King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

For the discussion of the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse. This includes Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island and any upcoming films under the MonsterVerse umbrella.
Forum rules
Please be sure to read the subforum sticky "Regarding: Monsterverse Leaks & Unofficial Photos [Updated 7/13/2018]", linked below. Thank you!

https://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewt ... &p=1472505
User avatar
LamangoKaijura
Futurian
Posts: 3434
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by LamangoKaijura »

Oh wow, thanks G2000 and everyone else. This is interesting.
Last edited by LamangoKaijura on Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
Imagine getting angry your out of date and obsolete stats for rubber suit monsters were 'stolen'.

User avatar
Olzh26
Interpol Agent
Posts: 414
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 7:41 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Olzh26 »

G2000 wrote:Interesting excerpt from the novel that I was reminded of today because it was so similar to a fan series I once read. There’s a bit during Rodan’s emergence in Mexico in which Mark speculates that Godzilla, Rodan and similar Titans are far more ancient and far more different than we initially thought, possibly having evolved during Earth’s infancy in the Hadean or Archean eons:

“Maybe the Monarch scientists had it wrong. They kept telling him the Titans were part of the natural order, but he didn’t see it. How could that be natural? Maybe the Titans didn’t arise when the rest of life on Earth did. What if they weren’t part of life as we know it at all? What if they came from before, when there was no water or free oxygen, when everything was a volcanic hellscape, the atmosphere a perpetual lightning storm, when radiation sleeted from the sky and pulsed from the ground at levels that would strike a human dead in the time it took to draw a breath of the poisonous atmosphere. The Earth was like that for billions of years, before it started to rain, the sky to cool, seas to form. Before bacteria. Before the first photosynthetic organism started pumping oxygen into the air. Plenty of time for another kind of life to evolve based on some other chemistry that didn’t need water or oxygen. It was easy to believe, watching the terrible flaming bird gain on them, that life as they knew it was just a pale attempt to imitate what came before, those earlier[…]”
No god please no

Added in 3 minutes 34 seconds:
Mothra is a Lepidoptera. How could she appear in archea? And if Godzilla is a creature that doesn’t need oxygen, why did he choke when Gidorah started choking him?
Last edited by Olzh26 on Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

GojiDog
G-Grasper
Posts: 1223
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:16 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by GojiDog »

I just read through the novelization.

Parts of it are awesome. The additional details on the monsters, their awakening, and what they do in the story are great little touches. It was great to have Kong play a part as well. It is the type of thing that would only slow the pacing of a movie down, but in book form, the added detail works. Also, introducing each chapter with notes from Serasawa or Chen's research was a nice touch that, again, works well in book form.

But some of the writing of the book was a little off putting to me. There is a lot more casual swearing throughout the film. Not that I'm a prude or anything, but sometimes they throw stuff out there to the point that it makes it feel like the book was written by a teenager. I get in some cases they are trying to convey how the characters are thinking and feeling, but it reads very awkwardly whenever it comes up.
White Male Genocide is necessary.

Kill all white men.

User avatar
G2000
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5463
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:34 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by G2000 »

Olzh26 wrote:[No god please no
Added in 3 minutes 34 seconds:
Mothra is a Lepidoptera. How could she appear in archea?
She probably didn’t. It stands to reason that different Titans arose in different time periods (for example, mammalian Titans like Kong and Behemoth are probably a lot younger than Godzilla and Rodan).

In any case the only source we have for Titans having possibly arisen that early is Mark speculating in the novel upon seeing Rodan’s volcanic nature, comparing it to Godzilla’s fire and and Ghidorah’s lightning, and wondering how such animals could have evolved naturally and concluding they must have been from a period in which Earth must have been almost unrecognizable
gerdzerl wrote:DONT STOP G2000 YOU SEXY BEAST

User avatar
Olzh26
Interpol Agent
Posts: 414
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2019 7:41 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Olzh26 »

G2000 wrote:
Olzh26 wrote:[No god please no
Added in 3 minutes 34 seconds:
Mothra is a Lepidoptera. How could she appear in archea?
She probably didn’t. It stands to reason that different Titans arose in different time periods (for example, mammalian Titans like Kong and Behemoth are probably a lot younger than Godzilla and Rodan).

