Lizard eggs are irradiated as a result of a nuclear test in the South Pacific. Years later, a commercial shipping vessel is attacked and sunk by a giant creature in the South Pacific. The only answer given by a survivor to a French agent is that they were attacked by “Gojira.”
Nuclear research scientist Niko Tatopoulos is pulled away from his worm research near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster to study giant radioactive footprints in Panama. He later investigates a ship that has been beached. It appears to have giant claw marks.
Off the Eastern Coast of the U.S, three fishing trawlers are pulled backwards and sunk by something caught in their nets. The military/scientific crew Tatopoulos has been drafter into receives word of the boats sinking. Tatopoulos suggests it may be a new creature never before seen.
A giant two-footed lizard trashes a fish market in New York City. It moves on to the interior of the city and pulls down a building near a speech by Mayor Ebert, and continues inward. The monster disappears.
Manhattan is evacuated as the military movies in. A search team finds discovers that the creature has entered the subway system and may have slipped out of the secure zone. A convoy of city trucks dump tons of fresh fish on Fifth Avenue near the flatiron building. The monster takes the bait, but is spooked by gunfire and flees. It’s chased by three armed helicopters. A pair of sidewinder missles are fired, but it dodges those and they explode into the Chrysler building. The beast manages to sneak behind the choppers and destroy them. It disappears again.
Tatopoulos collects some blood samples left by the monster, and discovers the creature is asexual, and appears to be nesting in New York. His former girlfriend (and Audrey is her name), who is an intern at a TV station, grabs a “Top Secret” video tape that, includes footage from other areas the monster has attacked, and the questioning of the survivor from the South Pacific sinking. Her boss takes credit for the information and mispronounces the monster’s name as “Godzilla.” Tatopoulos is removed from the project since he was the source of the leak, although his former girlfriend took it without his knowledge. He is snatched by the French agent, who convinces the scientist to help him find the nest. The agent reveals nuclear testing by the French government was the likely cause of the creature, and his team is trying to hide that secret.
Tatopolous and the French team are followed by Audrey and her cameraman into the New York underground. Godzilla crashes through some walls and moves through the subway before resurfacing near Central Park, where another fish trap has been set. Soldiers jump the gun, so to speak, and fire on Godzilla before it reaches the trap. It runs off and slips into the river, where a naval submarines are waiting. They fire torpedoes at the creature, but it swims around and dodges the torpedo, which explodes into one of the subs. As Godzilla attempts to come ashore, more torpedoes are fired. This time they strike the monster, apparently killing it.
Meanwhile, the French team, still followed by the reporters, arrives in a damaged Madison Square Garden. Inside the stadium are of hundreds of eggs over ten feet tall each. As the foreign soldiers are setting explosives, the eggs begin to hatch! And the baby Godzillas are hungry.
Several members of the French team are munched before they can finish setting the explosives. Tatopolous and the French agent manage to escape. Audry and her cameraman also escape the stadium separately. But the monsters are close behind. The four meet up as they are being chased by the babies.
They evacuate to the broadcast center and send a message that the monsters are at MSG and the building must be destroyed before the creatures can escape. The military dispatches three fighter jets. The four humans escape the broadcast center just as several of the creatures break on. They elude the monsters as they flee the building moments before it’s destroyed, killing all the baby Godzillas.
From the ruins of Madison Square Garden, the original monster crashes through the floor. Angered by the deaths of its children, it chases the humans through the city streets. They rush past an American military unit, which tunes into the cab’s radio frequency. They hatch a plan to lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge. It gets caught in the suspension cables and the fighter jets fire missiles into the monster, scoring several direct hits. But with the death of Godzilla, there is sadness. He is only a wild beast, just as a deer caught on city streets.
