Gorath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This film-related article or section describes an aspect of the film in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article or section to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Gorath | |
|---|---|
 Gorath (1962) |
|
| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Edward L. Alperson (USA) |
| Written by | Jojiro Okami (story) Takeshi Kimura |
| Starring | Ryo Ikebe Yumi Shirakawa Takashi Shimura Akira Kubo Kumi Mizuno Ken Uehara Paul Frees (USA) William Eidleson (USA) Virginia Craig (USA) |
| Music by | Kan Ishii |
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Editing by | Reiko Kaneko |
| Distributed by | Toho Brenco Pictures Allied Artists Heritage Enterprises (TV release) |
| Release date(s) |  March 21, 1962 May 20, 1964 1968 (Re-release) |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Followed by | The War in Space |
| IMDb profile | |
Gorath, released in Japan as Yosei Gorath (妖星ゴラス Yosei Gorasu?, lit. "Gorath, the Monstrous Star"), is a Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film produced by Toho in 1962. The story for Gorath was by Jojiro Okami, a former Japanese Air Force pilot who also gave the original ideas to the films The Mysterians, Battle in Outer Space, and Dogora.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The film depicts a runaway star on a collision course with Earth in the then-future decade of the 1980s. Unlike most other impact event stories, in which mankind must abandon the Earth (When Worlds Collide) or destroy the threat (Deep Impact, Armageddon), Gorath sees humanity attempt to avert disaster by disengaging Earth from its own orbit around the Sun. While the American When Worlds Collide can be seen as an influence on the story of Gorath, Daiei's 1956 film, Warning from Space, in which a planet is on a collision course with Earth, may have been a more direct inspiration.
[edit] U.S. Release
The film was released in the United States by Brenco Pictures. Most of the visual content was kept intact, but the six-minute sequence featuring the character Maguma was removed. The distributors found the character's appearance comical, even dubbing him "Wally the Walrus" (most likely inspired by Wally Walrus, an antagonist from the Woody Woodpecker cartoons popular at the time). As such, they removed the sequence for their cut of the film, and it has never been restored to the English-language edit, which was aired several times on television throughout the 1960s and '70s.
The English dubbing was done by Ryder Sound Services, and scripted by Star Trek writer John Lucas.[1] Only four voice actors were used to dub the film. Besides the voices, the audio track was tampered with, including adding a sound effect for the meteor which was not in the original Japanese version.
Brenco Pictures re-released the film on a double-bill with The Human Vapor in 1968, but between the two releases never turned a profit on their investment in Gorath. The company closed in 1969 soon after the death of co-owner Edward L. Alperson on July 3 of that year. The film was purchased by Heritage Enterprises and distributed to U.S. television. Presumably, it was seen by more people on TV than by people who saw it between its two theatrical releases.
[edit] Trivia
Toho's 1977 film The War in Space could be considered a sequel to Gorath, in that they share the same orbital platform, UN Space Station Terra (unnamed in Gorath).[2]
Gorath also appeared in Godzilla: Final Wars as a fictional planet, once again on a collision course with Earth, though is revealed to be a holographic ruse of the Xilians to deceive the Earth's people into wasting their weapons on it.
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Tazawa - Ryo Ikebe
- Dr. Kawano - Ken Uehara
- Dr. Kensuke Sonoda - Takashi Shimura
- Tomoko Sonoda - Yumi Shirakawa
- Hayao Sonoda - Fumio Sakashita
- Takiko Nomura - Kumi Mizuno
- Seki, Prime Minister of Japan - Takamaru Sasaki
- Kinami, Minister of Justice - Eitaro Ozawa
- Tada, Minister of Finance - Seizaburo Kawazu
- Murata, Minister of Space - Ko Nishimura
- Murata's Secretary - Keiko Sata
- Raizo Sonoda, Captain of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Jun Tazaki
- Manabe, First Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Nadao Kirino
- Operations Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Koji Suzuki
- Communication Officer of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Kazuo Imai
- Navigator of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Wataru Omae
- Observation Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Yasuo Araki
- Stoker Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Akira Yamada
- Fuel Crew of Spaceship JX-1 Hayabusa - Tomosuke Suzuki
- Endo, Captain of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akihiko Hirata
- Saiki, First mate of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Kenji Sahara
- Tatsuma Kanai, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akira Kubo
- Wakabayashi, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Hiroshi Tachikawa
- Ito, Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Masanori Nihei
- Operation Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Koichi Sato
- Communication Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Yasuhiko Saijo
- Navigator of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Tadashi Okabe
- Observation Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Toshihiko Furuta
- Stoker Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Rinsaku Ogata
- Crew of Spaceship JX-2 Ootori - Akira Hayami
- Observation Crew of Space Station - Kozo Nomura
- Sanada, Engineer of South Pole base - Ko Mishima
- Engineer of South Pole Base - Osman Yusef
- Dr. Gibson - Ross Bennett
- Dr. Huberman - George Furness
- Doctor of Space Bureau - Sachio Sakai
- Journalist - Shinpei Mitsui
- Taxi Driver - Ikio Sawamura
- Cabaret Customer - Hideyo Amamoto
- Miss Saturn Contestant - Mieko Kurenai
- Maguma - Haruo Nakajima
[edit] Production Credits
- Executive Producer - Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Screenplay - Takeshi Kimura
- Original Story - Jojiro Okami
- Director - Ishiro Honda
- Visual Effects Director - Eiji Tsuburaya
- Cinematography - Hajime Koizumi
- Production Designer - Takeo Kita and Teruaki Abe
- Lighting - Morio Takashima
- Sound Recording - Toshiya Ban
- Music - Kan Ishii
- Sound Editor - Hisashi Shimonga
- Assistant Director - Koji Kajita
- Film Editor - Reiko Kaneko
- Film Development - Far East Laboratories
- Production Manager - Yasuaki Sakamoto
- Optical Photography - Rikio Yuki
- Visual Effects Photography - Sadamasa Arikawa and Sokei Tomioka
- Visual Effects Production Design - Akira Watanabe
- Visual Effects Lighting - Kuichiro Kishida
- Composites - Hiroshi Mukoyama
- Visual Effects Production Manager - Hiroshi Narita
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Tsuburaya, Hideyo. (1983) "Gorath Retrospective" in The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (#15), p.10-17.
- Magma profile at Toho Kingdom.
- Gorath at Toho Kingdom.
- Romero, Anthony, review of Gorath at Toho Kingdom.
- Yosei Gorasu at the Internet Movie Database
- Analysis of Gorath and Maguma on the alt.movies.monster newsgroup.
- Ragone, August (2007). Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-6078-9.
[edit] External links
- Gorath at the Internet Movie Database
- Gorath at Toho Kingdom
- 妖星ゴラス (Yosei Gorasu) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-16.
