Snowden's Water Cooler

[Snowdenzilla]

Sounds like film school stuff to me- there's so much variance across the board. I don't believe in the concept of "professional readers" being out to get people- it's in the best interest of their career to identify scripts that are quality. Being vindictive and gleefully trashing scripts for a format technicality doesn't seem like a practice that would serve them well.

For me, an "amateurish" script is one that can't help but read like a novel. This script is very succinct. I agree that there's some odd use of capitalization- it seems that sentences sometimes end just to allow for further capitalization of points, but I chalk that up to style.

I would imagine that it went through more refinement in subsequent revisions by Darabont, but I'm not actually familiar with either Borenstein or Callahan's (he's the name on this draft, btw) repertoire. Perhaps one of them has a background in some other medium. In any case, with it being an early draft--- it doesn't really surprise me that it isn't the most refined screenplay out there, but I've absolutely read finished scripts that were sloppier.

[Ernesth100]

[QBASS]

hey snowden,anything in the script that has military shooting weapons in G's Eyes,nose,mouth? just wanna make sure "realism" critics ca,nt hollar why military didn,t end things quickly by doing so.

[Gyaos1965]

[Gorjira54]

How? Looks fine to me. Now I really want to Photoshop the snout so its super long

[metal_bryan]

The only thing I'm unsure of is that ringlike scale structure. Reminds me too much of an iguana. I can't help but think it's some kind of hilarious nod to GINO by the designer that I just don't find all that hilarious.

[Ernesth100]

I think people are comparing this too much to gino.

[Gorjira54]

Agreed

[metal_bryan]

To be honest, I have stayed away from discussions about the design, so any resemblance to popular complaints is purely coincidental.

Just because a lot of people might find ways to compare it to GINO doesn't mean it looks like GINO. It clearly does not and I wasn't saying that it does. I was saying that it looks like an iguana in that aspect.

[junkerde]

[Ernesth100]

Well does it truly make much of a difference?

[junkerde]

no because he looks badass this way

[Gorjira54]

^^^^^^^^^^

[Ernesth100]

Whats that white onhis nose?

[QBASS]

[pikmintaro]

Well it's originally a very small picture that was already pixelated and low quality, so making it larger only furthered the effect.

[Gyaos1965]

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

^

You're crazy. I see nothing from Zilla on it at all. It looks like a redesigned 84 Godzilla with modern elements.

[Snowdenzilla]

I can absolutely see the Gino parallels.

The neck looks straight up lifted from that design--- and I don't really care.

The overall vibe that I get from this design is from the 84 Godzilla... And I like that a lot.

[Gorjira54]

Hey how do I post a picture?

[jellydonut25]

[Diablojira]

I have some plot speculations based on the fragments Snowdenzilla has released from the script draft and other information we've gotten officially. There was a mention of the female MUTO "nesting" in San Francisco. The ancient MUTOs needed the "Jiras" to gestate their eggs since they were a natural nuclear energy source. The draft has one of the frozen "fossil" MUTO eggs hatched at a Hokkaido nuclear power plant (the male "Hokmuto"), so these arthropods need the energy, not the flesh of the "Jiras." Many insect species lay eggs in stunned host bodies so that the flesh feeds their emerging young, but these creatures apparently seek the energy alone, which is why the male was successfully hatched through human intervention at the nuclear plant without a living host, then being fed pure plutonium until his escape. We have not yet heard from whence the female MUTO comes. It makes me suspect that these MUTOs, being naturally sensitive to nuclear energy sources, would now find the nuclear power plants and warheads produced by humans to be very attractive, since these are new to their experience. They might even investigate the still radioactive atomic bomb test sites—the Nevada Proving Ground is 65 miles NW of Las Vegas, hence the possible reason why there is a scene of a MUTO passing through Vegas, going to or from that site. If nesting were a MUTO goal (and they would surely be biologically driven to reproduce), then either doing so at a power plant (Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo could be a logical choice) or collecting nuclear warheads would be actions expected of the MUTOs so that their eggs can hatch.

During the film shoot, locals shot images of scenes of the military transporting nukes on a train, along with a crashed helicopter. So, if it were the MUTOs who raided the train and possibly gathered one or more warheads for a nest in San Francisco, then perhaps the reason why we see HALO jumpers headed into the furious battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs would be for the soldiers to disarm the warhead(s) placed in the nest which could be intended as the energy source to hatch a new brood of MUTOs. San Francisco is devastated by the daikaiju battle, we see the city in flames in the teaser trailer, but we don't know if it has been completely evacuated during this conflict. Preventing the warheads from detonation would save what is left of that city, anyone trapped in it, as well as prevent more MUTOs from coming into being. That's a strong motivation for such a seemingly desperate military action. In the draft Ford has a sister but in later revisions she is his wife, so it would be likely that she is near the scene of this conflict, endangered by the outcome.

I'd posit that the warhead disarming succeeds, at a heavy cost to the soldiers involved in the mission (perhaps some self-sacrifice involved, as was done in the original 1954 film?) and Godzilla himself defeats both MUTOs in combat as well as destroying their eggs. He could use his napalm breath to blast the eggs if the FemMuto had already laid them, or possibly she has not yet produced the eggs so having Godzilla rip them from her carcass in a way reminiscent to the end of Hedorah, then crushing or roasting them with his breath would be a fine way to proceed. This makes Godzilla a sort of "hero," rebalancing nature after Man's foolishness in his releasing the MUTOs. Godzilla survives and remains as a warning that we should not tamper so foolishly with the natural order. He can then return to the ocean deeps, where he had remained since he was first encountered in the 1950s (until "called" by the MUTOs in this time), a part of nature that we must both fear and respect. So many Toho films ended that way, so it would fit classic Godzilla lore. He then waits in the ocean abyss until we get a sequel with a new reason for why he must come back to the surface to haunt and punish the species that rules the land that may not yet have learned their lesson.

To maintain the tone of the original 1954 film, I would think a major character will sacrifice himself. It seems that elder Ford's wife dies at the plant when the Hokmuto escapes. That estranges him from his son and his wife (sister in the draft) since he is the plant's designer and so appears responsible. Will elder Ford sacrifice himself? American's tend to want some sort of happy ending, so I tend to think not. In the draft we have the Japanese scientist Honda (named after the great director) who is likely renamed Serizawa (for obvious reasons) in the final draft. What might be his purpose? He is perhaps overseeing the hatching and study of the MUTO egg. If the MUTOs are a greater threat to humanity than Godzilla, then Serizawa may be responsible for that threat in the modern world. The Serizawa of the original feared his Oxygen Destroyer was more dangerous that the consequences of nuclear armaments (including Godzilla arising), so having the Serizawa (Honda) in this film see terrible consequences from his research would be an interesting permutation. Would he sacrifice himself, possibly to save either Ford scientist senior or his soldier son? If so, there could then be a family reunion at film's end. I expect that Darabont polished the human relationships and added poignancy. I'm trying to pull ideas together from the draft, the trailer, the posters, the behind-the-scenes snapshots and so on to figure a likely arc to this film.

So, Snowdenzilla, does the draft you have play out somewhat like I am imagining?

[Ernesth100]

Anyone hoping for an after credits scene of some sort?

[Bluejira]

I would like to see a post credit scene going back to the frozen carcasses.
They missed something. Another corpse of a kaiju who is known to eat giant insects.

[GoDziLLaX]