Gojipedia
Register
Advertisement
Gojipedia
He's not a baby anymore. He is a Godzilla. More like Godzilla Junior.
Overview

Godzilla Junior (ゴジラジュニア,   Gojira Jyunia?), also known as Baby Godzilla (ベビーゴジラ,   Bebīgojira?) and Little Godzilla (リトルゴジラ,   Ritorugojira?), is a young Godzillasaurus kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1993 Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.


Name

Godzilla Junior has a different name in each of his film appearances, each of which is individually trademarked. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, he is called "Baby Godzilla" (ベビーゴジラ,   Bebīgojira?). In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, he is referred to as "Chibi Godzilla" (チビゴジラ,   Chibigojira?), however Toho's preferred name for this version of Junior is actually "Little Godzilla" (リトルゴジラ,   Ritorugojira?). In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, he is now called "Godzilla Junior" (ゴジラジュニア,   Gojira Jyunia?), and after being resurrected as an adult Godzilla he is known as "Rebirth Godzilla" (新生ゴジラ,   Shinsei Gojira?).

Design

Appearance

Godzilla Junior's appearance changes from film to film as he grows older.

As Baby Godzilla, Junior stands about human height with a slightly hunched posture, and has bluish skin with a gray underbelly and small gray dorsal plates running down his back.

As Little Godzilla, he now stands mostly upright, and has a large head and very large brown eyes and green skin with a yellow underbelly. He also has pudgy arms and stubby legs. This look gave him a very Minilla-like appearance.

As Godzilla Junior, he now resembles his adoptive father more closely, with similar body proportions and physical features. However, unlike Godzilla, Junior's skin is green, with a lighter green on his underbelly, his eyes are a light orange color, he has very small dorsal plates on his back, and he stands with a very hunched posture. After absorbing Godzilla's dying radiation and growing into an adult Godzilla, Junior now looks mostly identical to his father.

Roar

Godzilla Junior's roar is a higher-pitched Godzilla roar. His roars as Little Godzilla are made from stock horse sounds.

Personality

Unlike his adoptive father, Godzilla Junior is very docile and kind towards humans such as his surrogate mother Azusa Gojo, G-Force lieutenant Akira Yuki, and Miki Saegusa. As Little Godzilla, he is very playful and mischievous. As a sub-adult, Junior is still gentle towards human beings, and is shown to still recognize Miki Saegusa, attempting to defend her from Destoroyah. Whenever Junior is scared, his eyes glow red. Junior needed Miki's telepathy to help him to accept Godzilla as his adoptive father, and has come to care about him as deeply Azusa.

Origins

Baby Godzilla hatched from a Godzillasaurus egg on Adonoa Island that was found in a pteranodon nest, guarded over by the irradiated pteranodon Rodan, who saw Baby Godzilla as his younger brother. Hiroshi Omae, one of the scientists who discovered Baby Godzilla, proposed that might he have been a "parasite egg," meaning that a Godzillasaurus laid its egg in the pteranodon's nest so that the pteranodons would raise and care for the hatchling instead, though this theory is never proven or discussed further.

History

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Baby Godzilla

Baby Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Baby Godzilla (ベビーゴジラ,   Bebīgojira?) first appeared in the 1993 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. Baby Godzilla's egg was found on Adonoa Island with a hatched Rodan egg. The Rodan had since looked after the unhatched egg. Godzilla himself looked to have interest in the egg, but Rodan fought Godzilla to protect the egg (and failed). However, scientists took the egg during the fight. Godzilla then went to Japan to get the egg.

The egg hatched and much to the scientists' surprise, it was an infant Godzilla. Baby Godzilla communicated mentally with several young girls to sing a vocal song (titled "From Miki to Baby") which unexpectedly revived Rodan from his battle with Godzilla. Baby felt Rodan's reawakening and panicked, clanging on his cage bars and his new human guardians including Asuza and Miki begged him to calm down. Baby did calm down, but became depressed. When examining the infant, they found out that he had a second brain in his hip. This led the scientists to suspect that Godzilla must have a second brain as well. So they modified Mechagodzilla to attack this weak point. But Rodan came in his fire form to fight Mechagodzilla and fought well but failed.

