If Godzilla (1994) was the saddest example of What Could Have Been in American chapter of the Godzilla Franchise, then this movie is probably a close second. Originally intended to be the second edition of a three part American Godzilla Trilogy planned for release between 1999 and 2000, but these plans ultimately fell through primarily due to the negative reception of the first movie from longtime fans and a lack of interest from industry connections such as theater owners and licensees.
Initially picking up where the previous film left off, Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos has been invited to lead a research project examining Godzilla's corpse, alongside several other scientists from across the globe. But watching the light go out in Godzilla's eyes weighs heavily on Nick's conscience and he turns down the offer. Sneaking into the tunnels underneath Madison Square Garden, Nick discovers a single surviving Baby Godzilla trapped under rubble. The hatchling imprints on the scientist after he frees him and the two begin to form a bond, but Nick is soon forced to chase the Baby Godzilla away to protect him from the military.
Two years later, Nick and Audrey have just gotten married. But before they can enjoy their honeymoon, Nick gets shanghaied by his old friend Phillipe Roaché. There have been a number of strange occurrences around the globe, and the new Global Task Force believes that a new Godzilla-like creature is responsible. Suspecting that one of the Baby Godzillas might have survived Phillipe wants Nick to help him find it. The search takes them to Australia where they meet Dr. Anna Charlton, the trio then travel to the Outback where they find not only Zilla Jr. but also a slaughter of Baby Godzillas. Nick now has to prove to Phillipe that Godzilla isn’t responsible for the strange phenomenon and discover what the cause actually is.
Story treatment of the scrapped script can be read at SciFi Japan
. (Archived version)
Not to be confused with Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), which was titled Godzilla 2 for its international release.
This script includes examples of:
- Alternate Continuity: To Godzilla: The Series. The story completely ignores the events of the cartoon, but still follows a very similar plot structure to the first two episodes.note
- Androcles' Lion: Nick rescues the last baby Godzilla in the opening act of the movie, and even though he's forced to shoo it away so it isn't found by the military, it still remembers him years later when it's full grown.
- Behemoth Battle: Unlike the last movie, this one introduces another giant monster for Godzilla to fight against, a giant flying termite queen.
- Big Bad: The (presumably, provisionally named) Queen Bitch that is a giant, man-eating termite queen from the same island as the first Godzilla.
- Bittersweet Ending: Godzilla defeats the Queen Bitch, but has lost all but one of his children which were killed by the military. Being pulled into this adventure has lead to Nick's marriage to Audrey being annulled, but he seems to be starting a new relationship with Anna. There might be more monsters out there in the world, but now humanity has an ally in the form of Godzilla.
- Breath Weapon: Unlike the last movie, Godzilla actually has his atomic breath in this one, which he uses in the final battle against the Queen Bitch and her brood.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Nick sneaks the baby Godzilla out of New York by dressing it up in a big trench coat to avoid detection. The disguise works, up until a homeless man walks up to the two begging for change and the baby snaps at his open hand.
- Deadly Dingos: The Runt is introduced being attacked by a pack of dingos, which are apparently so vicious they're willing to hunt a multi-storey nuclear reptile.
- Demoted to Extra: Audrey's role is reduced to just a plot-insignificant cameo in the first act. Nick is kidnapped by Philippe right after the wedding, leaving her behind, and she later has the marriage annulled, which she informs Nick by through letter. Nick gains a new love interest over the course of the story and is practically relieved when he receives the annulment.
- Disney Death: The Runt is seemingly killed by the Queen Bitch while defending Anna, but turns out to be alive at the end.
- Explosive Breeder: Subverted — a full-grown Godzilla is capable of reproducing only once, and the size of the brood is determined by the carrying capacity of the land.
- Expy: The Runt is obviously one of both Minilla from the Showa Era and Godzilla Jr. from the Heisei Era.
- Food Chain of Evil: Nick surmises that Godzilla's species are the natural predators of the giant insectoids on Monster Island, and by wiping out Godzilla's species, the man-eating bugs are threatening to proliferate and hunting humans as food elsewhere.
- Foreshadowing: When Nick and Philippe watch Godzilla hunting shoals of fish underwater, they notice something bright flashing beneath the waves briefly. It isn't until the battle with Queen Bitch in Sydney that it becomes obvious to them what this was: Godzilla firing his atomic breath.
