King Ghidorah ( キングギドラ , Kingu Gidora ) is a fictional monster, or alien, or kaiju , which first appeared in Ishirō Honda 's 1964 film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster . The creature was initially created by Tomoyuki Tanaka , Eiji Tsuburaya , and Shinichi Sekizawa as an homage to the eight-headed mythological Japanese dragon Yamata no Orochi . Although the name of the character is officially trademarked by Toho as "King Ghidorah", the character was originally referred to as Ghidorah , Ghidrah, or Monster Zero in some English markets.
217-426: Although King Ghidorah's design has remained largely consistent throughout its appearances (an armless, bipedal, golden and yellowish-scaled dragon with three heads, two fan-shaped wings, and two tails), its origin story has varied from being an extraterrestrial planet-destroying dragon, a genetically engineered monster from the future, a guardian monster of ancient Japan, or a god from another dimension. The character
434-596: A jidaigeki film directed by Hisatora Kumagai , and the unreleased propaganda musical The Song of Major Nango (both 1938). The latter film was directed and shot by Tsuburaya, and he completed it on September 6 of that year. In 1939, he was ordered to join the Kumagaya Aviation Academy of the Imperial Army Corps, where he was entrusted to shoot flight-training films. After impressing his superiors with his aerial photography, Tsuburaya
651-517: A post-credits scene depicting cave paintings of all three monsters, including Godzilla . In June 2017, a press release confirmed Rodan , Mothra , and King Ghidorah would all be featured in Godzilla: King of the Monsters . In April 2018, Jason Liles, Alan Maxson, and Richard Dorton were cast to provide the motion capture performances of the heads of King Ghidorah, with Liles performing
868-570: A 35mm print of King Kong and started to study the film's special effects frame-by-frame, without the advantage of documents explaining how they were produced: he would later write an analysis of the film's effects for the magazine Photo Times in October 1933. In the same year, Masano gave birth to a second child, a daughter named Miyako. However, the child would die of unknown causes in 1935. In December 1933, Nikkatsu granted Tsuburaya permission to use and study new screen projection technology for
1085-468: A Million . In contrast to his previous prototype, the crane was installed on a truck that operated on tracks, which made it able to change the camera's position in a matter of seconds. In December of that year, Osawa renamed the studio J.O. Studios and designated Tsuburaya as its chief cinematographer. From February to August 1935, he traveled to Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand on
1302-416: A basic component of the development of a potential extraterrestrial technological civilization, as it is on Earth. Fossil fuels may likely be generated and used on such worlds as well. The abundance of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere can also be a clear technosignature, considering their role in ozone depletion . Light pollution may be another technosignature, as multiple lights on the night side of
1519-468: A brief stint as an inventor, Tsuburaya was employed by Japanese cinema pioneer Yoshirō Edamasa in 1919 and began his career working as an assistant cinematographer on Edamasa's A Tune of Pity . Thereafter, he worked as an assistant cinematographer on several films, including Teinosuke Kinugasa 's A Page of Madness (1926). At the age of thirty-two, Tsuburaya watched King Kong , which greatly influenced him to work in special effects. Tsuburaya completed
1736-608: A budget of ¥62 million for widescreen color films and revealed in May of the same year. The movie earned over ¥340 million , against an initial ¥250 million budget, ranking as Toho's highest-grossing film of the year and their second-highest-grossing film altogether. He won the Japan Technical Award for Special Skill and was presented with the Special Achievement Award at Movie Day. While he
1953-611: A catalog of microorganisms, with the way each one reacts to sunlight. The goal is to help with the search for similar organisms in exoplanets, as the starlight reflected by planets rich in such organisms would have a specific spectrum, unlike that of starlight reflected from lifeless planets. If Earth was studied from afar with this system, it would reveal a shade of green, as a result of the abundance of plants with photosynthesis. In August 2011, NASA studied meteorites found on Antarctica, finding adenine , guanine , hypoxanthine and xanthine . Adenine and guanine are components of DNA, and
2170-528: A dome to house its victims for future consumption. It is also portrayed as capable of firing lightning bolts from its wings, hypnotize, spit fireballs and regenerating its entire body from severed body parts. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (G.M.K) King Ghidorah can inflict electric shocks to his enemies by biting them, gain power by absorbing the energy of dead monsters and form an energy shield capable of deflecting Godzilla's atomic breath. In Godzilla: The Planet Eater ,
2387-611: A group of humans from the 23rd century known as the Equal Environment Earth Union, a group dedicated to equalizing the power of Earth's nations. Seeking to stop Japan's global economic dominance in their timeline by transforming the Dorats into King Ghidorah through nuclear exposure, the Earth Unionists plant the Dorats on Lagos Island during the 1954 H-bomb tests there. Prior to doing so, they remove
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#17327723137082604-512: A hobby, an interest he would pursue throughout his entire life. In 1913, Tsuburaya saw his first film, which featured footage of a volcanic eruption on Sakurajima ; in the process, he was more fascinated by the projector than the movie itself. In 1958, Tsuburaya told Kinema Junpo that because he was extremely fascinated by the projector, he purchased a "toy movie viewer" and created his own film strips by "carefully cutting rolled paper, then making sprocket holes, and drawing stick figures [on
2821-481: A living entity must have the capacity to replicate itself, the capacity to avoid damage/decay, and the capacity to acquire and process resources in support of the first two capacities. Life on Earth started with an RNA world and later evolved to its current form, where some of the RNA tasks were transferred to DNA and proteins . Extraterrestrial life may still be stuck using RNA, or evolve into other configurations. It
3038-534: A math equation, none of its values were known at the time. Although some values may eventually be measured, others are based on social sciences and are not knowable by their very nature. This does not allow one to make noteworthy conclusions from the equation. Based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope , there are nearly 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. It is estimated that at least ten per cent of all Sun-like stars have
3255-472: A mixed aromatic - aliphatic structure") that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars . It is still unclear if those compounds played a role in the creation of life on Earth, but Sun Kwok, of the University of Hong Kong, thinks so. "If this is the case, life on Earth may have had an easier time getting started as these organics can serve as basic ingredients for life." In August 2012, and in
3472-436: A narrower search for extraterrestrial intelligent life . Depending on the category of search, methods range from analysis of telescope and specimen data to radios used to detect and transmit communications. The concept of extraterrestrial life, and particularly extraterrestrial intelligence, has had a major cultural impact, especially extraterrestrials in fiction . Science fiction has communicated scientific ideas, imagined
3689-477: A nearly successful attempt to siphon away Godzilla's remaining nuclear energy along with the power boost Mothra's ashes provided him (referencing a similar attempt made by Kaiser Ghidorah in Godzilla: Final Wars). As an alpha, Ghidorah's roar is able to awaken and influence other titans around the world into rampaging in the wake of Godzilla's supposed death, having taken over as king. Halfway through
3906-650: A planetary system formed by a star at the center, the Sun , and the objects that orbit it: other planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. The sun is part of the Milky Way , a galaxy . The Milky Way is part of the Local Group , a galaxy group that is in turn part of the Laniakea Supercluster . The universe is composed of all similar structures in existence. The immense distances between celestial objects
4123-466: A potential explanation to the Fermi paradox. If extraterrestrial life exists, it could range from simple microorganisms and multicellular organisms similar to animals or plants, to complex alien intelligences akin to humans . When scientists talk about extraterrestrial life, they consider all those types. Although it is possible that extraterrestrial life may have other configurations, scientists use
4340-515: A previous entry in the effects director's curriculum. Taking inspiration from watching soybean paste in the broth of his wife's miso soup , Tsuburaya created scenes with storm clouds, as well as smoke and ash erupting from three volcanoes. His effects for Monkey Sun were described by biographer August Ragone as "comical and surreal". After operating on the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater production The Story of Bali , he directed
4557-507: A range of possibilities, and influenced public interest in and perspectives on extraterrestrial life. One shared space is the debate over the wisdom of attempting communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. Some encourage aggressive methods to try to contact intelligent extraterrestrial life. Others – citing the tendency of technologically advanced human societies to enslave or destroy less advanced societies – argue it may be dangerous to actively draw attention to Earth. Initially, after
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#17327723137084774-570: A reasonable scientific explanation for any gathered data. In 1961, astronomer and astrophysicist Frank Drake devised the Drake equation as a way to stimulate scientific dialogue at a meeting on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilisations in the Milky Way galaxy . The Drake equation is: where: and Drake's proposed estimates are as follows, but numbers on
4991-443: A result has been conceived, even if hypothetical. Evolution requires life to be divided into individual organisms, and no alternative organisation has been satisfactorily proposed either. At the basic level, membranes define the limit of a cell, between it and its environment, while remaining partially open to exchange energy and resources with it. The evolution from simple cells to eukaryotes, and from them to multicellular lifeforms,
5208-439: A result, he wrote an outline for the project and pitched it to Iwao Mori. Following Tsuburaya's agreement to create its effects, Mori approved the production, eventually titled Godzilla , in mid-April 1954; filmmaker Ishirō Honda soon took over the directing duties. During preproduction, Tsuburaya considered using stop motion to depict the titular monster but, as stated by special effects crew member Fumio Nakadai, had to employ
5425-413: A rocky planet can be a sign of advanced technological development. However, modern telescopes are not strong enough to study exoplanets with the required level of detail to perceive it. Eiji Tsuburaya Eiji Tsuburaya ( Japanese : 円谷 英二 , Hepburn : Tsuburaya Eiji , July 7, 1901 – January 25, 1970) was a Japanese special effects director , filmmaker, and cinematographer. A co-creator of
5642-468: A scale. Life on Earth is quite ubiquitous across the planet and has adapted over time to almost all the available environments in it, extremophiles and the deep biosphere thrive at even the most hostile ones. As a result, it is inferred that life in other celestial bodies may be equally adaptive. However, the origin of life is unrelated to its ease of adaptation, and may have stricter requirements. A celestial body may not have any life on it, even if it
5859-476: A series of factors that range from the location in the galaxy and the configuration of the Solar System to local characteristics of the planet, and that it is unlikely that all such requirements are simultaneously met by another planet. The proponents of this hypothesis consider that very little evidence suggests the existence of extraterrestrial life, and that at this point it is just a desired result and not