In any case the only source we have for Titans having possibly arisen that early is Mark speculating in the novel upon seeing Rodan’s volcanic nature, comparing it to Godzilla’s fire and and Ghidorah’s lightning, and wondering how such animals could have evolved naturally and concluding they must have been from a period in which Earth must have been almost unrecognizable
I hope that he is mistaken because it will be nonsense. Where did they come from in the Archean? moreover, in the awakening it was said that Godzilla was from the late Permian.

User avatar
Hokmuto
EDF Instructor
Posts: 2890
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:24 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Hokmuto »

Olzh26 wrote:
G2000 wrote:
Olzh26 wrote:[No god please no
Added in 3 minutes 34 seconds:
Mothra is a Lepidoptera. How could she appear in archea?
She probably didn’t. It stands to reason that different Titans arose in different time periods (for example, mammalian Titans like Kong and Behemoth are probably a lot younger than Godzilla and Rodan).

In any case the only source we have for Titans having possibly arisen that early is Mark speculating in the novel upon seeing Rodan’s volcanic nature, comparing it to Godzilla’s fire and and Ghidorah’s lightning, and wondering how such animals could have evolved naturally and concluding they must have been from a period in which Earth must have been almost unrecognizable
I hope that he is mistaken because it will be nonsense. Where did they come from in the Archean? moreover, in the awakening it was said that Godzilla was from the late Permian.
I would mostly roll my eyes and thoughts like these, but I totally agree in this case. Don't have these creatures come to life in the Pre-Cambrian supereon. That's just absurd.
Long Live The King

User avatar
TheInfiniteAeon
Monarch Researcher
Posts: 301
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:38 pm
Location: The Nameless City

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by TheInfiniteAeon »

Given Rodan's pteranodon-like skeletal structure one can presume that he started flying since the Cretaceous. Based on the description given of Mokele-mbembe he could be another Titan that came from the Mesozoic era. It's interesting though that even though the Permian era was the only noted period to have such high levels of surface radiation we see Titans popping much later. Any post-Permian hotspots of surface radiation must've been sufficient enough to give rise to these newer Titans.
In a post-Shin Godzilla world, the kaiju genre should, more than ever before, be held to standards of quality that are more than just "big monster go rawr". Don't act surprised when you get trash movies when your core audience asks for nothing but the bare minimum.
Image

User avatar
Ivo-goji
EDF Instructor
Posts: 2818
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:54 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Ivo-goji »

G2000 wrote:
There were at least two. The most prominent is Mokele-Mbembe. Unlike the “real life” cryptid it’s named after (generally depicted as a sauropod living in the Congo) here it’s depicted as some sort of horrific reptilie-elephant beast with downturned trunks, a glowing green horn in the center of it’s head, a long reptilian tail, and a “snakelike” trunk that snatches people off the ground and throws them into it’s “crocodile-like” jaws. It sleeps beneath the Nubian Pyramids in Sudan, and when it wakes up it eats most of it’s containment personnel. We later get a scene where it defeats an attempt by MONARCH and the Egyptian military to kill it, and is about to eat a POV character before Maddie activates the ORCA in Boston, causing it to freeze in place and allowing the survivors to escape.
It sounds like a Gamera kaiju.
Resized Image
Kaiju-King42 wrote: Welcome to Toho Kingdom, where every conceivable opinion, no matter how outlandish or unpopular, is a possibility among the population.

