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It's believed that during the following geological period, the Cretaceous period, a rare intermediate organism was evolving from a marine reptile into a terrestrial animal. Following Odo Island tradition, I propose for the time being that we call this creature Godzilla.
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~ Dr. Kyohei Yamane exposing Godzilla and his prehistoric origins in Japan.
Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira), also known specifically as the Original Godzilla, is the overarching antagonist of the Showa, Heisei and Millennium eras in Toho's Godzilla franchise.
He was a prehistoric reptilian kaiju who originally dwelled within the depths of an underwater cavern at Bikini Atoll, until an American hydrogen bomb test was eventually deployed near his habitat, disturbing and mutating him. Godzilla subsequently took his anger out against humanity for his personal loss as a terrifying force of nature. Following his demise, and as shown in several film continuities, a second Godzilla would appear after some time.
Shinkichi Yamada: Is something wrong? Hideto Ogata: The professor's a zoologist. He doesn't want to see Godzilla killed.
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~ Hideto Ogata remarking to Shinkichi Yamada that Dr. Yamane expresses deep sympathy for Godzilla's pain.
Before becoming a vengeful kaiju, Godzilla was once a peaceful and docile creature who genuinely loved his family, including others of his species, and remained sleeping inside his underwater home, for a prolonged period of time, unbothered to provide his survival.
Eventually after witnessing his home destroyed, as well as his family members killed, by the hydrogen bomb, Godzilla turned into an unstoppable, fierce and aggressive behemoth who accused humanity for his inflicted pain, so much so that he had no qualms of destroying anything that crossed his path. His existence is like a metaphor of nuclear weapons and their terrible nature, which seemed to lure the kaiju towards associated areas witnessing atomic warfare, like Japan. Even after becoming Kiryu, Godzilla remained hostile towards humanity whenever he took control of the robot, continuing where he left off to decimate Japan and eliminate humanity while also recklessly causing Kiryu's energy reserves to deplete.
However, despite his dangerous and apathetic disposition, Godzilla was not evil nor sadistic in a traditional sense; while he could be terrifying on the outside, the kaiju was actually a very tragic and pitiable creature on the inside, since his mutation was characterized as his victimhood of humanity's hubris, as well as being a byproduct of nuclear arsenal. Moreover, his roars were, while terrifying, apparently broken, as Godzilla only experienced constant pain and suffering. When the Oxygen Destroyer triggered, Godzilla gave an excruciating cry of agony, due to the immense pain he underwent with by the hydrogen bomb, and fell victim to an even worse punishment. Even while in Kiryu, the first Godzilla did not want to fight the new Godzilla and just wanted to rest in peace with him.
Overall, Godzilla was a destructive but truly sympathetic kaiju who, at the same time, was inducing fear on humanity as well as causing as much destruction as possible, and was driven by melancholy and misery due to being a mutated victim of the hydrogen bomb as well as suffering the same trauma Japan felt after World War II.
Appearance[]
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Hagiwara:Godzilla? Old Fisherman: That's right. A giant, terrifying monster.
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~ The old fisherman of Odo Island describes Godzilla to Hagiwara.
As the first official incarnation of Godzilla, the ShodaiGoji would set the base template for almost every incarnation in the years to come.
He is a gigantic reptile with rough, bumpy, charcoal gray skin with a texture that resembles the Hibakusha (his skin color was frequently rumored to be dull brown, but it's unclear due to the film's monochromatic shots). He has a fairly short, wedge-shaped head with a large and wide mouth attached to a fairly short, serpentine neck. His face is round and lumpy with a large upper jaw and a thin lower jaw, and his nose is similar to a crocodile or Chinese dragon. His cranium is small in relation to the rest of his head and resembles the sagittal crest found on gorillas. He also has a pair of small, pointy, mammalian ears, a prominent brow ridge, and round eyes with white sclera and large black pupils that appear to look downward; but when viewed from a frontward direction, the eyes actually face in the opposite direction of each other. His teeth are shaped conically and, except for the notable pair of large fangs under his upper jaw, are all uniform in size. He additionally has a barrel-shaped upper body with wide shoulders and a prominent sternum accompanied by a concave collarbone. His biceps are quite large and roughly twice as wide as his forearms. His hands are considerably wider than his wrists and sport four clawed, semi-webbed digits each. He also has fairly short, columnar and muscular legs that sport prominent kneecaps. His feet are plantigrade and very wide, comparable to leg thickness, and (much like his hands) sport four clawed, semi-webbed digits each. His tail is fairly short in proportion to his body and has a rough underside, a pointy tip, as well as faint segments that aren't as prominent as later incarnations. Lastly, he has three rows of bone-white, staggered and uneven dorsal plates that curve a bit forward, unlike those of later incarnations which don't appear to curve in any direction.
