Godzilla vs. Gigan
(地球攻撃命令 ゴジラ対ガイガン Chikyū Kōgeki Meirei Gojira tai Gaigan, lit. Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan)
is a 1972 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho and the twelveth installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series.
The film was released to Japanese theaters on March 12, 1972 / United States 1977 .
Defeat the evil space monsters! You can protect the Earth, Godzilla!
(宇宙のわるもの怪獣をやっつけろ！ゴジラがんばれ地球をまもれ！)
~Japanese Tagline
The Entire World Gripped By Terror!
~International Tagline
Space monsters from beyond the stars... at war with Godzilla for the Earth!
Monsters Summoned from Space-M Came to Destroy the World!
Alien Monsters Threaten to Destroy Mankind!
Godzilla teams up with his friend to fight gigan
~American Tagline
Godzilla vs. Gigan introduces one of Godzilla's most famous foes, the evil alien cyborg kaiju Gigan, and marks the return of King Ghidorah and Anguirus after Destroy All Monsters. Struggling manga artist Gengo Odaka finds himself employed by World Children's Land, a theme park which turns out to be a front operated by the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens. Working together with Machiko Shima and Shosaku Takasugi, who also know the aliens' true nature, Gengo tries to sabotage the Nebulans' plan to conquer the Earth. In the meantime, the Nebulans summon their own monster Gigan along with the dreaded King Ghidorah to lay waste to human civilization. However, Godzilla and Anguirus learn of the Nebulans' nefarious plan and head to Tokyo to confront the space monsters before they can destroy the world, while Gengo and his allies try to stop the aliens' invasion from inside their base in the Godzilla Tower.
Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Written by: Shinichi Sekizawa
Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Stock music by: Akira Ifukube
Theme song "Godzilla March"
Performed by: Susumu Ishikawa
Composed by: Kunio Miyauchi
Lyrics by: Shinichi Sekizawa, Jun Fukuda
Cinematography by: Kiyoshi Hasegawa
Edited by: Yoshio Tamura
Production design by: Yoshifumi Honda
1st assistant director: Fumisake Okada
Director of special effects: Teruyoshi Nakano
1st assistant director of special effects: Yoshio Tabuchi (uncredited)
Cast
Hiroshi Ishikawa as Gengo Odaka, manga artist
Tomoko Umeda as Machiko Shima
Yuriko Hishimi as Tomoko Tomoe
Minoru Takashima as Shosaku Takasugi
Zan Fujita as Fumio Sudo, chairman of World Children's Land
Toshiaki Nishizawa as Kubota, secretary of World Children's Land
Kunio Murai as Takeshi Shima, computer engineer
Gen Shimizu as Self Defense Force commander
Kuniko Ashihara as Fumio Sudo's mother
Kurayoshi Nakamura as Priest
Akio Murata as Kadohisa, editor-in-chief
Naoya Kusakawa as Police officer
Wataru Omae as Voice of police station speaker / radio announcer / Nebulan henchman
Hiroto Kimura, Sadao Watanabe, Noritake Saito as Nebulan henchmen
Akira Nishikawa as Nebulan henchman / JSDF radar operator
Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla / employee of magazine company / JSDF staff member
Koetsu Omiya as Anguirus / JSDF radar operator
Kanta Ina as King Ghidorah
Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan (as Kengo Nakayama)
International English Dub
Linda Masson as Tomoko Tomoe
Michael Kaye as Shosaku Takasugi / Kadohisa / Nebulan henchman / police officer
Ted Thomas as Kubota / Godzilla / priest / radio announcer
Chris Hilton as Fumio Sudo
Monsters
Godzilla
Anguirus
Gigan
King Ghidorah
Mothra (Stock Footage, erroneous)
Rodan (Stock Footage)
Kamacuras (Stock Footage)
Kumonga (Stock Footage)
Gorosaurus (Stock Footage)
Minilla (Stock Footage)
Gaira (Stock Footage, erroneous)
Shukra (Photograph)
Mamagon (Photograph)
Weapons
Type 66 Maser Cannon
Vehicles
F86F Sabre
