Why do they call it Heisei anyways?

[Hellspawn28]

I don't know why anyone would be bothered by that. Everyone says "Showa Gamera series" and "Heisei Gamera", so I think it makes sense to call Gamera the Brave "Millennium". It was only made two years after Godzilla Final Wars and for all we know this is still the "Millennium" era until new incarnations of Gamera or Godzilla pop up.

Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series is even Wikipedia official: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

Because the Millennium era is really used for Godzilla and no one else has used it for other side of Godzilla. Gamera: The Brave and the later Ultraman stuff in the 2000's are still Heisei movies because they are made in the Heisei era. Also the Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, just because it said that Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series that does not make it a Millennium era film. Terms like Millennium era should be used for Godzilla only.

[Kyono_Rei]

I suppose it is a little unnecessary and akin to referring the Bond films from Moonraker through to Licence to Kill as "The Thatcher Years".

Actually its worse. Its like refering to Bond films from "The man with the golden gun" to Licence to Kill as the "Thatcher Era".

[TheSecondComing]

I like the Heisei Batman movies myself. Much better than the Millenium.

[g2kmaster]

I don't know why anyone would be bothered by that. Everyone says "Showa Gamera series" and "Heisei Gamera", so I think it makes sense to call Gamera the Brave "Millennium". It was only made two years after Godzilla Final Wars and for all we know this is still the "Millennium" era until new incarnations of Gamera or Godzilla pop up.

Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series is even Wikipedia official: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

Because the Millennium era is really used for Godzilla and no one else has used it for other side of Godzilla. Gamera: The Brave and the later Ultraman stuff in the 2000's are still Heisei movies because they are made in the Heisei era. Also the Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, just because it said that Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series that does not make it a Millennium era film. Terms like Millennium era should be used for Godzilla only.

I don't think so...



See the "平成"? Kadokawa is using the Showa and Heisei titles for things like their blu-ray sets. And from your logic, GAMERA: THE BRAVE should have been in this set. But it was not.

I believe that the "Showa", "Heisei", and "Millenium" titles can be used for all kaiju/henshin productions in Japan. Agon, Gehara, God of Clay, ect. I do not see why not (and if one is to say that "but it is not official", please).

[Tyler]

See the "平成"? Kadokawa is using the Showa and Heisei titles for things like their blu-ray sets. And from your logic, GAMERA: THE BRAVE should have been in this set. But it was not.

Gamera the Brave isn't connected to the trilogy though. It's like Return of Godzilla technically being a Showa film but considered Heisei due to that era's continuity.

[g2kmaster]

See the "平成"? Kadokawa is using the Showa and Heisei titles for things like their blu-ray sets. And from your logic, GAMERA: THE BRAVE should have been in this set. But it was not.

Gamera the Brave isn't connected to the trilogy though. It's like Return of Godzilla technically being a Showa film but considered Heisei due to that era's continuity.

ROG is a Heisei film. The era names are done based, but not totally falling in line with the Japanese emperial era names, not using them as a strict labeling device. It makes it easier to group the films. Showa and Heisei are borrowed names from another dichotomy. Just happens to be that since both are labeling the timing of two different things, they co-incide.

G:TB is a Millenium film to me and always will be. Along with any other kaiju film to come out until the new series of Godzilla films come out produced by Japan. Heck, Showa lasted for 21 years, let's see how long the Millenium will last.

[Legion1979]

G:TB is a Millenium film to me and always will be. Along with any other kaiju film to come out until the new series of Godzilla films come out produced by Japan. Heck, Showa lasted for 21 years, let's see how long the Millenium will last.

That's lame. If Toho never makes another Godzilla movie again do you suggest we call all other Japanese monster movies "Millennium films" for years, or not decades upon decades into the future? Where's the cut off? Is it even necessary?

Why are people so damn hung up on labeling "eras". Just call Toho's 6 Godzilla movies from 1999-2004 "The Millennium Godzilla Series". That's it. Does everything else made by other companies since GFW even need to be part of a labeled "era". It's silly.

[Godzilla 2000]

IMO, its not an "era" or "series" unless there are at least 3 films in that supposed era/series.

