Novel: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

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Novel: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Novel: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
Author(s) Fumio Tanaka
Publisher Asahi Sonorama
Publish date November 30, 1991
Pages 226
Genre Novelization, science-fiction
ISBN ISBN-10: 4257010339
ISBN-13: 978-4257010333

Novel: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (小説 ゴジラvsキングギドラ,   Shōsetsu: Gojira tai Kingu Gidora) is a 1991 novelization of the film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. It was written by Toho producer Fumio Tanaka and published by Asahi Sonorama on November 30, 1991.

Plot

In the year 2204, the carcass of a huge three-headed dragon is discovered on the surface of Venus. DNA is harvested from the creature, to be used for unknown purposes...

In the year 1992, a UFO is sighted flying over Tokyo. The JSDF forms a perimeter around the UFO when it lands near Mount Fuji. The craft's occupants make contact with the JSDF over a computer, requesting a meeting with their leaders. Cabinet Security Director Ryuzo Dobashi and Professor Takehito Fujio approach the UFO, where holograms of three humans are beamed down in front of them by the ship. They introduce themselves as Wilson, Glenchico, and Emmy Kano, citizens of the future year 2204. They claim to have come to warn Japan about a terrible catastrophe and request to attend a meeting with the Cabinet. The meeting is subsequently held, with the Futurians being teleported there by the UFO. They explain that Godzilla will soon recover from the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria and return to attack Japan, this time rendering it uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination. This results in there no longer being a Japan in the future, they warn. They propose a time travel mission back to 1944, where the dinosaur that would become Godzilla was sighted by a Japanese garrison on Lagos Island. This island was in the blast radius of the 1954 Castle Bravo H-bomb test, which mutated the dinosaur into Godzilla. All of this is suggested by the book The Birth of Godzilla, written in the future by writer Kenichiro Terasawa. If they can prevent the dinosaur from being exposed to the H-bomb, they will erase Godzilla from history.

For this mission, the Futurians invite along Terasawa himself, along with psychic Miki Saegusa and Professor Hironori Mazaki. Accompanying them are Emmy and the Futurians' android, M11, as well as three genetically engineered pets called Dorats, engineered from the DNA harvested from the dragon carcass on Venus. The three present-day humans are brought aboard the UFO, which Emmy explains is their time machine, MOTHER. They depart for 1944 in the smaller ship KIDS, and arrive in the midst of a battle on Lagos Island between Japanese and American forces. The next morning, the Japanese forces are amassing for a desperate last stand against the Americans, under the command of Major Yasuaki Shindo. The attack begins, and the Japanese are clearly outmatched before a huge dinosaur emerges from the jungle. The dinosaur attacks the American troops, driving them back to the beach. American ships open fire on the dinosaur with artillery, gravely wounding it. Troops surround the dinosaur, which stirs back to life and promptly slaughters them all. The wounded dinosaur then slips back into the jungle. Miki confirms that this dinosaur is Godzilla, so the next stage of the plan can be enacted. They skip ahead to the day the Japanese forces leave the island, and witness Shindo and his men give a tearful salute to the wounded dinosaur before departing. M11 uses KIDS' teleporter to move the Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea, where it will die far from nuclear testing. Secretly, Emmy leaves behind the three Dorats. KIDS returns to the present, and the crew are greeted by Wilson and Glenchico, who inform them that Godzilla has vanished. In his place however, the three-headed dragon King Ghidorah has appeared.

King Ghidorah attacks Fukuoka, and it becomes clear that he is the result of the three Dorats being mutated and fused together by the H-bomb test. Thus, the Futurians must have intentionally created the monster and are controlling him. The Futurians send a ransom message to Japan, demanding its surrender or else King Ghidorah will continue his rampage. After Fukuoka is leveled, Wilson sends the beast to Hokkaido. Desperate for a method to stop King Ghidorah, the Japanese government proposes a desperate plan to recreate Godzilla with the dinosaur which is hopefully still present in the Bering Sea. Shindo, now the head of the Teiyo Group, volunteers the nuclear submarine his company has been keeping outside of Japanese waters for the mission. By firing its nuclear torpedoes at the dinosaur, the government hopes the submarine can mutate the dinosaur into Godzilla. Meanwhile, Emmy accuses Wilson of going too far in his plan and leaves MOTHER. She meets with Terasawa and explains that the Futurians' scenario they laid out to the Japanese government was a lie. In reality, Godzilla never returns and Japan becomes the most wealthy and powerful nation in the world, so much so that its power cannot be curtailed by the Earth Union, the successor to the United Nations. By 2204, Japan has bought nations in South America and Africa, Emmy explains. She goes on to say that many individuals such as herself took issue with Japan's status as a corrupt superpower and so joined the Equal Environment of Earth Union, a political organization seeking to equalize the power of all nations on Earth. Wilson, one such member, decided to enact his own plan to stop Japan's meteoric rise by traveling back to the past and changing the course of history. She was part of that plan, but realized the error of her ways after seeing her comrades' brutal methods.

Miki reports to Terasawa and Emmy that she can sense Godzilla moving underwater, as if he was never erased from history. Emmy proposes that perhaps the presence of other nuclear material in the Bering Sea could have turned it into Godzilla anyway. Terasawa digs through the archives at Mu magazine where he works as a writer and finds an article about a nuclear submarine sinking in the Bering Sea. Realizing this accident already turned the dinosaur into Godzilla, he sets out to stop the government's plan to recreate the monster. However, he and Emmy are intercepted en route by M11, who forces Emmy to come back to MOTHER with him. Wilson scolds Emmy for her betrayal and reveals he is aware of the government's plan to recreate Godzilla. In her quarters, Emmy reprograms M11 to be loyal to her. As the Teiyo Group's submarine nears the Bering Sea, it is intercepted by Godzilla, who destroys it and feeds on its energy. Godzilla soon surfaces off the coast of Hokkaido, now grown to 100 meters in height thanks to the power he absorbed from the sub. Godzilla comes ashore, with Wilson ordering King Ghidorah to engage and kill him. The two monsters clash in a clearing, seemingly evenly matched.

