Godzilla (2014) Part Three (NON-SPOILER DISCUSSION)

[Benjamin Haines]

[MouthForWar]

[Gman2887]

[Legion]

[jellydonut25]

[jellydonut25]

[Gman2887]

I'm having flashbacks to September of 2000 on this same forum where people argued whether or not the Mire-Goji was the true Godzilla. History loves repeating itself.

EDIT: To clarify, Jorzilla, that isn't a dig at you but an observation of the conversation as a whole. I've simply seen this episode before.

[BrollySupersj]

I saw this edit at TohoKingdom. I think it looks great.

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/5655/wfet.jpg

[XvGojira]

[MekaGojira3k]

[MouthForWar]

[Legion]

If no Toho version of Godzilla across 50 years ever had a particular design element, it doesn't belong on Godzilla.

Period. End of story.

Adding something like gills to a new made-in-America Godzilla in order to "explain" certain aspects of the monster's physiology that really don't need to be explained is asinine. I don't believe for a second that Toho would EVER put gills (or something equally stupid like webbed fingers) on ANY new Godzilla design. So as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't need to be on this design either.

That said, I don't hate the new design. I just think the gills are effin' stupid.

[lhb412]

You know what else would be cool?

A second set of eyelids, you know, kinda transparent so he could see through them when there's heavy debris and such in air or in water.

I also like the varied texture on Godzilla's body. Since CGI will allow more texture and detail than ever before and will allow us to get 'closer' to him than ever before. It makes sense to have more visual information.

... and I really hope that the gills are used for ventilation for the radioactive breath, with smoke shooting out when Godzilla fires it up!

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

^There was a mass suicide of Godzilla fans in 1989.

[MouthForWar]

[lhb412]

[Legion]

I still think adding GILLS is very different than no pupils or changing the color of the atomic breath or skin. It's unnecessary, and to me it's typical of Hollywood's idiotic knack for trying to explain something that doesn't need to be explained.

[MouthForWar]

[jellydonut25]

[walshiam]

[Psycho Soldier]

I think I get where Legion is coming from. Changing something like the skin or atomic breath colour is purely cosmetic, but gills are supposed to serve a practical function. For how implausible Godzilla already is, is it worth trying to introduce this degree of realism? Depends who you ask. Sometimes there's no point in reconciling fantasy with science. I never thought before now that Godzilla needed his underwater breathing to be explained. Still, it wouldn't 't bother me if they gave it a shot. Pseudoscience is a hallmark of kaiju eiga, isn't it?

[MouthForWar]

/\ That's exactly what I'm saying.

Godzilla movies (especially post-Showa) have gone out of their way plenty of times to explain how a certain monster functions... sometimes in a silly amount of detail. That's kind of what dragged some of the Heisei/Millennium films down for me in certain aspects.

So Godzilla having gills (which in all likelihood won't even be mentioned in the movie) doesn't really venture into "over explaining the monster" territory for me.

That's why saying "This is Hollywood just trying to explain every little thing" doesn't work for me. The Toho films have done stuff like this with their monsters... I mean, they even did it with Godzilla when they totally rewrote his biology by having him function with a second brain and all that nonsense. Or him being attracted to bird sounds (which I still don't get). Those are TOTALLY changes that are made to explain the character's behavior and how he functions as a living creature and I don't see how this is a change any bigger than than those. And I don't recall fans losing their minds over those changes either. The Japanese movies changed things about Godzilla's appearance and biology on a regular basis... sometimes things stuck and sometimes they didn't, but the character has changed tons over time.

I hate to sound so dismissive, but I feel like if this were a Japanese film that featured Godzilla with gills, nobody would say anything. Just like I feel that if America had made Godzilla 2000, fans would have gone insane about the purple spines, green skin, orange breath, etc.

One of the most beloved Godzilla films is one where he's possessed by dead spirits... yet, giving him gills sends some people over the edge. I don't get it and I won't pretend to get it. I just feel like there are a lot of double standards going on (which is evidenced by the amount of "But Godzilla's own creators made that change"-type of comments made both here and on other websites).

[Jorzilla]

I am totally turned off to all of these suggestions so far. It sounds like you are guys really are suggesting that Godzilla should be a giant version of Gill-Man or Abe Sapien with spines and a tail, because hey, Godzilla lives in the water so its a natural progression!

This has nothing to do with it being an American production. The criticism would still stand if it was Japanese or not, so don't try to use that as a way to erode our position in this matter.

[Benjamin Haines]

At the end of the day, the whole gills debate is really moot. It all comes down to personal taste.

Me myself, I don't mind the addition of gills on Godzilla's neck at all. I actually think it's a really cool little detail to have in there. Godzilla has had so many particular traits added and subtracted from his ever-changing appearance over the years that it's really just business as usual at this point.

Personally, the one design element that I've never liked on Godzilla above all others is the cobra frill on his neck. I think it just looks dumb, and since every Godzilla design to sport that quirk has been a suit I think it just draws attention to the fact that the suit can't turn its neck like a living creature. And you know what's funny? The cobra frill was first introduced with the Miregoji suit in Godzilla 2000, and that's one of my favorite Godzilla suits of the entire pantheon. Sure, it's got one trait that I don't like, but that doesn't stop the overall appearance from looking cool as hell in my eyes. As long as it's not something that screams "THIS IS NOT GODZILLA" then it's not a deal-breaker for me, and the cobra frill certainly doesn't do that. Neither do the gills, in my humble opinion.

As long as he's a mutant dinosaur with scaly skin, an upright stance, jagged dorsal fins and atomic fire breath, then he's got the Godzilla look down as far as I'm concerned. The details therein are subject to personal taste. GINO'98 couldn't even hit those signature qualities but this Legendary Godzilla certainly does, and I think that's something we fans should be thankful for.

Holy "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", there's a new Godzilla movie coming out in eight months. This is such an exciting time to be a G-fan!