Hybrid Tank (Stock Footage)
M24 Chaffee Tank (Stock Footage)
M4A3E8 Sherman Tank (Stock Footage)
Missile Launcher Truck
Red Bamboo Fighter Jet (Stock Footage, mistake)
SAR-1 (Stock Footage)
Support Helicopter (Stock Footage)
Type 61 Tank
Type M3A1 (Stock Footage)
Locations
Godzilla Tower
Races
M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens
Alternate titles
Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan (literal Japanese title)
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: Earth Attack Command (ゴジラ対キングギドラ 地球攻撃命令 Gojira tai Kingu Gidora Chikyū Kōgeki Meirei, early Japanese title)
Godzilla on Monster Island (United States)
War of the Monsters (United Kingdom)
Galien, The Monster of the Galaxies Attacks the Earth (Galien, el monstruo de las galaxias ataca la Tierra; Spain)
Galien, The Monster of the Galaxies Attacks Again (Galien, el monstruo de las galaxias ataca de nuevo; Spain; reissue title)
Godzilla Against Gigan (Godzilla contra Gigan; Mexico; Spanish DVD title; Godzilla kontra Gigan; Poland; Godzilla contre Gigan; French video title)
Earth Objective: Mission Apocalypse (Objectif Terre: Mission Apocalypse; France)
Extermination 2025 (French video title)
Frankenstein's Hell Brood (Frankensteins Höllenbrut; West Germany)
Monsters from Outer Space (Monster aus dem Weltall; German 8mm title)
Godzilla Against Frankenstein's Hell Brood (Godzilla gegen Frankensteins Höllenbrut; German DVD title)
Godzilla Against the Giants (Godzilla contro i giganti; Italy)
The Planet of Godzilla (La planète de Godzilla; French Belgium; De planeet van Godzilla; Dutch Belgium)
Godzilla Against the Giants (Godzilla devlere karsi; Turkey)
Godzilla, The King of the Monsters (Godzilla, O Rei dos Monstros; Brazil)
U.S. Release
In March 1975, the Hong Kong-dubbed international version of Godzilla vs. Gigan played at the Toho Theatre in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1977, Cinema Shares released an edited version of the international English print of Godzilla vs. Gigan throughout the U.S. as Godzilla on Monster Island, despite only about a minute of the film actually taking place on Monster Island. The company made a handful of changes to the international version, some of them in the interest of obtaining a G rating from the MPAA:
*The title card reads "Godzilla on Monster Island" and the laser beam effect from the Japanese credits sequence is gone.
In the opening credits of the Japanese version, colorful lasers shoot from different directions and pop up into strips within which each credit appears in white text. In the English versions, only the sound FX of the lasers are heard (standard text credits were used).
*Gengo calls Tomoko "a hard bitch" under his breath. Cinema Shares muted the entire soundtrack when the word "bitch" is muttered.
*Two scenes of Godzilla bleeding from Gigan's attacks are trimmed. The scene where Gigan cuts Anguirus in his snout with his abdominal saw is also edited out. The scenes afterwards, despite having Godzilla and Anguirus covered in blood from their wounds, were unchanged.
*While Godzilla and Anguirus swim away at the end of the movie, Godzilla turns and blasts the camera with his radioactive breath, lifted from the opening of the film. The energy beam fills the camera, over which the words "THE END" are superimposed.
*Perhaps the most significant change in the English-language edit of the film occurs when Godzilla and Anguirus talk. In the original Japanese version, speech bubbles appear out of the monsters' mouths and display their dialogue. In the international version, voice actor Ted Thomas, the producer of the English-language soundtrack, recorded actual English dialogue for the scene, while the speech bubbles were removed. This alteration was retained in Cinema Shares' version of the film.
