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Heisei Memories

The Heisei Era is over. Emperor Akihito stepped down at the end of April and was replaced by his son, ushering in the Reiwa Era. For Godzilla fans though, the Heisei Era ended with the death of Godzilla in 1995 after an epic battle with the monster Destoroyah. Heck, the tagline of that film was even GODZILLA DIES!

For me though, the Heisei Era of Godzilla was mostly unknown at the time. Sure, I had seen Godzilla 1985 on VHS after it was released. In a pre-internet age though, there was little way to know that Toho had kept making Godzilla films without being in the know. That’s where Bootleg Bob comes in.

Bob isn’t one person, it was a collective name given to the shady VHS dealers you would see at Sci-Fi, Comic Book and Fantasy Conventions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I encountered by first of these at the Dallas Fantasy Fair in 1992. I was big into comics at the time and was thrilled that Todd McFarlane was going to be there so I could get my first issue of Spawn signed.

After getting my comic signed and talking to Mr. McFarlane for a moment (he was pretty cool), I wandered around. That’s when a table filled with VHS tapes and a TV (a small CRT model) playing a strange movie caught my eye. The movie featured Military guys shooting each other over something called G-Cells. Then someone mentioned GODZILLA! I was floored. This was clearly a new film than the ones I was familiar with (I was a pretty big Godzilla fan even then) but I had never even heard of it. I asked the guy what it was and he told me it was Godzilla vs. Biollante and he was selling it for $20 a tape. He also let me know there were other newer films like a new fight with Ghidorah!

I had to have it but I couldn’t afford it so I went away empty handed. The next time, I was ready though and I bought two tapes at the next con, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla. Mind you, it was 2 years before I got to go to another so this was a big deal for me.

This is about the time I first heard the term Heisei being used in regards to these movies. It was what this series was being called and only later did I find out it was because it was also the name of the reign of the current Japanese Emperor. I had to have them all! All of these new Godzilla adventures. Heck, I even discovered that some of the older ones were available thanks to Bob in Japanese with Subtitles! I could finally see these movies without the dubbing? YES PLEASE!

In my head I knew these were not legit copies of these films. The covers were photocopies or printed on color printers. The tapes were off the shelf brand name tapes with printed labels and the quality of the films ranged from ok to pretty awful. Heck, the first time I saw Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was on a camrip from the theater showing with no subtitles!

Still, these films reignited my passion for Godzilla and pretty much lead into my discovery of Tokusatsu in general. For that reason, I consider the Heisei Era of Godzilla my Godzilla era. It still brings back the fondest memories of the hunt for all of them and the haggling with bootleg dealers. Those dealers have moved on, some of them have gone legit and run actual video stores that cater to Japanese interests. Some have faded into obscurity but their legacy will never be forgotten, at least not in the heart of this aging fan.

So long Heisei Era, you will never be forgotten.