Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Encyclopedia
, alternatively spelled Godzilla vs. King Ghidora, is the 18th installment in the Godzilla
series of films. This is the fifth film to feature King Ghidorah
and the first film to feature Mecha-King Ghidorah, (the second being Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
). The movie was released theatrically in Japan on December 14, 1991. It was directed by Kazuki Omori
and produced by Shogo Tomiyama
. The plot follows a group of time travelers from the 23rd century who go back in time to erase Godzilla from history supposedly to erase a devastating future that the mutated dinosaur causes, but instead, they replace him with a three-headed dragon called King Ghidorah
and go on a personal campaign to destroy Japan using the monster. Koichi Kawakita
was awarded a Japanese Academy Award for his special effects in the film.
, a group of Japanese soldiers stationed on Lagos Island in South Pacific were unintentionally saved by Godzillasaurus, which attacked and killed a group of American soldiers who had landed on the island in February 1944 as part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
. While all of the Japanese soldiers on the nearby Islands fought and died to the last man, the Japanese soldiers on Lagos survived the war and eventually returned to Japan. In 1954, the island was destroyed by a hydrogen bomb test
, just months before Godzilla first attacked Tokyo.
Yasuaki Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya), who commanded the Japanese on Lagos, is now a wealthy businessman who denies the dinosaur's existence. Meanwhile, a UFO lands on Mount Fuji
. When the army investigates, they are greeted by Wilson (Chuck Wilson), Grenchko (Richard Berger), Emmy Kano (Anna Nakagawa) and an android named M-11 (Roberto Scott Field). The visitors, called the Futurians, explain that they're from the year 2204, a time long after Japan had been completely destroyed by Godzilla. They explain that they can time travel
back to 1944 and remove Godzillasaurus from Lagos, thereby avoiding the creation of Godzilla. As proof of their story, Emmy presents to the Japanese government a copy of Terasawa's book, which he hasn't even written yet.
Terasawa, psychic Miki Saegusa
(Megumi Odaka) and Professor Mazaki (Katsuhiko Sasaki) board a time shuttle and travel back in time to Lagos in 1944. As American forces land on the island and engage the Japanese forces commanded by Shindo, Godzillasaurus attacks and kills the American soldiers. However, subsequent bombardment from American naval vessels leaves it gravely wounded. Shindo and his men, after thanking Godzillasaurus with a salute for saving them, withdraw. M-11 then teleports the dinosaur far from Lagos. They then return to 1992, but not before releasing three golden birdlike creatures on Lagos. The radiation as a result of the nuclear test mutated them into King Ghidorah
, which the Futurians use in the present day to subjugate Japan. They issue an ultimatum, but Japan refuses to surrender.
Feeling sympathy for the Japanese, Emmy reveals the truth behind the Futurians' mission: In the future, Japan became very wealthy and its economy surpassed that of the United States, Russia and China - the Futurians in fact stole the time machine and plan to use King Ghidorah
to alter the future by devastating or subjugating present-day Japan, thus preventing its future economic reign. After she is returned to her ship by M-11, who was sent by her companions to see how the Japanese would react, she reprograms M-11. With his, and Terasawa's aid, they sabotaged the controls to Ghidorah in the UFO. However, Emmy's companions reveal that their ship is bound to automatic time warp in the event of sabotage, allowing them to return to a future where Japan has been destroyed either way.
Shindo, meanwhile, believes that Godzilla can be re-created using his nuclear submarine. But while on its mission, the submarine is destroyed by Godzilla; Terasawa learns that a Russian nuclear submarine sank in the same region Godzillasaurus was teleported to, giving off enough radiation to create the same Godzilla who destroyed Tokyo in 1984 and battled Biollante in 1989.
Godzilla then arrives in Japan and makes short work of King Ghidorah and the UFO, which was teleported by M-11 before it could time warp, killing Wilson and Grenchko. He then ravages on Tokyo as payback for the Japanese attempting to erase him from existence, and Shindo is killed; though not before he and Godzilla share a brief moment of the two remembering each other from when they first met on Lagos Island in 1944, and Godzilla is seemingly sad for once.
