Godzilla vs. Gigan
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| Godzilla vs. Gigan | |
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| Directed by | Jun Fukuda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Written by | Takeshi Kimura Shinichi Sekizawa |
| Starring | Hiroshi Ishikawa Yuriko Hishimi Minoru Takashima Tomoko Umeda Toshiaki Nishizawa |
| Music by | Akira Ifukube ("Godzilla March" by Kunio Miyauchi) |
| Cinematography | Kiyoshi Hasegawa |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | March 12, 1972 |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Preceded by | Godzilla vs. Hedorah |
| Followed by | Godzilla vs. Megalon |
| IMDb profile | |
Godzilla vs. Gigan, released in Japan as Chikyū Kogeki Meirei: Godzilla tai Gigan (地球攻撃命令 ゴジラ対ガイガン Chikyū Kogeki Meirei Gojira tai Gaigan?, lit. "Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan") and also known as Godzilla on Monster Island when first released to U.S. theaters, is a 1972 tokusatsu film. The 12th of the Toho Studio's Godzilla series, it was directed by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. In the U.S., Cinema Shares released the film in 1977. When released to video in the 1980s, the title reverted to Godzilla vs. Gigan.
The monsters featured in this film are Godzilla, Anguirus, King Ghidorah and a new monster, Gigan.
Godzilla fans usually do not hold the film in high esteem. It had a lower budget than most of the other Godzilla films and depends heavily on stock footage from earlier Toho kaiju movies, such as Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Rodan, War of the Gargantuas, Destroy All Monsters, and Monster Zero. However, because of the film's low-budget, the special-effects crew could not have completed the movie without the use of the older footage. Some fans do enjoy the film for its lengthy four-way fight between the monsters at the finale.
The music is credited to Akira Ifukube, who composed the scores for most of the Godzilla films of the 1960s. Ifukube, however, did not write any new music for this movie; all of his music was taken from his earlier Toho scores, most notably Battle in Outer Space for the main title music.
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[edit] Plot
Giant cockroaches from a dying Earth-like planet in the Space Hunter Nebula M plot to colonize the Earth and destroy all cities to make it more "peaceful" (Peace and technology are the themes of this film). They inhabit the bodies of recently deceased humans, thus resembling them, and work as the staff of the Japan branch of the peace-themed theme park, World Children's Land (based in Switzerland), the centerpiece being the Godzilla-shaped "Godzilla Tower". The plan of the Nebula M aliens is to use the space monsters King Ghidorah and Gigan (guided by two "Action Signal Tapes") to wipe out civilization. A cartoonist named Gengo Kotaka stumbles onto their plan after being hired as a concept artist for them. When Gengo and his friends play one of the incomprehensible Action Signal Tapes (which he obtained by accident) on their tape player, only Godzilla and Anguirus hear it from afar and catch on to this evil plot as well. Godzilla sends Anguirus to the source of the sound to make sure nothing's wrong, but once Anguirus arrives at Tokyo Bay, the Japanese military, having no clue on the monster's intentions, drives him away. Anguirus goes back to Monster Island, and Godzilla then follows him back to the city. Both monsters try to save the Earth from King Ghidorah and Gigan, though the Nebula M aliens plan to lure Godzilla into a shocking fatal trap via placing an extremely powerful laser cannon inside the Godzilla tower,s mouth and firing it at Godzilla.Once the tower is destroyed by the main human characters Godzilla and Anguirus drive Gigan and King Ghidorah into a retreat back into space and save the world.
[edit] Trivia
- This was Haruo Nakajima's last role as Godzilla before retiring from the role.
- This movie marks the fourth consecutive appearance of the Godzilla suit first used in Destroy All Monsters, making it the most used single Godzilla suit in the series. However, by the time this film was made the suit was beginning to deteriorate(there are several instances where some of its "scales" can be seen flying off). As such, during the scenes when Godzilla is swimming, the Godzilla suit from Son of Godzilla is used, as well as the Godzilla suit from Invasion of Astro-Monster.
- The monsters are made to "speak" briefly in this movie. In the Japanese version, Godzilla and Anguirus communicate through thought-bubbles put on the screen, with their "voices" represented by a scratchy sound undecipherable as a language. The English version provides the monsters with deep and difficult to understand spoken dialogue.
- This film marks the first time Godzilla visibly bleeds. Before, Eiji Tsuburaya, who was head of special effects for most Godzilla films until his death in 1969, had made a point of not showing Godzilla or any other kaiju in his films bleed.
- The two unfilmed scripts that resulted in this film were:
- The Return of King Ghidorah (キングギドラの大逆襲 Kingu Gidora no Daigyakushū?), which featured Godzilla, Rodan and Varan fighting Ghidorah, Gigan, and a new monster named Mogu.
- Godzilla Vs. the Space Monsters: Earth Defense Command (ゴジラ対宇宙怪獣 地球防衛命令 Gojira tai Uchū Kaijū: Chikyū Bōei Meirei?), which featured Godzilla, Anguirus and the Daimajin-like Majin Tuol fighting King Ghidorah, Gigan and Megalon (both new monsters). The three evil monsters are controlled by an alien brain called Miko. This script also had a theme park and the Godzilla Tower (which Gigan mistook for the real Godzilla in one scene). while Megalon appeared in his own film, Godzilla vs. Megalon.
[edit] Box Office
In Japan, the film sold approximately 1,780,000 tickets.
[edit] U.S. Release
In 1977, CinemaShares, the company responsible for the North American distribution of Godzilla vs. Megalon, released a dubbed and slightly cut version of Godzilla vs. Gigan in North America. This version was re-titled Godzilla on Monster Island despite the fact that very little of the action actually takes place on Monster Island.
Several short scenes were cut to obtain a G-rating from the MPAA:
- Gigan cutting Angillas in the snout, causing him to bleed.
- Dialogue: "You're a hard bitch."
This version also including a different opening titles sequence and a different "The End" card.
Also, the original Japanese version, instead of having the monsters talk, reportedly had the monsters communicate via cartoon speech bubbles. The monsters' dialogue in the North American version is from Toho's "Internation Version" acquired by CinemaShares, and not an alteration by CinemaShares.
[edit] DVD Releases
Sony Pictures
- Released: October 19, 2004
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35) anamorphic
- Sound: Japanese (2.0), English (2.0)
- Supplements: Trailer for The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
- Region 1
- Note: Contain's Toho's 'International Version' English dub track.
[edit] External links
- Godzilla vs. Gigan movie review
- [1]
- [2]
- Godzilla vs Gigan/Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan (1972) - Cast List, Synopsis, & Photos at MIN
