Venus is the second of the four inner planets of the Solar System. It is a planet which is known for its extremely hostile environment and proximity to the Sun. Venus is repeatedly mentioned in the 1964 Godzilla film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.
History
Showa era
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
At some point long before the events of the film, Venus was home to a vast and heavily-developed ecosystem, complete with an advanced intelligent race of its own, the Venusians. King Ghidorah appeared from space and attacked the planet, destroying all traces of civilization within the timespan of three Earth days, as well as murdering 99% of the Venusian race. The remaining Venusians that escaped traveled to Earth, where they interbred with the native humans and over time lost their identity and unique mental abilities. Several years later, the spirit of one of the fallen Venusians possessed the Princess of Selgina, and convinced her that she was the last surviving individual from the spirit's civilization's cataclysm. Selina then began to prophetically warn the people on Earth of Ghidorah's imminent arrival.
Trivia
- The depiction of Venus possessing a developed civilization is similar to what people believed the planet to be like. Owing to Venus's similar size to Earth and other factors such as mythology and its status as the 'morning star,' people believed it to possess similar conditions, when the opposite was true. By the time Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was released, scientists had deduced that conditions on the planet were unsuitable for life. During the 1950s and 60s, Earth scientists had better understanding of the conditions, with the Soviets being able to land a probe on Venus after multiple failures, and the Americans making plans for a mission where a space capsule with a crew would travel to Venus, orbit the planet then return to Earth, known as the Manned Venus Flyby. Plans for this were suspended due to the prohibitively high cost, and American attention being shifted to the Moon.
- In the American dub for Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, all references to Venus are changed to refer to Mars instead.
- According to the novelization of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the Futurians discovered the preserved corpse of King Ghidorah on the surface of Venus and harvested its genetic material, using it to engineer the Dorats.