Gamera

nihongo|Gamera|ガメラ is a giant, flying turtle-like creature from a popular series of daikaiju eiga monster movies produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the kaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right.

In the United States, Gamera attained prominence during the 1970s due to the burgeoning popularity of UHF television stations featuring Saturday afternoon matinee showcases like "Creature Double Feature" and later in the 1990s when several of his movies were featured on the cult television program "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

Appearance

Gamera's size rivals that of Toho's own kaiju, Godzilla. Unlike any other species of turtle, Gamera has the ability to walk bipedally rather than on all fours, though he occasionally walks quadrupedally in his first three films. His mouth is filled with teeth, which no species of turtle has had since prehistoric times, with a pair of large tusks protruding upward from his lower jaw. Gamera is also usually seen with very large human-like eyes, adding intelligence to his overall appearance.

Origins

In the Shōwa era films, Gamera was a gigantic, prehistoric species of turtle, reawakened by an accidental atomic blast in the Arctic during a dogfight between US and Russian fighters. The film mentioned that Gamera had appeared before, from pictographs depicting Gamera and warning of his ability to fly. Gamera's origin was given that he was a leftover from eons in the past. Gamera was already capable of flight and breathing fire. During the film, it was shown that he fed on flames. The explanation for this ability is that the age in which he lived lacked oxygen but was volcanically active thus either enabling or requiring Gamera to feed on fire. This led to two continuity errors as it was stated that Gamera lacked lungs in the first film but in "Gamera vs. Jiger", Jiger's offspring was implanted in Gamera's lung by Jiger's stinging tail. The second error is that fire cannot burn without oxygen. It was left unexplained as to why he attacked most of humanity in general, yet spared the life of (and indeed actively saved) a young boy who became central to the original film's plot. This later led to him being referred to as the "Friend of all Children" in future films.

In the Heisei era films, however, the origin of Gamera was changed, giving him a much more directly heroic themed origin: A bio-engineered guardian of the universe created by the lost city of Atlantis with the purpose of defeating Gyaos, another ancient creation capable of killing all human life. He draws his power from the Earth itself in the form of mana. Gamera is found floating adrift in the Pacific, encased in rock and mistaken for an atoll. Within the rock, investigators discover a large monolith explaining Gamera's purpose, as well as dozens of jewels, which allow a psychic link between Gamera and humans. In the third film of the Heisei era, an undersea graveyard is found with many Gamera fossils, suggesting Gamera was not the only member of his kind created by Atlantis. One character in the film, Kurata Shinya, refers to these skeletons as "beta versions" of Gamera which had not been powered by the spirit of the Earth. Another scene provides Gamera with a link to Asian folklore, with a character relating a story in which a giant tortoise is considered the Guardian of the North, with separate, rival creatures defending the East, West, and .

Gamera's continuity was rebooted again in the first (and currently only) film of the Millennium era. "Gamera the Brave" begins with Gamera sacrificing himself to destroy a flock of Gyaos in 1973. Decades later, a young boy finds a strange, glowing red rock near his home, with a small egg lying on top of it. A fairly normal looking baby turtle soon hatches from the egg, but begins to grow at an alarming rate. The turtle, now named "Toto" by his child owner, also quickly develops Gamera's classic abilities to shoot fireballs and fly, and attempts to kill an evil monster named "Zedus", but is too weak to succeed. Only after eating the glowing rock found with his egg does the new Gamera achieve his full power, defeating his enemy and flying off into the sky.

Capabilities

Gamera's shell is extremely resilient and strong. Missiles and other weaponry merely bounce off it, along with most of his opponents' attacks. There have been a few times where his shell has faltered, most notably when Guiron hammered at the same spot several times and began cutting through. Iris' sonic beams have also been able to penetrate Gamera's shell, though this only occurred once during an aerial dogfight between the monsters. Gyaos' sonic beam, Zigra's paralyzing beam, and Barugon's rainbow ray cannot penetrate Gamera's shell, shown in the films when he withdraws into his shell to avoid the attacks. Gamera's stomach, however, is softer and not as resilient, and he has been cut and gouged in his stomach to the point of bleeding (his blood is green in all the films, though faded stateside prints of the Showa films often made it look as if he had blue blood).

