# Godzilla Reboot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973 "2012-07-31T17:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inedible\_knapsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@inedible\_knapsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inedible_knapsack)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/1 "2012-07-31T17:05:35Z")
I’ve been waiting for somebody to mention this since Comic-Con and nobody has… so fine, I will. THERE’S A NEW GODZILLA MOVIE IN THE WORKS!!! [Here’s a link](http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/07/godzilla-comic-con/) to an article at [Wired.com](http://Wired.com) about it. I had such high hopes for the 1998 movie, and we all know how that turned out :rolleyes: What does everyone think of this reboot? Should it be another man vs beast movie, or should he actually fight another monster? What about the director’s comment about keeping the movie “very grounded, realistic?” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/2 "2012-07-31T17:22:27Z")
You left out the most important part of the quote. > [@](#): > > …There’s nothing sci-fi about this movie, it’s very grounded, realistic. Because we all know that the whole US bombing of Japan thing was just a cover story to hide the existence of Godzilla. Sorry, a quote like that convinces me that these people are idiots, and gives me no confidence they can make a decent film. ---
**Author:** ![inedible\_knapsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@inedible\_knapsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inedible_knapsack)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/3 "2012-07-31T17:30:38Z")
That’s a good point. I didn’t know what to make of that quote. So, you’re going to make a movie about a giant, irradiated (I assume he will be irradiated) lizard stomping through a major metropolis and “there’s nothing sci-fi” about it? I’m hoping he was simply trying to instill confidence that it won’t be campy, though that’s a big part of the charm of the old Japanese movies. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/4 "2012-07-31T17:44:54Z")
> [@A\_Nested\_Thorn](#): > > What does everyone think of this reboot? Should it be another man vs beast movie, or should he actually fight another monster? What about the director’s comment about keeping the movie “very grounded, realistic?” Three words. Godzilla. Versus. Transformers. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/5 "2012-07-31T17:58:19Z")
Just to be clear, this the real Godzilla right? Not the atrocity Matthew Broderick version, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/6 "2012-07-31T18:06:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just to be clear, this the real Godzilla right? Not the atrocity Matthew Broderick version, right? Right. Everything that I gather from it is that it’s a Godzilla movie that is trying to make Godzilla RIGHT. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/7 "2012-07-31T18:36:28Z")
This will be terrible. They went for the serious epic version in 1998, that damn thing didn’t even looking like Godzilla. And it was in New York! And the sound it made wasn’t the same! I’m sure they’ll ignore these suggestions, but a real Godzilla movie has to be set in Japan, it has to be about the underlying horror of nuclear power, and he has to spit radioactive fire while his spines glow ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/8 "2012-07-31T18:56:30Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Right. > > Everything that I gather from it is that it’s a Godzilla movie that is trying to make Godzilla RIGHT. If it’s “not sci-fi” and “grounded and realistic”, that’s seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/9 "2012-07-31T18:59:19Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I’m sure they’ll ignore these suggestions, but a real Godzilla movie has to be set in Japan, it has to be about the underlying horror of nuclear power, and he has to spit radioactive fire while his spines glow I might like the setting to be in the US, but I’m 100 percent with you on the other points. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/10 "2012-07-31T19:00:20Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > This will be terrible. They went for the serious epic version in 1998, that damn thing didn’t even looking like Godzilla. And it was in New York! And the sound it made wasn’t the same! > > I’m sure they’ll ignore these suggestions, but a real Godzilla movie has to be set in Japan, it has to be about the underlying horror of nuclear power, and he has to spit radioactive fire while his spines glow They didn’t go “serious epic”. God(zilla) knows it certainly wasn’t serious. I’ve long maintained that the 1998 Godzilla was basically a remake of _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_, the _ur_-1950s Giant Monster Flick, the template of almost all that followed, and certainly an influence on Godzilla\*. The producers of the 1998 flick violated their agreement with Toho, which stated that they couldn’t change the appearance of the beast. The 1998 one _was_ about the horror of atmic bombs (Godzilla is nothin’, if not the personification of atomic weapons), since he was mutated by French atomic testing. But they ignored all else. \*TBf20kF, like the 1998 Godzilla, was released by atomic explosions, made its way around the world to New York City, because it was its ancestral breeding ground (just like salmon). the 1998 flick just pushed this to its logical end by actually having Big G lay eggs there. It also added the inanity of having the military _lose_ a multui-storey tall monster in the city, and having to lure it out using a pile of fish. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/11 "2012-07-31T19:33:15Z")
I think what he is saying is that even though it will be about a giant monster, it won’t be light or cheezy. I think they are aiming for more of a movie about what it would be like to be one of those people who are always running away (a la Cloverfield). I am still hoping the teaser they showed at Comic Con ends up online. I really want to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/12 "2012-07-31T19:42:20Z")
