Giant Condor
The Giant Condor or Ookondoru (Japanese: 大コンドル, Hepburn: Ōkondoru), also known as the Giant Eagle (Japanese: 大ワシ, Hepburn: Ōwashi), is a Japanese monster, or kaiju, featured very briefly in the 1966 Godzilla film Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
Overview
Design
Shinichi Sekizawa created the Giant Condor as a reference to the Pteranodon seen in the original 1933 film King Kong. Rankin-Bass rejected the script, but since Toho had already started making the sets and props for the film, they swapped Kong with Godzilla as the opponent to face off against, and Toho carried on with production of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
The Giant Condor was portrayed using a remodeled Rodan prop which appeared in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) and Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), following its use as the monster Litra in Tsuburaya Productions' TV series Ultra Q.
Film history
Showa era (1966-1969)
Originally, the Giant Condor was meant to be an opponent for King Kong, as he originally featured in the script for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, but was replaced with Godzilla during production.
In Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, as Dayo made her escape from Godzilla, the Giant Condor soared overhead. She cried out to alert Godzilla just before the bird descended on him. After a fierce scuffle, Godzilla sets it ablaze with his atomic breath, sending its charred corpse plummeting into the ocean.
In All Monsters Attack, the Giant Condor appeared as the Giant Eagle where it is killed by Godzilla again, but this time while Godzilla was wandering around his home of Monster Island.
Millennium era (2004)
The Giant Condor was proposed to appear in the 2004 film Godzilla: Final Wars, but the plans were discarded from the film.
Appearances
Films
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
- All Monsters Attack (1969; stock footage)
Video games
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019)
Books
- GODZILLA: Project Mechagodzilla