The Return of Godzilla (1984)

Director: Koji Hashimoto

Written by: Hideichi Nagahara

The return of the king.

After almost a decade in limbo, Godzilla would return to the screen and usher in a new era of Kaiju chaos. Unrecognizable from the child-friendly hero we last saw, this is Godzilla in his most terrifying form yet. Advances in SFX technology and puppetry would give us the most realistic and terrifying Kaiju we’d ever seen.

State-of-the-art models were used to recreate Tokyo, structural engineers were consulted to ensure buildings crumbled correctly and heavy use of street-level cameras would serve to make this the most imposing Godzilla yet.

The movie's opening scene, featuring a grotesquely enlarged oceanic parasite, is as horrific as anything seen in the franchise before or since and serves as a grim introduction to the darker spirit of the 1980s.

Ignoring all but the original movie, it’s been 30 years since Godzilla was believed to be destroyed but after a fishing vessel is found adrift, its crew mummified save for one survivor, and a Russian Nuclear submarine is destroyed it becomes clear that Godzilla has returned.

American and Russian forces demand the right to use nuclear weapons should Godzilla surface in Japan, something that is vehemently refused by the Japanese President. The wounds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still present and with the Cold War looming, the film exudes a bleak, hopelessness throughout.

With the nuclear option off the table, it falls to Japan’s state-of-the-art attack craft, the Super-X to put Godzilla down, but despite its cutting-edge weaponry, Godzilla proves to be more powerful than ever before.

Ultimately, the nuclear crisis would be averted, and Godzilla consigned to the fiery depths of a raging volcano, in a truly chilling climax where the great Kaiju’s screams of anguish drive the Japanese President to tears.

The 84Goji suit was meticulously crafted to emulate the original Godzilla design: reinstating the four-toed structure, reintroducing fangs and ears, and enlarging the dorsal fins. Additionally, the tail was extended, and the eyes were modified to include more white areas.

This suit was notably hefty, tipping the scales at 242 pounds, a significant increase from the 88-pound Godzilla suits of the 1970s. Kenpachiro Satsuma assumed the role of Godzilla's suit actor for The Return of Godzilla, continuing through the Heisei series until Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995.

While much of the film footage showcases this suit and the water suit cast from the same mold, it was the animatronic "Cybot Godzilla" that garnered the most attention before the film's debut. Standing at 16 feet tall and weighing 1.2 tons, the Cybot Godzilla came with a hefty price tag of $475,000. Primarily utilized for close-up shots, it occasionally stood out due to discrepancies between its head and the suit.

Toho also constructed a full-size model of Godzilla's foot, operated by a crane, yet nearly all footage featuring it was omitted from the American release of the film, Godzilla 1985. Technical issues with the suit's eye mechanisms led to occasional misalignment, resulting in unintentionally humorous moments where the eyes would stare off in different directions, most noticeably in the scene where Godzilla faces off with the Super-X.

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