Rodan

:This article is about Rodan, the movie monster. For the rock band, see Rodan (band). For the rapper, see Rodan (rapper)

Related Topics:
Rodan (band) - Rodan (rapper)

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Rodan (ラドン - Radon) is a fictional giant monster first seen in the (1956) tokusatsu kaiju/science fiction movie, Giant Monster of the Sky - Rodan (???????? - Sora no Daikaijû - Radon), produced by Toho Company Ltd. in Japan. It was the studio's first color monster movie (Toho's first color tokusatsu film was Madame White Snake from early the same year). It is one of a series of "giant monster" movies that found an audience outside of Japan (especially in America). The first "giant monster" movies of the 1950s, called kaiju, were filmed as serious horror and adventure stories, before the genre devolved to the level of "kiddie" entertainment in the 1960s and 1970s.

Related Topics:
1956 - Tokusatsu - Kaiju - Science fiction - Movie - Toho Company Ltd. - Japan - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s

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Rodan follows in the footsteps of other Japanese monster movies, such as Godzilla, which involve a giant monster being awoken from an ancient hibernation by human beings. In Rodan, miners digging far into the earth stumble across a clutch of giant caterpillar-like insects, which viciously attack several of the miners and prompt a government investigation into the matter. The giant bugs turn out to be little more than food for two gigantic flying beasts (similar to the pteranodon, except they are far bigger and far more powerful), who hatch from giant eggs and proceed to terrorize the entire world.

Related Topics:
Godzilla - Pteranodon

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Rodan is notable for its action scenes, which are surprisingly well filmed and still excite audiences today. Unlike most of the Toho monster movies, which featured "action" scenes consisting of roaring monsters lumbering across the landscape at a stupefyingly slow pace, the battle scenes and monster rampage in Rodan are thrilling, exciting, and fast-paced; it is much easier for the audience to suspend disbelief and accept the low-tech special effects here. The emphasis on action, thrills, and willingness to scare the audience makes Rodan one of the superior films in the kaiju series.

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In the original Japanese version this kaiju is called Radon (shortened after the winged birdlike dinosaur "pteranodon"; pteRAnoDON). While it is commonly believed among fans that due to a translation error the japanese Radon became Rodan for the "international release", it is also likely that it was deliberately changed because radon is an element on the periodic table. The name Radon is also used in the English dubbed version of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.

Related Topics:
Dinosaur - Pteranodon

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Rodan went on to crossover into the Godzilla series, first appearing in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), helping Godzilla and Mothra to defeat the evil space dragon, King Ghidorah. Rodan eventually starred in several other Godzilla films, most recently in ' (2004), in which he was controlled by aliens into fighting Godzilla.

Related Topics:
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster - 1964 - Mothra - King Ghidorah - 2004

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