is a rose, human and dinosaur hybrid
kaiju
is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...
who first appeared in
Toho
is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...
's 1989 film ''
Godzilla vs. Biollante
is a 1989 Japanese ''kaiju'' film written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori, with special effects by Koichi Kawakita. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 17th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the sec ...
'', and has since appeared in numerous licensed video games and comic books. The creature is portrayed as a genetically engineered clone of
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...
spliced with the genes of a rose and a human. As the character was created during the end of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and a wane in the concerns over nuclear weapons represented by Godzilla, Biollante was conceived as a symbol of more contemporary controversies regarding
genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
.
Overview
Biollante first appears in the 1989 film ''
Godzilla vs. Biollante
is a 1989 Japanese ''kaiju'' film written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori, with special effects by Koichi Kawakita. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 17th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the sec ...
''. After
Godzilla's return in 1985, Dr. Genshiro Shiragami attempts to use the monster's cells to genetically enhance various species of plants to create crops resistant to harsh weather of Saradia, an arid country in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. His attempts are initially thwarted when a bomb planted by the American organisation Bio-Major destroys his laboratory and kills his daughter Erika. Shiragami splices her DNA with that of a rose, which is nearly destroyed five years later by an earthquake. Hoping to make the rose immortal, he further splices its DNA with those of Godzilla, resulting in the creation of a hybrid mutant he christens Biollante. The creature breaks out of the lab and into
Lake Ashi
, also referred to as Hakone Lake or Ashinoko Lake, is a scenic lake in the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, Japan. It is a crater lake that lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone, a complex volcano that last ...
, where it begins calling out to its progenitor Godzilla. Godzilla arrives and incinerates Biollante, whose spores float into the atmosphere. The spores later land near
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
in the form of a much more Godzilla-like Biollante, who fights Godzilla to a standstill until the latter retreats after being weakened by the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria. Biollante subsequently transforms into spores again and floats into space, with an image of Erika being seen among the spores.
The creature makes a brief cameo appearance in ''
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
is a 1994 Japanese Kaiju, ''kaiju'' film directed by Kensho Yamashita, written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho, Toho Studios, it is the 21st film in the Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' ...
'', where it is speculated that its cells floating in space may have contributed to the creation of the monster
SpaceGodzilla
is a Godzilla clone kaiju that first appeared in Toho's 1994 film ''Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla'',as the main antagonist.
Overview Appearance
SpaceGodzilla largely resembles his earthly counterpart, but with several key differences. In addition t ...
.
In Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse, a prequel novel to
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Biollante emerged off the coast of
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
and battled against the
Far East Union's amphibious warfare force. Two
Moguera
is a 1957 Japanese tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film begins with a giant fissure destroying an entire village. This leads to an investigation whereby the source is disco ...
prototypes, each loaded with explosives were deployed to Normandy and engaged Biollante in battle. Biollante manages to destroy one of the two machines, but is eventually defeated when the remaining Moguera drilled into the nucleus in its root cavity.
In the web series ''Godziban'', a Biollante named Sakuya is the protector of an ancient forest threatened by
Desghidorah. One of her seedlings, a
dryad
A dryad (; el, Δρυάδες, ''sing''.: ) is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology. ''Drys'' (δρῦς) signifies "oak" in Greek, and dryads were originally considered the nymphs of oak trees specifically, but the term has evolved to ...
-like character named Erika, ends up on Godzilla-kun's island and recruits him,
Little Godzilla, and
Minilla
is a kaiju who first appeared in Toho's 1967 film ''Son of Godzilla''. He is the adopted son of Godzilla, and is sometimes referenced as Minya in the American dubbed versions.
Overview
Introduced in ''Son of Godzilla'', Minilla was born on Sol ...
to help fight the three headed dragon.
Development
Biollante was first conceived by dentist Shinichiro Kobayashi, who was the winner of a story writing contest for a sequel to ''
The Return of Godzilla
is a 1984 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is th ...
''. In developing the character, Kobayashi kept in mind how he would feel if his daughter died, and combined this with a mental image he had consisting of Godzilla being consumed by a flower.
[Kalat, D. (2010), ''A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series'', McFarland, p. 169-78, ] His idea of Biollante's origins was not too different from those of the final film, though the creature was portrayed in his submission as having no direct link to Godzilla, and of having human-level intelligence, as well as maintaining the memories of Erika. The draft's portrayal of the character had her psychically communicating with a reporter via images of flowers with human faces, and the final Biollante creature had a woman's face.
