New Japanese GODZILLA Video And Manga Bonanza!

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Source: Youtube / Godzilla Gao

You really have to give these (unknown) Japanese Godzilla fans alot of credit. Not only have they built an exact replica of the Godzilla suit from "Mothra vs Godzilla" (Godzilla vs The Thing) but they also run a very cool G site called "Godzilla Gao" and ink a very cool G themed manga (comic) called "Monster's Territory".

Wew! That's some real devotion to the "King of Monsters" there.

Now their website is all in Japanese so I really couldn't find out very much about them, but from what English text the group posted along with their latest video, which is great by the way, I gather that they have been working on their Godzilla suit for 11 years.

11 years!

Well from the video it looks like it's completed and it looks really spot on to the one worn by Haruo Nakajima in the film. The group has also created a really cool King Ghidorah puppet for Big G to interact with.

My advice. Legendary Pictures outta give these guys a look up.

I'm just saying.

Here is the video, plus some older ones of the Godzilla suit being worked on:

Here are a couple of pages from "Monster's Territory":

Here is the link to their site:

http://godzillagao.ninja-web.net/

New Japanese GODZILLA Video And Manga Bonanza!

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Source: Youtube / Godzilla Gao

You really have to give these (unknown) Japanese Godzilla fans alot of credit. Not only have they built an exact replica of the Godzilla suit from "Mothra vs Godzilla" (Godzilla vs The Thing) but they also run a very cool G site called "Godzilla Gao" and ink a very cool G themed manga (comic) called "Monster's Territory".

Wew! That's some real devotion to the "King of Monsters" there.

Now their website is all in Japanese so I really couldn't find out very much about them, but from what English text the group posted along with their latest video, which is great by the way, I gather that they have been working on their Godzilla suit for 11 years.

11 years!

Well from the video it looks like it's completed and it looks really spot on to the one worn by Haruo Nakajima in the film. The group has also created a really cool King Ghidorah puppet for Big G to interact with.

My advice. Legendary Pictures outta give these guys a look up.

I'm just saying.

Here is the video, plus some older ones of the Godzilla suit being worked on:

Here are a couple of pages from "Monster's Territory":

Here are links to their sites:

http://godzillagao.ninja-web.net/

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=19508039

See Also: Godzilla 2012 Poster: Real or Fake? /Dean Devlin Finally Takes Credit For GODZILLA (GINO) Failure / Godzilla Gangsters and Goliaths #1 San Diego Comic Con Varient / Godzilla - Kreeeang Silver T-Shirt / Loathing "King Kong vs. Godzilla"? / GODZILLA To Get Spoofed In NOTZILLA: DUKE OF THE MONSTERS / "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" 55 Years Ago /IDW Releases Info On GODZILLA Comics For July / IDW Launches GODZILLA: KINGDOM OF MONSTERS eBay Auction To Aide Japan / GODZILLA: KINGDOM OF MONSTERS #4 And GODZILLA: GANGSTERS AND GOLIATHS Coming In June / Is Legendary Pictures About To Hand GODZILLA Over To Del Toro / Godzilla To Stomp On 70 Comic Book Stores This March / What Was It Like To Play Godzilla, King Kong, Rodan, Mothra ......? / Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars Board Game / The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #10 - #1 / Godzilla Stomp Card Game / Gareth Edwards Talks About GODZILLA To The Press / Is There Going To Be A New "Japanese" Godzilla Movie In 2012? / Reflections On The Hiring Of Gareth Edwards As The Director of Godzilla / Gareth Edwards To Direct Legendary's Godzilla/ More Info On GODZILLA MONSTER WORLD From IDW / Godzilla vs The Gryphon - Exclusive Art From Todd Tennant / Godzilla - 13-Inch Plush - Doll / Chinese Entertainment Co. Buys Share In Legendary Pictures / Godzilla Goes Prime-Time! - Godzilla vs Megalon On NBC In 1977 / Putting Legendary Pictures Godzilla 3D (2012) Into Perspective (Part 2) /Godzilla 2012: Brian Rogers On Legendary Pictures Film Plans / GODZILLA 2012 Producer Brian Rogers To Speak At 3D ENTERTAINMENT SUMMIT

Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster - Continental Press Book Text

Written By: Ken Hulsey

In 1965 Continental Distributing put out a press book full of add slicks and articles to promote their release of "Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster" here in America.

Included inside are some news stories, written by the distributor, to be printed in local newspapers and magazines while the movie was in theaters.

Also included were, "add slicks" for the film. These are the images you find in the entertainment section of the newspaper that normally feature a graphic of the films poster art with a square at the bottom for theater and show time information.

