Give yourself a pat on the back. You made it through the first fifteen movies and first twenty years of Godzilla history. Now we’re ready for the thirty-year anniversary film, Gojira Returns, the first film in almost ten years since The Terror of Mechagodzilla. No, this movie doesn’t pick up where Terror or Destroy All Monsters left off. It was the first film in the Heisei era.
Wait… No… Strike that. It was the first movie in the Heisei continuity, and the last film to actually be made in the Showa era. The movie disregarded all past events save for the first two films, Gojira and Gojira Raids Again. Well, at least I think. It gets pretty complicated up around Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. The point is the monster in Gojira Returns is a different Godzilla than the one that attacked Tokyo in ‘54.
Gojira Returns was definitely a triumphant return for Godzilla in his home country of Japan. Released domestically in 1984, it would wait a year before being released to the states as Godzilla 1985. The new movie expanded upon the nuclear theme to the point in which Godzilla is actually seen breaking into a power plant to drain the reactor of nuclear energy. Really, despite what American critics said, Godzilla 1985 was a good movie. In terms of writing it was one of the more realistic Godzilla films in its depiction of how a nation’s government would respond to a giant monster. The performances were strong in the Japanese cast and even their English dubs were decently acted. Unfortunately, the Caucasian actors on screen were the ones pulling the movie down. The worst offenders were the Soviet Union and American leaders in the scenes in which those nations are requesting the use of nukes, and of course the U.S. inserts put in place to explain the plot points the editing left out.
Speaking of the changes made to the U.S. cut, one of the worst was the political views expressed in the new movie concerning the treatment of Soviet characters. For one, they remained subtitled while the Japanese actors were dubbed. To let you know that they’re soviets and the bad guys I guess… As a child watching the movie I thought it was “cool” because I felt it gave the movie a more mature feel, but it just seems out of place amongst all the dubbed actors. Another change which simply felt unneeded again concerns a Soviet character. Early on in the film a Soviet Ship is seen harbored in Tokyo Bay with an explanation that their government wanted to keep its nuclear option open. Later on, the same ship is sent into chaos when Godzilla is coming ashore, and a dying Soviet character battles searing, red-hot steam and a rising temperature to try and cancel the missile launch that accidentally began countdown in the chaos. The poor fellow dies before he can reach the console in the Japanese cut. However, in the U.S. version, a scene was added of a hand pressing a button and the subtitles were changed to “I’m the only one who can launch that missile.” In short, the English version makes it look as though the Soviet Union launched the nuclear missile intentionally. This change just seems unnecessary and sort of pitiful that such an unfair jab would be taken. Perhaps the film makers thought the audience would react better to this.
As previously stated, the movie shot for an air of realism so Godzilla is defeated in this film through slightly more conventional means than Toho’s usual super weapons. Don’t worry, a few maser cannons make it into the movie and you haven’t lived till you’ve seen the Super X (or at least heard its spiffy theme-song!). So how do they defeat Godzilla? They lure him into the mouth of a volcano with bird calls… Um… Yeah. You see, this was at the time when the notion of birds being descendants of dinosaurs was finally getting some actual response from the scientific community so it seemed like a smart ploy (and Jurassic Park wouldn’t hit theaters until ‘93).
Sadly, Godzilla 1985 would be the last of the Heisei films to see American theatrical release and most wouldn’t even be released on VHS until 1998, when the hype was building for the U.S. remake (too bad that could've been better).
So the next movie, Godzilla vs. Biollante, as you can tell from the title, again kicked off Godzilla’s habit of fighting other giant monsters. This time the movie was focused around a scientist who had collected some Godzilla blood cells that these guys had a huge gun fight over in what remains of Tokyo at the beginning of the film, and tries to unlock its secrets when a terrorist bombing kills his daughter. The end result is some huge Godzilla/rose hybrid with his daughter’s soul somehow.
Now it’s time for that interesting story behind the movie I tend to tell. Okay, so Godzilla vs. Biollante was the result of story contest held by Toho to decide how to follow up on Gojira Returns in which movie goers were asked to submit their own ideas for a Godzilla movie. It was a dentist by the name of Shinichiro Kobayashi who birthed the idea of Godzilla fighting with a plant monster. According to the director, Kazuki Omori in an interview with G-Fan magazine, there was another script concerning the use of Godzilla cells to clone many Godzillas, and that the resulting script was a combination of the two. The idea behind the film was that while Godzilla represented the uncertainties of nuclear power in the fifties, Biollante would stand for the uncertainties involved in the bio-engineering technology that was just beginning to surface in the 80’s. After Biollante several of the left over stories from many of the other entries in the contest would become other Toho movies (with Godzilla factored out of course).