Kobayashi had previously created a plant-animal hybrid kaiju named Leogon for a similar story writing contest held for
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
's ''
Return of Ultraman
is a List of Japanese television series, Japanese ''tokusatsu'' Science fiction on television, science fiction television series produced by Tsuburaya Productions. The fourth entry in the Ultra series, the series aired on Tokyo Broadcasting Syste ...
'' series.
Koichi Kawakita, who had previously worked for
Tsuburaya Productions
is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producing t ...
, was assigned to designing and realizing Biollante by
Toho
is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...
after the company became impressed at his work in ''
Gunhed''. Kawakita made use of ''Gunheds special effects team Studio OX, though designing and building the Biollante props proved problematic, as traditional suitmation techniques made realizing the requested design of the creature's first form difficult, and the resulting cumbersome model for Biollante's final form was met with disbelief from the special effects team. Biollante's first form was performed by Masao Takegami, who sat within the model's trunk area on a platform just above water level. While the creature's head movements were simple to operate, its vines were controlled by an intricate array of overhead wires which proved difficult for Godzilla performer
Kenpachiro Satsuma
, born is a Japanese actor who portrayed Godzilla in the Heisei films, from 1984 to 1995.
Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Satsuma began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in samurai films. In 1971 he was offered the role of the smog mo ...
to react to during combat scenes as they offered no tension, thus warranting Satsuma to feign receiving blows from them, despite not being able to perceive them.
Creature designer Shinji Nishikawa originally designed Biollante's head as much more flowerlike, with four petal-like jaws, though the film's producers insisted on a more reptilian head.
[David Milne]
"Shinji Nishikawa Interview"
, ''Kaiju Conversations'' (December 1995) Biollante's final form proved even more difficult to operate than the previous model, as its vine network took hours to rig up on set and required 32 wires to operate,
far more than required to operate
King Ghidorah
is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1964 film ''Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster''. Although the name of the character is officially trademarked by Toho as "King Ghidorah", the character was originall ...
in the following film.
["Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante", ''Godzilla vs Biollante'' VDEcho Bridge (2012)] Visibility in the final form Biollante suit was poor, thus causing difficulties for Takegami in aiming the creature's head when firing sap, which permanently stained anything it landed on.
Appearances
Films
* ''
Godzilla vs. Biollante
is a 1989 Japanese ''kaiju'' film written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori, with special effects by Koichi Kawakita. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 17th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the sec ...
'' (1989)
* ''
Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
is a 1994 Japanese Kaiju, ''kaiju'' film directed by Kensho Yamashita, written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara, and produced by Shōgo Tomiyama. Produced and distributed by Toho, Toho Studios, it is the 21st film in the Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' ...
'' (1994 – stock footage cameo)
Video games
* ''
Super Godzilla'' (
SNES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...
– 1993)
* ''
Godzilla: Kaijū Daikessen'' (
SNES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...
- 1994)
* ''
Godzilla Trading Battle
is a PlayStation video game released only in Japan in 1998 by Toho Co., Ltd. It featured almost every Toho kaiju
is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant mo ...
'' (
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
– 1998)
* ''
Godzilla: Save the Earth'' (Xbox,
PS2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...
– 2004)
* ''
Godzilla: Unleashed'' (
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
– 2007)
* ''
Godzilla: The Game'' (
PS3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
,
PS4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...
– 2014)
* ''Godzilla Defense Force'' (2019)
* ''
Magic: The Gathering Arena'' - Biollante, Plant Beast Form / Nethroi, Apex of Death
(2020)
Literature
*''
Godzilla at World’s End'' (1998)
* ''
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth'' (comic – 2013–2015)
* ''
Godzilla: Cataclysm'' (comic – 2014)
* ''
Godzilla: Oblivion'' (comic – 2016)
See also
*
List of fictional plants
This list of fictional plants describes invented plants that appear in works of fiction.
In fiction
*Audrey Jr.: a man-eating plant in the 1960 film ''The Little Shop of Horrors''
**Audrey II: a singing, fast-talking alien plant with a taste for ...
References
{{Godzilla
Film characters introduced in 1989
Godzilla characters
Fictional plants
Toho monsters
Fictional characters with superhuman strength
Fictional hybrids
Fictional human hybrids
Fictional hybrid life forms
Fictional monsters
Fictional mutants
Fictional genetically engineered characters
Fictional mass murderers
Kaiju
Science fiction film characters
Horror film villains
Female horror film villains