Gamera

Daiei's Gamera Series
File:Gamera showa 001.jpg
Gamera
Species	Giant Turtle
Height	60-80 metres
Weight	80-120 tons
Air speed	Mach 3
Origins	Iceberg (Showa) Atlantis(Heisei)
Major enemies	Gyaos
First appearance	Gamera
Created by	Yonejiro Saito
Portrayed by:	Heisei series Naoaki Manabe Jun Suzuki Akira Ohashi

Gamera (ガメラ) is a giant, flying terrapin-like creature from a popular series of daikaiju eiga monster movies produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the kaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right.

In the United States, Gamera attained prominence during the 1970s due to the burgeoning popularity of UHF television stations featuring Saturday afternoon matinee showcases like Creature Double Feature and later in the 1990s when several of his movies were featured on the cult television program Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Appearance

Gamera's size rivals that of his famous daikaiju counterpart, Godzilla. Unlike any other species of turtles, Gamera has the habit of walking bipedal rather than all fours, though he occasionally walks quadrupedally in his first three films. His mouth is filled with teeth, unlike any living modern turtle (several types of extinct prehistoric turtles were toothed, however), with a pair of large tusks protruding upward from his lower jaw. Gamera is also usually seen with very large human-like eyes, adding intelligence to his overall appearance.

Origins

In the Shōwa era films, Gamera was a gigantic, prehistoric species of tortoise who feeds on flames, awakened by an accidental atomic blast in the arctic during a dogfight between US and Russian fighters. In the Heisei era films, however, the original of Gamera was retconned: A bio-engineered guardian of the Earth created by the lost city of Atlantis with the purpose of defeating Gyaos, another ancient creation capable of killing all human life, the giant turtle is found floating adrift in the pacific, encased in rock. In the third film of the Heisei era, an undersea graveyard is found with many other Gamera skeletons, suggesting Gamera was not the only member of his kind created by Atlantis.

Capabilities

File:GAMERAfire.JPG

Gamera fires a plasma fireball in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995).

In the Showa series, Gamera fed on fire and was attracted by other heat sources. He could breathe intensely hot streams of flames or fireballs from his mouth when caught in a more serious situation. The Heisei version, on the other hand, could blast off mighty plasma fireballs from his mouth, usually very quickly, and with varying accuracy. They were highly explosive. The Heisei version could also absorb a great deal of "mana", or the living essence and energy of life on earth, and release an extremely powerful stream of pure plasma and fire from an opened, organic "cannon" in his chest. In the final film of the Heisei series, Gamera demonstrated that he could temporarily gain a spectral plasma fist if he lost his hand and the stump was struck by fire. He could possibly do the same to other body parts as well. This, along with his apparent death and rebirth from a huge explosion in the first film of the Heisei series, showed his affinity to and manipulation of fire. In the Showa series, Gamera was shown to be attracted to sources of heat, such as a forest fire and Barugon's Rainbow Ray.

In the Showa series, Gamera pulls his head, limbs, and tail into his shell, and, from inside of it, atomic jet propulsion fires from the holes where the limbs used to be, and he flies spinning like a top. He also has the ability to fly by having his head and arms sticking out and having his legs and tail retracting in his shell thus flying like a jet. In the Heisei series his methods of the "Spin-top" mode are the same but more steam is produced and his plates on his shell move around to be more streamed lined while in flight. Gamera's "Jet-mode" in the Heisei series is only different because more steam is produced, his arms turn in to wings and his tails sticks out probably for balance while flying. Also his shell plates on his shell change for a more stream-lined flight pattern. Small fins also appear on the bottom of his shell in jet mode, they are two shell plates that dettach, again they probably are for balance while flying.

Gamera's shell is extremely resilient and strong. Missiles and other weaponry merely bounce off it, along with most of his opponents' attacks. There have been a few times where his shell has faltered, most notably when Guiron hammered at the same spot several times and began cutting through. Gyaos' Sonic Beam and Zigra's Paralyzing Beam cannot penetrate Gamera's shell, shown in the films when he withdraws into his shell to avoid the attacks. Gamera's stomach, however, is softer and not as resilient, as he has been cut and gouged in his stomach to the point of bleeding. His blood is blue in the Showa series, but in the Heisei films his blood is green.

