Godzilla's Various American Titles
If you're a fan of Godzilla any you might be aware that in the 1950s to 1990s that a LOT of the films were renamed to appeal to western audiences (a prime example being Godzilla Raids Again being renamed to Gigantis, The Fire Monster) and it can get pretty confusing, as nowadays these films are mostly referred to by their original names, so I'm creating this post to one, help myself be familiar with these names so if I see them in the future I'm aware of what's what, and second, I figured I can turn this process into a fun blog post, since it's something I'm very passionate about (Godzilla) and if someone is gonna do it, it's gonna be me, so let's begin! Please note that I will be excluding bootlegs. This will also be a very short post as I wanted to make up for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, so I hope you also don't mind that.
The first film to mention here is of course, the original 1954 Godzilla film, now this one is a bit of a doozy because of the fact the film was re-edited to the point of a new film to appeal to American audiences that it's technically it's own film, though I'm still counting it because it's pretty important, as it's the first film. It goes under the title Godzilla, King Of The Monsters, which is also the title of the 2019 film released by Warner Bros. that's a sequel to the aptly titled Godzilla in 2014.
Godzilla > Godzilla, King Of The Monsters
The second film to mention is the sequel to the original, Godzilla Raids Again, the film to make sure you're aware that Godzilla isn't going away no matter how hard you push him away. This one is a really weird one but it sort of makes sense, in the end of the original, Godzilla is dead, so it would make sense to re-brand him as a different creature in the next one, but what doesn't make sense is that it's CLEARLY the same monster, so it's not really fooling anybody, though I will say the name they gave to Godzilla is kind of cool, Gigantis, but they probably should've done something to mask that it was clearly the same monster from the last one.
Godzilla Raids Again > Gigantis, The Fire Monster
The next title, Mothra vs. Godzilla, this one has two titles, interestingly enough. The first title is Godzilla vs. The Thing, which I swear was also used for another Godzilla film, though I'm not exactly sure which one. I'm surprised this is the title, I'm not sure why but I would assume they would use a title relating to the fact that Mothra is a bug, I can't think of any titles but if I were able to, it'd probably be better than "The Thing", it's such an odd title. The other title though, is Godzilla Vs. Mothra, which is the title to the 1991 film, and the 4th film in the Heisei era.
Mothra vs. Godzilla > Godzilla vs. The Thing
Mothra vs. Godzilla > Godzilla vs. Mothra
Interestingly enough, Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster has three separate titles, which one of is pretty weird. The weird one has to be the one where they spell Ghidorah as Ghidra, I'm not exactly sure why this change was necessary, as Ghidorah was already fine enough on it's own. The other title is Monster Zero, this one makes no sense at all, I don't understand why he's called Monster Zero, the film is pretty clear where his origins are from and Monster Zero makes him sound like some type of lab experiment which isn't the case. Another variation of this title would also be Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero.
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster > Ghidra, The Three-Headed Monster (some releases alternate between the dash between three and headed)
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster > Monster Zero
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster > Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
These next few titles are gonna be combined since there's only one of each as opposed to the few the last few movies have had, first up is Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, which is titled Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. Second being All Monsters Attack, which is called Godzilla's Revenge, which I never understood as Godzilla doesn't appear much in the film but instead Minilla, and when Godzilla does appear it's either footage from the past films or he's barely on screen, whatever it takes to sell more tapes in the west I suppose. The third is Godzilla vs. Hedorah, which is titled Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, which in reality that's a much cooler title, and I wish that was the original title in general, adds a level of mystery, just who is this smog monster that Godzilla is encountering? The fourth one being Godzilla vs. Gigan, which is called Godzilla On Monster Island, this title would make sense with Destory All Monsters considering that was the introduction of monster island.
Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep > Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
All Monsters Attack > Godzilla's Revenge
Godzilla vs. Hedorah > Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster
Godzilla vs. Gigan > Godzilla On Monster Island
This last and final one is nothing interesting but I felt it needed it's own little section, which is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. It got renamed to Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster, which makes sense but it reminds me of a cosmic brownie and that's why it's getting it's own little section so I can say that, and it's also the final Godzilla film released in the west to get a title change.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla > Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster
Ever since these titles were out, every Godzilla film released in the west has used it's original Japanese title, though it should be noted that future DVD and Blu-ray releases of these titles also used these titles, though they were far and between. It's really interesting to see what they would change for western audiences considering a lot of their decisions practically made very little sense, specifically Ghidorah being renamed to Monster Zero, and things of that sort. That's all I really have to say about this topic, at least as of now, so I'll see you guys in the next poster, whatever that may be.
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