The Return of Godzilla

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{{Infobox_Film |name =The Return of Godzilla / Godzilla 1985 |image = |caption = |director =Koji Hashimoto
R. J. Kizer (USA) |producer =Tomoyuki Tanaka |writer =Shuichi Nagahara |starring =Ken Tanaka
Yasuko Sawaguchi
Yosuke Natsuki
Keiju Kobayashi
Shin Takuma
Raymond Burr (USA) |music =Reijiro Koroku |cinematography =Kazutami Hara |editing =Yoshitami Kuroiwa |distributor =Toho
New World (USA) |released =December 15, 1984
August 23, 1985 (USA) |runtime =103 min.
87 min. (USA) |language =Japanese
Russian
English |budget = |imdb_id = 0087344 |}} The Return of Godzilla (ゴジラ - Gojira in Japan) is a 1984 daikaiju eiga. The sixteenth in Toho Studios' Godzilla series, it was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and directed by Koji Hashimoto with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano.

This was the last Godzilla film made in the Shōwa period and the first in the "VS Series" of Godzilla films (sometimes called the "Heisei Series" due to the near-coincidence of its beginning with that of the Heisei era in Japan). It was Tanaka's intent to restore the darker themes and mood of the early films in the series. To this end The Return of Godzilla disregards all previous Godzilla films except 1954's Godzilla, to which it is a direct sequel. It features the lengthiest debate over the use of nuclear weapons in any Godzilla film (making reference to former Prime Minister Satō's Three Non-Nuclear Principles) and is only the third to depict innocent people being killed by the monster(s).

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Godzilla 1985

In 1985 New World Pictures released a dubbed and re-edited version of this film in the U.S. called Godzilla 1985. This Americanized version included additional scenes with Raymond Burr—reprising his role as reporter Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!—in place of several deleted scenes from the original. The added scenes were directed by R. J. Kizer and also featured Warren Kemmerling.

This re-edit was released in the U.S. at the height of the Cold War, as several deviations from the original film attest: The anti-nuclear theme of the original is toned down significantly, with one full scene, in which the Prime Minister and his advisors discuss the use of nuclear weapons, removed. More controversially, several subtitled lines of Russian dialog were altered to give the impression that a Soviet officer intentionally launched a nuclear missile at Tokyo, whereas in the original film the officer had only attempted to stop an automated launch.

Tagline: The Legend Is Reborn.

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Trivia

Veteran Akihiko Hirata (who appeared in several past Godzilla films, the best known of his roles of which is Professor Daisuke Serizawa from Godzilla) was slated to play Professor Hayashida, but he had died from lung cancer before production began. Yosuke Natsuki, another veteran, took the role instead.
The screenplay was first written 1980, but as an entirely different film. Godzilla was to fight a shape-shifting kaiju named Bagan, and the Super-X played a much smaller role. Among the SDF weapons in this script never made it to the big screen were the "Water Beetle" (an underwater mech) and the "Giant Basu" (which is equipped with a giant arm to capture submarines.)
Stuntman Kenpachiro Satsuma (who previously played Hedorah and Gigan in Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Godzilla vs. Gigan) plays Godzilla for the first time, as a replacement for another stuntman who backed out at the last minute. Aside from being heavy, the suit was very dangerous (it was not only built from the outside in, but not made to fit him), and Satsuma lost a lot of weight after filming was done. This mildly mirrored what Haruo Nakajima went through when he played Godzilla in the original 1954 film. Subsequent Godzilla suits worn by Satsuma were much safer and more comfortable, as they were custom made to fit him (even though the suits still had some dangers of their own).
The lifelike animatronic Godzilla prop used in close-up shots is the 20-foot "Cybot Godzilla." It was heavily touted in the publicity department at the time, even though it was not used in the film as extensively as promoted.
In the American version of the film, a model of Gojulas, a Godzilla-like mecha from the Zoids model line, makes a brief appearance as a child's toy.