[Gojira-Fan]

I don't know why anyone would be bothered by that. Everyone says "Showa Gamera series" and "Heisei Gamera", so I think it makes sense to call Gamera the Brave "Millennium". It was only made two years after Godzilla Final Wars and for all we know this is still the "Millennium" era until new incarnations of Gamera or Godzilla pop up.

Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series is even Wikipedia official: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

Because the Millennium era is really used for Godzilla and no one else has used it for other side of Godzilla. Gamera: The Brave and the later Ultraman stuff in the 2000's are still Heisei movies because they are made in the Heisei era. Also the Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, just because it said that Gamera the Brave being part of the Millennium series that does not make it a Millennium era film. Terms like Millennium era should be used for Godzilla only.

So I should say that Gamera the Brave, a movie that has no connection what so ever to the 90's Gamera films, should be called Heisei.

And the Wikipedia thing was a joke.

[JVM]

I don't see what's wrong with applying it to Gamera. Outside the two big G's I can see why it'd bother people, but again, the Showa/Heisei terms are so often used with Gamera I don't think it's really an issue there.

[omgitsgodzilla]

I for one only see the need for such labeling if the franchise in question has existed and had output during at least two.

[g2kmaster]

G:TB is a Millenium film to me and always will be. Along with any other kaiju film to come out until the new series of Godzilla films come out produced by Japan. Heck, Showa lasted for 21 years, let's see how long the Millenium will last.

That's lame. If Toho never makes another Godzilla movie again do you suggest we call all other Japanese monster movies "Millennium films" for years, or not decades upon decades into the future? Where's the cut off? Is it even necessary?

Why are people so damn hung up on labeling "eras". Just call Toho's 6 Godzilla movies from 1999-2004 "The Millennium Godzilla Series". That's it. Does everything else made by other companies since GFW even need to be part of a labeled "era". It's silly.

I doubt Toho would Never ever make another Godzilla film. He's like King Kong, a money maker. King Kong can go on 33 years before a new film (via a remake) was released, Godzilla can go for another such hiatus.

As for the eras thing, it is a good bit of conversation making. Helps keeps the posting good in the parts of the forum that have nothing to do with LPG or Media Blasters/Criterion.

[Kaiju no Mura]

Heisei era started in Japan on January 8, 1989. The Heisei era has not ended. Any Japanese movie released from January 8, 1989 until the current Emperor of Japan passes, is still a movie released during Heisei era that includes the Godzilla films 1999-2004 and Gamera: The Brave or any other Japanese film in Japan kaiju or non-kaiju related. There is no if's what or but's about it.

Also someone commented that the 1984 Godzilla film was called Heisei by Toho. That is completely false or either that someone misunderstood Toho. The story arc may be consider part of the Heisei films from 1989 to 1995 by Toho, but it is still a Showa era film. And Toho would never make a mistake of calling the 1984 film a Heisei era film.

I can certainly understand kyono_rei annoyance with foreigners mis-understanding how the Japanese periods are being applied to these Godzilla films. The majority of you are only thinking in terms of naming the movies as a series. When you should step back and think what kyono_rei has already explained in terms to periods of era's in Japan. Then you will realize how silly it is to call the 1984 Godzilla film a Heisei film.

[omgitsgodzilla]

We already know all that. The "era" system for tokusatsu films is its own system, loosely based on the chronological eras in Japan. It is flexible in its naming for the sake of easier classification of such films. For example, Heisei Gamera overlaps somewhat with Millennium Godzilla chronologically (with Gamera 3 and Godzilla 2000 both released in 1999), but no one argues that Gamera 3 is a Millennium film. Why? Because it has a clear connection with the previous two Gamera films. While it is true that from a strictly chronological basis that Return of Godzilla is a Showa film and that everything from Godzilla vs. Biollante onwards is a Heisei film, the tokusatsu eiga "era" system, at least as used in the US, does not classify these films on a strictly chronological basis.

[Legion1979]

Putting it simply, Godzilla'85 was made in the Showa era but it's officially part of the Heisei series of Godzilla movies.

[Kaiju no Mura]

We already know all that.

If everyone knew all that we wouldn't be on the 3rd page of discussion about this. Someone even stated we should call the 2006 Gamera: The Brave a millenium movie. Another person even stated if "Gamera: The Brave" was Heisei then it would have been included in the 1995-1999 Gamera Trilogy dvds.

