Trivia / The Return of Godzilla

• Accidentally Correct Zoology: Godzilla is attracted to the calls of birds because, as a dinosaur himself, he is related to them, something which is addressed in the movie itself. Keep in mind this was done in a time when the link between birds and dinosaurs was still a very hotly debated topic in science and paleontology. Nowadays, the main scientific consensus that is heavily supported holds that birds are the current generation of dinosaurs, descended from a variety of Theropod dinosaur that developed in the Jurassic whom had descendents that survived the Cretaceous.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: For the American cut, Raymond Burr was more than happy to reprise his role from the American cut of the original which had been one of his favorite projects due to his respect for the original Godzilla as dark, serious allegory for nuclear weapons. He was thus appalled by the American studio wanting to turn this film, that in the original Japanese cut was revisiting those dark and haunting roots, into more of a comedy and told them that if they tried then he would walk.
• Creator Backlash: Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka originally wanted Ishir⁠ō Honda to direct this film, only for Honda himself to decline due to how Godzilla was portrayed in the Showa series. Plus, he wanted the series to be laid to rest after the death of Special Effects creator Eiji Tsuburaya.
• Enforced Method Acting: About the only silly line that managed to be kept in the U.S. exclusive footage was "That's quite an urban renewal program they've got going over there", said by Major McDonough. Raymond Burr was not amused with the line while the scene was being shot, and it's often rumored that his reaction to the line in the film itself (a Death Glare at the man who delivered it) is genuine.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Subverted, and a good thing too. Originally, New World reportedly planned to re-write the dialogue in order to turn the film into a tongue-in-cheek comedy (à la What's Up, Tiger Lily?), but this plan was reportedly scrapped because Raymond Burr expressed displeasure at the idea, taking the idea of Godzilla as a nuclear metaphor seriously. The only dialogue left over from that script was "That's quite an urban renewal program they've got going over there", said by Major McDonough.
  • In the earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Russians were portrayed in the same manner as the Japanese cut (Kashrin still tries to stop the missile, rather than launching it). It was only because of the conservative agendas of the higher ups at New World that their role was changed to a villainous one.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • For the longest time, this was the hardest to find Godzilla movie. Thanks in part to licensing conflicts with the American cut, no other company was allowed to release the film on DVD in the US, not even the original Japanese release. It wasn’t until 2016, around the time Shin Godzilla came out in Japan, when Kraken Releasing finally got the rights to the movie and released it on DVD and Blu-ray for fans to finally obtain in their collection.^note  To put that in perspective, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Biollante, which also suffered from Keep Circulating the Tapes in the past, got their own DVD and Blu-ray release in late 2011/2012.
  • Both the American version and an uncut International dub have yet to be officially released on any sort of digital medium.
  • The sole circulated widescreen copies of 1985 are recordings of the mid-2000s Monsters HD version. Though the International dub would eventually be released alongside the Kraken Blu-ray, it was a 5.1 Surround Sound mix. The original mono mix of the dub unfortunately went unincluded as well.
  • In October 2012, some pressings of the originally planned extras DVD edition managed to get leaked out, either due to a legitimate manufacturing error, or an intentionally spiteful "oops!" on Media Blasters' part. Either way, relations between the company and Toho seem irreparable at this point, as no further kaiju titles from have been secured from Toho as of 2015. The extras edition has since been proliferated online by fans.
• Missing Trailer Scene: There's some footage of Maki, Naoko AND Okumura in the ruined Shinjuku district running from Godzilla in the trailer. Presumably, this was done during a publicity shoot, as a still exists from the shot.
• Old Shame: The infamous sorrowful scream Godzilla lets out in the alternate mix of the film's ending seems to be this in Toho's eyes, as they've never released the "B" mix officially since the '80s and have had the scream in particular excluded from dubs that originally used it.
• Uncredited Role: Continuing the tradition of the past films, no credits are included for the dub actors. Unlike much of the past films however, the actors, at least for the "Godzilla 1985" cut, have been identified and most of their roles have similarly been confirmed through behind-the-scenes interviews^note The cast includes Tony Plana as Goro, Lara Cody as Naoko, Andy Goldberg as Hiroshi, and Paul Wilson as Professor Hayashida; with most of the incidentals voiced by SuperLoopers founder Dee Marcus, Gregory Snegoff and Ed and Linda Cook.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Akihiko Hirata, the recurring actor in the Godzilla series (first appearing as Dr. Serizawa in the original film and going on to feature in six other Godzilla films, as well as a number of Toho's other science fiction pictures), was to portray Professor Hayashida. Unfortunately, he died before production, being replaced by Yosuke Natsuki.
  • Kenpachiro Satsuma plays Godzilla for the first time because of the previous stuntman decided not to wear the suit.
  • As mentioned on above Creator Backlash, Tomoyuki wanted Ishir⁠ō Honda to direct this film, but he declined because he did not like how Godzilla was previously portrayed, not taking his nuclear metaphor seriously. Ironic, considering taking said metaphor is exactly how Godzilla was portrayed in this film.
  • Additionally, Godzilla originally was going to have a monster opponent to fight in the movie; a shape-shifting creature called Bagan. After individually fighting each of Bagan's separate three forms (the ape-like Enjin, the dragon-like Doragon; and the sea monster Mizu), he'd fight a chimeric final form of the beast before killing it. Presumably Bagan was removed to make the movie more in line with the 1954 film, and focus more on Godzilla. Even then, Bagan was not thrown out. He was to face off with Mothra in the cancelled 1990 film Mothra vs Bagan, before finally appearing in the SNES game Super Godzilla as the final boss.
  • In an earlier draft of Godzilla 1985, the Super-X was to be dubbed in the dialogue as the S-R-X.
  • As mentioned a few times, New World wanted Raymond Burr not only to reprise his role from Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956), but for the film to be Lighter and Softer. Ray did not like this idea, since he took Ishir⁠ō Honda's Godzilla's nuclear metaphor very seriously, and refused any funny lines. Only one line was saved, but the look Ray gave when Godzilla is on a rampage suggests he broke character and didn't like it.
  • Burr also absolutely refused to take part in the film's product placement for Dr Pepper. What's funny is that, according to one of the crew members (in a story recounted in the book Japan's Favorite Mon-star), he never actually SAID he wouldn't; when he was asked, Burr simply gave the executive a long, cold stare until the poor guy sheepishly backed away in fear. Major McDonough ends up taking a sip of Dr. Pepper in one shot instead.
  • At one point New World wanted to add a new scene to their version: after the bum is crushed by Godzilla, the camera would zoom in on his arm, showing that his watch was frozen at the exact time of day the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The logistics of scale needed to make the shot work (the bum's small arm against Godzilla's huge foot) proved too difficult, however, and it was scrapped.
  • The 16-foot "Cybot" Godzilla prop was at one point meant to be the primary way the King of the Monsters was going to be portrayed with, with the suit used for wider shots where the robot couldn't be used in. This would be reversed in the final product, with the prop only used for some closeups and a few shots during Godzilla's fight with the Super-X.

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