I guess I can see the logic of saving Godzilla (the best) for last, but it doesn't seem right for Godzilla not to be the first, the harbinger of the kaiju era.
Toho is making their own Godzilla movies again!
- Thread starter Kai "the spy"
- Start date
No, in Legendary, Godzilla was first discovered in 1954, the same as in every pre-Shin Toho continuity. If anything, he was discovered a bit earlier there, because the Marshall Islands nuclear tests were an attempt to kill Godzilla, rather than the thing that irradiated him and drove him from his hunting grounds (in Showa continuity) or that mutated him into a giant (in Heisei continuity).
I think that a few of the Showa monsters were technically known before 1954; both King Kong and Mothra were worshipped as gods by the natives of their respective islands. But then, so was Gojira by the Odo Islanders, who had sacrificed virgins to him for generations to appease his hunger. (It was ambiguous whether he actually was the being they sacrificed to or just a dinosaur they mistook for a mythical deity, but given how Kong and Mothra were later treated, I suspect the intent was the former.) And there were other "god" kaiju, like King Shisa/Caesar in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, based on the shisa gargoyles of Okinawan mythology.
But yeah, as a rule, Godzilla is the first kaiju confirmed to exist by modern civilization, and the first to attack it. Every Toho continuity before Shin had the age of kaiju begin with Godzilla's 1954 emergence. There were some standalone kaiju movies in the later '50s and '60s that treated their kaiju (e.g. Rodan, Varan, Frankenstein and Baragon, etc.) as the first ones ever found, but they were later retconned into the Godzilla universe.
Shin does assert something about 1954 being the year that radioactive waste was dumped, eventually leading to the creation of Godzilla (according to Goro's research). But the mention of that year is the only slight nod they make to the original film. Otherwise, Shin Godzilla's origin owes nothing to any past movie.
Earlier this week, it appeared that a sequel to Shin had been announced by director Hideaki Anno, but it turned out his comments were misunderstood (he was only referring to the anime trilogy). While the ending of Shin certainly leaves itself open to a follow-up, I'm not sure we'll see a direct sequel. I'm also curious if the anime version of Godzilla will resemble Shin (who's very popular in Japan), or some earlier iteration (the Heisei look is my personal favorite).
Earlier this week, it appeared that a sequel to Shin had been announced by director Hideaki Anno, but it turned out his comments were misunderstood (he was only referring to the anime trilogy). While the ending of Shin certainly leaves itself open to a follow-up, I'm not sure we'll see a direct sequel. I'm also curious if the anime version of Godzilla will resemble Shin (who's very popular in Japan), or some earlier iteration (the Heisei look is my personal favorite).
That might work for a remake of Dogora the Space Monster--which really needs CGI.
But instead of the usual capers, I might have it at the close of a film adamptation of Ramsey Campbell's THE TUGGING.
https://tentoinfinity.com/2013/07/17/the-tugging-by-ramsey-campbell/
Toho has posted a behind-the-scenes video about the upcoming Godzilla anime. It's in Japanese, but there are some interesting images from the movie in it (although none of Godzilla himself).
Edited to add: In other news, Shin Godzilla was released on DVD in Japan recently, but no word yet from Funimation on when they will release a subbed/dubbed version here. I'd guess later this year, but it could be 2018 before we see it.
Edited to add: In other news, Shin Godzilla was released on DVD in Japan recently, but no word yet from Funimation on when they will release a subbed/dubbed version here. I'd guess later this year, but it could be 2018 before we see it.
Last edited:
I tried using Youtube's automated subtitle translation system. It didn't go well. Unless in the video they were talking about Godzilla scoring home runs and widening Austrian pigs.
Sad news for fans of the Godzilla film series, Yoshimitsu Banno, director of the classic "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster", as well as executive producer of Legendary's 2014 "Godzilla", has died on Sunday at the age of 86.
