Baragon

Template:Infobox Toho character Baragon (バラゴン) is a fictional Kaiju (Japanese giant monster) that was first featured in the 1965 Toho-produced film, Frankenstein Conquers the World. Baragon is a four-legged dinosaur with a horn on his head and large ears. His main weapon is a heat ray that he can fire from his mouth. In addition, he can jump very high and burrow through the ground.

Origin

Showa series

In the Showa series, Baragon was a dinosaur who burrowed underground to escape extinction and survived while most other dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures like him died out. He adapted to the environment and lived successfully. When the sounds of a nearby factory disturbed and awakened Baragon, he emerged from the underground and attacked it. He appeared later at Shirane and destroyed the village. Then he emerged at a farm, where he ate the livestock. During these attacks, Baragon was not seen, so the mutant human Frankenstein was blamed. But there was a person who survived the destruction of the factory who claimed there was a second monster and that it was the one that attacked the factory. When a small group of scientists searched for Frankenstein, an explosive detonated and Baragon woke up from his sleep. He appeared from the ground and saw the scientists. Baragon tried to eat the humans, but Frankenstein suddenly appeared to protect the scientists from Baragon. The two fought in a climactic battle and Frankenstein successfully defeated Baragon by choking him and breaking his neck. But in the end, a fissure appeared beneath the two giants, widening until both titans were swallowed by the earth.

Baragon was later seen in the film Destroy All Monsters, one of several alive and kept in captivity on Monster Island. Along with the rest of Earth's monsters, Baragon is brought under the control of an alien race called the Kilaaks during their invasion of Earth and forced to destroy Earth's cities. It is unknown if this was the same Baragon supposedly killed in battle with Frankenstein or another one of the same species, the latter is supported by the fact this Baragon was smaller than the original.

He later breaks free from this mind control, and watches (but does not actually take part in) the fight against the Kilaaks and their remaining monster, King Ghidorah before returning to Monster Island with the other Earth monsters.

Millennium series

In the Millennium series, Baragon reappeared in the 2001 film, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as one of three ancient guardian monsters. The other two are Mothra and King Ghidorah (originally Varan and Anguirus). When Godzilla is revived by the souls of the people who died in World War II, Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah were 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 he still has his burrowing and extraordinary jumping abilities.

In Godzilla Final Wars, 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.

Film appearances

• Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
• Destroy All Monsters (1968)
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004, Stock footage)

Trivia

• In the alternate ending to Frankenstein Conquers the World, Frankenstein picks Baragon's lifeless body overhead and tosses it into an abyss shortly before Frankenstein is killed himself by the Giant Octopus, Oodako.

• Of all the monsters in the Toho fame, the Baragon suit was borrowed and used the most by Tsuburaya Productions, (the company made famous for its work on the TV show, Ultraman and the subsequent sequels that were to follow.) The Baragon suit was reused several times to create the monsters in the series: Neronga, Gabora, and Magular. As well as Pagos (from Ultra Q.) Even more ironically, Haruo Nakajima (the Godzilla suit actor as well as suit actor for Baragon in his initial debut) also played the suit actor for these monsters (with the exception of Magular.)

• In Destroy All Monsters, Baragon was supposed to attack Paris for the film, using his burrowing ability to smash the Arc de Triumph from below. Unfortunately, the Baragon suit was unavailable due to the fact it was on loan to the people working on Ultraman. 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 even his signature roar to further confuse viewers.

• Baragon was also suppose to be used as a guard for the Kilaak base, but he was not shown on screen while doing this, possibly for the same reason above.

• Baragon was also suppose to appear in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. He was going to be the monster that fought MechaGodzilla (in the Godzilla disguise), but by this point the suit was so old and such bad shape due to its usage in Ultraman, the Toho F/X crew decided to replace Baragon with Anguirus and once again lended Baragon's special burrowing ability to another monster.

Appearances in other media

• Baragon appears as a villain in the 1988 Nintendo game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, and its sequel, as well as the Godzilla Game Boy title.

• Baragon appears in the video games Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed.

• Baragon had a cameo in the hit anime series Dragon Ball.

• As several monsters in the Pokémon video game series were modeled after Japanese pop culture and mythology, the monster Nidoking and his brethren seem to have been modeled after Baragon.

• A monster with a similar appearance to Baragon appears in the first episode of the Tokusatu series Fireman.

• The Dungeons and Dragons' Blue Dragon is in resemblance to, if not inspired by, Baragon. The dragon has the same nasal horn and frilled ears, along with the ability to dig.

Popularity

Although not very famous in the US, Baragon is a very famous monster in Japan, mainly because the monster is very indicative the creativity inherent in Eiji Tsuburaya's kaiju designs.

External links

• Toho Kingdom homepage