If they want to ground it in “reality”, I have their plot. That last huge earthquake/tsunami released an ancient dinosaur egg from the sea floor. It floated its way ashore and into one of the many conveniently located Japanese nuclear plants in the midst of their melt down. After a suitable dosage, it made its way back out to sea where it lived off the corpses of the thousands of Japanese who were also washed out to sea. Now, it’s hungry, and it has a taste for humanity… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/13 "2012-07-31T19:44:38Z")
I can’t help thinking that the Fukushima power plant disaster in the wake of the tsunami might have given extra impetus to this. Godzilla is still the personification of our nuclear fears, and Og knows there’s plenty of that in Japan (and elsewhere) now. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/14 "2012-07-31T19:53:10Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If they want to ground it in “reality”, I have their plot. > > That last huge earthquake/tsunami released an ancient dinosaur egg from the sea floor. It floated its way ashore and into one of the many conveniently located Japanese nuclear plants in the midst of their melt down. After a suitable dosage, it made its way back out to sea where it lived off the corpses of the thousands of Japanese who were also washed out to sea. > > Now, it’s hungry, and it has a taste for humanity… I’d watch that. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/15 "2012-07-31T21:36:32Z")
Even if they do set it in Japan, I have a sinking suspicion that the main character will be a tourist from New York and his photogenic girlfriend, that the military defense forces will also mysteriously be commanded by Caucasian “advisors”, and that the only major Japanese character in the cast will be an evil politician who wants to turn Godzilla into a weapon to get revenge on the world for putting Japan down. ---
**Author:** ![inedible\_knapsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@inedible\_knapsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inedible_knapsack)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/16 "2012-07-31T21:36:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I can’t help thinking that the Fukushima power plant disaster in the wake of the tsunami might have given extra impetus to this. Godzilla is still the personification of our nuclear fears, and Og knows there’s plenty of that in Japan (and elsewhere) now. You might be on to something here. I think they’re pushing for a Nolan Batmanification of the Godzilla franchise, trying to establish some tenuous grounding in reality for a highly unbelievable conceit. Cloverfield wasn’t a bad movie, but it was empty of meaning, IMO (not to mention the camerawork made me nauseous). Not that I want a monster movie to spoon feed me philosophy or anything… I just want to see some truly great special effects, a well done imagining of the creature him(her?)self (read: not a giant iguana), and some creative destruction of a major city or cities. It shouldn’t be that difficult to put together a basic story to accompany all this, but Hollywood always finds a way to screw up even the best ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/17 "2012-08-01T02:23:29Z")
If it does not have the real Godzilla roar (aka the Godzilla honk), then I’m not watching it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7zhJljblPcY/hqdefault.jpg "Godzilla Roar") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zhJljblPcY) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/18 "2012-08-01T03:00:52Z")
> [@Brainiac4](#): > > If it does not have the real Godzilla roar (aka the Godzilla honk), then I’m not watching it. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zhJljblPcY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zhJljblPcY) Can I get that as a ringtone? I think \*\*Cal \*\*has pegged it up above. The phony Godzilla story does follow the film _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_. The Godzilla story is not entirely different except there is a sentient quality to Big G, and humans are the losers in the conflict, surviving only by luck or some transcendental mystery. I can only hope that this movie holds true to the core themes and continues to present Godzilla as a force of nature as much as an actual creature of fearsome proportions and abilities. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/19 "2012-08-01T03:16:31Z")
Maybe if they somehow do it as a period piece they could make it realistic. But set today, I doubt it… we have so much more big, smart weapons to throw at …him? …her?, er, it. Two thouand pound laser guided bombs, fuel-air explosives, B-52 carpet bombing, MLRS, … The early movies showed Godzilla brushing off puny Japanese weapons. Even the shitty Broderick remake had basically nothing bigger. Are they going to make Godzilla invulnerable to Godzilla-sized explosions? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973/20 "2012-08-01T03:27:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Maybe if they somehow do it as a period piece they could make it realistic. But set today, I doubt it… we have so much more big, smart weapons to throw at …him? …her?, er, it. Two thouand pound laser guided bombs, fuel-air explosives, B-52 carpet bombing, MLRS, … The early movies showed Godzilla brushing off puny Japanese weapons. Even the shitty Broderick remake had basically nothing bigger. > > Are they going to make Godzilla invulnerable to Godzilla-sized explosions? He’s knocked off some bigger stuff. The King of the Monsters is pretty damn smart, he keeps his cards close to the chest. We don’t know the extent of his abilities, and so far he’s matched almost everything we’ve thrown at him. And when he hasn’t the plot lines have surprising twists. He’s been vulnerable, but there’s a limit to what he can be hit with in a populated area, and if they put some effort in it, they can come up with a good story. Of course it would be easier to stop trying to create fiction and simply document the real Godzilla’s exploits the way they did in the old days. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godzilla-reboot/629973.md?page=2)