The original Godzilla reached heights up to 50 meters high and weighed 20,000 metric tons.
Powers and Abilities[]
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Chairman of Diet Committee: Professor Yamane, I'll be blunt: We want to know if there's a way to kill Godzilla. Dr. Kyohei Yamane: Impossible. Godzilla was baptized in the fire of the H-bomb and survived. What could kill him now? Right now our priority should be to study his incredible powers of survival.
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~ Dr. Yamane wanting Godzilla to be studied rather than killed, while also expressing the latter's unique ability to withstand high radioactivity.
Powers[]
Kaiju Physiology: As a radiation-mutated kaiju, Godzilla was an immensely powerful creature granted with supernatural physical capabilities attributed to his gigantic size, sheer mass, as well as atomic prowess.
Immense Strength: As attributed to his gargantuan size, Godzilla possessed sheer physical strength as he leveraged either his massive body, arms or tail to destroy various buildings and structures at ease. His unmitigated raw power was best shown when he uplifted the Kachidoki Bridge and dumped it into the water with seemingly little to no effort.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Perhaps inherited to his aquatic lifestyle, Godzilla's body was composed with thick scales that act as body armor, making him impervious to conventional weapons and (impressively) nuclear weapons. The only weapon capable of piercing through Godzilla's defenses was the Oxygen Destroyer. His extraordinary toughness was best shown when he withstood 50,000 volts from an electric fence, and was never shown to be electrocuted as a result.
Immense Stamina: Godzilla's musculature was considerably more efficient than that of human beings, as he was capable of exerting himself at even the peakest of capacity for indefinite periods of time without wearing out. This was shown when he was receiving blows by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, as well as continuing his rampage in Tokyo, and never showed any signs of fatigue.
Enhanced Senses: Godzilla possessed acute senses, particularly his sight, hearing and smell are some of his most notable sensory capabilities. This was shown when he sensed Hideto Ogata and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa deep underwater while taking a nap.
Atomic Energy: After adapting to his mutative enhancement, Godzilla's body was stockpiled with countless atoms, which served as the main source of his radioactive capabilities, derived relevantly from nuclear weapons.
Contamination: Godzilla's body constantly emitted high radiation, leaving areas in his wake dangerous and uninhabitable for humans, as well as exposing them to his lethal doses of acute radiation syndrome.
Godzilla fires his atomic breath.
Atomic Breath: Godzilla's most recognizable attribute was his atomic breath, also initially known as his incandescent light. The breath weapon took the form of a white, vapor-like mist that achieves temperatures high enough to melt metal and ignite raging firestorms which engulfed entire city blocks.
Bodily Weaponry: In addition to his physical capabilities, Godzilla also employed an array of natural weapons, like his tail, used to swat onto buildings with unnatural force, and his fangs, used to grapple trains and structures.
Amphibious Adaptation: Although technically a reptile, Godzilla possessed an amphibious lifestyle as he was capable of spending extended periods of time on terrestrial and aquatic environments. In addition, he could remain completely submerged underwater for long periods of time as he remained in a deep underwater cavern for millions of years. Whenever Godzilla was underwater, he could either swim or simply march across the seabed. Also, being submerged did not impede Godzilla's atomic breath.
