Gamera

Gamera (ガメラ) is a giant, tusked, flying turtle from a popular series of tokusatsu kaiju films produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho's Godzilla during the first "Kaiju Boom" of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has become the other famous Japanese giant monster.

Gamera background

Showa era

Gamera made his first appearance in 1965's Daikaijû Gamera. The films, most of them directed by Noriaki Yuasa and written by Nisan Takahashi, quickly became a big hit with children during the first "Kaiju Boom". Gross mismanagement of Daiei, however, put the company in bankruptcy, and the Gamera films were forced to cease production after seven films. After Daiei was purchased by Tokuma Shoten in 1974, the new management wanted to do a new Gamera film in 1980, so ' was produced. While the majority of the film used stock footage (with limited new scenes of Gamera flying around), it was considered a nice "recap" of Gamera's history. However, Yuasa and Takahashi felt that they have done all they could with the monster, so they respectfully killed off Gamera at the end of the film.

Related Topics:
1965 - Daikaijû Gamera - Noriaki Yuasa - Nisan Takahashi - Daiei - Bankruptcy - Tokuma Shoten - 1974 - 1980 - Stock footage

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Through the years, on both sides of the Pacific, fans of Gamera or Godzilla have always debated, sometimes bitterly, which monster is better. The latter was considered better, in that Godzilla was considered to have "higher standards" than Gamera, who was just a monster for kids. The giant turtle thus often became the object of ridicule, especially on the American TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which lampoons B-movies.

Related Topics:
Pacific - Godzilla - American - Mystery Science Theater 3000 - B-movies

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However, 6 years after the beginning of the Heisei Era in Japan (1989), Gamera began to rise up to the standards set by Godzilla.

Related Topics:
Heisei - 1989

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Heisei era

It was 1995 when acclaimed film director Shusuke Kaneko put his filmmaking power to the test. A lifelong kaiju fan, he had always wanted to direct a Godzilla film, and even asked to direct a Godzilla film in 1992, but Toho wouldn't let him, as he had nothing to show for it (Kaneko did not direct a Godzilla film until 2001, when he directed the highly-acclaimed '). Then, in 1994, the Daiei Motion Picture Company had contacted Kaneko, asking him to direct their planned new Gamera movie. Although he was not a Gamera fan (he always liked Godzilla more), he did his best to stay true to the spirit of the classic films, but come up with a fresh, edgy feel to appeal to today's audience. Thus, 1995's ' was the result. Although it was not the huge box-office success it hoped to be, it was met with huge critical acclaim on both sides of the Pacific, dramatically outperforming the Godzilla films made during the same period (not to mention being made at only a fraction of the budget that said Godzilla films were made for). This called for 2 more sequels to be made, and each was bigger than the last.

Related Topics:
Shusuke Kaneko - Kaiju - Godzilla - 1992 - Toho - 2001 - 1994 - Daiei Motion Picture Company - 1995 - Pacific

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Now, another series begins anew in the Heisei era of Gamera. Scheduled for release in 2006 is a new film in pre-production, tentatively titled ', which returns the giant turtle to his Sh?wa-era roots, but with a modern twist.

Related Topics:
Heisei - Sh?wa

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