Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

[Jeff-Goldblum2]

Miki Saegusa pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed/nearly killed Godzilla and they both acted like it never happened in the later films. #continuity

It broke her heart to do so.

You can see her delight when Godzilla comes back to life.

In fact thinking about it that's a nice twist on a monster killer archetype, being happy the monster survivived. I might pick Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla II as my favorite movie for Miki based on that.

But she does look so cute with her ribbon in her hair during Biollante though.

[Zarm]

Miki Saegusa pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed/nearly killed Godzilla and they both acted like it never happened in the later films. #continuity

In the fantasy matches, they like to say that MechaGodzilla 2 is the only foe to actually kill Heisei Godzilla.

No.

Miki is the only foe to ever kill Heisei Godzilla.

[BlankAccount]

Heck it was her psychic powers that aided the computer in locking onto the second brain.

[edgaguirus]

Though an unwilling use of her powers. Her psychic connection to Godzilla in Biollante gave her an unique insight into Godzilla. It allowed her to see Godzilla as a living, thinking being than a destroyer of cities.

[BlankAccount]

A real tragedy is that I don't think Godzilla went all the way to Biollante just to fight. He sensed her in the same way he sense baby Godzilla and went investigate, expecting another of his species to maybe end his isolation only to be confused when he see's this giant flower. He even stops to look at it in confusion and then when he tries to get a closer look Biollante reacted in self-defense feeling threatened (Erika's soul was "gone" at that point according to Miki as she could no longer sense her while Biollante called out to Godzilla). It all escalated into a fight real quick.

It seemed like even Biollante itself was looking for another like her to end her own isolation. The first fight IMO seemed to be a tragic misunderstanding. I kind of wish they hadn't cut out the flowers blooming, as it adds to the tragedy and makes it seem like even Godzilla himself is regretting that the fight happened.

[Spydrmanjr]

I just rewatched this tonight and it still for me is one of the best Godzilla movies and easily my favorite of the Heisei series. I really wish the Heisei era retained a similar tone and production as this movie and Return of Godzilla. Using Godzilla cells to create bioweapons and spur an arms race, meddling with nature, and ESP could have been better executed in the series than what we got with subsequent movies if the production value and tone was retained.

This film also has some of my favorite visuals and scenes of all films. The children gleefully throwing up their drawings of Godzilla's return to the horror of Asuka and Miki, Godzilla's rise from Mt Mihara, Godzilla vs Miki (added to Godzilla's character IMO), POV shot of Godzilla rising out of Osaka Bay, and I feel that the military mobilization shots are some of the better ones of the series.

[shadowgigan]

I completely agree. I love the score as well, it manages to conjure up so many different emotions. And we are treated with interesting human characters. While not flawless, the characters in ROG and GvB seem to exude more personality than in the latter heisei entries. Moreso I feel like they are given more interesting ways of interacting with Godzilla dnd the story. Furthermore I love Shirigami's character as a successful extension of the kind of "troubled scientist" trope established in Gojira.

[BlankAccount]

A neat little detail on why the Super-X2's Fire Mirror reflects light from Godzilla's beam back as green instead of blue. Put a mirror in front of another mirror and look deeply into the reflections, you'll notice the deeper you look into the endless loop the more of a green tinge it has, mirrors are slightly green because of the reflective metal used behind the glass. So have the Fire Mirror focus the light from Godzilla's rays in intensity and via la, green mirror laser.

I love that attention to detail.

[JAGzilla]

A neat little detail on why the Super-X2's Fire Mirror reflects like from Godzilla's beam back as green instead of blue. Put a mirror in front of another mirror and look deeply into the reflections, you'll notice the deeper you look into the endless loop the more of a green tinge it has, mirrors are slightly green because of the reflective metal used behind the glass. So have the Fire Mirror focus the light from Godzilla's rays in intensity and via la, green mirror laser.

I love that attention to detail.

Cool observation. I always just assumed the color change was due to the beam being amplified in power by the mirror, and didn't figure there was any real reason behind it.

[BlankAccount]

Cool observation. I always just assumed the color change was due to the beam being amplified in power by the mirror, and didn't figure there was any real reason behind it.

I think how it intensifies the light is the same way a reflection gets greener, it keeps bouncing back and forth between the countless panels on the Fire Mirror. All this happens in seconds.

[Anguirus]

Honestly, this film doesn't do much for me. I did not care for the human sub plot, and I thought the girl's face going up into the sky was cheesy. Which is disappointing, as i love sci fi films. However, I will say the action scenes were quiet good.

[eabaker]

"The human sub plot" is a weird term to use about this movie, in which the human and kaiju elements are intimately intertwined.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

"The human sub plot" is a weird term to use about this movie, in which the human and kaiju elements are intimately intertwined.

I think he's probably referring to the Bio Major vs. Saradia storyline which, while not really a sub-plot since it directly drives the main plot, often feels like it's part of a totally different movie. The final car chase, in particular, is completely unnecessary, out of place and anti-climactic. It's unfortunate because the idea of biotech companies fighting over Godzilla's DNA is pretty awesome but I feel the execution here is a bit mediocre.

Added in 37 seconds:

I thought the girl's face going up into the sky was cheesy.

Agreed. And the giant rose orbiting Earth with the preachy voiceover narration is cheesier still.

[Gonzilla]

I love this movie, and I often use a scene of it as one of the most potent non-apperances of a character ever- the psychic children's drawings scene, where the teacher asks what they drew. The build up is great, the reveal is amazing, and that Ifukube Godzilla cue is used perfectly.

[eabaker]

I love this movie, and I often use a scene of it as one of the most potent non-apperances of a character ever- the psychic children's drawings scene, where the teacher asks what they drew. The build up is great, the reveal is amazing, and that Ifukube Godzilla cue is used perfectly.

Yup! I used this scene in a kids' video production class I was teaching to demonstrate the power of suggestion and music.

[Freebleeper]

I'm often confused on the Biollante name itself... is it pronounce Beolota or Biolante?

[Terasawa]

I'm often confused on the Biollante name itself... is it pronounce Beolota or Biolante?

A rough approximation of the Japanese pronunciation is bee-oh-lawn-tay, with slight emphasis on "lawn". (Not gonna get into the whole R-L sound in Japanese thing but mind that.) The IPA spelling is "bioraŋte".

Another helpful tool: plug any Japanese word (including monster names) into Google Translate and hit the little speaker icon to hear the pronunciation. For example.

I'm not sure how it's handled in other languages, but in English... well, see for yourself.

[edgaguirus]

It's always interesting to hear how names translate, or get spelled.

[Spydrmanjr]

What is the origin of the name? I’ve never been able to get a hold of what Biollante actually means.

[Terasawa]

What is the origin of the name? I’ve never been able to get a hold of what Biollante actually means.

It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just something that the writer liked the sound of. From Wikizilla, referencing Cinema Monstology:

According to Shinichiro Kobayashi, who created the story for Godzilla vs. Biollante, he got Biollante's name from a passage from the poem "Chanson d'automne" by the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine, specifically the passage:

Des violons
De l'automne

Kobayashi combined the word violon, the French word for "violin," from this passage with the katakana character テ (te), as he noted that no other kaiju used this character in their names. Kobayashi later stated that it was a complete coincidence that Biollante's name seemed to imply biotechnology.[4]