Godzilla VS Gigan

***Godzilla vs. Gigan*** (地球攻撃命令 ゴジラ対ガイガン *Chikyū Kōgeki Meirei Gojira tai Gaigan*, lit. *Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan*) is a 1972 tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Jun Fukuda and written by Shinichi Sekizawa from a story by Kaoru Mabuchi, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Produced by Toho, it is the 12th installment in the *Godzilla* series as well as the Showa series. It stars Hiroshi Ishikawa, Tomoko Umeda, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima, Zan Fujita, Toshiaki Nishizawa, and Kunio Murai. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on March 12, 1972, as part of the Spring Toho Champion Festival. Cinema Shares released an edited English-dubbed version of the film titled ***Godzilla on Monster Island*** to American theaters in 1977.

*Godzilla vs. Gigan* introduces one of Godzilla's most famous foes, the evil alien cyborg kaiju Gigan, and marks the return of King Ghidorah and Anguirus after *Destroy All Monsters*. Struggling manga artist Gengo Odaka finds himself employed by World Children's Land, a theme park which turns out to be a front operated by the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens. Working together with Machiko Shima and Shosaku Takasugi, who also know the aliens' true nature, Gengo tries to sabotage the Nebulans' plan to conquer the Earth. In the meantime, the Nebulans summon their own monster Gigan along with the dreaded King Ghidorah to lay waste to human civilization. However, Godzilla and Anguirus learn of the Nebulans' nefarious plan and head to Tokyo to confront the space monsters before they can destroy the world, while Gengo and his allies try to stop the aliens' invasion from inside their base in the Godzilla Tower. *Godzilla vs. Gigan* was followed by *Godzilla vs. Megalon* in 1973.

## Plot

Freelance manga artist Gengo Odaka applies for and gets a job as a designer for Tokyo's World Children's Land, a theme park whose key attraction is a life size replica of Godzilla dubbed Godzilla Tower. Right away Gengo notices several peculiar things about his employers. His boss, Kubota, obsesses over world peace despite hiring Gengo to design new monsters for the park. According to Kubota, it's the plan of their organization to create full scale models of the monsters on Monster Island before ultimately destroying it and its inhabitants. The organization's Chairman is a 17-year old boy named Fumio Sudo; when Gengo first meets him Sudo is nonchalantly charting interstellar coordinates, including the orbit of the M Space Hunter Nebula.

On his way to the office one day, Gengo bumps into a young woman. She scrambles off in a hurry but leaves behind a roll of magnetic tape which Gengo subsequently hides from Kubota and other pursuers. Gengo learns from the Chairman that this girl is an "enemy of peace" who's scheming to foil the park's plans. Later that night, Gengo is stopped by the young woman. When Gengo refuses to return the tape to her, her companion holds him up with a corncob. Believing it to be a gun, Gengo faints. He awakens at home with the two bandits taking care of him. As it turns out, they are really Machiko Shima and Shosaku Takasugi. Machiko's interest in Children's Land stems from the disappearance of her brother Takeshi, a computer technician for the organization. The tape, she believes, might hold the key to his whereabouts. Gengo determines the duo is telling the truth and he decides to snoop around the Godzilla Tower for clues.

Gengo manages to find Shima locked in a room in the Tower and briefly contacts him but in doing so he arouses suspicion from Kubota. The trio decides to investigate the park's origins as well as the histories of the Chairman and Kubota. Meanwhile, they play the stolen tape on Gengo's reel-to-reel player but it produces only unintelligible electronic noises. The signal is picked up by the Tower's computers; the Chairman orders a change of the "Action Signal Tapes." The signal is also heard by Godzilla and Anguirus on Monster Island. Godzilla, realizing the potential danger, orders Anguirus to Japan for reconnaissance.

During their investigation, Gengo and Shosaku discover that both Sudo and Kubota had apparently died exactly one year prior in a mountain climbing accident. The identities of the deceased are confirmed when Gengo examines a photograph of them. They are physically identical to his bosses. Anguirus, meanwhile, is repelled from Japan by the JSDF.