I thought that it would be fun to publish the text from this press book for fans to read through. I believe that you find it interesting just how an American company would publicize a Japanese monster film.

I find it funny that in several of their pre-written articles for the press, Continental states that Ghidrah has four legs.

Makes you wonder if the person who wrote them even watched the film?

I just happen to have a copy of this Showman's Manual in my collection. As luck would have it, I was able to get this rather rare piece of Godzilla movie history autographed by Yasuyuki Inoue and Akinori Takagi at the "Godzilla X Mothra X MechaGodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." American premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood (2004).

Summit Meeting of Monsters Saves Earth

It's not the leaders of nations who gather for a Summit Meeting at Mt. Fuji to save the world, but three infamous monsters....Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra..when they attempt to conquer an "outsider" in "Ghidrah..The Three Headed Monster" the new Tohoscope / Eastmancolor thriller which opens at the...(Insert Theatre Name)..Theatre on....(Insert Opening Date)...

Each a specialist in destruction, it takes a bit of doing on the part of strategists to convince the world levelers that their own existences are threatened by the arrival from outer space of a behemoth that has three heads working for it and some new intergalactic techniques to use in wiping out a planet. Once united in a common cause, the monsters whip up the most incredible battle scenes yet to be seen on the screen.

Master special effects creator, Eiji Tsuburaya, is again responsible for the action which calls for the realistic destruction of ships at sea, the city of Yokohama and villages unfortunate to be in the path of the havoc-bent monsters. Directed by Ishiro Honda, renowed for his contributions to this specialized field of science fiction motion picture making, "Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka for the Toho Company. It is being released by Continental, a division of Walter Reade-Sterling, Inc.

"Ghidrah - Three Headed Monster" Fiction Or Fact?

"Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" the Eastmancolor thriller which opens at the...(Insert Theatre Name)...Theatre on....(Insert Opening Day)..., brings up a reverse question, is it fiction or fact?

"Way out" science fiction magazines and cartoons of a decade or two ago have been proven to be amazingly accurate in predicting the future. Today, they are being examined with a new respect. Too many of their space predictions have developed from fiction to fact.

Two veterans of the science fiction field director Ishiro Honda and special effects expert Eiji Tsuburaya have been making motion pictures which deal with monsters created by the imbalance of nature through the radio-active results of the atom and hydrogen bombs. According to them, man's experimentation with the inner secrets of the Universe created a breed of monsters such as Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra. Enlarged beyond human imagination, they have inflicted their monstrosities upon trembling peoples, cities and nations. Nuclear defense devices used against them strengthens rather than diminishes their powers. The latest of the teams fertile imaginations deals with a meteorite which manages to pierce earth's atmosphere without being consumed by the friction. Once settled on the new planet, it cools off and goes through an incubation period. The disturbed elements of nature are the midwife to the strangest creature yet to be born on earth. The metallic shell splits in half and a tremendous fireball roars into the sky becoming GHIDRAH, the monster to end all monsters. Equipped with four legs (again..?), coliseum sized wings and three heads, no spanking is necessary for it to breath out fiery flames from each of its mouths as it surveys a new world to ravage.

Like the radio-active fallout which can have freakish genetic effects on humans, could a disruption caused by man-made satellites and space crafts wandering into space cause a shift in the solar order of wandering meteorites so that they are diverted to a new gravitic earth force? If so are they capable of bringing foreign life to this planet?

The reality of that threat is yet to be seen. However, the Toho Production deals with the problem as if it has already occurred. They have lined up three of earth's most formidable monsters...Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra ..to challenge the intruder from space. Born to destroy anything that stands in their paths, their showdown with Ghidrah is fore-ordained. Technically and dramatically, "Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" is the company's most ambitious project to date.

Filmed in Tohoscope. "Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" was produced by Tomoyki Tanaha (Tomoyuki Tanaka) and is being presented by Walter Reade-Sterling through its Continental Distributing Division.

GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER

The balance of the universe has been upset by the entrance into earth's atmosphere of a brilliant meteorite. The people are totally unprepared for the shock of seeing a three-headed monster with wings, flames spewing forth from its multiple mouths, emerge from the fireball from outer space. It is GHIDRAH! Its giant wings lift it into flight as it soars off to ravage the planet Earth.

Godzilla and Rodan are reactivated from hibernation because of this upset in the balance of the universe.

Royal Princess Salno of Selgina, a small country between the two worlds, appears before the unbelieving people as a beautiful Prohetess (EIKO WAKABAYASHI) and proclaims herself to be a Martian. Naoko (YURIKO HOSHI), an enterprising girl reporter , is the only person to befriend her until Detective Shindo (YOSUKE NATSUKI), the reporter's brother, takes her into protective police custody to guard her against a group of thugs, headed by Malness (HISAYA ITO) who are determined to kill her.

