Zilla (Godzilla)
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| Godzilla film series character | |
|---|---|
| Zilla | |
| File:Zilla98 01.jpg | |
| Species | Giant, Mutant, Irradiated Sea Iguana |
| Alias | Godzilla, American Godzilla, Godzilla 1998 |
| Height | 60[1]-90[2] m (197–295 ft) |
| Weight | 500 tons[1] |
| Abilities | Power Breath (Godzilla) Speed Burrowing Atomic Flame Blast (Godzilla: The Series) Enhanced Regeneration (Godzilla: The Series) Enhanced Stamina (Godzilla: The Series) |
| Origins | Nuclear testing in French Polynesia |
| First appearance | Godzilla (1998) |
| Latest appearance | Godzilla: Final Wars |
| Created by | Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich and Patrick Tatopoulos |
Zilla (ジラ, Jira), also known as the American Godzilla, is a movie monster that first appeared as the title character in the 1998 Roland Emmerich film Godzilla. The design by Patrick Tatopoulos is that of a hunched bent-over marine iguana.[3] The 60m tall creature is a mutation of a sea iguana caused by nuclear radiation. The movie's incarnation is a CGI re-imaging of the daikaijū Godzilla, which is traditionally portrayed by a man in a latex rubber suit. For its subsequent appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars, director Ryuhei Kitamura renamed the creature Zilla.[4]
Film appearances
Godzilla
Originally a marine iguana egg irradiated by French nuclear tests in French Polynesia, makes its presence known years later when it attacks three fishing boats in the ocean. The monster then heads to New York City, dragging three trawlers under the sea on the way, then lumbering across the Fulton Fish Market, before rampaging through the city. Manhattan is evacuated and the military attempt to kill the monster, first luring it out with a huge pile of fish. It takes the bait, but then is scared off by small arms fire, and is chased by three AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. They fire, only to knock the top two dozen stories off the Chrysler Building. The monster escapes, but not before it is realized that it reproduces asexually, and is collecting food not only for itself, but also for its offspring. The military lures 'Zilla out again, into the waters of the Hudson River and seemingly kill it with a torpedo. Meanwhile, hundreds of eggs are discovered in Madison Square Garden. The Baby 'Zillas begin to look for food, but are incinerated when the building is bombarded. The adult 'Zilla emerges from the wreckage, and is lured to the Brooklyn Bridge where it becomes entangled in the steel suspension cables, and is an easy target for the fighters. After it is hit by twelve missiles, it screams in pain and falls to the ground, its heart beating slowly until it breathes its last breath.
All seems well until we see in the smoking ruins of the Garden, a single egg has survived and hatches revealing another baby 'Zilla.
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Though Zilla does not appear in the film, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack opens with a meeting of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, held to discuss Zilla's attack on New York City. During the meeting, a pair of officers discuss the events and one asks if the monster that attacked New York was actually Godzilla. The other guard slyly replies that although the American experts believe so, the Japanese do not.
Godzilla: Final Wars
Under Xilian control, Zilla attacks Sydney, Australia, and later battles the original Japanese Godzilla there. He charges at Godzilla and jumps over his atomic blast, but is sent flying by a tail swipe from Godzilla into the Sydney Opera House. Godzilla releases his atomic blast at the famous structure, destroying it and atomizing Zilla in the process. The fight itself lasts 13 seconds, giving Zilla the record of the shortest battle in Final Wars, and one of the shortest defeats in any Godzilla film.
Zilla (along with Manda and Kamacuras while flying) is one of the few monsters in Final Wars realized completely through CGI instead of suitmation.
On the DVD release of Godzilla: Final Wars, the Zilla vs Godzilla battle has its own chapter titled "Pretender To The Throne".
Zilla is suggested to eat two people in his initial attack on Sydney, something few other Toho kaiju have done. Though disputed, it appears as if Zilla possesses a breath weapon, as the film shows a crowd of people running until they are all blown away by a wall of fire which precedes the appearance of the monster walking into camera view. In an interview, the director of Final Wars confirmed this and stated that Zilla was emitting an acidic fire from its stomach, which after blowing on cars lighted up and made it seem like Zilla was firing a beam attack.
Godzilla: Final Wars references the 1998 Godzilla movie when Zilla is defeated. The Controller, in the Japanese version, says, "I knew that tuna-eating lizard was useless," a reference to the American creature's diet of fish in the 1998 film. In the American version, he calls Zilla a "tuna-head". The line was, "I knew that tuna-head wasn't up to much!"
His roars are performed by Frank Welker.
Godzilla: The Series
In 1998, Godzilla: The Series, a Saturday morning cartoon (not to be confused with the earlier The Godzilla Power Hour), continued the story of 'Zilla's surviving offspring from the 1998 film in a role reminiscent of the Japanese films of the late Shōwa era.
The series revolves around the only surviving offspring of the first 'Zilla seen in the climax of the 1998 film. After the original monster was killed, Niko "Nick" Tatapolous the NRC scientist who first studied 'Zilla convinces the military to conduct a search for any eggs that may have survived. Nick offers his assistance, and ends up falling into a small cavern containing amniotic fluid and one large egg. The egg immediately hatches, though the infant does not attack, and escapes by burrowing to safety after Nick scares it away.
