Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
| Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla | |
|---|---|
 Japanese theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Kensho Yamashita |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Shogo Tomiyama |
| Written by | Hiroshi Kashiwabara |
| Starring | Megumi Odaka Jun Hashizume Zenkichi Yoneyama Akira Emoto Towako Yoshikawa Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla |
| Music by | Takayuki Hattori Isao Shigetoh Akira Ifukube (Godzilla theme) |
| Cinematography | Masahiro Kishimoto |
| Distributed by | Toho TriStar Pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment) |
| Release date(s) | December 10, 1994 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | US $10,300,000 |
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (ゴジラVSスペースゴジラ Gojira tai SupēsuGojira) is a 1994 science fiction kaiju film directed by Kensho Yamashita and written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara. It was the twenty-first film released in the Godzilla series and sixth in the Heisei series of films. It is the second film to feature the Moguera and Little Godzilla and also the seventh film to feature Mothra. It is the only film to feature SpaceGodzilla. The film involves an alien clone of Godzilla dubbed SpaceGodzilla arriving to dominate Earth, and Godzilla goes out to defeat him in order to save his son from the space monster. The Japanese Self-Defense Force sends in Moguera, a giant robot, to assist Godzilla in combating the terror from space.
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[edit] Plot
In 1995, a group of soldiers and scientists are setting up at Birth Island to try Project T against Godzilla. The plan is to plant a device on Godzilla which will allow the G-Force to control the mutant dinosaur telepathically, but the project fails. Meanwhile, Mothra sends a Fairy Mothra from space to Earth, and the scout uses a message from the Cosmos to warn the humans of grave danger. A space monster is planning to destroy Godzilla and conquer Earth, and with Mothra gone, the Earth will have to rely on Godzilla to save the planet. At the same time, a space monster indeed appears and attacks a NASA space station. Moguera, created from the remains of Super Mechagodzilla, is sent out to stop the monster but is defeated.
The monster lands on Birth Island and fights Godzilla. However, Godzilla is knocked out by the monster's corona beam while protecting LittleGodzilla. LittleGodzilla is captured in a crystalline prison below ground. The monster, for unknown reasoning, retreats, with Godzilla following him, in an attempt to free his imprisoned son. The scientists discover that the space monster is a clone of Godzilla, so they name it SpaceGodzilla. They speculate that SpaceGodzilla must have been formed from either Godzilla's last battles with Biollante or Mothra, which sent Godzilla's cells into space and into a black hole, where it merged with crystals and cosmic energies to form this new Godzilla.
The Yakuza captures psychic Miki Saegusa and brings her back to their base, in an attempt to use Project T to gain control of Godzilla. However, their plan backfires. A recovery team is successfully dispatched and Miki and the team escape before SpaceGodzilla arrives and destroys the building. SpaceGodzilla lands in Fukuoka and destroys it in a matter of minutes, creating large crystals from the ground and turning the city into its fortress. Moguera arrives to once again fight SpaceGodzilla but is still no match for it. However, Godzilla arrives and fights SpaceGodzilla. It is discovered that SpaceGodzilla is using Fukuoka tower in the city as a power source and is absorbing the energy through its shoulder crystals. After taking advantage of this weakness, Godzilla destroys SpaceGodzilla (along with Moguera) by using his spiral ray and frees LittleGodzilla. The G-force now accepts Godzilla as their new protector. Miki, with her telepathic powers, gets the control device off of Godzilla and he turns his head in her direction and roars at her as if thanking her.
The film ends with Godzilla swimming back to Birth island and the Fairy Mothra returns to outer space.
[edit] Cast
- Megumi Odaka as Miki Saegusa
- Jun Hashizume as Lieutenant Koji Shinjo
- Zenkichi Yoneyama as Lieutenant Kiyoshi Sato
- Akira Emoto as Major Akira Yuki
- Towako Yoshikawa as Chinatsu Gondo
- Yosuke Saito as Doctor Susumu Okubo
- Kenji Sahara as Minister Takayuki Segawa
- Akira Nakao as Commander Takaki Aso
- Koichi Ueda as Commander Hyodo
- Sayako Osawa and Keiko Imamura as the Cosmos
- Ronald Hoerr as Professor Alexander Mammilov
- Tom Durran as Yokuza Boss McKay
- Kenpachiro Satsuma as Godzilla
- Little Frankie as Little Godzilla
- Ryo Hariya as SpaceGodzilla the primary villain
- Wataru Fukuda as Moguera
[edit] Box office
Released on December 10, 1994, the film sold approximately 3,200,000 tickets in Japan and grossed around $20,000,000 (U.S) (US$32,000,000 world wide).
[edit] Critical reaction
Critical reaction to Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla has been mostly negative. Monster Zero called the film "a curiously uninvolving effort" that "disappoints in nearly all aspects of the production" [1] American Kaiju criticized the "wildly uneven pacing," "uneven special effects," and "exceedingly lumpy story," but added that "most of the special effects are pretty fair" and "the monster battles are mostly fun."[2] DVD Cult said, "It does have some great destruction scenes and monster battles; two things that make these films worthwhile to begin with. The monster SpaceGodzilla is excellently designed, and is certainly far more menacing than anything Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich ever dreamed up."[3] Toho Kingdom said the film is "far from terrible" and "an underrated movie" but felt it suffered from an "overly complicated story," "underdeveloped characters," and "forgettable" music.[4]
[edit] Home Media
To tie in with the American remake, Sony Tristar distributed the previously unreleased Heisei Godzilla films on April 28, 1998, less than half month before the release of Tristar's Godzilla remake. Excluding Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla vs. Biollante, since they've already been released prior.
[edit] DVD releases
Columbia TriStar (Sony)
- Released: February 1, 2000
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic
- Sound: English (2.0)
- Region 1
- Note: A double feature with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. On the U.S. DVD release, the final scene in which Godzilla is in the water while Echoes of Love (Date of Birth) plays is cut; however, it is left in the TV, on demand and Japanese DVD versions.
Universe Laser
- Released: November 24, 2006
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
- Sound: (Japanese, Cantonese) Dolby Digital Stereo
- Subtitles English, Chinese (Traditional/Simplified)
- Region 3
[edit] Awards
In 1995, the film won the Best Grossing Films Award - Silver Award.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla at the Internet Movie Database
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla at AllRovi
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla at Rotten Tomatoes
- "ゴジラvsスペースゴジラ (Gojira tai SupēsuGojira)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1994/dr002640.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla/Godzilla vs. Destoroyah toho kingdom page 1
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla/Godzilla vs. Destoroyah toho kingdom page 2
