 152, 190, 227, 329, 393, 396, 397, 398, 399, 401, 403, 406, 408, 409, 412, 418, 420

Burton, Ronnie, 54, 395

Buttgereit, Jorg, 91, 93, 399, 401

Buttolph, David, 188

C

Chiaki, Minoru, 12, 26, 218, 231, 234, 235, 336, 362

Coleman, Dave, 63, 373, 397

Copner, Mike, 221, 396, 411

Cran, Ken, 326, 418

D

Daimon, Masaaki, 143, 156, 348

Debus, Allen G., 7, 19, 226, 392, 393, 412, 420

Doto, Kip, 134, 405

Dunham, Robert, 119, 134, 135, 345, 346, 405

E

Edwards, Garth, 317

Eguchi, Kenichi, 213, 352, 358, 359, 365, 372, 379, 384, 411

Emmerich, Roland, 126

Emoto, Akira, 281, 296, 351, 382

Endo, Seiichi, 24

England, Norman, 109, 225, 232, 253, 394, 402, 410, 412, 413, 417

F

Field, Robert Scott, 220, 225, 232, 363, 393, 394, 400, 406, 409, 412, 413

Fuji, Ryohei, 50

Fujita, Zan, 96, 108, 240, 254, 344, 361, 372, 375, 389

Fukazawa, Masao, 58, 65, 67, 69, 240, 242, 250, 303, 304, 312, 313, 314, 317, 328, 340

Fukuda, Jun, 7, 37, 38, 46, 48, 49, 52, 55, 60, 61, 62, 64, 79, 103, 104, 108, 116, 129, 130, 135, 138, 149, 151, 156, 157, 160, 161, 190, 199, 204, 226, 238, 293, 301, 328, 337, 339, 343, 345, 347, 351, 363, 376, 379, 389, 392, 394, 395, 397, 404, 405, 407

Fukushima, Masami, 151, 347, 353, 359

G

Galbraith IV, Stuart, 55, 63, 68, 70, 78, 81, 90, 154, 160, 237, 288, 310, 396, 400, 402, 407, 420

Glut, Donald F., 10, 63, 392, 397

Godziszewski, Ed, 64, 70, 159, 171, 212, 227, 326, 332, 390, 397, 398, 401, 403, 404, 407, 408, 411, 413, 418, 421

Greenberger, Robert, 38, 184, 394, 395, 399, 407, 408, 421

H

Hagiwara, Akira, 19, 354, 360, 367, 373, 388

Hall, Jeffrey J., 190, 223, 380

Hara, Kautami, 189, 339, 341, 349, 358

Hariya, Ryo, 292, 326, 379, 385

Hashimoto, Koji, 170, 171, 172, 175, 176, 181, 182, 183, 208, 337, 349, 351, 354, 360, 366, 370, 373, 379, 384, 408, 410, 412

Hashizume, Jun, 280, 296

Hayashi, Yutaka, 117, 129, 303, 317, 345, 346, 353, 388, 403, 404

Hidaka, Shigeaki, 25, 335, 351

Higuchi, Shinji, 184, 350, 408

Hirata, Akihiko, 39, 47, 48, 57, 60, 145, 157, 182, 205, 231, 317, 338, 340, 348, 376

Hishimi, Yuriko, 94, 100, 108, 344

Hitchcock, Alfred, 28

Hodzuki, Toshimasa, 19

Hoerr, Ronald, 289, 382, 388

Hokusai, Katsushika, 91

Holmes, Derrick, 206, 410

Homenick, Brett, 25, 30, 48, 80, 129, 137, 142, 231, 289, 393, 394, 395, 400, 403, 404, 405, 406, 409, 410, 412, 413, 414, 415

Honda, Ishiro, 1, 7, 18, 23, 24, 25, 36, 37, 43, 46, 48, 49, 52, 55, 70, 76, 79, 83, 103, 118, 161, 175, 181, 187, 190, 199, 202, 204, 205, 224, 225, 243, 284, 314, 328, 343, 345, 364, 375, 396

