Sandbox:Time travel
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Time travel, also known as a time warp (タイムワープ, is the act of transporting matter to a point in time other than the present. A staple of science fiction, time travel is typically associated with the use of a time machine, an improbable device which can travel in four dimensions. However, travel into the future (relative to the passage of time on taimu wāpu)Earth) is theoretically possible in the real world, in the form of time dilation. Both methods of time travel have made their way into kaiju and tokusatsu media, which rationalize the phenomenon's effects on each of their worlds in different ways.
Time travel appears most prominently in the 1991 Godzilla film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, which centers around the use of time machines to alter the past, thus giving rise to parallel timelines in which drastically-different futures occur. Other notable examples include Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998), in which the kaiju Mothra Leo travels to the Cretaceous Period to kill the younger form of King Ghidorah, and GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017) and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023-2025), in which groups of humans are displaced by time dilation.
History
- Konto 55: The Great Outer Space Adventure (1969)
- Godzilla (TV 1978-1979) [episode 7]
- Nineteen (1987)
- Cyber Cop (TV 1988-1989)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
- Godzilla: The Series (TV 1998-2000) [episode 22]
- Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998)
- Super Fleet Sazer-X (TV 2005-2006)
- Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie (2005)
- GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters (2017)
- Godziban (web 2019-) [episodes ]
- Godzilla Singular Point (TV 2021)
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023-2025)
Showa era
Konto 55: The Great Outer Space Adventure
After the Palladian Dogma abducted three humans from Bunkyū-era Japan, he explained that every day spent traveling through space equated to about one full year on Earth. This form of time dilation could even be felt on Dogma's ship, for which he gave the trio "time pills" that would keep their bodies aging as normal. Not so lucky was a group of resurrected vixens from across history who were rescued from the alien Bluebeard, as Dogma did not have any time pills to give them, resulting in them rapidly aging and dying. When the three humans eventually returned to Earth, they found it to now be the year 1969, where Japan had industrialized and Cold War tensions were raging.
Heisei era
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
The universe of the Heisei Godzilla films operates on a branching timeline. When alterations were made to history, it split reality off into new flows of time where events happened differently. Detailed below are the events of each timeline.
Timeline #1
Over 1,000 days after Godzilla defeated Biollante and was infected with Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria by the JSDF, the King of the Monsters was still suffering from its effects. In fact, unbeknownst to the people of the present day, Godzilla never recovered from his ANEB poisoning even after upwards of 200 years. No longer menaced by the monster, Japan rapidly expanded and became rich by the 21st century. In the 22nd century, its borders expanded to territories in South America and Africa, and it surpassed the United States, the Soviet Union,[note 1] and China in economic power, becoming the most prosperous nation on the planet and the globe's dominant superpower. Japan's growth was unable to be contained even by the Earth Union Organization, a sort of futuristic successor to the United Nations. In 2204, three representatives of the Equal Environment of Earth Union, a group believing in the equalization of power between nations, took matters into their own hands and stole the time machines MOTHER and KIDS from the EUO in order to travel back in time to 1992. The trio, consisting of Wilson, Glenchiko, and Emmy Kano, consulted a centuries-old book entitled The Birth of Godzilla, in which author Kenichiro Terasawa theorized that the Godzilla that menaced Japan in 1984 and 1989 was originally a dinosaur living on Lagos Island who was irradiated by the Bikini Atoll nuclear testing of 1954. Using this knowledge, the group plotted to deceive present-day Japan by making up a story about Godzilla resurfacing and annihilating Japan in the 21st century. They would convince the Japanese government to allow them to travel to Lagos Island in 1944 and prevent Godzilla's creation, while secretly leaving behind three genetically-engineered creatures called Dorats to be mutated into a monster they could control.
Upon arriving in 1992, the "Futurians" analyzed Godzilla's skeletal and cellular structures and ran calculations with their 23rd-century computer that confirmed Terasawa's theory with near-100% accuracy. They enacted their plan, receiving clearance from the Japanese government to erase Godzilla, and sent a group consisting of Terasawa, Kano, their android M11, Professor Hironori Mazaki, and psychic Miki Saegusa back in time to 1944 Lagos Island. The so-called Godzillasaurus was moved to the floor of the Bering Sea where it would not be in range of the H-bomb, and Kano secretly left behind the Dorats in its place before returning to 1992.
Timeline #2
By making alterations to history, the Futurians created a new timeline in which Godzilla was never created by the H-bomb, and the three-headed dragon King Ghidorah emerged in his place. However, sometime before 1992, a freak nuclear submarine accident caused nuclear fuel to leak into the Bering Sea, mutating the still-living Godzillasaurus into Godzilla. In 1992, the Futurians unleashed King Ghidorah on Japan, aiming to exhaust the country's defenses and convince its government to implement their computer system and seemingly hand over political control. Refusing to submit, the government hatched a plan to recreate Godzilla by blasting the Godzillasaurus, who they were not yet aware had already been mutated, with a nuclear missile from a submarine owned by businessman Yasuaki Shindo. The plan was put into action, but when the submarine arrived in the Bering Sea, it was downed by the already-mutated Godzilla, who fed on its radiation and grew even taller and more powerful. The King of the Monsters landed in Japan and made his way to Abashiri, where the Futurians deployed King Ghidorah to face him. Godzilla ultimately severed Ghidorah's central head and blasted him out of the air when he attempted to escape, dropping him into the Sea of Okhotsk.
