Bagan (バガン Bagan?) is an ancient dragon-like kaiju created by Toho that was originally planned to appear in the Heisei era Godzilla film series. He eventually made his debut in the 1993 Godzilla game Super Godzilla.
Name[]
In the original 1980 draft of The Return of Godzilla, Bagan was identified under the name "Bakan", or the "Three-Faced Monster" (三面怪獣 Sanmen Kaijū?); although in following publications of the film's development, Bakan is still labeled as Bagan.
In storyboards for Mothra vs. Bagan, Bagan is referred to as 馬銜, his name in kanji.
Design[]
Development[]
Artist's interpretation of concept art based on the second draft of The Resurrection of Godzilla
Bagan was conceived as in 1980, when a new film to reboot the Godzilla series was in development. Tomoyuki Tanaka's original draft, under the title The Resurrection of Godzilla, called for a monster named "Bakan" (the first version of Bagan), a chimera-like creature with shapeshifting abilities that attacked Japan in all three forms before eventually facing Godzilla. Its original form was known as the ape-like Sacred Monkey Beast, but as a shapeshifter, it changed into the sea monster-like "Sacred Water Beast" after being wounded; later, it transformed into the winged Sacred Dragon Beast. After Godzilla arrived in Japan in search of nuclear energy, he fought and defeated Bagan.
Bakan remained in the 1983 following draft. As before, he was a shapeshifter, although each time he changed form, he healed himself. He ran into Godzilla, but finding that it can't defeat him in any single form, he combined all three forms at once, forming a hybridized monster with each form stacked on top like a totem pole. But after this, he can no longer change shape, meaning he can no longer heal itself, allowing Godzilla to defeat and kill him.
As more and more revisions to the script were being made, Bakan and various other elements would be removed, and the film would be reworked into what ultimately became The Return of Godzilla.
Bagan in Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
In 1990, Bakan was revisited for a new Mothra film, in which he was revised as a new monster, Bagan. Although this version was intended to be a shapeshifter as before, Koichi Kawakita later decided to remove this aspect and gave Bagan a new appearance and abilities. In the script, Bagan was conceived as a dragon-like god of destruction that presided over China around 2,000 years ago. When he started threatening the forests that he called home, the Chinese retaliated and defeated him. He would become known as the "God of Darkness", and was frozen in the Himalayas shortly after by the Mothra clan. But now, due to global warming 2,000 years later, the monster broke free. He saw the damage humans have done to the land and began to attack them, trying to erase them off the Earth. Instantaneously, the ancient goddess of peace Mothra intervened. The fight between the two monsters took them to Singapore, where the goddess was unable to stop him. Meanwhile, Mothra's egg in Borneo hatched and the larva arrived to help its parent. The two Mothras fought the creature in downtown Bangkok. Despite her attempt to halt the living god's wave of destruction, the adult Mothra was killed by Bagan, who moves on. The larva cocooned itself on a remote island and becomes a fully transformed Imago Mothra. The newly transformed Mothra arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she battled and finally defeated Bagan.
Unfortunately, after Godzilla vs. Biollante did not perform as well at the box office as Toho had hoped, they decided not to risk making another movie with another new monster, and so Mothra vs. Bagan was cancelled.
Appearance[]
The design that debuted in Super Godzilla gave Bagan an armored dragon-like design with copper-colored skin, a ridged neck and abdomen, and two plates on his chest. He has pale gold horns, with a set of curved horns on his head, and a third horn on the edge of his snout with smaller spines on the edges of his maw and the end of his tail, four claws on both of its hands and five on his feet. Bagan also has a large conical spine protruding from each shoulder.
In Godzilla Movie Studio Tour, Bagan is pale white and has red glowing eyes. His underside and the unarmored parts of his body are red and grooved, invoking the appearance of muscle. His horns, claws, spines, and armor accents are black. The chestplates and scales on his pelvic region are dark gray and covered in spikes. Bagan also has several spines coming out of his back, with the shoulder spines longer and having glowing purple orbs.
Roar[]
Bagan makes a short grumble-like roar at a low pitch.
