Godzilla (Original)

## Godzilla

Godzilla (1954)

* 121.92 meters

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

The **1954 Godzilla** (ゴジラ *Gojira*?) is a daikaiju created by Toho that makes its first appearance within the 1954 *Godzilla* film, *Godzilla*.

## Name

The name "Godzilla" is a transliteration of *Gojira* (ゴジラ?), a combination of two Japanese words: *gorira* (ゴリラ?), meaning gorilla, and *kujira* (鯨 or クジラ), meaning whale. At one planning stage, the concept of "Gojira" was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale." The two words "whale" and "gorilla" describe Godzilla's traditional characteristics.

Since Godzilla is neither a gorilla nor a whale, the name had to be devised in a different way for the original film's story. Godzilla's name was originally spelled in kanji as 呉爾羅 by the Odo Island natives. However, Toho chose these characters for sound only, as the combined characters mean "give you net."

Before Toho sold the film to U.S. distributors, Toho's international division had originally marketed an English-subtitled print under the title of *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!*, which was shown briefly in Japanese-American theaters. Toho came up with "Godzilla" as an English transliteration of the name "Gojira"."

## Design

### Appearance

#### ShodaiGoji

The ShodaiGoji design is the designation for the 1954 kaiju's design. This suit featured a heavy lower body, small arms and a large, round head. The face had pronounced brows while the eyes were completely round with tiny pupils, a feature unique to this costume.

For close-up shots, a hand-held puppet and the prototype suit were used. As a result, when the camera focuses on Godzilla's head in such close-ups, such as when he is firing his atomic breath, Godzilla appears to have larger, more glossy-looking eyes.

The suit also included several features particular to itself and to the 1955 incarnation, the GyakushuGoji: fangs, four toes, a rough underside for the tail and pointed tail tip, and staggered rows of dorsal plates. These features would reappear with the Heisei and Millennium series of *Godzilla* films from 1984 to 1999. The dorsal plates for both the ShodaiGoji and the GyakushuGoji were dynamic in design and unique to the two costumes. During filming, a separate pair of Godzilla legs were used for close-up shots of Godzilla's feet.

The ShodaiGoji was recreated through computer generated imagery and a large puppet for new flashback scenes in *Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla* in 2002, namely where the original Godzilla is shown being reduced to a skeleton by the Oxygen Destroyer rather than completely disintegrated as in the original film.

### Portrayal

The ShodaiGoji suit was the first of its kind - being fully operated by a man inside of it. As there were no established procedures on how to build or operate a suit like the original Godzilla suit, *Godzilla* special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and the production staff had to pioneer a new technique that would later be known as suitmation. The ShodaiGoji suit and the original pre-ShodaiGoji suit were built by Eizo Kaimai.

The ShodaiGoji was portrayed by Haruo Nakajima, who would go to portray Godzilla in almost every subsequent film up to *Godzilla vs. Gigan*. Nakajima has said that he made Godzilla walk like an elephant from observations he made by watching an Indian elephant called "Indira" back around the time of *Godzilla'*s production, so that Godzilla would not look vulnerable and to portray his massiveness. According to Nakajima, temperatures inside the suit reached up to 60 degrees Celsius, and he couldn't move Godzilla's left hand whatsoever in the ShodaiGoji suit.

### Roar

Godzilla's roar is a famous sound effect. Over the years, it has changed considerably, sounding different almost every time and having many variations for the different emotions.

The sound effects team originally tried to create Godzilla's roar by using animal roars that had been edited. They sampled all kinds of birds and mammals, but nothing seemed to be the right match for the reptile-like noises a monster like Godzilla would make. Akira Ifukube, who was the film's composer, proposed stepping away from using animal samples. He then took a string off of his contrabass and rubbed it with gloves soaked in pine tar. The sound that came from it was used as Godzilla's roar.

This roar would later be altered for use as the roar of other monsters in the Showa era, including Varan, Baragon and Gorosaurus. Godzilla's roar was increased in pitch starting in *King Kong vs. Godzilla*, and would remain mostly unchanged for the rest of the Showa series.

