Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

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Chrispy_G
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Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Chrispy_G »

Let's suppose you have the power of hindsight and omnipotence to make the Millennium Godzilla series play out how you want it to. Or...you can look at it as what would you go back and alter, or what your 'fan edit' of the series would be, or how you would have prefer history play out differently in comparison to how it DID play out.

Okay. I'm actually going to go on the assumption that G98 plays out exactly the same way and results in the disaster that we got.

Only afterward, the response and Toho and Columbia(or whoever made it) have is a little bit different. Toho wants to bring back 'their' Godzilla, and Columbia having no intention of following up with another G98, still wants to do something with the property, make money off of the brand, and maybe even 'redeem' their film a bit.

So they partner up on what is essentially a co-production, or rather a co-finance/distribution deal, amounting to Toho getting a larger budget than they've ever used for a Godzilla film and Columbia/Tristar getting the international distribution outside of Japan.

So we get a more expensive and flashier Godzilla 2000....but done AS A SEQUEL to Godzilla 98, capitalizing on the very high-profile and well-known nature of that film. The finished film simple has an opening montage showing the hatched Godzilla Junior escaping out to see, and being further radiated by new nuclear tests or nuclear waste of some kind. The opening details his exposure and growth into the 'Godzilla 2000' design in a newsreel-style montage.

Outside of that, the film is essentially the same. Only Columbia/Tristar are in-on the post-production process....so the only version of the movie we get has the faster/tighter edit of G2K, as well as the enhanced sound design and additional pieces of music....as well as CGI that is a few notches higher. Overall production value is enhanced due to the higher budget. The only difference of the two cuts is the English Dubbing and the credits/titles.

The film gets quite a more positive reception than the current G2K...and so Schlesinger's pitch for "Godzilla Reborn", a US-produced sequel using the same aesthetics, Toho for the monster production and effects, and a US cast is given the quick green-light, is released in 2002 and finds even greater success.

Columbia/Trister and Toho then repeat that same methodology for a Godzilla film in 2004 to conclude the "quadrilogy" inadvertently launched by G98. Is is general perceived that the "Co-produced Trilogy" sequel to G98 was generally successful at salvaging a botched job and restoring, even improving, Godzilla's image on the national stage.

So yeah, terrible G98 gets followed up with a sequel-trilogy of traditional Godzilla films shared by Toho and Columbia/Tristar.
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Gigantis
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Gigantis »

I already went over my ideas for GMK and Final Wars (you can find that on a thread here and the General films thread respectively). But honestly for the Kiryu Saga films..i'd want Kiryu to look more like the 54 Godzilla. Like this concept art.

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Dunno why but i love this! Really wish they kept it.

Speaking of redesigns, Orga should look a bit more grotesque. Not saying he isn't already but they should've went straight ahead with it and give him another set of arms, eyes all around the body etc. make him look like a Resident Evil character. Really get the vibe in their.
Last edited by Gigantis on Fri Apr 10, 2020 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Terasawa
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Terasawa »

Assuming the idea is to generate unique takes from different filmmakers without having to adhere to a single chronology:

1. Don't give Wataru Mimura the opportunity to write or contribute to four of the six movies.
2. Don't give Hiroshi Kashiwabara the opportunity to co-write the first two.
3. Do not give Masaaki Tezuka a second opportunity so quickly. (I never understood this. His first movie bombed so hard Toho almost cancelled the series prematurely after two movies!)

In short, open it up so more voices can be heard. There's hardly any point to committing to the "alternate takes" concept if you keep bringing back the same scenarists, directors, and key behind the scenes talent.
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by SonOfGorgo »

One thing for sure, I'd at least set them all within a concise continuity:

Godzilla 2000 (Opening with alt-history recap from GXM) - Dec '99
Godzilla 2001: Godzilla vs. Kamacuras - Dec 2000
Godzilla 2002: Godzilla, Anguirus & Mothra vs. King Ghidorah - Dec 2001
Godzilla 2003: Godzilla vs. the Mechanical Monsters - Dec 2002
Godzilla 2004: Godzilla vs. GhostGodzilla - Dec 2003
Godzilla 2005: Final Wars - Dec 2004
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Final Wars and five sequels.
Jk get a new voice in lieu of Tezuka. I wish we got 6 separate films with 6 unrelated timelines for the millennium.
Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:44 am I love Final Wars. I praise Final Wars. Simple as.