Meanwhile, Kano, who believed Wilson had taken the use of King Ghidorah too far, raided MOTHER with the help of Terasawa and M11, and rigged it to teleport to Abashiri where it was destroyed by Godzilla. With nothing to stand in his way, Godzilla attacked various locations across Japan, including Sapporo and Shinjuku, and destroyed nuclear power plants which consumed the country with pollution. The Futurians had, indirectly, succeeded in stifling Japan's growth. However, Kano vowed to reverse this future by taking KIDS to 2204 and convincing the EUO to convert King Ghidorah into a cyborg she could pilot against Godzilla. The EUO ultimately agreed, and Mecha-King Ghidorah was brought to 1992.
Timeline #3
Mecha-King Ghidorah intercepted Godzilla in Shinjuku, carrying him out to sea using the Machine Hand in its chest. The two plummeted into the water when Godzilla blasted the cyborg with his atomic breath, but Kano escaped in KIDS and warped to 2204.
Having prevented Godzilla's razing of Japan, Emmy created the third and final timeline, which is the setting of the remainder of the Heisei films.
Rebirth of Mothra 3
When a meteor lands outside Katsuyama, Fairy scans what is left of it and finds that it dates back to the time of the dinosaurs. The monster that emerged from the meteorite, King Ghidorah, begins abducting children from their schools. Moll and Lora call upon Rainbow Mothra to stop him, and Mothra attacks as the King of Terror lands next to the dome that all of the snatched children appeared inside. However, Mothra is unable to defeat the powerful kaiju, the battle ending with Mothra sustaining heavy injuries and King Ghidorah triumphant.
Mothra tells Moll that the only way to defeat Ghidorah is to travel through time back to Ghidorah's first attack on Earth, 130 million years ago, when he was significantly weaker. Moll sings to power his journey, as he shifts into his Aqua Mothra form, then into Light Speed Mothra. Her strength fading, she gives Shota her sword and tells him to make Lora see the light again before turning to crystal. He dares Ghidorah to capture him, and the monster obliges. As he arrives inside the dome, it begins to fill with acid. In the past, Mothra stops Ghidorah from eating a Triceratops. The younger Ghidorah has no shield, and as Mothra rains down attacks, the Ghidorah in the present begins to feel pain. As she holds her sword to his throat, Shota tells Lora that Moll's last request was for her to help Mothra, and she returns to her senses. Her sword fuses with Moll's, causing Belvera to realize the Elias Triangle refers to her and her sisters. She attaches the "Wisdom" jewel to her sword, then merges it with the others.
Mothra shoots off part of Ghidorah's tail; an alarmed Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex watch as it burrows underground. But the younger Ghidorah is still a formidable opponent, and his fireballs begin to wear Mothra down. As he nears death, Lora's song gives him strength. He paralyzes Ghidorah with Excel Shining Field Rainbow powder, then carries him into the active Mt. Fuji. In the present, Ghidorah and the dome both vanish. As Lora and Belvera mourn Moll, three Primitive Mothra larvae come upon the fallen Mothra and cocoon him. Suddenly, King Ghidorah bursts out of a meteor in the present again, having regrown his body from the tail Mothra shot off. The Sonodas can only watch as he abducts the children again. With Mothra's whereabouts unknown, Lora and Belvera battle Ghidorah themselves on Fairy. As they do, Mothra's cocoon bursts out of a hillside and opens to reveal his new form: Armor Mothra. Ghidorah is completely outmatched: his Gravity Beams have no effect and Mothra even drops him to the ground with a ram. After slicing one of his wings off, Mothra energizes himself and flies through Ghidorah, causing him to crystalize and explode.
Godzilla: The Series
"Future Shock"
To be added.
Reiwa era
GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters
To be added.
Godziban
To be added.
Godzilla Singular Point
To be added.
Monsterverse
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
To be added.
Video games
- Gamera: The Time Adventure (1995) - Bandai Playdia
Comics
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) - Shogakukan
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) - Rippu Shobo
- Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1992-1993)
- Godzilla #9-12 (1996)
- Godzilla's Monsterpiece Theatre (2024-2025)
- Mothra: Queen of the Monsters (2025)
Books
See also
Notes
- ↑ Emmy Kano explicitly refers to the Soviet Union in dialogue. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was released on December 14, 1991, mere days before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union. In-universe, this could be seen as Emmy intentionally withholding information, an alternate universe in which the Soviet Union never fell, or a simple continuity error.
References
This is a list of references for Time travel. 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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