Back at Madison Square Garden, a lone egg hatches…
story by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
screenplay by Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
directed by Roland Emmerich
music by David ArnoldHuman Cast: Matthew Broderick (Dr. Niko Tatopoulos), Jean Reno (Philippe Roache), Maria Pitillo (Audrey Timmonds), Hank Azaria (Victor ‘Animal’ Palotti), Kevin Dunn (Colonel Hicks), Michael Lerner (Mayor Ebert), Harry Shearer (Charles Caiman), Arabella Field (Lucy Palotti), Vicki Lewis (Dr. Elsie Chapman), Doug Savant (Sergeant O’Neal), Malcolm Danare (Dr. Mendel Craven), Lorry Goldman (Mayor’s Aide), Christian Aubert (Jean-Luc), Philippe Bergeron (Jean-Claude), Frank Bruynbroek (Jean-Pierre), Francois Giroday (Jean-Philippe), Nicholas J. Giangiulio (WIDF Engineer), Robert Lesser (Murray), Ralph Manza (Old Fisherman), Greg Callahan (Governor), Chris Ellis (General Anderson), Nancy Cartwright (Caiman’s Secretary), Richard Gant (Admiral Phelps), Jack Moore (Leonard), Steve Giannelli (Jules), Brian Farabaugh (Arthur), Stephen Xavier Lee (Lieutenant Anderson), Bodhi Elfman (Freddie), Rich Battista (Jimmy), Lloyd Kino (Tanker Cook), Toshi Toda (Tanker Captain), Clyde Kusatsu (Tanker Skipper), Masaya Kato (Japanese Tanker Crewman), Glenn Morshower (Kyle Terrington), Lola Pashalinski (Pharmacist), Rob Fukuzaki (WFKK Co-Anchor), Dale Harimoto (WKXI Anchor), Gary W. Cruz (WFKK Anchor), Derek Webster (Utah Captain), Stuart Fratkin (Utah Ensign), Frank Cilberg (Utah Sailor #1), Jason Edward Jones (Utah Sailor #2), Roger McIntyre (Utah Sailor #3), David Pressman (Anchorage Captain), Robert Faltisco (Anchorage Ensign #1), Christopher Darius Maleki (Anchorage Ensign #2), Scott Lusby (Anchorage Ensign #3), Alex Dodd (Anchorage Sailor), Terence Paul Winter (Apache Pilot #1), Kirk Geiger (Apache Pilot #2), Pat Mastroianni (Apache Pilot #3), Eric Saiet (Apache Pilot #4), Burt Bulos (Apache Pilot #5), Robert Floyd (Apache Pilot #6), Seth Peterson (Apache Pilot #7), Jamison Yang (F-18 Pilot #1), Nathan Anderson (F-18 Pilot #2), Mark Munafo (F-18 Pilot #3), Dwight Schmidt (F-18 Pilot #4), Dwayne Swingler (Raven Pilot #2), Lawton Paseka (Officer), Greg Collins (Humvee Soldier), James Black (Soldier), Thomas Giuseppe Giantonelli (Soldier), Paul Ware (Soldier), Montae Russell (Soldier on Plane), Christopher Carruthers (Radio Technician #1), Daniel Pearce (Radio Technician #2), Mark Fite (Radio Operator), Craig Castaldo (Radioman), Eric Paskel (Rodgers), Lee Weaver (Homeless Man #1), Leonard Termo (Homeless Man #2), Joshua Taylor (Spotter), Al Sapienza (Taxi Driver), Stoney Westmoreland (Tunnel Guard), Gary Warner (Gun Technician), Ed Wheeler (New York Cop), Bill Hoag (New Jersey Cop), Joseph Badalucco Jr. (Forklift Driver), Jonathan Dienst (Field Reporter #1), Benjamin V. Baird (Field Reporter #6), Madeline McFadden (Reporter #1), Julian M. Phillips (Reporter #2), Raymond Ramos (Reporter #5)
Monster Cast: Godzilla, Baby Godzillas (over 200)
Notes: In fandom, this creature is affectionately known as “GINO,” or “Godzilla In Name Only.” Even though it has been rejected by Toho as part of the official Godzilla continuity, it has been referred to in later Toho films, either in sly remarks or by reproducing some of the visual effects. The monster design makes an appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars and is quickly dispatched by the real Godzilla. Here at theLogBook.com, we debated long into the night whether to include this as part of the episode guide. In the end we chose to do so, since this would be the “elephant in the room” (albeit a large green scaly radioactive elephant) if we did not.
LogBook entry by Robert Parson