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.

Series

The Godzilla timeline is generally broken into three parts.

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Showa Godzilla Series (昭和ゴジラシリーズ)

Named for the Showa period in Japan (as all of these films were produced before Emperor Hirohito's death in 1989). This Showa timeline spanned from 1954, with Godzilla (1954) to 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla. With the exception of the serious Godzilla (1954) and the semi-serious sequels Godzilla Raids Again and Mothra vs. Godzilla , this period also featured a somewhat more lighthearted Godzilla. This phase started with King Kong vs Godzilla, which had the highest ticket sales of any Godzilla movie. Starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (made 10 years after the first Godzilla film), Godzilla became a semi-playful antihero, and as years went by, he evolved into an anthropomorphic superhero. The Showa period saw the addition of many monsters into the Godzilla continuity, three of which (Mothra, Rodan and Varan) had their own solo movies, as well as a movie for the Toho-ized King Kong. This period featured a rough continuity, although the chronology is confused as some of the later movies were set in an arbitrary future time, often 1999.

Related Topics:
Showa period - Emperor Hirohito - 1989 - Godzilla (1954) - Terror of Mechagodzilla - Godzilla Raids Again - Mothra vs. Godzilla - King Kong vs Godzilla - Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster - Antihero - Anthropomorphic - Superhero - Mothra - Rodan - Varan - King Kong

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In all films of this original series, Godzilla was 50 meters tall, and weighed 20,000 tons.

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Versus Series (ＶＳシリーズ) AKA: Heisei Series

The timeline was revamped in 1984 with The Return of Godzilla; this movie was created as a direct sequel to the 1954 film, and ignores the continuity of the Showa series. Known as the Versus Series, (unofficially known to American fans as the "Heisei Series", for the ruling emperor of the time), the continuity ended in 1995's Godzilla vs Destoroyah after a run of seven films. The reason for the continuity shift was based on a realization that the marketing of the movies had removed the reason it was so loved. When it was discovered that Godzilla was popular with children, sequels were toned down in obvious screen violence, and Godzilla was made out to be a good guy instead of an indestructible abominate mistake of Men. Characters such as Minilla, the "son of Godzilla" (a dimunitive chubby replica who blew smoke rings) were introduced. However, the further Godzilla was taken away from his roots, the less popular he became. Hence, The Return of Godzilla brought the series back to form.

Related Topics:
The Return of Godzilla - Heisei - Godzilla vs Destoroyah - Minilla

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Godzilla has changed sizes in this series. He starts out as 80 meters tall in The Return of Godzilla, but in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, he becomes 100 meters tall.

Related Topics:
The Return of Godzilla - Godzilla vs King Ghidorah

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The Millennium Series (ミレニアムシリーズ)

The Millennium Series is the informal term for the Godzilla movies made after the VS Series ended with Godzilla vs Destoroyah. Unlike the previous two series, this era does not feature a continuous timeline. Only two of the films in this era, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and ', are directly related to one another. The rest follow entirely different timelines. The common theme to this era is that all movies use Godzilla (1954) as the jumping-off point.

Related Topics:
Millennium - VS - Godzilla vs Destoroyah - Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla - Godzilla (1954)

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In the 1998 movie, Godzilla Godzilla was a reptile mutated after a French atomic test, on a French Polynesian island. This movie brought a drastic change to Godzilla's appearance, resembling a bipedal iguana or Komodo dragon. The Godzilla in this movie was also almost entirely computer-animated. Set in New York City and produced by Columbia Pictures, this movie is not considered to be part of any of the above three series, but the Gotham attack was referred to in the movie '. The monster that appeared in New York was not, in fact, Godzilla, but an entirely different yet similar monster. This monster made a return appearance in Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, '. Renamed Zilla, the monster attacked Sydney, Australia and is later killed by the real Godzilla.

Related Topics:
Godzilla - French atomic test - French Polynesian island - Bipedal - Iguana - Komodo dragon - New York City - Columbia Pictures - Gotham - Zilla

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Since the films are different, the sizes are different in some cases. Godzilla's most prominent size in this series is 55 meters. The exceptions: In ', he was 60 meters, and in ', he was 100 meters (he was supposed to be 50 meters in that film, but budgetary cutbacks in miniature sets forced this size change).

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