Monster Island
Monster Island (怪獣島 Kaijūtō)[note 1] is a fictional island located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, which is inhabited by Godzilla and several of Earth's kaiju in the Godzilla films of the late Showa series. In its first appearance in the film All Monsters Attack, the island appears only within the dreams of protagonist Ichiro Miki; however, it would later appear as an actual location starting in Godzilla vs. Gigan.
Monster Island should not be confused with Monsterland, a similar location featured in the film Destroy All Monsters, although stock footage of the latter was used to depict the former in several films. Though Monster Island has not reappeared in a film since the Showa series, it has been featured in numerous non-film media, such as Godzilla: The Series, the Atari/Pipeworks Godzilla video games, and IDW Publishing's Godzilla comics. A Monster Island-like locale called Baas Island was also featured in the Heisei series film Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.
History
- All Monsters Attack (1969) [only within the dreams of Ichiro Miki]
- Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
- Godzilla: The Series (TV 1998-2000)
- Chibi Godzilla Raids Again (TV 2023)
Showa era
All Monsters Attack
Young Ichiro Miki dreamed of visiting Monster Island, where he met and befriended Godzilla's son, Minilla. Ichiro and Minilla watched Godzilla battle some of the other monsters on the island, such as Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Ebirah. Minilla was constantly bullied by Gabara, a giant toad monster that was a manifestation of one of Ichiro's real-life bullies. Ichiro helped Minilla stand up to and finally defeat Gabara, who attacked Godzilla in retaliation. Godzilla then attacked Gabara himself, causing the heinous creature to flee. Learning from the experiences on Monster Island in his dreams, Ichiro escaped from two bank robbers that kidnapped him, and later stood up to his real-life bullies and earned their respect.
Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla, Anguirus, and many of the other monsters of Earth were contained on Monster Island, where they were kept far away from human civilization. The M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, posing as a charitable organization, planned to personally kill all of the monsters on the island under the guise of promoting "absolute peace," in reality hoping to eliminate all possible resistance to their invasion of Earth. When Godzilla overheard the Nebulans' action tape containing their sinister plan being played, he sent his ally Anguirus to Japan to investigate. Anguirus was attacked by the JSDF upon arriving, and returned to Monster Island to alert Godzilla. Both monsters then escaped the island together and traveled to Tokyo to confront the Nebulans' monster servants, Gigan and King Ghidorah. After destroying the Nebulans' base of operations and driving Gigan and King Ghidorah back into outer space, Godzilla and Anguirus returned home to Monster Island.
Godzilla vs. Megalon
In the year 197X, an underground nuclear test conducted in the Aleutian Islands produced devastating seismic aftershocks that were felt as far away as Monster Island. Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus were disturbed as Monster Island was torn apart by a powerful earthquake. Anguirus tried to escape the island, but was swallowed by a fissure that opened beneath him. Godzilla remained behind on the damaged island and was visited by Jet Jaguar, who informed him that a monster called Megalon was currently attacking Japan. Godzilla left the island and traveled to Japan to assist Jet Jaguar in battle against Megalon and Gigan.
Godzilla: The Series
During the Monster Wars trilogy, the Isle del Diablo island chain was taken over by the Leviathan Aliens (who called it Site Omega) in their plot to take over the world. They used the island as a staging point to gather Earth's monsters and send them to destroy six of the world's major cities in a bid to weaken Earth's defenses and allow them to colonize Earth. They were ultimately defeated and most of the monsters rendered unconscious in the process.
Three of them - Crustaceous Rex, King Cobra, and the Giant Bat - were rounded up and imprisoned on one of the islands. The island utilized massive force fields to keep King Cobra and Crustaceous Rex from fighting each other. The Giant Bat was allowed to roam freely, but prevented from using its sonic shrieks by a special collar and kept from leaving the island by lasers.
Later, the terrorist organization S.C.A.L.E. was able to find and sneak into the facility by smuggling a tracking device onto the H.E.A.T. Seeker when it went to the island to study a new captive known as Skeetera, a giant mutant mosquito. They quickly took over the island, took both H.E.A.T. and the military personnel captive and set the monsters free.