User avatar
Tyrant_Lizard_King
Sazer
Posts: 12849
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 5:57 am
Location: The Planet Trade HQ
Contact:

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

They came from the time of the fire monsters when radiation was much more prevalent than it is today.
Rocker, paleo buff, cryptid enthusiast, Dragonball fanatic, and lover of comic book, video game, manga, & anime babes!
Follow me on Twitter, if you dare! https://twitter.com/TLK_1983
Image

User avatar
miguelnuva
Justiriser
Posts: 18349
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:32 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by miguelnuva »

The entire point of the OD scene is Godzilla needs Oxygen and radiation to survive, he's not Shin Godzilla.
Mothra vs Godzilla> Gojira

Shadow Area 1-0
Image Image

User avatar
Tyrant_Lizard_King
Sazer
Posts: 12849
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 5:57 am
Location: The Planet Trade HQ
Contact:

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

No the point is to lead into the Ghidorah is as an alien reveal.
Rocker, paleo buff, cryptid enthusiast, Dragonball fanatic, and lover of comic book, video game, manga, & anime babes!
Follow me on Twitter, if you dare! https://twitter.com/TLK_1983
Image

BlankAccount
Sazer
Posts: 12648
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:49 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by BlankAccount »

They should have used the ANEB instead.

User avatar
miguelnuva
Justiriser
Posts: 18349
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:32 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by miguelnuva »

I don't mind the Oxygen Destroyer especially when you think of home it works in American Godzilla films.

It is heavily implied the OD didn't kill Godzilla in Godzilla 1985 and the OD did kill Godzilla here. His heart stopped, just luckily for him he restarted.

Was it a cop out yes, forced in maybe, but i moved the plot of the film.
Mothra vs Godzilla> Gojira

Shadow Area 1-0
Image Image

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Terasawa »

miguelnuva wrote:Was it a cop out yes, forced in maybe, but i moved the plot of the film.
That shouldn’t be a defense for bad writing...

Having Barney the dinosaur subdue Godzilla underwater while Ghidorah gets away also would have moved the plot along.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

User avatar
miguelnuva
Justiriser
Posts: 18349
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:32 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by miguelnuva »

Terasawa wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:Was it a cop out yes, forced in maybe, but i moved the plot of the film.
That shouldn’t be a defense for bad writing...

Having Barney the dinosaur subdue Godzilla underwater while Ghidorah gets away also would have moved the plot along.
There's a difference between bad writing and us Godzilla fans not liking how something was used.
Mothra vs Godzilla> Gojira

Shadow Area 1-0
Image Image

daveblackeye15
EDF Instructor
Posts: 2524
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:45 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by daveblackeye15 »

While I wish there was a little foreshadowing I just love how this Serisawa and the situation with Godzilla is a complete inversion of the original.

One was angered/created by nukes and dangerous but a victim.
One is a creature that while dangerous has benefited us.
One Serisawa believes Godzilla is a menace but he has something worse.
One Serisawa believes in Godzilla.
The Oxygen Destroy is made by a scientist that doesn't want the military to have it.
The Oxygen Destroyer is made by the military.
One uses the OD to kill Godzilla, and himself, because atomic bombs had a role.
One uses a nuke to sacrifice himself and heal Godzilla because the OD nearly killed him.

So yeah it coming out of no where was a little annoying but y'know I like the inversion and I'll be seeing the movie a seventh time tomorrow since I think it'll be out of my theaters, unless they haven't updated the schedule yet.

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Terasawa »

miguelnuva wrote:
Terasawa wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:Was it a cop out yes, forced in maybe, but i moved the plot of the film.
That shouldn’t be a defense for bad writing...

Having Barney the dinosaur subdue Godzilla underwater while Ghidorah gets away also would have moved the plot along.
There's a difference between bad writing and us Godzilla fans not liking how something was used.
Yes, definitely, but that's kind of my point: the Oxygen Destroyer was the prime example of bad writing in this movie.
  • No build up, just Stenz calling to say, "Hey we have this secret weapon we're using right now. It's called the "Oxygen Destroyer" and it kills everything. Good luck, bye."
  • It does not, in fact, kill everything. It critically weakens Godzilla and Ghidorah is unaffected.
  • Barely mentioned after this point. It's literally only in the film to knock Godzilla out for one act.
That's bad writing.