When seriously or gravely injured, Gamera can enter a coma-like state in order to heal. This often fools his opponents into thinking that he is dead, as in Gamera vs. Guiron when he entered the coma and the two Terran women believe he is dead because his eyes no longer glow (in the Showa series, glowing eyes indicated a living monster; when the eyes went out, the beast was dead). This ability has been used in almost every film Gamera is in.

Film history

Shōwa era

Gamera made his first appearance in 1965's Gamera, which was also the only Gamera film to be in black-and-white. This film also was the last 'giant monster' movie to be in black and white. Subsequent films, usually directed by Noriaki Yuasa and written by Nisan Takahashi, quickly became a big hit with children, who loved watching Gamera fight monsters Barugon, Gyaos, Viras, Guiron, Jiger, Zigra, and Garasharp (although this idea was cancelled). Gross mismanagement of Daiei, however, put the company in bankruptcy, and the Gamera films were forced to cease production after six sequels.

After Daiei was purchased by Tokuma Shoten in 1974, the new management wanted to do a new Gamera film in 1980, so Gamera: Super Monster was produced. While the majority of the film used stock footage (with limited new scenes of Gamera flying), it was considered a "recap" of Gamera's history. However, Yuasa and Takahashi felt that they had done all they could with the monster, so they respectfully killed off Gamera at the end of the film.

Through the years, on both sides of the Pacific, fans of Gamera or Godzilla have debated which monster is better. The latter would generally be considered the victor, in that Godzilla was considered to have "higher standards" than Gamera, who was just a monster for kids. The giant turtle thus often became the object of ridicule, especially on the American TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which lampoons B-movies and featured five of the original seven Gamera films during their third season. (It should be noted though that the series also featured and mocked two Godzilla films a year before.)

Heisei era

File:Gamera001.jpg

Screenshot from Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1999)

Following the second revival of the Godzilla series (1984–1995), Daiei Studios drew plans to resurrect its own star kaiju. In 1994 Daiei asked director Shusuke Kaneko, a lifelong kaiju fan, to direct a new Gamera movie. Although not a Gamera fan, (Kaneko preferred Godzilla, and had asked Toho for the chance to direct a Godzilla film in 1992, though he would not have this opportunity until 2001), Kaneko tried to stay true to the spirit of the classic films while taking a fresh, edgy approach to appeal to a more contemporary audience. The result was Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995). While not the huge box-office success anticipated, the film was met with critical acclaim on both sides of the Pacific.

Kaneko directed two sequels, forming a "Gamera Trilogy", with each film more successful than the previous. The trilogy transformed Gamera from the "friend to all children" of the Shōwa films to an anti-hero.

Although the original Showa Gamera writer Nisan Takahashi felt the Heisei Gamera was too dark toned, the second series received critical acclaim, including praise from American movie critic Roger Ebert. Modern special effects were implemented increasingly throughout the progress of the trilogy and by the third film many shots of Gamera were computer generated. Gamera III still remains an effects gold standard for many fans of the genre.

Millennium era

Gamera the Brave returns Gamera to his Shōwa-era roots, but with a modern twist. In the film, Gamera is first seen defending Japan back in the 70's from the Gyaos, but sacrifices himself to destroy them by self-destructing. In the modern day, the child of a man who witnessed that battle finds a turtle egg that hatchs into a baby Gamera he names Toto. When a lizard-like monster named Zedus appears, Toto tries to fight the beast, but ends up being gravely wounded and taken by the military for study. He ends up escaping and growing to a larger size to try and fight Zedus again, this time succeeding against the monster.