Honma, Noriko, 38, 364

Hoshino, Miyoko, 14, 336

Hyde, Stan G., 129, 405

I

Ibuki, Toru, 40, 48, 117, 134, 338, 346

Ifukube, Akira, 18, 26, 37, 49, 61, 62, 87, 113, 114, 136, 187, 188, 189, 192, 207, 208, 218, 229, 232, 233, 234, 251, 252, 255, 261, 265, 273, 275, 277, 297, 310, 319, 320, 321, 322, 343, 352, 358, 364, 370, 377, 383, 410, 413, 417, 426

Ikeda, Michiko, 17

Imafuku, Masao, 144, 156, 348

Imamura, Keiko, 241, 250, 260, 272, 281, 364, 369, 376, 382, 398, 401, 413, 418

Inoue, Yasuyuki, 20, 29, 34, 89, 91, 186, 336, 337, 339, 341, 343, 350, 352, 356, 358, 363, 366, 385, 388, 408

Ishikawa, Hiroshi, 94, 100, 102, 107, 108, 344, 367, 369, 373, 380, 385, 389

Ishino, Yoko, 303, 388

Ito, Hisaya, 41, 49, 250, 421

J

Jones, Terrill, 171, 250, 407, 409

Justice, Mark, 203, 409

K

Kahl, David, 225, 362

Kaimai, Eizo, 30

Kalat, David, 22, 59, 85, 115, 199, 201, 397, 402, 409, 421

Kamiya, Makoto, 236, 252, 254, 255, 353, 359, 365

Kaneda, Ryunosuke, 193, 357

Kasame, Yukio, 15

Kashiwa, Kanji, 289

Kashiwabara, Hiroshi, 289, 296, 377

Kato, Tai, 19, 208

Kaufman, Barry S., 103, 265, 402

Kawakita, Koichi, 197, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 273, 274, 275, 277, 282, 285, 291, 292, 298, 299, 300, 302, 315, 316, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 341, 347, 354, 358, 368, 374, 381, 384, 387, 410, 411, 415,鷄417, 418, 421

Kawase, Hiroyuki, 71, 85, 117, 134, 342, 346

Kawazu, Yusuke, 259

Kayama, Shigeru, 18, 21, 52, 187, 335, 408

Kimura, Toshie, 71, 80, 85, 342, 344, 356, 366, 373, 380, 385

Kiridoshi, Risaku, 80

Kishida, Shin, 144, 156, 337, 339, 348

Kobayashi, Keiju, 163, 182, 351

Kobayashi, Shinichiro, 12, 15, 26, 199, 200, 201, 209, 210, 216, 219, 240, 250, 254, 292, 336, 352, 353, 359, 362, 365, 369, 371, 372, 379, 384, 389, 413

Kochi, Momoko, 26, 304, 316

Kogure, Demon

(aka Kakka, Demon), 206, 356

Koizumi, Hiroshi, 12, 25, 26, 144, 165, 183, 336, 348, 351, 393

Komada, Tsugutoshi, 125, 346

Koroku, Keijiro, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 207, 349

Kuga, Yoshiko, 205, 231, 356

Kuno, Seishiro, 61, 340, 377, 383

Kuroiwa, Yoshitami, 88, 189, 341, 349, 356

Kurosawa, Akira, 25, 26, 84, 130, 408, 423

Kusano, Daigo, 144, 156, 348

L

Lees, J.D., 7, 9, 47, 124, 137, 142, 152, 228, 269, 392, 395, 401, 402, 405, 406, 412, 413, 414, 416, 418

