In case you came here from somewhere other than my main page, the title Godzilla vs. Meniscus refers to my little underground press endeavor, a zine called Meniscus. This Kaiju page is part of the Meniscus Enterprises web site. When you're done reading about Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Anguiras, King Ghidorrah and a host of alien invaders, feel free to stop in and see the other fun stuff going on at Meniscus headquarters. But for now, on with the monsters!
It's no secret that I have a thing for monsters. For most of my life I have thrived on horror films, and in recent years I've begun to focus, from time to time, on specific areas of the horror genre. My delving into the Halloween series has produced, to date: one Halloween costume, one piece of fiction, several illustrations, and a long essay. At the end of last year I was deeply involved in the horror films of the thirties and forties, leading me to read several great books, begin a couple of stories I've yet to complete, create Domestic Partner of Frankenstein, and paint a portrait of the main characters from that comic book.
There is a huge collection of horror films in my room. I've been painting and selling pictures of children dressed as monsters. And let's not forget the Giant Clown Head! With all this interest in monsters, it's no surprise that my latest obsession has been with the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla.
Gojira (a combination of the Japanese words for "gorilla" and "whale") first made his appearance in November of 1955. In this grim and devastating film (usually known in the United States as Godzilla, King of the Monsters or, more intimately, just Godzilla), nuclear testing mutates a dying species into a deadly manifestation of the world's collective atomic fears. Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo recalls the atrocities of Hiroshima, and mankind's weapons seem to have no effect on him. But a brilliant scientist with a surly-looking eyepatch is having some problems of his own. Dr. Serizawa has created a powerful weapon, and is riddled with fear and guilt over the disastrous potential of his invention: the oxygen destroyer.
Now, I do not have the original Japanese version of the film, and I understand that the extensive editing for the American release is responsible for some of Godzilla's problems. The explanation for the weapon is murky, though the effect is clear: when introduced to water, the oxygen destroyer dissolves all organic tissue present. In the end, when all else has failed, the scientist sacrifices himself to destroy both the monster and the weapon, thus saving the world.
The American release, besides having Dr. Serizawa's scenes cut short, is also burdened with several additional scenes of Raymond Burr as American reporter Steve Martin. Much like today, I guess stateside audiences in 1956 couldn't be expected to enjoy a film that is subtitled; apparently we couldn't even be trusted with a merely dubbed version. We require our very own tailor-made American protagonist, a device which inevitably skews whatever perspective the original director might have envisioned.
However, to judge the Raymond Burr version on its own merits, the film is entirely watchable. And rather than dub every scene, there are a number of sequences where Burr is watching from the wings, much as we are, while the Japanese characters speak Japanese and he can't tell what they are saying. He has a companion who translates the action for him, from time to time, and a lot can be inferred from gesture and inflection. The interesting effect is that we feel the emotional impact of the Japanese people's performances, but when Raymond Burr doesn't know what's happening, neither do we.
I would prefer to get my hands on the real Godzilla, but it's a really good movie regardless. Sure, the special effects aren't so hot, but come on, it's 1955! A lot of love and frustration and fear went into this big bad monster. The result was a superior, atmospheric film whose success spawned over a score of sequels. As Carlos Clemens wrote in his 1967 An Illustrated History of Horror and Science-Fiction Films, "...Japan, the only nation on earth to have actually suffered from atomic warfare, has become the world's foremost producer of filmic holocausts."
Godzilla's Counterattack was released in Japan before the first film ever made it across the water. In the sequel, (currently called Godzilla Raids Again in America, but known variously as Return of Godzilla and Gigantis, the Fire Monster, among others), Godzilla is pitted against his first monster enemy. Anguiras is another dinosauresque behemoth, a quadruped with a spiked shell on his back. The version that I have is a subtitled Japanese cut, and it's a very interesting movie. Unlike the later sequels that everyone remembers, this was made without a foreign market in mind. This is a serious and very Japanese movie, and well worth a look. I have never seen the American version of this one though, so if you go out and rent Gigantis, the Fire Monster, you're on your own.