Godzilla also broke into the island to protect his adoptive father Nick Tatopoulos and pacified the monsters, which gave the military a needed opening to regain control over the island. In other episodes, numerous other monsters were also captured by the military: the Giant Mutant Hummingbirds, the Shrewster, numerous monsters from the Mutant Mania circus, and numerous monsters from the Spiel Colosseum.
In an alternate timeline where bio-engineered monsters known as D.R.A.G.M.A.s have ravaged the planet, an elderly Anthony Hicks mentioned releasing every monster on Monster Island in a desperate attempt to stop the creatures, but even they fell.
Inhabitants
In stock footage
These monsters were, according to the films they appeared in, living on Monster Island. However, this was only in stock footage form in either Godzilla vs. Gigan or Godzilla vs. Megalon.
In dreams
These monsters lived on Monster Island in the dreams of Ichiro Miki.
- Godzilla
- Minilla
- Gabara
- Kamacuras
- Anguirus
- Kumonga
- Ebirah
- Manda
- Gorosaurus
- Giant Eagle
- Rodan (mentioned)
- A map of Monster Island used to promote All Monsters Attack also shows a giant octopus and a plesiosaur.
In Godzilla: The Series
These monsters were imprisoned on the island chain in Godzilla: The Series.
The Giant Mutant Hummingbirds were said to have been brought to Monster Island, but were never seen there.
In Chibi Godzilla Raids Again
- Chibi Godzilla
- Chibi Mechagodzilla
- Chibi Mothra
- Chibi Rodan
- Chibi Ghidorah
- Chibi Biollante
- Chibi Hedorah
In video games
Godzilla: Unleashed
Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!
- Godzilla
- LittleGodzilla
- Mothra
- Biollante
- Sanda
- Gaira
- Gorosaurus
- Kumonga
- Kamacuras
- Dogora
- Baragon
- Manda
- Ebirah
- Giant Octopus
- Battra
- King Ghidorah
- Gigan
- Megalon
- Mechagodzilla
- SpaceGodzilla
- Rodan
- Anguirus
- Varan
- King Caesar
- Hedorah
- MOGUERA
- Yoganzee
In books
Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island and Godzilla vs. the Space Monster
In comics
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Monster Island Unleashed!
Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
Godzilla (IDW)
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons
Godzilla: War for Humanity
Video games
- Battle Baseball (1993) - Nintendo Famicom
- Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!! (1995) - Sega Pico
- Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (2002) - Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox
- Godzilla: Save the Earth (2004) - Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox
- Godzilla: Unleashed (2007) - Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2
- Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash (2007) - Nintendo DS
- Godzilla Battle Line (2021) - Android, iOS
Monster Island has appeared in Atari's Godzilla games. In Godzilla: Save the Earth, it is a playable arena that has a sub-arena, Monster Island Bay. The island has a mud pit, a waterfall, and even a volcanic section. Some of the challenges like Vorillium Basketball and Monster Bowling appear to take place on Monster Island, though it is never explicitly confirmed. In Godzilla: Unleashed, the island is the first location to be bombarded by crystals. The resulting chaos allows the Earth Defenders to successfully deactivate the forcefield barriers and escape. In Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash, the monsters are released as in Unleashed, but end up returning for a final battle against Destoroyah and SpaceGodzilla.
Monster Island in Battle Baseball
Comics
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Monster Island Unleashed! (1994)
- Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths (2011)
- Godzilla (2012-2013)
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth (2013-2015)
- Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons (2023)
- Godzilla: War for Humanity (2023)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Monster Island Unleashed!
In a bid to create the ultimate bio-weapon, Genco Inc. sent a team to Monster Island to locate monster DNA that they intended on combining with a Godzilla egg they had previously discovered. After detonating a mountain in search of this DNA, the team inadvertently woke the dormant monsters of the island - Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra - who promptly destroyed the company's vehicles and equipment. Sensing that his egg was in danger, Godzilla led the monsters to New York City to retrieve it.
Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
On Monster Island, the kaiju of Earth lived in relative harmony under the watchful eye of the Elias, who served to maintain peace between the monsters and larger cosmic forces at work. On occasion, the Elias would have to send Mothra to break up monster fights and pacify agitated kaiju, such as Godzilla, who was annoyed by the arrival of gangsters on the island. Following the kidnapping of the Elias, the cosmic balance fell into disarray, which caused the monsters to leave Monster Island and converge on Tokyo. After Detective Makoto Sato returned the Elias to Mothra, the kaiju stopped fighting and returned to their island in peace.
