Background and Trivia |
- On February 11th, 1991, the company Best Brains registered the movie with the US copyright office as part of its episode on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This cited the title as Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster under the registration number PA0000515721. Later that year, on July 5th 1991, Broadway Video Enterprises registered the film with the number V2663P101 under its US title, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. The company coninuted to register the 1966 movie with the US copyright office as late as 2001. On March 8th, 2004, Toho finally submitted the movie to the US copyright office under its international title: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. Listed under record number V3508D105, Toho also referenced its US title of Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.
- Was developed from an unused concept, Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah, although replaced the King Kong character for Godzilla.
- Director Jun Fukuda notes that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was not particularly active on this production, with the exception of being involved with the budget. The producer would, however, visit the set "often" to watch progress but only as an observer. This information is found in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Director Jun Fukuda selected Masaru Sato to score his films to give it a "different touch from [Ishiro] Honda's", noting Sato's music was lighter than Akira Ifukube's. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka didn't agree with this decision but Fukuda won out in the end. This account is located in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- The movie features stock music from High and Low (1963) during the Red Bamboo Fighter jet conflict.
- Dayu was originally to be played by Noriko Takahashi, who had a brief scene as a girl in the lodge in Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965). She was eventually passed up for the role in favor of Kumi Mizuno, though. This detail is listed in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Appeared as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Featured in episode 213, under the title Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, the movie debuted on the program on Feburary 2nd, 1991. The version of the movie used actually features an opening credits sequence that includes footage from Son of Godzilla (1967).
- The trailer for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was created by the movie's assistant directors, who used footage which ended up not making it into the final cut. This fact is listed in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Although Eiji Tsuburaya is credited as the special effects director, actual directorial duties were handed over to Sadamasa Arikawa, who at this stage had been promoted to Tsuburaya's first assistant director. Tsuburaya still had final say on effects sequences, but served more of a supervisor role on the production. Noted in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- With a new special effects director in the seat, Toho tried to limit the effects budget. Sadamasa Arikawa lamented that Toho likely did this due to his inexperience and TV history, noting that "Toho couldn't have made too many demands about the budget if Mr. Tsuburaya had been in charge" and that he "was also doing TV work then, so they must have figured I could produce the movie cheaply." To keep the budget down, Toho instructed Arikawa to avoid expensive composite shots as much as possible. Although the movie has minimal composite shots, it is not devoid of them as scenes such as Godzilla's foot composited near actress Kumi Mizuno or a sequence of Mothra composited as her followers rush toward here are some examples of these sequences that made it into the final film. Cited in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- For the theatrical trailer, "Night on Bald Mountain" is the music used. Although not attributed, this sounds likely to be the 1962 recording done by René Leibowitz as he conducts the The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This same tune was reused for the trailer for Conflagration (1975).
- Despite being re-released in the Summer of 1972 as part of the Toho Champion Festival, the copyright on the reissue poster actually displays 1971.
- For the original US version, the movie opens with a scene of Ebirah attacking what appears to be Yata's boat. However, this is actually a repeated scene from later in the movie, when Ebirah attacks the Yahlen, that is simply meant to stand in for the beast attacking Ryota's brother.
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