Naoko takes the prophetess to Mt. Fuji where Ghidra does battle with Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, the massive caterpillar who comes to their assistance.

NEW MONSTER PROVES THREE HEADS BETTER THAN ONE

It was bound to happen! Forget the axiom that two heads are better than one. The very latest in world destroyers is one head up on it as proven in "Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" the new Tohoscope / Eastmancolor thriller which opens at the..(Insert Theatre Name) ..Theatre on..(Insert Opening Date).. Those veteran one headed monsters, Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra are on hand to learn this new lesson the hard way.

Purely an outer space product, Ghidrah comes equipped with four legs (?), a set of coliseum size wings and multiple mouths that spew out three times as much destruction at the crack as the earth born monsters can do singly in a month of Sundays. The obvious solution is for Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra to stop tearing at each other's throats long enough to put their combined heads together to drive the foreigner out of their territory, which means our of this world.

Shinichi Sekizawa, an expert on the extra-curricular activities of delinquent monsters, conjured a screenplay which affords Godzilla and Rodan with scenes to exhibit their individual specialties, than adding Mothra to combine their talents for the inevitable showdown with Ghidrah on the slopes of Mt. Fuji. The built-in violence of each contestant automatically brings about a smash climax when irresistible forces meet an immovable object and the earth literally trembles from the impact.

"Ghidrah - The Three Headed Monster" was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka for the Toho Company. A Walter Reade-Sterling presentation, it is being released through its Continental Distributing Division which has to acknowledge that three heads are better than one.

A Classic Godzilla Comic Strip - The Monsters That Devoured Canarsie

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Ah, it was a great time to be a Godzilla, and monster movie fan in general, during the 1970s. There were several great monster movie magazines and fan publications produced during the decade, including Forrest Ackerman's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and Dean Latimer's "The Monster Times."

Well, today I want to flash-back to the groovy 70s, and Latimer's "Monster Times" for a great Godzilla related comic strip called "The Monsters That Devoured Canarsie."

The strip was written/illustrated by Latimer from an idea that was presented to him by his close friend Johnny Kapelusz and appeared in the September 1973 issue (Vol 1 No. 26) of the magazine..

In the cartoon, three young, and very bored monster fans imaginations bring forth destruction to their neighborhood in Brooklyn. From the youngster's minds pop Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidorah, Gamera, Gorgo, Mothra, King Kong and the Allosaurus from "Valley of Gwangi" to add a little spice to a lazy Wednesday afternoon.

Kids will do anything to avoid working on a book report....

In typical Toho fashion, the monsters lay waste to everything they can get their hands on, stomp on the military and fleeing pedestrians, than disappear just as mysteriously as they appeared.

It should be noted that besides publishing "The Monster Times", Dean Latimer produced comic strips for numerous underground comic books and "National Lampoon Magazine." Later in his career Latimer became a contributor to "High Times Magazine" and published several books on the use of opium.

Whether influenced by a Lewis Carroll esque episode or not, "The Monsters That Devoured Canarsie" is a great classic monster comic strip from the decade when Godzilla and his pals were at the height of popularity amongst America's youth.

Enjoy these scans from "The Monster Times":

See Also: Hot Off The Press! Page 77 Of Todd Tennant's "Godzilla 1994" Online Comic / New 'Godzlla 94' Art From Todd Tennant - Is There A Graphic Novel On The Way?

The Godzilla Many Americans Have Never Seen - Ryusei Ningen Zon (Zone Fighter)

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Most American Godzilla fans are familiar with all of the monsters 28 films, television commercials, comic books, action figures and etc.

What may be a mystery, to great many of them, is the monsters numerous appearances in Japanese TV shows.

Granted, in many of these, it isn't actually "Godzilla", but the monster's suit reused to represent another monster, most notably as Gomess, in the second episode

of "Ultra Q" and as Jirass in the "Ultraman" episode, "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base".

In the case of Jirass, the monster is nothing more than a used "Godzilla" suit from "Mothra vs Godzilla" with a neck sail added. As you probably already know, Ultraman yanks the sail off, and then it was Godzilla from then on.

Despite all of these attempts to reuse the monster as other monsters, Toho would call on Big G to help boost the ratings of their 1973 television show, "Ryusei Ningen Zon" (Zone Fighter), which the studio had created as direct competition for the popular "Ultraman" and "Kamen Rider" series.

Godzilla was not alone as far a cameos on "Ryusei Ningen Zon" were concerned. Toho would also dust off both King Ghidorah and Gigan for numerous appearances as well.

