The Sailor Moon/Godzilla Connection Part II

Part II: Rise of the Monster King!!

The poster of the original Gojira from 1954, the one that started it all. (Godzilla Roar)

It was the year 1954, 9 years after the end of World War II. Japan was reeling ever since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the country slowly recovers, a lowly movie producer, Tomoyuki Tanaka, tried to pitch his movie, which was a Japanese/Indonesian co-production. But after the war, Indonesia demanded compensation from Japan because of their occupation at the time, thus killing off the movie he planned to make. As he took the plane ride home, Tanaka looked at the Pacific Ocean and saw another key moment that changed everything. The Japanese fishing boat, the Lucky Dragon No. 5, was caught in a fallout after the U.S. Navy was conducting hydrogen bomb tests off the Pacific islands, including Bikini Atoll. Many of the crew either died or suffered from radiation poisoning from the fallout, along with their fish being contaminated. As he returned to Japan, Tanaka turns to his superiors of the famed Japanese movie company, Toho, about his inspiration of the creation of his next movie. He thought that what if, what if a prehistoric monster was awaken by nuclear testing and vents its rage on Japan. After the green light from Toho, Tanaka got working on his creation. With the aid of director Ishiro Honda, composer Akira Ifukube and special effects designer Eiji Tsuburaya (who later formed his own company and created another famed Japanese icon, Ultraman) and inspired by King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Tanaka gave birth to the very creature that will become the legendary King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla.

Released in October 27 in Nagoya and later to all of Japan later on November 3 of 1954, the original Gojira was the first of many. Unlike the later movies, this movie is a reflection of all the real-life moments that recently happened regarding nuclear power gone wrong. When Godzilla was created, he was the personification of all nuclear weapons that ravages the very country who experienced it firsthand. A living, breathing natural disaster that cannot be stopped (unless it's from an Oxygen Destroyer). Even though this was the first movie (not to mention a poorly rushed sequel was released one year later in 1955 with Godzilla Raids Again), the King of Monsters' real journey didn't truly begin until 2 years later.

In 1955, a man named Edmund Goldman approached Toho's Los Angeles-based subsidiary in purchasing the rights for the original Gojira. After being shown some advertisement material and seeing the film himself, Goldman offered Toho $25,000 for the rights of the movie (which they easily accept). Through negotiations, promotions, edits and lots of red tape to cut, Goldman, along with others like Paul Schreibman, Harold Ross, Richard Kay and Joseph E. Levine, the remade version, Godzilla: King of the Monsters! was created and released in April of 1956. Unlike the original, this was 80 minutes long compared to the original 90-minute original version, most of the scenes were dubbed to English, references to nuclear testing, post-war trauma and such was removed (although Godzilla's creation by the H-bomb was mentioned in this version, along with a young widow with her kids fearing their inevitable doom), and above all else, new scenes with different actors, including the future Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, as reporter Steve Martin (way before the real Steve Martin came to be).

"I could hardly believe what has just happened. It seems that Tokyo has no line of defense."

$2,000,000 later in the box office (which was cheaper back in those days), this version of the original Godzilla wasn't well-received when it first came out. However, after Godzilla: King of the Monsters! followed by the release of the poorly dubbed Godzilla Raids Again (under the alternate name, Gigantis the Fire Monster), along with the creation of other Toho movie monsters like Rodan and Mothra, in 1962, Godzilla, after a short hibernation, returns in King Kong vs. Godzilla, where the King of the Monsters himself fought against the very monster that was one of many inspirations, King Kong. Later on in 1964, Godzilla faces off against Mothra in Mothra vs. Godzilla (or Godzilla vs. The Thing in international releases, which was a shmaltzy title, anyway), and then with Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster in 1964, where Godzilla, along with Mothra and Rodan team up to fight against the evil space monster, King Ghidorah. During that time, Godzilla was in a transitional period. From Ghidorah onward, Godzilla went from an allegory for nuclear weapons to a heroic monster defending Tokyo (and mostly the world) from other monsters, whether by experiments gone wrong to invaders from space. From 1954 to 1975, this era of Godzilla movies was known as the Showa Era. Godzilla went through many changes. Aside from being a defender of Earth, he was an environmentalist (which was displayed in Godzilla vs. Hedorah), a father (first displayed in Son of Godzilla, where he tends to his dopey-eyed son, Minilla or Minya for short) and a cartoon superstar in the late 1970s/early 1980s, thanks in part by Hanna-Barbera (unless you live in Japan to hear his classic roar, those in the Western Hemisphere will hear the roars of Ted Cassidy, who also did the roars for The Incredible Hulk in the 70s TV show of the same name). The king of all monsters was far off away from the nuclear nightmare he was displayed back in 1954. Godzilla became a symbol of Japan's strength and resurrection, and a role model to kids, almost like another giant movie monster with that same reputation, Gamera. However, after Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975, Godzilla swam away to the proverbial sunset, thus ending the Showa series, giving him a long break...until the new decade came.

