Godzilla: KOTM Easter Eggs & REferences

[canofhumdingers]

It's really really buried in the sound mix but there were definitely two times you could very subtly hear Ghidorah's classic cackle in his sound effects. But that classic flying effect as he approaches Fenway park is quite plainly audible, just brief.

[GFan]

Another Easter egg...

When King Ghidorah gets hit with Godzilla's breath as he's about to get MBB at Fenway. It's a nod to when Titanosaurs gets hit/Godzilla makes his appearance in ToMG!

[Benjamin Haines]

Another Easter egg...

When King Ghidorah gets hit with Godzilla's breath when he's about to get MBB at Fenway is a nod to TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA when Titanosaurs gets hit/Godzilla makes his appearance!

Nice catch! That scene doubles as a nod to Godzilla's second entrance in ToMG when Titanosaurus is attacking those two kids.

-- The young Japanese scientist

She's Chinese and definitely a very "make the movie more appealing to China" part of the movie. They kill off Sally Hawkins to replace her with a character who's essentially the exact same character but...Chinese....so China will care more and go see it more.

She's also twins: the one on the Goteng... uh, whatever the ship is called and the one who witnesses the Mothra cocoon emergence. Part of subsequent generations of twins in a family who've worked for Monarch and apparently this continuity's version of the Shobijin.

Which is why Zhang Ziyi should star in a Mothra solo film!

Between the headline in the end credits musing whether a newly discovered giant egg might be Mothra's and the fact that Ziyi Zhang is among the cast of Godzilla vs. Kong, I wonder if we might see the next generation of Mothra in that film. Maybe we'll get a recreation of the monster talk scene from Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster with Mothra convincing Kong and Godzilla to join forces against whatever the eco-terrorists cook up with that severed Ghidorah head.

NSFW:

Spoiler Below:

Hey. Can we like...kinda sorta talk about this for a second?

I get that it was just a jokey joke moment but like...the implication here from this dumb throwaway joke is that when the team comes across the sub in the jungle, it's covered not in saliva, but in semen....right? Like, Godzilla 2014 now features prominent kaiju penises, vaginas, semen, and Godzilla sexually assaulting a creature to death....

...right? (tongue in cheek...but also... right?)

Yes indeed, that is right. It makes sense that the MUTOs' genitals would be in their snouts since that's really the only bit of intimate physical contact that happens between the male and the female before he flies off and she lays her eggs.

[tbeasley]

I don't think much thought was put into the Muto lifecycle, and the censoring in KOTM was simply a joke. There are quite a few monster related sex jokes in the movie anyway.

I just assumed either A) the male Muto is sterile, simply providing nuclear material (dead monsters in the past, nukes in the present) for the female to sustain her already fertilized eggs or B) the male provides nuclear material to get the party started, the female deposits her eggs, which the male then fertilizes (similar to how fish spawn externally and all that).

[jellydonut25]

I don't think much thought was put into the Muto lifecycle, and the censoring in KOTM was simply a joke. There are quite a few monster related sex jokes in the movie anyway.

I just assumed either A) the male Muto is sterile, simply providing nuclear material (dead monsters in the past, nukes in the present) for the female to sustain her already fertilized eggs or B) the male provides nuclear material to get the party started, the female deposits her eggs, which the male then fertilizes (similar to how fish spawn externally and all that).

It's obviously just a joke, and it's obvious that nobody put any thought into beyond just beyond a dumb joke, because well...that's the level of thought that went into ANYTHING in the script.

But it's just amusing to me. When the team find the submarine all covered in "saliva" in 2014 now, I'm definitely going to laugh as I'll be thinking that thanks to Michael Dougherty, it's probably not actually saliva anymore.

[Benjamin Haines]

Rewatching the movie now, I noticed that it features a shot of a destroyed passenger train from Gareth Edwards' original Godzilla test footage. Edwards produced that footage as part of his pitch to get Warner Bros. to hire him as the reboot's director and now that shot of the wrecked train is used to depict Cairo, Egypt in the sequel.

Gareth Edwards' Godzilla test footage:


Godzilla: King of the Monsters:

How many Easter Eggs and references to other G films did you catch? Here's what I caught:

-- Protester outside the White House TV clip carrying a poster saying "Destroy All Monsters."

The Monarch base Rodan erupted from was 56 which was the same year Rodan came out.

Rodan at Outpost 56, Godzilla at Outpost 54, Mothra at Outpost 61, and Kong at Outpost 33!

It’s fleeting, but during the buildup just prior to Ghidorah landing at Fenway Park you can clearly hear his classic flying sound effect.

Listening to it closely, I can definitely hear it in the background of this shot of Madison, at the 1:40:32 mark:




Also, you can definitely hear one of Ghidorah's Heisei snarls when he chomps at Godzilla in this exact shot from the Boston battle, at the 1:45:20 mark:

[H-Man]

^ There are other shots from the G14 "teaser" that were repurposed in this film.

https://astoundingbeyondbelief.tumblr.c ... ck-footage

[mr.negativity]

Screen Rant:
Yes, That Was Anguirus In Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

[lhb412]

I mentioned this on another thread, but the 'if the walls and stones could speak' line Whitford says is a reference to a similar line from GMK. When pointed out on twitter Dougherty called it one of the more obscure references in the film.