Amongst the story of the scientist’s struggle a lot more is going on, including Godzilla’s battle with the newly completed and twice as cool Super X II (although it doesn’t have nearly as cool a theme song as the first Super X). There’s also some antinuclear bacteria Godzilla’s injected with, and a psychic named Miki Segusa, who becomes a recurring character all throughout the Heisei series. In fact, if you were a casual viewer you may mistake Biollante as the subplot.
Gojira tai Biorante, as it was called in Japan, fared poorly. Several Toho suits thought that the use of an unfamiliar monster was to blame.
So with Godzilla’s bout with a new adversary a failure what was to follow? Why not bring back an old one? You remember that King Ghidorah guy who appeared in like four of the Showa era movies? Yeah, well guess who’s back… Well actually, I sort of don’t feel right calling him Ghidorah because he’s got an entirely new origin story. Come to think of it, it was never really supposed to be Ghidorah. Toho wanted a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla. When it was found that Universal would never permit this, the script was altered so that Godzilla battled Mechani-Kong from King Kong Escapes, but apparently even then the likeness was too strong to risk. Toho settled on reviving Ghidorah instead. And about King Ghidorah’s new origin story, you ask?
Let me elaborate. The new film in the Godzilla franchise was an effort to explore Godzilla’s past, not just by having him battle with an old adversary but to actually clarify his origin. Sadly, this caused more confusion than it was supposed to eliminate. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah of 1991, begins with a strange UFO appearing over Tokyo, which is ultimately revealed to be a time traveling vessel from the future. These people claim to have come to warn Japan that Godzilla will eventually destroy them and offer the use of their time traveling device to go back to Lagos Island at a time when Godzilla was still just an ordinary dinosaur to prevent him from ever being created. While in the past they port away the dinosaur (dubbed a “Godzillasaurus” officially) to the bottom of the sea. The idea here is that the creature which would become Godzilla is never subjected to radiation from the tests which would later be conducted around Lagos. However, while in the past, the people from the future drop off these three little creatures cold “dorats” which look like SD Ghidorah figures with but a single head and a cuter face. When they at last return to the present is when the confusion begins… Surprise! Everyone still remembers Godzilla existed! But there is some explanation offered, with some fans claiming that the people from the future simply went after the wrong dinosaur and that the Godzilla of 1954 still attacked Tokyo and was still killed by the oxygen destroyer. This is the explanation that makes the most the sense. Oh, and check it out, the Dorats fused together and became one huge monster (Polymerization! And Yu-Gi-Oh! wouldn‘t hit until 1998!).
Wait! Even if the guys from the future nabbed the wrong Godzillasaurus, why didn’t King Ghidorah show up until they made it back to the future? (Back to the Future had already been out for a while.) And how is it Biollante created Space Godzilla in a film in the same continuity since the Godzilla she was made from was erased from history? This is a common complaint I have with the Heisei eiga, because even though it was darker than the original series and tried to demand greater respect from its audience, the writing was actually getting worse!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Yes, the future people succeed in getting rid of the Godzilla from Gojira Returns. Unfortunately for them and everyone else they placed him on a point on the ocean floor which would later be host to nuclear waste dumps. Surprise! The new Godzilla is bigger, more destructive and not very happy! As it turns out the people from the future were lying and that Japan would face an economic reign in the future, with Godzilla protecting them. But of course, now the new Godzilla desired nothing more than to destroy things. Essentially this was reason to make the future people bad guys, give an excuse to the JSDF, who keep fighting Godzilla throughout the remainder of the series to do so, and justify Godzilla taking on King Ghidorah alone. Actually, the time travel element also permitted Toho to introduce what would go on to become one of their more famous monsters, Mecha-King Ghidorah, a cyborg made up of the defeated Ghidorah after his battle with Godzilla.
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was actually a huge reason why the 90’s Godzilla films never made it to the U.S. for so long. Apparently a cable TV station got a hold of footage from the film and put up scenes from the WWII setting of the movie which depicted the pre-mutated Godzilla slaughtering American troops. This coupled with the fact that the film’s villains were Caucasian was enough material for them to run a lengthy story about how the new Godzilla films had anti-American content, which was rubbish. Then, again Godzilla vs. Biollante did portray American businessmen as greedy, horrible people, but a lot of American films say the same thing about American businessmen.
This aside, Godzilla continued to prosper in Japan, and the tactic of reviving old monsters from the seventies, Toho found, bore its rewards. With one successful revival, Toho decided to do it again in Godzilla vs. Mothra. Yes, Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), not to be confused with Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). This was the first time Mothra had been back since Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster. She had been planned to go toe-to-toe with a monster by the name of “Bagan” in one of her own films (on a completely unrelated note, one of the first scripts for Godzilla’s revival film involved Godzilla fighting a monster named “Bagan”, however that monster was very different), however after Godzilla vs. Biollante underperformed, Toho was less than eager to give a new monster a trial run. The movie, however, did introduce a dark counterpart to Mothra, Battra. Contrary to popular belief, Battra wasn’t an evil incarnation of Mothra, but rather was short hand for “Battle Mosura.” Fitting, because Battra really did do most of the battling with Godzilla in this movie.
