GODZILLA: The Official Annual (1998)
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GODZILLA: The Official Annual is a 1998 "Annual" book, a type of hardcover activity book popular in the United Kingdom. It was published by Grandreams, Ltd. Unlike many annuals, it does not include puzzles or games, but instead retells the film's story alongside an informational section. It was sold for £5.99.
Description
GODZILLA: The Official Annual foregoes the typical trappings of an annual book, and leaves out any puzzles or games. While many annuals include short stories, this book instead novelizes the film in two parts, broken up by a two-page spread featuring some vague descriptions of Godzilla's size and power.
Contents
- Guess Who's Coming to Town... (p. 6)
- The Godzilla Cast (p. 8)
- The Story - Part 1 (p. 12)
- Godzilla - The Dawn of a New Species (p. 34)
- The Story - Part 2 (p. 36)
Plot
A Japanese floating fish cannery sounds the alarm, sending all sailors scrambling to the deck. One old man, the ship's cook, asks in confusion what the commotion is shortly before the hull is shredded by three enormous claws.
Dr. Nick Tatopoulos is three happy years into a study of earthworms in Chernobyl when he is escorted away by the Russian military to an encampment in Panama, where he tries to get information from Sergeant Anthony Hicks, desperate to get back to his research. Hicks then leaves Tatopoulos in what the doctor soon realizes is a footprint 15 yards long.
In a French Polynesian hospital, French operative Philippe Roaché arrives to meet the lone survivor of the shipwreck, the old cook. Roaché uses a cigarette lighter to get the half-conscious man's attention and asks him what he saw. The cook repeats the word "Gojira."
In the command tent, Nick meets the brilliant and self-assured Dr. Elsie Chapman, who is skeptical of how useful he can be. Dr. Mendel Craven then appears with a tape recently released by the French government featuring the old ship's cook saying "Gojira," to the confusion and disappointment of the scientists.
In New York City, Audrey Timmonds is dissatisfied with her career progression as an assistant at WIDF news. She tries to confront her boss Charles Caiman about it, and he makes it clear that he is only willing to advocate for her promotion if she dates him in return.
The team in Panama is then called to Jamaica's Great Pedro Bluff, where there is another great ship with giant holes torn in the hull. En route, Elsie tries flirting with the criminally oblivious Nick. Hicks then spots Roaché and his men at the site, and the Frenchman claims to be from the LaRochelle insurance company doing estimates on the ship. Meanwhile, Nick discovers a piece of radioactive flesh stuck to one of the giant slashes, and identifies it as belonging to a reptile. They then recieve word that two more fishing trawlers have been pulled underwater, and whatever did it is nearing American waters. Dr. Chapman insists it must be the work of an allosaurus, and Craven disagrees. Nick then puts together that the radiation present at the attack sites is from the creature itself, which was first reported around French Polynesia, the site of numerous nuclear weapons tests over the last 30 years. He imagines that whatever they are dealing with, it is the first of a new mutant species.
At a diner in the United States, Audrey Timmonds laments her life to her friend Lucy, who tells the would-be reporter that she is too soft for a city like New York. Audrey takes some offense to the notion that she cannot be tough, but stops short when she notices her college boyfriend Nick Tatopoulos on TV being interviewed in Panama. At the city's East river, a homeless man tries his luck with a fishing rod, despite the jokes made by his peers. No sooner had he dropped his line then he got a bite from something big. The men soon flee in terror as the wooden dock is destroyed by the emerging Godzilla, with a fresh caught fishing boat in his mouth. Before the men can take in what they are seeing, the gargantuan beast disappears around a corner. New York's Mayor Ebert is staging a rally for his re-election, which is promising until a giant monster stomps through, smashing the Federal Hall's columns, and causing chaos in the streets. In the diner, Timmonds hears strange echoing booms from a few blocks away. As they get louder, things in the diner begin falling off the walls and they noticed people running in terror outside. Lucy's husband Victor "Animal" Palotti, a cameraman for WIDF, rushes outside as the giant creature leaves nothing but destruction and chaos in its path. He struggles with the camera for a moment but finally gets the tape in and recording as Godzilla passes over him, nearly stepping on him in the process. Animal is left shaken inbetween the toes of its giant footprint.
Hicks and the research team then arrive in New Jersey, where they are informed that the beast has disappeared. Chapman guesses it went back to the sea, but Tatopoulos guesses that it is still in Manhattan, an island that allows it to hide in plain sight. At the WIDF newsroom Animal is celebrated for getting their network the first and so far only footage of Godzilla. The station manager then gets the crew ready to evacuate to their station in New Jersey before their next broadcast. On one of the monitors, Audrey spies a rerun of footage showing Nick and Elsie Chapman entering the military command tent, and tries to tell Caiman about a potential lead. Caiman completely disregards her.
Mayor Ebert begins evacuating, and on the other side of the river finds numerous business and landowners concerned about their investments, and is briefly pulled aside by Philippe Roaché, claiming to be a representative of La Rochelle insurance. He pats the mayor on the back before he leaves, allowing him to plant a tracking device on his collar. Elsewhere, Caiman and Animal are stopped at a checkpoint, where the reporter is unable to produce his press badge. The badge had been taken by Audrey, and she was now having Lucy alter it to feature her picture rather than Caiman's, despite Lucy's misgivings.
Roaché listens to the Mayor have a fit about how the evacuation will effect the upcoming election, but he and Colonel Hicks are soon called away. They meet with other soldiers at a subway platform in Flatiron Square,where they discover that Godzilla has been burrowing through the subway tunnels. Nick then suggests they set a trap for it by luring it out with whatever it has been seeking. A soldier then discovers a fish in the tunnel. They soon had several dump trucks full of fish en route to their trap. Roaché's men bug their communications cables and watch in astonishment as the operation begins. After some adjustments to ensure Godzilla will smell the bait, Nick watches in awe as the beast emerges from the ruptured street, and snaps a picture with a disposable camera. The flash catches Godzilla's eye, but he senses no danger and continues to the pile of fish.
The military then opens fire, irritating Godzilla into a quick and agile retreat that leaves one skyscraper and several tanks destroyed. Godzilla then sets a trap of his own by luring some military armored vehicles around a corner, where he blasted them with his forceful power breath. Three helicopters try heat-seeking missiles, which the cold-blooded Godzilla deftly avoids, sending the rockets right into the Chrysler Builying, which topples.
The military soon regroups and fires on a wrecked building they believe Godzilla is inside. He then bursts out from behind them takes out three helicopters before changing color and hiding alongside another building. His camouflage works, allowing him to crush the last helicopter in his jaws.
Differences from the film
- Many scenes are cut from the film for brevity, some of which create small plot holes.
- Caiman is never shown saying the word "Godzilla" on TV. Instead, the name apparently is revealed to Animal while filming him. This would have been before Caiman could have presented the footage, so Animal would have had no exposure to the name "Gojira," or any other name for the creature.
- Nick does not deliver his classic line "That's a lot of fish."
- Like other novelizations, Godzilla's power breath does not ignite. This aspect of the power breath came about after books and other merchandise were finalized. Tyrell likens the attack to a "gale force tornado." (Cite p32)
- This adaptation gives Godzilla the chameleon-like ability to change color (p32)
Appearances
Monsters
Characters
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
Locations
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Gallery
Trivia
- The book claims that the city of Chernobyl is in Russia, while in the real world and all other media it is in Ukraine.
References
This is a list of references for GODZILLA: The Official Annual. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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