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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Tohosaurus »

Terasawa wrote:Assuming the idea is to generate unique takes from different filmmakers without having to adhere to a single chronology:

1. Don't give Wataru Mimura the opportunity to write or contribute to four of the six movies.
2. Don't give Hiroshi Kashiwabara the opportunity to co-write the first two.
3. Do not give Masaaki Tezuka a second opportunity so quickly. (I never understood this. His first movie bombed so hard Toho almost cancelled the series prematurely after two movies!)

In short, open it up so more voices can be heard. There's hardly any point to committing to the "alternate takes" concept if you keep bringing back the same scenarists, directors, and key behind the scenes talent.
100% this. Shin Godzilla actually would've been perfect for the strategy of the Millennium series, something that works best as its own individual movie/world. Godzilla 2000, Megaguirus, or GFW really didn't need or benefit from being in their own continuities. Having someone like Takashi Miike direct a Godzilla movie would likely result it something unique, and Kaneko's movie is arguably one of the more distinctive installments in the series and is the better for it. Even the animated trilogy had some cool concepts and ideas (largely wasted, I think many would say), including the very idea of a Godzilla anime.
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Voyager »

G2K: Make it a sequel to 98.
GxM: I don’t know.
GMK: GVAB instead.
GxMG: Delve into the greater possibilities of having the spirit of Godzilla inside Kiryu.
GMMG: No, I would have it be completely scrapped. Godzilla vs Kamacuras.
GFW: Make it less of a Matrix and X-Men ripoff and more Showa Godzilla style. Less eye-hurting with the filters.
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by szmigiel »

The Millennium Era would be completely different from what got released. From the very start there should be be two teams working on Godzilla films. Team 1 would start with selecting a script, and director, then pre production of casting, and suit design and building. Then when Team 1 moves on to shooting, Team 2 would start preproduction on the next project. You would still have a new Godzilla film every December, but the production would have a year and half to 2 years production time. The directors should be picked from a list of new and up and coming, and some veterans. I would still give Masaaki Tezuka a chance to direct, but also Takashi Miike, Takashi Yamazaki, Mamoru Oshii, Keita Amemiya. I would have Ryuhei Kitamura direct a film, but not for the 2004 50th release. That I would leave to Shusuke Kaneko and the GVBA concept. Also would have tried to work with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli to make an animated Godzilla film.

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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Jermobooka »

I would make 5 films from 1999 to 2004. It would all start with G2K Millenium and be set in one continuity the entire way through

The first one would just be G2K. No additional changes.

The second film, Godzilla 2001: Reborn, would be a direct sequel to G2K and be a Japanese/American co-produced feature with TOHO working on the special effects and Tri-Star doing the story and characters. The main villain would be the lava bat created from the cells left over by Orga, Miba, with the final battle being set in Honolulu

Godzilla 2002: Mechagodzilla would be the third film of the Millenium continuity. The film would center around the international kaiju-defense force, G-Force, creating an anti-kaiju weapon, code named Kiryu, with the bones of the first Godzilla. Orga’s cells would be combined with the bones, creating a strong bio-computer. Eventually, the Godzilla bones combined with the Orga DNA manage to break free of control and complete its directive of “destroying Godzilla” at all costs. The final battle would be set in Paris

Godzilla 2003: Bio Wars would be the fourth film of the Millenium continuity. The film would be about be about two alien life forms, Hedorah and Biollante, vying for Earth due to its the large amounts of pollution and radiation given off by Godzilla. The final battle would be set in Hong Kong

