Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

Heisei (pronounced Hey-Say), meaning “Peace Everywhere”, refers to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito which would span from 1989 to 2019, ending with his abdication.

For Godzilla, the Heisei Era films started in 1984 with the last film coming out in 1995.

I loved the Heisei Era films! They weren’t trying too hard to appeal just to kids but they also weren’t dreadfully serious. These were just fun.

For the most part there’s a shared continuity between the films of this era including story arcs and recurring characters. It’s always nice not to have to start from the square one with every single film.

One aspect I appreciate about the Heisei films is the abstaining from Godzilla doing martial arts type maneuvers. Sure, he might grapple with another monster now and then but these fights were less about professional wrestling and more about powers and abilities that a monster of this species and magnitude might actually be capable of. Tail swings and biting more than a suplex off the turnbuckle. I don’t know if that’s a thing you can do off the turnbuckle. I’m not into wrestling. And I’m using hyperbole here… a bit. The monster fights in the Showa Era have a nostalgic charm to them and an incredible amount of effort went into making them but in my humble opinion, with my modern sensibilities, I just like the Heisei fights better.

The sci-fi elements are slightly less campy now. I would compare it more to films like Aliens than to, say, This Island Earth. In fact a great deal of influence from popular films can be detected. The threat of unbridled unaccountable scientific experimentation is kind of the main theme throughout. Godzilla presents as a primal force holding these threats at bay while humans learn to thwart not so much the monsters we’ve created but the source of said monsters thus making the world a better place.

I have all kinds of favorites in this era. I admit, I’m kind of geeking out here.

Almost more exciting than the films themselves is the poster art by Noriyoshi Ohrai. These are beautiful works of art I would love to hang on my wall. He truly knew how to capture the thrill behind these films and encapsulate it on a single poster. Well done! [I’ve included all of his posters for this era in this article. Soak it in!]

It’s worth noting that in the midst of these films coming out in Japan, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would hit TVs in the U.S. in 1993. We wouldn’t easily see the Heisei Godzilla films but Power Rangers (an Americanized show using footage from the Japanese Show Himitsu Sentai Gorenger) would be priming kids for kaiju action long before most would ever see a Godzilla film.

Godzilla film production would slow down after 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destroyah. From 1996-1998 we’d see the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy which was directed more towards kids. They wouldn’t feature Godzilla but they would have a quadrupedal Ghidorah! Personally, I enjoyed these and would put them on par with films like Jumanji. Fun kids stuff that some adults enjoy too, myself included.

Between the Mothra Trilogy was that Godzilla Island show (mentioned in part one of this article) which filmed Godzilla toys in such a way as to make them look gargantuan. It was not very effective and was never really meant to be taken too seriously.

Of course none of these would be prominently displayed in the States until Tristar started distributing Godzilla films in the U.S. Why did Tristar start distributing Godzilla films? Great question.

Next up: The Tristar Era.