prepped

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, released in Japan as , is a 1966 tokusatsu film, directed by Jun Fukuda, and was released by Toho studios. The movie is also known by its English title, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. The visual effects were directed by Eiji Tsuburaya, who directed in a supervisory position over Sadamasa Arikawa, who was being prepped as a Visual Effects Director. It also features supporting monsters Mothra and Ebirah. It was the first Godzilla film since Godzilla Raids Again not directed by Ishiro Honda and shows a turn toward a more action-adventure approach to the Godzilla films instead of Honda's customary science-fiction approach. Set mostly on a tropical island, the film also required fewer miniatures, the visual effects team was allocated a lower budget than previous entries, while the live action team's budget was expanded to accommodate location photography.

The concept was originally intended for King Kong under the title The film was planned as a co-production with the American production company Rankin-Bass to coincide with their animated series The King Kong Show. However, Rankin-Bass rejected this script. The King Kong project was eventually made from a different script as King Kong Escapes, but Toho salvaged Operation Robinson Crusoe by re-writing it to feature Godzilla instead of King Kong. Some of Godzilla's unusual behavior in the film, such as receiving power from electricity, and taking notice of a beautiful native girl, reveal the script's origin as a King Kong vehicle.

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster was released directly to U.S. television syndication through the Walter Reade Organization. It was the first Godzilla film to forgo a theatrical release in the United States. For the television version, the film's title was written as Godzilla versus the Sea Monster.

Synopsis

After his brother Yata is lost at sea, young Ryota steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber. This motley crew runs afoul of the giant lobster Ebirah, and washes up on the shore of an island, where a terrorist organization manufactures heavy water for their nefarious purposes, as well as a chemical that keeps Ebirah at bay. The organization, known as , has enslaved natives from Infant Island to help them, but the natives hope to awaken a dormant Mothra to rescue them. In their efforts to avoid capture, Ryota and his friends, aided by a beautiful native girl, stumble across Godzilla sleeping, who is resting from his battles with King Ghidorah from the previous two years, within a cliffside cavern. The group formulates a plan to defeat Red Bamboo and escape from the island. In the process, they wake Godzilla using a lightning rod, retrieve the missing Yata, free the enslaved natives and destroy the base, but in the process the island becomes unstable. As Godzilla makes Shrimp Scampi out of Ebirah, the natives summon Mothra to save everyone, and everyone goes home happy.

Ookondoru

Ookondoru (大コンドル - Ö-kondoru), or Kondoru, is a giant condor from the movie, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. It lurked the skies of the Red Bamboo Island Headquarters. Godzilla encountered this monster as he awoke. Then, quickly disposed of by Godzilla's atomic breath. He is deemed one of the more terrible daikaiju designs in the Showa Era and one of few monsters done in using only puppetry rather than suitmation.

Attributes

Flight
Sharp Beak
Sharp Talons

Movies

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Godzilla's Revenge; Stock Footage (1969)

Trivia

His original opponent was supposed to be King Kong as the movie itself was meant for him and not Godzilla.
Appear again in a boy's dream. (i.e. Godzilla's Revenge)
Likely based on a California Condor rather than a South American Condor.
Earned the quickest defeat from any kaiju fight in the Showa Era; the Zilla vs. Gojira battle is now declared the shortest fight in the entire Godzilla franchise.