## Personality

Godzilla, in the original *Godzilla* film, is a creature whose underwater habitat was completely destroyed by a hydrogen bomb test which killed his entire family and left him burned and scarred, ultimately mutating him. Enraged and driven from his home, Godzilla took out his rage upon humanity, destroying any boats that he encountered and later laying waste to the city of Tokyo, sparing no one.

## Origins

In the original 1954 *Godzilla* film, it is proposed that Godzilla was a type of prehistoric intermediary reptile related to both land and sea reptiles that slept deep underwater for millions of years feeding on deep sea organisms before being disturbed and enhanced by an American hydrogen bomb test. Dr.Yamane proposes that the original Godzilla might have been living among others of his kind prior to the detonation, but the H-bomb completely destroyed his home and drew him out.

This idea is supported by official artwork of the 1954 Godzilla living with other Godzilla's underwater before a huge explosion destroys his habitat, killing his companions and burning and enraging Godzilla and drawing him out to the surface.

## Abilities

### Amphibious lifestyle

Though technically a reptile and not an amphibian, Godzilla has an amphibious lifestyle. He spends half of his life in water and the other on land. He is as adept a fighter underwater as he is on land. Capable of marching on the seafloor or swimming by undulating his tail like a crocodile, Godzilla is displayed as being able to breathe underwater, or occasionally hibernating in the ocean depths between movies.

### Atomic breath

Godzilla's atomic breath, called the **Incandescent Light** (白熱光 *Hakunekkō*?) or **Radioactivity Extrusion** (放射能噴出 *Hōshanō Funshutsu*?) has typically been shown to set entire city blocks ablaze and easily obliterate most military weaponry. Within the events of the 1954 film, his atomic breath was presented as a white, mist-like blast.

### Durability

Starting in the first *Godzilla* film, Godzilla displayed an immunity to conventional weaponry, virtually impervious to everything the JSDF threw at him. Dr. Yamane states that the very fact Godzilla survived exposure to a hydrogen bomb explosion is a testament to his durability.

### Bite

Very similarly to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Godzilla has very short arms and large teeth and jaws. Godzilla has been shown to use his jaws, teeth and fangs to bite down on buildings.

### Tail

While not as flexible as the second Showa Godzilla's tail, the original Godzilla's tail has still been shown to be able to destroy buildings in one strike.

## Anti-Godzilla weaponry

Due to Godzilla's size, super-strength and regenerative abilities, he is invulnerable to most forms of conventional attack. During the 1954 film, a powerful weapon is revealed and used upon Godzilla to finally kill him and end his reign of terror.

### Oxygen Destroyer

The Oxygen Destroyer was a weapon that contained a chemical compound designed to remove all oxygen from water when put into contact with it, causing living creatures to die of asphyxiation as their remains are liquefied by the now-highly corrosive surrounding water. The Oxygen Destroyer was the first, and in many ways only, weapon to defeat Godzilla, completely disintegrating him in the original film.

## Trivia

* This is the only known Godzilla to have been brown since all future incarnations of the Godzilla and its suits were charcoal black, and much later, green.
* The ShodaiGoji suit was 6.5 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds.
* In the 2002 film *Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla*, the ShodaiGoji design is replicated in part through CGI. Shinichi Wakasa's Monsters, Inc. also created a prop for some of the new footage of the original Godzilla.
* The ShodaiGoji heavily influenced later Godzilla designs, most noticeably the 84Goji, SokogekiGoji, the 2016 design utilized in *Shin Godzilla*, and the updated MonsterVerse Godzilla utilised in *Godzilla: King of the Monsters.*
* In the film *Godzilla vs. Megaguirus*, the ShodaiGoji design was digitally replaced by the MireGoji in stock footage from the original film.
* This Godzilla, the Heisei Godzilla and Godzilla Filius are the only Godzillas that are confirmed to be deceased.