| Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah |
| Director: | Kazuki Ōmori |
| Writers: | Kazuki Ōmori |
| Producers: | Tomoyuki Tanaka; Shogo Tomiyama |
| Composer: | Akira Ifukube |
| Cinematography: | Yoshinori Sekiguchi |
| Editors: | Michiko Ikeda |
| Production | |
| Distributed by: | Toho Company, Ltd. |
| Released: | December 14th, 1991 |
| Rating: | Unrated |
| Running time: | 103 min. (Japan) 100 min. (US) |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese (English dub) |
| Gross: | $2,700,000 (Japan) |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) |
| Next: | Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) |
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a Japanese science fiction action film and part of the Godzilla film franchise. It is the eighteenth film in the series and the third film in the "Heisei period", which ran from 1984 to 1995 (not including the Gamera relaunch films, which extended the era-run to 1999). The movie was written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori and produced by Toho Company, Ltd. It premiered in Japan on December 14th, 1991. The premise of the film involves a group of time travelers from the 23rd century, who come back to the year 1992 to manipulate the timestream to prevent Japan from growing into a corrupt nation that will one day emerge as the most dominant super-power on the planet. To facilitate these objectives, they use the daikaiju known as King Ghidorah to eliminate the most pressing threat to their plans - Godzilla.
Plot[]
An organization from the year 2204 known as the Equal Environment Earth Union conspires on a plan to gain control of Japan. After discovering the two hundred year old remains of the nuclear dragon King Ghidorah, they embark on a journey that takes them back through time to July of the year 1992.
Arriving in Tokyo, the time travelers immediately consult with the Japanese Prime Minister and warn them that the super monster Godzilla will one day attack Tokyo's nuclear power plants destroying the entire island nation. Thanks to the aid of writer Kenichiro Terasawa and Japan's favorite citizen Yasuaki Shindo, the government learns that Godzilla was once just a normal dinosaur known as a Godzillasaurus.
Flashback
- In February of 1944, American ground troops had been attacking Japanese soldiers on Lagos Island near Bikini Atoll. The battle was disrupted when a large Godzillasaurus rampaged through the jungle. The American soldiers directed their attention towards the dinosaur and the creature was shot nearly to death. This interaction possibly saved the lives of the last Japanese garrison under the command of Major Shindo. Shindo immediately developed an immense respect for this creature and would later build his life around the lessons learned on Lagos Island.
- In 1954, the Japanese government conducted atomic H-bomb testing on Bikini Atoll. The waves of ambient atomic radiation carried over to Lagos Island and mutated the dinosaur into Godzilla. A year later, Godzilla will attack Tokyo Bay for the first time.
The time travelers propose that if they go back to the year 1944 and capture the Godzillasaurus, bringing him back to the year 1992, then history will have been changed and Godzilla will have never existed.
The time travelers gather up Terasawa, a psychic named Miki Saegusa and a scientist named Masaki and go back to Lagos Island in 1944. Along the journey, the group is introduced to another time traveler named Emmy Kano and an android known as M-11. There are also three small creatures known as Dorats on the ship. Emmy explains that the Dorats are biogenetically created animals that will cheer people up if they should become lost.
They arrive on Lagos Island and witness the entire battle between American and Japanese forces. The dinosaur arrives and as mandated by history, takes a hail of bullets in order to protect Major Shindo's garrison. (He likely wasn't protecting the garrison, but Shindo believes that he was.) After everyone leaves the island, the time travelers attend to the fallen creature. They use their teleportation technology to take the unconscious dinosaur back to the year 1992. The logic being: Since two of the exact same creature cannot exist in the same place at the same time, then one of them has to disappear. Removing the Godzillasaurus from history retroactively erases the existence of Godzilla.
There is more to these seemingly well-meaning time travelers than meets the eye however. Emmy Kano surreptitiously leaves the three Dorats behind as the rest of the group returns to the year 1992.
In the new time line, the Dorats apparently were exposed to the same H-bomb radiation that originally made Godzilla. This time however, the mutative effects fused the three Dorats into one creature known as King Ghidorah. However, unlike Godzilla, since the Dorats were biogenetically created, then that means Ghidorah is under the command of the time travelers. The time travelers had lied to the Japanese Prime Minister. In the future, Godzilla did not destroy Japan, but rather Japan became a world dominating super-power controlling most of the Western hemisphere. It was the goal of the Equal Environment Earth Union to cripple the corrupt country by use of King Ghidorah. Since nuclear energy wasn't available to them in the 23rd century, they had to travel back in time in order to resurrect the three-headed monster.
At this point, the time travelers send Ghidorah on a rampage through Tokyo. Japan now realizes that the time travelers are evil and are lost as to how to stop Ghidorah's rampage. Emmy Kano however, never realized that her colleagues had planned on destroying Japan in the past. She betrays the group and re-programs the android M-11 to serve her.
The Japanese decide that the only thing capable of stopping King Ghidorah is Godzilla. However since Godzilla doesn't exist, this presents a problem. Professor Mazaki offers forth the idea of bombarding the existing Godzillasaurus with radiation from a nuclear sub. He assumes that the effects will be the same as that of the 1954 H-Bomb testing and that Godzilla will be reborn. Given little choice but to concede to the idea, the Prime Minister authorizes the operation.
What the Japanese government did not know however was that the dinosaur was already being slowly mutated by living in atomically radiated waters. They subsequently ram him with the nuclear sub releasing the full radiation upon him. This in turn transforms him into an even bigger Godzilla than had ever existed before.
Godzilla faces off against King Ghidorah and the two monsters trade blows back and forth. In the end, Godzilla proves victorious.
Mecha-King Ghidorah!