[canofhumdingers]

Yep, Ben, that was exactly the spot I meant for hearing the classic flying sound effect!

That Angilas Easter egg is awesome! I’d never have spotted that on my own. You pretty much have to pause and step-frame the image to really see him, but he’s right there!

[Rodanex]

Screens at the Monarch base show that they have Maser Turrets (really wish they could have shown them)
Mothra directing energy down at the ocean to heal Godzilla is a bit reminiscent of her creating the magical seal around Godzilla at the end of Godzilla vs Mothra

[XvGojira]

Screens at the Monarch base show that they have Maser Turrets (really wish they could have shown them)
Mothra directing energy down at the ocean to heal Godzilla is a bit reminiscent of her creating the magical seal around Godzilla at the end of Godzilla vs Mothra

I don't really see that as Mothra healing Godzilla, just more of her finding the best place to communicate with him. Like trying to find good cellphone signal and the humans use that to find Godzilla.

[mr.negativity]

Screen Rant:
King of the Monsters’ Burning Godzilla Has A Cool Mothra Easter Egg

After being horribly burned by Rodan, Mothra gives his life to help a badly wounded Godzilla. After Mothra's life energies flow into Godzilla, Godzilla's body goes through a startling transformation. After taking on a fiery form that's been nicknamed "Burning Godzilla," he resumes his fight with Ghidorah. His body unleashes a gigantic red blast called an atomic pulse that devastates King Ghidorah. Though eagle-eyed fans may have already noticed while watching the theatrical version, one of the special features included in the home video release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, "Godzilla 2.0", draws attention to this scene and reveals a cleverly-inserted Mothra Easter egg.

Godzilla's atomic pulse contains the pattern of Mothra's wings.

Also, the sounds effects that accompany the atomic pulse curiously match the sound of Mothra's cry. Mothra's cry and the pattern of her wings in Godzilla's ultimate attack symbolizes the importance of Mothra's sacrifice. It's also the movie's way of telling audiences that when Godzilla is finishing off King Ghidorah with his atomic pulses, Mothra, in her own way, is helping, too. But her sacrifice doesn't mean she can't return in a future film, seeing as rebirth is a cornerstone of what makes Mothra unique.

[Rodanex]

Screens at the Monarch base show that they have Maser Turrets (really wish they could have shown them)
Mothra directing energy down at the ocean to heal Godzilla is a bit reminiscent of her creating the magical seal around Godzilla at the end of Godzilla vs Mothra

I don't really see that as Mothra healing Godzilla, just more of her finding the best place to communicate with him. Like trying to find good cellphone signal and the humans use that to find Godzilla.

That makes sense. I wasn't really sure what was going on in that scene.

[william newell]

I'm probably reaching here, but the "color palette" of this movie reminded me of "Final Wars". Anyone else get this vibe?

[klen7]

this flick evoked FW to me in a lot of ways

[Benjamin Haines]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is absolutely the Final Wars of American Godzilla movies.

It compiles classic story tropes, monsters, music themes and other elements from the series' history into a unique new blend.

It follows an eclectic ensemble of characters as they travel the planet in a flying warship to cancel the apocalypse.

It prominently features an actor from the other side of the Pacific among its main cast, although he isn't the lead.

It has a director who went for broke and crammed as many ideas and as much action as he could fit into his two-hour Godzilla flick.

It has more monsters than you can shake a stick at wreaking havoc all around the world, with Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah among the co-stars.

It ends with Ghidorah nearly sucking the life out of Godzilla until an ally's power-up enables Godzilla to bounce back and utterly annihilate Ghidorah.

Despite drawing so much inspiration from the series' history, there are a lot of Godzilla fans that hate it.

The heavily saturated color palette is another thing that G:KotM has in common with GFW.

[tbeasley]

^ I see your point(s) but I would say KOTM, while imperfect, is far more coherent and creatively sound than FW. It's the kind of celebratory monster mash FW wishes it were.

I would also say the teal/orange palette brings to mind Mad Max: Fury Road more than the greasy, Michael Bay-ish looking FW.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ I agree that G:KotM is a much better-made film than GFW all-around, although based on the reviews I've read, there are quite a few Godzilla fans who put both films in the bottom of the barrel.

But I think it's a given that the super-saturated color palettes of GFW and G:KotM are chasing the standardized look of Michael Bay's blockbusters just like so many other Hollywood films have in this century.

[william newell]

Thanks Ben, that was a pretty comprehensive list of similarities. Many I had not thought of before. I would be curious to see if fan reaction falls along the same lines. By that, I mean, did fans of "Final Wars" tend to like G:KotM more than those who were not(fans of "Final Wars")?

[Benjamin Haines]

^ I wouldn't be surprised if that tended to be the case. I am in the "dig it" camp for both G:KotM and GFW.