After the thrill of seeing Godzilla do battle with someone his own size, the tradition was set. He met the world's biggest ape in the 1962 crossover King Kong vs. Godzilla. Again, and more extremely this time, the American release was different from the original, changing the story and even the wonderful Akira Ifukube score.
In 1964, Toho put Godzilla up against Mothra, who had first appeared in his own film in 1961. A giant egg washing ashore in Japan, the two tiny Alilenas, Godzilla stomping Tokyo... it all really comes together in this Godzilla vs. Mothra. There's a lot of excitement here, and the Mothra mythology is always so wonderfully weird.
Released the same year, one of the other great all-time villains made his first appearance in the sequel Ghidra, the Three-Headed Monster A golden, three-headed, two-tailed dragon from outer space, King Ghidorrah arrives in a flaming meteor and begins to do a lot of damage. In our first glimpse at Godzilla as the hero he would become (for a while), the people of earth are forced to turn to the big G, as well as Mothra and Rodan (whose first film came out in 1957), for help. Despite a mangling of the chronology and some other problems caused by the editing for the American release, this is a terrific monster party.
But not, I dare say, as terrific as 1965's Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Known in Japan as Kaiju Daisenso, or The Great War of the Monsters, this one involves a visit from a group of suspicious-looking aliens from Planet X. Claiming to be terrorized on their own planet by a nasty monster (designated Monster Zero, because everything on their planet is known by a number), they appeal to the people of earth for assistance. They want to borrow Godzilla and Rodan (Monster 01 and Monster 02) to fight him, and in return they will give us a formula to wipe out all disease. Well first, it turns out that Monster Zero is none other than King Ghidorrah! And then, it turns out that the whole thing is an elaborate double-cross! This one has great special effects, epic monster battles and Godzilla dancing the Shie. And that, my friends, is why I got the Japanese title of the film tattooed on my leg, in big green and yellow characters.
Sadly, things took a turn for the worse, temporarily, as Toho's investment in the series shrank considerably. Godzilla's adventures were largely relocated to the south seas, where inexpensive beach sets with miniature palm trees stood in for the more costly and time-consuming cities. The quality of the monster suits, astonishingly enough, went down as well, and the plots grew far loonier.
This trio begins in 1965 with Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, in which some folks end up stranded on an island whose offshore waters are guarded by Ebirah, a sort of giant crab. In a masterstroke of plot devices, the tiny island is also inhabited by a bunch of evil criminals bent on world domination, and Godzilla, who is sleeping inside a mountain. Yes, you are correct to raise your eyebrow suspiciously, dear reader, for this is not the zenith of kaiju filmmaking.
Nor, however, is this the nadir.
One year later, in a travesty of scripting that is equaled only by the likes of Poochy and Jar Jar, the world saw the birth of Minya in Son of Godzilla. The movie itself is not terrible, but the bug-eyed lovebug Minya is a character that this already-deteriorating series could have definitely lived without.
Things were looking up a little next time, when Inoshiro Honda returned to helm Destroy All Monsters. Maybe it's Honda, or maybe it's something about throwing alien invaders into the mix that adds fresh life to a series that was flagging since he directed Monster Zero. In any case, earthlings have confined the world's monsters to an island, and the aliens take control of them and set the monsters out to destroy various cities. Mothra and Rodan are on hand of course, but we've also got Baragon and Varan, Spigas, Anguiras, Gorosaurus, and even King Ghidorrah! Oh yes, and Minya too. It's one big fracas, and quite a show.
But it was right back to the trash can after this, with Godzilla's Revenge, the worst of the little-boy-protagonist Godzilla films. The tenth in the series, this one wasn't even really a monster movie, but rather an escapist fantasy where the troubled kid imagines himself best friends with Minya, and witness to all sorts of monster skirmishes.
1971 brought Godzilla vs. Hedorah - called Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster in America. A beast formed from pollution, Hedorah is a giant, overt, seething symbol of mankind's disregard for nature. And in case you missed the significance, the film boasts a groovy theme song called "Save the Earth!"