Cigarettes given to Gengo by Kubota allows Children's Land personnel to track Gengo to his apartment where he's meeting with Shosaku and Machiko. The intruders are driven off by Gengo's girlfriend Tomoko Tomoe, a black belt in karate. The group is turned away from the police who don't believe their suspicions so they hatch a plan to break into the Tower and sneak Takeshi out under cover of night. The plan ultimately backfires and Gengo and Tomoko are captured. Kubota reveals that the Children's Land staff are aliens from the M Space Hunter Nebula and that their ultimate goal is to take over the Earth. Godzilla Tower was built to kill the real Godzilla, but the aliens are using their tapes to command the space monsters Gigan and King Ghidorah to level Tokyo. The earthlings' lives are spared so that their bodies can be used as "uniforms" for the alien invaders who are nothing more than giant sentient cockroaches.

Godzilla and Anguirus depart Monster Island to combat the invasion. The space monsters arrive in Tokyo first and begin laying waste to the city. While the aliens are busy controlling the monsters, Shosaku and Machiko send a weather balloon up the side of the Tower to allow the captive humans to escape. After observing that the aliens are incapable of diverting from their taped plans, Gengo and Takeshi enlist the aid of the JSDF to infiltrate the Tower.

The defending Earth monsters arrive in Tokyo Bay and immediately engage the space monsters in battle. Gigan proves to be a savage opponent for the King of the Monsters and successfully uses an aerial buzzsaw attack to critically injure Godzilla. Gigan's attacks put Godzilla in range of the Godzilla Tower's laser beams, which prove immensely effective against the real Godzilla. Anguirus too is injured by Gigan's saw.

Gengo quickly draws a life size sketch of his group which the JSDF uses to hide several crates of TNT in the Tower's elevator. The elevator reaches the top floor and the aliens, not realizing the trap, shoot the crates. The resulting explosion destroys the Tower and breaks the control over the space monsters, leaving them disorganised and confused. Gigan comes to his senses first and pummels the weakened Godzilla; together with King Ghidorah, the monsters push Godzilla into the remains of the Tower. But in an instant Godzilla's strength returns and the tide of the battle quickly turns in favor of the Earth monsters. Their counterattack separates the alien monsters and Godzilla uses his atomic breath to keep Gigan out of the sky. With certain defeat approaching and no more orders to follow, the alien monsters retreat to space. Godzilla and Anguirus return to Monster Island to the cheers of Gengo and his friends.

## Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

* Directed by   Jun Fukuda
* Written by   Shinichi Sekizawa
* Produced by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Stock music by   Akira Ifukube
* Theme song "Godzilla March"
	+ Performed by   Susumu Ishikawa
	+ Composed by   Kunio Miyauchi
	+ Lyrics by   Shinichi Sekizawa, Jun Fukuda
* Cinematography by   Kiyoshi Hasegawa
* Edited by   Yoshio Tamura
* Production design by   Yoshifumi Honda
* 1st assistant director   Fumisake Okada
* Director of special effects   Teruyoshi Nakano
* 1st assistant director of special effects   Yoshio Tabuchi (uncredited)

## Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

* Hiroshi Ishikawa   as   Gengo Odaka, manga artist
* Tomoko Umeda   as   Machiko Shima
* Yuriko Hishimi   as   Tomoko Tomoe
* Minoru Takashima   as   Shosaku Takasugi
* Zan Fujita   as   Fumio Sudo, chairman of World Children's Land
* Toshiaki Nishizawa   as   Kubota, secretary of World Children's Land
* Kunio Murai   as   Takeshi Shima, computer engineer
* Gen Shimizu   as   Self Defense Force commander
* Kuniko Ashihara   as   Fumio Sudo's mother
* Kurayoshi Nakamura   as   Priest
* Akio Murata   as   Kadohisa, editor-in-chief
* Naoya Kusakawa   as   Police officer
* Wataru Omae   as   Voice of police station speaker / radio announcer / Nebulan henchman
* Hiroto Kimura, Sadao Watanabe, Noritake Saito   as   Nebulan henchmen
* Akira Nishikawa   as   Nebulan henchman / JSDF radar operator
* Haruo Nakajima   as   Godzilla / employee of magazine company / JSDF staff member
* Koetsu Omiya   as   Anguirus / JSDF radar operator
* Kanta Ina   as   King Ghidorah
* Kenpachiro Satsuma   as   Gigan (as Kengo Nakayama)