Enhanced Longevity: As an ancient creature who survived the dinosaur extinction and the radioactivity of a hydrogen bomb, Godzilla possessed an exceptionally long lifespan, despite still taking the physical appearance as a giant reptile in his prime. He was capable of remaining alive for prolonged periods of time seemingly without aging, though close-call instances, such as the Oxygen Destroyer, confirmed that he could still be killed.
Abilities[]
Intimidation: Godzilla was an extremely fearsome force, as his presence induced psychological dread and panic. That combined with his towering size, terrifying appearance, earsplitting roars and catastrophic rampages in Tokyo made him as an inescapable nightmare to humanity, including the inhabitants of Odo Island.
Weaknesses[]
Oxygen Destroyer: While Godzilla was considerably nigh-invincible, he was susceptible the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer, a chemical weapon that removes all oxygen in water and liquefies all asphyxiated life within the reaction. It is the first, and in many ways the only, weapon to defeat Godzilla, shown when it originally overpowered Godzilla and absolutely dissolved him and left no trace of him behind. As of the KiryuSaga retcon, it withered away all but his intact skeleton.
In Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the American version of the 1954 film, Godzilla's height was changed from 50 meters to 121.92 meters. This was because the film's producer, Joseph E. Levine, felt that 50 meters did not sound "powerful enough".
Interestingly, the 20,000-metric-ton mass of this Godzilla and the Showa Godzilla are said to be equal to 5,000 elephants.
Originally, Godzilla was going to be a giant mutant octopus, as perceived by special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, but producer Tomoyuki Tanaka wasn't so comfortable with and disliked his treatment and would eventually win out by favoring a dinosaurian appearance. The Giant Octopus kaiju would later appear in King Kong vs. Godzilla as well as the alternate endings of Frankenstein vs. Baragon and The War of the Gargantuas.
Writer Shigeru Kayama wrote a story treatment from Tanaka's outline titled "Project G", which involved Godzilla destroying fishing boats while driven by the search for food, but it seemed flat as Kayama did not include anything that mentioned nuclear testing and was also depicted too similarly to Eugène Lourié's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
Godzilla's Japanese name, "Gojira (ゴジラ)", is an approximate combination of the English word "gorilla" and the Japanese word "kujira (クジラ)", which translates to "whale". There were numerous rumors as to how the Japanese name came to be:
Tanaka claimed it was a nickname given to an imposing Toho employee.
Actor Haruo Nakajima claimed a contest was held for thinking the kaiju's name.
Kimi Honda, wife of director Ishiro Honda, claimed it was decided on by Honda, Tanaka and Tsuburaya.
Contrary to popular belief, the English name "Godzilla" was never invented by the film's American distributors; Toho's international sales department already marketed English-subtitled prints titled as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!", which were briefly shown in Japanese-American theaters.
Originally, Tsuburaya intended to bring Godzilla to life using stop-motion, like Willis H. O'Brien did with 1933's King Kong. However, he estimated it would take almost seven years to shoot everything he had planned with stop-motion due to the film being already scheduled by the end of the year, so he reluctantly settled on suitmation, a.k.a. a man in a creature suit stomping through the miniatures among his skills.
Suitmation tends to be related with analog horror, such as Unknowingly's cancelled web series The Man in The Suit; the first episode of which presents an alternate reality where an unknown man becomes Godzilla by wearing his creature suit for more than a day.
The initial concept art drafts of manga artist Wasuke Abe had Godzilla with a mushroomy head and a humanoid body. Though they would be rejected radically, they would only be used as loose reference for the modeling process and Abe was still kept onboard to help prepare storyboards for the film, supported by a team of fellow mangaka.
When designing Godzilla, art director Akira Watanabe and sculptor Teizo Toshimitsu referred to dinosaur books for kids and a 1953 issue of Life magazine that featured illustrations of dinosaurs, two of which stood out and would be the basis of Godzilla's design would be the Tyrannosaurus rex and the Iguanodon. The added dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus gave Godzilla a more distinct look, and it was decided in post-production that the plates would light up when the kaiju used his atomic breath. The included mammalian ears reinforced that he is more of a monster rather than just a typical gigantic dinosaur.
