As any self respecting Godzimaniac can quickly point
out, the various suits used to depict Godzilla in his lengthy career have
never been exactly the same, resulting in sometimes drastic changes in his
physical appearance throughout the series (for a run down on the different
Godzilla suits see Robert Biondi's "
Evolution of Godzilla").
The reasons for this are simple enough: the special effects department at
Toho trying out variations on an idea, seeing what works and what doesn't.
Many times the way the kaiju turns out is determined by a need to achieve
something in the film's plot or cater to the picture's tone. For example,
Son of Godzilla featured a suit that was purposely made to resemble
an adult Minya and Godzilla
vs Megalon gave us a kaiju made to look
cute for its kiddie audience.
Not to suggest there aren't guidelines that have been followed in all Godzilla's
incarnations. He always has the basic shape of a carnosaur dinosaur, his tail
is always segmented, he always has a thumb and three fingers on each hand.
He always has at least one row of dorsal plates, his eyebrow/nose structure
always follows the same basic pattern, the voice changes only slightly, the
skin pattern stays the same, and his color remains a shade of gray with occasional
tinges of blue, brown, olive drab and, yes, green. Things which have been
known to change include visible ears, fangs, the number of toes, eye color,
the number of rows of dorsal plates, the number of rows of teeth, and muscular
structure and build. All these and other attributes come and go at the whim
of the production staff.
But putting aside this knowledge and putting on our "willing suspension
of disbelief" caps, we now can come up with a theory in the context of the
films as to why Godzilla keeps changing. The most plausible theory can be
inferred from Godzilla
vs. BioIlante where we learn that Godzilla's
cells are constantly regenerating. This explains why he is invulnerable to
military attack. Besides having an extremely thick hide, the power of his
juiced up immune and healing systems makes any damage he does sustain short
lived and quickly repaired. The concept of regeneration also plays
an important role in the excellent sci-fi show
Doctor Who. Regeneration
is a characteristic of that show's title character and his race, the Time
Lords. This ability, which is used to prevent premature death, causes Time
Lords to change shape into what anyone unfamiliar with the process would
deem a completely different person. Time Lords can regenerate up to twelve
times before death.
Perhaps Godzilla's cell regeneration works in the same way, causing his
shape to change physically as well. However, unlike the Doctor, who changes
periodically, Godzilla is always changing. He is in a state of constant regeneration,
possibly immortal. His brief "death" in
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
can be accounted for by the possibility that the neurons in Godzilla's body
regenerate more slowly than his other tissues because of their complexity.
Perhaps Godzilla could have recovered by himself given enough time. In
fact, the radiation inherent in Rodan's body was enough to fuel a much faster
recovery. For a brief period after a Time Lord changes, he experiences
bouts of both physical and mental instability. If we carry this idea over
to the kaiju mythos, it may explain one of Toho's greatest areas of inconsistency,
Godzilla's vulnerability to electricity. In both
King Kong vs. Godzilla
and
Godzilla vs The Thing, electrical voltage is shown to be something
that can effectively subdue the monster. However, in
Godzilla King of
the Monsters and
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, it seems to have
no effect at all. In deed, in
Godzilla vs The Cosmic Monster, lightning
seems to "heal" him. If we look at a Time Lord's period of instability following
regeneration, we could conclude that Godzilla has a similar period of vulnerability,.
Perhaps in both Kong and Thing, he was attacked with electricity soon
enough after changing shape that it could be effective. But why would electricity
be the only thing that could hinder him during his instability period? Maybe
because it is a method which directly attacks his nervous system. Other forms
of military bombardment would still be unable to cause him harm because of
his continued cell regeneration. As stated before, the nerve cells probably
take longer to heal than the rest of his body. Until his new matrix settles
in, his nervous system may be as vulnerable as any other animal's.
This idea of instability periods may seem contradictory to the previous
mention of Godzilla being in a constant state of regeneration. If he's always
changing, then isn't he always susceptible? Not really. There seem to be
two phases of Godzilla's cell regeneration; one in which he remains the same
shape but his cells continue to multiply at an astounding rate, and one in
which his body actually transforms. It is after the transformation
phase that Godzilla's neurons are vulnerable to electrical attack. What,
triggers the transformation phase? As stated before, Time Lords regenerate
to avoid premature death when their bodies are put under too much strain.
It is probable that Godzilla regenerates after sustaining too much damage,
either from military attack, battle with another monster, or as in
Gigantis
the Fire Monster, being buried under tons of ice. In
Godzilla vs Mothra,
Godzilla appeared to be exactly the same coming out of the earth's magma
as he did before he and Battra entered it. This may be because any regeneration
that occurred was either minimal or a fluke resulting in a similar appearance.