Soon we learn that the alien-invasion theme does not necessarily spell movie magic, as proven by Godzilla on Monster Island. This 1972 embarrassment, also known as Godzilla vs. Gigan, has evil cockroaches from Nebula Spacehunter M setting up shop in a theme park. An unsuccessful cartoonist and his pals infiltrate the alien headquarters (in the Godzilla Tower at the park) to stop them. But not before the aliens unleash King Ghidorrah and Gigan, an evil cyborg with a skilsaw in its tummy. Believe me, even that description is too flattering for this movie. By the way, this is the one where Godzilla and Anguiras actually talk to each other.
In 1973 we come to Godzilla vs. Megalon, for which I may have to rethink my earlier assertion that Godzilla's Revenge is the worst of the little-boy-protagonist Godzilla films. The entire production is absurd and cheap, though not without it's charms. The underground-dwelling Seatopians release Megalon and Gigan on the surface world, much to the dismay of the scientist and the little boy. Luckily, they have the mighty Jet Jaguar (a fighting robot who "programs himself" to become gigantic) and Godzilla to battle against the ridiculous monsters.
Toho drove the last two nails into the coffin of the series in 1974 and 1975, with the imaginitive but slapshod Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla. Both have some enjoyable smashing, but the plots are so thin and full of holes that only the very young target audience (or the devoted geek) would be able to overlook the problems. Not surprisingly, Godzilla went on hiatus for the next ten years.
Somewhere in that intervening decade, it must have dawned on them that the dwindling quality of the series had nothing to do with the quality of their original film. Yes, Godzilla had become something of a joke, a cheap rubber suit, a hero to children on par with Gamera, no more threatening than Ultraman. But it didn't have to be that way! Godzilla used to stand for something, dammit, and he could again. If only we could wipe the slate clean...
Thus was Godzilla 1985 born, the second direct sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Much like Halloween: 20 Years Later, this film ignores all the preceding sequels, erasing the unpleasantness and priming the world for an entirely new series. Frankly, it's not a great movie, and I've always been a little prejudiced against it because my youngest brother used to watch it all the time. He rented it from the video store at least once a week when he was five or six, and after a while the sight of the film sickened me. Now that I'm past that, and can appreciate its place in the kaiju continuum, it's not so bad. Mainly, Godzilla 1985 heralded a new era for Toho Studios and Godzilla fans the world over.
Perhaps seeing an opportunity to redefine their pet monster, after 1985 earned back Godzilla's sense of dignity, they waited four years before giving the world Godzilla vs. Biollante, though American audiences would have to wait until 1992. This one has a scientist (Dr. Surigama) using a plant-based formula that could free the industrial world from the need for refined oil. In his laboratory, he also experiments with G-cells, the quick-regenerating nuclear-powered cells of which Godzilla is composed. But some terrorist baddies, during an act of industrial theft, get the G-cells mixed in with the plant cells, leading to the creation of Biollante! That's right, an enormous rose-monster. And it's a doozy! We get Godzilla battling a giant plant, the introduction of Miki (the girl with the psychic link to Godzilla), and an overall slick look with some good production value. The series was truly revitalized with this chapter, and though Americans have rarely been given a decent chance to see what follows, it's been getting better ever since.
The Biollante team returned in 1991 to bring us Godzilla vs. King Ghidorrah, a crazy time-travelling adventure in which Japanese emissaries from the future arrive to ask for our help in erasing Godzilla from time. But it's another double-cross and Godzilla's absence only leaves the world vulnerable to the attacks of King Ghidorrah and the evil masterminds who control him. So Godzilla's origin is rewritten once again, as the earth people of the present day have to find a way to create Godzilla to defend the world against the three-headed dragon.
