Monster Discussion #43: King Ghidorah (Heisei)

[JVM]

The King of Terror's Heisei incarnation. I've always loved his design and his origin I love and hate at once. I kind of wish the film had a little more of him in action though.

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

My 3rd favourite KG, with my second favourite design. His design is basically a slightly, sharper, fiercer version of Tsuburaya's, and this I marginally prefer it. The origin is certainly creative. Dorats aside (and I actually don't see the big beef against them) its actually pretty awesome. Showa KG gets points for the cackle and being a threat of greater magnitude though.

[Darkness]

I like the design and I don't mind the new origin. As I said in the Dorats discusson, it tied the origins of Godzilla and his arch nemesis, and it was an interesting new take. But the suit still suffers from a few things. I personally don't like the floppy horns or the Heisei's trademark slow flapping wings. But I do like this take on the character overall.

[Tohosaurus]

I think he looks fantastic. His origin could've been handled better, but eh well.

Overall just a BA looking monster and my fave looking KG that starred in a Godzilla movie.

[edgaguirus]

This Ghidorah looked good, and the fight with Godzilla was better than average. The removal of the manes and head design reminded me more of the European dragon, though.

[Showa Gyaos]

I think it's the best design for King Ghidorah. They even got rid of the ugly mane.

[HayesAJones]

I love the design. Too bad they didn't give him proper, non-pube-like manes. And I really don't mind the cackle. I think it fits Ghidorah pretty well.

[Goji]

Not bad design by any means, but his execution was pretty poor (mostly when flying...that flying prop does not look good in motion), and the heads on the suit looked entirely took big for how lanky and skinny the necks were. The manes were missed, but they wouldn't have looked good on this particular Ghidorah design, IMOHO (especially not with the straightened horn designs).

Overall, a pretty good design, but with less than stellar execution. Biggest downsides were the lame roar and complete lack of any of the sound effects from the original King Ghidorah. So this particular Ghidorah gets a big fat zero for sound design. The origin was also pretty weak, and not executed well at all.

[Dr. Nishiyama]

I love Godzilla VS King Ghidorah, but I found Ghidorah to be the worst thing about it with its new origin (how can a 50s nuclear blast mutate and merge three tiny creatures into a 150 meter plus kaiju when all it did to the original Godzilla was boost his height up to 50 meters)

Also, Kawakita's execution of the monster is GOD AWFUL. Replacing its iconic roar with a modified Rodan's because he felt it wasn't "scary enough", how stiff the models and suit are, how slow Ghidorah flies in some scenes, the sparky explosions its gravity beams creates, the big heads on malnourished necks that are poorly manipulated by wires, the poorly executed first battle....

I was so disappointed this King Ghidorah didn't act or behave like the original or even the AWESOME rendition of him on the poster art for the film.

[TokyoVigilante]

I'm growing fonder and fonder of the origin, just because of how absurd it is. It still doesn't come close to the original Planet Destroyer; I mean comeon, how badass do you have to be to burn a genetically inherited fear into a species so deep, it can still resurface after that race has gone extinct?

Not only is the missing roar a big problem, but just the really weak sound design for this monster in general. The original Ghidorah had warbling UFO sounds as he flew, his gravity beams made distinct sounds, and he had three variations on the cackle.

Now we have some standard beam noises, he swoops around, and he has a weird Rodan-ish roar that doesn't really have a lot of variations. Major, major letdown and pretty much unacceptable considering the time this version comes from.

Design-wise, it's generic. Doesn't really break any new ground, but is in no way extreme or blasphemous. It's fine. Has a great sub-dubed shade of gold, nice and huge like Ghidorah should be and spams beams. And he gives Godzilla a hell of a fight. Just as he needs to be.

I don't see enough design variations in either Showa/Heisei to really see any point in preferring one over the other. It pretty much comes down to whether or not you're a Heisei or Showa fan; the only major difference would be the superior sound design of the Showa one over the Heisei one.

[DrKaiju1954]

My least favorite King Ghidorah,he just looks lame and his roar sucks

[JVM]

I miss the cackle but that a minor complaint, just kinda wish Toho just update the roar or make a new one instead of just slapping Rodan's on there and altering it a little.

And then use Rodan's roar for Battra in the next movie and then in the NEXT movie, Rodan actually shows up.

I don't remember Ghidorah using Rodan's exact roar, though I do remember him lacking his cackle. Would explain why the MKG Trendmasters toy has Rodan's roar though.

