“Godzilla” (1998) & G-Fans

Before I begin the article, I want to say that this article was difficult to write. It was difficult in the fact that some fans will take this personally and, potentially, the wrong way. In no way am I attempting to be accusatory and to make a sect of the fandom guilty and seem like a group of horrible individuals. That’s not the purpose of this article. The purpose of the article is to show us how much power we wield as fans and how our actions, related to 1998’s Godzilla, affected the character, franchise, creativity, and Millennium era that followed that film. It exposes some of our own wrongdoings as well as solutions for us going forward so we can continue to have an ongoing series and fun, creative films. Like any article that is going to point out flaws, it will be hard to accept and most of us will be quick to dismiss what I write here. Please, do not take this personally. G-fans are one of the few fandoms that is extremely loyal to its property as well as protective (to a fault).

So, please, read my article with an open mind. Here me out. Don’t take it personally. Most importantly, realize how much power we truly have in determining the future of our beloved King of the Monsters!

I was listening to one of the most recent Toho Kingdom podcasts and heard the hosts briefly talk about how easily offended/stirred up/critical the Godzilla fanbase can be when it comes to the films. I was quickly reminded of how many times I thought the same thing and when I addressed a similar issue earlier in PXCR’s podcast history. My loyalty to the Godzilla property has been questioned due to bringing up this issue and, more than anything else, for liking TriStar’s 1998 Godzilla. To say the least, I took a lot of this personally. I felt betrayed and abandoned despite having been a fan since 1992 right when I turned eight. I had also seen other fans being treated similarly. It was extremely hard to experience and I felt absolutely powerless.

I wondered how younger fans, who became Godzilla fans because of Godzilla, were being treated. If they were being treated similarly to the way I was being treated, I wondered what they felt; if they, too, felt that the subject of everyone’s gathering around at a forum, Godzilla, was really worth becoming a fan at all. It breaks my heart knowing that some fans will forever be lost due to this harsh treatment.

I’m not saying this treatment was widespread, but it was there and, sadly, it really affected the fandom and, just as important, the direction the Godzilla franchise took after Godzilla hit theaters.

Fifteen-and-a-half years ago, Godzilla hit theaters to much anticipation. However, shortly thereafter, word got around by many fans that the Godzilla portrayed in the film was not the “real” Godzilla. The movie did well on its Memorial Day opening, but saw ticket sales, in the U.S., fall pretty quickly. The film did well overseas and the film, total, grossed nearly $350 million worldwide. More than enough to make a sequel. A trilogy was initially planned with each film becoming grimmer, and grittier, than the previous.

However, many fans decried that this was not the Godzilla they grew up with. Some of the complaints were that Godzilla didn’t posses his trademark radioactive breath, he could be hurt/killed by conventional weaponry, he ran from his human opponents most of the time rather than taking them head-on. In other words, this Godzilla was more intuitive and instinctual than the Japanese counterpart. “The ‘God’ is missing from this monster,” was the general sentiment amongst fans. The ’98 Godzilla was even nicknamed G.I.N.O. (Godzilla In Name Only) by many fans. Toho acknowledged this Godzilla, but named it Zilla in its 2004 film Godzilla Final Wars and was denounced as not being the “real” Godzilla in 2001’s Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Toho responded quickly with Godzilla 2000: Millennium in 1999 which jump-started the Millennium era of Godzilla films. But, like 1998’s Godzilla, most fans were not satisfied with the overall outing of the Millennium era and the era ended with only six films contained within it. Most fans criticized the Millennium films as being unimaginative, slow in pacing, and lacking any new opponents.

Since 2004, the Godzilla franchise, and the character, have been on hiatus…until now. But couldn’t we have seen more films over the past ten years? Couldn’t there have been a new film every year?

I’ve thought about this for quite a while and concluded that the answer is yes. We, the fans, just have to make it happen.

That’s right, we the fans can determine the direction and future of our beloved Kaiju King! The problem, though, is that we have shot ourselves, and the Godzilla franchise, in the foot and have been hypocritical of our views of the character’s depiction and his films.

We had two more American films in the works until most of the fandom said otherwise. We  have criticized the Millennium films for being unoriginal, yet most of us lambasted the ’98 film, because it brought a new imagining of the King of the Monsters. How can Toho, or any studio that is wanting to produce a Godzilla film, create a film that brings something new to the table when it’s living in fear that the fandom, that wants something new, could very well criticize the film because it did not meet even one particular requirement? We, the fans, have been extremely hypocritical when it has come to Godzilla films anymore.

So what can we do? It’s simple: We need to be more open-minded. Pardon the expression due to lack of a better term, but the Godzilla fanbase has been bi-polar. We want many characteristics to stay in place yet want original material. The problem lies within us. We have been so strict about many of Godzilla’s, and his universe’s, characteristics that we are, in reality, not willing to accept much of anything new. This is why Toho, in the Heisei and Millennium eras, always went back to using more familiar Godzilla foes, because the fans did not care to see new kaiju like Biollante, Orga, and Megaguirus.

Unfortunately, many fans still are seething over Godzilla. I, too, used to feel awful that more fans didn’t enjoy and appreciate the film. I realized that I, and those fans who still loathe the ’98 film, need to move on. I still look at the ’98 Godzilla as Godzilla and I am okay with fans not accepting that Godzilla as Godzilla. But we need to make up our minds, collectively, as to what we want out of our character.

I still find it disheartening that many fans, who disliked Godzilla, won’t even acknowledge the amount of good it did. Never, in the history of the fandom, have we seen the amount of merchandise available to us as we had in 1998. Many of us were, finally, able to obtain films that were long out of print and to purchase other Godzilla goodies to add to our collections. Unfortunately, we will probably never see such a merchandise campaign ever again due to the backlash. Most importantly, the fanbase grew out of the 1998 film. Sure, not every single one of those youngsters who saw Godzilla acknowledge the ’98 Godzilla as Godzilla, but they, nevertheless, became fans of Godzilla.

It is understandable that we want certain aspects of the character, and his universe, to remain in tact. But we cannot be so stuck on those particulars that we stymie creativity; which is what we have done with Godzilla since 1998. Creativity is the only thing that will push this franchise into new and exciting worlds that have yet to be explored. These worlds will be exhilarating but we have to be willing to let producers experiment.

I plead with all of my fellow Godzilla fans to keep their hearts and minds open as we move towards 2014. No doubt there are sequels planned for the 2014 movie, but they will only come to fruition if we are willing to let producers bring new elements to Godzilla and his world. Even if a trilogy becomes a reality, we could potentially see Toho revive Godzilla themselves and produce a new series of films. A series of films that will combine the old with the new and continue the King of the Monsters’ legacy.

We simply need to let creativity have its day.

*Please leave any comments you have below or post them on our Facebook page. I would love to hear what you think!*