Mothra was reborn in 1992 with Godzilla vs. Mothra, released on video in the United States six years later as Godzilla and Mothra: the Battle for Earth. This fun film pits Mothra and Battra (the "black Mothra", clearly evil because it's dark and pointy) against the big G. Once again the Mothra mythology proves to be a loopy treat, and there are some great battle scenes of the three monsters trampling a city (including a big waterfront amusement park), and once the two flying monsters gang up on Godzilla it gets even better. Mothra went on to star in a trilogy of fairy-tale like children's films in 1996, '97, and '98.
The favorite enemies of the original series continue to be resurrected! Case in point: 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (released here as Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, apparently so we wouldn't get it confused with the 1974 film. Even though it seems more confusing to make it sound like a sequel to the 1974 film. Go figure.) Overall it was a fun one, but guess what? What do we have here? Once again, radiation mutates an egg and leads to the birth of the Baby Godzilla. It's an unfortunate development, but one which will pay off two movies later. And here, it's tempered by the presence of Rodan, who we haven't seen at all since Destroy All Monsters in 1968.
G-force has really upped the ante in 1993, when Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Project T plants a telepathic amplifier into Godzilla to help bring him under control, and it all happens just in time! See, some stray G-cells that were set adrift in space (perhaps on the wings of Mothra, when he went off into space to stop that meteor) were exposed to interstellar radiation. They grew and mutated and became the weird, flying, partially crystalline SpaceGodzilla, a truly awesome creature trying to destroy Godzilla and conquer the world.
But nothing tugs at the heartstrings like Godzilla vs. Destroyah, the 1994 epic that begins with the destruction of infant island (and presumed death of Baby Godzilla). But much worse things are afoot! Godzilla himself, looking bigger and badder than ever, is glowing red like an overheating furnace. Seems the energy of his own body is climbing ever higher, and he's on the verge of meltdown. It's up to the brave men and women of G-Force to keep Godzilla from taking out the whole planet when he blows. But that's not all! Some microscopic organisms, genetically altered by the effects of the oxygen destroyer from the original attack in 1954, have begun to mutate out of control. They form the gruesome Destroyah, which takes on Godzilla in some of the most dramatic battle footage of the series. It turns out that the radiation from the destruction of Infant Island has also started a mutation in the Baby Godzilla, which is not dead at all but turning into a fully formed Godzilla himself! Eventually, Godzilla succumbs to the intense heat of his own body, consuming himself in the saddest scene in any Godzilla movie ever. But the new, full-grown Godzilla junior will be there to carry on!
In the interim, America produced a film about a giant lizard and they called it Godzilla. Who knows, if that terrible, terrible movie had not been made, Toho Studios just might have let the big guy stay down. But there's no way that the 1998 American film was going to be the end of his saga, so Toho had to bring him back.
At this point, Toho is letting go of continuity. Given the incredible length of the series, attempting to fit any new film into the mythology surrounding Godzilla was becoming increasingly difficult (especially since the series' internal continuity was not exactly rigorous), so Toho has established that any new Godzilla feature must adhere to no film in the series other than the original 1954 movie. This certainly lifts a burden from the writers, but I still like to think that the Godzilla who we see next is the new, fully-mutated version of the Godzilla junior from Destroyah. You don't have to think that, but it'll give you a warm, happy feeling inside. Try it, you'll see.
He first returns in Godzilla vs. Orga (sometimes called Godzilla Millenium), a somewhat lackluster alien-encounter movie that is not without its good points. Unfortunately, this is the only film to get a theatrical release in America after Biollante, released in the states a year after its Japanese run as Godzilla 2000. If only audiences here could have seen Destroyah first, and truly understood what the series had become!
Now, in early 2005, G-Fans have been treated to the long-awaited arrival in America of non-bootleg versions of some more recent titles. I've had most of these movies on video for some time, but never with the benefit of subtitles and, although extrapolating a plot from the big monster action is not something I mind, there is a lot to be said for being able to tell what's actually going on. Godzilla X Megaguirus is a 2000 adventure that returns to the little-boy-protagonist formula with far more successful results. Judging from the construction of the suit, this seems to be the same Godzilla from the last outing, though such assumptions should not be taken as rote.
