Godzilla, King of the Monsters (documentary)

Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Producer

Nick Freand Jones

Distributor

BBC^UK

Running time

40 minutes

Godzilla, King of the Monsters is a 1998 BBC documentary on Godzilla's history and the character's allegorical meaning. In a pre-title sequence, Godzilla rampages through London, tearing off the top of Big Ben and targeting the Television Centre (then the BBC's headquarters) with his atomic breath. It first aired on July 11, 1998, six days before GODZILLA premiered in the United Kingdom. Though never released on home video, interviewee Tony Luke uploaded an 480p archive copy to YouTube on April 20, 2014.

Films and TV shows featured

King Kong (1933)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Rodan (1956)
Mothra (1961)
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Ultra Q (TV 1966)
Ultraman (TV 1966-67)
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
King Kong Escapes (1967)
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)
All Monsters Attack (1969)
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
The Return of Godzilla (1984)
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) [behind the scenes only]
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
GODZILLA (1998)
Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) [behind the scenes only]

Staff

Main article: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (documentary)/Credits.

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Produced by Nick Freand Jones
Cinematography by Mark Molesworth, Roger De Giacomi, Tony Bragg
Edited by Jan Deas, Nick Carroll

Interviewees

Fiona Bull, visual effects producer
Alex Cox, director
Dean Devlin, producer
Roland Emmerich, director
Jun Fukuda, director
Stuart Galbraith IV, author and film historian
Kimi Honda, wife of director Ishiro Honda
Akira Ifukube, composer
Akira Kubo, actor
Tony Luke, mangaka and director
Haruo Nakajima, kaiju suit actor
August Ragone, tokusatsu historian
Kenji Sahara, actor
Kenpachiro Satsuma, kaiju suit actor
Koichi Takano, special effects director
Patrick Tatopoulos, creature designer
Kazuo Tsuburaya, president of Tsuburaya Productions from 1995 to 2003
Yoshio Tsuchiya, actor
Noriaki Yuasa, director

Gallery

Main article: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (documentary)/Gallery.

Video

Tony Luke interviewed about Godzilla on BBC Breakfast TV, two days before the documentary premiered

The full documentary

Trivia

Godzilla, King of the Monsters erroneously credits Haruo Nakajima with playing Godzilla from 1954 to 1975; his final film as the character was 1972's Godzilla vs. Gigan.
Tony Luke erroneously states that Godzilla destroyed Tokyo Tower in his original film; the structure would not be completed until 1958.
In his YouTube upload of the documentary, Luke states that Jun Fukuda "[sneaked] the [BBC] camera crew onto Toho's backlot," presumably to shoot behind-the-scenes footage of Rebirth of Mothra 3, which had yet to be released when the documentary premiered.

Films

Godzilla films

Showa era

Godzilla (1954) • Godzilla Raids Again (1955) • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) • Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) • Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) • Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) • Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) • Son of Godzilla (1967) • Destroy All Monsters (1968) • All Monsters Attack (1969) • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) • Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) • Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) • Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Heisei era

The Return of Godzilla (1984) • Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) • Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) • Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) • Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) • Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Millennium era

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) • Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) • Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) • Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) • Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) • Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

Reiwa era

Live action	Shin Godzilla (2016) • Godzilla Minus One (2023) • untitled film (TBA)

Animated	GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017) • GODZILLA: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) • GODZILLA: The Planet Eater (2018)

American films

GODZILLA (1998) • Godzilla (2014) • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Short films

"Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley" (1992) • Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994) • Godzilla: The Real 4-D (2017) • CANAL CITY HAKATA GODZILLA The Destroy Mapping Show (2018) • Dream Challenge: Godzilla Appears in Sukagawa (2019) • "The Faceless Star" (2019) • Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D (2019) • Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji attraction video (2020) • Godzilla Appears at Godzilla Fest (2020) • Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021) • "The Impact of a Blue Day" (2021) • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021) • Godzilla vs. the Tigers (2022) • Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2022) • Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022) • "GO YOUR WAY" (2023) • Godzilla vs. Megalon (2023) • Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023) • Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo (2024) • "Yours Ever" (2024) • Fest Godzilla 5: All Monsters Showdown (2024) • TOKYO GODZILLAs (2024)

Gamera films

Shōwa period	Gamera the Giant Monster (1965) • Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) • Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967) • Gamera vs. Viras (1968) • Gamera vs. Guiron (1969) • Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) • Gamera vs. Zigra (1971) • Gamera Super Monster (1980)

Heisei period	Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) • Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) • Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999) • Gamera the Brave (2006)

Short films	Gamera vs. Garasharp (1991) • GAMERA (2015)

