The guy responsible for the Godzilla suit, Rodan, Anguirus, and those other Toho kaiju effects, not to mention Ultraman (who seems to be featured on the initial Google homepage doodle today)
I just read his biography, Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters last January. But, of course, I’ve been familiar with him (through frequent mentions in Famous Monsters of Filmland) since the 1960s.
Indeed. The Ultraman-esque costume of the feature character in Google’s mini-game was a complete and enjoyable visceral shock.
I grew up in Japan watching Ultraman, so it’s embedded in my geek psyche. Although Google’s focus is on the production process (appropriately, since that’s what Tsuburaya pioneered), the idea of putting an Ultraman-like superhero into action was what I enjoyed.
On reading the title line my first thought was “How can this guy live forever and forever and NOT be on my Death Pool list?” Now on reading it I’m a little sad. I’m still more a fan of the Ray Harryhausen style of special effects but even I have to admit all the Godzilla and related stuff really was fantastic for its day.
Tsuburaya and director Inoshiro Honda wanted to do Harryhausen-style stop motion animation. They didn’t have the time or money (It’s the same reason that Gorgo, directed by the same guy who did Harryhausen’s Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, used a Man in a Suit).
Godzilla wasn’t only done with a Man in a Suit. There are stills showing the effects team holding the top half of a Godzilla “puppet”. I suspect they used it for the scene where you first see Godzilla, with his lower half hidden by the mountain.
I have been a huge Ultraman fan ever since I was a kid in the 1970s. It aired on a UHF channel here, right after school. Great stuff, even with the barely-passable English dubbing. The Godzilla suit (with an added neck frill) actually made it into an episode of the original Ultraman series; that was a lot of fun. I’ve since enjoyed other Ultra series (‘Max’ and ‘Mebius’ are two of my favorites, but the first one holds a special place in my heart.
I grew up watching the original Ultraman on UHF also, but they stopped shipping the show to the U.S. after that so I never got into the later versions. In a fit of nostalgia, I rented the Ultraman show on DVD a few years ago and re-watched it. It holds up surprisingly well, as dated as it was. It’s just amazingly charming with the 1960’s model cars painted in 1960’s colors with the mirrors on the fender, and the “mod” building designs. It got hubby and I yelling “SCHWAA!” at random times for a few months again.