Godzilla
After Boxer's Monster Kill Crew successfully began incapacitating the world's monsters, a containment facility was established on Hunt Atoll, also known as "Monster Island", where world powers intended on finding ways to control and weaponize the captive kaiju. The Monster Kill Crew would go on to defeat Anguirus, Kumonga, Battra, and Titanosaurus, who were all relocated to the island. Following an invasion of Earth by space monsters, Boxer and Asuka Hikari infiltrated the island and disabled the force fields to free Earth's best defenders, with Mechagodzilla transporting Kumonga off the island.
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
In this series, there is an archipelago of islands in the Pacific Ocean called the Monster Islands, instead of a single island.
In the wake of Biollante's defeat on an uninhabited island chain, world leaders approved of a plan to convert the islands into a containment facility for Earth's rapidly-expanding kaiju population. The monsters were to be transported to the islands by the Counter-Kaiju Reaction Forces's mechs, Mechagodzilla and MOGUERA, where they would be observed by a team of scientists in the hopes of learning more about them. Gaira, Sanda, and Baragon were the first kaiju relocated to the islands, and within a few years, they were joined by Kumonga, Rodan, and Zilla. Following the destruction of Infant Island at the hands of Battra, Mothra's larvae and the Shobijin temporarily sought refuge on the islands, which was soon found by Battra. However, his attack was interrupted by the invasion of the Trilopods, who besieged the islands and captured all of its residents with the exception of Zilla.
Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons
Monster Island was the home of the legendary lost treasure of Thibauld de Castillon, which was buried there in the 1350s by the pirate Martin Yanes, who reasoned that Godzilla and the other resident kaiju were the perfect guards for the treasure. In 1556, Sir Francis Drake would hear the legend of the treasure, with his royal expedition to circumnavigate the globe being a cover to claim the treasure for England. After making landfall, Drake's men found themselves contending against giant sea turtles, giant bats, and Ebirah. The crew also found the ruins of a lost civilization that had lived on the island and worshipped Godzilla, creating a temple in his honor. After discovering that the treasure was located within Godzilla's cave, Drake and his crew orchestrated a battle between Ebirah and Godzilla to lure Godzilla out, with Oodako later joining the fray.
Godzilla: War for Humanity
Minilla lived on Monster Island, where he was being remotely monitored by humans. One day, while Godzilla was swimming laps around the island, Minilla chased a giant crab on the beach. Suddenly, Ebirah emerged and attacked the infant monster, though Godzilla quickly appeared to defend his child from the crustaceous kaiju and sent Ebirah into retreat. Later, Mothra descended upon the island in efforts to recruit Godzilla in the fight against Zoospora. However, Godzilla resisted and sent Mothra into retreat, wanting to protect Minilla from Zoospora's wrath by keeping him safe on Monster Island.
Books
Gallery
Map of Monster Island in All Monsters Attack
Monster Island in Godzilla: The Series
Monster Island in Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
Monster Island in Godzilla (IDW comic)
The Monster Islands in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Trivia
- Sollgel Island from Son of Godzilla is referred to as "Monster Island" in the film's Japanese title, as well as in a line of dialogue by the character Goro Maki.
- Monster Island was featured in the screenplay for GODZILLA 2, the unmade sequel to TriStar Pictures' 1998 film GODZILLA. In this film, Monster Island would have been the site of a 1968 French nuclear test conducted in French Polynesia, the same test responsible for spawning Godzilla. By the year 2000, the island would be inhabited by a colony of giant mutant termites led by the Queen Bitch, and would have been the site of the final battle between Godzilla and the Queen Bitch.
- In Godzilla: Awakening, the prequel comic to the 2014 film, Godzilla battles Shinomura on an island called "Moansta Island," a clear reference to Monster Island.
See also
Notes
- ↑ In the video game Battle Baseball, Monster Island's Japanese name is instead given as モンスターアイランド (Monsutā Airando).
Comments
Showing 13 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.
|
|
|
