Japanese Garden

A Monstrous Tail of Tristar’s Godzilla | Video Essay



I didn’t make a joke about Diablo Sauce giving me Godzilla’s fire breath. Their sauce is never hot enough.

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Guest voices (Thank you all!)
Dead Domain: www.youtube.com/@deaddomain
Jay Foley: https://twitter.com/foleyexpresscs

Thanks to Scarlett Spitfire for the interview!
https://www.instagram.com/scarlett_spitfire/

#godzilla #kaiju #godzilla1998 #monsterverse

Read GODZILLA UNMADE at Sci-Fi Japan!
https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bont-s-unproduced-tristar-film-complete

Elliot & Rossio’s script for Godzilla (Final Draft; December 1994)
http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/GODZILLA.cover.html

Links to the storyboards from Godzilla ’94: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Is0QLII6H0-2ckL-_rbdGzfUoLjrf7HhNEWEzNAf6b0/edit?usp=sharing

Read Todd Tenant’s fan made graphic novel:

The Gryphon (Godzilla Found Footage) by Lost Utopia Films:

Video Essays cited (in order of appearance):
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLH9TFPEJJc&ab_channel=TheNerdWithASuit
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LlMdPmtVMI&ab_channel=FoldingIdeas
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oHa2XT89x8&ab_channel=BigJoel
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RHwaStIeHE&ab_channel=SarcasticChorus

Click here to see a complete list of media used: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q4bZ8QvjIj8yFkXhPGe5t8YAkUzrJ09-O_aUXisQL0g/edit?usp=sharing

Sources (in order of appearance):
[1] https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godzilla-1998
[2] https://www.looper.com/1362648/godzilla-1998-bombed-box-office/
[3] https://apnews.com/article/godzilla-x-kong-first-omen-monkey-man-box-office-4ebc622a403a3eb21377927ffe77d8b7
[4] https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a27696098/godzilla-king-monsters-box-office-flop
[5a] https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-1
[5b] https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-2-of-4
[5c] https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-3-of-4
[5d] https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-4-of-4
[6] https://medium.com/@_Ashhhh/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-and-the-limits-of-imagination-cd415aa79df2
[7] https://rafu.com/2023/12/godzilla-actor-kenpachiro-satsuma-dies-at-76/
[8] https://filmstories.co.uk/features/when-1998s-godzilla-took-aim-at-gene-siskel-and-roger-ebert/
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daigo_Fukury%C5%AB_Maru#cite_note-Oishi_29-16
[10] https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/timeline/timeline1990.html
[11] https://www.csis.org/analysis/russia-suspends-new-start-and-increases-nuclear-risks
[12] https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/98-570.html#:~:text=On%20May%2011%20and%2013,additional%20test%20on%20May%2030.
[13] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/09/france-has-underestimated-impact-of-nuclear-tests-in-french-polynesia-research-finds
[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangataufa
[15] https://www.tohokingdom.com/cutting_room/godzilla_2_tristar.html
[16] https://watching-asia.blogspot.com/2023/02/godzilla-vs-spacegodzilla-1994.html
[17] https://www.businessinsider.in/these-4-charts-show-how-badly-the-lone-ranger-bombed-at-theaters/articleshow/21044463.cms
[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
[19] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIIJAONpcAI&t=1264s&ab_channel=CultureVultureRises
[20] https://www.rd.com/article/mary-poppins-p-l-travers/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20she%20was%20so,let’s%20not%20go%20into%20that.%E2%80%9D
[21] https://www.awn.com/genedeitch/chapter-twentyeight-a-tangled-web
[22] https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Stephen-King-Just-Went-Off-About-How-Much-He-Hates-Shining-Again-68032.html

00:00 Intro
12:35 How We Got Thicc-Chinned Godzilla
32:45 Its Own Sexy Thing
1:09:42 Of Course It’s The French!
1:34:11 Almost Written By Shrek
2:50:18 Why I Spent My Precious Time With This

45 Comments

  1. 15:40 The guy who built his Hollywood reputation on depicting increasingly large acts of disaster and destruction doesn't understand why kids like watching two monsters fight.

