Godzilla Island
Godzilla Island (ゴジラアイランド, Gojira Airando) is a television show spinoff of the Godzilla franchise. It premiered on October 6, 1997,[1][2] and ran for a total of 256 three-minute episodes, finishing on September 30, 1998.[1][2]
Godzilla Island | |
---|---|
Genre | Tokusatsu Kaiju Superhero Science fiction |
Developed by | Toho |
Written by | Takahiko Masuda |
Directed by | Shun Mizutani |
Narrated by | Yutaka Aoyama |
Country of origin | Japan |
No. of episodes | 256 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 3 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
Original release | October 6, 1997 – September 30, 1998 |
Set in 2097, most of Earth's kaiju (monsters) live on an island out in the Pacific Ocean called Godzilla Island, which is monitored by G-Guard. The creatures living on the island include Godzilla, Godzilla Junior, Mothra, Mothra Leo, Rodan, Fire Rodan, King Ghidorah, Mecha-King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla (the Heisei version), Anguirus, Gigan, Hedorah, Destoroyah, Baragon, King Caesar, Moguera, Megalon, Battra, SpaceGodzilla, Gorosaurus, Kamacuras and Jet Jaguar. Torema and Zaguresu's kaiju (or monsters) include a black-coloured Mechagodzilla (the Showa version), a fully mechanical King Ghidorah (called Hyper-Mecha King Ghidorah), a new version of Hedorah (called Neo Hedorah), Kumasogami (named Dororin in the series), Jigora (a species of kaiju from Torema's home planet that looks like pallette swaps of Godzilla Junior), a powered-up version of SpaceGodzilla, a different version of Fake Godzilla, Proto Moguera (Which resembles the original Moguera from The Mysterians) and Gororin (a sentient ball-shaped cactus). One kaiju that did not appear in a Godzilla movie, a miniature version of Dogora, also appears for a few episodes, working with Zaguresu. For unknown reasons, Kumonga, Ebirah, Varan, Manda, the Showa Mechagodzilla, Titanosaurus, Gabara (Though a location is named after him), Minilla, Biollante, Oodako, Ookondoru, and Shockiras were not included, (Though Ebirah, Manda and Varan are mentioned in the theme) while King Kong was excluded for legal reasons. None of the Showa- or Heisei-era kaiju from Toho's other non-Godzilla movies appear in this series either. And because it predates the Millennium Era, MonsterVerse, Godzilla (1998 film) and Reiwa era, no monsters from those appear.
An unusually large number of tie-in toys were produced for this series by Bandai, because this series was, in fact, created through the use of action figures.
A CD of theme music, mostly composed by Akira Ifukube, was released in 1997 by Polygram entitled 'Welcome To Godzilla Island'.
In 2007, a 4-disc DVD set including every episode of the show was released in Japan at a price of 16000 yen (approx. $160).
In 2023, The official Godzilla YouTube channel finally released Godzilla Island worldwide with English subtitles.
Cast
G-Guard Commander: Jiro Dan
Lucas: Kenichiro Shimamura
Torema: Maimi Okuwa
Zaguresu, Xilien: Naoko Aizawa
Narrator: Yutaka Aoyama
Episodes
References
- 東宝特撮全怪獣図鑑. Shogakukan. 2014. pp. 180–181. ISBN 978-4-09-682090-2.
- 宇宙船YEAR BOOK 1999. Spaceship Separate volume. Asahi Sonorama. 1999. pp. 36–37.
External links