Monster of the Week: Gigan (Showa)

Gigan is the giant cyborg chicken that hails from Space Hunter Nebula M. Alright, maybe he's not a chicken, but it's always fun to refer to him as that. Gigan as you know is a cyborg, which could only mean one thing: he was originally a creature that lived on Nebula M. Obviously it was destroyed and the 'Nebulans' rebuilt him as a cyborg. Probably when he 'died' he had lost all his sanity. Yes, Gigan is the serial killer of the Godzilla world. He stabs and keeps stabbing, the sight of blood just makes him want to keep going. As you can see, he's the most unique looking monster in all of Godzilla. No history is really given before the events of Godzilla vs. Gigan, there's just speculation. The way they talk of him in the film means that he must have existed on Nebula M for awhile. The Nebulans were giant cockroaches in disguise. Their plan? Use Gigan and Ghidorah to take over earth, that's where the events of Godzilla vs. Gigan take place....

The Nebulans had infiltrated Earth, and it wan't long after that they sent a call for Gigan and Ghidorah. Usually these two wouldn't be teaming up, but the Nebulans needed them to, so they mind-controlled both of them so there wouldn't be any problems. The only thing they didn't fully anticipate was the arrival of both Godzilla and Anguirus. Godzilla of course went for Ghidorah, them being the biggest rivals. Our friend Gigan went on to completely beat up Anguirus. Gigan is a taunter, as seen when he openly taunted Anguirus to try and save Godzilla while is buzzsaw was going. (Anguirus eventually did run straight into it, not with pretty results.) As the fight raged on, somehow the human characters managed to destroy the mind control device. Gigan and Ghidorah now had free will again. Upon seeing Godzilla on the ground, Gigan went for him. Either the Nebulans had told him about G, or he just likes attacking downed people. See, Gigan is a bully at heart. He's not quite the bruiser like Ghidorah, he attacks the weaker ones or when monsters are weakened. Upon seeing Godzilla weakened, that's where he showed his true serial killer persona, repeatedly stabbing the King of Monsters to the point where his head opened up. Saying the cyborg chicken is brutal would be an understatement. He then presided to drag Godzilla to Ghidorah, who then slammed him away with his cackling heads. Gigan was obviously enjoying this, putting on his victory dance and clapping Ghidorah on the wing. That alliance was short-lived when Godzilla got Gigan to bang into Ghidorah. The two presided to argue while Godzilla and Anguirus began to plan. Thus began the downfall of the two monsters. Gigan is not like Titanosaurus, he's cowardly. At the FIRST sign of major trouble, he's out. The humiliating part for him is that he tried retreating twice yet kept getting shot down by Godzilla. Eventually the two monsters retreated into space and went their separate ways. However, it wouldn't be long before ol' Gigan ran into Godzilla again...

The year is 1973, when a lot of Japan was strangely empty. That, or no one went out of their houses that particular day. What's special about this day and year is the rise of the Seatopians...or so they had hoped. They had sent their 'god' Megalon to terrorize Japan. Unfortunately for them, Megalon wasn't the brightest or strongest of monsters. Jet Jaguar was making short work of him. The Seatopians couldn't have this, so they asked the Nebulans if they could borrow Gigan for a bit. (Apparently lost civilizations has connections with outer space.) Gigan is apparently very loyal to the Nebulans and will do as they say. They must also have a way with communicating with the monster, since he knew exactly where to go. Now this was interesting, instead of Gigan being basically the lackey for a bigger monster, it was the other way around. He would be calling the shots. Right when he arrived he was telling Megalon that they would be teaming up. He then precided to show the Seatopian god how to REALLY beat up on someone. In one particular scene he really clawed into Jet Jaguar the way Jason would hatchet people to death. Megalon was pretty much enjoying this, he and Gigan shared the iconic scene of a monster high five, claw to drill. Of course, Godzilla appeared, scaring the living daylights out of both Gigan and Megalon. What would follow is the famous 2 on 2 tag team battle. Gigan is a cunning monster, even teaching Megalon the trick of playing dead. Of course, being a bit on the cowardly side, the cyborg doesn't hesitate to take hostages, case in point when he grabbed Jet Jaguar and threatened to cut his head off to Godzilla. What follows is another humiliating scene as Godzilla just plainly blasts him away. The roles would be kinda reverse when Jet Jaguar breaks Gigan's arm and grabs him like a police offiver would a robber. Eventually he would retreat into space since Megalon was defeated. However, that wouldn't be the end for our cyborg friend...

Gigan would have a true one-on-one fight with Godzilla in the show Zone Fighter. Here he's given an upgrade by having parachutes. Yes, it looks cheesy as heck. See, Gigan thinks he's pretty awesome. After he lands, he tries to 'impress' Godzilla by slashing some rocks. Of course he's knocked down by G in the next minute. At least here the cyborg shows some of his true strength. After Gigan puts up a decent fight, he is later confronted by Zone Fighter himself. After humiliating Zone Fighter for a bit, the latter finally destroyed him. Yup, Gigan wasn't destroyed with dignity in a movie by Godzilla, he was destroyed in a show by a second rate Ultraman.

That would be the end of the Showa incarnation of Gigan. While not the strongest of monsters from that era, he proved to be the most memorable. With his taunting gestures and cowardly tactics, you can never get bored of this guy. Despite all that, he's by far the most brutal when it comes to fights, right next to Destoroyah. He's the Nebulan's assassin, and we're left wondering why he doesn't ever use his eye laser. Could have been effective in these fights. Ah well, while he's been humiliated on more than one occasion, he's still a monster you do not want to mess with if you're a beginner at the system. He's quite the contrast from his calm and collective Final Wars counterpart. Still, there's no denying that the Showa version of Gigan is one awesome monster in design, concept, and persona.