Godzilla 2004: Final War would be the fifth and final film of the Millenium continuity. The film would be about many other irradiated monsters awakening after the three way battle of Godzilla, Hedorah, and Biollante, wreaking havoc across the world. The awakening of the monsters catches the eye of the Xiliens, a race of aliens that has watched Earth ever since the first Godzilla appeared in 1954. They would release the destroyer of worlds, Ghidorah, to cleanse the earth of all other life forms before harvesting from the kaiju. Eventually, Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, the last remaining kaiju, would work together through necessity to beat the Golden demise. The final battle would be set in New York City.
Last edited by Jermobooka on Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:14 am, edited 3 times in total.
:Mechagodzilla74: :Mechagodzilla74: :Mechagodzilla74: :Gigan: :Gigan: :Gigan: :Hedorah: :Hedorah: :Hedorah:

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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by SonOfGorgo »

Jermobooka wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:11 am I would make 5 films from 1999 to 2004. It would all start with G2K Millenium and be set in one continuity the entire way through

The first one would just be G2K. No additional changes.

The second film, Godzilla 2001: Reborn, would be a direct sequel to G2K and be a Japanese/American co-produced feature with TOHO working on the special effects and Tri-Star doing the story and characters. The main villain would be the lava bat created from the cells left over by Orga, Miba, with the final battle being set in Honolulu

Godzilla 2002: Mechagodzilla would be the third film of the Millenium continuity. The film would center around the international kaiju-defense force, G-Force, creating an anti-kaiju weapon, code named Kiryu, with the bones of the first Godzilla. Orga’s cells would be combined with the bones, creating a strong bio-computer. Eventually, the Godzilla bones combined with the Orga DNA manage to break free of control and complete its directive of “destroying Godzilla” at all costs. The final battle would be set in Paris

Godzilla 2003: Bio Wars would be the fourth film of the Millenium continuity. The film would be about be about two alien life forms, Hedorah and Biollante, vying for Earth due to its the large amounts of pollution and radiation given off by Godzilla. The final battle would be set in Hong Kong

Godzilla 2004: Final War would be the fifth and final film of the Millenium continuity. The film would be about many other irradiated monsters awakening after the three way battle of Godzilla, Hedorah, and Biollante, wreaking havoc across the world. The awakening of the monsters catches the eye of the Xiliens, a race of aliens that has watched Earth ever since the first Godzilla appeared in 1954. They would release the destroyer of worlds, Ghidorah, to cleanse the earth of all other life forms before harvesting from the kaiju. Eventually, Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, the last remaining kaiju, would work together through necessity to beat the Golden demise. The final battle would be set in New York City.
That's actually a really good setup
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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by tbeasley »

Always wondered what it'd be like if Shinji Higuchi and Kazunori Ito tagged along for GMK. The idea of a Kaneko Godzilla trilogy also sounds nice, perhaps starting with the originally intended GVBA before introducing Mothra and Ghidorah (or whoever) in the sequels.

If not that I'd just give the 50th anniversary film to Tezuka, maybe a third Kiryu film with this idea, because why the hell not.

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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by VOID GHIDORAH »

Godzilla fights Varan, Baragon and Anguirus, as per the original draft. Maybe have Godzilla’s beam consistently create mushroom clouds, until Tokyo is a sea of destruction.

Godzilla 2000 is more along the lines of The Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla himself is highly radioactive. The plot’s almost akin to Chernobyl, with similar imagery of people getting horrifically reddened skin from merely facing the God of Destruction. Maybe Godzilla’s defeated by control rods impaling his dorsal plates and spine, and buried beneath a titanic concrete facility.

Godzilla vs. Megaguirius... based on the unmade Tristar film. An alien life form faces Godzilla, an ancient Atlantian guardian monster hell-bent on saving the Earth at the cost of anything in his path. Maybe the Gryphon steals his DNA in a last-ditch attempt to defeat the King of the Monsters.

The Kiryu Saga can stay the same.

Final Wars features King Ghidorah, and we see other Kaiju like Varan, Gorosaurus and more get a chance. Leave Zilla and a few others out.

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Re: Reshape the Godzilla Millennium Era to your preference

Post by Voyager »

Completely rework the 50th anniversary film.
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