Compare this to Gamera being nuked by the Legion Flower in G2. In that case, the Legion Flower is already well established as being catastrophically destructive, so having Gamera limp to stop it at the very last moment creates dramatic tension that is entirely missing from the Oxygen Destroyer scene in KOTM. Likewise, we know that both Gamera in that film and Godzilla in this one will rise again for the climax, but at least in the former we're not sure how Gamera is going to be revived; that's how devastating his defeat was. In KOTM Godzilla just kinda sinks to the bottom of the ocean and not even a minute after the device is declared "deadly to everything," we hear Godzilla's heart beating.

In other words, Kaneko and Ito planted the seeds (no pun intended) for the big knockout blow early in the film, unlike the writers of KOTM who opted instead to throw something at the audience with zero setup or time for dramatic considerations. Seriously, so much else is going on. Furthermore, with Gamera, the filmmakers were wise to let Gamera's "death" cast some doubt on the outcome of the film, whereas in KOTM our characters are working on a solution nearly immediately.

Also, the Legion Flower does prove to be the threat it's made out to be: had Gamera not severed his link with humanity, Legion probably would have overrun the Earth. In KOTM, the Oxygen Destroyer is not fatal, despite Stenz' claim, because... something. I don't know. It's bad writing.

An example of Godzilla fans not liking how something is used is fans complaining about Ghidorah being a heroic creature in GMK. I'd also argue it's not a nerdy complaint either to expect something called the Oxygen Destroyer to live up to its name and especially when it's ever-so-briefly hyped up as a superweapon.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

BlankAccount
Sazer
Posts: 12648
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:49 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by BlankAccount »

The Oxygen Destroyer is worse than a nuke. Look at how it's handled in the original movie. Dr. Serizawa is hesitant to let anyone know it exists, let alone use it. He wants to find a peaceful use. When he is eventually convinced to use it, he destroys his blue prints and kills himself. And when it's finally used on Godzilla, it's not quick, it's not pretty or humane. It kills him in a long and painful death that is drawn out.

And KOTM just drops it in like no big deal. I like KOTM, but I don't like that scene. Someone said they should have just made it a big maser bomb, I agree. It's not like Godzilla hasn't been harmed by other weapons like ANEB or cadmium. Heck just make it a cadmium bomb. Even in future movies that use the Oxygen Destroyer as a plot point, such as Destroyer and Kiryu, Toho never fully brought it back.
Last edited by BlankAccount on Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Terasawa
Xilien Halfling
Posts: 5841
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:06 am

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Terasawa »

Living Corpse wrote:And KOTM just drops it in like no big deal. I like KOTM, but I don't like that scene. Someone said they should have just made it a big maser bomb, I agree. It's not like Godzilla hasn't been harmed by other weapons like ANEB or cadmium. Heck just make it a cadmium bomb.
It's almost like either of those would have fit better with Godzilla ultimately requiring a nuke to the face to beat Ghidorah.
Last edited by Terasawa on Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
寺沢. He/him/his, etc.

User avatar
Hokmuto
EDF Instructor
Posts: 2890
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2017 4:24 pm

Re: King of the Monsters: Film vs Novelization Differences

Post by Hokmuto »

miguelnuva wrote:
Terasawa wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:Was it a cop out yes, forced in maybe, but i moved the plot of the film.
That shouldn’t be a defense for bad writing...

Having Barney the dinosaur subdue Godzilla underwater while Ghidorah gets away also would have moved the plot along.
There's a difference between bad writing and us Godzilla fans not liking how something was used.
Yes, although the implementation of the Oxygen Destroyer is lazy and bad writing. You don’t just introduce something out of nowhere; that’s bad writing 101
Long Live The King

Post Reply