LeMay, John, 7, 50, 51, 54, 78, 93, 302, 395, 402, 414, 416, 418, 421

Leone, Sergio, 38

Lin, Beru Bera, 143, 156, 348

Lugosi, Bela, 308

Lynn, Barbara, 149

M

Maeda, Bibari "Beverly", 57, 61, 340, 364, 370, 380, 383, 385

Manabe, Riichiro, 72, 87, 91, 92, 126, 135, 136, 139, 297, 345, 405

Manoda, Youichi, 34, 79, 88, 337, 339, 341, 350

Marrero, Robert, 45, 78, 269, 393, 395, 399, 402, 408, 414, 421

Maruyama, Kenichiro, 61, 338, 340, 358, 364, 366

Matsubayashi, Shue, 230

Matsushita, Hiromi, 145, 156, 348, 355, 370

Mayo, Alex, 63, 397

McCorkle, Brooke, 93, 422

Mihara, Yuko, 79, 165, 168, 189, 192, 194, 202, 399, 401, 416, 423

Miller, Tom, 19, 392

Milner, David, 9, 21, 49, 54, 129, 160, 208, 300, 302, 323, 391, 392, 393, 395, 397, 404, 407, 410, 415, 416, 417, 418, 424, 425

Mimura, Wataru, 267

Minegishi, Toru, 193, 205, 356

Mitamura, Kunihiko, 163, 188, 193, 203, 205, 351, 356

Mizuno, Kumi, 39, 48, 61, 338, 395

Mori, Yoshiko, 23, 29, 159, 346, 348, 349, 351, 354, 360, 367, 374, 380, 381, 386

Morimoto, Taketo, 175, 341, 345, 347, 351

Moritani, Shiro, 175

Murai, Kunio, 97, 100, 108, 344, 351, 371

Murata, Takeo, 21, 25, 240, 250, 318, 335, 369, 373, 388

Murphy, Neil J., 322, 417

Mutsumi, Goro, 146, 156, 348

N

Nagahara, Hideichi, 170, 180, 349

Nakagawa, Anna, 219, 229, 230, 250, 362, 389

Nakajima, Haruo, 5, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 52, 53, 67, 68, 93, 109, 237, 256, 274, 335, 336, 338, 340, 342, 343, 344, 346, 393, 394, 398

Nakakita, Chieko, 38, 338

Nakano, Minoru, 34, 56, 75, 79, 81, 83, 90, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 129, 131, 137, 138, 139, 156, 158, 160, 170, 171, 183, 184, 185, 190, 209, 215, 257, 277, 291, 299, 337, 339, 341, 343, 345, 347, 350, 372, 379, 384, 396, 400, 402, 407

Nakao, Akira, 261, 297, 318, 353, 360, 366, 372, 376, 379, 382, 385, 389

Nakashiro, Fumio, 35, 68, 337, 339, 343

Natsuki, Yosuke, 163, 182, 351

Nishikawa, Shinji, 274, 310, 345, 347, 353, 360, 366, 372, 379, 385, 416

Nishioka, Tokuma, 219, 363

Nishizawa, Toshiaki, 95, 108, 344

O

Oda, Motoyoshi, 23, 24, 25, 335, 393

Odaka, Megumi, 193, 203, 205, 206, 220, 230, 241, 250, 254, 260, 271, 280, 296, 304, 318, 356, 362, 369, 375, 382, 388

Okabe, Tadashi, 83, 338, 342

Omori, Kazuki, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 205, 207, 224, 225, 229, 230, 231, 239, 246, 249, 250, 267, 312, 328, 409, 410, 412

Onaka (Ohnaka), Kiyoharu (Seiji), 67

Onda, Seijiro, 16, 336, 337

Orai, Noriyoshi, 236

Osada, Chizuko, 322, 352

Osawa, Tetsuzo, 210, 241, 250, 251, 260, 272, 281, 303, 318

Otake, Makoto, 241, 250

Otsuki, Ulf, 118

Ozawa, Etiaro, 61, 183, 203, 210, 303, 318, 340, 351, 375, 388

P

Paprocki, Matt, 200, 217, 409, 411

Patton, Ben, 161, 407

Peel, Skip, 227, 412

Polanski, Roman, 266

R

Ragone, August, 172, 191, 209, 393, 394, 408, 409, 410, 411

Rhodes, Sean, 93

Rovin, Jeff, 64, 117, 397, 403, 422

Russo, Mike, 32, 93, 393, 401

Ryfle, Steve, 33, 55, 63, 70, 92, 226, 231, 233, 319, 326, 396, 400, 402, 407, 413, 417, 418, 422

