An atomic explosion awakens Gammera--a giant, fire-breathing turtle monster--from his millions of years of hibernation. Enraged at being roused from such a sound sleep, he takes it out on Tokyo.
　　Shot in black and white, this 1965 Japanese monster movie was the Daiei company's answer to Toho's famous Godzilla series. A skirmish between U.S. and unknown "enemy" planes results in an atomic explosion over the Arctic which unthaws and unleashes the giant flying turtle Gamera, who eventually settles into Japan to wreak havoc while seeking out hydro-electric sustenance. However, this fire-eating (and breathing) behemoth displays a compassionate streak when he saves the life of a young boy who nearly falls to his death from a toppled lighthouse. Panicky scientists and military officials vainly try to find ways to destroy Gamera while the boy seeks to bond with his misunderstood reptilian hero. Like many of its celluloid Japanese monster brethren, Giant Monster Gamera has not aged all that well, but the well-staged and photographed assault on Tokyo makes for festive mayhem. Overall the film is good entertainment for young kids as well as the inner children of the adults who grew up on these monster mashes.
　　An atomic bomb blast is detonated as American and Soviet forces clash, awakening Gammera, an immense prehistoric turtle-like creature, from his eons of slumber. The enraged beast wanders the arctic wilderness annihilating all traces of humanity in his path. The horrible devastation incites an international panic and world leaders convene to devise a strategy to eliminate the beast. The most advanced and powerful weapons in mankind's arsenal are useless against Gammera and merely provoke the awesome monster to greater acts of destruction. Faced with major cities in ruin and global carnage beyond imagination, the world's top scientists combine forces to develop Plan Z - a final desperate chance for human survival. Originally released in Japan as Daikaiju Gamera, the film was the first of eight installments starring the mighty turtle.