Gezora

“Gezora” is a fictional kaiju featured in the 1970 Toho produced film "Space Amoeba" a.k.a. "Yog, Monster From Space".Created through the traditional Japanese process of suitmation, Gezora joins the ranks of Toho's other daikaiju such as Godzilla and Rodan. When the spacecraft Helio 7 came into contact with an unidentified space creature, it turned around and crashed in the water near Selzio Island. [ [http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/romero/space_amoeba.htm Space Amoeba (Review) ] ] The first animal that the alien encountered happened to be a cuttlefish which it mutated to a huge size. The space monster then proceeded to attack the islanders.

Overview

Gezora is the first of three daikaiju that appear in the course of Space Amoeba. Gezora's impossibly cold body temperature causes it to constantly generate a field of freezing cold around itself while its touch can inflict wounds similar to frostbite. On the other hand, it's cold temperature makes it highly vulnerable to heat. Once the humans on the island discover this, they explode barrels of gasoline under the creature as it chases them across the island. The monster is effectively defeated. However, the alien survives by creating the monsters Ganime and Kamoebas. The alien also enters the body of Obata, a man who has come to the island to steal the plans from the main characters. (see "Space Amoeba")

Film Appearances

The original appearance of Gezora is a scene of him attacking two fisherman. He grabs one although the other escapes. Later, in a cave that apparently connects to the ocean, Gezora's signature glow is seen, and a huge wave splashes the onlookers. Although the monster does not surface, a watch is found that had belonged to his first victim. It was apparently "burped" out along with the water.

The second time Gezora surfaces, he comes walking onto land and steals another man. He grabs ahold of a third, but the disturbance of nearby bats causes Gezora to release him, leaving him with severe frostbite on certain parts of his body.

Later, when two of the main characters are scuba diving, they find the Helio 7 as well as Gezora, but they are saved by a school of dolphins.

Gezora continues his attacks by coming on land again and destroying a village. It is discovered then that the monster is weak against fire. This knowledge is used by the islanders when they destroy some barrels of gasoline and, by setting a huge area of land on fire, cause Gezora to be fatally burned. The creature retreats to the sea and dies, though the alien being survives and leaves the corpse, moving on to create the monster called Ganime.

Gezora is killed and never seen again in the showa period series. It is not until that Toho again acknowledges this kaiju, and even then it is merely through stock footage (see "Fame" below).

Fame

Gezora, although arguably the "main monster" in "Space Amoeba", is one of the least recognizable and obscure kaiju Toho has ever created. Other than brief stock footage in the monster-packed "", it has never been seen other than the poorly reviewed but cult classic "Space Amoeba". [ [http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/romero/space_amoeba.htm Space Amoeba (Review) ] ]

Despite his lack of fame and popularity, he did appear in the 1988 Nintendo game as one of the earliest monsters the player would face, and he was arguably the weakest boss monster. Gezora, much like Varan and the original Moguera who both appeared as boss monsters in the game, was not related to Godzilla in any way other than being a Toho monster (though Varan appeared briefly in Destroy All Monsters). This has led a small community of fans to lobby for his appearance in future incarnations of the Godzilla fighting game series by Pipeworks & Atari, especially since Varan has made a rare appearance in as a playable monster.

The recent DVD release of the film has spread further awareness of Gezora and the amoeba monsters.

Notes