Toshimitsu modeled 3 clay concept maquettes of Godzilla in total:
The first one featured scales like that of a fish. (rejected by production)
The second sported wart-like bumps. (rejected by production)
The third sought to emulate crocodile skin. (approved by production)
There were also two ShodaiGoji suits:
The first suit would be handcrafted from latex rubber and other crude materials that solidified into a 220-pound, mostly unmovable disaster, though this ended up only being used for shots that required little to no movement. The suit would eventually be cut in half, with its bottom half having suspenders added so Nakajima would film the close-up shots of Godzilla's feet crushing stuff without him suffering too much.
The second suit would be handcrafted from latex leather supplemented with ready-mix concrete by sculptors Eizo Kaimai, Kanju Yagi and Yasuei Yagi, as rubber and plastics were hard to come by in the postwar Japan period. The latex skin would be stuffed with bamboo and foam to make a frame. Over that, they put metal mesh and cushioning to boost the support of the structure, and then laid latex over it. They would melt chunks of raw materials and while it was hot, indentations would be made into the skin to give Godzilla his scarred appearance. The final suit would be broken into different parts, was 6½ feet tall and weighed 200 pounds.
In addition of having suits, there would be two hand puppets created to supplement them: one of which had a nozzle in the mouth that sprayed mist and the other was mechanical that could bite.
Deleted scene of Godzilla gripping a cow in his jaws.
In the initial draft of Godzilla's full reveal, he had a bleeding cow hanging in his jaws; a remnant of Kayama's story. Test shots were taken, but Sadamasa Arikawa thought the scene was "too gruesome" and convinced Tsuburaya to refilm the effect without the cow. In addition, filming it was treacherous as the crew dealt with 100° temperatures and intense humidity at the beach area.
In addition to the bleeding cow deleted scene, the 1954 film also had a couple of scenes that did not make the cut, like:
Emiko Yamane and Hideto Ogata at the beach witnessing Godzilla's tail in the ocean, which both mistake them as moving rocks, and Ogata takes a rifle to shoot them before they disappeared.
Storyboards showing more of Godzilla's rampage, with Serizawa and Ogata using fights to drive the kaiju away.
Godzilla's thunderous roars were Honda's idea as he knowingly could use his mutated origin to cover the effects, despite the fact that reptiles do not have vocal cords. Sound technicians Hisashi Shimonaga and Ichiro Minawa tried modifying the cries of lions, tigers and night herons, but everything they produced was still too natural and unsatisfactory. It was composer Akira Ifukube who created Godzilla's roars by recording his assistant, Sei Ikeno, rubbing a leather glove soaked in pine tar across a double bass and applying an echo effect.
In addition, Ifukube composed Godzilla's main theme, despite being originally made to be the JSDF's theme.
During the 1954 flashback scene in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the partial ShodaiGoji replica, modeled by Shinichi Wakasa and his company MONSTERS Inc. and consisting only of an upper body, was often mistaken for CGI by fans (even Gareth Edwards) due to having a smoother appearance compared to the original suit.
Toho has returned to the 1954 film multiple times in terms of rebooting the franchise, sometimes retconning its events to better serve the stories they want to tell:
The Heisei era revolved around a second Godzilla who first attacked Japan 30 years after the original, ignoring the 14 other installments in the Showa era. In its finale, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, he faced a colony of Precambrian crustaceans that were mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that killed the original Godzilla.
The 1954 film is also part of Godzilla 2000: Millennium's continuity, although it's only mentioned in supplementary materials and not the film itself.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus presented an alternate universe where Serizawa never used the Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla, digitally inserting the MireGoji suit into shots from the ShodaiGoji suit for consistency's sake.
In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the Oxygen Destroyer left the original Godzilla's bones intact, allowing the JXSDF to use them as the framework for the anti-Godzilla robot, Kiryu. They incorporated cloned DNA extracted from the bones into Kiryu's computer controls, with extremely volatile results.
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