Cast

Akira Takarada　　　　 .............. Yoshimura，　Safe-Blower
Tooru Watanabe 　　　　............... Ryouta，　Fisherman
Tooru Ibuki　　　　　　 ............... Yata，　Older brother of Ryouta
Choutarou Tougin　　　 .............. Ichino，　University Student
Hideo Sunazuka　　　　　 ............... Nita，　University Student
Kumi Mizuno　　　　　　 ............... Dayo，　Daughter of Infant Island
Pair Bambi　　　　　　　　　 ............... 『Syoubijin』
Jun Tazaki　　　　　　　　 ............... 　『AKAI-TAKE』（Red Bamboo） Commander
Akihiko Hirata　　　　　　　 ............... 『AKAI-TAKE』　Captain Ryuui
Hisaya Itou　　　　　　　　　 ............... 『AKAI-TAKE』　Scientist #1
Tadashi Okabe　　　　　　　 ............... 『AKAI-TAKE』　 Scientist #2
Eisei Amamoto　　　　　　　 ...............『AKAI-TAKE』　　Carrier　 Captain
Ikio Sawamura　　　　　　 ............... Elderly Slave
Noriko　Honma　　　　　　 ............... ITAKO（Medium）
Chieko　Nakakita　　　　　 ............... Kane
Seiji　Ikeda　　　　　　　　　 ............... Fishermen's association length
Yutaka　Sada　　　　　　　 ............... Villager
Hideo　Shibuya　　　　　　 ............... Policeman
Kennichirou　Maruyama　 ............... Young journalist
Wataru　Oomae　　　　　　 ............... Middle-aged journalist
Shigeki　Isida　　　　　　　　 ............... Chief editor
Keiko　Ozawa　　　　　　　　 ............... Native old woman
Shoichi Hirose　　　　 ............... Native who escapes by a canoe　A
Kazuo　Suzuki　　　　　　　 ............... Native who escapes by a canoe　B
Rinsaku　Ogata　　　　　　 ............... 『AKAI-TAKE』　Guard soldier
Studio-No1-Dancers　　　 ............... Infant　islander

Haruo Nakajima 　　　　............... Godzilla
Yū Sekida　　　　　　　 ............... Ebirah

Miscellanea

The U.S. television version and early video versions have a different opening to the film. The opening scenes of Ryota at the Maritime Safety Agency searching for news of his brother have been replaced with a scene supposedly showing Ebirah destroying Yata's boat. This sequence was created by editing a later scene in the movie. The current DVD version of the film restores the Japanese cut.

This is the only film in the Godzilla series to spell out "versus" on the title screen.

The Japanese singing duo Pair Bambi play the tiny twin Mothra priestesses known as the Shobijin ("little beauties"). In earlier movies, these characters were played by twin sisters Emi and Yûmi Ito of The Peanuts, another Japanese singing duo.

In the scene right after he destroys the Giant Condor, Godzilla rubs his nose. This was a reference to Toho's popular Wakadaisho/Young Guy movie series, in which the titular character, Yuichi Tanuma (played by Yuzo Kayama), was known for doing the same thing.

The name Ebirah is derived from the Japanese word for shrimp (ebi) and ra, a common addition to Japanese monster names (e.g., Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora).

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster was one of the two Godzilla films used as episodes of American television comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000, which frequently mocks monster movies. The other one was Godzilla vs. Megalon. A running gag of the episode was that Joel and the robots arrived in the theater late, and did not catch the movie's title card. Because of that oversight, they lacked knowledge of the title even though the movie featured Godzilla fighting with a sea monster.

In 1991, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster was distributed under the Film Ventures International name. The company replaced the opening with a generic credit sequence, using footage from Son of Godzilla.

In the Japanese version the characters referred to Ebirah and the Red Bamboo by their actual names instead of the American print referring to them as "That Monster" and "Those Soldiers".

This was the final appearance of the "adult" Mothra in a Showa era film. Her next appearance in her adult form would be in the Hessei era film Gojira vs. Mosura (1992).

U.S. version

In 1967, the film was released directly to television in North America by the Walter Reade Organization - it was the first Godzilla film to not receive North American theatrical distribution.

There were several small alterations made:

Dialogue was dubbed to English.

Deleted: the opening credits sequence. The American version features only the title card, Godzilla versus the Sea Monster

Deleted: A scene where Ryoto goes to the Maritime Safety office and sees a poster on the wall for a dance contest.

Deleted: rock music that played in the Japanese version during Godzilla and Ebirah's battle.

The American version runs 83 minutes, four minutes shorter than the Japanese version.

Box office

In Japan, the film was released on December 17th and sold approximately 3,450,000 tickets. It was re-released on July 22nd 1972 and sold approximately 760,000 tickets.