Movies - King Ghidorah

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King Ghidorah (キングギドラ Kingu Gidora), sometimes spelled Ghidrah or Ghidora, is a daikaiju featured in several of Toho Studios' Godzilla films and (in derivative forms) in their Mothra Trilogy. Ghidorah is among the most powerful creatures in daikaiju eiga with a reputation that has earned it the title "The King of Terror". It is often considered Godzilla's greatest rival, and Godzilla often must team up with at least one other daikaiju to defeat Ghidorah. It is also one of the daikaiju most susceptible to mind control; it acts completely autonomously in at most two Godzilla movies, in other cases being controlled for most of its screen time by human(oid)s, often aliens.

Created as an opponent for Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra in 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
, Ghidorah is a golden dragon-like space monster with three heads on long necks, bat-like wings, and two tails. It was said to be 100 meters tall with a 150-meter wingspan and to weigh 30,000 metric tonnes. King Ghidorah was brought to life on the movie screen by a stunt actor inside an elaborate costume, with a team of puppeteers to control the beast's many appendages. Its alarming shrieks — a different ringing pitch for each of its heads — are among the genre's most recognizable sound effects. Its design is due to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya based on a minimal description in the script: "It has three heads, two tails, and a voice like a bell."

In recent films Ghidorah has undergone several revisions to its origin and appearance — for instance, a 140-meter irradiated triplet of genetically engineered pets with a Rodan-like cackle in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
, and a 49-meter guardian monster in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
— and has been realized via CGI as well as suitmation.

Shōwa era

Initially, Ghidorah was said to have come from outer space, an ancient evil responsible for destroying civilizations on many planets, including Venus (Mars in the English dub). Arriving on Earth in a magnetic meteorite, Ghidorah devastated much of the Japanese countryside before being repelled by the monstrous team of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan. In the follow-up movie, Invasion of Astro-Monster
, it was revealed to be a mind-controlled pawn of beings from Planet X, a newly discovered planet in Jupiter's umbra, who called it Monster Zero. These "Xilians" coveted Earth's water resources and took control of Godzilla and Rodan in an attempt to conquer Earth. However, the human characters intervened by freeing the monsters, and Godzilla and Rodan drove King Ghidorah back into space.

It made two more appearances in the Shōwa Series, both times as an agent of alien invaders. In Destroy All Monsters
, controlled by the Kilaaks, it fought and was apparently killed by the combined might of ten of Earth's daikaiju. In Godzilla vs. Gigan
, summoned by Space Hunter from Nebula M, it teamed up with Gigan in a battle against Godzilla and Anguirus.

A note on chronology: While Godzilla vs. Gigan (1971) was released after Destroy All Monsters (1968), in the Shōwa Series timeline Destroy All Monsters takes place in 1999, many years after the other Shōwa films, which apparently take place at the approximate dates of their release. Thus, Ghidrah is alive to fight be driven off by Godzilla and Anguirus in 1971 and to later battle several monsters to its death in 1999.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for King Ghidorah ]

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Movies - King Ghidorah

Shōwa era

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