Chronology

Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

 "The Giant Monster Gamera" (translation)
 aka "Gamera"
 aka "Gamera, the invincible"

Daikaijû kessen: Gamera tai Barugon (1966)

"The Great Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon" (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Barugon"
aka "War of the Monsters"

Daikaijû kuchu kessan: Gamera tai Gyaosu (1967)

"Giant Monster Mid-Air Battle: Gamera vs. Gaos" (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Gyaos"
aka "Gamera vs. Gaos"
aka "Return of the Giant Monsters"

Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (1968)

"Gamera vs. Outer Space Monster Viras" (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Viras"
aka "Destroy All Planets"

Gamera tai daiakuju Giron (1969)

"Gamera vs. giant monster Giron" (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Guiron"
aka "Attack of the Monsters"
aka "Gamera vs. Gullion"

Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga (1970)

Gamera vs. the Demon Beast Jiger (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Monster X"
aka "Gamera vs. Jiger"

Gamera tai Shinkai kaijû Jigura (1971)

"Gamera vs. Deep Sea Monster Zigra" (translation)
aka "Gamera vs. Zigra"

Uchu kaijû Gamera (1980)

aka "Space Monster Gamera" (translation)
aka "Gamera Super Monster"
aka "Super Monster Gamera"

Gamera daikaijû kuchu kessen (1995)

aka "Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe"
aka "Gamera: Giant Monster Midair Showdown"

Gamera 2: Region shurai (1996)

aka "Gamera vs. Legion"
aka "Gamera: Attack of Legion"
aka "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion"
aka "Gamera 2: Assault of the Legion"

Gamera 3: Iris kakusei (1999)

aka "Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris"
aka "Gamera 1999: The Absolute Guardian of the Universe"
aka "Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris"
aka "Gamera: Revenge of Iris"

Gamera: Chiisaki yusha-tachi (2006)

aka "Gamera the Brave"
aka "Gamera: The Little Braves

Mystery Science Theater 3000 appearances

Gamera was a frequent whipping boy on the third season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where five of the Shōwa era films were mocked. The Satellite of Love crew made up silly English lyrics to the Gamera theme:

(All) Gameraaaaaaaaaa! Gameraaaaaaaaaaaaa! Gamera is really neat,
Gamera is filled with meat,
We've been eating Gamera!
Shell, feet, eyes, brain, claws, breath scales, fun!
(Tom Servo) Doctor Forrester is kind of a jerk,
and Frank is really dumb too!
(Crow) We have to take part in these lame experiments!
(Joel) But do we complain?
(Tom) No!
(Joel) No!
(Crow) Yes!<br'> (Tom) Huh?
(Tom) So we hy-kee-ba all over the place
(Joel) and talk of the thousand wonderful days!
(All) Gameria is really sweet,
he is filled with turtle meat!
Now we have commercial siiiiiiign!

Show writer Mike Nelson even performed a variation on this song as erudite singer/pianist Michael Feinstein. Gamera is also a friend to all children.

The five films riffed in season 3 were previously mocked years earlier on MST3K during the show's original incarnation on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis (the little seen "season 0" from 1988-89)

Future plans

• In late 2005, it was announced that Cartoon Network licensed the Gamera character for an animated series, slated to be released in the spring of 2007. However, as of March 2007, no further statements have been issued, making the prospect of such a series unlikely.

• Many fans have wondered if Gamera and Godzilla may appear in a film together (perhaps similar to King Kong vs. Godzilla), but Daiei Motion Picture Company and Toho Studios have no plans for a team-up.
• There are rumors that a American remake of a Gamera movie could happen but as for 2007 Daiei Motion Pictures has no plans for a remake of Gamera .

Popular culture

• Gamera, along with Godzilla and some other kaiju, appear in Dr. Slump in side stories.

• An episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited had a team of superheroes consisting of Supergirl, Green Lantern, Star Girl, and others briefly battle a nuclear-powered giant turtle in Japan that was a likely homage to Gamera.

• Gamera is a bonus track on the album Millions Now Living Will Never Die by post-rock band Tortoise

• Gamera made an appearance in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy movie Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure and his spoof Cragera appeared in Giant Billy and Mandy all out attack

External links

• Gamera Official Homepage (Japanese)
• The Shrine of Gamera
• Roger Ebert's review of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
• The Godzilla Shrine