Godzilla on Monster Island was frequently shown in television syndication throughout the 1980s and it aired several times on the Sci-Fi Channel before being replaced by the widescreen international version in 2002. In 1988, New World Pictures picked up the home video rights to Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Toho provided New World Video with prints of the international versions, now under their official international titles. The international English dub track was retained, but both films were now restored to their full length. These versions were subsequently re-released on video in 1992 by Starmaker Video, in 1997 by Anchor Bay, and in 2004 by TriStar Pictures. The TriStar DVDs feature newly remastered prints of Toho's original international versions along with the original Japanese audio. Kraken Releasing also released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014. The versions of the films included in these releases are identical to those from the TriStar DVDs. Because these DVDs and Blu-rays use the international prints of the film, Godzilla and Anguirus' speech bubbles are not present even in the Japanese audio track. The Criterion Collection's 2019 Blu-ray box set Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 included the Japanese version, taken from Toho's 2008 "Pure Hi-Vision" transfer but omitted the English dub for unknown reasons. It is currently available to stream on The Criterion Channel, HBO Max, and Netflix Japan.
Reception
This movie is often criticized due to its slow pacing, heavy use of stock footage and an inconsistent tone. Many fans though enjoy the monster tag team battles, stock use of Akira Ifukube's music, the introduction of Gigan and the return of King Ghidorah and Anguirus.
Trivia
Godzilla vs. Gigan played in Japanese theaters as the main feature in the Spring 1972 Toho Champion Festival, accompanied by a Mirrorman compilation film, Return of Ultraman: Jiro Rides a Monster, Pinocchio: The Series, Hutch the Honeybee: Hold Me, Momma, and The Genius Bakabon: Night Duty is Scary.
This was the first film in which Godzilla was seen actually bleeding. Despite being made for children, as part of Toho's Champion Festival, it has significant more bloodshed than previous films. This was not unusual for children's media in Japan at the time, with many contemporary superhero shows having monsters frequently being dismembered or blown up. The effects crew were actually inspired to make the fights bloodier because they received fan requests from children who asked why didn't the monsters bleed, so the crew obliged to appease them.
Gigan is the first monster to make Godzilla visibly bleed. The previous Godzilla special effects director, Eiji Tsuburaya, had been extremely opposed to having the monsters bleed in the films as he did not wish for the series' younger viewers to see such graphic images. After Tsuburaya's death, Teruyoshi Nakano took over as the head of the special effects department and many of the Godzilla films he worked on, including Godzilla vs. Gigan, included scenes of monster bloodshed.
This is the second time Anguirus visibly bleeds in a film. The first is in Godzilla Raids Again when Godzilla bites down on Anguirus' throat. The third instance of Anguirus bleeding occurs in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla when Fake Godzilla breaks Anguirus' jaw.
In an interview with Steve Ryfle, special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano mentioned how much he hated being forced by Toho to use stock footage in the film. "Of course it hurt me when I had to re-use those scenes," Nakano said, "but there was no other way - we did not have the time or the money to film new scenes." Looking back on his tenure as effects director, Nakano recalled, "If you look at the eras of Godzilla history, there is the period of Mr. Tsuburaya, the period of Mr. Arikawa, my era, and afterwards. I think mine was the toughest period of all time in Godzilla history." This sentiment was only exacerbated by the direction Toho forced the Godzilla series to take in 1970s, which dishearten Nakano and much of his staff.
The film was originally meant to be an elaborate production on par with the Godzilla films of the golden age of the 50s and 60s. This is evident in the original script; entitled "King Ghidorah's Great Counterattack". It featured Godzilla, Rodan and Varan fighting Ghidorah, Gigan, and a new monster named Mogu. It was then reworked into the more appealing "Godzilla Vs. The Space Monsters: The Earth Defense Command". The script pitted Godzilla, Angilas, and Majin Tuol (a giant stone idol, similar to Daimajin) against King Ghidorah, Gigan, and Megalon, all three recruited by an evil alien brain called Miko. This second script was ultimately reworked into the film it is today. The Godzilla Tower, originally from the script, was part of a world fair amusement park and was not made for an evil purpose like in the final film (in one scene, Gigan actually mistook it for the real Godzilla!). Megalon finally made his debut in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and Majin Tuol was reworked into King Shisar in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974).
Even though Ghidorah was "killed" in Destroy All Monsters (1968), his appearance in this film is explained by pointing out that the events of that film took place in the future date of 1999 while this film took place in the then present year of 1972.
This was Haruo Nakajima's final appearance as Godzilla before retiring from the role.
