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, the Giant Bat, and the King Cobra - were rounded up and imprisoned on one of the islands. The island utilized massive force fields to keep the 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
In books
Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island and Godzilla vs. the Space Monster
In comics
Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
Godzilla (IDW)
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, there is an archipelago of islands in the Pacific Ocean called the Monster Islands, instead of a single island.
Video games
- Battle Baseball (1993) - Nintendo Famicom
- 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
Monster Island has appeared in three comics by IDW Publishing. In the five-issue miniseries Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths, it is an island that seems to be a mixture of Monster Island and Infant Island with the presence of Mothra and the Elias. In the series Godzilla, Monster Island is a containment facility where the monsters defeated by Boxer and his Monster Wrecking Crew are rounded up to be used as weapons by the military. Eventually, the monsters are set free from the island by Kiryu in order to help fight off the space monsters invading Earth. In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Monster Island is replaced by an entire chain of islands dubbed the "Monster Islands" to contain captured monsters. The monsters on these islands are transported there by the Counter-Kaiju Reaction Forces mechas Kiryu, Jet Jaguar, and MOGUERA, and are observed by a team of scientists.
Gallery
Map of Monster Island in All Monsters Attack
Monster Island in Godzilla: The Series
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).
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