Kilaak
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The Kilaaks (キラアク星人 Kirāku Seijin, lit. "Planet Kilaak People") are a race of aliens which serve as the main antagonists of the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters. They hail from Planet Kilaak, an undiscovered planet somewhere within the asteroid belt.
At the end of the 20th century, the Kilaaks besieged Monsterland and unleashed their powerful mind-control technology on not only the staff residing on the island, but also the monsters themselves. Under the command of the Kilaaks, the world's monsters escaped the island and set about destroying numerous cities as a show of power, with the Kilaak demanding humanity's surrender in the face of their technological superiority. Establishing a base within Mount Fuji, the Kilaaks had their monsters converge on Tokyo before another Kilaak base was discovered on the Moon. After the Moon base was destroyed, the Kilaaks' weakness to cold was revealed, and the monsters of Earth were freed from their influence. However, before the Kilaaks' Mount Fuji base could also be destroyed, the Kilaaks unveiled their greatest asset - King Ghidorah. Following King Ghidorah's defeat, the Kilaaks made one last-ditch effort to save themselves by unleashing the "Fire Dragon" onto their enemies, though the combined efforts of Godzilla and the crew of the Moonlight SY-3 finally managed to the stop the Kilaak threat for good.
Name
The Kilaaks' Japanese name simply translates to "Kilaak Aliens," or more literally "Planet Kilaak People." Toho's English export trailer for Destroy All Monsters uses the spelling "Kilaacs," a possible indication of its originally-intended translation,[2] although the October 1968 issue of UniJapan Film Quarterly refers to them as "beings from the planet Kilaak" and "the Kilaak girls."[3] The 'K' spelling is today the most widely recognized, appearing in various home video releases' subtitle translations. However, the variant "Kilaakians" is also sometimes applied by English-speaking fans, and the Japanese book Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works gives them the English name Kiraaku.[4]
In Godziban, the Kilaaks are introduced as Mineral Life Form Kilaak (鉱物生命体キラアク Kōbutsu Seimeitai Kirāku), lacking the "Alien" part of the Destroy All Monsters versions' Japanese name.
Design
The Kilaaks take the form of female humans wearing light blue robes that cover all except their faces. However, these forms are actually a disguise, as the Kilaaks' true forms resemble small metallic worms.
History
- Destroy All Monsters (1968)
- Godziban (web 2019-)
Showa era
Destroy All Monsters
At the end of the 20th century, without warning, Monsterland was caught in the midst of a massive surprise attack by unknown forces, who knocked the resident scientists unconscious with gas and freed the kaiju from the island. Soon after, the monsters began to appear in cities all across the globe - Godzilla attacked New York City, Rodan assaulted Moscow, Mothra invaded Beijing, Manda attacked London, and Gorosaurus destroyed Paris. The crew of the Moonlight SY-3, led by Captain Katsuo Yamabe, were dispatched to investigate what had happened to the island and discovered that its staff had fallen under mind control. The staff members, including Katsuo's sister, Kyoko Manabe, then brought the SY-3 crew to the culprit behind the attack - the Kilaak Queen. The Kilaak Queen revealed that her people hailed from the planet Kilaak, located between Mars and Jupiter, and proclaimed her desire to forge a new civilization on Earth with the expectation that humanity would surrender to her people's superior technology. Instead, the SY-3 crew attempt to attack the Queen, both physically and by opening fire on her, only to be thwarted by a force field. The Queen proceeded to send the rest of the mind-controlled staff after the crew while she made her escape.
Later, as the kaiju continued to wreak havoc across the planet, experts eventually made two prominent discoveries - that the Kilaaks control their captives through small implants receiving radio signals, and that the Kilaaks have established a new base near Mount Fuji. Around this time, the Kilaaks also instructed their kaiju slaves to converge upon Tokyo and reduced the city to rubble before using the monsters to guard their Mount Fuji base, annihilating any military forces that attempted to get past them. Through the mind-controlled Kyoko, the Kilaaks made one final request for humanity to accept their presence on Earth, claiming that the Kilaaks and humanity could coexist and that they could send the monsters back to Monsterland at any moment. Katsuo, however, argued that this would not be coexistence, but blackmail. Katsuo and his allies later located the vast Kilaak base in Mount Fuji and bore witness to their army of UFOs, but were unable to act as the Kilaak Queen declared that Earth no longer belonged to humans alone.
Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that the Kilaaks were transmitting their monster-controlling signal from another base on the Moon. Upon arriving on the moon, the Moonlight SY-3 quickly came under attack, but the crew utilized an Exploration Car to breach the Kilaak base, triggering a chain reaction that left the entire base in ruins. While searching the rubble, Katsuo and his men discovered small, metallic, worm-like creatures and deduced that they are the true forms of the Kilaaks, who can only survive in high temperatures. They also discovered the device controlling the monsters of Earth and destroyed it. As experts analyzed a dormant Kilaak body, they deduced that, despite their advanced technology, the Kilaaks were very few in number, with each member of their race taking thousands of years to develop. Humanity also gained control over the monsters themselves and sent Godzilla, Anguirus, Gorosaurus, Rodan, Mothra, Kumonga, Minilla, and more to Mount Fuji for a final assault against the Kilaak Queen and her remaining forces. Before the monsters could engage the base, the Kilaaks pulled out their trump card - King Ghidorah. However, King Ghidorah was soon slain by the combined might of Earth's kaiju. Just as it seemed that the Kilaaks' threat had finally ended, the aliens revealed that they had one final trick up their sleeves when a flaming monster called the "Fire Dragon" suddenly appeared and destroyed the facilities on Monsterland, freeing the monsters from humanity's control. Before the world could accept defeat, Godzilla suddenly began attacking the Kilaak base without any outside influence, instinctively aware of who his true enemy was. Several of the Kilaaks attempted to retreat, but the Kilaak Queen could only watch in stunned silence as Godzilla breached the base, forcing all of the Kilaaks to revert to their helpless true forms. The Moonlight SY-3 then engaged the Fire Dragon, which was revealed to be nothing more than one last Kilaak UFO before it was promptly destroyed as well. With that, the combined efforts of humanity and the monsters of Earth triumphed over the Kilaaks once and for all.
Reiwa era
Godziban
A group of rock-like organisms called Kilaaks had established a presence on Gorath before it began its approach to Earth. While Taigo and Mirei drilled to the core of Gorath with their atomic breath, the psychic seer Magubaba and Grandpa Zilla suddenly realized they had played right into the Kilaaks' hands, as the crystal heart of Gorath they sought out to destroy was actually being used to empower the Kilaaks through absorbing the energy of the two Godzillas. With Mirei exhausted and Taigo overexerting himself into a burning state, the Kilaaks began to move towards taking care of Mothra and Battra, fusing and transforming into a flying saucer and a ferocious Fire Dragon. As the Fire Dragon became too hot for Mothra to handle, Battra stepped in to duel the dragon himself.
Abilities
Heat-based immortality
The Kilaaks attempted to conquer Earth in order to create a great scientific civilization, which they stated needed some death to create. The aliens thrived in high temperatures and were greatly susceptible to cold. When they were struck by low temperatures, they shed their human guises and reverted to their true forms: small, metallic worm-like creatures. However, in this form, the aliens are almost incapable of moving due to the form's sheer weight.
Technology
Aside from their mind control devices (that can enslave both humans and kaiju alike), the Kilaaks don't seem to possess any particularly notable technology, though they do have forcefields that can't be penetrated even by bullets. Their flying saucers aren't much of a threat in and of themselves, but they have the ability to engulf their outer hulls in flames, burning anything the ship may touch. This mode is called a "Fire Dragon."
Fusion
In Godziban, a group of 13 Kilaaks were able to combine into a Kilaak UFO using the energy harnessed from Taigo and Mirei's atomic breath attacks absorbed by Gorath's crystal heart. A larger group of Kilaak were able to combine to become Kilafadoras when given power by a bolt-like blast from the Kilaak UFO.
Video games
- Battle Baseball (1993) - Nintendo Famicom
- Godzilla: Trading Battle (1998) - Sony PlayStation
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android and iOS
Battle Baseball
In Battle Baseball, a Kilaak serves as the cheerleader for the Earth Defense Force Guns team.
A Kilaak cheerleader in Battle Baseball
Godzilla: Trading Battle
In this game, a Kilaak is among the various opponents who can challenge the player to a duel.
A Kilaak in Godzilla: Trading Battle
Godzilla Defense Force
In the face of a great Xilien invasion, past foes become allies, with the Kilaaks being an unlockable ally who can join forces with the player and the Earth Defense Force against the Xiliens' monsters.
The Kilaaks in Godzilla Defense Force
Comics
- Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2 (2025) [carving]
Gallery
Production
Destroy All Monsters
Godziban
Screenshots
Destroy All Monsters
The Kilaak Queen introduces herself
The Kilaak Queen's forcefield
A group of Kilaaks outside of their base
The Kilaak base under Mount Fuji
Kilaaks on their Moon base
The Kilaaks broadcast a warning about King Ghidorah
The Kilaaks' true forms
Godziban
Merchandise
Medicom x Anraku Ansaku Kilaak A & B
Medicom x Anraku Ansaku Kilaak Set
Kilaaks card featured in the Godzilla Wars line of Toy Card 100 trading cards.
Trivia
- The Kilaaks are the second race of aliens to come from a planet somewhere near Mars and Jupiter. The first were the Xiliens, whose homeworld of Planet X is also said to be in the same region.
- A story illustrated by Yuji Kaida in the March 1983 issue of Terebi Magazine features an alliance of Toho's various malevolent alien races from the Showa era called the Dark Mysterious Star Alliance, which includes the Kilaaks. The invaders collaborate to construct a robot called Mecha-Ghidorah in order to conquer the Earth.[5]
- Prior to the release of Godzilla Final Wars (2004), the Kilaaks had the most monster pawns of any alien race in a Godzilla film, with at least eight monsters confirmed to be under their control at various points in the film.
References
This is a list of references for Kilaak. 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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