1995
Once more, a year after the last appearance (that Toho gang is quick!) and over four decades since this craziness started it no longer maters if the Godzilla family home base is called Baas or Birth Island, because it’s missing. Godzilla and LittleGodzilla are also nowhere to be found. Miki, now a full member of G-Force, is out looking.
Godzilla’s missingness ends pretty quickly when he shows up in Hong Kong all red and smoky.
The official movie explanation, which comes in one of the briefing meetings later on and I am not making up, is that yet another random and poorly timed earthquake/volcano blew up the island, and released some uranium, changing Godzilla. Personally, instead of random chance, I prefer an explanation that I did make up. It was the reuse of his Rodan upgrade crazy-explodey-super-energized red breath weapon to take out SpaceGodzilla that overheated him, and led to leaks that caused his kid’s changes. I do so love continuity.
There’s some stuff going on that brings Doctor Yamane’s descendants out of the woodwork. The Godzilla brother and sister team this time out are his grandchildren Kenichi and Yukari Yamane. Out of respect for the original film, they can have names.
Kenichi’s silly thesis about Godzilla having a nuclear reactor for a heart isn’t nearly as silly anymore, and he’s asked to join G-Force. Once he learns Miki Saegusa is still there, he enthusiastically signs up. See, she’s awesome. Yukari is our plucky (TV) reporter this time, covering all of the crazy stuff that’s about to happen.
One story she covers, about a Nobel Prize winning physicist who’s invented Micro-Oxygen, gets the attention of her Aunt Emiko. I’m not sure about what makes the Oxygen “micro”, and I’m also not sure how this guy got the Nobel Prize for something that only seems to be able to make SCUBA gear smaller, or fish bigger. Whoopee.
Emiko freaks out and calls her niece, because she immediately recognizes Micro-Oxygen as the Alka-Seltzer of Doom known as the Oxygen Destroyer, triggering a black and white flashback to Doctor Serizawa’s lab in 1954.
Another story is also linked to 1954: there are some troubles in the tunnel being dug under the bay where Godzilla was killed(ish) back then.
Godzilla continues to glow and steam up the water he’s in. Analysis shows he’s going to explode because his nuclear reactor heart is broken. Perhaps it’s because he saw Miki holding hands with Serious Guy. They can’t shoot at him, and not only because it never does anything anyway. It could also set off the explosion, which will be more than the force of all the Nuclear Weapons in the world.
That’s rather a lot, really.
There’s a horrifying little simulation video showing first Godzilla, then Tokyo, and finally the entire atmosphere turning into a giant nuclear holocaust cloud.
Yukari spends a while going back and forth between trying to convince Physicist not to use Micro-Oxygen, because it is the Oxygen Destroyer, and trying to convince Physicist to use Micro Oxygen to make an Oxygen Destroyer to stop Godzilla.
The problem is made more…um…problematic, by the tunnel troubles. Soil from down below has life in it, mutated little Precambrian crabby things. They talk a bunch about the Precambrian period having life before oxygen. It’s nice to see one of these films finally do a little paleontology homework.
At an awesome looking aquarium nearby, we see the Alka-Seltzer of Doom effect (now with added little lightning bits) terrify a guard. Physicist was worried about making an Oxygen Destroyer because of these kinds of effects, which already happened forty years ago, and the tunnel crew has dug up. He names the little crabby things “Destroyer” or actually the more easily copyrightable “Destoroyah.”
G-Force issues an “all units scramble” when hot and smoky Godzilla shows up again. Then we see a single helicopter take off. Apparently, G-Force has had some budget cuts. Miki is still worried about LittleGodzilla, but the only evidence she can find is some dead whales, which shouldn’t be evidence for the little goofball we saw last time.
Alien-Predator-spider looking things. Just in case anyone missed the Alien reference, which is unlikely given their two stage mouths,
the Japanese Special Forces are armed with flame throwers and rifles with Colonial Marineish motion sensors on them. The Alien-Predator-spider looking things have Oxygen Destroyer breath, which makes anything it hits violently explode. That’s not really what the Oxygen Destroyer did, but who cares, it looks cool.
Physicist yells at the army to stop shooting, which is odd as it seems to be working, especially the flamethrowers. He rescues Yukari from one of the beasties trying to eat her out of a car, much like tuna out of a can, so we’ll give him a pass.
Godzilla is heading for some nuclear plants, leading G-Force to send out …
TA-DA the Super-X III. It’s armed with Cadmium missiles (again) a "low temperature laser" and other cold generating weapons that I did not make up. Also, unlike it's predecessors, it has the decency to look like something that could actually fly.
With various blasts and more Cadmium in the mouth, they turn Godzilla into a giant radioactive freezy-pop and the explosion danger passes. He’ll be iced for six hours, and then stable. Everyone celebrates because their plans always work perfectly the first time…
Morons.
Heady with success, they experiment on little crabby things in the lab and determine they could ice up the Destoroyah monsters as well once they learn the freezing point of Micro-Oxygen.
Godzilla’s erratic travel patterns were because he was following his son.
What a guy!
Junior was heading toward the Bering Strait, which G-Force refers to as “his nest.” This means the Time Travel from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah reset the creation location of Godzilla…which also means there should have never been an Oxygen Destroyer in Tokyo Bay in1954, before the Economy Sized Godzilla formed in the Bering Strait due to a later submarine accident. They really shouldn’t do time travel stories at Toho.
Miki is thrilled Junior is OK, but sad that she thinks her powers are fading. She confides this to the new G-Force Psychic Paleontologist, who claims she would be happy to lose her powers, to let her settle down, get married and make babies. Yeah, that “strong female character” tradition in Godzilla movies slips once in a while.
