History Trivia / Gamera

** An anime based on the franchise was planned (rumor was that Creator/CartoonNetwork was going to sponsor it) but was scrapped after ''Gamera: The Brave'' tanked at the box office in Japan.

* ''Trivia/GameraVsGuiron''

* TropeNamer: Gamera is this for FriendToAllChildren

** Gamera wasn’t Daiei’s first idea for a kaiju movie, the first idea was a movie called ''Giant Horde Beast Nezura'', which involved a bunch of sewer rats who mutate to human size after eating an artificial food stuff called "S602" which was disposed of because of a side-effect that made organisms that eat it grow in size. One of the rats would have grown to a truly mammoth size, and in the climax all the rats would [[HorrorHunger turn on and eat each other]]. The movie was cancelled, primarily because someone decided to use [[TooDumbToLive actual wild rats]], which were not only untrained but spread infections across the studio. However, the staff at Daiei weren't to be dissuaded by this, and immediately began work on what would eventually become Gamera.

* NamesTheSame: Daiei's Barugon / Toho's Baragon. The two monsters themselves are quite different.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Neptune Media's OOP tape of ''Gammera The Invincible'' is the only way the see the American theatrical version in widescreen. Shout! Factory intended to include this version on the ''Gamera'' DVD, but the UCLA, the owners of the print used for the Neptune tape, refused to offer it again for a new digital scan. Since Celebrity/Just For Kids never issued it on Laser Disc, the Hong Kong dub of ''Barugon'', which was oddly not included on Shout! Factory's DVD, also shares this fate. Later {{Averted}} in 2020 when Arrow Video announced that both the ''Barugon'' dub and ''Gammera the Invincible'' would be available on their complete series box set.

* FanNickname: "Kenny/Kendra/Kennys" for all the child characters who's actual names the audience don't bother to remember. In two cases they literally were named "Kenny" though.

** Gamera wasn’t Daiei’s first idea for a kaiju movie, the first idea was a movie called ''Giant Horde Beast Nezura'', which involved a bunch of sewer rats who mutate to human size after eating an artificial food stuff called "S602" which was disposed of because of the aforementioned side effects and one rat growing to "mammoth size", at the climax the rats would eventually [[HorrorHunger turn on and eat each other]]. The movie was canceled primarily because someone decided to use [[TooDumbToLive actual sewer rats]], which were not only untrained but infested with parasites.
** ''Gamera vs. the Ice Men'', planned as the second film in the series, would have Earth invaded by ice-based aliens who tried to create a new ice age and force humans to migrate underground while the invaders claimed the surface. When this failed, they intended to just enslave the human race instead, but Gamera, having escaped from the rocket he was imprisoned in, returns and battles their "Ice Giant" monster, which would have been modeled after the Frost Giants of Norse myth. The concept of an ice monster was subsequently incorporated into Barugon, and the "elemental giant" was reworked into the titular monster of the Film/{{Daimajin}} series.

** Before ''Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe'' was made, one plan was for "Gamera Vs. Phoenix", in which Gamera fights a giant fire bird called Phoenix. It wound up as a novel instead.
** While designing the suit for Gamera in ''Awakening of Irys'', they at one point considered having the plastron permanently opened after he used the Mana Cannon in ''Advent of the Legion''. They also considered having him reuse that attack as the finishing move against Irys.
** According to Creator/ShusukeKaneko if ''Awakening of Irys'' had grossed one billion yen they would have begun production on another sequel.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Neptune Media's OOP tape of ''Gammera The Invincible'' is the only way the see the American theatrical version in widescreen. Shout! Factory intended to include this version on the ''Gamera'' DVD, but the UCLA, the owners of the print used for the Neptune tape, refused to offer it again for a new digital scan. Since Celebrity/Just For Kids never issued it on Laser Disc, the Hong Kong dub of ''Barugon'', which was oddly not included on Shout! Factory's DVD, also shares this fate.

** According to Creator/ShusukeKaneko if Awakening of Irys had grossed one billion yen they would have begun production on another sequel.

** ''Gamers vs. the Ice Men'', planned as the second film in the series, would have Earth invaded by ice-based aliens who tried to create a new ice age and force humans to migrate underground while the invaders claimed the surface. When this failed, they intended to just enslave the human race instead, but Gamera, having escaped from the rocket he was imprisoned in, returns and battles their "Ice Giant" monster, which would have been modeled after the Frost Giants of Norse myth. The concept of an ice monster was subsequently incorporated into Barugon, and the "elemental giant" was reworked into the titular monster of the Film/{{Daimajin}} series.

** The monster that Guiron fights when introduced in ''Gamera Vs. Guiron'' was originally going to be a horned, flying squirrel-like kaiju named Monda, but budget constraints prevented them from making two new monster suits so they instead spray painted the Gyaos suit silver and had Guiron fight a Space Gyaos.