Maybe it wasn't sever enough to cause Godzilla to change. Before falling
into the magma the only damage he suffered was insufficient in battle with
Battra. Perhaps it would have required a more prolonged attack against his
body combined with the heat of the lava, as happened at the end of
Godzilla
1985 and resulted in the form seen at the beginning of Biollante.
As stated before, the destruction of Godzilla's neural tissue in Mechagodzilla
would take longer to heal than other parts of his physiognomy, and as such
may have delayed the regeneration process. So why didn't he change shape when
Rodan's radioactivity "revived" him? The answer may be the same as the fluke
hypothesis mentioned above for Mothra, or perhaps the boost of energy originating
from another creature would simply revive the shape Godzilla already held,
not change it. There was, of course, an obvious difference in the color
of Godzilla's ray. Maybe that is the only form of metamorphosis this type
of parasitic (I use the term in reference to one creature drawing strength
from another, be it dead or alive) regeneration can inspire. It is interesting
here to note that Rodan also regenerated, changing only in color, after absorbing
the energy of Godzilla's atomic breath.
The question now becomes: how did Godzilla achieve this transformation ability?
Obviously, it has something to do with radioactive mutation. But why should
it affect him in this way? Perhaps the radioactivity mutated a natural ability
inherent in the Godzillasaurus. More than one species of animal have limited
powers of regeneration. For instance, some lizards can grow back new tails
after losing an old one to an attack by a predator, allowing them to flee.
The Godzillasaurus may have had similar physical properties. It's hard to
imagine what would dare chase one, but it may have been a property that came
in useful for the young of the species. Even if this power was only in the
adult Godzillasaurus, its pattern would remain in the DNA. The radioactivity
could have affected Godzilla's genes in such a way that the ability was re-triggered
and mutated into the trait described thus far.
The power to regenerate could also well explain the monster that destroyed
Tokyo in 1954 being the same one that appears in 1984 (following timeline
#2). Many of Godzilla's genetic material remained after the attack of
the Oxygen Destroyer, then slowly but surely it could have grown into a new
kaiju, maybe not the same, but at least a clone of the original. This sort
of rebirth would require a catalyst to act upon the remaining cells, radioactive
waste perhaps. Naturally, by the time the cells have finally formed a new
monster, it has regenerated into a new shape.
The need for a catalyst explains why there aren't hundreds of Godzillas
running around every time a piece of his flesh is blown off; these cells
found nothing to trigger the regeneration process. However, any of these
pieces of Godzilla has the potential of forming a new monster if exposed
to radiation or otherwise tampered with, like Biollante. There is even a
less likely possibility that this also happened in Time Line # 1 and that
the creature in Gigantis is the same as the original Godzilla. The second
possibility is a little harder to swallow, requiring the monster to be born
again in so short a span of time.
It is interesting to note that radiation is known to cause cancer, a condition
wherein a person's ratio of tissue cell multiplication is upset, resulting
in the new cells multiplying faster than the old ones die, creating tumors
or growths. Godzilla may be looked at as having a form of benevolent cancer.
His cells multiply extremely fast, but the ratio of cell death/division is
kept constant. It is the natural regeneration trait of the Godzillasaurus
that keeps this cancer in check. Another theory regarding Godzilla's
physical metamorphosis could be that they are natural stages of growth for
his species. In Time Line # 1 we are never introduced to the Godzillasaur,
so we might assume that Godzilla and his kind have always looked as they do,
and that the changes in his appearance represent different phases of his
life. It is equally possible that the truth could be a combination of both
theories; perhaps the radiation mutated what were natural growth stages of
the Godzillasaurus.
One problem with all these hypotheses arises in
Destroy All Monsters.
Godzilla is there shown to have a physical appearance resembling the same
as many years earlier in
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and
Godzilla
On Monster Island (yes, I know it's because the movies were made right
after each other using the slime suit, but we're still in the context of the
films). If we go by the regeneration theory, we might suggest the different
forms are not infinite, and after a certain number of regeneration's Godzilla
may change into a shape he held previously. If we go by the growth stage theory
or a combination of both, we might assume some of the later growth phases
resemble the earlier ones; or perhaps earlier phases may recur later in life.
One may even suggest that the Godzilla in
Destroy All Monsters is
actually an adult Minya, and that the Minya in the film is an entirely new
infant monster. It is, after all, quite a long time for Minya to not have
matured since
Son of Godzilla.
Well, here we are, at the end of the article and all out of theories; unless,
of course, some of you out there have other possibilities in mind. So until
another kaijuologist decides to offer up his own two cents, I recommend my
theory of regeneration to account for Godzilla's changing appearance throughout
the years.
Article © 1995 Michael Keller.