From: dave@blackbox.cc.columbia.edu (David Milner)
Subject: Re: Gamera Film Info requested
Keywords: Gamera Japan Monster
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 01:33:35 GMT

After ten years of watching the Toho Company Ltd. set Japanese
movie theatre attendance records with films such as GODZILLA, KING
OF THE MONSTERS and KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, the Daiei Motion
Picture Co. Ltd., a rival studio, decided to produce a movie
featuring a giant monster of its own.

GAMERA was released in Japan at a time when entries in the kaiju
eiga, or monster genre, were still popular among both children and
adults. This is the reason why it and GAMERA VS. BARUGON, the first
of seven sequels, were meant to appeal to a wide audience, and why
Gamera was portrayed simply as a destructive creature in them.

As time passed, however, and more and more monster films were
released, the market became saturated, and attendance declined.
Also, the popularity of the ULTRAMAN television series, which was
produced solely for children, grew. In response, Daiei limited the
production budgets of films such as DESTROY ALL PLANETS and GAMERA
VS. MONSTER X, and targeted them exclusively at young people,
explaining why so much stock footage was used, and why Gamera was
gradually made into more of a hero, and less of a monster, in them.

By the time the last Gamera movie went into production, anime, or
animation, had become the most popular form of science fiction in
Japan, and there was very little interest left in the kaiju eiga.
This is why SUPER MONSTER GAMERA was intended to bring an end to
the series, and why Gamera was killed off in it.

A brief Gamera filmography:

1. GAMERA aka GAMMERA, THE INVINCIBLE (1965), the first genre film
to feature a child in a leading role, and the last one to be shot
in black and white, was released in theatres in the United States,
unlike all of the subsequent movies in the series, which were shown
only on American television, with new footage featuring Brian
Donlevy and Albert Dekker added to it.

There is a war on, and an aircraft armed with nuclear weapons is
shot down in the Arctic. As the plane crashes, a nuclear blast
occurs. A giant prehistoric turtle emerges from the crash site
shortly afterward, and attacks a nearby ship. It then makes its way
to Japan, and destroys a geo-thermal power plant. A plan to
temporarily freeze the creature and turn it onto its back with
explosives proves unable to stop it, and the monster then heads for
Tokyo, where it wreaks havoc. A new plan to use a trail of fire to
lure the giant turtle into a rocket that will be shot off into
space is put into effect, but just as the creature begins to follow
the trail, rain begins to fall, and the fire goes out.

2. GAMERA VS. BARUGON aka WAR OF THE MONSTERS (1966), the only
Gamera film without a child in it, played in Japan at the same time
as MAJIN, MONSTER OF TERROR, the first of three movies, also
produced by Daiei, featuring a giant samurai warrior made of stone.

Three Japanese treasure hunters travel by ship to a remote island
in the South Pacific, and there find an object which they believe
to be a large opal. The object is accidentally exposed to infra-red
light during the voyage back to Japan, and shortly afterward, a
prehistoric creature hatches from it and quickly grows to enormous
proportions. When the ship reaches port, the creature causes
widespread destruction, in part by giving off an energy ray similar
in appearance to a rainbow. Gamera soon appears, having been
attracted by the ray, and the Japanese military finds itself having
to fend off not one, but two, giant monsters.

3. GAMERA VS. GAOS aka RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS (1967) proved
to be the most popular series entry in Japan.

A volcanic eruption arouses a huge vampire bat that has a special
affinity for human blood. Gamera appears and twice does battle with
the creature, but is forced to withdraw each time after being
injured by a supersonic sound beam emitted by it. It is soon
discovered that sunlight is harmful to the giant bat, explaining
why it appears only at night, and a plan to disorient the creature
so it will be unable to retreat to its underground lair when the
sun comes up by luring it with a substance similar to blood onto a
rotating restaurant located on top of a hotel is then put into
effect. At first it appears that the plan is going to work, but
when the mechanism which keeps the restaurant turning breaks down,
the creature escapes.

4. GAMERA VS. VIRAS aka DESTROY ALL PLANETS (1968), the first movie
in the series to feature an uchu kaiju, or space monster, was
released in Japan in the same year as DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, one of
the most popular of the Godzilla films.

Invaders from outer space appear in Japan. Gamera attacks them, but
is fended off with a mind controlling device which the aliens
manage to place on the neck of the monster. Widespread destruction
occurs as Gamera is forced to do their bidding, but soon two small
children being held captive by the invaders break free and destroy
the mind controlling device. Gamera then again attacks the aliens,
and this time succeeds in destroying their spaceship, but a giant
monster resembling a squid that is even larger than Gamera soon
emerges from it.

