Climbing Mount TBR: Cerasini Godzilla (Part 2)
Article by Ed O.
Welcome back to a very special Climbing Mount TBR. This is part 2 of “Into the Cerasini-verse.” We got a lot of ground to stomp over, so let’s just jump in!
Godzilla at World’s End by Marc Cerasini
You know how in the modern American Godzilla movies the idea of a “hollow earth” is super important? What if I told you Cerasini did it first? I mean, I guess you could count the Seatopians from Godzilla vs. Megalon, but those guys were more or less based on Mu or Atlantis than a hollow earth. But here in this book from the late 90s Godzilla is directly connected to the hollow earth theory.
Our story begins less than a year after the events of Godzilla 2000. America is not in great shape. Most of the Midwest farmland was trampled by Godzilla and giant praying mantises. The economy is in shambles. Riots are commonplace as people protest the state of everything. The president has postponed the elections (this will never be addressed as the Earth shattering event it would actually be). America is losing hope.
What can revive the American spirit? Teenagers on a blimp, of course!
That’s what INN (our favorite 24 hour news network) has planned. They’ve stuffed it with teenage geniuses and two news reporters from previous books. The goal of the blimp is to fly to Antarctica for… science?
Of course, nothing goes as planned. Monsters such as Gigan, Megalon, Manda, and Hedorah appear around the world and send the globe into chaos. The entire communication network goes dark plunging the world into an isolated black out. Plus, those teens and their blimp are not able to do their science!
Instead they have to haul a group of soldiers to a hole that just opened up in the Antarctic. Those soldiers include a corporal who isn’t who he claims to be. Thankfully, the captain of the blimp is the brother-in-law of a scientist who proposed to send an expedition to the hollow earth. How convenient!
Godzilla goes and kicks some butt. The teens do some science. The blimp finally reaches the South Pole and proceeds to fly into a giant tunnel into a hidden crystalline city built by ancient beings. There we meet the villain of the piece and Biollante. Godzilla arrives, saves the day, and is trapped in the hollow earth. The world is saved.
Okay, growing up this was my favorite one of Cerasini’s books. Mostly because it has Anguirus, who is the best kaiju. Anguirus the Manguirus is now portrayed as a Russian monster and he finally gets to pwn Gigan all on his own. It’s so satisfying to read.
This book does away with the quick vignette model that Godzilla 2000 used, instead focusing on several viewpoints that converge, for the most part. Godzilla is a larger presence being the one that goes around and beats up the bad guys. All told, it feels like a good Godzilla movie.
However, I swear the characters were given more time to develop when I was a kid. Most of the characterization and the relationship between the teen geniuses are more implied than actually shown. As a kid reading this, my mind filled in the blanks and created story arcs that really weren’t there.
Everything just feels rushed too. They don’t even get into the hollow earth until the last chapter! I really feel like this book should have been three to four more chapters to let things breathe a bit.
Also, I need to point out a part that really stands out. I may be a crotchety old kaiju now, but does every character need to be a teenager? In the first book they were interns, doing intern things. That made sense for the story. The next one was basically Power Rangers, so okay.
But here we have the star reporter of the number one news show, computer genius, biology genius, soldier, engineer, and candlestick maker, and they’re all not even able to vote in that postponed presidential election. I mean, come on, everyone is a teenager? I get it, these books were written with young adults in mind, but it strains my suspension of disbelief that every single important person that saves the world is a teenager.
Godzilla vs. the Robot Monsters
Okay, we’re in the home stretch. Get it together, Ed, you can do this.
Book four’s cover promises Godzilla fighting Mechagodzilla! Now, I’m a huge Mechagodzilla fan, especially the OG one. So obviously this is going to be the best book of the bunch, right? Right?! Wait, why is it significantly shorter than the other ones? Oh, no…
Let’s first explain the four story lines. There is “evil terrorist going a little Ghengis Khan with a cyborg Ghidorah,” “Russia creating a giant robo-woodpecker,” “that one kid from the last book piloting Mechagodzilla,” and “a complex look at Native American culture, reservation life, and the conflicts that arise between Native Americans and an abusive government system that wishes to take advantage of them.” In a book about robot monsters, which one do you think the book is mainly about?
Yeah, this book is actually mostly about Native American life. This plot ties into Baragon, but honestly it’s practically completely divorced from the “robot monsters.” But this is where the majority of the novel is going to be focused, so get ready for a nuanced look at accepting one’s own culture and whether one should be willing to trade their people’s pride for their people’s survival.
Oh, and Godzilla, who was trapped in the center of the Earth, is only on page for like 5 pages. Now I know that in some of the best Godzilla movies (like Godzilla vs. Monster Zero) the Big Guy is only on screen for a few minutes, but this is ridiculous. This doesn’t feel like a Godzilla movie, but more like a movie where Godzilla just randomly shows up in the climatic scene as a cameo.
Now hear me out, that should make a story better. Imagine Romeo and Juliet where Juliet is about to stab herself with a dagger, but is stopped when Godzilla attacks Verona. That’s how you improve on a classic, but here Godzilla doesn’t do anything.
I honestly recommend pretending that Godzilla at World’s End was the final book. It becomes a nice little trilogy, and while there’s a bit of a cliffhanger, it still serves as a satisfying ending. This book was just a mess.
Godzilla and the Lost Continent
Here is where I would put my review… IF I HAD ONE!
While Godzilla vs. the Robot Monsters had a twelve page preview and a promise of “coming soon” this book never saw the light of day. As a kid I was so confused. There’s a cover! There’s a synopsis! I could go to the bookstore and preorder it! What do you mean it was canceled?
Turns out we never got an ending to the pentalogy because of Matthew “Worm Guy” Broderick. No, seriously, the 1998 American Godzilla movie did so poorly it caused Random House to pull the book at the last second. This interview with Marc Cerasini goes into more depth about it. Thanks, now I have another reason to hate that stupid iguana.
So, that ends our look at the Cerasini-verse. What did I think about rereading them? Well, they weren’t awful. In fact, there were some moments that these books were actually entertaining. They honestly felt like reading a Godzilla movie. I can understand why I loved them and why Godzilla fans still have a soft spot in their hearts for them.
Also, I am amazed by how tight the continuity was. Characters disappear and reappear between books. Events that happen in one have lasting impact. Nothing was just forgotten.
I wish we got to see what Cerasini had in store for Godzilla, but I’m glad we at least got these. If you are able to find them for a reasonable price online, and you’re a giant Godzilla nerd, then give them a shot. You’ll find a book worth getting lost in for an afternoon.