  2. It brings me into a tizzy that my just now finding out We were robbed from getting that OTHER… FAR BETTER version of an "American" Godzilla and leads me to say, most emphatically…CAPITALISM SUCKS AND MUST DIE… RIGHT NOW!

  3. Me the first hour: perhaps I DID judge that movie too harshly

    The rest of the video: okay this movie did suck

  4. I don't care for the original Godzilla, didn't see any of these other movies, but the Roland Emmerich one is a movie of my childhood I saw countless times on tape…

  5. This movie existing would later give the world Zilla getting smashed into the Sydney Opera House and exploding while Sum 41 blares in the background; this movie is worth existing and I will always love it for that alone.

    Edit: Also, I enjoyed the toys. Specifically, the little eggs that you could 'hatch' and had a baby Zilla? I also enjoyed tacos. I was like, ten at the time, forgive my lack of media literacy as a child, but this film existed in its own little niche in my head as a kid, and I could still enjoy those UPN Goji marathons every summer as much as ever. (And I did! When I was even younger, I had to use a generic bat toy as a proxy for Rodan to fight my OG zero-articulation Godzilla figure.)

  6. I recently rewatched it, and interestingly enough, i hated it even more than when i was younger haha, so i guess not everyone softens to it. and this is not just "it's not japanese godzilla so bad" but the way the characters are written and developed and the bumbling military that i just can't handle.

  7. In Toho's 2001 Godzilla, Mothra, and king Ghidora; all out monsters attack. Godzilla attacks for the first time In that movies universe, And Mothra and king Ghidora and barigon the ancient protectors of japan, must rise up and defeat him.

    In this movie, they acknowledged there was an attack against New York City just 3 years prior, But that monster wasn't the same monster currently attacking Japan. Making Roland Emeric's godzilla movie canon to this particular Godzilla universe.

  8. As I've said before, I've never voluntarily watched a Godzilla movie all the way through, but I enjoyed every second of this. Glad I instinctively knew to keep away from this train wreck of a flick

  9. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

    Godzilla 98 isn’t my favorite Godzilla movie. I don’t hate the movie, but it’s far from one of my go-to’s. But this… this is a phenomenal analysis of the movie.

    I also loved that you talked about the original concept for an entire section. That is my favorite scrapped Godzilla concept and I love seeing more people talk about it. A Part of me wants the Gryphon to be used in Legendary's Monsterverse to serve as a sort of full circle thing. Hell, I actually went with it as the antagonist for a GxK sequel concept of mine.

    Edit: THIS IS YOUR SECOND VIDEO ESSAY!? Goddamn. That's impressive

  10. The problem is it rolling imrec movie he loves to pretend his this deep thoughtful artist but he doesn't really thinks his movies throw that much

  11. My mom was always down for any ast food place that could feed us all extra cheap, so I remember going to Taco Bell all the time while they were doing this promotion.

  12. Something else about the unmade Tristar Godzilla that might have been an issue: It's plot is REALLY similar to the 1995 film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Complete with Godzilla's origin being changed to him being an ancient civilization's bio-weapon as Gamera's was to being an Atlantian bio-weapon.

  13. 3:07:52 okay the redacted credits here are so good. you freeze it on the uncensored frame and you get a fun little in-universe ministory. kudos to whomever wrote all of them.

  14. I love all Godzilla's including this one. I have so much from this movie in my collection including several movie props. I own the left hand of the 35 foot animatronic Godzilla, the fiberglass interior of one of the rubber suit heads of the adult Godzilla, one of the eggs from the miniature set of Madison Square Garden, and one of the reference sculpts of a claw cast from an original maquette. Plus a ton of the toys, merchandise, promotional materials, and some toy prototypes.

  15. As an avid fan of Godzilla in my childhood, I remember enjoying this movie, but I think I watched it again as a tween and I didn't much care for it, which was odd but makes sense now. For all its faults, it was still an enjoyable movie that I can remember.

  16. This has to be the definitive video essay on this movie. It's got all the lore and history plus a healthy amount of opinion without being too biased. And to top it all off great background music!