The reason for some of King Ghidorah's passive behavior in the film was that the fx crew had dwindled since Eiji Tsuburaya's day. It takes 22 wires to operate King Ghidorah (24 when in flight). Nakano's effects team didn't have the manpower to operate him properly. Most of his flying scenes were taken from earlier films. After his appearance in Zone Fighter (1973), King Ghidorah would be retired for 18 years, chiefly because of budgetary concerns. Tomoyuki Tanaka even announced publicly that Ghidorah would not be returning to the Godzilla series because it just cost too much money and manpower to properly operate him.
This was the final appearance for King Ghidorah in a Showa era film. He later would return in Zone Fighter (1973), which also takes places in continuity, appearing into episodes: Zone Fighter: Attack King Ghidorah! (1973) and Zone Fighter: King Ghidorah's Counterattack (1973).
For a long time it was shown on the movie's poster that Gigan could fire an eye beam from his forehead above his eye yet, this ability was never shown in the film. Many fans speculated that this was due to budget reasons, evident by the abundant amount of stock footage in the film. It was later revealed, however, by special effects director, Teruyoshi Nakano, that the real reason it was never shown was because he didn't believe it fits with the character. So, neither film demonstrated this ability for said reason. Additionally, Gigan also was said to possess the ability to breath fire but that was never shown to in the film for the same reason as above.
The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States in 1978 by Cinema Shares International as Godzilla on Monster Island.
Toho planned for this movie to be a return to form after Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) baffled moviegoers and got its director banned from the series. This movie came about after attempts to make another Hedorah movie failed.
Due to the reduced budget for this film, special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano used stock footage from previous Godzilla films, as well as some other Toho sci-fi films, for many of the special effects sequences. Clips from the Godzilla films Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Destroy All Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Hedorah as well as Rodan and The War of the Gargantuas, can be seen in this film. Of the film's 89-minute runtime, a little over seven minutes of it is stock footage.
The Ghidorah costume has been heavily refurbished for this film getting a new set of heads, with less elevated horns, a thicker mane and a new gold paint job.
The entire score of the film was composed of re-used Akira Ifukube scores from numerous Toho Sci-Fi pieces, as well as music Ifukube scored for Mitsubishi at Expo 70. Ifukube himself had no involvement in this film.
The term 'kaichou' used for the youthful evil chairman is a pun in Japanese, which sounds very similar to 'kaiju', which translates as 'monster' and is the genre of the Gojira films.
Out of an 89 minute run time, only 7 minutes is actual stock footage.
In interviews for Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), O'Shea Jackson Jr. stated that this movie scared him as kid because he was worried Gigan would kill Godzilla.
While the film was made and released as a matinee for children in Japan, it received a TV-14 rating when broadcast on US television due to language and violence. It is the only film of the era to have that classification with most other films being classified with a PG or G warning.
Godzilla vs. Gigan is one of four Godzilla movies in which the viewer can understand what the monsters are saying. The other three are Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where the monsters' dialogue is translated by the Shobijin; All Monsters Attack, where Minilla speaks inside of Ichiro's dreams; and Godzilla vs. Kong, where Kong uses sign language.
During the scenes in which Godzilla and Anguirus talk to each other in the English-dubbed version, it sounds as if Godzilla is calling Anguirus "Angilla."
In Toho's international version of Godzilla vs. Gigan, the monsters' dialogue is as follows:
Scene One: Monster Island
Godzilla: Hey, Angilas!
Anguirus: What do you want? *crawls to Godzilla*
Godzilla: Somethin' funny's going on, you better check! *Motions his left arm forward*
Anguirus: Oh, yeah! *crawls away*
Godzilla: Hurry up!
Scene Two: Pacific Ocean
*Godzilla and Anguirus swimming towards Japan*
Godzilla: Hey, Angilas, come on! There's a lot of trouble ahead. *points his hand forward in a straight direction* That way!
Anguirus: Okay!
An illustration of several kaiju from the Ultra Series can be seen posted on the wall in the manga publisher's office at the beginning of the film.
The Hybrid Tank, Type M3A1, SAR-1, and Support Helicopter are among the vehicles that appear through stock footage in this film. However, those four vehicles did not exist until the events of Destroy All Monsters took place in the future. This oversight would be repeated in Godzilla vs. Megalon.
