The 'non-era' era?

[lhb412]

The Showa, Heisei, and Millennium eras of Godzilla movies are defined clearly by things like continuity, staff, designs and the like, as well as the fact that they were turned out regularly with the usual one-a-year pace. They stand out so clearly in the minds of us fans that we tend to think of the entire genre as adhering to those divides, even if, if you think about it, in terms of the genre as a whole the Heisei and Millennium eras are really one big era when kaiju movies were produced fairly consistently for about 20 years (the Heisei Godzilla movies, Yamato Takeru, The Gamera Trilogy, The Mothra Trilogy, the Millennium Godzilla movies and ending with Gamera the Brave).

But now I feel like Toho's era of consistent eras is over. Both Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: Monster Planet strike me as similar approaches: established talent in charge, radically reinventing Godzilla. What if this is the new normal, and an ongoing Godzilla series building on the same continuity with the traditional format of Godzilla taking on successive opponents a thing of the past? ... at least in Toho's case, because that's exactly what Legendary's MonsterVerse films are doing for a world audience, including Japan (and fulfilling Toho's decades-long dreams of concurrent foreign and domestic Godzilla movies).

Instead of an ongoing series, each Toho Godzilla project may be conceived as a self-contained project, and after following a live action movie with an anime trilogy I'd say every factor could be in flux for future Toho Godzillas. Maybe the next Toho Godzilla won't even be theatrical, but a TV drama? Personally, I find this approach pretty exciting. I don't think the Heisei series being continuity heavy really added too much, and the Millennium series' goal of no continuity done-in-ones was a bust because the movies tended to not take advantage of the freedom. Really, aside from GMK how easy would it have been to make the rest of those movies in the same (loose) continuity?

[Benjamin Haines]

You make a lot of good points. I want to expand on this one in particular:

I don't think the Heisei series being continuity heavy really added too much, and the Millennium series' goal of no continuity done-in-ones was a bust because the movies tended to not take advantage of the freedom. Really, aside from GMK how easy would it have been to make the rest of those movies in the same (loose) continuity?

This is absolutely true. I remember when Godzilla vs. Megaguirus was the newest movie and Toho made it clear that their plan for the Millennium Series was to make it an anthology of one-off, 'alternate universe' stories. The whole point was to give each new film the same storytelling freedom as The Return of Godzilla in 1984, using the original film as a foundation while ignoring all subsequent entries. They really didn't take advantage of that narrative freedom though, because like you said, it would not have taken much rewriting to work the premises of Godzilla 2000, Megaguirus, Mechagodzilla, Tokyo SOS, and Final Wars into one ongoing, Showa-style continuity. GMK really was the only one that carved out its own distinct mythology for Godzilla.

I think that if we look at the current Godzilla franchise output as a whole, what we're seeing right now is an actual, legitimate series of 'alternate universe' Godzilla movies. It's a series that consists of three distinct 'universes' of Godzilla movies (so far), each produced by a different team of studios.

2014 - Godzilla produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
2016 - Shin Godzilla produced by Toho and Cine Bazar
2017 - Godzilla: Monster Planet produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures
2019 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
2020 - Godzilla vs. Kong produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
20XX - Godzilla: Monster Planet 2 produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures
20XX - Godzilla: Monster Planet 3 produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures

Unlike the Millennium Series, which left each distinct continuity behind for good when it moved on to the next one, this new 'alternate universes' series has us weaving in and out of the various continuities depending on the year. It's awesome, and we're just getting started!

[lhb412]

I think that if we look at the current Godzilla franchise output as a whole, what we're seeing right now is an actual, legitimate series of 'alternate universe' Godzilla movies. It's a series that consists of three distinct 'universes' of Godzilla movies (so far), each produced by a different team of studios.

2014 - Godzilla produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
2016 - Shin Godzilla produced by Toho and Cine Bazar
2017 - Godzilla: Monster Planet produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures
2019 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
2020 - Godzilla vs. Kong produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.
20XX - Godzilla: Monster Planet 2 produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures
20XX - Godzilla: Monster Planet 3 produced by Toho and Polygon Pictures

Unlike the Millennium Series, which left each distinct continuity behind for good when it moved on to the next one, this new 'alternate universes' series has us weaving in and out of the various continuities depending on the year. It's awesome, and we're just getting started!