Emmy in the meantime organizes an attack on MOTHER to stop her former comrades and destroy the computer with which they intend to force Japan to rebuild the country. The two and M11 plant charges inside the ship and detonate them, drawing out an army of androids and severing the Futurians' control over King Ghidorah. M11 takes on the androids while Emmy and Terasawa confront Wilson and Glenchico. Godzilla gains the upper hand against King Ghidorah, grabbing him by his tails and slamming him up and down. Wilson laughs at Emmy and Terasawa when they claim to have stopped their plan, and says that he doesn't need the computer or King Ghidorah to do his work anymore. The now-more powerful Godzilla will destroy Japan anyway, he says. Furthermore, MOTHER will automatically time warp back to the 23rd century in a matter of minutes. Emmy angrily attacks Wilson and a brawl between the four starts. The androids M102 and M103 attack Terasawa and hold him down, while Glenchico aims a gun at him. M11 enters the control room and dispatches the two androids and helps beat Wilson and Glenchico into submission. The three then escape MOTHER together. King Ghidorah, meanwhile, begins strangling Godzilla with his necks. Godzilla foams at the mouth and appears desperate before emitting a nuclear pulse that forces King Ghidorah to fall over and release him. He follows this with a spiral-wrapped atomic beam that severs Ghidorah's middle head. Emmy declares that they cannot let Wilson and Glenchico escape, so M11 uses KIDS' teleporter to transport MOTHER to Hokkaido. Wilson and Glenchico regain consciousness and wonder if they have time warped already. They open the shutters on the ship to see Godzilla directly in front of them, who promptly obliterates MOTHER with his atomic breath. King Ghidorah tries to fly away, but Godzilla blasts out his wings with his atomic breath and causes him to plummet into the Sea of Okhotsk.

Now unopposed, Godzilla attacks the city of Sapporo and begins a rampage through Japan that threatens to reach Tokyo. Emmy and her allies consider the possibility of reviving King Ghidorah to stop Godzilla. Mazaki says that Ghidorah should be preserved well enough from the cold water, and M11 says he can use the technology of the future to revive him. Emmy agrees with the plan and travels to 2204 with M11. They come upon King Ghidorah's comatose body in the Sea of Okhotsk, which is still preserved and partially alive. Morrys, the operator of the submarine, asks Emmy what she intends to do with it. She says she wants to revive him to save Japan from Godzilla in the past. Morrys retorts that Japan deserved its fate due to its reckless use of nuclear power. Emmy asks Morrys to give her ancestors one last chance, and Morrys finally agrees.

Back in 1992, Godzilla has reached Tokyo. Shindo refuses to evacuate, remarking on the irony that the dinosaur who saved his life is now destroying all of the progress he built after the war. Godzilla comes upon the building where Shindo is, and the two exchange a glance through a window. Godzilla roars and hesitates, appearing to recognize the man. Shndo nods at the monster as tears fill his eyes, and Godzilla roars once more before finally vaporizing Shindo with his atomic breath. Godzilla continues his rampage, but is interrupted as a flash appears in the sky. Mecha-King Ghidorah materializes into the air, piloted by Emmy and controlled by M11's A.I. The cyborg descends and attacks Godzilla with its gravity beams and laser cannon. Godzilla fights back, blasting Ghidorah with his atomic breath and knocking him onto his back. Emmy is knocked unconscious from the impact, but M11 tells her to quickly get up and use the capture cables. Emmy gets back up and obliges, causing Mecha-King Ghidorah to launch electrified cables that clamp onto Godzilla's limbs. She then releases a giant Machine Hand from the cyborg's chest that clamps around Godzilla's torso. Mecha-King Ghidorah takes flight with Godzilla in tow over the ocean before Godzilla blasts his foe with his atomic breath, causing both to plummet into the sea below. After a few moments, KIDS surfaces from the water. Emmy contacts Terasawa over a video screen and reveals that she is a distant granddaughter of his. She bids him and the others farewell before M11's A.I. activates the time warp function and sends KIDS back to the future.

Some time later, Terasawa is getting married to his editor at Mu, Chiaki Moriyuma. Emmy secretly attends the wedding party and leaves a pendant containing a picture of herself and her mother with the receptionist, asking her to give it to Chiaki.

Differences from the film

  • The novel opens with the discovery of the carcass of King Ghidorah on the surface of Venus, with the Futurians harvesting its DNA and using it to engineer the Dorats. This was originally intended to be in the film, but was removed at the request of Kazuki Omori.[1]
  • Kenichiro Terasawa and Chiaki Moriyuma get married at the end of the novel, with Emmy Kano secretly attending their wedding party. Emmy gives the receptionist a pendant containing a photograph of herself and her mother, who is noted to look a lot like Chiaki, and asks the receptionist to give it to Chiaki.
  • The name of the Teiyo Group's nuclear submarine is different than it is in the film.

References

This is a list of references for Novel: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. 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. LeMay, John (15 June 2017). The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films. Bicep Books. p. 230. ISBN 978-1548145255.

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