Godzilla arrived soon after and fought Mechagodzilla, nearly destroying the mech. But the scientists upgraded Mechagodzilla into Super Mechagodzilla and it succeeds to destroying Godzilla's second brain. Listening to Baby Godzilla's cry, Fire Rodan gives up his life essence to Godzilla and disappears. A newly revived Godzilla destroys Mechagodzilla with his new Spiral Fire Ray. Baby Godzilla and his new father swim off to sea to find a new home.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

Godzilla vs spacegodzilla bild 4

Little Godzilla in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

By 1995, in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Baby Godzilla had grown to 30 meters in height and is now known as Little Godzilla (リトルゴジラ,   Ritorugojira?). Although the creature is only about one year old, exposure to Godzilla's radioactivity rapidly increased his size and stunted his natural growth, giving the young monster his bizarre appearance. Little Godzilla also displays the ability to fire a weak energy beam like his father, although this "beam" takes the form of glowing dust or bubbles. (This ability mirrors Minilla's famous smoke rings from the Showa series).

After the events of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, both Godzilla and his new "son" arrive on Birth Island in the South Pacific. While Godzilla remains predominantly underwater off the coast, Birth Island itself becomes Little Godzilla's permanent home. When a team from Japan's Counter-Godzilla Center (U.N.G.C.C.) arrives on the island to conduct an experiment in psychically controlling Godzilla (known as Project-T), they encounter Little Godzilla playing about the small, tropical paradise. At one point, the infant monster accidentally sets off a series of tear-gas mines placed along the coast. Later, after the T-Project has been tested on the adult Godzilla, the monster SpaceGodzilla arrives on Earth and lands on Birth Island, right before a terrified Little Godzilla's eyes.

At first the young creature hides in fear, but he soon ventures out and attempts to investigate the strange beast. SpaceGodzilla, however, unleashes his powerful Corona Beam and attacks the young monster heartlessly. As Little Godzilla attempts to crawl away, his father arrives to defend him. The adult Godzilla, unfortunately, is no match for his cosmic clone, and is soundly defeated. Before departing, SpaceGodzilla telekinetically lifts Little Godzilla from the ground and away from his adoptive father, before imprisoning him within a cage of crystal spires. Only after Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. were able to defeat SpaceGodzilla in Fukuoka did the little monster walk free from his crystal prison.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

GodzillaJunior

Godzilla Junior in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

In 1996, one year after Godzilla defeated SpaceGodzilla, the King of the Monsters' nuclear energy begins to run out of control. His rising temperature causes uranium deposits on Birth Island to ignite, destroying the tropical paradise. Although Godzilla soon surfaces, Little Godzilla remains missing and is presumed dead. He is finally located, but the immense radioactivity released during Birth Island's destruction mutated the young monster even further.

Now standing 40 meters in height, and bearing a strong resemblance to his father, the kaiju is now dubbed "Godzilla Junior". The much smaller Godzilla is discovered to be traveling to Adonoa Island, where his egg was discovered two years earlier. Unfortunately, it is also discovered that the adult Godzilla is following Junior from a distance. With his meltdown estimated to take place only seven days later, the U.N.G.C.C. know that Godzilla will never make it. At the same time in Japan, a creature created by Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer is unleashed. The G-Force devise a plan to somehow pit Godzilla against this new monster, dubbed Destoroyah, in hopes that Godzilla will be killed in the same way his predecessor was in 1954. To do this, they conscript the two psychics Meru Osawa and Miki Saegusa to lure Junior to Tokyo, and hope Godzilla will follow.

