Godzilla: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:14, 3 March 2006

Revision as of 23:03, 3 March 2006

Line 14:

*He can release a powerful atomic energy beam, usually blue but in some films red, from his mouth (which is ominously signalled when his dorsal fins glow/flash in the same color as the atomic beam).

The name "Gojira" is a combination of ''gorira'' which means "[[gorilla]]" and ''kujira'', which means "[[whale]]" in [[Japanese Language|Japanese]]. The name was allegedly originally a nickname of a large worker at Toho Studios. But since Gojira was neither a gorilla nor a whale, the name "Gojira" was devised in a different way for the film's story; Gojira's name was "originally" spelled inusing [[katakanaateji]] characters (呉爾羅).

''[[Godzilla (1954)|Gojira]]'' was first released in the United States in [[1955]] in [[Japanese American|Japanese-American]] communities only, under Toho's international title, ''Godzilla''. In [[1956]], it was adapted by an American company into ''[[Godzilla, King of the Monsters]]'' (based on Toho's international title), edited and with added, principal scenes featuring [[Raymond Burr]], and this version became an international success. As a result, the monster came to be known as "Godzilla" also in Japan (the belief that American distributors were responsible for the name "Godzilla" is a misconception, since Toho came up with the name for international markets to begin with).