King Kong films

King Kong (1933) • Son of Kong (1933) • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) • King Kong Escapes (1967) • King Kong (1976) • King Kong Lives (1986) • The Mighty Kong (1998) • Kong: King of Atlantis (2005) • King Kong (2005) • Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006) • Kong: Skull Island (2017) • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Other Toho films

Shōwa period	Ramayana (1940s) • Invisible Man (1954) • Half Human (1955) • Rodan (1956) • The Mysterians (1957) • The H-Man (1958) • Varan (1958) • The Three Treasures (1959) • Battle in Outer Space (1959) • The Secret of the Telegian (1960) • The Human Vapor (1960) • Mothra (1961) • The Last War (1961) • Gorath (1962) • Matango (1963) • Atragon (1963) • Dogora (1964) • Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) • The War of the Gargantuas (1966) • The Killing Bottle (1967) • Latitude Zero (1969) • Konto 55: The Great Outer Space Adventure (1969) • Space Amoeba (1970) • Daigoro vs. Goliath (1972) • Submersion of Japan (1973) • Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) • ESPY (1974) • The War in Space (1977) • Magnitude 7.9 (1980) • Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) • Princess from the Moon (1987)

Heisei period	Cyber Cop (1989) • Gunhed (1989) • Mikadoroid (1991) • Reiko, Psyche Resurrected (1991) • Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994) • Rebirth of Mothra (1996) • Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997) • Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) • Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie (2005) • Sinking of Japan (2006) • Go! Godman (2008) • "FORESTER: The Attack" (2014) • Attack on Titan the Movie: Part 1 (2015) • Attack on Titan the Movie: Part 2 (2015)

Reiwa period	Monster Hunter (2020) • The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021) • Shin Ultraman (2022) • yokaipedia (2022)

Other Daiei films

The Invisible Man Appears (1949) • Warning from Space (1956) • The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly (1957) • Killer Whale (1962) • Daimajin (1966) • Return of Daimajin (1966) • Wrath of Daimajin (1966) • Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts (1969)

Other Japanese films

Shōwa period	Japanese King Kong (1933) • The Great Buddha Arrival (1934) • The King Kong that Appeared in Edo (1938) • Magic Serpent (1966) • The X from Outer Space (1967) • Gappa (1967) • The Last Dinosaur (1977) • Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Heisei period	The Cat (1991) • Sakuya (2000) • Wanigon vs. Gamaron (2000) • The Great Yokai War (2005) • Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005) • Reigo: King of the Sea Monsters (2008) • Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008) • Geharha: The Dark and Long Haired Monster‎ (2009) • Demeking, the Sea Monster (2009) • Raiga: God of the Monsters (2009) • Death Kappa (2010) • The God of Clay (2011) • A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo (2012) • Jellyfish Eyes (2013) • Day of the Kaiju (2014) • Love & Peace (2015) • Kaiju Mono (2016) • The Great Buddha Arrival (2018) • Kaiju Ward Gallas (2019)

Reiwa period	God Raiga vs. King Ohga: War of the Monsters (2019) • The Great Actress Reiko Inui (2019) • Howl from Beyond the Fog (2019) • Monster Seafood Wars (2020) • The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8 (2020) • Nezura 1964 (2021) • Yatsuashi (2021) • What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? (2022) • Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo (2022) • AKARI (2022) • Hoshi 35 (2023) • Brush of the God (2024) • "Foodlosslla: What Should Humanity Do!?" (2024) • Showdown! Cosmic Trailblaze Saga of Heroes (2024) • Kaiju: Island of Fire (TBA)

Miscellaneous

Films	The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) • The Giant Behemoth (1959) • Gorgo (1961) • Bulgasari (1962) • Gogola (1966) • Space Monster Wangmagwi (1967) • Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967) • APE (1976) • The Mighty Peking Man (1977) • Pulgasari (1985) • Reptilian (1999) • Cloverfield (2008) • 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) • Colossal (2016) • The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) • Rampage (2018) • Notzilla (2019) • untitled sixth Monsterverse film (2027) • untitled Cloverfield sequel (TBA)

Documentaries	Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection (1986) • Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1998) • GAMERA1999 (1999) • Bringing Godzilla Down to Size (2008) • The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019) • Yonggary Chronicle Project (2019) • Godzilla's Leading Ladies (2020)

Fan films	Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969) • Gamera 4: Truth (2003) • Waiting for Gorgo (2009) • G vs. G (2019) • Godziban (2019) • Heritage (2020) • Coming Out (2020) • Wolfman vs. Godzilla (TBA)

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Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1998)

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