- Hellish Copter: Nick, Hicks, and Philippe are taken to Monster Island in an Apache to rescue Anna, but the helicopter is downed during a huge battle with the swarming giant insects of the region. Fortunately, they crash land on the island uninjured.
- Hungry Menace: The Queen Bitch and its progeny are a threat because, unlike Godzilla, they eat people and are attempting to spread their numbers into populated areas.
- Kill It with Fire: Godzilla's atomic breath proves highly effective at cutting down the swarms of giant insectoids attacking en masse when he arrives on Monster Island.
- Imprinting: Downplayed. Unlike the animated series, Nick is only able to get the last surviving baby Godzilla to trust him by rescuing it from under a pile of rubble and feeding it first, and only then does it starts treating him like its parent.
- Insect Queen: The Big Bad of the story is a giant, carnivorous termite mutate that leads a colony of smaller, but still huge, wasp-like workers. Unlike real insect queens, it's portrayed as not just the biggest, but as the most ferocious and strongest of them all, able to fight Godzilla evenly. In the script, it's called the Queen Bitch, but this was proooobably a placeholder name (since you certainly couldn't put that name on a toy, now could you?).
- Isle of Giant Horrors: Godzilla wasn't the only monster that was created by those nuclear tests. When Nick, Anna, and Philippe head to the original Godzilla's birthplace in French Polynesia, they discover the island has become bustling with all sorts of strange and huge creatures created by the radioactive fallout, including the Big Bad monster.
- Kidnapped by the Call: Nick is taken from his wedding by Philippe (pretending to be a limo driver), leaving Audrey in the dust. Philippe does at least ask Nick for help after this, but there was little possibility of him refusing at that point.
- Mistaken for Murderer: When large groups of people start going missing in remote locations around the world, everyone initially assumes another Godzilla is responsible for this. When Philippe and Nick discover the new Godzilla raising a brood of young, they worry that it's hunting people to feed them, but realize it must be something else when they see they only eat fish. Sure enough, it turns the real culprit is a different monster, whose spawn are raiding settlements for and bringing back to Monster Island as food.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: Making the Queen Bitch less sympathetic compared to Godzilla, who is depicted as a doting and protective parent, even towards the runt of his litter, is the script mentioning that she eats her own progeny sometimes.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- The movie begins with Nick feeling immense guilt over having helped destroy such a unique, fantastical, and clearly intelligent animal in the last movie. This leads to him deciding to shelter the last surviving infant and help it escape the military, rather than kill it, to try and make amends.
- Philippe later has this realization when they discover the real culprit behind all the kidnappings isn't Godzilla, but a creature which is hunted by Godzilla's species. He secretly called in the military on Godzilla's location, and realizes now he might've doomed the human race by helping kill off the only natural predator of the giant insects.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Philippe ends up secretly alerting the military to Godzilla's location, leading to most of its litter being killed. Nick is furious with him, but they later make amends and Philippe redeems himself to Nick by vouching for Godzilla's survival at the end.
- Retcon: The reveal that Godzilla produces massive litters that would overrun the planet in the last film is changed so that the characters "discover" that the species can only reproduce once in their life and the litter size is determined by the carrying capacity of the land, giving the humans a reason to spare him this time.
- Riding into the Sunset: The movie ends with Godzilla and its last surviving young being allowed to live and the two swim off into the sunset.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: The majority of the story is set in Australia now, with a portion of the climax taking place in downtown Sydney.
- Sky-Consuming Dogfight: The script describes a "spectacular battle in the sky" over Monster Island as the jet fighter squadron of the Global Task Force combat the giant insect drones during the final battle.
- Time Skip: The prologue is set shortly after the first film, but the rest of the story is set two years later.
- The Runt at the End: The aptly named Runt.
- Shoo the Dog: Nick does this with Zilla Jr. at the beginning, urging it to leave by shouting and throwing rocks in order to protect its life.
- To Serve Man: The Queen Bitch has her children bring live humans to Monster Island for her to feed on.
- Xenomorph Xerox: The Queen Bitch's species are pretty much xenomorphs with wings and the plot has a lot of similarities to Alien.
- Youngest Child Wins: Twice over: first Zilla Jr., having hatched long after his father and siblings had all died, and then the Runt who was the only one that Zilla Jr. managed to save from the military.