The poster of The Return of Godzilla in 1984, later renamed Godzilla 1985 a year later.

In 1984, around his 30th anniversary, Godzilla returns to his dark, destructive roots in The Return of Godzilla or just simply Godzilla, ignoring the previous movies altogether except for the first one. And just like the original King of the Monsters, one year later, The Return of Godzilla was re-edited with scenes featuring the return of Raymond Burr (who was doing the Perry Mason Made-For-TV movies at the time), under its renamed title, Godzilla 1985. After this one, the rest of the movies is just one big arc, simply known as the Heisei series. One more after another, the Japanese government try everything in their power to stop Godzilla, or any other monster that threatens Tokyo and possibly the world. From classic foes like Mothra, Rodan, Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah (with a new origin story, which involves time travel), to newer ones like Biollante, Batra and SpaceGodzilla. Everything comes to ahead in 1995, a year after its 40th anniversary, with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, which brings it full circle, especially with the very monster spawned from the Oxygen Destroyer, the very weapon that killed the original Godzilla,

DESTOROYAH!! (Sorry, a little AVN reference right there but you get the point).

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was quite a big deal back then, especially when hearing it on the news that Godzilla was going to die in this movie, thinking that the series would come to an end, and I mean, "THE end".

Zilla: The Godzilla That Wasn't!

In 1998, a few years after the last movie of the Heisei series, Tri-Star acquired the rights to Godzilla at the time and place it on the hands of the same people who did Independence Day. And let's just say, this movie, despite making lots of money at the box office, didn't live up to the original. This version of Godzilla has no atomic breath, runs and hides from everything, and his roar is like he swallowed SpaceGodzilla. That, and laying eggs and hatching up rejects from Jurassic Park. Although this movie was bad, it did bring us a cartoon that was far better than the movie itself, but that's another story. As for the monster itself, this version of Godzilla was originally addressed as GINO (Godzilla in name only) until he got his official name by Toho, Zilla.

Poster of Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004, during the character's 50th Anniversary, no less.

In response to the failure of the 98 Godzilla movie, Toho decided to bring Godzilla back in 1999 with Godzilla 2000: Millenium or Godzilla 2000 for short. Afterwards, more Godzilla movies were released in this new decade, known as the Millenium series. Unlike the previous series of movies, the movies of the Millenium series were all different stories, different continuities, which all linked to the first movie itself. For instance, in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla was never destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer, he went into hiding after destroying Tokyo in 1954 until reemerging a decade later. Another example is in GMK (Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack), where Godzilla was depicted as the essence of dead soldiers from World War II, bringing vengeance to the world and King Ghidorah, originally an evil monster, was depicted as one of the three guardian monsters, alongside Mothra and Baragon, fighting to protect the Earth from Godzilla. The only two movies in the Millenium series that has a continuing storyarc are Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (where Mechagodzilla was called Kiryu) and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (which ties its story with that of the original Mothra). The series ends in 2004, right around its 50th Anniversary, with this series' version of Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla: Final Wars. Godzilla fighting every monster sent by the Xilians, especially Zilla, who dispatched him in rather quick fashion. Just like with the Showa series and unlike the Heisei series, Godzilla, along with his son, Minilla, headed off into the sunset, knowing that his exploits, for the time being, has come to an end...for now.

To Be Concluded...