How do you view Zilla (aka Gino/godzilla 1998/etc)

[Dr. Professor]

I don't like the '98 film too much. I loved it as a kid, though! It's actually what got me into giant monster films. However, I do like the monster in that movie a little bit as its own thing, just not as Godzilla, which I'm sure has been said 1,000,001 times at this point. Now Godzilla: The Series, on the other hand, is a very entertaining show, in my opinion. And I'm sure this has been said tons of times as well, but I do, willingly, acknowledge the monster in that series as Godzilla.

In Final Wars, I thought it was really cool to see the monster brought back as its own thing. And while I'd love to see Zilla to return to the Godzilla series and be given a better role than he was in GFW, I have to admit I did love, and still do love, seeing Godzilla kick his ass. I thought Zilla was portrayed fantastically in Rulers of Earth. He was actually pretty strong and I liked it a lot. I feel like this monster gets more hate than he should, honestly. However, I understand the hatred Godzilla '98 gets completely. But it appears that after that film (aside from GFW), whoever was handling whatever medium he was being presented to us in seemed to try to make him a more respectable creature. For those portrayals alone, I feel that Zilla/Godzilla '98/GINO/whatever you prefer to call him deserves more respect than he receives. But to each their own.

[tbeasley]

The movie? Utter trash.

The creature? Meh, largely apathetic.

This is something I've seen a lot of people do and I think it's weird - somehow treating the film and its creature as if they were separate entities. If anything the design embodies all the wrongheaded decisions that went into the movie, its story and its approach to the character. Yeah the animated series was cool and mended this somewhat but that's beside the point when looking at the film on its own merits and its impact on the series at large.

The movies mostly don't specify what gender Goji is. In fact, Haruo Nakajima always thought of the second Showa incarnation as a female and played the character as if it was. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be left vague.

This is always referenced by people too but it's never been substantiated in any meaningful way. Until someone digs up an interview or quote it's basically a fandom tall tale.

[BooLugosi]

The movies mostly don't specify what gender Goji is. In fact, Haruo Nakajima always thought of the second Showa incarnation as a female and played the character as if it was. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be left vague.

This is always referenced by people too but it's never been substantiated in any meaningful way. Until someone digs up an interview or quote it's basically a fandom tall tale.

I vaguely remember someone citing the interview one time but I may be wrong.

[NateZilla10000]

I have a soft spot for ol' Zilla. G98 was the first kaiju movie I ever saw as a kid, and naturally I thought Zilla was the true Godzilla for a long time. Then I saw Final Wars, and I got corrected. But, I have to give the guy credit for introducing me to kaiju films. I also appreciate the design; it's very sleek and stylized.

Years have passed and I actually still enjoy G98, but for Nostalgic reasons primarily. It is an utterly sh*t movie; I am not afraid to admit that. The acting sucks in some areas, the characters make you want to strangle them, and Zilla doesnt live up to the title of the movie at all (I even made a complete re-edit of the film taking out every single mention of the name "Godzilla" and just replacing it with "Zilla." Even the title is now just "Zilla.").

I'm glad G2014 came along and presented a well constructed movie as well as did the titular character justice. The characters could have been better in this one too (at least I wasnt rooting for the kaiju to kill them in this one) but everything else was well done. Vast improvement to G98.

Nonetheless, I kinda want to see Zilla in a future film to be honest. If they treat him seriously and let his agility and speed shine, I'd think he'd be a fun kaiju to watch.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

naturally I thought Zilla was the true for a long time.

Holy skreeonk! I thought I was the only one. So glad I ain't alone...

[Billzilla1974]

Added in 3 minutes 7 seconds:

Godzilla is generally: a male

The movies mostly don't specify what gender Goji is. In fact, Haruo Nakajima always thought of the second Showa incarnation as a female and played the character as if it was. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be left vague.[/quote]

Haruo Nakajima may have played Godzilla, but Tomoyuki Tanaka is generally the word of god, he called Godzilla a male & did nothing to impede US advertising Showa Goji as "King of the monsters!" and the use of male pronouns for the entire Showa Era.
Not to mention Nakajima ironically gave Showa G male traits: being an abusive parent in SoG was a commonly male stereotype back then, his consistent taunting/ territorial nature are also similar to how male birds show off, there isn't really a moment where Showa Godzilla seemed to act female.
Also during an interview called "The Man Who Became Godzilla", Nakajima was once asked the question "What is Godzilla to you?" He replied "My partner! He's my partner!".
Toho has always gone with Godzilla being a male, and the only Godzilla that can't really be either gender is Shin Goji, who is a colony of microorganisms .

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Added in 3 minutes 7 seconds:

Godzilla is generally: a male

The movies mostly don't specify what gender Goji is. In fact, Haruo Nakajima always thought of the second Showa incarnation as a female and played the character as if it was. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be left vague.

Haruo Nakajima may have played Godzilla, but Tomoyuki Tanaka is generally the word of god, he called Godzilla a male & did nothing to impede US advertising Showa Goji as "King of the monsters!" and the use of male pronouns for the entire Showa Era.
Not to mention Nakajima ironically gave Showa G male traits: being an abusive parent in SoG was a commonly male stereotype back then, his consistent taunting/ territorial nature are also similar to how male birds show off, there isn't really a moment where Showa Godzilla seemed to act female.
Also during an interview called "The Man Who Became Godzilla", Nakajima was once asked the question "What is Godzilla to you?" He replied "My partner! He's my partner!".
Toho has always gone with Godzilla being a male, and the only Godzilla that can't really be either gender is Shin Goji, who is a colony of microorganisms .[/quote]


Billzilla, I definitely agree.....but Shin is NOT a microorganism, he is some random ancient marine animal. So he is prolly male too. But other than that, yes we should listen to the words of Tomoyuki Tanaka.

