PAGE 62 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2000 PAGE 63 Godzilla 2000 marks the 23rd Godzilla film by Toho Studios in Japan.* The series has had a The Big G through the years Numbers in parentheses refer to movies (see filmography) lasting effect on American popular culture the way few foreign films have. It also has introduced such memorable creatures as Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah. Here’s a look at them all. 1954-55 (1-2) 1962 (3) 1964 (4-5) 1965-66 (6-7) 1967 (8) 1968-72 (9-12) 1973-75 (13-15) 1984 (16) 1989-95 (17- 1999 (23) Very heavy and Increased bulk Slimmed-down Larger, movable Bulky suit. Huge Less bulky suit. Head remains Features from the 22) Dorsal fins bulky. Tiny ears. and a more rep- body. Face soft- eyes. Longer head with big Smaller, rounded large and eyes — first two movies Head reduced and become larger Four fingers and tilian look. No ened. Grey-green tongue. Smaller eyes, heavy eye- dorsal fins. Large now brown — are — ears, fangs neck elongated. and craggier. For toes. Visible ears. No fangs. eye color becomes dorsal fins. lids and a pug eyes atop a huge. Features and four toes Irises enlarged. the first time in fangs. Three toes grey with under- nose. rounded head. hardened and — return. Central Musculature history, suit is instead of four. tones of blue. reduced after ’73. dorsal fins bigger. added. No fangs. tinted green. Toho has created 23 Godzilla movies. Video titles in italics if different from original. A typical suit is about 6 feet tall, weighs about 175 lbs. and Filmography Suitmation costs roughly $30,000. A new suit is made for each film. Web sites No. Original Title Release Length Synopsis http://entertainment. Headpiece: Worn on top of Removable dorsal philly.com/godzilla 1 Godzilla 1954 91 min. The giant atomic reptile levels Tokyo before being killed by the Oxygen the actor’s head. Lights fins: Hide the G-speak Destroyer (a weapon). Raymond Burr was spliced into the U.S. release. are built into the back of seam through www.fandom.com/ godzilla Kaiju 2 Godzilla Raids Again 1955 82 min. Godzilla — another one — and Anguirus battle, destroying Osaka. the mouth. Technicians which the actor control motorized eyes, • Japanese for 3 King Kong vs. Godzilla 1962 98 min. Clash of the titans between film icons Godzilla and King Kong. climbs to enter www.godzilla.co.jp Perforations in eyelids and lower jaw off- the suit. “monster.” 4 Mothra vs. Godzilla 1964 89 min. Mothra fights mankind — and Godzilla — to protect its egg. the suit’s neck: stage. www.spe.sony.com/ (Godzilla vs. Mothra) Showa Allow the actor to Pictures/ Ghidrah, 1964 92 min. Godzilla, Rodan and the Mothra larvae unite to protect Earth from the SonyMovies/mov- • First series of Toho 5 see and breathe. The Three-Headed Monster alien menace, King Ghidrah, a three-headed dragon-like creature. ies/Godzilla/ gdb Godzilla movies. encom- Two sets of dorsal passing “Godzilla” in 6 Monster Zero 1965 94 min. Godzilla and Rodan defend against Ghidrah and its alien masters. fins: One set is foam www.monster-island. 1954 to “Godzilla” in (Godzilla vs. Monster zero) latex, which bends when com 1984. 7 Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster 1966 87 min. Godzilla and Mothra scrap with Ebirah, a gigantic crustacean. Godzilla falls on his back. 8 Son of Godzilla 1967 86 min. Godzilla protects his son from giant insects and a monster spider. The other, made from fiber- Heisei SERIES reinforced plastic, is rigid 9 Destroy All Monsters 1968 88 min. Aliens use mind control to make Earth’s monsters attack. Suit: Made Books • Second series of Toho and has lights mounted 10 Godzilla’s Revenge 1969 70 min. Godzilla teaches its son self-reliance in schoolboy’s daydream. of foam latex, inside. These are used in The Official Godzilla Godzilla movies. Many smooth on SHOWA The younger Godzilla helps trounce Gabara. scenes in which Godzilla Compendium by J.D. characters are re-intro- the inside uses his nuclear breath. 11 Godzilla vs. Hedorah 1971 85 min. Godzilla protects Earth from mutated pollution creature. and textured Lees and Marc duced with new origins. (Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster) Technicians off-camera Gerasini Monsters grow in size on the out- strobe the lights in the to keep up with grow- 12 Godzilla vs. Gigan 1972 88 min. Godzilla and Anguirus defend Earth from Ghidrah and Gigan. side. dorsal fins and Godzilla’s Japan’s Favorite ing skylines of real cit- 13 Godzilla vs. Megalon 1973 81 min. Godzilla and robot Jet Jaguar tag-team evil Megalon and Gigan. mouth. The actual breath Mon-Star by Steve ies. 14 Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 1974 84 min. Godzilla battles a robotic version of itself, with help from the blast is animated later. Ryfle deity-creature King Caesar. Gojira 15 Terror of Godzilla 1975 83 min. Godzilla defeats MechaGodzilla and Titanosaurus with the help Also: Magazine • “Godzilla” in (Terror of MechaGodzilla) of humans. • Robotic G-Fan, published bi- Japanese. Supposedly 16 Godzilla (Godzilla 1985) 1984 103 min. Godzilla re-introduced. Raymond Burr reprised role for U.S. release. busts are used monthly by Daikaiju combines gorira (“goril- Tail movements: for some Enterprises, Ltd., Box * NOTE: TriStar’s 1998 SOURCES: The Official Godzilla Researched, illustrated and la”) and kujira 17 Godzilla vs. Biollante 1989 104 min. Godzilla battles plant creature mutated with Godzilla genes. Controlled off- “Godzilla” was not produced by Compendium by J.D. Lees and designed by 18 Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah 1991 102 min. Origins of Ghidorah retold. Godzilla battles it and its cyborg version. close-ups. 3468, STEINBACH, (“whale”). camera by Manitoba, Canada, Toho Studios and, therefore, Marc Gerasini; Japan’s Favorite BRAD J. GUIGAR / DAILY NEWS 19 Godzilla vs. Mothra 1992 102 min. Origins of Mothra retold. Godzilla spars with it and Battra. • Miniatures does not appear in this over- Mon-Star by Steve Ryfle; Paul All photos © Toho Studios, Inc. Suitmation used for ROA 2A0. Web site: view. Horn, San Diego Union Tribune; 20 Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 1993 107 min. Godzilla and Rodan face new MechaGodzilla. Godzilla’s son re-intro- distance shots. www.g-fan.com and Aaron Smith, www.fandom. • Term for special (Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II) duced as BabyGodzilla. Rodan dies, creating FireRodan — who dies. effects technique SERIES com/godzilla. 21 Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla 1994 111 min. Godzilla protects its offspring from a space creature formed when Godzilla genes pass through a black hole and merge with an alien. Worth Some of the allies and enemies HEISEI 22 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah 1995 103 min. Godzilla, its atomic heart melting down, is slain by a mutation The 23 Godzilla movies are divided into two subsets: the original Showa series and the Heisei series. In the caused by the Oxygen Destroyer — the weapon from the first film. noting ... latter series, origins of several creatures are recreated and all of the monsters become larger. In cases in 23 Godzilla 2000 1999 100+ min. Godzilla battles Orgah, an alien that crashed to Earth 6,000 years ago. ■ Godzilla’s famous which monsters have appeared in both series, the latest version appears below. Movie numbers refer to roar is created by rub- Philadelphia City Godzilla 1984-89 bing a contrabass (a 225 500 Hall: 510 feet, Godzilla 1954-75 Veterans Stadium 262 feet large bass violin excluding Penn statue 200 164 feet 145 feet pitched an octave 400 below the normal bass range) with a resin- 150 coated leather glove 300 and reverberating the sound emitted. SERIES SERIES 100 ■ The American 200 release of the first Height in feet “Godzilla” was a tre- HEISEI 50 SHOWA Godzilla 2000 mendous success, 100 180 feet earning $2 million — a fantastic sum for 1954. ANGUIRUS GIGAN GABARA HEDORAH JET JAGUAR KING CAESAR KING KONG MEGALON TITANOSAURUS BIOLLANTE BATTRA DESTOROYAH GODZILLA KING MECHA- MOTHRA RODAN SPACE- ■ Raymond Burr CONVERTED ENEMY ENEMY ENEMY ALLY ALLY ENEMY ENEMY ENEMY ENEMY ENEMY ENEMY Height: 328 feet* GHIDORAH GODZILLA CONVERTED ALLY CONVERTED ALLY GODZILLA reprised his reporter ALLY Height: 213 feet Height: 190 feet Height: 197 feet Height: 164 feet Height: 164 feet Height: 148 feet Height: 180 feet Height: 197 feet Height: 394 feet Length: 239 feet Height: 394 feet Weight: 66,000 ENEMY ENEMY Length: 213 feet Height: 164 feet ENEMY role in “Godzilla 1985” with one small Height: 197 feet Weight: 27,500 Weight: 25,300 Weight: 52,800 Weight: 27,500 Weight: 33,000 Weight: 25,700 Weight: 44,000 Weight: 33,000 Weight: 220,000 Weight: 33,000 Weight: 88,000 tons Height: 492 feet Height: 394 feet Weight: 22,000 Weight: 16,500 Height: 394 feet change — his charac- on hind legs tons tons tons tons tons tons tons tons tons tons tons Powers: Atomic Weight: 88,000 Weight: 165,000 tons tons Weight: 88,000 ter was to be referred Weight: 33,000 ray emitted from tons tons tons Powers: Abdominal Powers: Electric Powers: Energy Powers: Mach 3 Powers: Energy Powers: Rock Powers: Lightning Powers: Cyclone Powers: Spines, Powers: Prism Powers: Explosive Powers: Mach 3 Powers: Mach 1.5 to as “Steve” or “Mr. tons mouth, super buzzsaw, hook- bolts from arms beams from eyes, flight, karate reflection eyes, throwing, electric bolt from horn, tail, head butt. radioactive acidic beam from eyes micro-oxygen Powers: Gravity Powers: Mega-buster flight, antenna flight, wings cre- Powers: Space Martin,” but never regenerative pow- Powers: Tusks and claw appendages, and horn. Sulfuric acid mist, moves, communi- jump kick, fangs, current from fin- napalm bombs Movie: 15 sap spray, chok- Movie: 19 spray and laser beams from ray, heat shield, blast rays, special ate windstorms.