Would it make sense to call the Godzilla films from 1999 to 2004 as Godzilla 21st century series? Even though 1999 and 2000 where not released in the 21st Century. Because that is what the Godzilla fandom outside of Japan is doing with the 1984 to 1995 Godzilla movies by calling it Heisei series. It is fine to call the 1999 to 2004 the Millenium series to show the break. But from 1984 to 1995 should have been named differently for the series by not choosing a Japanese era period as it does not fit. That is the whole point and start of this topic.

[kpa]

Kaiju no Mura, I think the misunderstanding that you feel the names a company uses for the product (in this case, a film series) have to 100% accurately reflect established facts. And the truth is they don't... a company can call they own property whatever they want, accurate or not.

Here's one obvious example: JURASSIC PARK. The books and the movies features prehistoric animals from all three periods of the Mesozoic era, and the most of the key dinosaurs (Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptors, Triceratops, etc) are from the Cretaceous, not the Jurassic. Crichton went with "Jurassic" because he liked the sound of it, and his publisher, Universal studios, Steven Spielberg all followed suit.

Now with three Godzilla films series, Toho refers to the 1954-1975 movies as the "Showa Godzilla Series", the 1984-1995 movies as the "Heisei Godzilla Series", and the 1999-2004 films as the "Millennium Godzilla Series". I know this because I've worked with/for Toho many times over the past ten or so years and I am friends with a number of Toho filmmakers and execs and they use these terms when discussing the films. And they've been doing so for a long time.

The seven movies from 1984-1995 movies are all linked together by story continuity, so to Toho they are one series. With six of the seven films released during the Heisei period, calling these films the "Heisei Series" is a very simple way to immediately differentiate them from the first fifteen Godzillas which were all produced during the Showa period. Sure Toho could have called them the "One Showa and a Bunch of Heisei Godzilla Series", but like JURASSIC PARK sometimes simpler is the way to go. Toho also refers to the second series as the "VS Series", but there's no "VS" in the title of the 1984 film so Toho is obviously not worried about the names they use being 100% accurate.

Toho went with "Millennium Series" for the 1999-2004 films to-- again-- create a clear distinction from the previous series. Before realizing that Toho had already named the new series some American fans coined the term "Shinsei" for these films. I've never cared for fan names... I know Toho names everything so I go with what the people who make and own these films say rather than what some fan who had nothing to do with the productions thinks up. If Toho didn't use the terms Showa, Heisei, Millennium for their Godzilla series I wouldn't either. But they do.

[Legion1979]

Now...

Keith, do the Japanese (fans, film companies or whatever) use these three terms for other films besides the Godzilla series? In Japan are Kaneko's Gameras ever called "Heisei films"? Are there people in Japan who apply the "Millennium" designation to more recent films out the Godzilla series?

[Kaiju no Mura]

kpa, I understanding what you are saying. I have no problem with Toho or fandom wanting to call 1984-1995 the "Heisei series." But note it just sounds strange to be calling the 1984 Godzilla film Heisei when it is Showa. It sounds strange most of all to the Japanese especially those not within the Godzilla fandom. Toho should have thought of another name to call their series from 1984-1995. But people should be aware that the 1984(1985) film is not a "Heisei film" but a "Showa film." There are people that make that mistake.

And here is my cool souvenir poster that I thought many people would like to see. It was released for sale for the "Heisei Godzilla Tokyo Film Festival" held at Humax Cinemas in Ginza Shinepatosu Hall in November 2009. It is reshowing the Heisei Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995.

[omgitsgodzilla]

KnM: we understand what you're saying, but the point is these "eras" in kaiju films do not necessarily refer to specific, general time periods used for other purposes. They refer to, if you will, generations of kaiju eiga. If you yourself want to refer to Godzilla (1984) as part of the Showa series, or Gamera the Brave and Godzilla Final Wars as Heisei films, you can do that. But to be perfectly honest, trying to get the rest of the fandom to do it is akin to getting the general public to stop confusing schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, or stop saying "I could care less" when they clearly mean "couldn't," or stop calling Native Americans Indians. It's technically correct, but it's simply not going to happen. I hope I don't sound hostile, but that's the situation as I see it.