While all this is going on, Terasawa and Emmy find a way to turn the tables on the traitorous time travelers. They steal their teleportation technology and take off in a small shuttle. They then turn the teleportation ray on the time travelers' space ship and teleport it into the middle of the super monster melee. Godzilla merely views the ship as something in his way and promptly roasts it to a crisp. Then he returns to the fight with Ghidorah. He burns one of Ghidorah's three heads off with his atomic breath and destroys one of his wings as well.
Ghidorah is down, but now the Japanese are faced with another problem - an angry Godzilla. As per custom, Godzilla begins rampaging through the city and comes upon the Taio Corporation, which is owned by Yasuaki Shindo. The two exchange a series of glances between one another and for a moment Godzilla seems to remember Shindo back when he was a major in World War II. In the end however, Godzilla is merely an animal and he promptly fries Shindo on the spot with his atomic breath.
Once again, the Japanese forces are at a loss as to how to stop Godzilla. It is up to Emmy Kano and her trusty android M-11 to save the day. Emmy travels back to the year 2204, where she knows the location of the Ghidorah remains. Using biotechnology, she resurrects the creature and outfits him with cybernetic parts. She also installs the shuttle's power pod into Ghidorah's chest-plate so that she can actually pilot the monster herself. She then arrives back in the year 1992 sporting the new state of the art 2204 model Mecha-King Ghidorah!
Godzilla and Mecha-King Ghidorah begin their rematch. Godzilla causes severe structural damage to Mecha-King Ghidorah's cybernetic components, forcing Emmy to take drastic measures. She releases a series of grappling hooks from Ghidorah's body and entangles Godzilla. Then she takes off and carries the ensnared Godzilla out to sea. Godzilla burns away the metal coils with his atomic breath. The two creatures smash down into the ocean. However, Emmy manages to disengage the power pod and flies off to safety. Ghidorah is destroyed and Godzilla is far, far away from Tokyo.
Emmy returns to Tokyo and explains to Terasawa that she is his descendant from the 23rd century. The two say their goodbyes and Emmy and M-11 return to the year 2204.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kosuke Toyohara | Kenichiro Terasawa |
| Anna Nakagawa | Emmy Kano |
| Megumi Odaka | Miki Saegusa |
| Katsuhiko Sasaki | Professor Mazaki |
| Akiji Kobayashi | Yuzo Tsuchiashi |
| Tokuma Nishioka | Takehito Fujio |
| Yoshi Tsuchiya | Yasuaki Shindo |
| Kenji Sahara | Takayuki Segawa |
| Kôichi Ueda | Ikehata |
| Sô Yamamura | Prime Minister |
| Yasunori Yuge | Army chief |
| Kiwako Harada | Chiaki Moriyuma |
| Kenpachiro Satsuma | Gojira |
| "Hurrican Ryu" Hariken | Kingugidora |
| Chuck Wilson | Chuck Wilson |
| Richard Berger | Grenchiko |
| Robert Scott Field | Android M-11 |
| Kent Gilbert | Ship commander |
| Daniel Kahl | Major Spielberg |
| Wataru Fukuda | Godzillasaurus |
Notes & Trivia[]
- Japanese translation: Gojira vs. Kingu Gidorâ
- The tagline for this film is "Godzilla is back! This time it's for good!"
- The English-dubbed version of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah premiered on home video on April 28th, 1998. The film has also been included on the Godzilla 7-Pack DVD Collection by Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah/Godzilla vs. Mothra double-feature boxset by Columbia TriStar.
- The running time on the original version of the film is 103 minutes. The US-dubbed version is 100 minutes long, excising three minutes of time off the end credit sequence.
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah earned itself no small measure of controversy after it's intitial release in Japan, owing largely to the flashback sequences and the representation of US soldiers during World War II. A cable news channel in the United States ran a lengthy story about the film's alleged anti-American sentiments. Scenes of American soldiers being killed by the Godzillasaurus were shown on the network Director Kazuki Ōmori, however, defended his artistic decision on camera, arguing that the film was not in fact intended to showcase anti-American sentiments. [1]
- In the 1998 English-dubbed release of the film, one of the soldiers featured in the Lagos Island flashback is named Major Spielberg. This is an obvious send-up to American sci-fi film director and producer Steven Spielberg who directed the popular dinosaur action film Jurassic Park in 1993. Spielberg is also known for directing several pivotal World War II era films such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.
Plot holes[]
As with any time travel story, gaping plot holes and unanswered questions abound, and this film is no exception. For starters, why did the time travelers need to make a pit stop in 1992? Wouldn't it have been just as easy for them to go straight from 2204 to 1944 and handle the situation? Plus why go through all the trouble of teleporting the Godzillasaurus? Why not just shoot him in the head with a gun? He was already down bleeding all over the ground. They could have easily killed him in 1944 and achieved the same results.
Obviously the time travelers wanted to destroy Tokyo with an instrument that they could control. Since they couldn't control Godzilla they needed to use King Ghidorah. What eventually happens to Godzilla in the 23rd century however? In the year 2204, we see Ghidorah's remains, but they never mention whatever became of Godzilla himself.
There's also the matter of the fixed timeline. Since they negated Godzilla's existence in 1992, how is it that people in that time period still knew of him? How did they know what he even was if he had never existed? Mazaki decides that they must bombard Godzilla with energy from a nuclear submarine. Since time had corrected itself, Mazaki should not possess knowledge of Godzilla's existence, let alone his relationship to atomic energy.
Recommendations[]
Gallery[]
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See also[]
Media
The World of Godzilla
Godzilla miscellaneous
External Links[]
Film links[]
General links[]
References[]
 This article relates to the films within the Godzilla franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Godzilla Films category. |
