Explaining the Heisei Timeline (Official)

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I would go with simple options, which would include Ghidorah being dormant (perhaps undersea) until summoned, or the gestation from Dorats to Ghidorah being a slow process that took decades to complete. Neither of those options are official but they don't contradict anything shown in the movie.

Since King Ghidorah managed to maintain its integrity under the ocean without much apparent decay until the time of the Futurians, it seems more than possible that it could survive a 50 year hibernation. Of course, being a genetically engineered weapon from the future, Ghidorah could be capable of just about anything.

[Titanosaurus75]

Excellent article, kpa. However, I do have one question regarding it. Are you suggesting that the '54 Godzilla and the Heisei Godzilla are different species, with '54 Godzilla being the terrestrial/aquatic intermediate proposed by Yamane, and the Heisei Godzilla being a mutant Godzillasaurus?

Hey Titanosaurus75, I'm just catching up on this thread so hopefully my answer isn't too late. Whether the 54 and 84 Godzillas were completely different species is open to speculation, and I tried to avoid any personal guessing in that article and stick only to what was shown in the movies. Honda, Murata, and the others directly involved in creating Godzilla provided its backstory in GODZILLA '54. What Omori invented for GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH doesn't fit with G'54 (the movie)... the Godzillasaur is clearly not a terrestrial/aquatic intermediate species living in the manner described by Yamane, and it wouldn't have inspired the legend of Odo Island... even the islands in G-54 and GvsKG are nowhere near each other. So my opinion (and it's just an opinion) is that the two Godzillas would have to be different species or Omori just ignored parts of G'54 that didn't fit his story and therefore Godzilla 54 in the Heisei series (but not the Showa) was also a Godzillasaur. Toho's played fast and loose with continuity before and since so whatever works for you would likely be fine.

Well, I guess it's my turn to catch up late. Thanks for the reply kpa. It was very helpful.

[Gojira21]

It good to read this article. This whole series confused the heck out of me, especially with the confusing plot of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah...

[Irys X]

Wow. Now I can actually watch the Heisei movies and know what is going on. I had my own theories, but this makes perfect sense. Thanks.

[Svitska Donkun]

I never scratched my head over the continuity. My brain created some kind of nonsensical explanation when I was a kid, but as I got older I just wrote them off as terrible plot holes. Nice that there;s an official explanation though.

One thing that pisses me off in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is Shindo. He only looks 5 years younger in 1944 as he does in 1992. Its funny because you can go look at film s he did in the 50's and see how majorly different Yoshio Tsuchiya looked. But according to Godzilla vs. KG, he was always old.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

One thing that pisses me off in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is Shindo. He only looks 5 years younger in 1944 as he does in 1992.

They could always have recast "1940s Shindo" with a younger actor, but I think the eventual meeting between him and Godzilla would've played flat without actually having the same man come face-to-face with the dinosaur again. The age discrepancy never bothered me a whole lot anyway, and more Tsuchiya is better than less, IMO.

[omgitsgodzilla]

I think it could have just been from the stress of war and probably not having shaved recently... He had some stubble in the 40s scenes, right?

[Svitska Donkun]

I think it could have just been from the stress of war and probably not having shaved recently... He had some stubble in the 40s scenes, right?

I was unaware stress could make you age 30 years...I guess Tom Hanks' character in Saving Private Ryan was actually 11...

[omgitsgodzilla]

Eh. Stress can make a person look older. All I'm saying is that that, combined with the unshaven look, could have easily made Shindo appear older than he actually was. Or hell, it could have just been some artistic license to portray his personality.

[Tyler]

Perhaps he had plastic surgery.

[Ethan]

Had Rick Baker done the make-up effects Tsuchiya would have looked like in the Showa films.

[omgitsgodzilla]

CUZ TEH AMURRKINZ IS BETTAR? Joking. Makeup never really was the series' strong suit. Just look at Dr. Mafune's mustache.

[Ethan]

I don't know, the acid burn victims in Godzilla vs. Hedorah look pretty convincing to me. So do Shin Takuma's injuries in Godzilla 1985.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Well injuries are probably relatively easy. I wouldn't know but it seems that way.

[attilagodzilla]

Good article but the time travel plot didn't confuse me

[Conster74]

In order to fully understand the plot points, you have to understand reality of time itself. Time on this planet is measured by the rotation of the earth around the sun, and also the rate at which it spins, so there is that factor. Also, our fates are in a constant state of flux, or change, by the knowledge that becomes available to us and by the decisions that we make. (My great great granddad missed the Titanic by 20 minutes. Had he NOT been late, he might not have lived to reproduce, so I would not be typing this today.) 30 years ago I might have died from the abscess which these days was able to be diagnosed with a CAT scan and treated with the right antibiotics, so, I am alive today where I might not have been had medical science not been advanced like it was. We are also constantly travreeling in time, that is, forward. So any change that was, like as early as 5 minutes in the past, has the potential to affect our entire future.

The mere showing up of the Futurians already altered the flow of the time-space continuum. "We're here to kill Godzilla". BAM. Compounding this is the agreement of the human beings from the 20th century "Great! We're in, let's DO this." And all without any assurance that it was the right Godzilla, or the ONLY Godzilla. I'm of the opinion that G 1954 was left unaffected and it was the second Godzilla which was beamed to the Bering Sea and this is what turned into Godzilla 84.

[RedZillaKing]

At least according to the Heisei continuity, the two Godzillas must have come from prehistoric species that were AT LEAST related.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Conster, I think the whole point of the article was that it was a stable time loop. The timeline, viewed as a whole, Dr. Manhattan-style, was always that way. Nothing was "changed." Some of the people in it just did some jumping around from the perspective of their internal timelines, i.e. their viewpoint and actions.

[Patrick Alan]

Oh, I never noticed how much it contadicted itself, I new the whole Biollante shouldn't exsisted thing due to it happening before Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, but I forgot that means there wasn't ever a Godzilla 1954, and they bring Godzilla 1954 up many times.

[omgitsgodzilla]

No, dude, there were two Godzillasaurs. One got sent to the Bering Sea and was mutated by the nuclear sub in 1977. The other remained on the island and was mutated by the bomb into the 1954 Godzilla. It's pretty simple.