Oodako

## Oodako (Kaiju Profile)

The **Giant Octopus** (ダコ *Ōdako*) is a cephalopod kaiju who first appeared in the 1962 Toho *Godzilla* film, *King Kong vs. Godzilla*. It returned in the alternate ending of *Frankenstein vs. Baragon*, and finally in *The War of the Gargantuas*. After the Showa series, the monster was featured in *Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!* for the Sega Pico and the first prequel novel to the anime *GODZILLA* trilogy, *GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse*.

## Showa era

#### *King Kong vs. Godzilla*

The Giant Octopus crawled ashore on Faro Island and attacked a village hut in an attempt to retrieve the Farolacton juice the natives stored there. The natives, along with Osamu Sakurai and Kinsaburo Furue, attempted to defeat the Giant Octopus with spears and shotguns, but to no avail. King Kong then appeared behind a giant wooden wall, crumbling it with his bare hands and throwing the pieces at the Giant Octopus. Kong grabbed the creature, but the octopus held tightly onto Kong's head. After a short struggle, Kong pulled the monster off and threw it to the ground. He then threw two boulders at the Giant Octopus' head, causing it to flee back to the beach and return to the sea

#### *Frankenstein Conquers the World!*

lost ending of Frankenstein Conquers the World. After Frankenstein defeated Baragon, the Giant Octopus came from the sea and attacked Frankenstein. Frankenstein fought back fiercely, but couldn't compete with the Giant Octopus' numerous and powerful tentacles. It dragged Frankenstein into the water, never to be seen again.

#### *The War of the Gargantuas*

The Giant Octopus suddenly attacked a fishing trawler, menacing its crew with its tentacles. However, Gaira soon appeared and attacked the Giant Octopus, defeating it by lifting and throwing it into the sea. Gaira then destroyed the fishing boat himself.

## Anime Trilogy.

The Giant Octopus lived in the Pacific Ocean, where it sank several fishing and transport vessels every year.

# Original Appearances.

## Frankenstein conquers the world (lost ending) info.

The 1965 Toho-UPA co-produced kaiju film *Frankenstein Conquers the World* (also known as *Frankenstein vs. Baragon*) had an alternate ending that was intended for the American release but was never used. The scene itself involved Frankenstein battling a Giant Octopus (known as Oodako) in the climax of the film, after defeating his main opponent of the film, Baragon. He fought fiercely, but eventually succumbed to the many tentacles and long reach of the octopus and was dragged into the water.

In the normal ending, he is simply sucked into the ground by an earthquake.

## Information

Stills of the scene were shown to the public in various trade magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland in the 1960s, confusing readers into the confusion of the magazine writers. The film was also titled *Frankenstein vs The Giant Devilfish* in these magazines, further confusing readers.

According to director of the film Ishiro Honda, there were more ending concepts, and that the octopus scene was just one of the five or six endings.

"The movie was made in co-production with an American company, Benedict Pictures Corporation. The bosses were so astonished by the octopus scenes from *King Kong vs. Godzilla*, they begged to include it into the screenplay, even in spite of logic. So we shot some scenes with the Giant Octopus but, in the end, they were left out of the picture."

"In fact Mr.Tsuburaya had shot five or six final scenes for this film. The infamous giant octopus is only one of these endings. That is, the top brass at Toho was told the giant octopus scenes in *King Kong vs Godzilla* were popular in the U.S., and so they wanted a similar scene in this production. But in the end it was rejected by the U.S side (by Henry Saperstein) as "too abrupt", and was not used in either the respective U.S or Japanese releases. Furthermore, there was never any official plan to utilize the sequence; but an alternative print with that ending was accidentally aired on television surprising many Japanese fans- because it was not the ending they had remembered from the original theatrical release."

The alternate ending had actually aired on Japenese television after the theatrical release, but no recording of the scene exists. There are some deleted stills of the scene, however, it is just unlikely that the scene will ever see the light of day.

## Trivia

* An octopus scene with Oodako battling Gaira actually occurred in the 1966 sequel, *The War of the Gargantuas*, and, unlike its predecessor, it actually stayed intact in both versions of the movie.

## References

1. ↑ *Memories of Ishiro Honda. Twenty Years After The Passing Of Godzilla's Famed Director* by Hajime Ishida. *Famous Monsters of Filmland #269*. Movieland Classics LLC, 2013. Pg. 21

## King kong vs Godzilla (1962)

***King Kong vs. Godzilla*** (キングコング対ゴジラ *Kingu Kongu tai Gojira*) is a 1962 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho, and the third installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on August 11, 1962, and to American theaters on June 26th, 1963. It was released as a part of Toho's 30th anniversary celebration.

The first to feature either of its titular contenders in color, *King Kong vs. Godzilla* pits the most famous monster from the West against his counterpart from the East. Awakened from his icy slumber seven years after he was trapped within ice at the conclusion of *Godzilla Raids Again*, Godzilla resumes his campaign of destruction against Japan. Meanwhile, the company Pacific Pharmaceuticals discovers the legendary Giant Demon God King Kong on the remote Faro Island and brings him to Japan for advertising purposes. When Kong escapes and runs loose in Japan, it is only a matter of time before the two behemoths meet in a fight to the finish.

## War of the *Gargantuas!*

***The War of the Gargantuas*** (フランケンシュタインの怪獣 サンダ対ガイラ *Furankenshutain no Kaijū Sanda tai Gaira*, lit. *Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira*) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju film co-produced by Toho and UPA and a loose sequel to *Frankenstein vs. Baragon*. It was released to Japanese theaters on July 31, 1966.

Following a shipwreck, the lone surviving crew member blames the accident on Frankenstein. Other disasters soon follow, much to the confusion of Frankenstein's former caregivers Paul Stewart, Akemi Togawa, and Yuzo Majida, who recalled the creature being friendly and never aggressive toward humans. When the JSDF deploys its newly-developed Type 66 Maser Cannons to destroy the rampaging giant, a second brown Gargantua arrives to rescue him. Stewart realizes that the savage green Gargantua, named Gaira, must have regenerated from severed tissue left behind by the brown Gargantua they raised, Sanda. Sanda soon learns of his brother's habit of eating humans and attacks him, triggering a battle to the death between the brothers in Tokyo. Akemi pleads to save Sanda from the JSDF while Sanda tries fruitlessly to end his brother's rampage non-violently.