6076-441: A short battle, but Ghidorah retreats when Monarch's military forces intervene; proceeding to Mexico once it senses Rodan being awoken from its own hibernation inside a volcano. Ghidorah forces Rodan into submission but is then attacked by Godzilla again, who manages to gain the upper hand by dragging the flying monster into the ocean. Godzilla is nearly victorious after he completely bites off Ghidorah's left head, but in desperation,
6293-579: A solvent other than water. The low temperatures required would add an extra problem, the difficulty to kickstart a process of abiogenesis to create life in the first place. Norman Horowitz , head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory bioscience section for the Mariner and Viking missions from 1965 to 1976 considered that the great versatility of the carbon atom makes it the element most likely to provide solutions, even exotic solutions, to
6510-440: A star's light and heat, and so its lifeforms would not grow beyond a certain complexity. There is also research in assessing the capacity of life for developing intelligence. It has been suggested that this capacity arises with the number of potential niches a planet contains, and that the complexity of life itself is reflected in the information density of planetary environments, which in turn can be computed from its niches. It
6727-660: A system of planets, i.e. there are 6.25 × 10 stars with planets orbiting them in the observable universe. Even if it is assumed that only one out of a billion of these stars has planets supporting life, there would be some 6.25 billion life-supporting planetary systems in the observable universe. A 2013 study based on results from the Kepler spacecraft estimated that the Milky Way contains at least as many planets as it does stars, resulting in 100–400 billion exoplanets. The apparent contradiction between high estimates of
King Ghidorah - Misplaced Pages Continue
6944-520: A tea house in the spring of 1919, Tsuburaya met Yoshirō Edamasa , a pioneer of Japanese cinema . Edamasa asked Tsuburaya if he was interested in movies or photography; after he explained to Edamasa that he was interested in motion pictures, Tsuburaya accepted the director's offer to become an employee at his company, the Natural Color Motion Pictures Company (dubbed "Tenkatsu"). Therefore, Tsuburaya began working in
7161-597: A variety of sizes, including 1/10, 1/20, 1/25, and 1/30, to be developed and assembled by Tsuburaya's division. The film premiered in Japanese theaters in December 1956 and, upon its release in the United States the following year, earned more at the box office than any previous science fiction film. Throne of Blood , an adaptation of William Shakespeare 's Macbeth from renowned filmmaker Akira Kurosawa ,
7378-401: A wire extending from the suit's backside. Performing as Ghidorah proved challenging to Hirose, as he had to time his movements in a way that would not conflict with the separately operated heads and wings, as doing so would have resulted in the overhead wires tangling. Because of the suit's weight, it frequently snapped the overhead wires supporting it. Special effects were added as the creature
7595-461: A world first, astronomers at Copenhagen University reported the detection of a specific sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde , in a distant star system. The molecule was found around the protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 , which is located 400 light years from Earth. Glycolaldehyde is needed to form ribonucleic acid , or RNA, which is similar in function to DNA. This finding suggests that complex organic molecules may form in stellar systems prior to
7812-601: Is a difficulty for the study of extraterrestrial life. So far, humans have only set foot on the Moon and sent robotic probes to other planets and moons in the Solar System. Although probes can withstand conditions that may be lethal to humans, the distances cause time delays: the New Horizons took nine years after launch to reach Pluto . No probe has ever reached extrasolar planetary systems. The Voyager 2 has left
8029-501: Is also conceivable that there are forms of life whose solvent is a liquid hydrocarbon , such as methane , ethane or propane . Another unknown aspect of potential extraterrestrial life would be the chemical elements that would compose it. Life on Earth is largely composed of carbon, but there could be other hypothetical types of biochemistry . A replacement for carbon would need to be able to create complex molecules, store information required for evolution, and be freely available in
8246-464: Is being built. Eventually, what's left of Ghidorah's consciousness takes control of the cybernetic Titan, killing Apex CEO Walter Simmons and electrocuting Ren Serizawa, before battling Godzilla in Hong Kong. Ghidorah's influence on Mechagodzilla is evident from his desire for unabridged destruction and the senseless killing of humans. Mechagodzilla and Ghidorah's consciousness were finally destroyed by
8463-416: Is being carried out both directly and indirectly. As of September 2017 , 3,667 exoplanets in 2,747 systems have been identified , and other planets and moons in the Solar System hold the potential for hosting primitive life such as microorganisms . As of 8 February 2021, an updated status of studies considering the possible detection of lifeforms on Venus (via phosphine ) and Mars (via methane )
8680-492: Is capable emitting destructive, lightning-like "gravity beams" from its mouths and generating hurricane-force winds from its wings. Despite King Ghidorah's central role in the film's plot, the character was given little screen time, as Hirose had fallen out with special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya , who never forgave Hirose for accepting a Hollywood deal, and subsequently he hired Susumu Utsumi to play King Ghidorah after Invasion of Astro-Monster . In that film, King Ghidorah
8897-559: Is capable of completely ignoring the laws of physics of the dimensions he invades, with his powers including intangibility , the manipulation of thermodynamics , gravity and time through time dilation . In the anime, Ghidorah is the deity worshipped by the Exif under the titles of "Wings of Death", "Golden Demise", and "God of Destruction". He is summoned to Earth by Metphies and his cult in order to destroy Godzilla and devour Earth just as they fed him other planets they visited and converted to
King Ghidorah - Misplaced Pages Continue
9114-508: Is coated with aurum. It can generate "hurricane-force" winds (recorded at 217 mph, later stated to be 400 mph according to the graphic novel Kingdom Kong ) due to the hyper-tensile muscle tendons of the wings as he flies at 550 knots (Mach 0.8, as opposed to the Mach 3 flight speed of previous incarnations). Its body's electro-receptor molecular biology can create electrical currents and localized storm systems as it travels. This results in
9331-403: Is common knowledge that the conditions on other planets in the solar system, in addition to the many galaxies outside of the Milky Way galaxy , are very harsh and seem to be too extreme to harbor any life. The environmental conditions on these planets can have intense UV radiation paired with extreme temperatures, lack of water, and much more that can lead to conditions that don't seem to favor
9548-485: Is complex and defined by several factors. Being in the habitable zone is not enough for a planet to be habitable, not even to actually have such liquid water. Venus is located in the habitable zone of the Solar System but does not have liquid water because of the conditions of its atmosphere. Jovian planets or gas giants are not considered habitable even if they orbit close enough to their stars as hot Jupiters , due to crushing atmospheric pressures. The actual distances for
9765-552: Is composed of "King" ( キング , Kingu ) and "Ghidorah". The "Ghidorah" part of King Ghidorah's name comes from the pronunciation of the word "hydra" (Гидра, ˈɡʲidrɐ) in Russian, written as ヒドラ ( Hidora ) in Japanese. Other sources of inspiration included mythological creatures such as the hydra , cerberus , unicorn , pegasus , and qilin . In its debut film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster , Ghidorah
9982-520: Is embodied in the Copernican principle , which states that Earth does not occupy a unique position in the Universe, and the mediocrity principle , which states that there is nothing special about life on Earth. Other authors consider instead that life in the cosmos, or at least multicellular life, may be actually rare. The Rare Earth hypothesis maintains that life on Earth is possible because of
10199-439: Is likely devoid of life. However, Venus is still of interest to astrobiologists, as it is a terrestrial planet that was likely similar to Earth in its early stages and developed in a different way. There is a greenhouse effect , the surface is the hottest in the Solar System, sulfuric acid clouds, all surface liquid water is lost, and it has a thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere with huge pressure. Comparing both helps to understand
10416-444: Is no guarantee that it is transmitting radio communications in the direction of Earth. The length of time required for a signal to travel across space means that a potential answer may arrive decades or centuries after the initial message. The atmosphere of Earth is rich in nitrogen dioxide as a result of air pollution , which can be detectable. The natural abundance of carbon, which is also relatively reactive, makes it likely to be
10633-657: Is not guaranteed. The Cambrian explosion took place thousands of millions of years after the origin of life, and its causes are not fully known yet. On the other hand, the jump to multicellularity took place several times, which suggests that it could be a case of convergent evolution , and so likely to take place on other planets as well. Palaeontologist Simon Conway Morris considers that convergent evolution would lead to kingdoms similar to our plants and animals, and that many features are likely to develop in alien animals as well, such as bilateral symmetry , limbs , digestive systems and heads with sensory organs . Scientists from
10850-485: Is portrayed as an ancient extraterrestrial entity responsible for the destruction of the Venusian civilization, five thousand years before the film's events. Its attempt to destroy Earth is thwarted by the combined efforts of Godzilla , Rodan and Mothra . Subsequent Shōwa era films portrayed Ghidorah as the pawn of various alien races seeking to subjugate Earth. King Ghidorah appears in the fifth and sixth episodes of
11067-472: Is revealed that Ghidorah's heads communicated with each other via telepathy, as his necks were so long that communication via the nervous system was impractical. Apex Cybernetics, which has acquired Ghidorah's skull and brain, is using these telepathic abilities as the basis of a psychic control system for Mechagodzilla . Once Mechagodzilla received an energy source sufficient to power it properly, Ghidorah's mind suddenly transferred itself to this new body, frying
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#173277231370811284-509: Is shown through ancient cave paintings to have fought against Godzilla and/or its species in the past before, but its nature scared ancient humans enough that the info contained in those myths was left incomplete. King Ghidorah ended up being frozen in Antarctica, discovered in 2016 by Monarch who proceeded to study the monster until it was freed by eco-terrorists led by Alan Jonah. Godzilla is attracted to Ghidorah's activity and they engage in
11501-466: Is that the chemical elements that make up life, such as carbon and water, are ubiquitous in the universe. The third is that the physical laws are universal, which means that the forces that would facilitate or prevent the existence of life would be the same ones as on Earth. According to this argument, made by scientists such as Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking , it would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere else other than Earth. This argument
11718-421: Is that there are natural sources of such signals as well, such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, and the difference between a natural signal and an artificial one would be in its specific patterns. Astronomers intend to use artificial intelligence for this, as it can manage large amounts of data and is devoid of biases and preconceptions. Besides, even if there is an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, there