In the Shōwa series, Gamera fed on fire and was attracted by other heat sources, such as power plants and Barugon's rainbow ray. He could breathe intensely hot streams of flames from his mouth when caught in a more serious situation. The Heisei version, on the other hand, could blast off plasma balls from his mouth. At the final battle of ', Gamera absorbs fire from an explosion and shoots a massive plasma ball in order to kill Super Gyaos. In ', Gamera breathes in oxygen produced by a Legion flower and shoots a highly explosive plasma ball that destroys the flower. The Heisei version could also absorb a great deal of "mana", or the living essence and energy of life on Earth, and release an extremely powerful stream of pure plasma and fire from an opened, plasma cannon in his chest. In the final film of the Heisei series, Gamera blasted his own arm off and absorbed plasma balls shot by Iris and used his stump arm to grow back his arm in a plasma form. Theoretically, he could do the same to other body parts as well.

Of course, Gamera also has the ability to fly. Generally, Gamera will pull his arms, legs, head, and tail into his shell, fire flames out of his arm and leg cavities and spin around like a saucer. This mode of flight had an added advantage in the later films, where he would use the sharp edges of his shell to cut enemies while spinning, similar to a circular saw. He has a second way of flying, where he only pulls his legs (and often his tail) in, fires flames from the leg cavities, and flies like a jet. In the Heisei era films, Gamera's arms would extend and stretch out into stiff flippers, giving him added aerodynamics and control while flying.

The Heisei films gave Gamera one more additional weapon: a pair of sharp spikes protruding from his elbows. In his first Heisei era appearance, these spikes were hidden during the majority of the film, extending only when needed in battle. In later appearances they were permanently extended.

When seriously or gravely injured, Gamera can enter a comatose-like state in order to heal. This ability has been used in almost every Gamera film.

Gamera's only major weakness is cold. The monster Barugon was able to achieve success against Gamera using his freezing spray, and scientists nearly defeated Gamera during his first appearance using special freezing bombs. This weakness was only shown in Gamera's earliest films, and has not been explored since.

Film history

hōwa era

Gamera made his first appearance in 1965's "Gamera", which was the only Gamera movie filmed in black-and-white. Subsequent films, usually directed by Noriaki Yuasa and written by Nisan Takahashi, quickly became a big hit with children, who loved watching Gamera fight monsters Barugon, Gyaos, Viras, Guiron, Space Gyaos, Jiger, and Zigra. A seventh sequel was slated for a 1972 release, tentatively titled "Gamera vs. Garasharp". Gross mismanagement of Daiei, however, put the company into bankruptcy, and the Gamera films were forced to cease production.

After Daiei was purchased by Tokuma Shoten in 1974, the new management wanted to do a new Gamera film in 1980, so "" was produced. The majority of the film used stock footage (with limited new scenes of Gamera flying), and acted as a "recap" of Gamera's history. However, Yuasa and Takahashi felt that they had done all they could with the monster, so they respectfully killed off Gamera at the end of the film.

Gamera often became the object of ridicule, especially on the American TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000", which lampoons B-movies and featured five of the original seven Gamera films during their third season.

Heisei era

Following the second revival of the Godzilla series (1984–1995), Daiei Studios drew plans to resurrect its own star kaiju. In 1994 Daiei asked director Shusuke Kaneko, a lifelong kaiju fan, to direct a new Gamera movie. Although not a Gamera fan, Kaneko tried to stay true to the spirit of the classic films while taking a fresh, edgy approach to appeal to a more contemporary audience. The result was "". While not the huge box-office success anticipated, the film was met with critical acclaim.

Kaneko directed two sequels (' and ') with each film more successful than the previous. The trilogy transformed Gamera from the Friend of all Children to the Guardian of the Universe.