[JVM]

I don't remember Ghidorah using Rodan's exact roar, though I do remember him lacking his cackle. Would explain why the MKG Trendmasters toy has Rodan's roar though.

GvsKG91 had KG doing variations of Rodan's roar. It was pretty annoying

Ah, it's variations, explains why I didn't recognize it. Then again, GvKG91 was one of my first Toho movies so I might have just been too new to notice.

[Silv]

I generally hate all the Heisei origins of all the old monsters, aside from Godzilla himself. King Ghidorah himself was flawed for a great many reasons. First off, he is the most iconic arch enemy of Godzilla. And yes, while they were rewriting all the monsters, you first had him in the Showa series as a destroyer of worlds. And then you had Godzilla, who was the defender of Earth. While Ghidorah had destroyed many worlds on his path, he just can't get passed Godzilla, and thus he constantly returns. Four times in the Showa series he appeared to try to destroy earth, each time being thwarted by Godzilla. The Godzilla vs Ghidorah/Planet Destroyer vs Earth Defender feud to me, is very similar and just as epic as the concept behind Superman vs. Brainiac.

His Heisei origin, first off was very weak. As was the entire plot and concept behind the movie in general. First off, you had the plot holes and continuity errors. When the dudes from the future warned about Godzilla destroying Japan, the Japanese people were so confused... "would Godzilla really do that?" And thus even more confused when the new Godzilla didn't seem "friendly." I mean, this was a sequel to GvBiollante correct? We have Miki returning from her role in that movie, where she clearly even makes a reference to events in that movie... where Godzilla was NOT a friendly creature. So why are they all of a sudden speaking of Godzilla as if he's once again Japan's #1 Benevolent Mascot?

But anyways, that's a tad off topic. Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Because of the new Ghidorah origin, and the new Godzilla origin for this film, their fight didn't seem to hold any real importance. They were basically two unstoppable destructive forces who just happened to get in each other's way and fight each other. And because of this fact, the viewer really doesn't know who to root for when Godzilla and King Ghidorah actually face off.

It was a nice try I guess...

However, I still think they could have done a much better job with King Ghidorah in the Heisei series, even with that silly origin. First off, he should have appeared in more than just one movie. And Mecha King Ghidorah... eh... perhaps never should have happened, however, it was an interesting idea, I'll give it that. But he DEFINITELY should have returned at some point in the Heisei series. And I feel, that the best film for this to have taken place would have been in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla.

Imagine this concept if you will... Mecha King Ghidorah, laying at the bottom of the ocean, left for dead, missing one head that was salvaged to make Mecha Godzilla.... slowly over the years, regenerates, as he was not actually dead, just in a state of hybernation on the ocean floor. He finally is whole again, and seeks his revenge on Godzilla. However, he knows from beforehand that he cannot defeat Godzilla alone. Meanwhile, Space Godzilla's origin remains the same, as he is created in space, but has no real direction. King Ghidorah flies out to space as SG's contact from Earth, who in turn, guides SG back to Earth to defeat Godzilla and get his revenge. And then Godzilla and Mogera face both Space Godzilla AND King Ghidorah, or him in his Mecha form, if that's how he remains. It definitely would have given King Ghidorah more purpose in the Heisei series, and while he does not have the same origin as a space monster, still could have taken it back by traveling into space for reach Space Godzilla.

That to me possibly could have made Heisei King Ghidorah the BEST King Ghidorah yet written. His origin is fresh, but shadows of his bitter rivalry with Godzilla and his origins as a space monster would have still been seen.

[gpulse90]

The only complaint I have is the orgin. It was just another created monster. I wanted to see ancient planet destroyer. But I guess it was the Hesei series, it was inevitable. Aside from that it is actually what I consider the best design King Ghidorah could have. Also I think it should of had a more tough complexion. Hiding behind its wings and running from a fight is more or less cowardly.

[Silv]

Yeah, his design, I really don't have much to say about. Him and Mothra are pretty much the closest to their Showa origins. Only thing notably different are the ears.

[Showa Gyaos]

People complain about Rodan's roars being recycled and altered for other monsters, but before even doing research, I only recognized Battra's cry as being one. It didn't matter to me then, and it still doesn't.

[Zilla103192]

[quote="Showa Gyaos"]People complain about ...quote]

its TK, get used to it

[edgaguirus]

People wanted Ghidorah to sound like the old Ghidorah. It's called nostalgia.

[Kubo]

And the best part about this is that Toho would modify KG's cry AGAIN in GMK.