### International English dub

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

* Linda Masson   as   Tomoko Tomoe
* Michael Kaye   as   Shosaku Takasugi / Kadohisa / Nebulan henchman / police officer
* Ted Thomas   as   Kubota / Godzilla / priest / radio announcer
* Chris Hilton   as   Fumio Sudo

## Appearances

* Anguirus
* Gigan
* King Ghidorah
* Mothra (stock footage)
* Rodan (stock footage)
* Kamacuras (stock footage)
* Kumonga (stock footage)
* Gorosaurus (stock footage)
* Minilla (stock footage)
* Shukra (drawing)
* Mamagon (drawing)
* Gengo Odaka's other monster creations (drawings)
* Ultraman (toy)
* Gaira (stock footage, erroneous)
* Godzilla Tower
* Type 70 Maser Cannon
* Type 61 Tank
* F-86F Sabre
* 24 Twin Rocket Car
* Type 66 Maser Cannon (stock footage)
* M24 Chaffee Tank (stock footage)
* M4A3E8 Sherman Tank (stock footage)
* Red Bamboo Fighter Jet (stock footage, erroneous)
* SAR-1 (stock footage)
* Multipurpose Tank (stock footage)
* Type M3A1 (stock footage)
* Support Helicopter (stock footage)

## Alternate titles

* ***Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan*** (literal Japanese title)
* ***Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: Earth Attack Command*** (ゴジラ対キングギドラ　地球攻撃命令 *Gojira tai Kingu Gidora Chikyū Kōgeki Meirei*, early Japanese title)
* ***Godzilla on Monster Island*** (United States)
* ***War of the Monsters*** (United Kingdom)
* ***Galien, The Monster of the Galaxies Attacks the Earth*** (*Galien, el monstruo de las galaxias ataca la Tierra*; Spain)
* ***Galien, The Monster of the Galaxies Attacks Again*** (*Galien, el monstruo de las galaxias ataca de nuevo*; Spain; reissue title)
* ***Godzilla Against Gigan*** (*Godzilla contra Gigan*; Mexico; Spanish DVD title; *Godzilla kontra Gigan*; Poland; *Godzilla contre Gigan*; French video title)
* ***Earth Objective: Mission Apocalypse*** (*Objectif Terre: Mission Apocalypse*; France)
* ***Extermination 2025*** (French video title)
* ***Frankenstein's Hell Brood*** (*Frankensteins Höllenbrut*; West Germany)
* ***Monsters from Outer Space*** (*Monster aus dem Weltall*; German 8mm title)
* ***Godzilla Against Frankenstein's Hell Brood*** (*Godzilla gegen Frankensteins Höllenbrut*; German DVD title)
* ***Godzilla Against the Giants*** (*Godzilla contro i giganti*; Italy)
* ***The Planet of Godzilla*** (*La planète de Godzilla*; French Belgium; *De planeet van Godzilla*; Dutch Belgium)
* ***Godzilla Against the Giants*** (*Godzilla devlere karsi*; Turkey)
* ***Godzilla, The King of the Monsters*** (*Godzilla, O Rei dos Monstros*; Brazil)

## Theatrical releases

*View all posters for the film here.*

* Japan - March 12, 1972   [view poster]
* United States - 1977   [view poster]
* France - August 9, 1973   [view poster]
* West Germany - 1973   [view poster]
* Italy - 1973   [view poster]
* Belgium - 1973   [view poster]
* Curaçao - October 4, 1973
* Brazil - November 1973
* Australia - 1974
* Mexico - 1974
* United Kingdom - May 1977   [view poster]
* Poland - January 1978   [view poster]
* Spain - April 2, 1980   [view poster]
* Egypt   [view poster]

## U.S. release

In March 1975, the Hong Kong-dubbed international version of *Godzilla vs. Gigan* played at the Toho Theatre in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1977, Cinema Shares released an edited version of the international English print of *Godzilla vs. Gigan* throughout the U.S. as *Godzilla on Monster Island*, despite only about a minute of the film actually taking place on Monster Island. The company made a handful of changes to the international version, some of them in the interest of obtaining a G rating from the MPAA:

