Gorath

Gorath
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ishirō Honda
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka Edward L. Alperson (USA)
Written by	Jojiro Okami (story) Takeshi Kimura
Starring	Ryo Ikebe Yumi Shirakawa Takashi Shimura Akira Kubo Kumi Mizuno Ken Uehara Paul Frees (USA) William Eidleson (USA) Virginia Craig (USA)
Music by	Kan Ishii
Cinematography	Hajime Koizumi
Editing by	Reiko Kaneko
Distributed by	Toho Brenco Pictures Allied Artists Heritage Enterprises (TV release)
Release date(s)	March 21, 1962 (1962-03-21) (Japan)
Running time	89 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Gorath, released in Japan as Calamity Star Gorath (妖星ゴラス, Yosei Gorasu^?), is a Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film produced by Toho in 1962. The story for Gorath was by Jojiro Okami.

Synopsis

The film depicts a runaway star on a collision course with Earth in the then-future decade of the 1980s. Even though it's smaller than Earth, with a mass over 6,000 times bigger than Earth, it will destroy the planet if it smashes into the planet. Now, as massive earthquakes and tsunamis crush Tokyo and kill millions, and as volcanic eruptions devastate entire areas around the globe, the people of planet Earth have to find a way to move the earth out of orbit before the star smashes it.

Maguma

Maguma is a fictional kaiju (giant monster) featured in the Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film Gorath, released by Toho in 1962. Based upon the walrus and named after subterranean molten rock (magma), the Maguma suit was designed by special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, and worn by stuntman Haruo Nakajima, who frequently performed kaiju in Toho films of the era (including their most famous monster character, Godzilla). Maguma is the only monster in the film, the focus of which is a runaway collapsed star on a collision course with Earth.

As Gorath approaches, several enormous rocket boosters are constructed in Antarctica and other parts of the world to push Earth out of the runaway star's path. The heat from the rockets has an unexpected consequence: releasing Maguma from the polar ice. As the monster ravages the South Pole base, the plan to evade Gorath is imperiled. Maguma is ultimately killed by a laser.

The sequence featuring Maguma only makes up approximately six minutes of the finished film, but played a key role in the film's advertising. The character was a late addition, after insistence by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, due to the box-office successes of Toho's kaiju eiga (monster movies) compared to its other mystery, horror, and science fiction offerings such The Mysterians and Battle in Outer Space.

Conversely, Maguma's role was completely removed from the U.S. release of the film.

U.S. release

The film was released in the US by Brenco Pictures. Most of the visual content was kept intact, but the six-minute sequence featuring the character Maguma was removed. The distributors found the character's appearance comical, even dubbing him "Wally the Walrus" (most likely inspired by Wally Walrus, an antagonist from the Woody Woodpecker cartoons popular at the time). As such, they removed the sequence for their cut of the film, and it has never been restored to the English-language edit, which was aired several times on television throughout the 1960s and '70s.

The English dubbing was done by Ryder Sound Services, and scripted by Star Trek writer John Lucas.^[1] Only four voice actors were used to dub the film. Besides the voices, the audio track was modified, including adding a sound effect for the meteor which was not in the original Japanese version.

Brenco Pictures re-released the film on a double-bill with The Human Vapor in 1968, but between the two releases never turned a profit on their investment in Gorath. The company closed in 1969 soon after the death of co-owner Edward L. Alperson on July 3 of that year. The film was purchased by Heritage Enterprises and distributed to U.S. television. Presumably, it was seen by more people on TV than by people who saw it between its two theatrical releases.

Cast

• Dr. Tazawa - Ryo Ikebe
• Dr. Kawano - Ken Uehara
• Dr. Kensuke Sonoda - Takashi Shimura
• Tomoko Sonoda - Yumi Shirakawa
• Hayao Sonoda - Fumio Sakashita
• Takiko Nomura - Kumi Mizuno
• Seki, Prime Minister of Japan - Takamaru Sasaki
• Kinami, Minister of Justice - Eitaro Ozawa
• Tada, Minister of Finance - Seizaburo Kawazu
• Murata, Minister of Space - Ko Nishimura
• Murata's Secretary - Keiko Sata
• Raizo Sonoda, Captain of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Jun Tazaki
• Manabe, First Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Nadao Kirino
• Operations Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Koji Suzuki
• Communication Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Kazuo Imai
• Navigator of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Wataru Omae
• Observation Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Yasuo Araki
• Stoker Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Akira Yamada
• Fuel Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Tomosuke Suzuki
• Endo, Captain of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akihiko Hirata
• Saiki, First mate of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Kenji Sahara
• Tatsuma Kanai, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akira Kubo
• Wakabayashi, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Hiroshi Tachikawa
• Ito, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Masanori Nihei
• Operation Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Koichi Sato
• Communication Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Yasuhiko Saijo
• Navigator of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Tadashi Okabe
• Observation Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Toshihiko Furuta
• Stoker Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Rinsaku Ogata
• Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akira Hayami
• Observation Crew of Space Station - Kozo Nomura
• Sanada, Engineer of South Pole base - Ko Mishima
• Engineer of South Pole Base - Osman Yusef
• Dr. Gibson - Ross Bennett
• Dr. Huberman - George Furness
• Doctor of Space Bureau - Sachio Sakai
• Journalist - Shinpei Mitsui
• Taxi Driver - Ikio Sawamura
• Cabaret Customer - Hideyo Amamoto
• Miss Saturn Contestant - Mieko Kurenai
• Maguma - Haruo Nakajima

Production credits

• Executive Producer - Tomoyuki Tanaka
• Screenplay - Takeshi Kimura
• Original Story - Jojiro Okami
• Director - Ishirō Honda
• Visual Effects Director - Eiji Tsuburaya
• Cinematography - Hajime Koizumi
• Production Designer - Takeo Kita and Teruaki Abe
• Lighting - Morio Takashima
• Sound Recording - Toshiya Ban
• Music - Kan Ishii
• Sound Editor - Hisashi Shimonga
• Assistant Director - Koji Kajita
• Film Editor - Reiko Kaneko
• Film Development - Far East Laboratories
• Production Manager - Yasuaki Sakamoto
• Optical Photography - Rikio Yuki
• Visual Effects Photography - Sadamasa Arikawa and Sokei Tomioka
• Visual Effects Production Design - Akira Watanabe
• Visual Effects Lighting - Kuichiro Kishida
• Composites - Hiroshi Mukoyama
• Visual Effects Production Manager - Hiroshi Narita

Footnotes

1. ^ John Lucas, 1921-2002 - SFWA News

Bibliography

• Tsuburaya, Hideyo. (1983) "Gorath Retrospective" in The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (#15), p. 10-17.
• Maguma profile at Toho Kingdom.
• Gorath at Toho Kingdom.
• Romero, Anthony, review of Gorath at Toho Kingdom.
• Yosei Gorasu at the Internet Movie Database
• Analysis of Gorath and Maguma on the alt.movies.monster newsgroup.
• Ragone, August (2007). Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-6078-9.

External links

• Gorath at the Internet Movie Database
• Gorath at Toho Kingdom
• "妖星ゴラス (Yosei Gorasu)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1962/cl000980.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-16.