Slashdot Mirror
Godzilla To Retire (for now)
ackthpt writes "CNN is reporting that Toho, after 50 years and 28 films, will be retiring Godzilla (Gojira in Japan) after this years film. Toho has thought of retiring the venerable monster before, but after pulling the stops to make a special Best of Best this may be it (but you never know, particularly if it draws large audiences)"
There's more than one Godzilla movie? I always assumed I was just seeing different parts of the same film... go figure.
Quote the article: "Even if the new movie makes money, it will be at least a decade before Godzilla returns, Tomiyama said."
That's pretty much telling us there's not going to be another sequel for a while no matter what. At least, unless you think he's lying.
...a bitter dejected Mothra mumbles profanities in broken Japanese.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
ps. don't attack my city
Shouldn't that be 'please don't attack my city'?
I'd certainly be polite to the 400-foot monster under those circumstances. Or any circumstances, really.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
Toho group has taken over the operation of the Virgin Cinema movie theaters in Tokyo and seem to be doing a bang-up job of bringing first run movies to Japan in a very timely fashion.
It still costs an arm and a leg to see a movie here, but the theaters are much more comfortable than any that I've been to in the US.
Godzilla ought to be retiring. The threat of environmental damage and subsequent mutations caused by a nuclear waste spill has been shown to be a Chicken Little cause. As more countries shift their means of electricity production to nuclear, we have seen a progressive reduction of air pollution in those countries. In the US, coal and oil are still the primary means of power generation, and it shows when looking at statistical charts how much pollution per capita is produced by Americans.
Godzilla ought to be retired because the reasons that he was brought forth in the first place are gone. A new creature, relevent to today's global threats ought to be created so that kids can learn about those threats in an interesting and entertaining manner. Whether the threat ought to be fossil fuel pollution, terrorism, or global warming, bringing the issues to the public in an easily digestible and entertaining medium is the first step towards educating everyone about the dangers posed by these global problems.
I have been pwned because my
...or remade so that Gojira shoots first.
//Blessed are they that run around in circles, for they shall be known as wheels.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - radioactive scourge of Japan Godzilla was found dead in at the bottom of the Pacific ocean this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an Asian icon.
yeah but people actually WANT Streisand to retire.
It takes a special kind of person to actually enjoy retirement, and call me cynical, but I don't think Godzilla is that type of person.
In a couple months he'll start a consulting business.
"when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
Yes. And the insurance premiums in Tokyo just dropped by a third. Particularly for that petrol station. Yes, that petrol station. You know the one. I think it was trodden in all twenty-eight films...
Cheers,
Ian
It's just a big linguistic misunderstanding. He merely called a contractor to give an estimate for his bathroom - he's retiling.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Godzilla ought to be retiring. The threat of environmental damage and subsequent mutations caused by a nuclear waste spill has been shown to be a Chicken Little cause. As more countries shift their means of electricity production to nuclear, we have seen a progressive reduction of air pollution in those countries. In the US, coal and oil are still the primary means of power generation, and it shows when looking at statistical charts how much pollution per capita is produced by Americans.
True, but Godzilla wasn't really about nuclear power. Godzilla was all about the nuclear bombs that the United States dropped on Japan.
The effect that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the Japanese psyche was simply incredible. It instantly broke the will of the Japanese to fight, enabling the Americans to come in and transform their society. The scars still haven't completely healed. Every time you see some post-apocalyptic anime/film/book come out of Japan, you can bet that it was influenced by the atomic bomb.
Gojira was just a natural outgrowth of that. Look at the original story: A huge amoral destructive force comes from abroad and lays waste to Japan. Conventional weapons are useless against it, and it destroys the Japanese military. The monster is only stopped by the use of a weapon that is so terrible that the creator would rather die than see it unleashed upon the world.
Gojira was always a bomb reference. As long as we have super-weapons, he'll never be irrelevant. I'll miss the big guy.
This
Riiight... You expect us to believe there's a giant guy in a giant rubber suit running around destroying cities?!
My patience is infinite, my time is not.