Azal And GMK Godzilla

Kaiju Portrait #34: Azal the Last Daemon

Season Eight of the classic Doctor Who was all about the arrival and evil machinations of the Master; a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who seeks universal domination, and usually with the less-then-reliable help of other alien invaders and ancient monsters. And for us kaiju fans, three of these said allies were giant in size.

First we had the briefly seen, octopoid-shape of an incoming Nestine Consciousness, in the horribly hyperactive Terror of the Autons. Then came the deceitful Axons in The Claws of Axos, who despite appearing as a variety of creatures (including a slug-like spaceship), were really all parts of a single being. And last, but not least, we have this handsome fellow - Azal, the Last Daemon!

Azal appeared in the season finale serial The Daemons, and true to his name, is the last survivor of an ancient race of aliens who were technologically advance, highly amoral, and were the inspiration for demons and devils in mankind's myths and legends.

They were also somehow responsible for the creation, and ultimate destruction of Atlantis...though with the contradictory continuity of Doctor Who, it's hard to know if this is really true. Crap, even the history of Pompeii doesn't make a lick of sense when you add Captain Jack AND the Primords...but that a whole other rant for another time.

Although the fate of his home-world is vague, Azal himself came to Earth a little over one-hundred years ago in Wiltshire, England, near the village of Devil's End. Daemons are masters at altering their own size, and was able to shrink his massive ship to microscopic levels, which than went into suspended animation. In modern times however, an archeological dig, funded by the fools of BBC-Three television (I'm not joking), awakens Azal. And the Master, who has taken up residence as the town's vicar, is more then ready to use this for his own advantage.

With the help of a deadly gargoyle-robot named Bok (as well as the town's more gullible citizens), the Master wishes to strike a deal with Azal in order to gain the demon's ancient knowledge. Things are complicated further by the fact that Azal sees the progress of the human race (of whom his people had much influence upon) as nothing more then a failed experiment that needs to be ended soon.

Thankfully, the Third incarnation of the good Time Lord, the Doctor (Jon Partwee), and his current employers at the paramilitary organization of UNIT, are on the case. Along with added assist from Devil End's self-proclaimed 'white witch', Miss Hawthorne (played by the oddly attractive Damaris Hayman...what, for an older lady, she is...SHUT UP).

Although we know Azal can alter his height from invisibly microscopic, to Godzilla-worthy, we never really get a good look at him until the end of episode four (of five). Though his presence is more than felt throughout the story, along with his gigantic foot prints littering the country side. Azal was portrayed (in questionable effects make-up) by actor Stephen Thorne, who booming and bombastic voice (and related acting) was also behind two other famous DW villains; Omega, a tragic, but otherwise mad Time Lord super-genius, and the male form of the rock-based tyrant Eldrad.

Strangely enough, Azal would not be the last giant demon to plague the 'Who-niverse', as in recent times we had the Beast, from the two-part adventure The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit, and his pig-faced 'son' Abbadon from Torchwood.

Thankfully, the connection between the three devils is intentional, despite the shoddy continuity (again). So I think it's safe to assume that giant demons are a major race scattered throughout the cosmos, and it may not be the last time the Doctor will have to face such a threat.

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Kaiju Portrait #35: GMK Godzilla

Despite popular opinion, the so-called Millennium era (1998-2004) of the Godzilla franchise is my favorite era, second only to the classic cycle of films from the Showa era of course (1954-1975). The main reason is the lack of continuity, and thus ample opportunities to experiment with Godzilla and related story elements...for better AND for worse.

Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (or "GMK" for short) is both the most praised of these films, and the most unorthodox, by adding supernatural elements and featuring perhaps the most evil incarnation of Godzilla.

Even the original 1954 film had some strange sympathy for the atomic beast, where as this version of Godzilla, although still a dinosaur mutated by H-bomb tests, is now driven by the vengeful spirits of human victims of the Pacific War (Japanese and otherwise), to make the people of modern Japan not forget what happened, in a very devastating manner.

I agree, it's a little much for Godzilla's back-story, but Japan has a peculiar tradition of human ghosts being dangerous to all people, regardless who they were in life. Which would explain the many innocent victims of those Ring and Grudge films, not to mention the fact that mythical monsters of Yokai legend are mostly consider good-guys compared to the aforementioned 'human spooks'.

Give your kids protective, demonic-looking Red Oni dolls, so that the ghost of your once beloved grandma won't kill them for vaguely dumb, yet scary reasons!

The only real hope Japan has against this evil ghost-empowered Godzilla are the Guardian Monsters of Yamato; three ancient monsters also dangerous to humans, but are not evil like Godzilla, and hence will protect the Japanese homeland. These monsters are Baragon (originally from Frankenstein Conquers the World), Mothra, and King Ghidorah (previously Godzilla's archenemies, but now a good three-headed dragon in this film).

In the end, the Guardian Monsters are brutally killed off one-by-one by Godzilla, but their spirits help keep the monster at bay; long enough for the heroic Admiral Taizo Tachibana to finish Godzilla off with an attack sub.

Anyway, GMK Godzilla has been a long-time request by fans of the Kaiju Portraits, and I apologize for the long wait if you're among such. I took some liberties with the coloring of the character, as he's a much brighter shade of gray then the traditional charcoal black of most other Godzilla designs and suits. But I felt since this is a ghost-powered-dino-demon, he should look the part.

Interestingly, GMK Godzilla shares way-too-much in common with Ghost Godzilla; a character that was meant for a 1995 film, in which the new Heisei era Godzilla (1984-1995) would battled his more villainous 1954 counterpart. But after a series of films in which Godzilla battled a slew of weird clones (Mechagodzilla, Space Godzilla, and Biollante), Ghost Godzilla was dropped in favor for a brand new opponent dubbed Destroyah.

Even more bizarre, the Ghost Godzilla elements would pop up yet again, though under a more heroic light, with the Mechagodzilla variation named Kiryu, the leading protagonist in the following 2002-2003 sequels, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS.

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