11935-447: Is unclear if our biochemistry is the most efficient one that could be generated, or which elements would follow a similar pattern. However, it is likely that, even if cells had a different composition to those from Earth, they would still have a cell membrane . Life on Earth jumped from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and from unicellular organisms to multicellular organisms through evolution . So far no alternative process to achieve such
12152-515: Is usually portrayed as the archenemy of Godzilla and a foe of Mothra , though it has had one appearance as an ally of the latter. Despite rumors that Ghidorah was meant to represent the threat posed by China, which had at the time of the character's creation just developed nuclear weapons , director Ishirō Honda denied the connection and stated that Ghidorah was simply a modern take on the dragon Yamata no Orochi . According to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya 's protégé Teruyoshi Nakano ,
12369-605: The Godzilla and Ultraman franchises, he is considered one of the most important and influential figures in the history of cinema. Tsuburaya is known as the "Father of Tokusatsu ", having pioneered Japan's special effects industry and introduced several technological developments in film productions. In a career spanning five decades, Tsuburaya worked on approximately 250 films —including globally renowned features directed by Ishirō Honda , Hiroshi Inagaki , and Akira Kurosawa —and earned six Japan Technical Awards. Following
12586-536: The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki , it stars Toshiro Mifune as Yamato Takeru and the kami Susanoo . The effects director and his crew shot several key sequences included in the film, such as a battle between Mifune's character Susanoo and the eight-headed dragon Yamata no Orochi and an eruption of Mount Fuji . On The Three Treasures , Tsuburaya used for the first time the "Toho Versatile Process", an adaptation of Toho's optical printing process that he developed on
12803-479: The Big Bang the universe was too hot to allow life. 15 million years later , it cooled to temperate levels, but the elements that make up living things did not exist yet. The only freely available elements at that point were hydrogen and helium . Carbon and oxygen (and later, water ) would not appear until 50 million years later, created through stellar fusion. At that point, the difficulty for life to appear
13020-608: The Indonesian government for the production of In the Shadow of Glory , producer Tomoyuki Tanaka began to consider creating a giant monster (or kaiju ) film, inspired by Eugène Lourié 's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident . He believed that it would have considerable potential, due to the financial success of previous monster films and the impact of news generating nuclear fears . As
13237-778: The Rio Tinto river in Spain. NASA officials soon distanced NASA from the scientists' claims, and Stoker herself backed off from her initial assertions. In November 2011, NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory that landed the Curiosity rover on Mars. It is designed to assess the past and present habitability on Mars using a variety of scientific instruments. The rover landed on Mars at Gale Crater in August 2012. A group of scientists at Cornell University started
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#173277231370813454-450: The Sun , from an exterior perspective, due to a layer of "fiery brightness" in the outer layer of the atmosphere. He theorised all extraterrestrial bodies could be inhabited by men, plants, and animals, including the Sun. Descartes wrote that there was no means to prove the stars were not inhabited by "intelligent creatures", but their existence was a matter of speculation. When considering
13671-595: The Tokyo air raids . During the two-hour-long attacks, he told his children fairy tales to keep them quiet. Later that year, Tsuburaya made the effects in Torajirō Saitō 's Five Men from Tokyo , for which he was credited as "Eiichi Tsuburaya". Five Men from Tokyo is a comedy film concerning five men who struggle to make a living after returning to Tokyo and remaining unemployed due to the Tokyo air raids on March 10, 1945, at
13888-638: The U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor : consequently, the Imperial Japanese Government tasked Toho to produce a propaganda film that would influence the nation to believe they would win the Pacific War . The resulting film, Kajirō Yamamoto 's war epic The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya (1942), became the highest-grossing Japanese film in history upon its release in December 1942 and won Kinema Junpo ' s Best Film Award . Tsuburaya directed its effects, which he created with
14105-403: The atmospheric composition and ecosystems hosted by extraterrestrial bodies, extraterrestrial life can seem more speculation than reality, due to the harsh conditions and disparate chemical composition of the atmospheres, when compared to the life-abundant Earth. However, there are many extreme and chemically harsh ecosystems on Earth that do support forms of life and are often hypothesized to be
14322-460: The dinosaurs by draining them of their life energies. Ghidorah left Earth and returns in modern times to feed on human children. Mothra fails to defeat the monster and travels back to the Cretaceous in order to kill Ghidorah retroactively. Mothra defeats the younger Ghidorah, but the monster's severed tail allows it to regenerate back into its adult form in modern times. After hibernating from
14539-459: The hydrothermal vents found on the ocean floor are known to support many chemosynthetic processes which allow organisms to utilize energy through reduced chemical compounds that fix carbon. In return, these reactions will allow for organisms to live in relatively low oxygenated environments while maintaining enough energy to support themselves. The early Earth environment was reducing and therefore, these carbon fixing compounds were necessary for
14756-484: The stratosphere being torn open by an unnatural hurricane of thunder, yellow lightning, tornadoes and waterspouts ; a process which supplementary materials state start once Ghidorah takes flight, but which the film proper shows beginning as soon as Ghidorah awakens on the ground. The hurricane around Ghidorah grows more powerful over the course of the film, breaking the Saffir-Simpson scale as it does so. In
14973-504: The "costume method" because he "finally decided it wouldn't work". This technique is now known as " suitmation ". Tsuburaya's special effects department filmed Godzilla in 71 days from August to late October 1954, on a budget of ¥27 million . He and his crew worked relentlessly, regularly starting at 9:00 a.m., preparing at 5:00 p.m., and finishing the shoot at 4 or 5 a.m. in the following morning. Upon its nationwide release on November 3, Tsuburaya's effects received critical acclaim and
15190-504: The August 1960 issue of American Cinematographer , he broke down the creative process behind Son Gokū , saying: "I was called upon to create and photograph a monkey-like monster which was supposed to fly through the air", adding: "I managed the job with some success and this assignment set the pattern for my future work." On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service suddenly attacked
15407-470: The Cretaceous era to the present day, aided by the ancient Primitive Mothra species, Mothra finally kills the monster by transforming into a new form: "Armor Mothra". This version of King Ghidorah was portrayed by Tsutomu Kitagawa , who would go onto play Godzilla in the Millennium era. In Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack , Ghidorah is portrayed as having been one of
15624-605: The Exif faith. Virtually invincible due to his defiance of physics, it is only when his link to this universe (in this case, Metphies) is broken that he can be affected by conventional physical laws, allowing Godzilla to disperse, defeat, and effectively banish him back to his realm of reality for the time being. In 2014, Legendary Pictures announced their acquisition of the licenses to Rodan , Mothra and King Ghidorah from Toho to use in their MonsterVerse franchise. The trio were introduced in Kong: Skull Island in
15841-635: The Japan Cameraman Association, which later coalesced with other companies to become the Nippon Cinematographers Club (now known as the Japanese Society of Cinematographers [ ja ] ). Shortly after that, the association would start to hold award ceremonies. In November of that same year, Tsuburaya quit Shochiku and joined Nikkatsu Futosou Studios . Around the same time, he began using
16058-719: The Japan Motion Picture Cinematographers Association. In 1948, however, Tsuburaya was purged from Toho by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers because of his involvement in propaganda films during World War II. Thus, he founded Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory with his eldest son Hajime and worked without credit at major Japanese studios outside Toho, creating effects for films such as Daiei 's The Invisible Man Appears (1949), widely regarded as
16275-689: The Moon , and Record of the Tragic Swords of the Tenpo Era . Because of the financial success of these films, Tsuburaya started being regarded as one of Kyoto 's leading cinematographers. In 1928, while working on eleven films at Shochiku, Tsuburaya began creating and utilizing new camera operating techniques, including double-exposure and slow-motion camerawork. The next year, Tsuburaya constructed his own smaller version of D. W. Griffith 's 140-foot tall shooting crane : having invented it without
16492-539: The Orca device that is negating its hold over the Titans, it battles a revived Godzilla while Mothra fights Rodan. This time, Ghidorah defeats Godzilla after empowering himself by feeding on the city's energy supply and throwing Godzilla from a high altitude, but is stopped from killing him thanks to distractions from Mothra (who is killed by Ghidorah in an act of self-sacrifice which enables Godzilla to absorb her life force) and
16709-597: The Pacific , the first-ever war film in color. His department created notably large miniatures for the film, with a 13-meter long miniature being filmed by Tsuburaya on the Miura Coast . Storm Over the Pacific was also Toho's first film to require the use of the "Big Pool", which had been completed in February 1960. The pool would later be used in the production of every Godzilla film, before being demolished at
16926-718: The Skies and Kajirō Yamamoto's follow-up to The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya , General Kato's Falcon Fighters (all produced in 1943). For The Opium War , Tsuburaya and his team created miniature navy battle sequences and animation synthesis in urban landscapes. During the production of General Kato's Falcon Fighters (released in 1944), Tsuburaya had his first meeting with future collaborator and filmmaker Ishirō Honda . After watching The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya , Honda became interested in special effects and believed Tsuburaya's work in General Kato's Falcon Fighters
17143-478: The Solar System at a speed of 50,000 kilometers per hour, if it headed towards the Alpha Centauri system, the closest one to Earth at 4.4 light years, it would reach it in 100,000 years. Under current technology such systems can only be studied by telescopes, which have limitations. It is estimated that dark matter has a larger amount of combined matter than stars and gas clouds, but as it plays no role on
17360-452: The South , was released to Japanese theaters. Tsuburaya directed the film's effects for the typhoon and landslide scenes, which was his first experience acting as the effects director on a film by the future Godzilla director. Tsuburaya collaborated with Honda and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka on The Man Who Came to Port later that year: this marked the first time the trio, who are considered
17577-772: The Soviet Union in the late 1950s, Tsuburaya counseled Toho to produce a film about a lunar expedition. Therefore, his next film, Battle in Outer Space , was a science fiction epic about a group of astronauts who battle extraterrestrials on the surface of the Moon . Tsuburaya reportedly paid homage to producer George Pal 's Destination Moon (1950) in the film's Moon landing sequence; he would later meet Pal in Los Angeles in 1962. Since films featuring his contributions were attaining global popularity and praise for Japanese cinema, Hearst filmed Tsuburaya directing