* The title card reads "*Godzilla on Monster Island*" and the laser beam effect from the Japanese credits sequence is gone.
* Gengo calls Tomoko "a hard bitch" under his breath. Cinema Shares muted the entire soundtrack when the word "bitch" is muttered.
* Two scenes of Godzilla bleeding from Gigan's attacks are trimmed. The scene where Gigan cuts Anguirus in his snout with his abdominal saw is also edited out. The scenes afterwards, despite having Godzilla and Anguirus covered in blood from their wounds, were unchanged.
* While Godzilla and Anguirus swim away at the end of the movie, Godzilla turns and blasts the camera with his radioactive breath, lifted from the opening of the film. The energy beam fills the camera, over which the words "THE END" are superimposed.
* Perhaps the most significant change in the English-language edit of the film occurs when Godzilla and Anguirus talk. In the original Japanese version, speech bubbles appear out of the monsters' mouths and display their dialogue. In the international version, voice actor Ted Thomas, the producer of the English-language soundtrack, recorded actual English dialogue for the scene, while the speech bubbles were removed. This alteration was retained in Cinema Shares' version of the film.

*Godzilla on Monster Island* was frequently shown in television syndication throughout the 1980s, and it aired several times on the Sci-Fi Channel before being replaced by the widescreen international version in 2002. In 1988, New World Pictures picked up the home video rights to *Godzilla vs. Gigan* and *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla*. Toho provided New World Video with prints of the international versions, now under their official international titles. The international English dub track was retained, but both films were now restored to their full length. These versions were subsequently re-released on video in 1992 by Starmaker Video, in 1997 by Anchor Bay, and in 2004 by TriStar Pictures. The TriStar DVDs feature newly remastered prints of Toho's original international versions along with the original Japanese audio. Kraken Releasing also released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014. The versions of the films included in these releases are identical to those from the TriStar DVDs. Because these DVDs and Blu-rays use the international prints of the film, Godzilla and Anguirus' speech bubbles are not present even in the Japanese audio track. The Criterion Collection's 2019 Blu-ray box set *Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975* included the Japanese version, taken from Toho's 2008 "Pure Hi-Vision" transfer, but omitted the English dub for unknown reasons. It is currently available to stream on The Criterion Channel, HBO Max, and Netflix Japan.

## Box office

When *Godzilla vs. Gigan* was released to Japanese theaters on March 12, 1972, it recorded an attendance of 1.78 million. This was higher than the previous Toho Champion Festival *Godzilla* films, *All Monsters Attack* and *Godzilla vs. Hedorah*, but well below earlier entries in the series.

## Reception

This movie is often criticized due to its slow pacing, heavy use of stock footage, and an inconsistent tone. Many fans though enjoy the monster tag team battles, stock use of Akira Ifukube's music, the introduction of Gigan and the return of King Ghidorah and Anguirus.

## Video releases

**Power Multimedia** DVD (1999)

* **Region:** N/A
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** English (Mono), Mandarin (Mono)
* **Subtitles:** Chinese (traditional and simplified)
* **Special features:** None
* **Notes:** Presents an unaltered 35mm transfer of the film's international version, albeit cropped to 1.33:1. Includes traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles. Out of print.

**Cine Plus** DVD (2001)

* **Region:** 2
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** German (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
* **Subtitles:** None
* **Special features:** None

**Toho** DVD (2004)

* **Region:** 2
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (1.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
* **Subtitles:** Japanese
* **Special features:** Audio commentary by Shinji Higuchi and Kenji Konuta, theatrical trailer, image gallery, "Godzilla March" sing-along

**TriStar Pictures** DVD (2004)

* **Region:** 1
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0 Mono)
* **Subtitles:** English, French
* **Special features:** Trailers
* **Notes:** Uses a single video track with English titles and credits, leaving out Anguirus and Godzilla's speech bubbles. Out of print.

**Madman** DVD (2006)

* **Region:** 4
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** English, Japanese
* **Subtitles:** English
* **Special features:** Theatrical trailer, poster gallery, trailers for *Invasion of Astro-Monster*, *Godzilla vs. Hedorah*, and *Godzilla 2000: Millennium*

**Kraken Releasing** DVD/Blu-ray (2014)

* **Region:** 1 (DVD) or A/1 (Blu-ray)
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0 Mono)
* **Subtitles:** English
* **Special features:** Japanese trailer
* **Notes:** Uses a single video track with English titles and credits, leaving out Anguirus and Godzilla's speech bubbles. Subtitles alternate between translating the Japanese dialogue and following the English dub, while a second subtitle option only translates on-screen text.

