Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

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LegendZilla
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Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by LegendZilla »

Hello once again fellow users, LegendZilla here once again. Today, I will like to address what is without a doubt one of the most divisive and controversial films in the whole franchise, namely 1991's Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah. The majority of the ire that it draws stems primarily from the plot's handling of time travel and the inconsistencies and/or plot holes that are typically associated with said plot device. For those of you who are detractors of this film, what would've you done to help this film, particularly with the whole angle with time-travel and how it affects the plot?

I am not asking you to try and make this film into a masterpiece, but at least try to makes things make more sense, resulting in an actual good story. As much as I actually do enjoy the film, sadly I think it would've been for the better if they went with the original draft, which involved Ghidorah's comatose body stranded on the Planet Venus.

In that case, there would be no time-travel in the story at all, since one thing that hindered the final product (for many of you at least) was Toho trying too hard to chase trends at the time with franchises like The Terminator and Back to The Future. Another thing I would do is establish that Time Travel in this film’s universe operates on multiverse theory (see Dragonball and Avengers Endgame. As for Emi Kano, maybe Wilson and Glenchiko could be mind-controlling her or something.

While Time Travel itself may not be everyone's cup of tea, I am in the crowd that a story revolving around it can be executed properly if those who wanted to tell it tried hard enough. I look forward to what you folks have to say. Over and out. ;)
Last edited by LegendZilla on Thu May 27, 2021 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by Maritonic »

Wouldn't change a thing. It's perfect as it is.
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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Movie is already a masterpiece. Good and fun characters, good action, whacky plot, good monster destruction and action. Works well as a follow up to Godzilla 84 and Biollante as well.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

I haven't seen the film but one thing I'd change about Heisei King Ghidorah's design is to give him his crescent horns back. I get that the manes were removed due to troubles with rotoscoping but they could've kept the original horns no problem. Also, use this concept art as the basis for the Dorats' design.
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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by eabaker »

LegendZilla wrote: Thu May 27, 2021 10:58 pm I am not asking you to try and make this film into a masterpiece, but at least try to makes things make more sense, resulting in an actual good story.
I'd say that the issues you're bringing up here are not with the story, but with the plot. That's an important distinction. Time travel is the key to this movie's plot, but the story is in the impact that the plot has on the characters and their world. The complaint being addressed here is with the mechanics, not with substance (although there are those who criticize the movie's story as well, as some find it flagrantly anti-American, though I personally disagree).
In that case, there would be no time-travel in the story at all, since one thing that hindered the final product (for many of you at least) was Toho trying too hard to chase trends at the time with franchises like The Terminator and Back to The Future. Another thing I would do is establish that Time Travel in this film’s universe operates on multiverse theory (see Dragonball and Avengers Endgame. As for Emi Kano, maybe Wilson and Glenchiko could be mind-controlling her or something.
Regardless of Oomori's initial motivation for incorporating time travel (which he's acknowledged was largely because the public seemed interested in the subject at the time) the way he used it - whether or not it makes total sense on a plot level - serves the story exceptionally well. It gave him the opportunity to create parallel trajectories for Godzilla, Shindo, and the nation of Japan, and to examine the way that the war and its aftermath transformed all three into something in many ways foreign to what they had been beforee - one could even say corrupted them.

As for switching to a multi-verse approach, that would totally undermine much of that story, and render the plotting equally nonsensical in a different way. These characters are trying to alter their own history; in a multi-verse time travel story, there is no altering history, just creating different histories, so nothing would actually be accomplished for the characters themselves and the world they came from. You'd also potentially lose part of the point about the inevitability of Godzilla's appearance in the wake of WW2.

And having Emi be mind controlled would just reduce her value as a character. She would have the same inner conflict, she wouldn't have the same transformation through her interactions with Teresawa, she wouldn't have anything to learn.
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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Honestly the only thing I'd change is the aerial battle between Ghidorah and the JSDF. It's so bad that it always retroactively hurts all the other spfx scenes in the movie for me. Give Ghidorah another city rampage.
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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by Spuro »

The only way to fix this mess of a movie is a complete rewrite from the ground up. Individual scenes or characters aren’t the problem; the entire movie is fundamentally broken from the script level.
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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Cryptid_Liker wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 7:45 am I haven't seen the film
The most scandalous post ever made on TK that doesn't involve abuse or wanton stupidity.

What!?!


You have to watch Godzilla vs. KG 91. At the very least it will make you appreciate/dislike what came before/after it.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Fri May 28, 2021 10:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

KK42 wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 10:19 am The only way to fix this mess of a movie is a complete rewrite from the ground up. Individual scenes or characters aren’t the problem; the entire movie is fundamentally broken from the script level.
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.....agree to disagree man. Vs King Ghidorah is one of the best Heisei films.
Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 9:44 am I love Final Wars. I praise Final Wars. Simple as.

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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by tbeasley »

I'd keep it as it is warts and all honestly, it's one of the more oddly ambitious films in the series and when it works it really works.

Part of me does want to imagine an alt timeline where the Heisei series continued the more 'grounded' (as grounded as a Godzilla film can be) cold war era/technothriller tone of ROG and Biollante (Biollante is like the Godzilla novel Michael Crichton never wrote) with Biollante-level effects work, all new monsters and designs (not relying on Mothra, Ghidorah, Mecha-G, Rodan, Baby G), etc., etc. The leap from Biollante to King Ghidorah (time travel! androids!) is a little insane.

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Re: Fixing Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)

Post by szmigiel »

I wouldn't change much, just a few tweaks.

M-11 releases the Dorats while Emi is preoccupied. Then Emi notices they are missing as they start the time travel back.

When they arrive back in the present, they get debrief by the Futurians that Godzilla is gone from history. He never appeared in 1954 or returned in 1984. The people outside the Timeship have no memory of Godzilla at all. Only the time travelers and the people inside Mother have any memory of Godzilla. The characters go out and sure enough when they bring up Godzilla nobody knows what they are talking about. They attend a meeting with the Futurains and the government, the government officials are puzzled as why they are even there with the Futurians, who they say came back in time to save Japan from an upcoming disaster. Professor Mazaki, Terasawa, and Miki try to example how they went back in time to stop a dinosaur on Lagos Island from becoming Godzilla. The government officials don't fully understand, but they are with Time Travels. Then we see one of the government official leave the meeting to report what is happening to Shindo who is now even more rich and powerful being Japans number one weapons manufacturer.

After they leave the meeting to go back to their normal lives, Terasawa comments on how his book went from being nonfiction to science fiction. King Ghidorah arrives and starts to attack Japan. Emi realizes she has been tricked and the Dorats have become King Ghidorah and it is now under the control of her supposed allies from the future. She confronts them and they pretty much have the same explanation in the original, control King Ghidorah to destroy most of Japan, then rebuild and control Japanese destiny in the future.

Miki tells Terasawa and Professor Mazaki she senses Godzilla, and they pretty much do the same research they do in the original film. Just they try to reach out to the government with what they find and reach the same official that reported back to Shindo earlier. We see him hang up and they call Shindo.

Shindo sends his prized sub to create Godzilla so he can protect Japan from King Ghidorah, just like he protected him and his troops from the Americans.

The rest of the movie is the same.

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