17794-520: The Three-Headed Monster , the first incarnation is shown travelling through space within a meteor capable of generating magnetic fields. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah , King Ghidorah can constrict his enemies with his necks. The Mecha-King Ghidorah version is equipped with a Gravity Laser Cannon fired from its robotic head, electrified grapples and a mechanical arm in its chest for capturing Godzilla. In Rebirth of Mothra III , King Ghidorah gains energy from eating victims and can construct
18011-507: The Tokyo Kanda Electrical Engineering School (now Tokyo Denki University ). While at the school, he started working as an inventor at the toy company Utsumi, and devised inventions including the first battery-powered phone capable of making calls, an automatic speed photo box, an "automatic skate" and the toy phone. The latter two earned him a patent fee of ¥500 . During a hanami party held at
18228-659: The United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) and used to build Mechagodzilla . In Rebirth of Mothra , a monster named Desghidorah appears, who heavily resembles King Ghidorah but has graphite black skin and a quadrupedal stance. In Rebirth of Mothra III (1998), King Ghidorah is depicted as an extraterrestrial that landed on earth during the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era and wiped out
18445-625: The University of Oxford analysed it from the perspective of evolutionary theory and wrote in a study in the International Journal of Astrobiology that aliens may be similar to humans. The planetary context would also have an influence: a planet with higher gravity would have smaller animals, and other types of stars can lead to non-green photosynthesizers . The amount of energy available would also affect biodiversity , as an ecosystem sustained by black smokers or hydrothermal vents would have less energy available than those sustained by
18662-632: The Voices of the Sea . While slowly rebuilding the company's Special Arts Department, he filmed all of the title cards, trailers, and the logo for Toho's films from 1950 to 1954. The first production featuring major contributions by Tsuburaya upon his return to Toho was reportedly a 1950 film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and based on the life of Japanese swordsman Sasaki Kojirō . During this period, Tsuburaya also worked on Toho films such as Senkichi Taniguchi 's anti-war film Escape at Dawn (1950), directed
18879-603: The White Serpent , a Hong Kong-Japanese film adaptation of a novel by Fusao Hayashi based on the Chinese legend of the White Snake , was Toho's first tokusatsu production to be completely filmed in technicolor (via Eastmancolor ). In preparation for the film, which was produced on a then-record budget of ¥210 million , Tsuburaya and his unit spent a month training with color process technology before shooting
19096-410: The area surrounding these hydrothermal vents which can suggest that some form of life can be supported even in the harshest of environments like the other planets in the solar system. The aspects of these harsh environments that make them ideal for the origin of life on Earth, as well as the possibility of creation of life on other planets, is the chemical reactions forming spontaneously. For example,
19313-465: The army in 1923, Tsuburaya moved back to his family's house in Sukagawa. However, he suddenly departed just a few months later, in order to pursue a more established career within the filmmaking industry. In the morning of his departure from home, he left a note: "I won't return home until I succeed in the motion picture business, even if I die trying." The next year, he worked as the cinematographer on
19530-558: The assistance of navy-provided photographs of the Pearl Harbor attack: in the process, he also worked with future Godzilla collaborates Akira Watanabe and Teizō Toshimitsu for the first time in his career. His work on the film was supposedly one of the main reasons behind its major success and gained him the Technical Research Award from the Japan Motion Picture Cinematographers Association. The film depicted
19747-568: The atom speeds, either too fast or too slow, make it difficult for specific ones to meet and start chemical reactions. A liquid medium also allows the transport of nutrients and substances required for metabolism. Sufficient quantities of carbon and other elements, along with water, might enable the formation of living organisms on terrestrial planets with a chemical make-up and temperature range similar to that of Earth. Life based on ammonia rather than water has been suggested as an alternative, though this solvent appears less suitable than water. It
19964-696: The attack so realistically that footage from it was later featured in documentaries on the Pearl Harbor attack. Around the same time as The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya was in production, Toho's effects department was filming Japan's first puppet film , Ramayana . The film's screenplay—based on the Sanskrit epic of the same name —had been written by future Moonlight Mask creator Kōhan Kawauchi in 1941, under Tsuburaya's supervision. Tsuburaya's next four major productions were all war films: Masahiro Makino 's The Opium War , Tadashi Imai 's Watchtower Suicide Squad , Kunio Watanabe's Decisive Battle in
20181-421: The benefit of using blueprints or manuals, the wooden crane allowed Tsuburaya to improve camera movement and was able to be used in and outside the studio. The creation proved to be a success, although it did not guarantee total safety: one day, while Tsuburaya and an assistant were preparing the crane in order to film a scene, the structure collapsed, sending him plummeting to the ground of the studio. A witness of
20398-505: The boundless immensity of space" in The City of God . Pre-modern writers typically assumed extraterrestrial "worlds" are inhabited by living beings. William Vorilong , in the 15th century, acknowledged the possibility Jesus could have visited extraterrestrial worlds to redeem their inhabitants. Nicholas of Cusa wrote in 1440 that Earth is "a brilliant star" like other celestial objects visible in space; which would appear similar to
20615-491: The characters that Ghidorah's motives behind the destruction are terraforming the Earth into a more ideal environment for himself, though the novelization briefly suggests when discussing said theory that maybe Ghidorah has no higher end-goal than hatefully murdering every living thing that isn't him. Referenced in various myths and said to be the inspiration for the beasts in humanity's various Chaoskampf stories, King Ghidorah
20832-402: The cold temperatures would make such chemistry take place at a very slow pace. Water is rock-solid on the surface, but Titan does have a subsurface water ocean like several other moons. However, it is of such a great depth that it would be very difficult to access it for study. The science that searches and studies life in the universe, both on Earth and elsewhere, is called astrobiology . With
21049-506: The combined efforts of Godzilla and Kong . In the novelization , Ren's death is changed so that instead of being electrocuted, his mind is trapped inside Mechagodzilla and overwritten by the Ghidorah-derived mind, and the novel drops hints that Ghidorah's consciousness may have possessed Ren's body and escaped afterwards. King Ghidorah's abilities, common to all his appearances, are flight and his gravity beams. In Ghidorah,
21266-419: The company had a minor slate of films to work on, they also began testing matte painting and optical printing. Toho was on the verge of disbandment due to the three major labor disputes that occurred at the studio during the late 1940s. According to Akira Tsuburaya, his father had to sneak around the Japanese police and U.S. tanks deployed during these strikes and disputes in order to get to work. To repel
21483-426: The company's jidaigeki films. However, while the studio agreed with his decision to project these films cast into a location use using location plates, not all of his technological developments were met with approval. While he was filming the final scenes for Asataro Descends Mt. Akagi in February 1934, Tsuburaya fell out with Nikkatsu's CEO, who had no acquaintance with what Tsuburaya was creating and assumed that he
21700-775: The conditions for Ghidorah to physically manifest as a shadow to consume sacrificial offering through their shadows before his heads finally emerge through black holes. His necks extend to infinite lengths, nigh-invisible to machines save for the gravitational energy he emanates, strong enough to deflect Godzilla's heat ray or actually bend space. As long as someone native to the dimension he invades acts as his guiding anchor and witness, Ghidorah can defy that universe's physics, able to render himself intangible to enemy attacks whilst still capable of assaulting foes normally. He can even distort space-time and erode reality, able to change people's chronological perception of events and nearly succeeding in "erasing" Godzilla from existence. Though his avatar
21917-568: The couple's sons to be baptized , since Masano had been converted to Catholicism by her younger sister. Masano persisted in introducing her children to the Catholic faith and ultimately converted her husband. In 1944, Tsuburaya met future Godzilla producer Tomoyuki Tanaka during the production of the Mikio Naruse -directed war film Until the Day of Victory [ ja ] , which
22134-469: The creation or maintenance of extraterrestrial life. However, there has been much historical evidence that some of the earliest and most basic forms of life on Earth originated in some extreme environments that seem unlikely to have harbored life at least at one point in Earth's history. Fossil evidence as well as many historical theories backed up by years of research and studies have marked environments like hydrothermal vents or acidic hot springs as some of
22351-526: The creators of Godzilla , ever collaborated with one another. During World War II, Toho had begun researching 3D films and completed a 3D film process known as "Tovision". While the project had been abandoned, it was later revived when the 3D film Bwana Devil (1952) became a box office hit in the United States. Hence, the company produced its first 3D film, future Godzilla co-writer Takeo Murata's The Sunday That Jumped Out [ ja ] (1953). It features cinematography by Tsuburaya, who shot
22568-551: The creature's heads as hand puppets. In Godzilla: Final Wars , a kaiju called Keiser Ghidorah appears being based on Ghidorah as the true form of Monster X. Ghidorah is referenced by Metphies in a post-credits scene for Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle and is featured in Godzilla: The Planet Eater . The anime incarnation of Ghidorah is markedly different from his original portrayal, having evolved to
22785-547: The cruiser Asama in order to shoot his directorial debut, Three Thousand Miles Across the Equator , a feature-length propaganda documentary film. During the expedition, his second son, Noboru , was born on May 10, 1935. Upon returning from the voyage, Tsuburaya began work on Princess Kaguya , an adaptation of the 10th-century Japanese literary tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter . He did not only serve as
23002-610: The dinosaur that would ultimately become Godzilla from the island, so that King Ghidorah would be able to attack Japan without opposition. In 1992, the Earth Unionists unleash Ghidorah onto Japan, but he is defeated by a recreated Godzilla. King Ghidorah's body stays under the Sea of Okhotsk for two centuries before being recovered by a defected Earth Unionist to make it a cyborg and sent back to 1992 as Mecha-King Ghidorah in order to stop Godzilla's rampage. The character's manes were deleted and replaced with horns, as it proved difficult for
23219-630: The effects for Battle in Outer Space , and he later received the Special Award of Merit at the fourth Movie Day [ ja ] ceremony prior to its release. A smaller-scale science fiction film, entitled The Secret of the Telegian , which was Toho's second installment in the Transforming Human Series, marked Tsuburaya's first assignment of 1960. He then took on a project of a much larger extent, Storm Over