Scientists create a sort of controlled black hole, a rift in time, and the ultimate effect is that a prehistoric swarm of insects is released into modern Japan. Some great creature effects, both traditional and CGI, mark the new Godzilla's second adventure. My bootleg of this movie is actually subtitled, so I did not rush out to watch the American DVD when it was released earlier this year. As such, I do not know whether the movie survived intact, as US distributors do tend to take a lot of liberties with the storytelling in Godzilla movies. However, the more recent releases have generally been remarkably well-preserved, so I have high hopes.
Also available is GMK, the popular name for Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorrah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The version of this film I have is a nice widescreen Japanese transfer, with no subtitles. So my understanding of the story was always based entirely on a couple of synopses I had read, until its recent arrival on Region One DVD. GMK is another revisionist history, but a more extreme one than usual. Godzilla has been dormant since the 1954 attack, and with his re-emergence, a group of cultists work to resurrect some ancient spirits that used to be the guardians of Japan, centuries ago. These elemental forces are Mothra (the air avatar), Baragon (the earth avatar) and King Ghidorrah (the water avatar). The storyline is very metaphorical, with Godzilla representing the ghosts of Japan's dark past, and our favorite monsters playing new roles as mythical forces. I won't let all the cats out of the bag, but what I can say is that this film has lots of superior monster action! Godzilla's trampling of the city is so emotional, really investing me in the people being affected. The first battle between Godzilla and Baragon is extremely dramatic and well-choreographed, and the final sequence with Mothra and King Ghidorrah against Godzilla is amazing. Wait until you see Mothra soaring through the night sky, over the city, with flame pouring off of his wings! Incredible. This entry is directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the man behind the trilogy of Gamera films from the nineties, and his expertise really shows through. He has expressed interest in helming another Godzilla film in the future, but sadly, that may never happen now.
The next U.S. release is a new Godzilla film which hit Japan in 2002, called Godzilla X Mechagodzilla, which is directed by someone else. Unlike GMK, the Godzilla suit is clearly modeled on those in Orga and Megaguirus, so perhaps (despite Toho's assertion that continuity be damned) the film might relate to those other two.
It was only recently that I have been able to see the real version of this movie; I knew only what could be gleaned from a very nice-looking bootleg with no subtitles (thanks again to Takuya, a Japanese exchange student who used to live next door to me, and would steal bootleg videos for me from the bootleg Japanese video store where he worked!) Even without knowing the full story, this was a very exciting entry in the series, again seeming to re-imagine some of Godzilla's history. A series of flashbacks actually recreate moments from other Godzilla movies, reconstructing them with modern special effects instead of utilizing clips from the older films. They seemed to be picking and choosing their timeline and history from the other films to create their own rich tapestry of monster legend! There was even one amazing bit where they recreated a scene from the original film, shooting it in black and white and using what appeared to be state-of-the-art stop-motion effects, sort of melding the impression of modern technology and old-school movie making.
This one is a fun flick, involving the creation of a robotic Godzilla utilizing the skeletal remains of the first Godzilla which was taken out by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954. Unfortunately, the shared DNA created a primal connection to the big G, so the MechaGodzilla developed a will of his own and could not be controlled by the brave soldiers who piloted him. The resulting battle is quite spectacular.
And finally, just before Christmas in 2004, the last Godzilla movie released in Japan made it to US shores on DVD. It's a direct sequel to Godzilla X MechaGodzilla, known by a few titles but the one chosen for the American release is Godzilla Mothra MechaGodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.. This one involves the rebuilding of MechaGodzilla (but this time with ample safeguards to prevent a repeat of the last movie, of course!) The twin fairies who act as the heralds of Mothra arrive in Japan with a warning: the military must return Godzilla's remains to the ocean, where they belong. Their absence creates a great unrest in the earth, and if the bones are not returned then Mothra will attack Japan! To complicate matters, Godzilla is stirring again, and the Japanese military has a choice to make. Obey Mothra, and hope that when Godzilla comes Mothra will defend them. Or ignore the warning, repair MechaGodzilla to protect them from the real thing, and hope that Mothra's wrath will spare their lives! The result is a dynamic battle, with Godzilla and his robot double, Mothra, and two larvae at once!
