Barugon

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Barugon
Barugon
Subtitle(s) Chilling Monster (冷凍怪獣,   Reitō Kaijū)
Species Giant ancient reptile
Length 80 meters[1]
Weight 70 metric tons[1]
Forms Hatchling, adult
Place(s) of emergence Valley of Rainbows, New Guinea[1]
Enemies Gamera
Modeled by Ryosaku Takayama
First appearance Gamera vs. Barugon
Roar(s)
More roars
Karen: “Barugon. That's Barugon.
Keisuke Hirata: “What?
Karen: “Yes, it's him.
― Karen and Keisuke Hirata react to seeing Barugon on a news broadcast. (Gamera vs. Barugon)

Barugon (バルゴン,   Barugon) is an ancient reptilian kaiju who first appeared in the 1966 Daiei Gamera film Gamera vs. Barugon.

After a group of treasure hunters ventured into the forbidden Valley of Rainbows in New Guinea, one of them brought a giant opal with him back to Japan, not knowing the precious stone was actually the egg of Barugon. After being unintentionally incubated by an infrared lamp, Barugon hatched from his egg and came ashore in Kobe, tearing the city apart with his extending tongue and rainbow death ray and freezing entire blocks with the chilling liquid released from his tongue. Barugon reached Osaka and confronted Gamera, and defeated him after freezing him solid. After withstanding multiple failed attempts by the JSDF to destroy him, Barugon was attacked by Gamera once again, this time being dragged to the bottom of a lake to his death. In Gamera: Super Monster, Barugon was resurrected by the evil space criminal Zanon to fight Gamera, but was defeated once again.

Introduced in the second film of the Gamera series, Barugon was Gamera's first-ever opponent. Though he never returned in a film outside of stock footage, he was featured in a manga adaptation of his debut film published by Kadokawa in 2002, which placed its events into the continuity of the Heisei trilogy, between Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.

Development

Barugon was modeled by Ryosaku Takayama, with finishing details applied by Ex Productions. According to special effects director Noriaki Yuasa, Barugon's head was made especially large in order to hide the human figure inside the suit as much as possible. Furthermore, Yuasa took measures to avoid filming the suit's feet to better maintain the illusion. Takayama modeled the Barugon suit to be easy to move in, but it ended up being very easily damaged. Shooting was difficult as a result and the suit required repairs every day. For Barugon's death at the climax of the film as the monster sinks into Lake Biwa, the suit did not submerge into the water very easily and had to have its stomach cut open with scissors and then be filled with water. When even this did not work, the suit was reduced to essentially only the head which finally achieved the desired effect. Children who were touring the studio at the time were reported to have laughed at the difficulties experienced in filming this sequence.

Takayama also modeled a prop of Barugon's upper body the same size as the suit which had a mechanism for extending its tongue. This mechanism was operated by three people. A fire extinguisher was used to portray the chilling liquid sprayed from Barugon's tongue.

A three-shaku (Japanese foot) hand-operated puppet or Guignol was created for the final battle at Lake Biwa, along with an equally-scaled Gamera Guignol. For the scene where Barugon hatches from his egg, a Guignol was employed with the puppet operator's hand inserted from below. Tobacco smoke was used in this scene, while the baby Barugon Guignol was covered in custom-made materials from the United States to depict the mucus-like substance covering the hatchling. Yuasa commented that Barugon's hatching was his favorite scene in the movie.

Design

Barugon is a gigantic quadrupedal reptile, with reddish-brown scaly skin, sharp teeth, a long horn on his snout, smaller horns above his eyes, and a long whip-like tail. He has two rows of short spikes running down his back, which begin to glow when the creature is ready to attack. Barugon also possess a very long, stiff tongue with a clubbed tip, and has purple blood. His eyelids open and close sideways rather than up and down. Overall, Barugon resembles a Jackson's chameleon.

Origins

Barugon is a reptilian monster whose egg was found inside a cave in New Guinea. Mistaken for a large opal, the egg was transported back to Japan, but was left underneath an infrared lamp while on a ship. The radiation from the lamp both induced the creature to hatch and caused it to grow to an unusually large size rapidly.

In Kadokawa's Gamera vs. Barugon manga, Barugon's egg was found inside the skull of another Barugon located in a cave decorated with paintings of the monster fighting Gyaos. It is later suggested that Barugon was one of a series of prototype guardian monsters developed by the ancient Atlanteans to stop Gyaos before they finally created Gamera.

History

Showa era

Gamera vs. Barugon

Barugon battles Gamera in Gamera vs. Barugon

In ancient times, Barugon's egg was placed in a cave on his native island of New Guinea. Hundreds of years later, an expedition to the Island to get the egg (thought to be a giant opal) was undertaken. The egg was then taken back to Japan to be sold. As the ship docked in Osaka one of the sailors left it under an infrared lamp meant to cure his jungle foot fungus to go play poker. While the sailors were gone, the lamp incubated the egg and it hatched into a baby Barugon. It then grew to full size, causing the boat to explode. Barugon then headed into downtown Osaka. As it rampaged, the military attempted to destroy it with a missile strike but Barugon destroyed it with his rainbow ray. The radiation of the ray attracted Gamera. The two titans clashed, and just when Gamera got the upper hand, Barugon froze him solid. With the military and Gamera out of the way Barugon left Osaka and headed for Tokyo. The military tried to lure Barugon into Lake Biwa, knowing he would drown in fresh water, with a large diamond on two occasions, the second attempt applying infrared light, but sadly, both failed. Just as all hope seemed lost, Gamera emerged from his icy prison and began to fight Barugon. Gamera successfully defeated Barugon by dragging him deep into the lake. As Barugon was pulled down into the water, he began to violently bleed, and soon drowned in the icy depths.