Junior is successfully lured to Destoroyah's position and attacks the giant crab-like creature with all he has. However, the young monster is knocked aside by Destoroyah and pinned down under the beast. Destoroyah then sinks it's mandibles into Junior's chest and injects micro-oxygen into the deep wound. Junior, however, finds the strength to retaliate and blasts Destoroyah away with his atomic ray at point-blank range. The Precambrian creature degenerates and breaks down as it falls, defeated, into an oil refinery. The refinery explodes, and Junior roars in victory. That night, Godzilla finally arrives and greets his adopted son on the outskirts of Tokyo, on the boundary of Haneda Airport.

GvD11

Godzilla Junior, reborn as the next Godzilla, at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

Suddenly, Destoroyah rises from the burning refinery in its final, demonic form. The mutant beast takes flight and knocks Godzilla down. The monster then grabs Junior, dropping him in a building, and blasts him with his micro-oxygen beam, killing the young monster. Saegusa and Godzilla were very heartbroken for the death of Godzilla Junior, as they both knew another kaiju will die: Godzilla. Enraged, Godzilla tried to reach his dead son, but Destoroyah grabbed him by the neck with his tail and dragged him away. After breaking free and temporarily defeating Destoroyah, Godzilla finally reached his son. Godzilla tried to breathe life back into Junior, with the young monster briefly stirring and opening his eyes before closing his eyes and passing away. Godzilla began to roar in grief and mourn his son, until Destoroyah returned and blasted Godzilla with his micro-oxygen beam. With Destoroyah taunting Godzilla, the former father turned around and began to turn the tide of battle, sending Destoroyah reeling with numerous blasts of his spiral ray.

With aid from the military, Godzilla succeeded in finally killing Destoroyah and then began to melt down. While the Super X3 and the freezer units on the ground managed to reduce the damage from Godzilla's meltdown and prevent him from burning into the Earth's core, they were unable to prevent catastrophic levels of radiation from being released. As Godzilla's flesh fell from his bones, radiation was showered over Tokyo. While the future seemed bleak, the radiation levels suddenly fell back to background levels. Junior had risen, now fully grown and revived from his father's dying breaths, and was now the latest incarnation of the King of the Monsters.

Abilities

Atomic breath

Much like his father, Godzilla Junior is shown to be fairly resilient in his final appearance, but is incredibly weak in his earlier appearances, as shown when he cowers and runs away from SpaceGodzilla. However, at the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, he gains a beam attack in the form of a stream of bubbles, which later becomes a normal-strength Atomic Breath in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, becoming powerful enough to cause large explosions and severely wound monsters such as Destoroyah (in Aggregate form) when fired at point-blank range.

Durability

Junior also appears to display a slight resistance to Micro-Oxygen, as when he fought the Aggregate and Flying forms of Destoroyah, he was bitten almost directly over his heart, yet his regenerative abilities allowed him to continue to fight on.

Eye color change

In his first two appearances, Junior's eyes glow red whenever he senses danger or becomes scared. This ability does not appear to be present when he is a sub-adult.

Video games

Godzilla (2014 video game)

The juvenile of Godzillasaurus found by Rodan hidden among the eggs in its nest on Adonoa Island in the Bering Sea. When hatched at a laboratory in Kyoto, it mistook the female researcher, Azusa Gojo, for its mother, and was raised by human hands.

It possesses a kind of telepathic power and can send for help from family or allies when facing a crisis. Rodan, its brood-parasite parent, can also respond to its telepathy.

The idea for a young monster came not from Godzilla, but from the concept of a "cub Godzillasaurus".
― Baby Godzilla Kaiju Guide bio
When Godzilla was on the verge of death, it showered BabyGodzilla with radioactive energy, transforming it into LittleGodzilla.

Its appearance closely resembles Godzilla, and it is similarly capable of shooting out atomic breath, albeit in a weaker form comprised of bubbles. When it feels afraid or sense danger its eyes glow bright red, and it can warn family members of danger with its telepathic power.