23436-399: The effects for Shūe Matsubayashi 's Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender , his first war film in six years. In order to film submarine scenes for the film, a model seabed terrain was built in the first Toho miniature pool (dubbed the "Small Pool" after a bigger stage was completed). He also filmed his effects for a technicolor version of the film, but they were converted to black-and-white for
23653-472: The effects for Taniguchi's Beyond Love and Hate [ ja ] , staged miniature ships to depict a battle in Hiroshi Inagaki's Pirate Ship [ ja ] , and directed the effects for Kenji Mizoguchi 's The Lady of Musashino . In February 1952, Tsuburaya's exile from public office was officially lifted. That same month, Ishirō Honda's second feature film, The Skin of
23870-411: The effects. After working on The Legend of the White Serpent , Tsuburaya made the renowned Toho logo, and his unit created the opening credits for most of the company's films. Between working on large-scale Toho films, he also created the effects for Nippon TV 's series Ninja Arts of Sanada Castle and several theatrical productions for Tokyo Takarazuka Theater . Toho's next assignment for Tsuburaya
24087-627: The end of World War II . Even though Toho was unaffected by the Tokyo bombings, as the company was located in Seijo, the amount of film productions was reduced due to the Occupation of Japan . Because of this, the company produced only eighteen films in 1946, with Tsuburaya working on eight of them. During the same year, Tsuburaya became head of the special effects production department at Toho and established its cinematography, compositing, art, and development units. Since he and his effects unit at
24304-570: The end of the filming process for Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Storm Over the Pacific obtained critical acclaim upon its release, with numerous of Tsuburaya's effects sequences being later featured in Midway (1976), a film by Jack Smight that was also about the Pacific War. Throughout the rest of 1960, Tsuburaya worked on other notable productions, such as the third film in the Transforming Human Series, The Human Vapor ; he also oversaw
24521-413: The end, the star blows much of its content back into the stellar medium, where it would join clouds that would eventually become new generations of stars and planets. Many of those materials are the raw components of life on Earth. As this process takes place in all the universe, said materials are ubiquitous in the cosmos and not a rarity from the Solar System. Earth is a planet in the Solar System ,
24738-416: The existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology . Speculation about the possibility of inhabited worlds beyond Earth dates back to antiquity. Early Christian writers discussed the idea of a "plurality of worlds" as proposed by earlier thinkers such as Democritus ; Augustine references Epicurus 's idea of innumerable worlds "throughout
24955-480: The family, leaving Tsuburaya in the care of his grandmother Natsu. Through Natsu, Tsuburaya was related to the Edo period painter Aōdō Denzen , who brought copper printing and Western painting to Japan, from whom Tsuburaya considered to have inherited his manual dexterity. His uncle Ichirō, who was Sei's younger brother, was five years older than him and acted like an elder brother to him. Thus, Tsuburaya began to use
25172-497: The film The Hunchback of Enmei'in Temple . Tsuburaya joined Shochiku in 1925 and would have his breakthrough as the cameraman and assistant director on Teinosuke Kinugasa 's A Page of Madness (released the following year). In 1927, he shot Minoru Inuzuka 's jidaigeki films Children's Swordplay and Melee , both starring Kazuo Hasegawa and Tsuyako Okajima, as well as Toko Yamazaki's The Bat Copybook , Mad Blade Under
25389-417: The film became a box office hit. As a result, Godzilla established Toho as the most successful effects company in the world, and Tsuburaya obtained his first Japan Technical Award for his efforts. Instantly after completing Godzilla in October, Tsuburaya began working on another Toho-produced science fiction film, The Invisible Avenger , which was released to Japanese theaters in December 1954, under
25606-716: The film industry at the age of eighteen, as Edamasa's camera assistant, contributing to films such as A Tune of Pity (1919) and Tombs of the Island (1920); reportedly, he also served as a screenwriter during this period. Despite Tenkatsu becoming part of the Kokatsu Company and Edamasa leaving his job in March 1920, Tsuburaya kept working at the studio until he was ordered to serve the Imperial Japanese Army between 1921 and December 1922. After leaving
25823-454: The film's cinematographer, but was also in charge of special effects for the first time. For the film, he worked with animator Kenzō Masaoka to create miniatures , puppets, a composite of Kaguya emerging from a cut bamboo plant, and a sequence in which a ship encounters a storm. While the original print of the film is considered to be lost, a shortened version, screened in England in 1936,
26040-479: The film, he displays two "unnatural" abilities that were attributed to - and served as evidence of - his alien nature. The first is the durability to withstand the Oxygen Destroyer, emerging unscathed from the same detonation which severely injured Godzilla and killed all Earth-based lifeforms within a two-mile radius. The second is the possession of highly accelerated regenerative properties, having regrown
26257-412: The film, including optical synthesis, and suggested that the character would disguise his invisibility powers by dressing up as a clown. Due to the enormous box-office success of Godzilla , Toho quickly gathered the majority of the crew behind the film to create a smaller-budget sequel to the film, entitled Godzilla Raids Again : Tsuburaya was officially given the title of special effects director for
26474-546: The final version. In August 1959, Tsuburaya, together with his sons Hajime and Noboru, shot footage of two dragon puppets in Tsuburaya's laboratory at their house in Setagaya , Tokyo for a Hong Kong-based film company. Tsuburaya's following significant production, director Hiroshi Inagaki's big-budget religious epic The Three Treasures , was created as Toho's celebratory thousandth film. Based on legends featured in
26691-413: The first Japanese film to be widely distributed throughout the United States and was later released worldwide, leading Tsuburaya to gain international recognition. However, for its American release, the movie was re-entitled as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! , heavily re-edited, and integrated with new footage featuring Canadian actor Raymond Burr . Tsuburaya's next major undertaking, The Legend of
26908-788: The first Japanese science fiction film. In 1950, Tsuburaya returned to Toho alongside his effects crew from Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory. At age fifty-three, he gained international recognition and won his first Japan Technical Award for Special Skill for directing the effects in Ishirō Honda's kaiju film Godzilla (1954). He served as the effects director for Toho's string of financially successful tokusatsu films that followed, including, Rodan (1956), The Mysterians (1957), The Three Treasures (1959), Mothra , The Last War (both 1961), and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). In April 1963, Tsuburaya founded Tsuburaya Special Effects Productions ; his company would go onto produce
27125-428: The first full-scale rear projection . The German staff were allegedly impressed by his elaborate miniature work on the project. In September 1936, Ichizō Kobayashi merged the film studios P.C.L. Studios and P.C.L. Film Company with J.O. Studios to create the film and theatre production company Toho . Film producer Iwao Mori [ ja ] was appointed as production manager at Toho: having become aware of
27342-410: The first full-scale rear projection . In 1937, Tsuburaya was employed by Toho and established the company's effects department. Tsuburaya directed the effects for The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya in 1942, which became the highest-grossing Japanese film in history upon its release. His elaborate effects were believed to be behind the film's major success, and he won an award for his work from
27559-403: The first hominids appeared 60 million years ago. Life on other planets may have started, evolved, given birth to extraterrestrial intelligences, and perhaps even faced a planetary extinction event millions or even billions of years ago. The brief times of existence of Earth's species, when considered from a cosmic perspective, may suggest that extraterrestrial life may be equally fleeting under such
27776-534: The first iron shooting crane in October 1934, and an adaptation of the crane is still in use across the globe today. After filming his directorial debut on the cruiser Asama in the Pacific Ocean, he worked on Princess Kaguya (1935), one of Japan's first major films to incorporate special effects. His first majorly successful film in effects, The Daughter of the Samurai (1937), remarkably featured
27993-466: The first places that life could have originated on Earth. These environments can be considered extreme when compared to the typical ecosystems that the majority of life on Earth now inhabit, as hydrothermal vents are scorching hot due to the magma escaping from the Earth's mantle and meeting the much colder oceanic water. Even in today's world, there can be a diverse population of bacteria found inhabiting
28210-536: The first time, having always been credited under "special technique" beforehand. Shot in less than three months, the film was released in April 1955. Just a month later, Tsuburaya began directing the effects of Half Human , his second kaiju film collaboration with director Ishirō Honda. Among his efforts on this film, the effects director notably created stop-motion animation, rear-screen miniature, and miniature avalanche sequences. In April 1956, Godzilla became
28427-648: The following year. Tsuburaya's next project, the war epic Eagle of the Pacific (1953), was his first significant partnership with Ishirō Honda. As the film featured many effects sequences from The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya , Tsuburaya used only a small crew to shoot its new effects. Upon its release, the film reportedly became Toho's first post-war production to gross over ¥100 million ( $ 278,000 ). The ensuing year, he and Honda collaborated on another war film, Farewell Rabaul , released to Japanese theaters in February 1954, to moderate box office success. His effects for this assignment were more advanced than
28644-410: The formation of planets, eventually arriving on young planets early in their formation. In December 2023, astronomers reported the first time discovery, in the plumes of Enceladus , moon of the planet Saturn , of hydrogen cyanide , a possible chemical essential for life as we know it, as well as other organic molecules , some of which are yet to be better identified and understood. According to
28861-455: The giant planets themselves are highly unlikely to have life, there is much hope to find it on moons orbiting these planets. Europa , from the Jovian system, has a subsurface ocean below a thick layer of ice. Ganymede and Callisto also have subsurface oceans, but life is less likely in them because water is sandwiched between layers of solid ice. Europa would have contact between the ocean and
29078-404: The habitable zones vary according to the type of star, and even the solar activity of each specific star influences the local habitability. The type of star also defines the time the habitable zone will exist, as its presence and limits will change along with the stars stellar evolution. The Big Bang took place 14 billion years ago, the Solar System was formed 4 and a half billion years ago, and
29295-571: The hierarchy of lifeforms from Earth for simplicity, as it is the only one known to exist. The first basic requirement for life is an environment with non-equilibrium thermodynamics , which means that the thermodynamic equilibrium must be broken by a source of energy. The traditional sources of energy in the cosmos are the stars, such as for life on Earth, which depends on the energy of the sun. However, there are other alternative energy sources, such as volcanoes , plate tectonics , and hydrothermal vents . There are ecosystems on Earth in deep areas of