Nick's wish to capture and study the infant is met with opposition by the military who wish to destroy it. With the help of Dr. Mendel Craven, Elsie Chapman, and Randy Hernandez, Nick sets a trap for the infant. Unfortunately, the trap was designed for something the size of a human; the hatchling had gone through a rapid growth spurt and is now 35 feet tall. He quickly destroys the trap and snatches Nick. However, before he can eat Nick, 'Zilla detects the scent of his own kind on Nick and releases him. Nick realizes that the infant had imprinted on him, believing him to be his parent.
Over the next few weeks, HEAT studies 'Zilla. They realize that he is sterile. Unfortunately, Monique Dupre, a French secret agent assigned to monitor HEAT's activities, tips off the military, who immediately attack and apparently kill 'Zilla. HEAT has no time to mourn, as they have to go to Jamaica to investigate reports of people being attacked. They get ring side seats as giant squids attack the HEAT Seeker, but 'Zilla, who had survived, now fully grown to 180 feet tall, and followed HEAT, quickly deals with the squids.
Not long after, HEAT discovers that another creature was responsible for the attacks, a giant, mutant, tar-eating crustacean called Crustaceous Rex (or "C-Rex"). After an intense fight, 'Zilla manages to collapse a cliff on top of C-Rex, apparently killing it (since it returned in the three-parter "Monster Wars," it seems the mutant was only buried and managed to escape). Major Hicks, an army commander and recurring character in the series, is persuaded by Nick that having "at least one mutation" on the side of humanity is a good thing, and orders his men to stand down and let 'Zilla remain free.
Later, aliens called the Tachyons find the original Godzilla (killed in the 1998 film) and resurrect him as Cyber-Godzilla. As Cyber-Godzilla, it possesses numerous new weapons, such as a sonic emitter, eight dorsal fin missile launchers, and Atomic Flame Blast like his son, but with a blue color. Metal parts replaced most of Cyber-Godzilla's body including a cybernetic right arm and a strange metal "helmet" for the cyborg's head. Cyber-Godzilla's roar was also changed to a more metallic sound. When he becomes a cyborg his skin changes from gray to brown and his back plates change from blue to gray. The color change is most likely indicating decay, since he became a cyborg a couple of years after he had originally died.
Video game appearances
Zilla appeared in the 1998 PlayStation video game Godzilla Trading Battle under the name "American Godzilla". He can be seen prominently on the cover artwork battling the original Godzilla. This game was exclusive to Japan.
Zilla (under the name "American Godzilla") is an unlockable character in the 1998 Sega Dreamcast video game Godzilla Generations. This game was released as a Dreamcast launch title in Japan and was exclusive to that territory.
During the development of Godzilla: Unleashed, Zilla was briefly considered as a playable kaiju, but was not included due to its lack of popularity. [citation needed]
Other appearances
Zilla made an appearance in a 2006 Doritos commercial, in which he picks up a truck of Doritos and shakes chips into his mouth. In another Doritos commercial, he devours a spicy variant of Doritos, roars in pain, and dives into the Hudson River. Both were meant to parody the bait scene in the 1998 movie. At the time of the release of the 1998 movie, he made several commercials for Taco Bell, crossing paths with the Taco Bell chihuahua. In several music videos making up a single narrative, 'Zilla tangles with Sean Combs and other musicians, ultimately defeating Green Day by teaming with Jakob Dylan to retrieve the Sacred Turbo Heart.
He also made an appearance in Armageddon alongside other 'Zilla toys during the opening sequence in New York, when a little dog attacked the 'Zilla toys on sale. This was a friendly jab at the other big special effects movie of that summer, which was released a month and a half earlier.
In the Robot Chicken episode "That Hurts Me", the segment "Godzilla Remade Again" featured Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich remaking Godzilla once more; the segment goes on to show a scene of baby Zillas attacking, only to begin inexplicably roller skating and dancing in a rink. When the studio head bemoans the fact that he trusted Devlin and Emmerich to make a decent Godzilla film, for the second time, and that they instead have produced an unmarketable "pile of crap", for the second time, Devlin and Emmerich give each other a high-five.
Godzilla's roar is uttered by a garden snake in the very beginning of the Camp Lazlo episode "Snake Eyes". The roar is also audible in the trailer for Spider-Man 3, when the Sandman dives down from the sand truck.
In a Phineas & Ferb episode a T-Rex is shown being over 100 ft tall and using Godzilla/Zilla's trademark roar.
In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Fin Fang Foom had his distinctive roar during the fight with Tony Stark and Gene Khan.
References
- ^ a b "Godzilla [American]". Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ Zilla [Millennium]
- ^ Rickitt, Richard (2006). Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes With the Movie Masters. Focal Press. pp. 74–76. ISBN 0-240-80846-0.
- ^ "Trivia for Godzilla: Final wars". Retrieved 19 March 2011.
External links
- [1] Godzilla vs. Zilla
- Zilla on Godzilla Wiki (godzilla.wikia.com)
- The Making of Godzilla
- Toho Kingdom
