Episode 499: Godzilla (1954)

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For the second film in our OG monster movie pairing, we move ahead to the year 1954. Directed by Ishiro Honda, "Godzilla" would invoke both the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the intense incendiary bombing campaigns whose fires destroyed over half of Tokyo. The film begins with a Japanese freighter, the Eiko-maru, being mysteriously destroyed near Odo Island. The ship Bingo-maru is sent to investigate, and it too is mysteriously destroyed, along with a fishing boat from Odo Island. As fish vanish and fishermen come home with empty nets, a village elder recalls the legend of an ancient sea creature they call Gojira they used to sacrifice young women to in order to keep the island safe. Later that night, an unusually powerful storm hits the island, destroying homes, people, livestock, and a media helicopter. Survivors travel to Tokyo seeking disaster relief, and a renowned scientist, Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura) is sent to investigate. While there, Yamane discovers gigantic radioactive footprints, and then sees the creature with his own eyes! He takes his findings and eyewitness testimony back to Tokyo, along with his conclusions that the creature is something from the Jurassic period who has been disturbed, and irradiated, by nearby hydrogen bomb testing. Meanwhile, Yamane's daughter, Emiko (Momoko Kôchi) has decided to break off her engagement to a colleague of her father's, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) after having fallen in love with Captain Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada), head of a salvage company. The army attempts to use depth charges to do away with the creature, but succeed only in provoking an attack on Shinagawa as the creature rises from Tokyo Bay. It turns out that Serizawa may have the answer to defeating the creature, but will he use it and reveal its awesome destructive power to the world? And, finally, after nine and a half years, the trio reveal which movie will be the subject of their 500th episode!

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