Godzilla (1954)

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

This Godzilla was later succeeded by a second Godzilla during the events of the 1955 film, *Godzilla Raids Again* and the rest of the Showa series.

This incarnation of Godzilla was also referenced in, and appeared within the Millennium series of *Godzilla* films.

## 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"."

## 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 later 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 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.

## Origins

Following an American hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean, a giant prehistoric reptile was disturbed from its underwater slumber and heavily irradiated. The monster began attacking various ships in the waters off Japan, prompting a search party to be sent to Odo Island, where some of the survivors had washed ashore. The islanders believed the shipwrecks were caused by Godzilla, a giant sea monster from their folklore which they believed would come ashore to feed on humanity. One night, a typhoon struck the island, leaving it devastated. However, it was apparent most of the damage was caused by something other than a typhoon, as houses in the village appeared to have been crushed from above. A research team headed by Kyohei Yamane was sent to the island, and discovered a giant radioactive footprint on the island, with a Trilobite embedded in it. Suddenly, the monster that was responsible for the shipwrecks and the damage on the island appeared over a hill on the island. The people fled, realizing the creature was 50 meters in height.

Back in Japan, Yamane named the creature "Godzilla" after the monster from Odo Island folklore, and proposed it was a transitional organism from the Jurassic Period, related to both land-living dinosaurs and sea-dwelling reptiles. Yamane believed that Godzilla was exposed to a recent American H-bomb test, hence the radiation found in his footprint, and stressed the monster should be studied to see how he survived to this point. The J.S.D.F. sent battleships to destroy Godzilla with depth charges, declaring him dead. However, Godzilla soon surfaced in Tokyo Bay completely unharmed, plunging Japan and the international community into a state of emergency. One night, Godzilla came ashore in Tokyo, destroying the outskirts of the city before returning to the bay. In response, the J.S.D.F. erected a barrier of power lines around the heart of Tokyo, with 300,000 volts of electricity passing through them, in the hopes they would halt Godzilla. When Godzilla came ashore again one night, he tore through the power lines and melted them with a beam of radioactive heat fired from his mouth. The J.S.D.F. fired on Godzilla with artillery, but their weapons had no effect. Godzilla proceeded into downtown Tokyo, transforming the Japanese capital into a sea of flame overnight. With his rampage concluded, Godzilla returned to the bay, where he was attacked by F86F Sabre fighter jets before finally disappearing beneath the waves.

In the aftermath of Godzilla's raid, Tokyo was an uninhabitable wasteland, burned to a crater and contaminated with deadly radiation. The Japanese government was at a loss in combating the monster and preventing future attacks. Scientist Daisuke Serizawa was approached by his former fiance Emiko Yamane and her boyfriend Hideo Ogata, who asked for him to use his experimental chemical weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, against Godzilla. Serizawa was horrified by the idea of revealing his invention to the world and refused at first, but was convinced after watching a television program showing Japanese schoolchildren singing a song praying for peace. Serizawa burned his notes on the Oxygen Destroyer and handed it over to the J.S.D.F.

A boat was sent to Tokyo Bay, using a Geiger counter to locate Godzilla underwater. Serizawa and Ogata donned diving suits to go underwater and detonate the device. Once they reached Godzilla, who was sitting on the ocean floor, Ogata was pulled to the surface while Serizawa severed his line and activated the device, sacrificing his own life to stop Godzilla and prevent his weapon from ever falling into the wrong hands. After a few moments, Godzilla rose to the surface and roared defiantly at the boat before sinking under the waves to his death. While the people on the boat both celebrated Godzilla's demise and mourned Serizawa's sacrifice, Dr. Yamane solemnly warned that it was unlikely Godzilla was the last member of his species, and that if mankind continued nuclear testing, another Godzilla would almost certainly appear.

## 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 sea floor 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 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.

## 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, andthe 2016 design utilized in *Shin Godzilla*.
* In the film *Godzilla vs. Megaguirus*, the ShodaiGoji design was digitally replaced by the MireGoji in stock footage from the original film.

## List of appearances

### Films

#### Showa era

* Godzilla***(First appearance)***
	+ Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
* Godzilla Raids Again (Design, publicity stills)

#### Millennium series

* Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
* Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (CGI, and as Mechagodzilla)
* Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (As Mechagodzilla)
* Godzilla: Final Wars

### Video games

* Godzilla Generations
* Godzilla: Trading Battle
* Godzilla: Unleashed
* Monster Strike
* Godzilla (2014 video game) (Kaiju guide)
* Godzilla: Kaiju Collection