At the time, "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" was so controversial that Toho's producer of the Godzilla movies, Tomoyuki Tanaka, never gave Banno another directing job after this, telling him that he had "ruined Godzilla". Since then, though, that particular installment has gotten its own cult following inside of Godzilla fandom (it is also one of my personal favorites).
After the Toho series was on break after "Godzilla: Final Wars" tanked in 2004, Banno began development for a 40-minute IMAX-3D film starring Godzilla and an updated version of Hedorah, the Smog Monster, now called Deathla. He never got the funding for the project, but he and his team became involved with Legendary's effort to make a new American Godzilla film, resulting in the 2014 movie which Banno executive produced.
At the time, "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" was so controversial that Toho's producer of the Godzilla movies, Tomoyuki Tanaka, never gave Banno another directing job after this, telling him that he had "ruined Godzilla". Since then, though, that particular installment has gotten its own cult following inside of Godzilla fandom (it is also one of my personal favorites).
After the Toho series was on break after "Godzilla: Final Wars" tanked in 2004, Banno began development for a 40-minute IMAX-3D film starring Godzilla and an updated version of Hedorah, the Smog Monster, now called Deathla. He never got the funding for the project, but he and his team became involved with Legendary's effort to make a new American Godzilla film, resulting in the 2014 movie which Banno executive produced.
I hadn't realized there was a connection between Godzilla vs. Hedorah and the 2014 film.
There are even some parallels between the movies. Both feature Godzilla as the hero monster fighting other monsters, Hedorah had several different forms (among them a land animal form and a flying form) while there were two different MUTOs, one on land and one flying. Both have Godzilla only appear in key moments, but have his presence looming over the whole film (the imagination of the little boy in GvsH, the constant referrences of him between Dr. Serizawa and the military in '14), both have Godzilla seamingly die in the final battle, and both end with Godzilla returning to the sea accompanied by the cheers of the people.
Hedorah is a mess of a movie, but an interesting mess. It feels as if, similarly to the clip-show movie All Monsters Attack, it was meant to be the daydream of the main child character -- but it's a much wilder and freakier daydream, if so.
Funimation has announced that the Shin Godzilla BD/DVD will be released August 1. There will be an English dub track as well as the subtitled version we saw in theaters. The set released in Japan earlier this year consisted of three discs, so the North American edition is sparse as far as extras are concerned.
Have you sent in this quote for the DVD? They might use it, coming from such an esteemed film critic as it does.
TC
By the way, I just came across the DVD of Godzilla 1984: The Return of Godzilla at the library. It's finally available in the US after many years, and with much better image quality and more thorough subtitles than the version I found online once. It only heightened my sense of the similarity between Return and Shin, since both films focus heavily on government officials debating how to deal with Godzilla and both use onscreen captions to identify officials by their name and position when they first appear. They're also two of the most serious Godzilla films, and both use Godzilla's attack as allegory for Japan's geopolitical situation in relation to the superpowers. And they're the only two Toho G-films since the '54 original that are strictly Godzilla vs. the military rather than vs. another kaiju or Mechagodzilla. Although Return has one thing Shin doesn't -- main characters who are civilians and scientists, offering a perspective outside the halls of bureaucracy.
Unfortunately, the DVD's releasers couldn't get the rights to the Raymond Burr Godzilla 1985 version, or any of the Japanese bonus features.
Unfortunately, the DVD's releasers couldn't get the rights to the Raymond Burr Godzilla 1985 version, or any of the Japanese bonus features.
Nomad, interesting revelation about Godzilla's appearance in "Monster Planet". I've seen several videos on YouTube about the project from a particular person. (I won't mention the name as I understand that's somehow against the TOS here.) Poor schmoe has been majorly whining for months about there being no kind of "reveal" for the "Big 'G'". I wonder what will be his reaction now that Goji's design has been presented?
That is really agravating that Japanese version has so much more content than ours. Is there any chance we might get either as English version of the 3-disc set or at least an edition with more than just one featurette?
Wow, I was not expecting that at all, since this was animated, I figure they'd go for something very different.
Similar threads