** ''Gamera vs. the Ice Men'', planned as the second film in the series, would have Earth invaded by ice-based aliens who tried to create a new ice age and force humans to migrate underground while the invaders claimed the surface. When this failed, they intended to just enslave the human race instead, but Gamera, having escaped from the rocket he was imprisoned in, returns and battles their "Ice Giant" monster, which would have been modeled after the Frost Giants of Norse myth. The concept of an ice monster was subsequently incorporated into Barugon, and the "elemental giant" was reworked into the titular monster of the Film/{{Daimajin}} series.

** Gamera wasn’t Daiei’s first idea for a kaiju movie, the first idea was a movie called Giant Horde Beast Nezura, which involved a bunch of sewer rats who mutate to human size after eating an artificial food stuff called "S602" which was disposed of because of the aforementioned side effects and one rat growing to "mammoth size", at the climax the rats would eventually [[HorrorHunger turn on and eat each other]]. The movie was canceled primarily because someone decided to use [[TooDumbToLive actual sewer rats]], which were not only untrained but infested with parasites.
** An anime based on the franchise was planned (rumor was that Creator/CartoonNetwork was going to sponsor it) but was scrapped after ''Gamera: The Brave'' tanked at the box office in Japan.

** Wyvern was also featured in "Gamera Vs. Wyvern" (or "Gamera vs. Two-Headed Monster W"), apparently featuring just Gamera and Wyvern. The concept was subsequently reworked into ''Gamera Vs. Garasharp''.
** ''Gamera vs. Garasharp'' featured a massive, cobra-like creature, armed with a sonic rattle and poisonous breath, as the titular antagonist. The story ends with Gamera defeating Garasharp (naturally) and two babies emerging from her body. Just as the military closes in to destroy them, Gamera rescues them and flies them off to a deserted island, because he's the friend to ''all'' children, not just human ones. The film was scheduled for a 1972 release, but Daiei went bankrupt before they could start on it. (Garasharp would later be featured in the manga "The Last Hope", released in 2017 as a prequel to the Heisei Gamera trilogy; it was reissued in 2018 as a canonical installment of the series.)

!!The Showa series contains examples of:

* BadExportForYou: Until recently with the release of the whole Showa series by Shout Factory, Most Region 1 Gamera DVD releases contain awful, faded, little to no color Fullscreen 16mm TV prints, most masters actually stolen from the video catalog Sinister Cinema. .

** Wyvern was also featured in "Gamera Vs. Wyvern" (or "Gamera vs. Two-Headed Monster W"), apparently featuring just Gamera and Wyvern. The concept was subsequently reworked into ''Gamera Vs. Garasharp''.
** ''Gamera vs. Garasharp'' featured a massive, cobra-like creature, armed with a sonic rattle and poisonous breath, as the titular antagonist. The story ends with Gamera defeating Garasharp (naturally) and two babies emerging from her body. Just as the military closes in to destroy them, Gamera rescues them and flies them off to a deserted island, because he's the friend to ''all'' children, not just human ones. The film was scheduled for a 1972 release, but Daiei went bankrupt before they could start on it. (Garasharp would later be featured in the manga "The Last Hope", released in 2017 as a prequel to the Heisei Gamera trilogy; it was reissued in 2018 as a canonical installment of the series.)
!!Examples from the rest of the series:
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

** Daiei had approached Creator/{{Toho}} with a proposal for a crossover film with Franchise/{{Godzilla}}. Toho rejected the proposal.

** Before ''Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe'' was made, one plan was for "Gamera Vs. Phoenix", in which Gamera fights a giant fire bird called Phoenix. It wound up as a novel instead.

* DevelopmentHell: Aside from an announcement, there has been no news of the 2015 Gamera movie

** Before ''Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe'' was made, one plan was for "Gamera Vs. Phoenix", in which Gamera fights a giant fire bird called Phoenix. It wound up as a novel instead.
* {{Expy}}: The Heisei's incarnation may possibly (perhaps unintentionally) be one of Script/Godzilla1994 before it was screwed up. They both were created by ancient civilizations to fight a greater menace.

* ''Trivia/GameraGuardianOfTheUnivere''

* {{Expy}}: The Heisei's incarnation may possibly (perhaps unintentionally) be one of Godzilla1994 before it was screwed up. They both were created by ancient civilizations to fight a greater menace.

** ''Gamera vs. the Ice Men'', planned as the second film in the series, would have Earth invaded by ice-based aliens who tried to create a new ice age and force humans to migrate underground while the invaders claimed the surface. When this failed, they intended to just enslave the human race instead, but Gamera, having escaped from the rocket he was imprisoned in, returns and battles their "Ice Giant" monster, which would have been modeled after the Frost Giants of Norse myth. The concept of an ice monster was subsequently incorporated into Barugon, and the "elemental giant" was reworked into the titular monster of the "Daimajin" series.