“Well, what’s Mothra doing in the title?” you ask? Well the original title was intended to have been Godzilla vs. Gigamoth. The earliest drafts of the film involved nuclear pollution freeing an egg from a south seas island and sending it adrift towards Japan. From the egg hatched both Mothra, and her twin Gigamoth, who was a Mothra badly altered from exposure to nuclear radiation. It should be noted that this scene was an open reference to Mothra vs. Godzilla, which was the first movie to have featured twin Mothra larvae hatching from a single egg. Aside from the concept of a dark version of Mothra, little remains from the Gigamoth script into the final product, but it’s worth noting that at one point Gigamoth is attacked by freezing energy tanks while in its cocoon, similar to a scene in the original Mothra. At one point in the unused script Mothra transforms into her “true form” after merging with Gigamoth, which seems to have inspired Mothra’s near constant form switching in the Rebirth of Mothra film series to come (or perhaps it was Ultraman Tiga?).
So, Godzilla vs. Mothra had a strong, environmentally friendly message such as the first Mothra vs. Godzilla. Battra, the dark version of Mothra, had his origin changed to also be environmentally friendly. When an advanced civilization existing millions of years ago on Earth created machines to control the weather, and “offended Earth.” So I guess Earth made Battra to clean house or something. The film also featured several subplots involving a criminal father and husband reconnecting with his lost family, some crooks kidnapping the two Mothra faeries like in the first Mothra, and some cool Indiana Jones-esque action towards the start. This was also one of the few films where another monster manages to defeat Godzilla, although Battra was killed and Mothra was sent to intercept a meteor for no better reason than to let Godzilla take center stage again in the next movie. The revival of Mothra was a success and the movie became the highest grossing Godzilla film since King Kong vs. Godzilla.
At around this time, Toho was in negotiations with Sony to produce an American Godzilla movie, and were considering killing off the Big G, to make room for a new American series (I can’t see any reason why we couldn’t just have had two series running simultaneously). Toho again followed the example set by Mothra and Ghidorah and resurrected yet another Showa favorite, Mechagodzilla. This time Mechagodzilla was given a new origin story in order to keep aliens out of the Heisei continuity (because what we’ve seen so far was just so freaking believable!)
Anyhow, the first few drafts featured a Mechagodzilla built from reverse engineering Mecha-King Ghidorah by the UN. This robot is intended to battle Godzilla, but first battles two Rodans, again brought back from the Showa continuity, on a remote island full of nuclear waste where the egg of a baby Godzilla is found. Mechagodzilla battles the two Rodans, killing one, while the egg is taken back and hatches. Ultimately when it finally came time to fight, Godzilla would’ve died at the hands of Mechagodzilla in an explosion, while the Godzilla hatchling absorbed the radiation to grow into a new Godzilla.
Mechagodzilla himself, went through many design changes in pre-production. Many designs payed tribute to the original Mechagodzilla and featured finger missiles, while some were far more dramatic and gave Mechagodzilla the ability to split into two dependant fighting machines, an attack aircraft and an armored tank.
By the time the final product came out, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II featured but one Rodan, eliminated the idea of killing Godzilla when Sony’s negotiations were delayed, and the idea of Mechagodzilla splitting into two was rejected in favor of an attack craft called “Garuda,” which merged with Mecha G to form a pair of over-the-shoulder laser cannons. Mechagodzilla’s arsenal also featured “G-Crusher” cables to strike at Godzilla’s second brain.
Now hold the phone. There’s something I need to discuss here. Most notable in the Heisei era is its lack of research, while trying to be scientifically up-to-date. It started with Godzilla 1985 but only got worse around Mechagodzilla. In Godzilla vs. Biollante it seems as though Toho took a step back, trying to claim that Godzilla was a cold-blooded animal. This is even made into a plot point, when the JSDF must find a way to heat up Godzilla for the bacteria to become active. Godzilla? An ectotherm? Impossible. First, Toho already knew the latest scientific evidence suggested dinosaurs were more closely related to birds than lizards. This is obvious in 1985. Yet it appears they didn’t do much research beyond that for Biollante. Secondly, there’s no way a creature like Godzilla could be an ectotherm. Anything that large would have to be generating massive amounts of energy, subsequently heat, to move. Now you also throw in the fact that Godzilla’s a living nuclear reactor, then your first conclusion should be that Godzilla’s core temperature is too strong for bacteria to survive. If anything they should be trying to cool Godzilla in Biollante. The only reason why I mention this now, is because Toho has done it again with Mechagodzilla’s “G-Crushers.” Simply put, the whole idea works on the notion that the cables punch through G’s skin and deliver an electric shock to destroy the second brain in G’s hip responsible for movement. Even at the time this film was made, and actually before that, the whole idea of a second brain had been largely discredited. To make matters more confusing, the plan works and Godzilla is grounded until Rodan, for some strange reason, sacrifices himself, becoming pixie dust and regenerating the brain… Yeah? Okay.