Big surprise, the Godzillacicle idea didn’t exactly work completely as planned. Kenichi explains the Big G is heating up faster than expected. Now, he’s not going to explode the atmosphere with greater force than all the world’s nuclear weapons. No, now his heart is going to meltdown, bore in to the core of the Earth, and blow up the planet. Instead of simply eradicating most life on the world, the entire world itself is doomed.
Well done there, G-Force.
The powers that be bring an array of “low temperature laser” tanks and other freezy armaments against the Alien-Predator-spider things. They work for a little while, as per usual. The creatures then join together into a giant flying Alien-Predator-insectoid thing, using their Oxygen Destroyerness, or something; I didn't even see any Magic Dust this time.
Young Yamane theorizes that big Destoroyah’s Oxygen Destroyerness could stop Godzilla’s meltdown, if they could bring them together. New Psychic Paleontologist comes up with the BIG PLAN of using her and Miki’s powers to get Junior to go to Destoroyah which will lure in Godzilla. Miki is HORRIFIED at risking Junior, but, y’know, world blowing up thing, kinda important.
They decide to focus this masterful plan not on one of the seemingly infinite uninhabited islands in this series, but in Downtown Tokyo. Even the people IN THE MOVIE think this is a crazy idea.
Destoroyah flies around Tokyo while things explode under him for no reason. The psychics lead Junior to the capitol city, and he gets clobbered. Miki panics and Psychic Paleontologist rolls her eyes. At least she does until Junior saves them with a well placed breath weapon, then she’s on Miki’s side.
There’s another transformation for Destoroyah, and now he’s a ground based dragon/bug looking thing. Junior gets lucky and breaks off one of his many appendages, but mostly the little guy gets beaten on, breathed on, and buildinged on. As Godzilla is showing up in the bay, Destoroyah uses his Alien mouth to punch a hole toward Junior’s heart. Junior manages to breathe the big nasty into a factory, exploding it nicely, but the kid still has a gaping hole in his chest.
Godzilla waits until night to come ashore, in order to look cool. Destoroyah reforms out of the factory fire into a super giant winged biped.
It’s worth noting that every enemy he meets in the Heisei series is bigger than even the Economy Sized Godzilla.
It’s also worth noting that Destoroyah is a creature created by man’s arrogance toward the planet that is formed by smaller ones merging together, and then transforms between animal, flying, and bipedal forms. This is one of the most acclaimed Godzilla films, and Godzilla’s opponent follows the same pattern as the Smog Monster. I’m telling you, if he didn’t fly in that one, it would be highly regarded.
The Super-X III is launched again to freeze Godzilla at the moment of meltdown. Destoroyah knocks over Godzilla and flies off carrying Junior by the throat. There’s a sickening neck snap before he drops the former “Baby” from a great height, causing both psychics to scream. He then breathes on Junior out of spite. He also blows up the G-Force chopper, which Miki and friend have fortunately already vacated.
Godzilla’s son is no more. Miki cries in exactly the same way the Big G does. She must have adopted Junior after Lab Girl went off with Pteranodon Fetish Guy.
Destoroyah comes back to attack the saddened Godzilla. The King of Monsters mounts an impressive charge to his brassy theme, and some angry close combat. It goes badly, ending with Destoroyah grabbing Godzilla’s neck with his tail pincers and taking him for a drag.
G-Force leaders ask if they have a chopper to rescue Miki and friend. The answer is, “No.” I guess they only did have one after all. Destoroyah attacks with his light saber horn. Yeah, that’s new. Godzilla, finally pushed beyond all limits, breathes and uses his claws to rip out big chunks of the bad monster’s chest.
Destoroyah splits into a bunch of smaller Alien-Predator-spidery things again, to keep the movie going a little longer. Meanwhile, Yukari’s news chopper is contacted by her brother and rescues the G-Force psychic women.
Godzilla has an amazingly emotional moment, for a thirty story tall overheating lizard, with his dead child. He breathes a small smoky bit of Magic Dust onto the lad, which I am not making up, to allow him to look into Junior’s eyes one last time.
*sniff*
As Godzilla reaches critical temperature for meltdown, Destoroyah goes back to full size. Jerk that he is, he pulls another trail drag. With his spines starting to melt the Big G channels his escaping energy into a more explodey than usual crazy-explodey-super-energized red breath weapon. Destoroyah is overheated and tries to fly away, but the Super-X III and freeze tanks hit him with “Low Temperature Lasers.” The thermal shock disintegrates him when he hits the ground.
We'll call it an overall draw I guess.
Miki says, “Our Job is done now, Godzilla.”
Um…whatever.
However, in an ending I am not making up, the radiation mysteriously drops before it can end the world. It seems something absorbed it. That something was Junior. Considerably less dead now, the ex-little guy roars as the credits roll, as a full sized Godzilla.
Interesting Thought: If Destroy All Monsters sets most of the original series around 1999, that would mean it is after this film. Maybe the friendlier Showa Godzilla is really Junior all growed up?
This was to be not only the end of the series, but the supposed end of Toho's Godzilla movies, as the 1998 American made one was already n production. While that was being made, Toho cranked out three Rebirth of Mothra movies from 1996 to 1998 which had non-twin Fairies (the Elias) fighting their evil (yet still tiny) sister, and the monsters she calls up.
The enemies were mostly versions of Ghidorah, as suit alterations are cheaper than fabrications.
There’s some time travel, and Mothra assumes an aquatic an armored and a rainbow form in these cinematic masterpieces.
With the ending scene of the final Heisei film, “Ifukube’s greatest hits” playing over its credits featuring music from King Kong vs. Godzilla and the birth at the end of King Kong Lives With The Three Amigos, I was convinced next up would be Son of Kong vs. Son of Godzilla.
That might have been better than what we got.
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