Although LittleGodzilla has no direct blood relationship with Godzilla, both have developed a sort of sympathy with and dependence upon one another as members of an endangered species, and together they try to help each other. LittleGodzilla often grows quite attached to humans as well, and it loves to play pranks. It lives to serve as a bridge between humankind and Godzilla.
― Little Godzilla Kaiju Guide bio
The end result of LittleGodzilla's accelerated growth due to the effects of a spontaneous explosion of natural uranium on Birth Island. Though Godzilla Jr. has developed the ability to fire atomic breath similar to Godzilla, its color is more similar to the green of LittleGodzilla, and its size is also relatively small.

While trying to return to Adonoa Island using its homing instincts, Godzilla Junior was trailed by Godzilla to Haneda Airport, where the two had a reunion of sorts. Godzilla Junior was subsequently attacked and killed by its mortal enemy Destoroyah, but ultimately it was able to return to life by absorbing the highly dense radioactivity emanated from Godzilla's meltdown.

Godzilla Junior is designed to look like the halfway point between Godzilla and a dinosaur.
― Godzilla Junior Kaiju Guide bio

Godzilla: Kaiju Collection

Little Godzilla made an appearance within the mobile title Godzilla: Kaiju Collection.

Trivia

  • According to Takao Okawara, Toho wanted to bring Minilla back for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, but Okawara didn't, so he created Baby Godzilla instead.[2]
  • Godzilla Junior resembles his father more than Minilla does. As a baby, he resembles a realistic baby version of Godzilla. As Little Godzilla he takes on a rather awkward-looking Minilla-like appearance, and when nearly fully grown looks almost identical to Godzilla himself, only with smaller dorsal plates and a greenish skin tone.
  • In Godzilla Junior's first film appearance, his skin color was blue, while in his later two film appearances, he was green. In Godzilla Island he's brown.
  • Godzilla Junior, as Baby Godzilla, was featured in an advert for Canon photocopiers in Japan.
  • Godzilla Junior is one of the few kaiju to have been actually shown eating. In his first appearance, he was eating flowers and Asuza fed him a burger, because there were no other foods that had better nutritious content and Baby was hungry. In his third appearance, Junior attacked whales for food.
  • At the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, when Junior is revealed to have been revived, the suit that was used for him was actually the DesuGoji suit with the LEDs and light bulbs turned off, and fog added so that the LEDs and light bulbs could not be seen. The scene was backlit so that the front of the suit was in the shade, obscuring most of the suit's defining features. Even so, the use of the DesuGoji suit to represent Junior is further evident by examining the tips of Junior's spines in detail - the spines are slightly translucent, just as they are on the DesuGoji suit. Because of this, S.H. MonsterArts' adult Godzilla Junior is actually a repainted version of the company's Burning Godzilla figure.
  • Junior's eventual revival at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is foreshadowed just after he dies. When Godzilla breathes radiation over Junior's dead body, Junior's eyes flutter open and he stirs for a moment, before falling limp and closing his eyes.
  • Godzilla Junior makes a brief cameo through stock footage in Godzilla: Final Wars, as footage of his resurrection is played over Godzilla as he wakes up and breaks out of Area G. This cameo is actually responsible for a minor but significant misconception regarding the film.
    • Early scripts for Godzilla: Final Wars actually had the adult Godzilla Junior as the film's version of Godzilla, having been frozen during the late 1990s; however, this idea was scrapped, and the finished film shares no connection with the Heisei series.Moreover,The film states that the Godzilla in Final Wars first appeared in 1954 while Godzilla Junior was born in 1994.
  • In Godzilla Island, the Jigoras resemble Godzilla Junior's movie appearance more closely than the series' earthly counterpart.
  • The Godzilla from Godzilla: The Series is sometimes called '"Godzilla Junior" by some fans, however he and Godzilla Junior are both separate characters.
  • The Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex short alludes to the version of Godzilla appeared being a grown up version of Godzilla Jr.

Also see

List of appearances

Films

Video games

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Official Godzilla Compendium. Profiles of the Monsters; Pages 126 & 127.
  2. Takao Okawara Interview II
Advertisement