Gamera: Super Monster

Barugon would later make an appearance in Gamera: Super Monster as one of the monsters revived by the unseen captain of the Zanon, and was the last monster to engage in battle with Gamera. Like before, he was eventually defeated. Barugon's appearance in this film was realized entirely through stock footage.

Abilities

Extendable tongue

Barugon possesses an incredibly long extendable tongue, which he can fire from his mouth as a rigid battering ram to knock opponents over or strike targets from a distance. Barugon's tongue also functions like that of a chameleon, and can attach to objects to pull them towards Barugon, as seen when he used it to retrieve a large diamond set out by the JSDF as a lure without having to touch the fresh water the military hoped would incapacitate him. The destructive force of Barugon's tongue is stated to be 200,000 times greater than the punch of professional boxer Fighting Harada.[1]

Chilling Liquid

Barugon can release Chilling Liquid (冷凍液,   Reitō-eki) at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius below zero from the tip of his extendable tongue. This liquid takes the form of an icy mist, and can freeze objects or opponents completely solid. Gamera was particularly susceptible to this liquid, as it left him frozen and immobilized for a period of eight hours. The Chilling Liquid has an impressive range and potency, freezing entire city blocks in mere moments.

Rainbow Death Ray

Barugon fires his Rainbow Death Ray in Gamera vs. Barugon

Barugon's most notable ability is a rainbow that he launches from the spikes on his back, known as the Rainbow Death Ray (殺人虹光線,   Satsujin Niji Kōsen). This rainbow is actually an incredibly powerful attack that can destroy entire lines of missiles being fired at Barugon or damage buildings or tanks. Gamera is immune to the effects of the Rainbow Death Ray, and can draw energy from it instead. In addition, the beam is strong enough to inflict serious damage to Barugon's body if reflected by a large enough mirror.

Intelligence

Barugon is actually a deceptively intelligent creature, and uses his cunning to withstand two of the JSDF's attempts to kill him. When the JSDF used a gigantic mirror to reflect Barugon's Rainbow Death Ray back at him, Barugon realized his mistake and consciously chose to stop using the attack. Another plan involved luring Barugon into Lake Biwa with a diamond. However, Barugon used his extendable tongue to recover the diamond and avoided wading out into the lake.

Weaknesses

Barugon bleeds profusely as he is drowned in Lake Biwa by Gamera.

Barugon's Rainbow Death Ray can be reflected by mirrors, and if reflected back to Barugon will severely injure him. Barugon's most critical weakness is to fresh water. While salt water appears to pose him no threat, as he managed to make it ashore after hatching with no apparent injuries, if Barugon comes into contact with fresh water, it will burn his flesh and cause him to bleed profusely. The JSDF used artificial rainfall to keep Barugon restrained and at bay, and the monster was left temporarily unable to use his Chilling Liquid while exposed to the rainfall. Barugon is ultimately killed when Gamera drags him to the bottom of Lake Biwa and drowns him.

Filmography

Video games

Comics

Gamera vs. Barugon

An expedition headed deep into a cave, discovering Atlantean murals along the way depicting a reptillian monster. After a long journey they found a giant skeleton with a gem in its skull. The expedition force, already stressed from the journey and dark surroundings, had several members suffer insatiable greed and mania when the cave started to flood after the skeleton broke. One member tried to steal the gem and slashed his comrades with a knife, only to be shot in the face by another manic member of the party, which spilled blood onto the gem. The shooter managed to flee into the jungle and leave on a plane, leaving the only other survivor in the cave, where he experienced visions that implied Barugon was an earlier attempt at creating a counter to the Gyaos before Gamera. Aboard a ship, the gem quickly hatched into Barugon, and preyed upon the shooter before rapidly growing in size. He attacked a city, inducing mania in the populace before the JSDF confronted him. Barugon shot down their craft with freezing waves emitted from the tip of his long tongue. When warships came to attack him, he retaliated using his Rainbow Death Ray. Gamera, after learning from Asagi Kusanagi of Barugon's assault, came to fight. Gamera broke Barugon's tail using his plasma fireballs, but Barugon fought on. The former's icy blasts and the latter's fireballs created a temperature gradient that started producing large storms in the region. It was discovered that Barugon had a weakness to water when he tried to escape after being thrown into Tokyo Bay. He froze Gamera before going about freezing Tokyo. Eventually, Gamera thawed out, and the two fought again on an iceberg made by Barugon. Although Gamera was gravely wounded during the battle, Barugon was blown off the iceberg by Gamera's fireballs and sank into the sea.

Gallery

Main article: Barugon/Gallery.

Roar

Barugon's roar was reused for the Ultra kaiju Gubila and Twin Tail.

Barugon's roars

References

This is a list of references for Barugon. 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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