Godzilla Resources

Oh, Toho they did…. Yeah, it really doesn't work there. Bad wordplay aside, here's the English website for Toho Studios, the people who have brought you Godzilla films for more than 60 years.

Gojipedia is the fan wiki for all things Godzilla, and we mean all things. Ever wanted to know about Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!!, the 1995 video game released for the obscure Sega Pico? This site has your back.

Want to get to know Ishirō Honda? This site sports a biography, filmography, and a section where people who knew and worked with the Godzilla director discuss the man and his work. By the time you're done here, Ishirō will practically be your BFF.

Just one of the literary swarm that is the collected novels, comics, manga, and non-fiction book about Godzilla. Why did we choose to feature this particular one? Just look at that title. How could we not?

Hanna-Barbera and Toho joined forces in 1978 to create the Godzilla cartoon. It featured Godzooky, Godzilla's nephew, and Ted Cassidy (aka Lurch from The Addams Family) voiced the King of the Monsters like a phlegm-ridden iguana. In the show, Godzilla fights giant beasties to protect humanity, while Godzooky pratfalls so often it would make Scooby-Doo embarrassed. Don't believe us? Check out this opening sequence.

There's a 1954 serialized novel adaptation of the original film out there in the world somewhere. Unfortunately for Shmoop and you, it's in Japanese.

Roger Ebert reviews the original Godzilla, calling it "idiotic" and a movie that has "earned its place in history." How can it be both? Read on to find out, intrepid Shmooper. Read on.

In his review, Owen Gleiberman calls the original Godzilla "the most awesome of tacky movie monsters." We're starting to notice a reviewer's theme here.

Why watch the original Godzilla? After all, the new movies are bigger, badder, flashier, and more computer graphicer. Christopher Orr argues that few other movies have "dealt so directly with a tragedy so fresh" and that makes it worth the effort.

David Ropeik explores the relationship between Godzilla, Japan, the atomic bomb, and modern environmentalism. Lot of love-hate going on in this relationship.

What do the atomic bomb, Vishnu, Spider-man, and Lucky Dragon have in common? Read this essay by Kevin Lankes discussing the origins of Godzilla to find out. Sadly, it's not a weirdly specific "walk into a bar" joke.

Tom Hawker takes you through the 60-year cinematic history of Godzilla. From the B-movie cheese to the 2000's titan of Tokyo, it's all here. (Well, except for Godzilla 2014 and Shin Godzilla as they hadn't been released yet).

Explosions. Excitement. Large kanji obscuring your view. The Japanese trailer for Godzilla proudly proclaims it the greatest movie of the century…about 50 years prematurely.

Here's the trailer for the English re-edit of Godzilla. You just got to love that old-timey radio voice. That voice really knew how to sell papier-mâchémonsters and sweaty Raymond Burr.

Ed Godziszewski gives the history of how Eiji Tsuburaya and his team managed to create an iconic, building-sized monster in an era before computer graphics.

This visual history shows the evolution of Godzilla, from the original to the googly-eyed '70s version to the beast-mode modern takes.

Godzilla gets the Monty Python treatment in his short-short cartoon by Marv Newland.

It's the Godzilla theme. They still use this theme in Godzilla movies today. Because why mess with perfection?

Film historian David Kalat knows him some Godzilla and has provided commentary on the film for the Criterion collection. If your copy lacks this vast pool of audio knowledge, you can find it here.

Any reason to listen to some Blue Oyster Cult is a good reason to listen to some Blue Oyster Cult.

YouTuber Dan Pavitt tries to recreate that classic Godzilla roar on a double bass. His attempt is admirable, if not spot on.

As evident by this 1954 Godzilla poster, Toho certainly knew how to make its movie posters visually stimulating and informative.

The poster for the American re-edit of Godzilla, title Godzilla: King of the Monsters! We hope the "screen-shattering" plug was a bit of hyperbole. Because otherwise that must have been crazy expensive for the theater owners.

The original Godzilla in all his destructive glory.

A poster comparing the anatomy of 1954 Godzilla, 2014 Godzilla, dinosaurs and other movie monsters. It's everything you didn't know you wanted in your science textbook.

In this shot from the movie, Dr. Serizawa shows Emiko his oxygen destroying. Because if there is one mystery left for humans to solve, it's how to show fishes that we're in charge of this planet.

Katsumi Tezuka poses for a photo wearing half the Godzilla suit. The monster is a little less intimidating knowing this grinning guy is the one doing the stomping.