Emmy, however, travels to the future and returns with Mecha-King Ghidorah, a resurrected cyborg version of the original. Battling in the heart of Tokyo, Emmy carries Godzilla off and drops the monster together with Ghidorah into the ocean. She then returns to the future in the time shuttle, but not before informing Terasawa that she is a descendant of his.
At the bottom of the sea, Godzilla recovers and roars over Mecha-King Ghidorah's body.
and Godzilla vs. Biollante
. Originally, this film was going to be a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla
with the title Godzilla vs. King Kong, but Turner Entertainment
demanded too much money for the use of Kong
. After this, Toho
had the idea of making Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong
, but Kazuki Omori feared that this would ultimately violate Turner's copyright. Toho eventually settled for Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.
, Sony Tristar distributed the previously unreleased Heisei Godzilla films on April 28, 1998, less than half month before the release of Tristar's Godzilla remake. Excluding Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla vs. Biollante
, since they've already been released prior.
Some VHS copies that opened with the 1984 Tristar Pictures logo.
sequence. The scene depicted American soldiers being killed by Godzillasaurus, allowing Japanese
soldiers to escape. The film's plot, involving Western villains from the future attempting to subjugate Japan, was also debated. Director Kazuki Ōmori
defended his artistic decision on camera, arguing that the film was not in fact meant to be anti-American. It was also noted that there was considerable negative pubilicity regarding economic tensions between the United States and Japan at the time the film was made.
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
series of films. This is the fifth film to feature King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah
is a kaiju, a fictional Japanese monster featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films...
and the first film to feature Mecha-King Ghidorah, (the second being Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, released in Japan as , is a 1993 science fiction kaiju film directed by Takao Okawara and written by Wataru Mimura. It was the twentieth film in Toho's Godzilla series and the first to feature BabyGodzilla. It is also the fifth film to feature Rodan and the third film...
). The movie was released theatrically in Japan on December 14, 1991. It was directed by Kazuki Omori
Kazuki Omori
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Osaka, Ōmori studied at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and actually holds a license to practice medicine. While in school, he began making films independently, with Kuraku naru made matenai! , which featured Seijun Suzuki,...
and produced by Shogo Tomiyama
Shogo Tomiyama
Shōgo Tomiyama is a Japanese film producer. He is best known for producing all of the Godzilla films from the 1990s onward.-Biography:...
. The plot follows a group of time travelers from the 23rd century who go back in time to erase Godzilla from history supposedly to erase a devastating future that the mutated dinosaur causes, but instead, they replace him with a three-headed dragon called King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah
is a kaiju, a fictional Japanese monster featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films...
and go on a personal campaign to destroy Japan using the monster. Koichi Kawakita
Koichi Kawakita
is a special effects artist.-Biography:In 1958, Kawakita was a member of the Jury at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival....
was awarded a Japanese Academy Award for his special effects in the film.
Plot
Kenichiro Terasawa (Kosuke Toyohara), an author of books on psychic phenomena, believes he's discovered Godzilla's true origin. During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a group of Japanese soldiers stationed on Lagos Island in South Pacific were unintentionally saved by Godzillasaurus, which attacked and killed a group of American soldiers who had landed on the island in February 1944 as part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
In the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, from November 1943 through February 1944, were key strategic operations of the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps in the Central Pacific. The campaign was preceded by a raid on Makin Island by U.S...
. While all of the Japanese soldiers on the nearby Islands fought and died to the last man, the Japanese soldiers on Lagos survived the war and eventually returned to Japan. In 1954, the island was destroyed by a hydrogen bomb test
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first U.S. test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb device, detonated on March 1, 1954 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as the first test of Operation Castle. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States ,...
, just months before Godzilla first attacked Tokyo.
