D-03 Missile
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What I want to do is shoot a D-03 into Godzilla's wound. It might just work.
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— Rear Admiral Taizo Tachibana (Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack) |
The D-03 Missile (D-03弾 Dī Marusandan, lit. D-03 Bullet),[2] or simply D-03 (D-03 Dī Marusan),[1] is a fictional rocket-powered drill weapon operated by the Japan Defense Force in the 2001 Toho Godzilla film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. After King Ghidorah created a wound in Godzilla's shoulder, a D-03 fired through the wound by Taizo Tachibana dealt the critical blow leading to Godzilla's defeat.
Development
From the beginning of production, the D-03's mechanism was envisioned to attach to a target, rotate, penetrate inside, and then explode. Art director Takeshi Shimizu oversaw the design of the D-03, with art assistant Nanako Iwaki creating concept drawings. Special effects director Makoto Kamiya gave Shimizu highly detailed instructions for the D-03's design, such as suggesting adding joint arms to support the D-03 and help it cling to an object as it drilled. Shimizu commented that it was fun designing the arms because Godzilla's skin isn't flat. Shimizu also remembered art assistant Masato Inatsuki praising one of the concept drawings where the D-03 had twisted boosters, calling it innovative.[3]
Multiple D-03 models were built by different artists: a full-scale model, a close-up model of the rotating drill tip that was slightly smaller than the life-sized prop, a 1/10 scale D-03 for the scene of mounting it onto Tachibana's Satsuma, and a 1/25 scale variant. Multiple design blueprints were created for each model and exist as of 2022. In addition, many concept drawings with various shapes and color schemes were created for the missile equipped with the D-03. The final missile design was rendered using CGI by the Japanese company Art.[4] The 1/10 scale D-03 could detach from the bottom of the 1/10 scale Satsuma.[5] For the shot of the close-up D-03 tip drilling through Godzilla's wound, a Godzilla skin model was assembled compactly and placed inside a water tank. The model was then lit from behind to make the wound appear glowing.[6] The art department wanted to make the full-scale D-03 out of fiberglass or metal, but it ended up being made out of styrofoam due to budget constraints. This made the prop so light that one person could easily carry it. For the scene of the Defense Force soldiers lifting a D-03 out of a crate, first assistant director Hideaki Murakami, who was knowledgeable about the JSDF, instructed the actors to move and shout as if it were a real warhead. While on set, Shimizu thought, "Please carry it as heavy as you can."[3]
American photographer and film reporter Norman England was asked by director Shusuke Kaneko and assistant director Nozuma Aida to write the English warning label on the D-03. England recounted being told, "Give us the kind of English you'd see on a missile... within the hour."[7][8]
History
Millennium era
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
The morning after an earthquake 10 miles south of Mount Myoko caused a massive landslide, D-03 Missiles were fired into rubble blocking a collapsed roadway tunnel by a Taiho missile launcher in an effort to facilitate the search for survivors.
Much later, the D-03 was used by the Japan Defense Force once more, this time in an attempt to drill into Godzilla's body. After the Guardian Monsters Ghidorah and Mothra were subdued by Godzilla during their battle in Yokohama, Rear Admiral Taizo Tachibana ordered multiple Taiho and the cruisers Aizu and Ako to fire D-03s at Godzilla; however, the warheads failed to penetrate Godzilla's thick hide. The monster retaliated with atomic breath, destroying most of the ground forces and Ako in response.
After Ghidorah was revived by Mothra's energy and transformed into King Ghidorah, the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon fought Godzilla undersea in Yokohama Bay. Noticing a wound in Godzilla's shoulder, Tachibana and Commander Yutaka Hirose took command of two Satsuma submersibles launched from Aizu, armed with one D-03 each. The first missile, fired by Hirose, accidentally hit King Ghidorah instead. Godzilla destroyed King Ghidorah, and the guardian beast's energy merged with that of Mothra and Baragon and acted to slow the nuclear behemoth down, sinking him deep underwater. Tachibana piloted his Satsuma towards Godzilla's head before the monster swallowed the craft without a second thought. As Tachibana began to lose hope, a vision of his daughter Yuri gave him the will to continue fighting, and he fired his D-03 through Godzilla's wound. Just as Godzilla prepared to fire his atomic breath at Yuri and her friend Mitsuaki Takeda, the warhead drilled through Godzilla's skin and exploded. The kaiju attempted to fire his atomic breath several times at Yuri and Takeda, only for the heat ray to shoot out of his shoulder instead of his mouth. In agony, he sank once more into the bay. As Tachibana's Satsuma escaped through the hole created by his D-03, Godzilla tried to use his atomic breath a final time to blast the submarine. However, the pressure inside Godzilla's body rose to the point that he violently exploded, reducing his body to only his beating heart.
Video games
- Godzilla: Giant Monsters All-Out Typing Attack (2001) - IBM PC/AT, NEC PC98-NX [mentioned]
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android, iOS [artifact]
Gallery
Concept art
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Concept art of the D-03 Missile from the film's Super Complete Works book
Production
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1/10th scale Satsuma with a D-03 Missile attached
Screenshots
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
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A D-03 Missile inside a crate -
The D-03 English warning label -
Japan Defense Force soldiers carrying the D-03 -
The D-03 clinging onto the Mount Myoko rubble -
Aizu and Ako firing D-03 Missiles -
Satsuma SS-01 armed with a D-03
Merchandise
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X-Plus Satsuma with a D-03 -
Bandai Hyper Godzilla Godzilla 2001 + Special Submarine Satsuma (2002) with a D-03 -
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Toho Machine Chronicles 2 Lineup 2004 (Satsuma with D-03 in top right) -
A-Toys Liberty Planet 1/35 Special Purpose Submarine Satsuma with a D-03
Trivia
- The D-03 Missiles are one of several rocket drill weapons to appear in the Godzilla franchise, along with the Showa Mechagodzilla's High Pressure Homing toe missiles, the delivery system for the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria in Godzilla vs. Biollante, MOGUERA's Spiral Grenade Missiles in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and the EMP Probe of GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters.
- The concept of a rocket drill was tested and even demonstrated several times in real life by Russian engineers.
References
This is a list of references for D-03 Missile. 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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Bibliography
- Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack Completion. Hobby Japan. 31 March 2022. ISBN 978-4798627793.
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