Well at least the whole, Rodan sacrificing himself bit was better than having Godzilla die protecting little Godzilla as in the original draft (interesting to note that had this really been the last Godzilla film before the US movie, both Showa and Heisei series would‘ve ended with a Mechagodzilla movie). Godzilla, naturally pulls out a win against Mecha G. With Mechagodzilla defeated, Miki Segusa again steps in and psychically persuades Godzilla to adopt the Baby Godzilla after the film’s climax . Godzilla Junior, as he’s called, by the way, is a lot less annoying than Minya and not nearly as hated amongst the fandom.
So with Mechagodzilla laid to waste for the second time, you’d think the Big G was safe from enemy doppelgangers, right? Wrong! The next movie in the franchise eagerly introduced viewers to yet another Godzilla look-alike, named Spacegodzilla. Spacegodzilla, unlike Mecha G, is a living clone of Godzilla, the direct result of G-Cells being cast into outer space, sucked into a black hole, pushed out a white hole, merging with microscopic crystalline organism and then bombarded with corona energy. Gee, with all the circumstances that come into play, you’d have to wonder “What are the odds?”
Or how about, “Just how did Godzilla cells get into space anyway?” Well the scientist lady at the UN suggests it could’ve been Biollante, who was cloned from a Godzilla that was erased from history, and should no longer have ever existed at all. To be fair, it’s mentioned that it could’ve been Mothra, but still.
The plot is nothing special and the most interesting part of the movie was Spacegodzilla, and MOGUERA. Mobile Operations Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aerotype, was actually a mecha from a previous Toho film revived. MOGUERA is a lot different from Mechagodzilla, but both were originally built by extraterrestrial life in their premier movies, and MOGUERA adopted Mechagodzilla’s rejected ability of splitting into two vehicles. In fact (according to IMdB) the movie was originally supposed to feature a rebuilt Mechagodzilla, but it was felt Mecha G was too powerful to play only a supporting role and would’ve made the two against one match-up between Spacegodzilla, Godzilla and Moguera a lot less exciting.
Spacegodzilla himself was also a monster conceived in the seventies, but never got his due. As time went on it seemed as though Spacegodzilla would never receive any screen time and his design was used for a critter dubbed “Super Godzilla” in the game of the same name. In the game, Super Godzilla was the players only hope of defeating Bagan. Bagan has become one of the most famous of Toho’s scrapped monster designs because of that game.
Bagan also seemed to inspire Godzilla’s last rival, Destoroyah. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was the last film of the Godzilla Heisei eiga. The series ended early, it seems, only seven films in contrast to the Showa era’s fifteen. Anyway, this was the film which would finally kill off Godzilla and set the stage for Hollywood’s remake.
The film opens with a nuclear mishap which leaves Godzilla steaming, with red glowing blotches all over his body. It’s later explained that he had suffered an overdose of radiation and the thermonuclear reactor that is his heart was finally giving out. The thing though, it could go two ways, either a massive nuclear explosion or a catastrophic melt down. The clock is ticking to find a way to contain Godzilla and prevent nuclear catastrophe in what is one of the most stress inducing Godzilla movies to watch.
As things continue it is suggested that the use of the Oxygen Destroyer, which was the weapon that had killed the first Godzilla, be used. The thing is, back in ‘54, its inventor burned his research and killed himself with Godzilla to prevent his creation from ever being used a weapon. So everyone tries to recreate the doctor’s oxygen destroyer and end up mutating some crustaceans that had been dormant in Tokyo bay, giving birth to the ugliest critter in all of Godzilla history. The things start out small, but as the movie progresses they begin to merge together into one large monster. All the while it’s revealed that little Godzilla had mutated into a fully grown Godzilla from the radiation its father was now dying of. Some pinhead scientists make the decision that Destoroyah’s breath weapon might cool off Godzilla and plan to use little Godzilla to draw the two together.
Even compared to the original it was one of the most depressing films in the franchise. Godzilla does in fact die at the end, but the damage is contained using freezer weapons. Little Godzilla, who suffered from an engagement with Destoroyah draws energy from his deceased father and takes up the mantle in an eerily lighted end shot. That’s it. That’s all the Heisei eiga. Thank you! Goodnight!
