Baragon


Baragon is a fictional monster, or kaiju, which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1965 film Frankenstein Conquers the World, produced and distributed by Toho. Depicted as a four-legged, horned dinosaur-like creature with large ears, Baragon would go on to appear alongside Godzilla and other monster characters in films in the Godzilla franchise, also produced by Toho, including Destroy All Monsters and .

Overview

Showa series

In Frankenstein Conquers the World, Baragon is a dinosaur which burrowed underground to escape the extinction of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures when they all died out. He adapted and survived. But when the sounds of a nearby factory disturbed and awakened him, he emerged from underground and attacked the factory. He later appeared at Shirane and destroyed the village. Then he emerged at a farm, where he ate the livestock. During these attacks, he was not seen, so the mutant human Frankenstein was blamed. But a person who survived the destruction of the factory claimed a second monster had attacked it. When a small group of scientists searched for Frankenstein, an explosive woke Baragon from his sleep. He emerged to attack the scientists, but Frankenstein appeared to protect them. The two fought a climactic battle, with Frankenstein ultimately defeating Baragon by choking him and breaking his neck. In the end, a fissure appeared beneath the two and swallowed them into the Earth.
In Destroy All Monsters, Baragon is seen as one of several monsters kept in captivity on Monster Island. Along with the rest of Earth's monsters, he is brought under the control of an alien race called the Kilaaks during their invasion of Earth and forced to destroy cities in their cause. He later breaks free from this mind control, and watches the fight against the Kilaaks and their remaining monster, King Ghidorah, before returning to Monster Island with the other Earth monsters.

Use of suit

Of all the monsters in the Toho stable, the Baragon suit was borrowed and used the most by Tsuburaya Productions, the company made famous for its work on the TV show, Ultraman. It was reused several times to create the monsters in the series: Neronga, Gabora, and Magular, as well as Pagos from Ultra Q. Haruo Nakajima, the Godzilla suit actor as well as suit actor for Baragon in his initial debut, also played these monsters.
In Destroy All Monsters, Baragon was supposed to attack Paris for the film, but the Baragon suit was unavailable. Baragon was replaced with Gorosaurus for this scene, but was still blamed for the attack. Gorosaurus was also given Baragon's special burrowing ability and his signature roar to further confuse viewers. Baragon was also supposed to be used as a guard for the Kilaak base, but it was not shown on screen while doing this, possibly for the same reason above. Baragon's head was either lost or damaged, as a new head was constructed for the publicity photos of Destroy All Monsters, with a more white-ish hue on the ears and sideways facing eyes. This head was recreated in XPlus's Destroy All Monsters line. Later, in 1971, the inner fiberglass skull of Baragon was used as a base for the flying form of Hedorah.

Millennium series

In the Millennium series, Baragon reappeared in the 2001 film, ' as one of three ancient guardian monsters. The other two are Mothra and King Ghidorah. When Godzilla is revived by the souls of the people who died in World War II, Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah are summoned to protect the nation from the threat. Baragon was the first of the three guardians to confront Godzilla and was eventually killed by the monster's atomic breath. Baragon does not have a heat ray or a glowing horn, but still has extraordinary burrowing and jumping abilities.
In ', stock footage of Baragon from Frankenstein Conquers the World was seen during the opening claiming that Baragon was one of many monsters that arose due to the devastation that the World Wars brought, along with Varan, Gezora, Gaira, Titanosaurus, and Megaguirus.

Appearances

Films