Millennium era

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Godzilla film series
Heisei
Millennium
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The Millennium series (ミレニアムシリーズ,   Mireniamu shirīzu), also known as the New Century series (新世紀シリーズ,   Shinseiki shirīzu),[1] is a term used to identify the films in the Godzilla series released from 1999 to 2004. It is notable for the fact that most of its movies do not follow a set timeline or occur in the same continuity (except for Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS). This era applies exclusively to the Godzilla series, with most other tokusatsu franchises identifying works produced concurrent with the Millennium films to still be in the Heisei series.

Films

Following the close of the Heisei series of Godzilla films in 1995 with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Toho originally intended to wait approximately 10 years before producing its next Godzilla film, allowing TriStar Pictures to produce a trilogy of American-made Godzilla films in the meantime. When TriStar's GODZILLA was released in 1998 to widespread fan disappointment and backlash, Toho saw an opportunity to bring their series out of retirement early. Toho produced the first Millennium Godzilla film, Godzilla 2000: Millennium, in 1999, and went on to produce a total of six films in the series. Following Godzilla's 50th anniversary film, Godzilla Final Wars, in 2004, Toho decided to retire the series for another decade in order to renew interest. While an American Godzilla film would be produced by Legendary Pictures in 2014, Toho would not produce another Godzilla film until Shin Godzilla in 2016.

Monsters introduced

Continuity

One of the most notable features of the Millennium series is its staggered continuity. Unlike the Showa and Heisei series, the Millennium series does not follow one single continuity, and consists mostly of standalone films. The continuity of each film is as follows:

  • Godzilla 2000: Millennium - This film does not refer to the events of any film before or after it. All that is established is that Godzilla has been attacking Japan for some time prior to the film's events. Godzilla.jp's entry for Godzilla 2000: Millennium confirms that it is in fact a direct sequel to the original Godzilla, and that the Godzilla featured in the film is the second Godzilla in that continuity, after the original 1954 Godzilla.
  • Godzilla vs. Megaguirus - Although Godzilla in this film sports the same design as in Godzilla 2000: Millennium, the two films do not share continuity. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus shares partial continuity with the original Godzilla, as Godzilla still attacked and destroyed Tokyo in 1954. However, in this continuity Godzilla was never killed by the Oxygen Destroyer and simply swam out to sea, only to return and attack Tokai in 1966. Godzilla was not seen again after that until 1996, when he attacked a plasma reactor in Osaka.
  • Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack - Another standalone film, GMK is a direct sequel to the original Godzilla. In this continuity, Godzilla was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954, but the JSDF claimed credit for killing him in order to avoid facing ridicule and reassure the citizens of Japan. Eventually, a second Godzilla emerged in 2002 to destroy Japan as revenge for the lives lost during World War II in the Pacific. This film also makes a passing reference to the 1998 American film, as Taizo Tachibana mentions early on that a giant reptilian monster similar to Godzilla recently attacked New York City. A soldier asks if the creature was Godzilla, while another responds that the Americans think so, but the Japanese doubt it.
  • Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS - These two films are the only entries in the Millennium series to share continuity, and are often collectively referred to as the "Kiryu series." Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is a direct sequel to the original Godzilla and establishes that Godzilla first appeared in 1954 and was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer. The only change from the events of the original film is that Godzilla's skeleton remained intact instead of being disintegrated. This film also references the events of Mothra and The War of the Gargantuas, including stock footage from both films. The next film, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is a direct sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and makes further references to Mothra, even featuring the character Shinichi Chujo. The events of the film Space Amoeba are also referenced when the carcass of Kamoebas is found on a beach. It is also mentioned that another Kamoebas was seen in Guam in 1987. Supplementary books for the film establish that the events of several other non-Godzilla Showa era kaiju films occurred in this continuity, including Rodan, Varan, Atragon, Dogora, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, and King Kong Escapes.
  • Godzilla Final Wars - Godzilla Final Wars, despite its numerous nods to previous films and inclusion of stock footage from them, is an entirely standalone film that shares continuity with no other films. In this continuity, Godzilla first appeared in 1954, prompting the formation of the Earth Defense Force. In the following years, the EDF battled against the countless monsters appearing around the world. At an undisclosed point prior to the main events of the film, the Gotengo lured Godzilla to Antarctica and managed to trap him underneath the ice. For the next several decades, Godzilla remained imprisoned in Area G while humanity was kept safe from other monsters by the EDF. It is not disclosed in what year the main events of Final Wars take place, as supplementary materials only refer to it as the year 20XX, but it is presumed to be sometime in the near future. Despite its standalone status, the film's tie-in reference book Godzilla Final Wars Super Complete Works establishes that events roughly corresponding to those of previous films still occurred in this continuity.

Trivia

  • Godzilla visits Tokyo in all but one of films of this era. The only exception is Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, where Godzilla was heading for Tokyo but is stopped in Yokohama, Tokyo's closest southern city.
  • The Millennium series is the first of Toho's Godzilla series to not feature Godzilla as an antagonist who is defeated or killed by humans in the first film. It is also the first series to feature Godzilla battling another monster in the first film.

See also

References

This is a list of references for Millennium era. 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]

  1. Godzilla Killigraph.jpg

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