Ryu, Hariken "Hurricane", 238, 274, 323, 326, 418

S

Sahara, Kenji, 57, 60, 157, 230, 272, 297, 340, 348, 362, 376, 382, 408, 410, 412

Saijo, Yasuhiko, 61

Saito, Kaoru, 214, 280, 297, 317, 332, 344, 411

Sano, Ryoko, 259, 270, 271, 337, 375

Saperstein, Henry G., 54, 169

Sasaki, Katsuhiko, 117, 134, 205, 219, 230, 346, 353, 356, 359, 361, 362, 365, 370, 375, 378, 380, 383, 384, 385

Sato, Masaru

(aka Masaro Satoh), 26, 40, 49, 50, 54, 61, 62, 69, 87, 143, 149, 157, 187, 188, 280, 297, 382, 393, 395, 397

Satsuma, Kenpachiro

(aka Nakayama, Kengo), 5, 89, 90, 112, 180, 185, 211, 212, 213, 214, 225, 237, 256, 265, 278, 292, 299, 301, 320, 324, 325, 327, 342, 344, 356, 363, 366, 376, 379, 385, 401, 410, 411, 418

Sawaguchi, Yasuko, 164, 183, 192, 204, 351, 356

Sawamura, Sonosuke, 15, 41, 48, 336, 338, 369

Schecter, David, 7, 33, 393, 425, 427

Sekiguchi, Yoshinori, 234, 358, 370, 383

Sekita, Hiroshi, 52, 67, 338, 340, 385

Sekizawa, Shinichi, 40, 45, 59, 102, 103, 104, 126, 129, 134, 151, 156, 175, 199, 243, 337, 339, 343, 345, 347, 364, 395

Shen, Sigmund C., 316

Shiba, Toshio, 59, 71, 85, 342

Shimazaki, Kyoichi, 210

Shimizu, Masao, 13, 143, 156, 336, 344, 348, 364, 370, 377, 382, 383, 385, 389

Shimon, Masato, 126

Shimura, Takashi, 13, 20, 336, 358

Shinada, Fuyuki, 210, 353

Shinoda, Saburo, 240, 304, 317

Shoemaker, Greg, 43, 45, 131, 160, 390, 394, 395, 400, 405, 407, 424

Solomon, Brian, 7, 55, 63, 70, 89, 258, 422

Stanley, John, 44, 181, 230, 394, 402, 403, 404, 408, 422

Sugiyama, Koichi, 207, 208, 352, 410

Sunazuka, Hideo, 38, 47, 48, 338

Suzuki, Haruo, 61, 82, 338, 340, 342, 350, 351, 352, 353, 356, 359, 365, 366, 367, 371, 372, 373, 377, 379, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385, 422

Sweeney, Shelley, 272, 375, 388, 414

T

Taira, Kazuji, 27

Tajima, Reiko, 16, 17, 21, 24, 26, 144, 156, 183, 336, 348, 351

Takagi, Shinji, 125, 136, 346, 372, 379

Takahashi, Koji, 192, 203, 205, 353, 357, 359, 362, 366, 372, 373, 379, 380, 384

Takano, Kouichi, 34, 335

Takarada, Akira, 26, 39, 47, 48, 56, 240, 251, 317, 338, 350, 369, 396

Takashima, Tadao, 57, 60, 96, 100, 108, 194, 205, 259, 260, 271, 272, 318, 340, 344, 356, 375, 376, 389

