Movies - Gigan

	Movies - Gigan

Gigan (ガイガン - "Gaigan") is a daikaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan
. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its chest and hook-like hands and feet. It can fly by means of a pair of jets under its dorsal fins and even emit a laser beam from its visor-like eye. Gigan is sometimes considered Godzilla's most violent opponent and has a large fan following (including Godzilla: Final Wars
director Ryuhei Kitamura) despite the generally perceived low quality of its first two films.

Film and TV appearances

Summoned to Earth by the M Space Hunter Nebulans, Gigan was paired with King Ghidorah to destroy Tokyo. They were challenged by Godzilla and Anguirus, and after a long fight the two space monsters were driven back into space. A year later, in Godzilla vs. Megalon
, Gigan was sent by the Nebulans to assist the people of Seatopia in their assault on humanity by aiding Megalon in a battle against Godzilla and Jet Jaguar. Gigan abandoned Megalon when the fight turned against them, and flew back to space. That same year, Gigan made an appearance on Toho's television series Meteor Man Zone
. Gigan was pummelled by Godzilla once again, then battled the giant superhero Zone Fighter. Gigan finally met its match in Zone Fighter, and was destroyed by his explosive Monster Missiles.

Gigan reappeared in Godzilla: Final Wars
as a giant mummified cyborg, having been slain 12,000 years previous by Mothra. Revived by the Xilians to commence their global invasion, Gigan traveled to the South Pole to destroy the Gotengo but wound up battling the newly-awakened Godzilla. Gigan ensnared Godzilla with grappling hooks from its scythes but had its head blown off by Godzilla's atomic ray. Later, when Mothra arrived to assist Godzilla against Monster X, a repaired and upgraded Gigan arrived to battle the ancient opponent. Gigan had had its scythes replaced with dual-chainsaws and been enabled to fire razor-discs from its chest. Using these chainsaw hands to slice off part of Mothra's wing, Gigan apparently slew its foe, and double-teamed with Monster X against Godzilla. When Mothra attacked again, Gigan fired two discs at her; when they missed, Gigan fired its eye-beam, setting Mothra ablaze and apparently killing her. As Gigan struck a victory pose, though, the razor discs boomeranged back, slicing off Gigan's head. Gigan remained alive, but the flaming Mothra dove down, body-slamming it and setting fire to its flesh. The flesh quickly burned away, and Gigan's inner mechanisms fell to the ground.

Trivia

Gigan was the first monster to cause Godzilla to visibly bleed. In Godzilla vs. Gigan it twice sliced Godzilla's shoulder with its chest buzzsaw and later drove one of its hooks between Godzilla's eyes. Godzilla bled again in Gigan stock footage used in Godzilla vs. Megalon. Through Eiji Tsuburaya's tenure as head of Toho's special effects department (which lasted until his death in 1969), he had purposely avoided visible bloodshed during monster clashes; Godzilla's injuries at the hands of Gigan, directed by Teruyoshi Nakano, were a significant and controversial break from Tsuburaya's techniques.

Gigan's eye laser, though prominently depicted on posters for Godzilla vs. Gigan, was never used in the movies until Godzilla: Final Wars. In Godzilla vs. Gigan as he's about to shoot his eye laser, Godzilla throws a rock at Gigan's face. It crackled then stopped working. Stock footage of this scene was used in Godzilla vs. Megalon. (Footage was shot for the original film but was later cut out.) It was, however, featured in the video games Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, and Godzilla: Save the Earth.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Gigan ]

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Movies - Gigan

Film and TV appearances

Trivia

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