Godzilla

Godzilla (Gojira) (ゴジラ) is a giant, amphibious, dinosaur-like fictional creature first seen in the Japanese-produced 1954 Tokusatsu Kaiju film Gojira produced by Toho Film Company Ltd.. In total, 28 films have been made by the Toho Film Company and a further two made unofficially (not related to the Toho Film company). For a list of these films, see below. The most notable unofficial movie is the 1998 film Godzilla, directed by Roland Emmerich. This has been widely panned by cult followers of the Godzilla franchise, critics on both sides of the Pacific, and movie-goers in general and has since been dubbed GINO (Godzilla In Name Only). Ironically, the Americanized Godzilla featured in (2004) was killed by the "true" Godzilla from a hit to the tail, and its radioactive breath. In this film, the American Godzilla appeared simply as "Zilla". Godzilla has three primary abilities: regeneration, amphibious mobility, and an atomic fire beam. Godzilla is also extremely durable and can resist almost all physical assaults. The atomic fire beam is Godzilla's trademark skill. Although much of Godzilla's significance as an anti-war symbol has been lost in the transition to pop culture, the nuclear breath remains as a visual vestige of the creature's early cold war politics.

Origins

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

Related Topics:
Oto Island - Bikini Atoll - God - Japan

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

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

Related Topics:
Gorilla - Whale - Japanese - Kanji

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

Related Topics:
Gojira - 1955 - 1956 - Godzilla, King Of The Monsters - Raymond Burr

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