10 Things You Might Not Know About the Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record by Patrick Kelley
Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record is a two volume series that examines the fight history throughout Godzilla’s film career.
Title: Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record SeriesAuthor: Patrick Kelley
Publication Date:
Pages: Volume 1 - 309, Volume 2 - 430Genre: Nonfiction/Reference
Godzilla: The Monster Fight Record is a two-volume series that provides a history of all the monster battlesthroughout the Godzilla film series. After seven decades and almostforty films, Godzilla has earned the title of King of the Monsters. TheGodzilla films have showcased the King’s legendary battles withlarger-than-life opponents like the three-headed King Ghidorah, thewinged guardian Mothra, his robotic doppelganger Mechagodzilla, and theoriginal giant monster star King Kong. The Monster Fight Record analyzes these titanic battles to determine an informed and accurate win-lossrecord for Godzilla and all of his monster co-stars. Fans of kaiju andclassic science fiction films will enjoy a trip down memory lane whilealso getting a sports-style analysis of the monster battles, completewith statistics and win percentages for each beast.
Buy Links:
Amazon Book 1 | Amazon Book 2 | Barnes & Noble
10 Things You Might Not Know About the Godzilla: The Monster FightRecord
1. Work on the books began in 2020. Patrick, who had never felt compelledto write a book before, found himself bored and filled with pent-up energyduring the COVID lockdowns. Living alone and unable to go anywhere, Patrickpassed the time by watching and rewatching the classic Godzilla movies. Thisexperience triggered memories of seeing a Godzilla win/loss record on theinternet back in 1996, which led him to think about a full process fordetermining a record for the King of the Monsters. Simply put, if COVID didn’thappen, then these books might not exist.
2. The original intention for the book was to have a comprehensive scopeto include all forms of Godzilla media, including TV shows, comic books,novels, manga, and anything else that could add to Godzilla’s overall fightrecord. After looking at the full outline, Patrick determined that this scopewas so huge that it would make the finished project too long. Because of that,only the relevant films were included in scope.
3. The 1st draft of the manuscript was over a 1000 pages long!After receiving critical feedback regarding the book’s length, Patrick decidedto trim some unnecessary chapters and sections of the book and then ultimatelysplit it into two volumes.
4. Patrick’s goal was to have the two volumes published before therelease of the newest Godzilla film. There are two Godzilla films on thehorizon: Godzilla: Minus One, set forrelease in November 2023, and Godzilla xKong: The New Empire, due to be released in April 2024. Patrick publishedthe books in August, just months before the release of Godzilla: Minus One.
5. The scope for the book excludes the King Kong films that do notconnect to the Godzilla series. Patrick has considered writing a similar bookabout Kong’s fight record but is hesitant to subject himself to rewatching thelesser Kong films, most notably the animated musical, The Mighty Kong.
6. In addition to the thirty-six feature length Godzilla films, the scopeof analysis includes fifteen non-Godzilla films that include his variousco-stars. This list includes Rodan, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, The War of theGargantuas, The Mothra Trilogy, and Kong:Skull Island.
7. Godzilla vs. Kong was the newest Godzilla movie included inthe scope of these books. It was also the first movie Patrick saw in theatersafter the COVID Lockdowns and was the first movie-night date with Jessica, histhen-girlfriend, now wife.
8. Based on the analysis performed on Godzilla’s fight history for thisbook, only one monster has a winning record over Godzilla.
9. There are three forewords included in both volumes. One is by BarryGoldberg, webmaster of classic Godzilla fan site, “Barry’s Temple of Godzilla,”JP Lemay, author of several Godzilla books, including The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies 3 volume series, andJames Rolfe, head of Cinemassacre.com and star of the famous web series, The Angry Video Game Nerd.
10. Be sure to read the footnotes in both volumes. A lot of references,jokes, and sidebars are found there.
About the Author
Patrick Kelley was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is alifelong monster movie fan. He spent his childhood becoming familiarwith the classics like Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, King Kong,the works of Ray Harryhausen, and of course his favorite, Godzilla. Hismany other hobbies include sports (particularly Football), movies, andtelevision, but when he’s not indulging in those activities, he enjoysspending time with his lovely wife and newborn daughter.
Visit Patrick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/patrickgbook.
