Rodan
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- This article is about Rodan, the movie monster. For the rock band, see Rodan (band).
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Rodan (ラドン) (1956) is a science fiction movie made at Toho Studios in Japan, and was the studio's first color monster movie (Toho's first color tokusatsu film was Madame White Snake from the same year). It is one of a series of "giant monster" movies that found an audience outside of Japan (especially in America). The first "giant monster" movies of the 1950s, called kaiju, were filmed as serious horror and adventure stories, before the genre devolved to the level of "kiddie" entertainment in the 1960s and 1970s.
Rodan follows in the footsteps of other Japanese monster movies, such as Godzilla, which involve a giant monster being awoken from an ancient hibernation by human beings. In Rodan, miners digging far into the earth stumble across a clutch of giant caterpillar-like insects, which viciously attack several of the miners and prompt a government investigation into the matter. The giant bugs turn out to be little more than food for two gigantic flying beasts (similar to the pteranodon, except they are far bigger and far more powerful), who hatch from giant eggs and proceed to terrorize the entire world.
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Rodan is notable for its action scenes, which are surprisingly well filmed and still excite audiences today. Unlike most of the Toho monster movies, which featured "action" scenes consisting of roaring monsters lumbering across the landscape at a stupefyingly slow pace, the battle scenes and monster rampage in Rodan are thrilling, exciting, and fast-paced; it is much easier for the audience to suspend disbelief and accept the low-tech special effects here. The emphasis on action, thrills, and willingness to scare the audience makes Rodan one of the superior films in the kaiju series. In the original Japanese version this kaiju is called Radon. Due to a translation error the japanese Radon became Rodan for the "international release".
Rodan went on to crossover into the Godzilla series, first appearing in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), helping Godzilla and Mothra to defeat the evil space dragon, King Ghidorah. Rodan eventually starred in several other Godzilla films, most recently in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), in which he was controlled by aliens into fighting Godzilla.
Filmography
- Rodan (1956)
- Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
- Invasion of Astro-Monster (a.k.a. Monster Zero, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero) (1965)
- Destroy All Monsters (1968)
- Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (a.k.a. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) (1993)
- Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Rodan the monster should not be confused with Rodin the artist.ja:空の大怪獣ラドン