29512-506: The human military attempts to kill both Ghidorah and Godzilla by detonating a new weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer. Caught in the blast's center; the weapon almost kills Godzilla but is revealed to have no effect on Ghidorah, who flies back to land and within minutes, fully regenerates his severed head, which would eventually allow the humans to deduce that he is in fact an alien with a completely different biology than any known lifeform on Earth. With Godzilla seemingly defeated, Ghidorah becomes
29729-704: The humans (who use the Orca to distract Ghidorah from sucking Godzilla dry before the latter could use Mothra's power boost). Godzilla recovers and uses Mothra's power to unleash a series of thermonuclear pulses that obliterate Ghidorah completely. In a post-credits scene , Jonah and his men are shown Ghidorah's previously-severed head from a fisherman in Mexico. He tells the fisherman, "We'll take it." The tie-in Godzilla vs. Kong graphic novel Kingdom Kong reveals that Ghidorah's passage over Mexico during Rodan's awakening left an isolated version of his hurricane anchored above
29946-521: The importance of special effects during a tour in Hollywood , in 1937 Mori hired Tsuburaya at the company's studio in Tokyo , establishing the special effects department on November 27, 1937, and treating him as the section's manager. Shortly after, Tsuburaya received a research budget and began studying optical printers to create Japan's first version of the device, which he designed. Among Tsuburaya's first film assignments at Toho were The Abe Clan ,
30163-431: The incident, named Masano Araki, was one of the first people to run to his aid: she visited Tsuburaya daily while he was hospitalized, and the pair formed a relationship shortly thereafter. On February 27, 1930, Tsuburaya married the decade-younger Araki. Their first child, Hajime , was born on April 23, 1931. In May 1932, Tsuburaya, Akira Mimura, Hiroshi Sakai, Kohei Sugiyama, Masao Tamai, and Tadayuki Yokota established
30380-654: The independent special effects company Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory [ ja ] , an unofficial juridical entity . Henceforth, he worked at major film studios outside Toho without on-screen credit. In 1949, five major Daiei Film productions featuring effects directed by Tsuburaya were released to Japanese theaters: Japanese horror filmmaker Bin Kato 's The White Haired Fiend , Keigo Kimura's Flowers of Raccoon Palace , Kiyohiko Ushihara's The Rainbow Man , Akira Nobuchi 's The Ghost Train , and Nobuo Adachi's The Invisible Man Appears . This last movie
30597-483: The inherent sadism of most incarnations: the middle head is the leader and more prominently sadistic than the other two, the right head is angry and thirsty for battle, and the left head is curious, distractable and more submissive - the heads are officially named Ichi, Ni and San respectively (meaning "One", "Two" and "Three" in Japanese). It is referred to as "Monster Zero" (a reference to Invasion of Astro-Monster ) by
30814-470: The initial idea for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster , came from Tomoyuki Tanaka , who also created Godzilla . Tanaka's inspiration came from an illustration of the Lernaean Hydra in a book about Greek mythology and Orochi of Japanese folklore. Tanaka was enamored with the idea of Godzilla fighting a multi-headed serpent but considered seven or eight heads excessive; thus, the number of heads
31031-575: The insistence of Eiji Tsuburaya , after his assistant noted that being a creature from Venus , the "gold planet", Ghidorah should be that color. The monster suit itself was built by Akira Watanabe, and worn by Shoichi Hirose . Hirose walked hunched over inside the Ghidorah costume, holding a metal bar for balance, while puppeteers would control its heads, tails and wings off-camera like a marionette . The monster's heads were each fitted with remotely controlled motors, which were connected to operators via
31248-462: The island after Camazotz is defeated. In the 2021 sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong , set 5 years after the events of King of the Monsters , Ghidorah's severed head is being used by Apex Cybernetics' Ren Serizawa (portrayed by Shun Oguri ) to telepathically interface with Mechagodzilla 's body. Godzilla senses his fallen rival's presence, which prompts him to attack the Apex facilities where Mechagodzilla
31465-421: The left head minutes after Godzilla tore it off, retaining the memories and personality since Ghidorah's neurons are spread throughout his body like in an octopus. However, according to the official novelization, a store of energy must be absorbed to do so, which Ghidorah acquired from the highly-radioactive lava of Rodan's volcano. Later on, the same power substation Ghidorah consumed to boost himself also healed up
31682-543: The medium. To create DNA , RNA , or a close analog, such an element should be able to bind its atoms with many others, creating complex and stable molecules. It should be able to create at least three covalent bonds: two for making long strings and at least a third to add new links and allow for diverse information. Only nine elements meet this requirement: boron , nitrogen , phosphorus , arsenic , antimony (three bonds), carbon , silicon , germanium and tin (four bonds). As for abundance, carbon, nitrogen, and silicon are
31899-500: The middle head, Maxson performing the right head, and Dorton performing the left head. Other actors would perform the rest of King Ghidorah's body. This version of Ghidorah standing at 521 ft (158.8 m) tall, weighing 141,056 tons with an unknown wingspan that allows it to fly at a maximum speed of 550 knots. Unlike previous incarnations of the character, here Ghidorah's three heads are portrayed with independent personalities from each other, although Ghidorah overall still exhibits
32116-413: The more powerful bugs, crabs, and robots." In his review of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster , Ethan Reed of Toho Kingdom praised King Ghidorah, calling it "a fantastic addition to the franchise" and "no less than pure evil, a relentless force of destruction that wipes out the life of entire planets just for the sake of it" and concluded that "King Ghidorah is not only one [of] the best characters in
32333-572: The most abundant ones in the universe, far more than the others. On Earth's crust the most abundant of those elements is silicon, in the Hydrosphere it is carbon and in the atmosphere, it is carbon and nitrogen. Silicon, however, has disadvantages over carbon. The molecules formed with silicon atoms are less stable, and more vulnerable to acids, oxygen, and light. An ecosystem of silicon-based lifeforms would require very low temperatures, high atmospheric pressure , an atmosphere devoid of oxygen, and
32550-504: The native planet that may not be caused by natural causes. There are three main types of techno-signatures considered: interstellar communications , effects on the atmosphere, and planetary-sized structures such as Dyson spheres . Organizations such as the SETI Institute search the cosmos for potential forms of communication. They started with radio waves , and now search for laser pulses as well. The challenge for this search
32767-461: The new "alpha" or "king of the monsters", and puts out a worldwide call that awakens all of the Earth's Titans, and commands them to aid him in destroying human civilization and inflicting an extinction event that could wipe out all multicellular life on Earth, with Rodan as his right hand. Ghidorah even starts causing massive electrical storms in the eastern United States, radically altering climate conditions. When Ghidorah comes to Boston to destroy
32984-448: The nickname Eiji ("ji" indicating second-born) instead of Eiichi ("ichi" indicating first-born). In 1908, he started attending the Dai'ichi Jinjo Koto Elementary School in Sukagawa, and it was soon realized that he had a talent for drawing. During his boyhood, Tsuburaya became interested in flying because of the recent success of Japanese aviators; he soon started building model airplanes as
33201-538: The novelization, Ghidorah's hurricane furthermore disrupts and alters worldwide weather patterns to cause even more storm systems around the world, which is also hinted at in several scenes of the film. After ‘consuming’ all of Boston's electric power grid by chomping down on a power substation, King Ghidorah is able to unleash chain lightning from the tips of the bones in his wings (referencing his Rebirth of Mothra 3 incarnation) and later shows more of his vampiric, energy-draining capabilities when he chomps down on Godzilla in
33418-418: The ocean that do not receive sunlight, and take energy from black smokers instead. Magnetic fields and radioactivity have also been proposed as sources of energy, although they would be less efficient ones. Life on Earth requires water in a liquid state as a solvent in which biochemical reactions take place. It is highly unlikely that an abiogenesis process can start within a gaseous or solid medium:
33635-531: The ocean, even after Ghidorah's death has enabled the rest of Earth's climate to re-stabilize. 2 years later, this storm is drawn towards Skull Island amid the Titan Camazotz' invasion of the island via the Hollow Earth, and it permanently merges with the perpetual storm barrier surrounding Skull Island, enveloping Skull Island in an endless superstorm which effectively destroys all unprotected life on
33852-414: The ones used for Eagle of the Pacific , since they featured many more of his technological approaches and syntheses. Because of the success of Eagle of the Pacific and Farewell Rabaul , Tomoyuki Tanaka believed Tsuburaya should make more tokusatsu films with Honda. Tsuburaya's next film would become Japan's first global hit and gain him international attention. After failing to renegotiate with
34069-806: The opening of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II . Stock footage of King Ghidorah was used in four episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog : Courage in the Big Stinkin' City , The Tower of Dr. Zalost , Fishy Business and Nowhere TV . Spin-off characters based on King Ghidorah (although quadrupedal in appearance) were featured in other Toho films: Desghidorah in Rebirth of Mothra and Keizer Ghidorah in Godzilla: Final Wars . A post-credits scene in Kong: Skull Island depicts cave paintings of Godzilla , Rodan , Mothra and King Ghidorah. It
34286-502: The organization Monarch. According to Monarch's database, ancient civilizations called the monster "Ghidorah". In this incarnation, King Ghidorah is portrayed as a rival apex predator to Godzilla that originated from another world, "[falling] from the stars" in ancient times, who actively seeks to usurp Godzilla's domination of the other monsters; and unlike Godzilla, he is actively murderous and genocidal towards humans while threatening to destroy Earth's ecosphere. It's briefly speculated by
34503-568: The origin of extraterrestrial life. The Solar System has a wide variety of planets, dwarf planets, and moons, and each one is studied for its potential to host life. Each one has its own specific conditions that may benefit or harm life. So far, the only lifeforms found are those from Earth. No extraterrestrial intelligence other than humans exists or has ever existed within the Solar System. Astrobiologist Mary Voytek points out that it would be unlikely to find large ecosystems, as they would have already been detected by now. The inner Solar System
34720-451: The origin of life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents , acidic hot springs, and volcanic lakes are examples of life forming under difficult circumstances, provide parallels to the extreme environments on other planets and support the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Since the mid-20th century, active research has taken place to look for signs of extraterrestrial life, encompassing searches for current and historic extraterrestrial life, and
34937-468: The others are used in other biological processes. The studies ruled out pollution of the meteorites on Earth, as those components would not be freely available the way they were found in the samples. This discovery suggests that several organic molecules that serve as building blocks of life may be generated within asteroids and comets. In October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust contains complex organic compounds ("amorphous organic solids with
35154-606: The paper], frame by frame." Because of his craftwork at a young age, he became a provincial celebrity and was interviewed by the Fukushima Minyu Shimbun [ ja ] . In 1915, at the age of 14, he graduated from junior high school , and begged his family to let him enroll in the Nippon Flying School at Haneda . After the school was closed on account of the accidental death of its founder, Seitaro Tamai, in 1917, Tsuburaya switched to