Yasuaki Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya), who commanded the Japanese on Lagos, is now a wealthy businessman who denies the dinosaur's existence. Meanwhile, a UFO lands on Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji
is the highest mountain in Japan at . An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and...
. When the army investigates, they are greeted by Wilson (Chuck Wilson), Grenchko (Richard Berger), Emmy Kano (Anna Nakagawa) and an android named M-11 (Roberto Scott Field). The visitors, called the Futurians, explain that they're from the year 2204, a time long after Japan had been completely destroyed by Godzilla. They explain that they can time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
back to 1944 and remove Godzillasaurus from Lagos, thereby avoiding the creation of Godzilla. As proof of their story, Emmy presents to the Japanese government a copy of Terasawa's book, which he hasn't even written yet.
Terasawa, psychic Miki Saegusa
Miki Saegusa
, played by Megumi Odaka, is a recurring fictional character from the Heisei series of Godzilla films. She's notable for being a psychic that uses her powers to communicate with and, in some instances, control the mutant dinosaur Godzilla and is credited for being the most frequently recurring...
(Megumi Odaka) and Professor Mazaki (Katsuhiko Sasaki) board a time shuttle and travel back in time to Lagos in 1944. As American forces land on the island and engage the Japanese forces commanded by Shindo, Godzillasaurus attacks and kills the American soldiers. However, subsequent bombardment from American naval vessels leaves it gravely wounded. Shindo and his men, after thanking Godzillasaurus with a salute for saving them, withdraw. M-11 then teleports the dinosaur far from Lagos. They then return to 1992, but not before releasing three golden birdlike creatures on Lagos. The radiation as a result of the nuclear test mutated them into King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah
is a kaiju, a fictional Japanese monster featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films...
, which the Futurians use in the present day to subjugate Japan. They issue an ultimatum, but Japan refuses to surrender.
Feeling sympathy for the Japanese, Emmy reveals the truth behind the Futurians' mission: In the future, Japan became very wealthy and its economy surpassed that of the United States, Russia and China - the Futurians in fact stole the time machine and plan to use King Ghidorah
King Ghidorah
is a kaiju, a fictional Japanese monster featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films...
to alter the future by devastating or subjugating present-day Japan, thus preventing its future economic reign. After she is returned to her ship by M-11, who was sent by her companions to see how the Japanese would react, she reprograms M-11. With his, and Terasawa's aid, they sabotaged the controls to Ghidorah in the UFO. However, Emmy's companions reveal that their ship is bound to automatic time warp in the event of sabotage, allowing them to return to a future where Japan has been destroyed either way.
Shindo, meanwhile, believes that Godzilla can be re-created using his nuclear submarine. But while on its mission, the submarine is destroyed by Godzilla; Terasawa learns that a Russian nuclear submarine sank in the same region Godzillasaurus was teleported to, giving off enough radiation to create the same Godzilla who destroyed Tokyo in 1984 and battled Biollante in 1989.
Godzilla then arrives in Japan and makes short work of King Ghidorah and the UFO, which was teleported by M-11 before it could time warp, killing Wilson and Grenchko. He then ravages on Tokyo as payback for the Japanese attempting to erase him from existence, and Shindo is killed; though not before he and Godzilla share a brief moment of the two remembering each other from when they first met on Lagos Island in 1944, and Godzilla is seemingly sad for once.
Emmy, however, travels to the future and returns with Mecha-King Ghidorah, a resurrected cyborg version of the original. Battling in the heart of Tokyo, Emmy carries Godzilla off and drops the monster together with Ghidorah into the ocean. She then returns to the future in the time shuttle, but not before informing Terasawa that she is a descendant of his.
At the bottom of the sea, Godzilla recovers and roars over Mecha-King Ghidorah's body.
