Giant Octopus
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The Giant Octopus (大ダコ Oodako, lit. Large Octopus) is a giant octopus kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1962 Godzilla film, King Kong vs. Godzilla.
Name
Toho's official name for the creature is "Oodako," or "Giant Octopus," as shown in promotional material for Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.[5] as well as the Godzilla.jp website. "Daidako" is a fanmade nickname which translates to giant octopus, like Daikondoru for the giant condor.
History
Showa Series
King Kong vs. Godzilla
In King Kong vs. Godzilla, the giant octopus crawls ashore on Farou Island and attacks a village hut in an attempt to get the special soma berry juice that the natives store there. The natives, along with members of a pharmaceutical company, attempt to defeat the giant octopus with spears and shotguns, but to no avail. King Kong then appears behind a giant wooden fence, crumbling it with his bare hands and throwing the pieces at the giant octopus. Kong grabs it, but the octopus holds tightly on to Kong's head. After a short struggle, Kong pulls the monster off and throws it to the ground. He then throws two boulders at the giant octopus' head. The giant octopus flees back to the beach and presumably returned to the sea.
Frankenstein vs. Baragon
In the alternate ending for the film, after Frankenstein defeats Baragon, a giant octopus comes from the sea and fights Frankenstein. Frankenstein battles fiercely, but can't compete with the giant octopus' numerous and powerful tentacles. It drags Frankenstein into the water, seemingly to his death.
War of the Gargantuas
In War of the Gargantuas, a giant octopus suddenly appears near a fishing trawler, presumably attracted by the boat's cargo. The giant cephalopod proceeds to attack the boat until Gaira arrives, who defeats the octopus and destroys the trawler as well.
Godzilla (Hanna-Barbera)
- Disclaimer: The Giant Octopus from the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla show is not the same character as the creature from the Toho films. It is included on this page only for accessibility's sake.
A giant octopus is awakened by the explosion of an experimental torpedo. Godzilla battles the monster and defeats it by sealing it back in its underwater cave.
Filmography
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
- Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) [alternate ending]
- War of the Gargantuas (1966)
- Other
- Godzilla (TV 1978-1979) [episode 16, Ghost Ship]
Video Games
Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!
The giant octopus makes its only known video game appearance in the 1995 game Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!! for the Sega Pico. In this game, the giant octopus appears on the second page, and will spit ink at Godzilla if the player causes a battleship to fire a cannon at a tree, which drops a coconut on the octopus' head. The giant octopus can also initiate a minigame, where the player must solve different puzzles based on the tentacles the giant octopus is holding up.
Gallery
- Main article: Giant Octopus/Gallery.
Roar
Befitting its species, the Giant Octopus's 'roars' are breathing sounds recorded from live octopi.
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Trivia
- Concept art of the Giant Octopus for Godzilla: Final Wars exists, meaning that it was originally intended to appear.
- The inclusion of the Giant Octopus in Toho's vast slate of monsters may be the fulfillment of a dream of special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, who had always wished to make a monster film with a giant octopus.
- For the Giant Octopus scene in King Kong vs. Godzilla, four live octopuses were used. They were forced to move among the miniature huts by having hot air blown onto them. After the filming of that scene was finished, three of the four were released. The fourth became special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya's dinner. Along with the live animals, two rubber octopus props were built, with the larger one being covered with plastic wrap to simulate mucus. Some stop motion tentacles were also created for the scene where the octopus grabs a native and tosses him.
- The larger octopus prop would later find a name, Sudar, in an episode of Ultra Q. Stock footage of both Sudar and the Giant Octopus's attacks were then used for Tsuburaya Productions' Fight! Mighty Jack.
- The Giant Octopus is one of the four minor Showa era monsters, who include the Giant Lizard, Skeleturtle, the Giant Condor, the Giant Sea Serpent, and the Giant Octopus, to have received one or more official toys.[6][7] The others are Skeleturtle, the Giant Condor and the Giant Sea Serpent.
- According to Ishiro Honda, the alternate ending to Frankenstein vs. Baragon featuring the Giant Octopus was included at the behest of the film's American backers, who were impressed by the Giant Octopus scenes from King Kong vs. Godzilla and wanted the creature to appear in the film. Eiji Tsuburaya shot the sequence with the Giant Octopus specifically for inclusion in the American version of the film, but the lead American producer of the film, Henry G. Saperstein, felt it was too abrupt and anticlimactic and asked for it to be excluded. Despite not appearing in any theatrical version of the film, the Giant Octopus sequence was preserved and appeared in Japanese television airings of the film and also as a special feature in Toho's DVD releases of the film.
- The Giant Octopus appeared in an early draft for All Monsters Attack, but was replaced by Ebirah.[8] It is unknown if new scenes would have been filmed with the Giant Octopus or if stock footage would have been utilized as with most of the other monsters in the film.
- According to Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong's battle with the Mire Squid in the film is meant to be a nod to his battle with the Giant Octopus in King Kong vs. Godzilla.[9]
Notes
- ↑ Some sources state that the 1962 Giant Octopus weighs 2,000 metric tons, rather than 600.
References
This is a list of references for Giant Octopus. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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