[Billzilla1974]

Haruo Nakajima may have played Godzilla, but Tomoyuki Tanaka is generally the word of god, he called Godzilla a male & did nothing to impede US advertising Showa Goji as "King of the monsters!" and the use of male pronouns for the entire Showa Era.
Not to mention Nakajima ironically gave Showa G male traits: being an abusive parent in SoG was a commonly male stereotype back then, his consistent taunting/ territorial nature are also similar to how male birds show off, there isn't really a moment where Showa Godzilla seemed to act female.
Also during an interview called "The Man Who Became Godzilla", Nakajima was once asked the question "What is Godzilla to you?" He replied "My partner! He's my partner!".
Toho has always gone with Godzilla being a male, and the only Godzilla that can't really be either gender is Shin Goji, who is a colony of microorganisms .[/quote]


Billzilla, I definitely agree.....but Shin is NOT a microorganism, he is some random ancient marine animal. So he is prolly male too. But other than that, yes we should listen to the words of Tomoyuki Tanaka.[/quote]

Wait really?? I was thought prior to Shin Godzilla's release some of the leaked images said he was a bunch of microorganisms!
This is news to me since I could've sworn that was the given origin for Shin, my mistake!

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Haruo Nakajima may have played Godzilla, but Tomoyuki Tanaka is generally the word of god, he called Godzilla a male & did nothing to impede US advertising Showa Goji as "King of the monsters!" and the use of male pronouns for the entire Showa Era.
Not to mention Nakajima ironically gave Showa G male traits: being an abusive parent in SoG was a commonly male stereotype back then, his consistent taunting/ territorial nature are also similar to how male birds show off, there isn't really a moment where Showa Godzilla seemed to act female.
Also during an interview called "The Man Who Became Godzilla", Nakajima was once asked the question "What is Godzilla to you?" He replied "My partner! He's my partner!".
Toho has always gone with Godzilla being a male, and the only Godzilla that can't really be either gender is Shin Goji, who is a colony of microorganisms .

Billzilla, I definitely agree.....but Shin is NOT a microorganism, he is some random ancient marine animal. So he is prolly male too. But other than that, yes we should listen to the words of Tomoyuki Tanaka.[/quote]

Wait really?? I was thought prior to Shin Godzilla's release some of the leaked images said he was a bunch of microorganisms!
This is news to me since I could've sworn that was the given origin for Shin, my mistake![/quote]

Your're good. That was just a mistranslation a while back. But yeah he is some type of weird prehistoric sea animal.

[edgaguirus]

I thought we were discussing Gino, not Shin Goji.

[Omegamorph]

Why does Godzilla's gender matter so much anyway? It's a beast -- male or female or asexual hardly makes any difference

[Billzilla1974]

Why does Godzilla's gender matter so much anyway? It's a beast -- male or female or asexual hardly makes any difference

This is just my personal opinion, but If Godzilla is a male then it gives a reason for him attack humanity for destroying the rest of his kind/any potential mates.
That and the kaiju has been referred to as a male for so long in the US, it's become a staple of the character to many, my self included.

[Omegamorph]

This is just my personal opinion, but If Godzilla is a male then it gives a reason for him attack humanity for destroying the rest of his kind/any potential mates.

And a female, or genderless Godzilla wouldn't?

[BARAGONBREH]

The creature its self, while not Godzilla, has potential; some of the design is cool. Needed to be much bigger. As far as the film its self, absolute bona fide trash, just like everything else Emmerich ever put his demonic hands on.

[Billzilla1974]

This is just my personal opinion, but If Godzilla is a male then it gives a reason for him attack humanity for destroying the rest of his kind/any potential mates.

And a female, or genderless Godzilla wouldn't?

Maybe they would, but my opinion was mostly the fact that Godzilla has been called male without intervention via Toho for so long, that it's become a part of his character, at least to US audiences. Would changing Godzilla's gender to a female do anything good for the character? not really, and the last thing we need is another asexual, egg laying Zilla.

[ScottA]

If Godzilla was a female. It would only attack humanity once a month.

[Omegamorph]

Would changing Godzilla's gender to a female do anything good for the character? not really

It would change two things: Jack and shit. And Jack left town

Godzilla is a beast, an animal condemned by the atom bomb - a victim, and a manifestation of the nuclear horror. Its gender is meaningless and entirely irrelevant to what the character is about

[BooLugosi]

I think a female Goji would add some variation in the series. It's not a big deal but I honestly think it would be interesting to have more variety like that. There was a male Mothra and Shin Gojira didn't even have a gender. Why not make Goji a female for once? It's not like it would be a bad thing.

As for Zilla being a female, that's the least of my problems with this "Gojira incarnation."

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

If Godzilla was a female. It would only attack humanity once a month.

thats hilarious

I like Zilla, but its in the past. We have other things to worry about now.

[Omegamorph]

Godzilla 1998 is not a female; it's clearly stated in the film that it reproduces "asexually" (which may or may not be the wacky-science version of synchronous hermaphroditism) and it's never referred to as a female or as a she

Just FYI cause it could have been just female and it wouldn't have changed a thing