Origins[]
Borrowing his origin in Mothra vs. Bagan, Bagan was an ancient mythological monster that hailed over China in the distant past. Alien invaders seeking to conquer Earth traveled through time and procured the slumbering Bagan back to present day. They enhanced Bagan's power using a serum created by Genshiro Shiragami containing genetic material from Godzilla and King Ghidorah, so Bagan could overpower the former.
History[]
Abilities[]
Bagan in Super Godzilla possessed very high physical strength and durability. He could slash with his powerful Slasher Claw attack, perform a Diamond Storm in which he would shoot white, star-like objects from his horns, fire a white Plasma Beam from his mouth and generate a Force Field to block incoming attacks. Bagan's attacks were the strongest used by any enemy in the game. Additionally, he had the most health out of any enemy in the game and normal Godzilla's attacks would only cause a very small amount of damage, making it necessary to transform into Super Godzilla to defeat Bagan and complete the game.
Video games[]
Super Godzilla[]
Bagan received a starring role as the final boss in the video game Super Godzilla. Supercharged by cells from Godzilla and King Ghidorah that his alien commanders had spliced into him, Bagan is easily the most powerful foe in the game, generally seen as impossible to defeat as normal Godzilla, and still seen as a difficult opponent as Super Godzilla.
Godzilla Movie Studio Tour[]
Bagan was one of the monsters featured in the 1998 computer game. He appears in the Publicity Dept. minigame where the player can paste kaiju into movie posters, and the "Sumo Wrestling" game in Kid's Shop. This incarnation marked his second official appearance in the series, as well as a new design that would become his form in following appearances.
Trivia[]
- Bagan is one of only two known monsters to be more physically massive and heavier than the final form of Biollante, who weighs in at a lesser 200,000 tons.
- "Bagan" is Indonesian for blueprint or draft. Coincidentally, Bagan was a character planned for several movies and ultimately scrapped.
- Based on the storyboards for Mothra vs. Bagan, Bagan could release an energy beam from his mouth. He was also shown to be firing some sort of lightning bolt from his main nasal horn, and growing what seems to be some type of energy wings out of his back.
- Kilazee bears a remarkable resemblance to Bagan's initial design. It is unknown if this is more than just a coincidence.
- In the original drafts for The Resurrection of Godzilla, each of Bagan's forms form had a name: the forms in the 1980 include "Sacred Monkey Beast" (猿神獣 Enjin-jū?), "Sacred Dragon Beast" (龍神獣 Ryūjin-jū?), and "Sacred Water Beast" (水神獣 Suijin-jū?).
- Bagan was mentioned by Simon Strange in an interview for Godzilla: Unleashed. He was one of several monsters considered for the game, but was dropped in favor of more obscure monsters, such as Varan.[citation needed]
- Bagan, along with Godzilla, was planned to make appearances in the sequels of Yamato Takeru.[4]
- The Bagan from Mothra vs. Bagan was considered for a Godzilla vs. Biollante sequel. However, the idea was dropped in favor of King Ghidorah, who represented Godzilla's strongest enemy and producing the film would fall in time for Toho's 60th anniversary.[5]
List of appearances[]
Films[]
- The Return of Godzilla (Scrapped)
- Mothra vs. Bagan (Scrapped)
Video games[]
- Super Godzilla (First appearance)
- Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In the instruction manual for Super Godzilla and Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works, Bagan's height and weight are 150 meters and 280,000 metric tons, respectively, while the Super Godzilla Official Guide Book lists these measurements as 130 meter and 90,000 metric tons.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Super Godzilla manual. Toho. p. 28. 1994.
- ↑ Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works. Shogakukan. p. 178. January 1, 2000. ISBN: 978-4091014702.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Super Godzilla Official Guide Book. Keibunsha. p. 26. 1993.
- ↑ Kawakita, Koichi. Heisei Godzilla Perfection. ASCII Media Works. p. 144. February 1, 2012. ISBN: 978-4-04-886119-9.
- ↑ Homenick, Brett. KAZUKI OMORI RECALLS THE HEISEI GODZILLA SERIES! Toho's Writer-Director Shares His Memories of the King of the Monsters!. Vantage Point Interviews.
