In 1998, TriStar Pictures produced a remake set in New York City. The film's name was simply Godzilla; however, the character had been completely redesigned and only had superficial characteristics in common with the original Godzilla. The remake was met with mainly negative reception by long-time Godzilla fans and film critics alike. The American remake monster was later identified by Toho as Zilla in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Name

"Godzilla" is a combination of two Japanese words: and . At one planning stage, Godzilla was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale,"Steve Ryfle. Japan's Favourite Mon-Star. ECW Press, 1998. Pg.22 alluding to his size, power and aquatic origin. A popular story is that "Gojira" was actually the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio. The story has not been verified, however, because in the more than 50 years since the film's original release, no one claiming to be the employee has ever stepped forward, and no photographs of him have ever surfaced.

Godzilla's name, from the Oto Island legend, was spelled in kanji (呉爾羅), but for sound only.

There is disagreement as to how the monster's name should be pronounced. Purists use the Japanese pronunciation 1 listen, most favor the anglicized rendering of its name, 2 (with the first syllable pronounced like the word "god", and the rest rhyming with "vanilla"). When Godzilla was created (and Japanese-to-English transliteration was less familiar) it is likely that the kana representing the second syllable was misinterpreted as 3. Had the Hepburn romanization system been used, Godzilla's name would have been rendered as "Gojira". This argument receives a nod in the TriStar "Godzilla" film when a newscast of a Japanese sailor's "Gojira" is Anglicized to "Godzilla" in the very next frame by an American news reporter. Watching the newscast in a local bar, another reporter shouts, "It's Gojira, you moron!"

Design

Godzilla's character has changed. To date, there have been eight distinctive versions of the monster (12 if Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla, Marvel's Godzilla, Dark Horse's Godzilla, and TriStar's Godzilla are taken into account as well). These non-Japanese incarnations of Godzilla are not widely recognised as being canonical. His iconic design is composed of various species of dinosaurs; the body structure of a Tyrannosaurus rex, the dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus, and the arms of an Iguanodon.

Appearances

Godzilla is the primary anti-hero, and hero, in all of the Godzilla films, though there are numerous different incarnations of the monster. The silver screen is not the only place Godzilla has appeared; there have been literary sources that have expanded the universe of Godzilla. The Godzilla universe, and the character himself have also starred in comic books, manga and a cartoon series.