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Now, Toho Studios is filming a movie entitled Godzilla: Final Conflict . And it just might be the final conflict! Despite the amazing improvements the studio has made in this series over recent years, the box office returns have not been everything Toho had hoped. So they are sending him out with a bang said to include an assortment of monsters unseen since Destroy all Monsters, and then they may retire the big guy forever.
Say it ain't so!
That's it, all the films in the series. I can't wait to get my hands on the newest one. My obsession with the Godzilla movies has already influenced several of my drawings, including the back cover illustration for Xerography Debt number eight. Time will tell what other effects my favorite trampling lizard will have, but already the title Domestic Partner of Frankenstein on Monster Island has been kicking around in my head for a while. I fear embarking on that project, after the toll the first comic took upon my well-being. But I can tell you two things: first, the idea of my sad little gay monster somehow transformed to Godzilla proportions is very, very tempting. And second, that even though he is owned by a different company, if I do this comic it is going to have Gamera.
Now that the basic Godzilla timeline is out of the way, I will be free to explore other details of these movies that spark my interest - like the ever-changing costume or the different forces that the King of the Monsters sympolized over the years. Is he a manifestation of our own anxiety? A cautionary monster brewed up by Mother Nature? A Friend to All Children? He's been all this and more, so check back here for further thoughts on Kaiju and their pals.
Gojira (a combination of the Japanese words for "gorilla" and "whale") first made his appearance in November of 1955. In this grim and devastating film (usually known in the United States as Godzilla, King of the Monsters or, more intimately, just Godzilla), nuclear testing mutates a dying species into a deadly manifestation of the world's collective atomic fears. Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo recalls the atrocities of Hiroshima, and mankind's weapons seem to have no effect on him. But a brilliant scientist with a surly-looking eyepatch is having some problems of his own. Dr. Serizawa has created a powerful weapon, and is riddled with fear and guilt over the disastrous potential of his invention: the oxygen destroyer. 
But not, I dare say, as terrific as 1965's Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Known in Japan as Kaiju Daisenso, or The Great War of the Monsters, this one involves a visit from a group of suspicious-looking aliens from Planet X. Claiming to be terrorized on their own planet by a nasty monster (designated Monster Zero, because everything on their planet is known by a number), they appeal to the people of earth for assistance. They want to borrow Godzilla and Rodan (Monster 01 and Monster 02) to fight him, and in return they will give us a formula to wipe out all disease. Well first, it turns out that Monster Zero is none other than King Ghidorrah! And then, it turns out that the whole thing is an elaborate double-cross! This one has great special effects, epic monster battles and Godzilla dancing the Shie. And that, my friends, is why I got the Japanese title of the film tattooed on my leg, in big green and yellow characters.
One year later, in a travesty of scripting that is equaled only by the likes of Poochy and Jar Jar, the world saw the birth of Minya in Son of Godzilla. The movie itself is not terrible, but the bug-eyed lovebug Minya is a character that this already-deteriorating series could have definitely lived without.
Soon we learn that the alien-invasion theme does not necessarily spell movie magic, as proven by Godzilla on Monster Island. This 1972 embarrassment, also known as Godzilla vs. Gigan, has evil cockroaches from Nebula Spacehunter M setting up shop in a theme park. An unsuccessful cartoonist and his pals infiltrate the alien headquarters (in the Godzilla Tower at the park) to stop them. But not before the aliens unleash King Ghidorrah and Gigan, an evil cyborg with a skilsaw in its tummy. Believe me, even that description is too flattering for this movie. By the way, this is the one where Godzilla and Anguiras actually talk to each other.