Although the original Shōwa Gamera writer Nisan Takahashi felt the Heisei Gamera was too dark toned, the second series received critical acclaim, including praise from American movie critic Roger Ebert. [ [http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=gamera Ebert and Roeper ] ]

There was also an unofficial fourth film made called "Gamera 4: The Truth". It was made by fans who disliked the ending to Kaneko's third film. Since it was an unofficial film, it has never been released outside of Japan. The film centered around the Heisei Gamera fighting the flock of Hyper Gyaos seen at the end of "G3". Gamera then battles a deadly Albino Gyaos.

Millennium era

"Gamera the Brave" returns Gamera to his Shōwa era roots, but with a modern twist. In the film, Gamera is first seen defending Japan back in 1973 from the Gyaos, but sacrifices himself to destroy them by self-destructing. In the modern day, the child of a man who witnessed that battle finds a turtle egg that hatchs into a baby Gamera that he names "Toto". When a dinosaur-like kaiju named "Zedus" appears, Toto tries to fight him, but ends up being gravely wounded and taken by the military for study. He ends up escaping and growing to a larger size to try and fight Zedus again, this time succeeding against the monster.

Gamera in Popular Culture

*In "The Simpsons" episode "Lisa On Ice" Gamera is one of the monsters that threatens Lisa in her vision of "Monster Island". In another episode, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", the Simpson family's return flight home is delayed by a kaiju battle that includes Gamera, alongside Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra.

*An episode of the animated series "Justice League Unlimited" had a team of superheroes consisting of Supergirl, Green Lantern, Star Girl, and S.T.R.I.P.E. briefly battle a mutated giant turtle in Japan that is an homage to Gamera, right down to the flame-spinning flight. ["Justice League Unlimited" Season 5, Episode 3, "Chaos at the Earth's Core"]

*In various chapters of the manga, "Dr. Slump", Gamera, along with Godzilla and various Ultramen made cameo appearances.Fact|date=July 2008

*Gamera made an appearance in "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" movie "Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure" and his spoof Cragera appeared in "Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack".

*Dark Horse Comics, which also held the license for Godzilla, created a four issue mini-series based on Gamera, which took place between the events of "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe" and "Gamera II: The Attack of Legion", and featured both Zigra and Viras as guest stars, with Viras being the principal adversary for Gamera in the series. The Gyaos also appeared.

*In a somewhat ironic twist, Gamera's trademark roar was utilized by Toho studios for the roar of the "Godzillasaurus" in "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah"." Godzillasaurus" was the form of Godzilla before his mutation by exposure to an atomic bomb in 1944.

*In the "Detective Conan" series, there is a parody of Gamera called Gomera. It looks more like Godzilla rather than a gigantic turtle. [ [http://www.tv.com/detective-conan/big-monster-gomera-murder-case/episode/272069/summary.html Detective Conan: Big Monster Gomera Murder Case - TV.com ] ]

*The Digimon JumboGamemon is an homage to Gamera.

*In "Destroy All Humans! 2" one mission involves destroying the eggs that belong to a giant turtle monster called Mograh. This is a reference to both Gamera and Mothra.

* In the "South Park" episode "Mecha-Streisand," Sidney Poitier appears and can transform into a Gamera-like being.

* A song by Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma entitled "Gamera Is Missing" appears on a compilation album. [ [http://www.amazon.com/Guitars-Practicing-Musicians-Various-Artists/dp/B000008G9V Amazon.com: Guitar's Practicing Musicians: Various Artists: Music ] ]

* In the anime Yakitate! Japan, upon eating Kazuma's green turtle bread during the Pantasia newcomers' battle, the judge Kuroyanagi began to imitate Gamera.

*Bowser, from nintendo's Mario series, closely resembles Gamera, Giga Bowser looks even more resembling, but have not been confirmed as spoofs or parodies.

* in a few of the "Dragon Ball" mangas Maters Roshi can be seen summoning a baby Gamera turtle who will appear to pick him up and transport him around. Baby Gamera also flys and spins the same way that Gamera does, often leaving Roshi quite dizzy after landing.

References

External links

* [http://www.gamera.jp/ Gamera Official Homepage (Japanese)]
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970829/REVIEWS/708290303/1023 Roger Ebert's review of "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe"]