  17. so what was the point of the video i’ll admit i have nostalgia for this movie bc i was like 5 when i watched it but it’s objectively not a good godzilla movie it works better as a different kaiju imo

  18. For all of the problems this movie has, at least it understands that nuclear weapons are bad, making it more of a Godzilla movie than 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters (AKA the worst American Godzilla movie), in which an American-made hydrogen bomb SAVES THE GODDAMNED DAY and kills the series' only Japanese character. Good grief…

  19. The biggest problem was the fact Godzilla was butchered and nerfed to hell. Godzilla is supposed to have atomic breath, durability to all conventional weapons, regeneration factor, and various iconic abilities. They completely ignored the rule Toho made too. Godzilla was NOT ALLOWED TO DIE. How they got away with that is beyond me. And don’t say it’s because of the surviving baby at the end, because that’s not what the contract says they’re allowed to do.

  20. I wish Sony would get rights for a straight to home video of that 94 film. It's something that with collectors and nostalgia at an all time high would benefit both Sony and ToHo. Or better yet, limited release on theaters like minus color film. That would be so amazing

  21. You watched Tomorrowland? Tell me, is it really Objectivist propaganda? I'm too lazy to watch it for myself.

  22. At 2:56:11 I accidentally said "Roland and Emmerich" instead of "Emmerich and Devlin" but after waking up for seven days straight thinking I was either going to get a copyright strike from Sony or realize I wasted eleven months of work becuase I couldn't get my video unblocked due to a claim, I don't feel too bad about it. I'm still learning. Last essay was about She-Ra, so, imperfection is beautiful.

    In all seriousness, sorry!

  23. To think we could’ve gotten a solid American Godzilla adaptation over 2 decades ago is such a shame, thank goodness nowadays we got the awesome monsterverse

  24. I really liked your video and wanted to thank you for acknowledging (and linking to) my Godzilla 1994 article on SciFi Japan as one of your primary sources. The article took years to research so it’s great to hear how much you enjoyed and found it a valuable resource on the history of Sony’s Godzilla.

    I also wanted to thank you and Scarlett for the kind words about GODZILLA: THE SERIES. As a lifelong Godzilla fan it was great fun for me to work on that show. And because of G:TS, I was introduced to the team at Toho international which later led to me work on Godzilla DVDs and Blu-rays and being an organizer on the Godzilla 50th anniversary film festival where I was able to visit Stan Winston Studio and see the Godzilla and Gryphon maquettes… which inspired me to write the G’94 article.

    Your video also motivated me to update the downed links to the film’s storyboards. You can now access them in Part 2 of the article or use the direct links below.

    Thanks!
    Keith Aiken

    Arctic Ocean:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards1-arctic-ocean

    Llewellyn Home:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-2-llewellyn-home

    Kuril Island:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-3-kuril-island

    Traveller, UT:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-4-traveller-ut-rough

    Bat Attack:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-5-bat-attack

    Cougar Kill:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-6-cougar-kill

    Arctic Outpost:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-7-arctic-outpost

    Larry, Moe & Curly:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-8-larry-moe-curly

    Armada Fight:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-9-armada-fight

    Submarine:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-10-submarine

    Fluid/ Bridge:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-11-fluid-bridge

    Church Attack:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-12-church-attack

    Bat Cave:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-13-bat-cave

    Transport:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-14-transport

    Holding Tank:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-15-holding-tank

    Hangar:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-16-hangar

    The Gryphon Rises:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-17-the-gryphon-rises

    Godzilla’s Escape:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-18-godzilla-s-escape

    Final Battle Part I:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-19-final-battle-part-i

    Final Battle Part II:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-20-final-battle-part-ii

    Final Battle Part III:
    https://www.scifijapan.com/news/godzilla-1994-storyboards-21-final-battle-part-iii

  25. You brought up the graphic novel based on the 1994 script and I'm reminded that at some point, the websites that hosted the full webcomic have since been taken down, and archives of it only saved a handful of pages. So there's the need to recover the whole thing in high quality before it becomes lost media. The best way to do it might be by contacting the artists behind it. Hopefully something can be done about this soon. Anyway, this was an amazing video. It was such a fascinating topic, even as a recent and casual Godzilla fan. Keep it up.

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