Ebirah - Tumblr Posts

Godzilla: The Shōwa Chronicles 1966 - The Horror Of The Deep! Big Clash In The South Seas! Ebirah, Godzilla, and Mothra! Sonorama Art

Now I'm feeling a bit ripped off that we've never had any fairy tale adaptions the leaned into the crayfish/lobster/crab fairy...

Although that does sound/look rather similar to the plot of Disney's Sleeping Beauty (again, sadly with less crustaceans, although...)

Hang on, this isn't how I remember it...

The Orange Fairy Book illustrated by Tomislav Tomić

‘The stories are taken from those told by grannies to grandchildren in many countries and in many languages – French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Gaelic, Icelandic, Cherokee, African, Indian, Australian, Slavonic, Eskimo.’ In his preface to the final title in our Rainbow Fairy Book series, Andrew Lang describes the diverse origins of these tales. They vary from ‘The Ugly Duckling’ by Hans Christian Andersen to ‘The White Slipper’ – a reversal of the Cinderella story, in which the king loses his precious white slipper and offers his daughter’s hand to whoever finds it.

The introduction to this edition is by award-winning writer Sara Maitland, whose most recent book, Gossip from the Forest, explores the provenance of fairy tales. Tomislav Tomić is a Croatian artist and children’s author, whose detailed and lively artwork includes a decorated title page, illustrated endpapers and numerous black-and-white drawings. Like all the Rainbow Fairy Books, this volume is beautifully produced, with coloured top-page edges, and luxurious Caxton Wove paper.

The best part is that the movie was originally going to be about King Kong

Italian theatrical poster for Il Ritorno Di Godzilla/Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966).

I thought Monsterland and Monster Island were seperate entities, the former being a government project in late 90s and the latter just an island that monsters congregated on in the 70s.  It also explains why King Ghidorah is alive in Godzilla vs. Gigan despite dying in Destroy All Monsters, as the latter is the chronological series finale.  Also All Monsters Attack could still be canon if you consider the entire series to take place inside the kid’s dreams, ala Azathoth the Blind Idiot God in Lovecraft’s writings.

Showa Godzilla (head)Canon

I couldn’t sleep last night, so my mind ended up wandering toward the “canon” of the Showa series, which becomes increasingly muddled post-Destroy All Monsters. While canon in the Showa series is essentially meaningless, it’s fun to speculate about the timeline. Here’s what I came up with:

1954 - 1965

Godzilla

Godzilla Raids Again

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Mothra vs. Godzilla

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Invasion of Astro-Monster

All of the above films generally take place in the year they were produced. These films are about as close-knit as the Showa series gets.

1965 - 1997

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

These two films take place at unspecified points between the mid-sixties and mid-to-late nineties. It’s generally unimportant where exactly they fall.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

1997 - 2004

Son of Godzilla

Destroy All Monsters

Godzilla vs. Gigan

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Zone Fighter (potentially)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

Terror of Mechagodzilla

Son of Godzilla takes place a year or two prior to Destroy All Monsters. Gigan through Terror of Mechagodzilla take place in the post-Destroy All Monsters world of the early-noughties due to the presence of Monsterland/Island.

Off the top of my head, there’s nothing specific mentioned in the films themselves that could contradict them taking place in this time-frame, but I could easily be wrong.

Non-canon

All Monsters Attack

Takes place in the “real” world and has no bearing on Showa canon.

I’ve never really bought the idea that Hedorah through Terror of Mechagodzilla took place decades before Destroy All Monsters, and I guess this ordering is somewhat reflective of that. Plus, I like the idea of Terror being the canonical ending of the Showa series, because I love the image of Godzilla heading back out to sea for the last time, and find it a very fitting conclusion.

This is just one man’s headcanon, so don’t take it too literally.

Thoughts?

Hi!! I haven't been online on tumblr for a while.. sorry about that. Here's some art I've made.