# Novel the movie "Rodan" was based on. Title? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119 "2017-04-09T16:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/1 "2017-04-09T16:13:34Z")
Allegedly, the movie “Rodan” about a giant Kaiju flying dinosaur, was based on a Japanese novel. What is the title, & is there an English translation? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/2 "2017-04-09T16:36:47Z")
Ghidorah is based on a myth, is that what you’re thinking of? I can’t find anything for Rodan except as pteranodon. > **[Yamata no Orochi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamata_no_Orochi)** > > Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知), or simply Orochi (大蛇), is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/serpent. > Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD Kojiki transcribes this dragon name as 八岐遠呂智 and the 720 AD Nihon Shoki writes it as 八岐大蛇. In both versions of the Orochi myth, the Shinto storm god Susanoo (or "Susa-no-O") is expelled from Heaven for tricking his sister Amaterasu, ... ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/3 "2017-04-09T17:43:32Z")
Rodan, or Mothra? Wikipedia credits Rodan to writer [Ken Kuronuma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kuronuma), but as a screenplay. No mention of a novel. Mothra was based on the novel [The Luminous Fairies and Mothra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Luminous_Fairies_and_Mothra) > [@](#): > > from [Mothra - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra) > > Mothra was first conceived in the January 1961 serial The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by authors Shinichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta, who had been commissioned by Toho to write the outline of a future film.[9] The character was further developed by Shinichi Sekizawa, whose experiences of starving in the South Pacific islands during World War II prompted him to envision a movie featuring an island where mysterious events occurred.[10] Neither Amazon nor Barnes & Noble list any English translation. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/4 "2017-04-09T18:38:03Z")
Interestingly, I just watched this movie last night on Svengoolie! Anyway, IMDb makes no mention of a novel, but includes this in the trivia section: > [@](#): > > Ken Kuronuma, who wrote the original story for this film, was inspired by an incident in Kentucky in 1948 when Clapt. Thomas F. Mantell, a pilot for the Kentucky Air National Guard, died in a crash while pursuing what was thought to be a UFO. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/5 "2017-04-09T18:46:33Z")
The ending of **Kong: Skull Island** hinted that Rodan, Mothra, and Ghidora would be joining Kong and Godzilla in the next film. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/6 "2017-04-10T11:23:42Z")
I never heard about the original **Rodan** being based on anything. The Wikipedia page claims that Ken Kuronuma’s story is original. I grew up watching this film over and over, and reading about it in _Famous Monsters of Filmland_. Although I’ve since learned that FM isn’t entirely trustworthy, I’ve seen corroboration that the proper transliteration of the title should be RADON (although not pronounced like the noble gas), and that it’s derived from “pteranodon” ---- pte **RA** no **DON**. I picked up a copy of the original Japanese version with English subtitles, and it’s much better to watch than the heavily overdubbed version I grew up with. The images are crisper, there are a couple of scenes not in the 1957 American release, the whole Atomic Bomb intro with stock footage is gone, a lot of pretty sappy music they imposed on the American edition is missing, and the often atrocious dubbing isn’t there – it frequently makes the actors sound goofy. Moreover, that long “glorious death of the samurai” monologue over the deaths of the rodans isn’t there. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-the-movie-rodan-was-based-on-title/784119/7 "2017-04-10T13:03:24Z")
I was a little kid when **Rodan** came out, and for some reason I was convinced, without even seeing it, that it and _House on Haunted Hill_ were the scariest movies ever made