Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

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Tarbosaurus
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Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Tarbosaurus »

I've heard off and on that in an interview sometime in the 1980s, Tomoyuki Tanaka said something along the lines of how the latter Showa era didn't go the way he wanted to in hindsight. I've heard two versions, one which he said something resembling "Making Godzilla a hero in the series was a fatal mistake"; and the other which says "Making Godzilla childish and campy (not necessarily heroic) was a grave mistake".

I've heard a few times from second hand sources about this interview quote though as shown above, they don't necessarily corroborate, they lack citations, and have some dubious backing (one being a Geek.com article which says the 2014 film was Final Wars).

So apparently only thing that seems definite is Tanaka was interviewed, some sources say 1980s but others don't list a time, and it was in context of why the Heisei series was different than the Showa one with Tanaka finding either Godzilla's heroism or the tone being the problem.

I don't doubt Tanaka said something along these lines somewhere, I was just curious if anyone had a source or could shed some light on this.
Last edited by Tarbosaurus on Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Jeez , don't everybody come charging in at once.
For real, interesting! I want to know the truth behind this badly.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Gerdzerl »

I'd like to know more about this as well.

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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Rody »

I feel like I've probably heard this story before, several times, but I don't recall the facts behind it.
I DO know that director Ishiro Honda had reservations about the direction the franchise took.

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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by PRIMEVAL »

This is the first I've heard of this, though I am not really surprised considering Godzilla's darker origins. I wonder how the series would have done if it would have stayed closer to its roots more consistently.

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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by GodzillaBurgh »

Wow, I didn't expect to hear that from Godzilla's actual creator. But, it would make sense seeing how the first two films were serious.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Tarbosaurus »

GodzillaBurgh wrote:Wow, I didn't expect to hear that from Godzilla's actual creator. But, it would make sense seeing how the first two films were serious.
Again though, I've only heard from second-hand sources so it might be he said something along these lines and it got taken out of context. Could also be because some sources say Tanaka was interviewed in the 1980s so it was right on the coattails of 1984 and cusping on Biollante, when one could argue the franchise was dark as it had ever been since the 1950s. It was "in" so to speak.

This isn't me doubting Tanaka said something akin to this, I just lack a source to clarify it. Fandom has been taken offguard by false or altered stories before, like "Godzilla vs. The Devil".
PRIMEVAL wrote:This is the first I've heard of this, though I am not really surprised considering Godzilla's darker origins. I wonder how the series would have done if it would have stayed closer to its roots more consistently.
Eh, to be fair I doubt it would have been as popular. Yes the Heisei saga was mature, but not as much as the original and even then it got a lot of popularity by retooling elements from the campy Showa era. It's kinda like how while people may like Tim Burton, Animated, or Chris Nolan Batman; none of those would exist without the Adam West Batman. It might not be to that big of an extent, but I think it wouldn't have been as popular because a core element in the fandom are children. After all, how many of us because G-Fans as kids?
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by GigaBowserG »

Well, thanks to a recent update to RoG's trivia, looks like the quote originated from a 1985 issue of People magazine (which was mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star).
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by LamangoKaijura »

If they kept Godzilla grim dark, it would have been utter shit.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Dracosaurian »

LamangoKaijura wrote:If they kept Godzilla grim dark, it would have been utter Hedorah.
LamangoKaijura wrote:If they kept Godzilla grim dark, it would have been utter Hedorah.
Yeah I agree. I honestly don't think Godzilla wouldn't have accumulated the fame he has now if they stuck to those type of films.

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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Snake »

LamangoKaijura wrote:If they kept Godzilla grim dark, it would have been utter Hedorah.
Agreed. I'm okay with dark stories, as long as they are meaningfully dark. Had Toho stayed the course, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy* would've set in, alienating moviegoers and preventing the franchise from becoming the juggernaut that it is today. In a way, it's kind of a blessing in disguise that the sillier entries in the series exist. You can't stick to the same tone forever, but I also partly agree with Tanaka, and as some of the films have indicated, it is possible to maintain faithfulness to the spirit of the character while simultaneously providing something fresh and engaging.

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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Godzillian »

These seems more like one of those fan rumors that won't go away. Does anyone have a quote, or report of him saying it from a reliable source?
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Destorogoji »

I've spent months waiting for someone to actually confirm this, so I guess it was just a rumor.

I prefer my Godzilla extra-dark and grim, but I can't deny he is the icon he is today (especially in American countries) thanks to his more family-friendly side, and some of those films are actually in my top Goji films, surpassing a lot of darker entries.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by UltramanGoji »

An update on this, not Tanaka, but still relevant.

I'm reading through the Ishiro Honda biography and I just completed the chapter on Mothra vs. Godzilla, Dogora, and Ghidorah. Scattered throughout it (as well as in the chapter on King Kong vs. Godzilla), there's numerous anecdotes relating how Honda was not happy with the change of heart for the Godzilla character. There's even mentions of how it was mostly Tsuburaya's idea and that Honda wished he could observe the special effects set because the SFX scenes often felt disjointed from the rest of the film.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

Bit ironic that Tanaka thought making Godzilla more heroic was a mistake when they went on to cash in on monsters/elements associated with heroic Godzilla.
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Re: Tanaka's "Greatest Mistake" Quote

Post by tbeasley »

Godzillian wrote:These seems more like one of those fan rumors that won't go away. Does anyone have a quote, or report of him saying it from a reliable source?
Destorogoji wrote:I've spent months waiting for someone to actually confirm this, so I guess it was just a rumor.
GigaBowserG wrote:Well, thanks to a recent update to RoG's trivia, looks like the quote originated from a 1985 issue of People magazine (which was mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star).
In a 1985 People magazine interview, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that he felt previously altering Godzilla to be a heroic monster "was a mistake" and that "this character change was responsible for his decline." Referenced in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G"

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