Q: Why are some Japanese movies and the monsters in them referred to by more than one title or name?
A: Sometimes the reason is simply a case of differing translation. When converting names from one language to another, different translators sometimes choose different spellings and pronunciations, which results in occasional discrepancies. This explains why the monster Angilas, for example, is also sometimes called "Anguirus." In a few other cases, though, the American distributors who dubbed the films in English seem to have arbitrarily given certain monsters new names. Hence the giant spider called "Kumonga" in the original Japanese version of Son of Godzilla was rechristened "Spiga" in the American release of the movie. Likewise, distributors often retitled the films, often for marketing reasons. According to some sources, the American release of Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) was retitled "Godzilla vs. the Thing" to fool viewers into believing it featured the same monster as the scifi classic The Thing. Occasionally, the films were retitled for legal reasons. Godzilla Raids Again reportedly had to be renamed "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" because another distributor owned rights to the name "Godzilla" in America at the time. Most frequently, though, distributors renamed a film simply because a literal translation of the original Japanese title didn't seem appropriate for western sensibilities. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Ebirah, Horror of the Deep are one and the same film, for example, but only die hard fans would recoginze the movie's original Japanese title, which translates into something like "Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Sea" -- quite a mouthfull to fit on a theater marquee!
Q: What do fans mean when they refer to "Shodai-Goji," Bio-Goji," and so forth?
A: Throughout the history of Godzilla films, the suits used to portray the monster have undergone quite a few changes. Certain names have become attached to specific suits in order to better identify them. For a complete listing of all the suits used in the Godzilla films, check the "Godzilla Suits" table in the DaiKaijuEiga database at YahooGroups. To do so, click here to go to the YahooGroups site then click on "My Groups" and "DaiKaijuEiga." Click on "Database" from the menu to the left, then click on the folder marked "Godzilla Suits."