I suppose we'll know to just what extent we'll be weaving when we find out the schedule that the three animated films will be released. If they come out one a year then the third film will come out between King of the Monsters and vs. Kong, or maybe the schedule will be more compressed?

[Benjamin Haines]

I suppose we'll know to just what extent we'll be weaving when we find out the schedule that the three animated films will be released. If they come out one a year then the third film will come out between King of the Monsters and vs. Kong, or maybe the schedule will be more compressed?

It would be cool if the anime entries were released annually. Then we'd get a new Godzilla film in 2018, while 2019 would see the release of two new Godzilla movies in the same year for the first time since 1964.

Hell, in that scenario, we'll have lived through the same number of new Godzilla releases from 2014 to 2020 as the Japanese did from 1962 to 1968. These really are the good old days in our lifetimes.

[angilas]

In light of benjamin haine's post, how about dubbing it "the int'l era"? The constant back and forth beginning with Godzilla '14 might not be the first time we've had a western studio with rights to Goji, but Tristar made GINO which was literally GINO. AU kinda harkens back to millenium a bit too much, but here its something else. And having just seen skull island, im excited for both east and west franchises.

[lhb412]

^'International Era' does do the job, and is appropriately descriptive. I was thinking the 'PacRim Era,' which basically describes the same thing in a roundabout sort of way.

In truth, these things typically gain their names years after, right? The Heisei era just happened to coincide with the broader cultural moment of the change from Showa to Heisei and didn't Toho dub the Millennium era that from the get-go?

[Jorzilla]

International Era is too wordy. 5 syllables, Millennium was already a mouthful.

My vote is Revival Series. As people have pointed out, we are basically in a kaiju Renaissance.

[Mac]

My vote is Revival Series. As people have pointed out, we are basically in a kaiju Renaissance.

No, because this is just embarrassing. El Greco and Luca Pacioli led the actual "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" Renaissance. We have Michael Dougherty. Honestly, all of tentative Godzilla projects (whether it be the American films, Animated, or Shin 2) have more working against them than for them at this point.

We should probably just be lucky we got Shin Godzilla.

[lhb412]

No, because this is just embarrassing. El Greco and Luca Pacioli led the actual "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" Renaissance.

Those are fake names. The Renaissance was started by real Italians:

[Benjamin Haines]

We could just do what we did with the last series and call this one the Shinsei Series until it gets an official name.

[lhb412]

^Huh, I just had an Obi Wan "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time..." moment. I vaguely recall folks calling the series that in the early going.

Of course the Heisei series had an alternate name in the "vs. series."

[lhb412]

Hmmmm.... if the anime films are released every November in '17, '18, '19 and Toho does the Japanese releases King of the Monsters and vs. Kong in spring/summer '19 and '20 when do y'all think the best spot for a new, Japanese live action Godzilla film would be? I reckon near the end of '20 would be the soonest.

[MekaGojira3k]

I've been calling it Resurgence or Revival Era simply because of the sheer output/reception and it being flanked by Kaiju-homages in the form of things like Pacific Rim or Colossal.

[tbeasley]

I don't think there's any use forcing them all under the same umbrella, Shin is its own separate thing, same for the MonsterVerse and Monster Planet. We'll just have to see if Toho does a proper continuation of Shin or not.

[Geno]

The Era-That-So-Far-Doesn't-Have-Any-Embarrassingly-Bad-Movies era.

[lhb412]

^We're batting pretty good so far, aren't we?

[Geno]

^We're batting pretty good so far, aren't we?

Godzilla 2014 is ok but Shin Godzilla is easily the best Godzilla movie, since what, the 60's? There isn't really a bad movie so far. Hoping the anime trilogy doesn't screw things up.

[jellydonut25]

Godzilla 2014 is ok but Shin Godzilla is easily the best Godzilla movie, since what, the 60's?

I'd call it the best movie since 2014, by virtue of being the only movie since then.

[XvGojira]

Before the Animated movie turned trilogy was announced I liked to call it the Dual-era for having dual Godzilla series (US and Japanese). But now with three I think something like Multi-Era (or maybe Tri-Era if a fourth series doesn't pop up from somewhere).

[DannyBeane]

I don't think we even need eras anymore or at least we can name them once we realize they are over.