35371-414: The pilot to death as he seized total control of the robot. The character has been well-received and is considered to be the most famous enemy of Godzilla. IGN listed the creature as #2 on their "Top 10 Japanese Movie Monsters" list. Complex listed the character as #4 on its "The 15 Most Badass Kaiju Monsters of All Time" list, calling it "iconic" and saying that it "... simply looks cooler than some of
35588-553: The planetary core ceased to generate a magnetic field, solar winds removed the atmosphere and the planet became vulnerable to solar radiation. Ancient life-forms may still have left fossilised remains, and microbes may still survive deep underground. As mentioned, the gas giants and ice giants are unlikely to contain life. The most distant solar system bodies, found in the Kuiper Belt and outwards, are locked in permanent deep-freeze, but cannot be ruled out completely. Although
35805-455: The point of discarding his physical body in favor of a form of pure astral energy with two tails, two wings, and three necks that reach at least 20 kilometers in length, stretching out of three black hole-like portals to devour planets sacrificed to him by the Exif cult with his gravitational powers while his torso remains within an alternate dimension. In this state, King Ghidorah is completely invulnerable as long as his 'anchor' remains alive, and
36022-461: The police, the labor strikers erected a barricade, using a large fan, made by the special effects department of the company, which was equipped with the Zero fighter engine that Tsuburaya had used during the war. These events led to the creation of Shintoho ; Tsuburaya would create the effects for the studio's first film, A Thousand and One Nights with Toho (1947). In late March 1948, Tsuburaya
36239-511: The precise differences that lead to beneficial or harmful conditions for life. And despite the conditions against life on Venus , there are suspicions that microbial life-forms may still survive in high-altitude clouds. Mars is a cold and almost airless desert, inhospitable to life. However, recent studies revealed that water on Mars used to be quite abundant, forming rivers, lakes, and perhaps even oceans. Mars may have been habitable back then, and life on Mars may have been possible. But when
36456-456: The probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilisations and the lack of evidence for such civilisations is known as the Fermi paradox . Dennis W. Sciama claimed that life's existence in the universe depends on various fundamental constants. Zhi-Wei Wang and Samuel L. Braunstein suggest that a random universe capable of supporting life is likely to be just barely able to do so, giving
36673-476: The probe to study ocean water. Still, Cassini detected complex organic molecules, salts, evidence of hydrothermal activity, hydrogen, and methane. Titan is the only celestial body in the Solar System besides Earth that has liquid bodies on the surface. It has rivers, lakes, and rain of hydrocarbons, methane, and ethane, and even a cycle similar to Earth's water cycle . This special context encourages speculations about lifeforms with different biochemistry, but
36890-438: The problems of survival of life on other planets. However, he also considered that the conditions found on Mars were incompatible with carbon based life. Even if extraterrestrial life is based on carbon and uses water as a solvent, like Earth life, it may still have a radically different biochemistry . Life is generally considered to be a product of natural selection . It has been proposed that to undergo natural selection
37107-453: The production was plagued by numerous difficulties: AB-PT collapsed during production, leading Toho to alter the film's status to a theatrical feature. Tsuburaya's final film released in 1958 was Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress . Tsuburaya began 1959 by working on the special effects for Mighty Atom , a tokusatsu television series based on Osamu Tezuka 's manga series Astro Boy . Although neither he nor his company were credited in
37324-571: The professional name "Eiji Tsuburaya". In 1933, Tsuburaya saw the American film King Kong , which inspired him to work on movies featuring special effects. In 1962, Tsuburaya told the Mainichi Shimbun that he attempted to convince Nikkatsu to "import this technical know-how, but they had little interest in it because, at the time, I was seen as merely a cameraman who worked on Kazuo Hasegawa's historical dramas". He managed to acquire
37541-491: The release of King of the Monsters , Ghidorah's left head has gained the nickname "Kev/Kevin". This was following an announcement by Mike Dougherty who released a tweet with the names of Ghidorah's head. Due to his seemingly unique personality, Kevin has become the subject of memes . King Ghidorah appeared in a brief piece of stock footage in Terror of Mechagodzilla . The mechanical head of Mecha-King Ghidorah appears briefly in
37758-433: The researchers, "these [newly discovered] compounds could potentially support extant microbial communities or drive complex organic synthesis leading to the origin of life ." Although most searches are focused on the biology of extraterrestrial life, an extraterrestrial intelligence capable enough to develop a civilization may be detectable by other means as well. Technology may generate technosignatures , effects on
37975-426: The right conditions on Earth were met, life started by a chemical process known as abiogenesis . Alternatively, life may have formed less frequently, then spread – by meteoroids , for example – between habitable planets in a process called panspermia . During most of its stellar evolution stars combine hydrogen nuclei to make helium nuclei by stellar fusion, and the comparatively lighter weight of helium allows
38192-405: The right side of the equation are agreed as speculative and open to substitution: 10,000 = 5 ⋅ 0.5 ⋅ 2 ⋅ 1 ⋅ 0.2 ⋅ 1 ⋅ 10,000 {\displaystyle 10{,}000=5\cdot 0.5\cdot 2\cdot 1\cdot 0.2\cdot 1\cdot 10{,}000} The Drake equation has proved controversial since, although it is written as
38409-422: The rocky surface, which helps the chemical reactions. It may be difficult to dig so deep in order to study those oceans, though. Enceladus , a tiny moon of Saturn with another subsurface ocean, may not need to be dug, as it releases water to space in eruption columns . The space probe Cassini flew inside one of these, but could not make a full study because NASA did not expect this phenomenon and did not equip
38626-532: The same samples suggests that a non-biological reaction is a more likely hypothesis. In February 2005 NASA scientists reported they may have found some evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. The two scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA's Ames Research Center , based their claim on methane signatures found in Mars's atmosphere resembling the methane production of some forms of primitive life on Earth, as well as on their own study of primitive life near
38843-547: The series, but one [of] the best movie villains as well." Similar views were expressed in Paste , which listed Ghidorah as #5 on its "10 Best Movie Dragons", describing it as "probably the deadliest beast in all of Godzilla lore". Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle, however, has criticized Ghidorah's design in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah , citing its stiff movements and recycled Rodan roar, as well as noting that it did not deviate enough from Eiji Tsuburaya's original design. Following
39060-417: The short film by using an interlocking camera. After the completion of The Sunday That Jumped Out , Murata discussed creating a kaiju film about a giant whale attacking Tokyo, which Tsuburaya devised the previous year. Tsuburaya, therefore, resubmitted the conception of this production to producer Iwao Mori. Although this project never materialized, elements of it were included in early drafts of Godzilla
39277-571: The show itself when it aired between March 7, 1959, and May 28, 1960, he supervised the miniature photography done by his staff at Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory. Around the same time, Tsuburaya also directed the special effects for a storm sequence featured in Honda's Inao: Story of an Iron Arm , for which he also constructed the miniature for the title character's rowboat. Next, he worked on Monkey Sun , co-written and directed by Kajirō Yamamoto as an all-star remake of his 1940 film Son Gokū ,
39494-455: The special effects team to superimpose the manes into footage of people escaping the monster. Special effects director Koichi Kawakita had originally planned on having each of Ghidorah's heads fire differently colored beams, but this was ultimately scrapped in favor of the classic yellow color. This version of King Ghidorah was portrayed by Hurricane Ryu . In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), Mecha-King Ghidorah's remains are salvaged by
39711-399: The star to release the extra energy. The process continues until the star uses all of its available fuel, with the speed of consumption being related to the size of the star. During its last stages, stars start combining helium nuclei to form carbon nuclei. The higher-sized stars can further combine carbon nuclei to create oxygen and silicon, oxygen into neon and sulfur, and so on until iron. In
39928-482: The stellar evolution of stars and planets, it is usually not taken into account by astrobiology. There is an area around a star, the circumstellar habitable zone or "Goldilocks zone", where water may be at the right temperature to exist in liquid form at a planetary surface. This area is neither too close to the star, where water would become steam, nor too far away, where water would be frozen as ice. However, although useful as an approximation, planetary habitability
40145-508: The study of Earth's life, the only known form of life, astrobiology seeks to study how life starts and evolves and the requirements for its continuous existence. This helps to determine what to look for when searching for life in other celestial bodies. This is a complex area of study, and uses the combined perspectives of several scientific disciplines, such as astronomy , biology , chemistry , geology , oceanography , and atmospheric sciences . The scientific search for extraterrestrial life
40362-539: The survival and possible origin of life on Earth . With the little amount of information that scientists have found regarding the atmosphere on other planets in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, the atmospheres are most likely reducing or with very low oxygen levels, especially when compared with Earth's atmosphere. If there were the necessary elements and ions on these planets, the same carbon fixing, reduced chemical compounds occurring around hydrothermal vents could also occur on these planets' surfaces and possibly result in
40579-634: The television series Zone Fighter , where it is revealed that it is supposedly a creation of the Garoga aliens, though it is left unclear as to whether this statement is true or not. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa insisted that the Ghidorah suit be fabricated using light-weight silicone-based materials in order to grant the wearer greater mobility. The final Ghidorah design was constructed by special effects artist Teizo Toshimitsu, who had initially painted it green in order to further differentiate it from Godzilla , Rodan and Mothra , but changed it to gold on
40796-494: The television shows Ultra Q , Ultraman (both 1966), Ultraseven (1967–1968), and Mighty Jack (1968). Ultra Q and Ultraman were extremely successful upon their 1966 broadcast, with Ultra Q making him a household name in Japan and gaining him more attention from the media who dubbed him the "God of Tokusatsu ". While he spent his late years working on several Toho films and operating his company, Tsuburaya's health began to decline, and he died in 1970. Eiji Tsuburaya
41013-448: The third part of an animated trilogy, Ghidorah is depicted as an evolved entity from a universe with different physical laws that are worshiped by the Exif, who he influenced to become nihilists upon mastering advanced Gematron mathematics. While Ghidorah consumed the Exifs' homeworld, their first offering to him, through his gravitational powers, a few priests were spared and traveled to other worlds where they established cults while meeting