5. GAMERA VS. GUIRON aka ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS (1969), the only
Gamera movie in which a monster, other than Gamera, first seen in
a previous series entry again appears in new, rather than stock,
footage, had a few of its more graphic monster scenes edited out of
it before it was released in the United States.

Two curious children enter an alien space ship which has landed in
Japan, and travel to the planet Tera in it. There, after witnessing
a battle between a giant creature with a sharp, pointed head and
one similar to monster Gaos, the children meet two alien women who
lead them to believe that they will be well cared for when, in
fact, the women plan to kill them.

6. GAMERA VS. JIGER aka GAMERA VS. MONSTER X (1970), the only film
in the series to feature a female monster, was set primarily at the
1970 World Exposition, which was held in Osaka at the same time the
movie played in Japan.

An ancient wooden pole with a face carved into it buried in the
ground on an island in the South Pacific is dug up and sent to
Japan for scientific study. Soon afterward, a huge prehistoric
monster resembling a triceratops, which was being subdued by a
sound harmful to it emitted by the pole, emerges from underground.
Gamera, already on the island, then does battle with the creature,
but is badly wounded by it. The creature makes it way to Japan, and
there causes widespread destruction, but Gamera soon arrives to
challenge it a second time. The two monsters again battle each
other, and this time the creature manages to do even greater harm
by impregnating Gamera with its offspring, which acts like a
parasite within the body of the giant turtle.

7. GAMERA VS. ZIGRA (1971), which has been shown only on cable
television in the United States, was released in Japan just a few
months before Daiei went out of business for seven years because of
insolvency.

After destroying a base on the moon, an alien spaceship makes its
way to Earth and settles at the bottom of the ocean. An
announcement then comes from it that the planet going to be taken
over, and that people are going to be used for food. The military
proves ineffective against the ship, but Gamera soon appears and
destroys it. A creature somewhat similar in appearance to a shark
emerges, and it quickly grows to enormous proportions because of
the difference between the water pressure of its home planet of
Zigra and that of the Earth. The two monsters do battle, and
although the alien creature seems at first to be outmatched, the
Zigran, even more intent on taking over the Earth now that its
means of returning home has been destroyed, soon manages to
immobilize Gamera with a light ray that stops all cellular
activity.

8. SUPER MONSTER GAMERA (1980) was pieced together almost entirely
from stock footage. Scenes from all seven of the previous Gamera
films, and a few from STAR BLAZERS and GALAXY EXPRESS 999, two
Japanese animated television series, were included. A small amount
of new footage was shot featuring a new model of Gamera, as well as
a spaceship closely resembling a Star Destroyer from STAR WARS, but
it did little to hide the fact that the production budget for the
movie was extremely limited.

Space pirates from the planet Zanon send a number of different
monsters to attack mankind as part of their plan to take over the
Earth, but Gamera manages to defeat them all. The pirates then
succeed in placing a device which will allow them to control Gamera
on back of the neck of the giant turtle, and the monster wreaks
havoc as it is compelled to obey their orders.

GAMERA, GAMERA VS. BARUGON, GAMERA VS. GAOS and GAMERA VS. ZIGRA
were all released on VHS by Celebrity Home Entertainment in 1987.
There was some thought given to colorizing the home video edition
of GAMERA, in which the footage shot specifically for the version
of the movie distributed in the United States was not included, but
this was ultimately decided against. A VHS edition of GAMERA VS.
GUIRON, which includes the footage originally edited out of the
American version of the film, and two double laserdiscs, one
containing GAMERA VS. GAOS and GAMERA VS. ZIGRA, and the other
GAMERA and GAMERA VS. GUIRON, were released by Celebrity Home
Entertainment in 1988.

Despite the fact that the last Gamera movie was released in Japan
twelve years ago, there is still a fair amount of interest in the
series. All of the films were reissued on VHS and laserdisc in
Japan last year, and the Sci-Fi Channel recently ran a Gamera film
festival. Also, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, seen on Comedy
Central, still occasionally reruns its unique versions of several
of the movies in the series.

Will another Gamera film ever be released? Daiei already has in
production a new movie featuring Majin which is scheduled to be
released in Japan in December, 1993. If it is successful, and if
the new Godzilla films continue to be popular, Daiei could very
well bring Gamera back to the screen, either by producing a prequel
to SUPER MONSTER GAMERA, or by creating a new Gamera, just as Toho
created a new Godzilla last year in GODZILLA VS. GHIDRAH.

P.S. By the way, Toho recently purchased Daiei, so a GODZILLA VS.
GAMERA movie is now possible.






David Milner  Columbia University
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