{"id":10345,"date":"2007-02-13T07:56:11","date_gmt":"2007-02-13T14:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/02\/13\/the-biology-of-godzilla.html"},"modified":"2007-02-13T07:56:11","modified_gmt":"2007-02-13T14:56:11","slug":"the_biology_of_godzilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/13\/the_biology_of_godzilla.html","title":{"rendered":"The biology of Godzilla"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

A review of the scientific lit on Godzilla<\/a>, a field sometimes known as kaiju<\/em>-biology (where kaiju<\/em> means, naturally, “monster”). What kind of dinosaur is Godzilla, how does he stand, how does he spew radioactivity? Inquiring minds want to know!<\/p>\n

\n

Godzilla is meant to be something like 100 m tall and between 20,000 and 60,000 tons in weight (his size fluctuates in the various films). Of course lots of people who like doing sums and talking about cubes and so on have used the mathematics of scaling to show why – duh – Godzilla couldn’t really walk, stand, or even exist. Michael Dexter presents the argument here, and also brings in thoughts on blood pressure, circulation and physiology to show that a living Godzilla would variously fall to pieces, tear itself
\napart, have its organs turn to jelly, explode due to a build-up of internal heat… you get the picture.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nevertheless, much like the movie fans, the biologists tend to think better of the “old school” Godzilla than the 1998 Americanized version (known also as GINO, “Godzilla in Name Only”).<\/p>\n

\n

Indeed TriStar’s GINO did look<\/em> far more realistic, with its horizontal body posture and flexed hindlimbs making it look like an immense theropod; this despite the fact that it was meant to be a mutated lizard of some sort. The TriStar Godzilla also behaves a bit more like an animal than the real Godzilla: it doesn’t seem to have a sense of honour, doesn’t talk to other monsters, doesn’t use martial arts, and doesn’t have atomic breath, for example. But given that it’s over 120 m long, 90 m tall and weighs
\nover 24,000 tons, yet is slim-legged and slender, able to run at over 300 mph, and capable of leaping over skyscrapers and such, I somehow sense that Devlin, Emmerich and their colleagues were not striving for biomechanical accuracy in creating the new-look monster. Or, at least, let’s hope not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of the scientific lit on Godzilla, a field sometimes known as kaiju-biology (where kaiju means, naturally, “monster”). What kind of dinosaur is Godzilla, how does he stand,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-movies","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39981,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/10\/godzilla.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":0},"title":"GODZILLA!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Dec-13 12:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmmm. Big city-destroying invasions by aliens \/ kaiju is almost old hat these days -- but that roar certainly brings it all home.Reshared post from +Les JenkinsWow, this looks like it might be pretty good. An American made Godzilla movie that doesn't suck? Yes please!\ufeff View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48676,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/07\/go-jira-on-the-mountain.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":1},"title":"Go Jira on the Mountain …!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-Dec-14 8:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Bestest giant monster Christmas Tree ever. Originally shared by +Scott Randel: O come, all ye kaiju, joyful and... Classic: No Christmas Tree Will Live Up to the Godzilla in a Tokyo Mall Cheezburger.com - Crafted from the finest Internets. View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41194,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/25\/okay-this-godzilla-thing-has-promise.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":2},"title":"Okay, this "Godzilla" thing has promise","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Feb-14 12:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Definitely liking the look of this.\"They were trying to kill it.\" \u00a0Now that rocks.(h\/t +Les Jenkins)\ufeff View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134056,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/07\/rip-haruo-nakajima.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":3},"title":"RIP, Haruo Nakajima","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 7-Aug-17 3:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"He played Gojira Godzilla in 12 films in the 1950s-70s, including the monster's premiere film. He was also in The Seven Samurai (as a bandit) and The Hidden Fortress.Thanks, sir, for all the hours of entertainment. Rest in Peace: Haruo Nakajima, the Original Godzilla Actor, Passes Away - Dread Central\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138117,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/08\/movie-trailers-before-captain-marvel.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":4},"title":"Movie Trailers before “Captain Marvel”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Mar-19 11:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This was an interesting set, hitting on all sorts of themes (super-heroes, Disney, diversity, action) that someone thought would appeal to their anticipated Captain Marvel audience. Best of Enemies --\u00a0A black civil rights activist, a KKK member, and the odd friendship they developed. Interesting, but not my cuppa. Hobbs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commercials & Branding"","block_context":{"text":"Commercials & Branding","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-commercial"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/filmmaker_make_a_movie_trailer5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/filmmaker_make_a_movie_trailer5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/filmmaker_make_a_movie_trailer5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138674,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/27\/movie-trailers-before-avengers-endgame.html","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":5},"title":"Movie trailers before “Avengers: Endgame”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 27-Apr-19 8:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A visit to the movies before the movie","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"Movie Trailer MPAA Notice","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/a5cf2_movie_trailer_post_image5B15D.jpeg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}