In one episode. Godzilla actually kills Gigan while Ghidorah flies away.

To be honest, Ghidorah is the only monster to survive a tangle with the Godzilla/Zone Fighter duo. All other the monsters featured on the show met their makers.


On the show Godzilla is such a close friend to Zone Fighter that he actually builds him a custom cave to live in, close by, so in an emergency he could call upon the monster for help.

You know, kinda like how Dr. Quinn Darien and Carl Majors could push that red button and Godzilla would pop out of the sea to fight off whatever Godzooky pissed off.

Here is a quick synopsis:

The Zone Family is forced to find shelter on Earth after their home planet, Peaceland, is destroyed by the Garoga Army. Posing as the Sakimori Family, the Zone's had hoped to begin a new life, instead they would become Earth's defenders against the Garoga Army.

The Zone Fighters are able to transform to giant size to battle the giant beasts enslaved by the Garoga.


Godzilla is soon called upon to aid in the protection of Earth. Together Zone Fighter and Godzilla would prove to be more than a match for Garoga's beasts. Garoga would call upon two of Godzilla's nemesis, King Ghidora and Gigan, to aid in the destruction of Earth. Even these two monsters would prove to be no match for Earth's new dynamic duo. Zone Fighter would send King Ghidora packing while Godzilla would kill Gigan.

The series would last for 26 episodes before an energy crisis in Japan would force the cancellation of several television projects.

Though Toho considers the series as part of Godzilla's official time-line, and the series managed to boast decent ratings, the studio has never opted to relaunch it.

To many outside of Japan the show is a mystery. Many don't even know of it's existence. With any luck, someday, the series may get a DVD release here in the states, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Episode List (Air Dates):

1. Destroy The Terro-Beast Missile (4-2-1973)
2. Beat Destro-King (4-9-1973)
3. Defeat Garoga's Subterranean Base (4-16-1973)
4. Onslaught! The Garoga Army: Enter Godzilla! (4-23-1973)
5. Blast King Ghidora At Point Blank! (4-30-1973)
6. King Ghidora Strikes Back! (5-7-1973)
7. Zone Family's Critical Moment (5-14-1973)
8. Smash The Terrifying Invader! (5-21-1973)
9. Search For The Secret Of Red Spider (5-28-1973)
10. Zone Fighter Annihilated! (6-4-1973)
11. In The Twinkling Of An Eye: The Roar Of Godzilla! (6-11-1973) (Godzilla & Gigan)
12. Terrorbeast HQ - Invade The Earth! (6-18-1973)
13. Absolute Terror: Birthday Of Horror! (6-25-1973)
14. Insane With Anger! The Garoga Boy's Squad (7-2-1973)
15. Submersion! Godzilla, Save Tokyo! (7-9-1973)
16. Counterstrike Of Terror! Garoga-Robot! (7-16-1973)
17. Go! Fighter Emergency Take Off! (7-23-1973)
18. Directive: Destroy The Japanese Laboratory! (7-30-1973)
19. Order: Crush The Earth With Comet K! (8-6-1973)
20. Desperate Struggle! Can You Hear Fighter's Song? (8-13-1973)
21. Invincible! Godzilla's Violent Charge! (8-20-1973)
22. Counterstrike! Strike Down Super-Jikiro! (8-27-1973)
23. Secret Of Bakugon - The Great Terro-Beast! (9-3-1973)
24. Smash The Pin-Spitter Needlar! (8-10-1973)
25. Bloodbath! Zone & Godzilla vs The United Terro-Beast Army! (8-17-1973)
26. Pulverize Operation: Garoga Gamma-X! (8-24-1973)

Main Information:

Ryusei Ningen Zon (1973)
Toho
Aka: Meteor Human Zon, Zone Fighter & Zone, the Meteor Man
Created By: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Directed By: Jun Fukuda & Ishirô Honda
Written By: Koji Amemiya, Jun Fukuda, Juro Shimamoto, Susumu Takeuchi, Tomoyuki Tanaka & Shozo Uehara

Cast:
Kazuya Aoyama as Hikari Sakamori / Zone Fighter
Kazumi Kitahara as Hotaru Sakamori / Zone Angel
Shôji Nakayama as Yoichi Sakimori / Zone Father
Shiro Amagusa as Raita Sakamori / Zone Great
Momoru Kusumi as Zone Fighter (Giant Form)
Toru Kawai as Godzilla
Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Narrator
Munemaru Kouda as Gold Garoga (Voice)
Sachiko Kozuki as Tsukiko Sakamori
Hideaki Ohara as Takeru Jo
Takashi Sato as Akira Sakamori / Zone Junior