Perhaps seeing an opportunity to redefine their pet monster, after 1985 earned back Godzilla's sense of dignity, they waited four years before giving the world Godzilla vs. Biollante, though American audiences would have to wait until 1992. This one has a scientist (Dr. Surigama) using a plant-based formula that could free the industrial world from the need for refined oil. In his laboratory, he also experiments with G-cells, the quick-regenerating nuclear-powered cells of which Godzilla is composed. But some terrorist baddies, during an act of industrial theft, get the G-cells mixed in with the plant cells, leading to the creation of Biollante! That's right, an enormous rose-monster. And it's a doozy! We get Godzilla battling a giant plant, the introduction of Miki (the girl with the psychic link to Godzilla), and an overall slick look with some good production value. The series was truly revitalized with this chapter, and though Americans have rarely been given a decent chance to see what follows, it's been getting better ever since.
Mothra was reborn in 1992 with Godzilla vs. Mothra, released on video in the United States six years later as Godzilla and Mothra: the Battle for Earth. This fun film pits Mothra and Battra (the "black Mothra", clearly evil because it's dark and pointy) against the big G. Once again the Mothra mythology proves to be a loopy treat, and there are some great battle scenes of the three monsters trampling a city (including a big waterfront amusement park), and once the two flying monsters gang up on Godzilla it gets even better. Mothra went on to star in a trilogy of fairy-tale like children's films in 1996, '97, and '98.
G-force has really upped the ante in 1993, when Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. Project T plants a telepathic amplifier into Godzilla to help bring him under control, and it all happens just in time! See, some stray G-cells that were set adrift in space (perhaps on the wings of Mothra, when he went off into space to stop that meteor) were exposed to interstellar radiation. They grew and mutated and became the weird, flying, partially crystalline SpaceGodzilla, a truly awesome creature trying to destroy Godzilla and conquer the world.
But nothing tugs at the heartstrings like Godzilla vs. Destroyah, the 1994 epic that begins with the destruction of infant island (and presumed death of Baby Godzilla). But much worse things are afoot! Godzilla himself, looking bigger and badder than ever, is glowing red like an overheating furnace. Seems the energy of his own body is climbing ever higher, and he's on the verge of meltdown. It's up to the brave men and women of G-Force to keep Godzilla from taking out the whole planet when he blows. But that's not all! Some microscopic organisms, genetically altered by the effects of the oxygen destroyer from the original attack in 1954, have begun to mutate out of control. They form the gruesome Destroyah, which takes on Godzilla in some of the most dramatic battle footage of the series. 
It turns out that the radiation from the destruction of Infant Island has also started a mutation in the Baby Godzilla, which is not dead at all but turning into a fully formed Godzilla himself! Eventually, Godzilla succumbs to the intense heat of his own body, consuming himself in the saddest scene in any Godzilla movie ever. But the new, full-grown Godzilla junior will be there to carry on!
Also available is GMK, the popular name for Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorrah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. The version of this film I have is a nice widescreen Japanese transfer, with no subtitles. So my understanding of the story was always based entirely on a couple of synopses I had read, until its recent arrival on Region One DVD. GMK is another revisionist history, but a more extreme one than usual. Godzilla has been dormant since the 1954 attack, and with his re-emergence, a group of cultists work to resurrect some ancient spirits that used to be the guardians of Japan, centuries ago. These elemental forces are Mothra (the air avatar), Baragon (the earth avatar) and King Ghidorrah (the water avatar). The storyline is very metaphorical, with Godzilla representing the ghosts of Japan's dark past, and our favorite monsters playing new roles as mythical forces. I won't let all the cats out of the bag, but what I can say is that this film has lots of superior monster action! Godzilla's trampling of the city is so emotional, really investing me in the people being affected. The first battle between Godzilla and Baragon is extremely dramatic and well-choreographed, and the final sequence with Mothra and King Ghidorrah against Godzilla is amazing. Wait until you see Mothra soaring through the night sky, over the city, with flame pouring off of his wings! Incredible. This entry is directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the man behind the trilogy of Gamera films from the nineties, and his expertise really shows through. He has expressed interest in helming another Godzilla film in the future, but sadly, that may never happen now.