Cast
- Kosuke Toyohara as Kenichiro Terasawa
- Anna Nakagawa as Emmy Kano
- Megumi OdakaMegumi Odakastarted her career in 1984 as a voice-actress for the animation-TV-Series Fushigi na koala Blinky aka Noozles aka The Wondrous Koala Blinky , where she played the character Sandy Brown...
as Miki SaegusaMiki Saegusa, played by Megumi Odaka, is a recurring fictional character from the Heisei series of Godzilla films. She's notable for being a psychic that uses her powers to communicate with and, in some instances, control the mutant dinosaur Godzilla and is credited for being the most frequently recurring... - Katsuhiko Sasaki as Professor Mazaki
- Robert Scott Field as M-11
- Chuck Wilson as Wilson
- Richard Berger as Grenchko
- Yoshio Tsuchiya as Yasuaki Shindo
- Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla
- Hurricane Ryu as King Ghidorah primary antagonist
- Wataru Fukuda as Godzillasaurus
Production
This film is set after the events of The Return of GodzillaThe Return of Godzilla
The Return of Godzilla The Return of Godzilla The Return of Godzilla (released as in Japan and as Godzilla 1985 in North America, is a 1984 Science Fiction Kaiju film. The sixteenth film in Toho's Godzilla series, it was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and directed by Koji Hashimoto with special...
and Godzilla vs. Biollante
Godzilla vs. Biollante
is a 1989 science fiction kaiju film written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori. It was the seventeenth film to be released in the Godzilla franchise and the second in terms of the franchise's Heisei period...
. Originally, this film was going to be a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla
King Kong vs. Godzilla
is a 1962 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. Directed by Ishirō Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, and Mie Hama. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of films featuring the monster Godzilla...
with the title Godzilla vs. King Kong, but Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
demanded too much money for the use of Kong
King Kong (Toho)
King Kong is a fictional kaiju, directly based on the titular character from the 1933 film King Kong. He appeared in Toho Studio's successful film King Kong vs. Godzilla and would later reappear in the film King Kong Escapes. This King Kong differs greatly from the original in size and abilities...
. After this, Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
had the idea of making Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong
Mechani-Kong
is a remote-controlled robot double of King Kong introduced in the 1966 animated television series The King Kong Show and featured again in the 1967 film King Kong Escapes. The robot was created by Dr...
, but Kazuki Omori feared that this would ultimately violate Turner's copyright. Toho eventually settled for Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.
Box office
The film sold approximately 2,700,000 tickets in Japan, and grossed around $11,000,000 (U.S).Home Media
To tie in with the American remakeGodzilla (1998 film)
Godzilla is a 1998 science fiction monster disaster film film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is a loose remake of the 1954 giant monster classic Godzilla. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film relates a tale of a nuclear incident...
, Sony Tristar distributed the previously unreleased Heisei Godzilla films on April 28, 1998, less than half month before the release of Tristar's Godzilla remake. Excluding Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla vs. Biollante
Godzilla vs. Biollante
is a 1989 science fiction kaiju film written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori. It was the seventeenth film to be released in the Godzilla franchise and the second in terms of the franchise's Heisei period...
, since they've already been released prior.
Some VHS copies that opened with the 1984 Tristar Pictures logo.
DVD release
Columbia TriStar- Released: November 10, 1998
- Aspect Ratio: Full frame (1.33:1)
- Sound: English (2.0)
- Supplements: Liner notes
- Region 1
Controversy
This film was considered the most controversial in the series, mostly because of its fictional World War IIPacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
sequence. The scene depicted American soldiers being killed by Godzillasaurus, allowing Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
soldiers to escape. The film's plot, involving Western villains from the future attempting to subjugate Japan, was also debated. Director Kazuki Ōmori
Kazuki Omori
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Osaka, Ōmori studied at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and actually holds a license to practice medicine. While in school, he began making films independently, with Kuraku naru made matenai! , which featured Seijun Suzuki,...
defended his artistic decision on camera, arguing that the film was not in fact meant to be anti-American. It was also noted that there was considerable negative pubilicity regarding economic tensions between the United States and Japan at the time the film was made.