(Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

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G2000
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(Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by G2000 »

According to a recent SciFi Japan article on Shout! Factory TV's Gamera Marathon (link below), for ten days in March of 1970 Toho and Daiei put together a live suitmation show that pitted Godzilla against Gamera, with Hauro Nakajima himself as the former.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2015 ... era-facts/


The section in question:
1. Contrary to popular belief, Gamera has fought Godzilla… just not in a actual movie. Daiei teamed up with Toho Studios for a “Kaiju Show” starring the rival studio’s top mon-stars in a one-act “Godzilla vs. Gamera” event, performed at the Expo’s “Festival Plaza” venue. Comedian Kon Omura (“Cornjob” himself from GAMERA VS. GUIRON) was the MC. Godzilla’s original suit actor, the legendary Haruo Nakajima, was booked for three performances per day, but on account of the complexity of a live “suitmation” event, the show times were scaled back to once a night. So, for ten days in March 1970, Godzilla clashed with Gamera!
Don't know how reliable this is - no sources are cited. It's entirely possible that this is some sort of joke.

Would be intersting to know more about it, if it actually happened.
Last edited by G2000 on Sat Jan 02, 2016 2:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by ScootaVaran »

It sounds to crazy to be true. Although Godzilla's fame was dwindling and it was a very different Toho at the time, so who knows.
If true then it begs the ultimate question of who won? lol
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by BigBlackPeanut »

There was a Godzilla vs Gamera event and I didn't get to see it? The BBP is pretty disappointed. :(


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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by Legion1979 »

I've heard of this, but I've never seen photos of it, which makes me question it.

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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Yeah, you'd think by this point when both monsters were pretty popular that someone out there would've taken photos. Or that we would have gotten some sort of publicity shots of even the event itself.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

So Toho has issues with Gamera to the point that in the early 2000's they rejected Daei's offer to do a crossover movie yet they had no problem with this nearly 40 years ago? I'm confused. :|

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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

GodzillaFan1990's wrote:So Toho has issues with Gamera to the point that in the early 2000's they rejected Daei's offer to do a crossover movie yet they had no problem with this nearly 40 years ago? I'm confused. :|
40 years is a significant amount of time with new staff.

It's also worth noting that in the 70's they were probably more likely to be okay with it because Godzilla was clearly more popular. After the 1990 gamera trilogy though that's not as clear.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

LSD Jellyfish wrote:40 years is a significant amount of time with new staff.

It's also worth noting that in the 70's they were probably more likely to be okay with it because Godzilla was clearly more popular. After the 1990 gamera trilogy though that's not as clear.
Well shouldn't be surprise. That's Toho for you.....But I thought they hated Gamera since the beginning due to being a "rip-off".

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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by G2000 »

It's also entirely possible that this never happened, so there's that.

Now, as for pictures, Wikizilla claims to have a photo of a magazine advertisement for the event:

Image

But given it's relatively high quality and the fact that it's Wikizilla make this questionable.

Or maybe it's from a more recent magazine describing the event in question. Still, Wikizilla.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by miguelnuva »

G2000 wrote:It's also entirely possible that this never happened, so there's that.

Now, as for pictures, Wikizilla claims to have a photo of a magazine advertisement for the event:

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/god ... 1203175034

But given it's relatively high quality and the fact that it's Wikizilla make this questionable.

Or maybe it's from a more recent magazine describing the event in question. Still, Wikizilla.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Do we have any larger versions of that image with a translation?
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by GigaBowserG »

LSD Jellyfish wrote:Do we have any larger versions of that image with a translation?
Saw two different images of that "Godzilla vs. Gamera" thing on Facebook, but now I can't find them :( The quality was great, too.

EDIT, the first image wasn't one of the two I was referring to, but here's this anyway (spoiler'd for hugeness).
Spoiler:
EDIT2, ah~ Found that other image, albeit a camera shot as opposed to the scan I saw (5 images down): http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mzek81/33539892.html
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by BlankAccount »

I don't care if Gamera beats Godzilla, I just want them to do a crossover film already.

Those images looked shopped though, there's an outline around Godzilla.

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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by g2vd »

Man I really, really want to believe this but..for starters the 1968 suit at the time of Gigan was falling apart and pictures taken years after TOMG along with the other Showa suits show it rotten and shrunk, so obviously it would have to be a brand new suit because even the MegaroGoji suit would be in bad shape by now and than there's Gamera. Super Monster came out in 1980 and this was in 1979 if they had constructed a new suit than why do they use that incredibly stiff prop that was used in the film rather than the suit it would only be logical and yet they didn't, that magazine does look really but the lack of other pictures of G and G together outside of the one is weird to say the least and plus the background is from Gigan.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by miguelnuva »

g2vd wrote:Man I really, really want to believe this but..for starters the 1968 suit at the time of Gigan was falling apart and pictures taken years after TOMG along with the other Showa suits show it rotten and shrunk, so obviously it would have to be a brand new suit because even the MegaroGoji suit would be in bad shape by now and than there's Gamera. Super Monster came out in 1980 and this was in 1979 if they had constructed a new suit than why do they use that incredibly stiff prop that was used in the film rather than the suit it would only be logical and yet they didn't, that magazine does look really but the lack of other pictures of G and G together outside of the one is weird to say the least and plus the background is from Gigan.
The event took place in 1970 before Hedorah tore up the suit.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

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Than I am officially blind.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by G2000 »

GigaBowserG wrote:
LSD Jellyfish wrote:Do we have any larger versions of that image with a translation?
Saw two different images of that "Godzilla vs. Gamera" thing on Facebook, but now I can't find them :( The quality was great, too.

EDIT, the first image wasn't one of the two I was referring to, but here's this anyway (spoiler'd for hugeness).

...

EDIT2, ah~ Found that other image, albeit a camera shot as opposed to the scan I saw (5 images down): http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mzek81/33539892.html
That link dates the magazine to 1979, which is at odds with the above account.

Also, I don't know Japanese, but...it doesn't look like it's advertising any live event, more like it's just comparing the two.

It would still be nice if someone could translate those....pretty please with a cherry on top?
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by g2vd »

G2000 wrote:It would still be nice if someone could translate those....pretty please with a cherry on top?
I know! send them to Gormaru Island they have translators they can translate the images, I'm sure they'll have no problem with it since they'll be making Kaiju Fandom history.
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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by MaxRebo320 »

Uh yeah, yeah, uh, Godzilla and Gamera actually fought in 1970 for a stage show, yeah, yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsEyI0F31E

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Re: (Alleged) Godzilla vs. Gamera Live Event (1970)

Post by ILL GREEN »

g2vd wrote:
G2000 wrote:It would still be nice if someone could translate those....pretty please with a cherry on top?
I know! send them to Gormaru Island they have translators they can translate the images, I'm sure they'll have no problem with it since they'll be making Kaiju Fandom history.
Mm hmm I would like to know as well. Did Nakajima ever mentioned this? It probably wasn't a big deal for him since it was a promo.

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