41230-399: The three Guardians of Yamato, originating 1,000 years before the events of the film. Initially an antagonist, Ghidorah was imprisoned in Mount Fuji , only to be reawakened in 2001 to halt Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. Ghidorah is defeated, but then revived and empowered by ally Mothra . Director Shūsuke Kaneko had originally planned to use Varan as Godzilla's principal antagonist, but
41447-399: The title Invisible Man . This tokusatsu production was directed by Motoyoshi Oda and featured special effects and photography by Tsuburaya. For the movie, he inherited and expanded the technology used in his first film to feature an invisible character, The Invisible Man Appears (1949). Tsuburaya instructed his crew to portray the title character's invisibility in various ways throughout
41664-445: The unusual properties of the meteorite were eventually explained as the result of inorganic processes, the controversy over its discovery laid the groundwork for the development of astrobiology. An experiment on the two Viking Mars landers reported gas emissions from heated Martian soil samples that some scientists argue are consistent with the presence of living microorganisms. Lack of corroborating evidence from other experiments on
41881-424: The wounds on his wing membranes immediately after he fired lightning from the tips of his wings. Eventually, Godzilla succeeded in incinerating Ghidorah's wings, side heads, body, and finally, the middle head, to prevent the alien dragon from coming back. However, Ghidorah was not entirely destroyed, for the head Godzilla bit off during the fight in Mexico remained intact and was salvaged. In Godzilla vs. Kong , it
42098-408: Was Rodan , the first kaiju film ever produced in color. About 60% of Rodan' s ¥200 million budget was spent on Tsuburaya's effects, which included optical animation, matte paintings, and extremely elaborate miniature sets created to be destroyed or flown over by its namesake monster (played by original Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima ). Rodan required a large number of model sets in
42315-511: Was purged from Toho by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers because of his involvement in propaganda films during World War II. The U.S. occupation officials reportedly expelled him assuming he had access to classified documents when creating the comprehensive miniatures featured in The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya , which led them to inaccurately conclude that he was a spy. Consequently, Toho disbanded their special effects division and Tsuburaya, together with his son Hajime, founded
42532-426: Was Tanaka's debut as a film producer. Tanaka stated that he did not develop a serious connection with Tsuburaya during the film's production. The following year, the special effects director collaborated with Tanaka for the second time on Kiyoshi Saeki's Three People of the North [ ja ] . On March 10, 1945, Tsuburaya and his family sought refuge for two hours in their residence's bomb shelter during
42749-546: Was Tsuburaya's second film release of 1957. Kurosawa cut several scenes by Tsuburaya due to his displeasure with the amount of footage he made for Throne of Blood . He next served as the special effects director for The Mysterians , a science fiction epic directed by Ishirō Honda. The first color CinemaScope film ever directed by the duo, The Mysterians is often called the "definitive science fiction movie". Tsuburaya won another Japan Technical Award for his widescreen effects in The Mysterians . A new sub-genre for Toho
42966-448: Was believed to be lost for over sixty years, until an unfinished copy of the film was discovered and screened in 2006. In September 1940, Yutaka Abe 's The Burning Sky , was released to Japanese cinemas. Tsuburaya was in charge of effects for the film and received his first accolade from the Japan Motion Picture Cinematographers Association. His next undertaking, Son Gokū , was released on November 6, 1940. During an interview for
43183-508: Was born Eiichi Tsumuraya ( 圓谷 英一 , Tsumuraya Eiichi ) on July 7, 1901, at a merchant house called Ōtsukaya in Sukagawa , Iwase , Fukushima Prefecture , where his family ran a malted rice business. He was the first son of Isamu Shiraishi and Sei Tsumuraya, with a large extended family. When Tsuburaya was three years old, his mother Sei died of illness at the age of nineteen, shortly after giving birth to her second son. Bereaved by Sei's death, Shiraishi divorced her posthumously and left
43400-406: Was born with Tsuburaya's first movie of 1958, The H-Man , which was the first entry in the "Transforming Human Series". He next directed the effects for Honda's Varan the Unbelievable , a film about a giant monster awakened in the Tōhoku mountains that surfaces in Tokyo Bay . Initially planned as a made-for-television film, co-produced between Toho and the American company AB-PT Pictures ,
43617-520: Was disappointed with his lack of competence on the project and gave up his ambition to become a Daiei employee after The Invisible Man Appears was finished. In 1950, Tsuburaya relocated some equipment and employees at Tsuburaya Special Technology Laboratory to Toho's headquarters; his independent company was merely the size of six tatami mats inside Toho Studios. In the same year, he continued to direct special effects for films from other companies, including Toyoko Eiga 's anti-war film Listen to
43834-481: Was discovered by a researcher at the British Film Institute in May 2015: this version was released in Japan on September 4 and 5, 2021, as part of an event celebrating Tsuburaya's 120th birthday. In March of the next year, Tsuburaya's directorial debut, the theatrical play Folk Song Collection: Oichi of Torioi Village , was released: it was an adventure film concerning a condemned romance and featuring political tones. Folk Song Collection: Oichi of Torioi Village
44051-426: Was given a darker shade of gold, and its movements both on land and in the air were more fluid than during Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster , as the special effects crew had at that point learned from the shortcomings of the previous film's depiction of the creature. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), the creature is re-envisioned as a trio of diminutive genetically engineered creatures called Dorats owned by
44268-410: Was given more assignments and a master's certificate during his almost three years at the academy. In November 1939, while Tsuburaya was still at the flight school and undertaking assignments at Toho, he was appointed head of Toho's Special Arts Department. A month after that, he was commissioned to shoot a science film for Toho's then-recently assembled educational section. Under governance demands, Toho
44485-417: Was habitable. It is unclear if life and intelligent life are ubiquitous in the cosmos or rare. The hypothesis of ubiquitous extraterrestrial life relies on three main ideas. The first one, the size of the universe allows for plenty of planets to have a similar habitability to Earth, and the age of the universe gives enough time for a long process analog to the history of Earth to happen there. The second
44702-561: Was implied that King Ghidorah took over Mechagodzilla 's consciousness in Godzilla vs. Kong . Extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life , or alien life (colloquially, alien ), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth . No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to intelligent beings , possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be far more advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about
44919-404: Was inferior in scope, but the art and gunpowder technology had enhanced. Additionally, Tsuburaya expressed dissatisfaction with the size of the shooting stage, the art materials, the method of performance, etc. Shortly before Toho distributed General Kato's Falcon Fighters in cinemas, Masano and Tsuburaya's third son and last child, Akira , was born on February 12, 1944. Akira was the first of
45136-426: Was mandated to maintain the creation of propaganda films. Accordingly, in May 1940, Tsuburaya began directing the documentary The Imperial Way of Japan for Toho Education Films' branch, the Toho National Policy Film Association. He was given his first ever credits for special effects for his work on Sotoji Kimura's Navy Bomber Squadron , which featured a bombing scene with a miniature airplane. Navy Bomber Squadron
45353-410: Was not the temperature, but the scarcity of free heavy elements. Planetary systems emerged, and the first organic compounds may have formed in the protoplanetary disk of dust grains that would eventually create rocky planets like Earth. Although Earth was in a molten state after its birth and may have burned any organics that fell in it, it would have been more receptive once it cooled down. Once
45570-400: Was pleased with the success of The Three Treasures , Tsuburaya became disappointed after seeing a picture of the heads of the Yamata no Orochi prop held up by piano wires in a newspaper article concerning its special effects. Accordingly, he declined an interview with the newspaper because he believed the photograph "broke children's dreams". When the Space Race erupted between the U.S. and
45787-413: Was pressured by Toho chairman Isao Matsuoka to use the more recognizable and profitable King Ghidorah, as the previous film in the franchise, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus , which featured an original and unfamiliar antagonist, was a box office and critical failure. In order to emphasize Ghidorah's heroic role in the movie, the creature's size was greatly reduced, and was portrayed by Akira Ohashi , who moved
46004-445: Was reduced to three. The final version, designed by Akira Watanabe , was a three-headed dragon with large wings, two tails, and of extraterrestrial origin. Toho also drew inspiration from the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych or King Dragon キング・ドラゴン ( Kingu Doragon ) in the Japanese version of the 1956 Soviet film Ilya Muromets , which had been distributed theatrically in Japan by Shintoho in March 1959. King Ghidorah's name
46221-617: Was rendered tangible to physics by the loss of connection to the priest serving as his key witness (thus allowing Godzilla to destroy his projection through reality), Ghidorah was simply banished back to his dimension, awaiting for another individual to serve as his link to open up his next chance to enter reality and feast. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters , Ghidorah has a divergent frontal lobe density in each of its heads, rendering each head capable of independent thoughts and divergent personality traits. Its scales are capable of running bioelectrical currents through its body and its dermal layer
46438-399: Was reported. Scientists search for biosignatures within the Solar System by studying planetary surfaces and examining meteorites . Some claim to have identified evidence that microbial life has existed on Mars. In 1996, a controversial report stated that structures resembling nanobacteria were discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001 , formed of rock ejected from Mars . Although all
46655-431: Was the first successful Japanese science fiction film, as well as the country's first adaption of H. G. Wells ' novel The Invisible Man . Created by studying the eponymous 1933 film adaptation of Wells' novel, Daiei had intended this film to be Tsuburaya's full-scale post-war recovery, featuring special effects superior in quality to those in Universal Pictures ' The Invisible Man film series . Tsuburaya, however,
46872-413: Was the second film to ever star popular geisha singer Ichimaru , while also featuring actor Kenji Susukida. Soon after its completion, Tsuburaya began working on Arnold Fanck 's The Daughter of the Samurai (released in 1937). The Daughter of the Samurai was the first German-Japanese co-production, and is considered to be Tsuburaya's first major success as a special effects director, since it featured
47089-428: Was wasting the company's money. After the argument, Tsuburaya resigned from his job at Nikkatsu. Shortly after leaving Nikkatsu, he accepted an offer from Kyoto entrepreneur Yoshio Osawa to work at his company, J.O. Talkies, and research optical printing and screen projection. In October 1934, Tsuburaya and his colleagues completed the first iron shooting crane model and used it to shoot Atsuo Tomioka's The Chorus of
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