The Heisei Timeline Explained

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SuperSaiyan4Godzilla
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The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by SuperSaiyan4Godzilla »

I think I posted this once before, but because of the incident, it was deleted. Therefore, I'm creating a locked sticky with a link to a Scifi Japan article that sufficiently explains the muddled timeline in the Heisei universe.

So, read it.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by three »

a "locked" sticky...? it does not appear locked. and this article makes it really easy to understand the timeline. :D
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by SuperSaiyan4Godzilla »

Should've been. Thanks for making me aware.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by F4ZaTE_X »

FINALLY.
Last edited by F4ZaTE_X on Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:45 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Sparkzilla14 »

F4ZaTE_X wrote:THANK YOU THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING
Agreed! Finally G vs KG makes a little more sense to me. I still hate the time travel story. But nice to know that the Godzilla in that film is the same as the 84-89
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by American Godzilla »

SuperSaiyan4Godzilla wrote:I think I posted this once before, but because of the incident, it was deleted. Therefore, I'm creating a locked sticky with a link to a Scifi Japan article that sufficiently explains the muddled timeline in the Heisei universe.

So, read it.
Thanks for the info, I was just wondering that myself.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Kaiju no Kami »

I'm surprised this was not thought of a long time ago. I've known about this for years.

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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by eabaker »

It's not an explanation of the movies, it's an explanation of an interpretation of the movies, and it's a solid but imperfect one. I've never understood why this particular take is so utterly lionized among a certain subset of the fandom.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by three »

eabaker wrote:It's not an explanation of the movies, it's an explanation of an interpretation of the movies, and it's a solid but imperfect one. I've never understood why this particular take is so utterly lionized among a certain subset of the fandom.
it makes a sort of cult favorite (can there be a cult favorite in a fandom that is already so nitch?) of the fandom much easier to defend when you can cite a very thoughtful and detailed explanation for one of the more talked about "flaws" of the movie.

i am a huge fan of the 1991 film and i prefer to explain what i believe is going on with the time travel with my own theory, but others may like the convenience this provides.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by kindred.dread »

eabaker wrote:It's not an explanation of the movies, it's an explanation of an interpretation of the movies, and it's a solid but imperfect one. I've never understood why this particular take is so utterly lionized among a certain subset of the fandom.
Okay, what's imperfect about it? I'm not saying it's absolutely flawless, I'm just saying I don't have a clue what these flaws might be. I find it solid, as you said, so I don't see why it shouldn't be a widely accepted explanation since it's rather straightforward and makes sense.

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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by GigaGoji »

Sweet. I needed this.

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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by omgitsgodzilla »

Honestly, it's been a bit since I read this, but from what I remember it makes pretty good sense, which is more than you can say for the events of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah taken at face value.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by BlankAccount »

It's not that G vs KG 91 doesn't explain that the creature from 1954 is different from the on in 1984, it's that it's done in such a sloppy way people are confused. This isn't the audiences fault (how often can you say that?), it's the writers in this case.

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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Chrispy_G »

I like this explanation...and it is essentially what I've always thought.

Original Godzilla is the original Godzilla, a one-off that was killed
Lagos Godzillasaur was ALWAYS moved, mutated in the 70s, and attacked in 84, it was always the Heisei Godzilla

It is just a matter of none of the characters IN UNIVERSE ever realizing what goes on. Nobody ever stops and says 'Hey, if Godzilla was erased from history, why do people still remember him, why aren't things different?'

So on one hand it is a juggling of 'characters are a little stupid' mixed in with 'How the heck should anyone expect to know the "rules" of time travel in this world anyway'....balanced out with some 'things were happening so fast nobody really had time to think any of this stuff out, but probably did after the events of the film'

It certainly makes the film much more enjoyable to have a perfectly legitimate 'solution' to the equation. Just the other day I was wondering "Does all of that time travel crap warrant leaving GvsKG out of a Heisei marathon, and by extension GvsMGII, does Baby Godzilla's appearance in GvsSG WARRANT a previous introduction to the baby?"
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Ivo-goji »

I'm amazed anyone would need an explanation to understand GvsKG. The film itself is perfectly clear about what happened.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Chrispy_G »

To be fair, the film never directly addresses it, no conversation is ever had on the following:
- If we erase Godzilla from history, we'll change our world permanently, he'll never have existed and none of his attacks would have happened
- Why do people still remember Godzilla if we have erased him from existence?

They never REALLY talk about what the consequences/results SHOULD be once they go back and 'erase' Godzilla, and nobody questions WHY they don't return to a fairly significantly altered world upon their return, and why people are even ABLE to have conversations with them like "As soon as Godzilla disappeared King Ghidorah showed up"...

It is all there to be inferred, but the film itself never addresses it...and it is done in a way that feels a lot more like 'the filmmakers didn't think to approach this logically'
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by eabaker »

^That's because the filmmakers didn't think to approach it logically (nor do I necessarily think they should have, since their greater obligation was to story and theme, and most of this stuff is fridge logic anyway). Any explanation is ultimately fanon, because the text does not provide definitive answers.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Ivo-goji »

^What? The movie states straight out that a nuclear sub sank in the 70s and created Godzilla. Concluding that the timeline stayed the same isn't fanon (especially since the rest of the Heisei series leaves no doubt that history wasn't changed).
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by eabaker »

The rest of the series is irrelevant. Subsequent work does not alter the intent of earlier work. The movie strongly implies that, in what may or may not be its second version of events, a nuclear sub sank in the 70s and created Godzilla. It never, ever definitively states that history was not changed. Declaring anything an answer to a question that the original text does not answer is fanon.

Meanwhile, the movie's thematic intent, which is that Godzilla is an inevitable aspect of the 20th century, is better served if history was altered, but Godzilla proved indelible. Prioritizing that which serves story over that which serves plot, the more satisfying answer is that history was altered.
Last edited by eabaker on Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Heisei Timeline Explained

Post by Mr. Xeno »

I could have sworn that they mentioned that reality should have completely changed for them, hence why they started to believe something went wrong. When they discovered that the sub went down in the 70s, they realized that they only created the Godzilla they initially tried to erase, hence why nothing had changed. I understand that the English dub, and the writing in general, don't convey that very well in the final film, but it is there.
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