Gorath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gorath | |
|---|---|
 Gorath (1962) |
|
| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Edward L. Alperson (US release) |
| Written by | Jojiro Okami (story) Takeshi Kimura |
| Starring | Ryo Ikebe Yumi Shirakawa Takashi Shimura Akira Kubo Kumi Mizuno Ken Uehara Paul Frees (voice- US version) William Eidleson (voice- US version) Virginia Craig (voice- US version) |
| Music by | Kan Ishii |
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Editing by | Reiko Kaneko |
| Distributed by | Toho Brenco Pictures Corp. (US theatrical release) Allied Artists (US theatrical release) Heritage Enterprises, Inc. (US TV release) |
| Release date(s) | March 21, 1962 (Japan) May 20, 1964 (USA - Los Angeles) 1968 (US re-release) |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Followed by | The War in Space |
| IMDb profile | |
Gorath, released in Japan as Yosei Gorath (妖星ゴラス Yosei Gorasu?, lit. "Calamity Star Gorath"), is a Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film produced by Toho in 1962. The story for Gorath was by Jojiro Okami, a former Japanese Air Force pilot who also gave the original ideas to the films The Mysterians (1957), Battle in Outer Space (1959), and Dogora (1964). The film depicts a runaway star on a collision course with Earth in the then-future year of 1980. Unlike most other impact event stories, in which mankind must abandon the Earth (When Worlds Collide (1932)) or destroy the threat (Deep Impact, Armageddon), Gorath sees humanity attempt to avert disaster by disengaging Earth from its own orbit around the Sun. While the American When Worlds Collide can be seen as an influence on the story of Gorath, Daiei's 1956 film, Warning from Space, in which a planet is on a collision course with Earth, may have been a more direct inspiration.
The original Japanese release of Gorath also has a giant walrus kaiju (giant monster) named Magma. As with most Toho kaiju of the era, Magma was portrayed by Haruo Nakajima (the man in the original Godzilla suit). Toho's 1977 film The War in Space is considered a sequel to Gorath, in that they share common plot points, such as the UN Space Station Terra. [1]
[edit] The U.S. release
The film was released in the United States by Brenco Pictures. Most of the visual content was kept intact, but the six-minute sequence featuring the walrus kaiju Magma was removed.
The English dubbing was done by Ryder Sound Services, and scripted by Star Trek writer John Lucas. [2] Only four voice actors were used to dub the film. Besides the voices, the audio track was tampered with, including adding a sound effect for the meteor which was not in the original Japanese version.
Brenco Pictures re-released the film on a double-bill with The Human Vapor in 1968, but between the two releases never turned a profit on their investment in Gorath. The company closed in 1969 soon after the death of co-owner Edward L. Alperson on July 3 of that year. The film was purchased by Heritage Enterprises and distributed to U.S. television. Presumably, it was seen by more people on TV than by people who saw it between its two theatrical releases.
Gorath also appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars as a fictional planet, once again on a collision course with Earth.
[edit] External link
[edit] References
Tsuburaya, Hideyo. (1983) "Gorath Retrospective" in The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (#15), p.10-17.
