Dogora, a.k.a. Space Monster Dogora and debuted in the US television as Dagora, was one of the last giant monster movies produced by Toho to feature only one monster in its own movie. It was produced and released in Japan in 1964, after Mothra vs. Godzilla, but before Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. 1964 was a very productive year for Toho. Despite the other films in the Showa Toho-verse being all connected, the events of Dogora have never been mentioned in any other movie, not even Destroy All Monsters or Godzilla: Final Wars note . Because of this, and due to the film's relative obscurity to anyone whose name isn't Sanford, the film's plot will be given a somewhat detailed description below. On a related note, Dogora shares much of the same cast as Ghidorah, albeit in mostly different and unrelated roles.
Dogora is a giant space cloud that eats diamonds. For a synopsis, see the recap page.
This film provides examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Dogora is impossible to kill with conventional weaponry and barely seems to notice it's being attacked. The only thing that can actually kill it is wasp venom, which kills it by crystallizing its body.
- Combat Tentacles: Played with. Dogora definitely has tentacles, but it only uses them in one scene, instead preferring to just suck everything up through some other unknown mechanism.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The spellings Kommei or Komai are used for the same character in various sources.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Dogora lives almost solely to feed on carbon, usually oblivious to anything else happening to or around it, even when blasted by artillery. Indeed, one of its few deliberate acts of aggression is destroying the Wakato Bridge when it appears over Fukuoka, which was out of irritation at being attacked. However, due to its appetite, healing factor, and truly colossal size, it is a threat which has to be dealt with.
- Oh, Crap!: Our protagonists' reaction upon discovering that, rather than killing Dogora, blasting it apart simply splits it into countless smaller Dogora cells, each with the potential to become as massive as the original.
- Starfish Aliens: More like a jellyfish alien, actually, but Dogora is still arguably the most bizarre and inscrutable kaiju the genre has ever spawned, completely bereft of comprehensible personality or will beyond its insatiable hunger for carbon.