Takeda, Tetsuya, 167, 189, 294, 351, 356, 369, 411, 415

Takeuchi, Hiroshi, 187, 332, 350, 375, 385, 423

Takuma, Shin, 162, 351

Tanaka, Tomoyuki, 18, 19, 36, 37, 49, 59, 76, 80, 82, 83, 103, 141, 153, 162, 170, 171, 172, 175, 182, 187, 190, 191, 193, 198, 199, 203, 205, 216, 217, 224, 226, 231, 242, 249, 250, 279, 290, 293, 313, 319, 328, 335, 337, 339, 341, 343, 345, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353,鷄356, 358, 359, 364, 365, 366, 369, 370, 373, 377, 380, 383, 385

Tatsumi, Takuro, 303, 317, 388

Tazaki, Jun, 39, 48, 338

Tezuka, Katsumi, 30, 32, 240, 254, 336, 369

Thompson, Howard, 103

Thomson, David, 141, 406, 423

Todd, Mort, 171, 407, 424

Togin, Chotaro, 38, 47

Tomioka, Motoyoshi, 157, 337, 339, 343, 345, 347

Tomita, Kotaro, 118, 346

Tomiyama, Shogo, 141, 226, 310, 352, 358, 364, 370, 377, 383, 416

Toshimitsu, Teizo, 30, 350, 359, 365, 372, 379, 383, 384

Toyohara, Kosuke, 218, 231, 356, 362

Tsuburaya, Eiji, 12, 18, 19, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 51, 52, 66, 67, 71, 101, 109, 113, 138, 139, 140, 175, 197, 208, 210, 213, 275, 276, 335, 337, 339, 421

Tsuchiya, Yoshio, 16, 57, 60, 219, 230, 231, 336, 340, 350, 363, 380, 408, 410, 412, 413

Tsutsui, William, 54, 63, 77, 159, 318, 423

Tucker, Guy Mariner, 19, 33, 45, 60, 68, 82, 93, 129, 156, 175, 208, 217, 230, 408, 410, 411, 412, 423

Tuczynski, Lawrence, 7, 59, 61, 87, 136, 207, 251, 297, 390, 396, 397, 400, 405, 410, 414, 425

Tvrdik, Tom, 310, 416

Twardos, David, 10, 392

Tyson, Neal Degrass, 153

U

Ueda, Koichi, 218, 231, 297, 356, 363, 369, 376, 380, 382, 383, 385, 388

Umeda, Tomoko, 96, 100, 108, 344, 382

V

Vysther, Eric, 329, 418

W

Wakayama, Setsuko, 12, 25, 336

Watanabe, Toru, 32, 38, 48, 335, 337, 338, 339, 342, 346, 348, 350, 352, 353, 358, 359, 360, 363, 364, 365, 366, 369, 370, 372, 373, 377, 379, 382, 383, 384, 392, 426

Wayne, John, 308

Weisser, Thomas, 79, 399, 401, 416, 423

Welles, Orson, 79, 84, 130, 400, 406, 420, 423

Wilson, Chuck, 187, 219, 221, 222, 226, 227, 229, 234, 235, 239, 362

Wilson, Meredith, 187

Woog, Adam, 171, 331, 397, 405, 419, 423

Y

Yabe, Masaru, 171, 191

Yamabe, Takashi, 215, 216, 354, 360, 367

Yamamoto, Ren, 16, 156, 158, 336, 347, 350, 351, 356, 359, 365, 372, 373, 385

Yamamura, So, 230, 362

Yamanlar, Aydin, 193, 356

Yamashita, Kensho, 282, 284, 295, 300, 319, 381, 415

Yamauchi, Akira, 71, 85, 342, 364, 377, 383

Yamaura, Hiroyasu, 151, 347

Yamawaki, Hiroshi, 185

Yasamaru, Noboyuki, 184

Yoneyama, Zenkichi, 280, 370, 382

Yonezawa, Shiori, 242, 250, 254, 369

Yoshida, Yoshio, 72, 85, 326, 336, 342, 366, 372, 379, 385, 409, 410, 411

Yoshikawa, Towako, 280, 297, 382

Yoshimura, Naoyuki, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 54, 186, 338, 373, 379, 380, 385

Z

Zushi, Isao, 153, 159, 348

"Sayonara 'till we meet again . . ."