**Toho** Blu-ray (2014)

* **Region:** A/1
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (2.0 LPCM, 5.1 DTS-HD MA)
* **Subtitles:** Japanese
* **Special features:** Audio commentary by Shinji Higuchi and Kenji Konuta, "The Man who Made Godzilla Tower: Nobuyuki Yasumaru" featurette (20 minutes), conversation between Masaaki Tezuka and Yuriko Hishimi (40 minutes), theatrical trailer, scans of the theatrical program, "Godzilla March" sing-along

**The Criterion Collection** Blu-ray (2019) [*Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975*]

* **Region:** A/1 or B/2
* **Discs:** 8
* **Audio:** Japanese
* **Subtitles:** English
* **Special features:** All bonus features on Criterion's *Godzilla* Blu-ray, 1990 Ishiro Honda interview by Yoshimitsu Banno, interview with director Alex Cox, interviews with actors Bin Furuya and Tsugutoshi Komada, 2011 interview with critic Tadao Sato, unused effects sequences from Toho releases including *Destroy All Monsters*, trailers, illustrated hardcover book with an essay by Steve Ryfle and liner notes on each film by Ed Godziszewski
* **Notes:** Uses a new English subtitle translation. Sony distributed a Region B/2 version of the set in the United Kingdom.

## Trivia

* *Godzilla vs. Gigan* played in Japanese theaters as the main feature in the Spring 1972 Toho Champion Festival, accompanied by a *Mirrorman* compilation film, *Return of Ultraman: Jiro Rides a Monster*, *Pinocchio: The Series*, *Hutch the Honeybee: Hold Me, Momma*, and *The Genius Bakabon: Night Duty is Scary*.
* This film's score is composed almost entirely of stock music from previous scores composed by Akira Ifukube. A new song, "Godzilla March," composed by Kunio Miyauchi and sung by Susumu Ishikawa, is played over the end credits.
* This was Haruo Nakajima's final time playing Godzilla, a role he had played since 1954.
* This is the second time Anguirus visibly bleeds in a film. The first is in *Godzilla Raids Again* when Godzilla bites down on Anguirus' throat. The third instance of Anguirus bleeding occurs in *Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla* when Fake Godzilla breaks Anguirus' jaw.
* Due to the reduced budget for this film, special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano used stock footage from previous Godzilla films, as well as some other Toho sci-fi films, for many of the special effects sequences. Clips from the Godzilla films *Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster*, *Invasion of Astro-Monster*, *Destroy All Monsters*, and *Godzilla vs. Hedorah*, as well as *Rodan* and *The War of the Gargantuas*, can be seen in this film. Of the film's 89-minute runtime, a little over seven minutes of it is stock footage.
* *Godzilla vs. Gigan* is one of four Godzilla movies in which the viewer can understand what the monsters are saying. The other three are *Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster*, where the monsters' dialogue is translated by the Shobijin; *All Monsters Attack*, where Minilla speaks inside of Ichiro's dreams; and *Godzilla vs. Kong*, where Kong uses sign language.
* In the Japanese version of *Godzilla vs. Gigan*, Godzilla and Anguirus communicate through distorted roars and word bubbles. In the English dub, the word bubbles are replaced by garbled speech, with Axis International founder Ted Thomas voicing Godzilla. The monsters' English-language dialogue is as follows:
Scene One - Monster Island
Godzilla: "Hey, Angilas!"
Anguirus: "What do you want?"
Godzilla: "Somethin' funny's going on, you better check!"
Anguirus: "Oh, yeah!"
Godzilla: (*as Anguirus departs*) "Hurry up!"
Scene Two - Pacific Ocean
Godzilla: "Hey, Angilas, come on! There's a lot of trouble ahead. That way!"
Anguirus: "Okay!"
* An illustration of several kaiju from the Ultra Series can be seen posted on the wall in the manga publisher's office at the beginning of the film.