THE ALIENS OF THE SHOWA TOHO UNIVERSE: COMMON ORIGINS?

by Den Valdron Edited and supplmented by Chris N (additions in blue text )

Special thanks to the forum and creative crew over at Toho Kingdom for their assistance to the author

ANCIENT LEMURIA

The movie Atragon shows us an underground civilization called Mu, beneath the Pacific, now bent on extending its Empire and with a guardian monster, Manda.

And if that wasn't enough, in Godzilla vs Megalon, we meet another lost underground civilization located under the Pacific Ocean who call themselves the Seatopians. Like Mu, they possess a guardian monster, in this case, Megalon. The Seatopians seem to differ from the Muans in that they are much more isolationist, wanting only to be left alone. They also seem to be located physically closer to Japan (see Further Ruminations below) .

Well, it's almost certain that two separate undersea civilizations in the same hemisphere, both of which feature guardian monsters and levels of technology as high, or higher than, the modern world despite their isolation, are related.

The most reasonable assumption is that the Seatopians and Muans are both the descendents of a surface kingdom, Lemuria, which existed before recorded history and sank beneath the waves. Given the degree of technology which each isolated society has, and their predilection for giant monsters, its not unlikely that they both inherited these characteristics from ancient Lemuria.

Thus, giant monsters and high technology can be seen as ancient Lemurian traits.

MARTIANS

Yes Virginia, there are, or at least, there were (once upon a time) Martians.

We learn this in Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster. Apparently, thousands of years ago, Mars was visited by King Ghidorah and wiped clean of life.

The surviving Martians made their way to Earth, settled down, and vanished into the population, the bulk of them forming the small but wealthy nation of Saladia , and forgetting even that they ever hailed from the red planet, until the reappearance of King Ghidorah awakened "genetic" memories.

Okay, think about this: Martians, an alien race, settles on Earth... and we don't notice? The Martians blend in on Earth because they're indistinguishable from human in just about every respect, except for buried racial memories. Hell, the Martians are indistinguishable from ethnic Japanese. Well, obviously, that means that the Martians are human, and were originally human, which means that they must have originally came from Earth.

The most sensible explanation is that the Martians were actually a Lemurian colony. The Lemurians achieved space travel, went out into the solar system, and founded colonies. Some time after the collapse of the Lemurian civilization, King Ghidorah attacked the Martian colony, destroyed it, and the survivors fled back to the homeworld. However, Lemuria was long gone, so they settled on some islands and formed their own little culture, eventually becoming the nation of Saladia by the late 20th century, losing most of their history in the process.

MYSTERIANS

First, what do we really know about the Mysterians? They seem clearly and obviously human in shape, morphology, dress (for the most part), and language. They're sexually and genetically compatible with humans, as demonstrated in their need for human women. Their habitat requirements are for air, which is functionally identical to the terrestrial atmosphere, and roughly Earth-type gravity. So, the only conclusion is that they're human.

Of course, you may argue that the Lemurians never got much beyond the solar system, while the Mysterians are from another star... but are they?

It occurs to me that the only thing that the Mysterians say about their home, Mysteroid, is that it was destroyed by nuclear war.

Given that the Mysterian invasion force is a relatively small contingent, it's tempting to suspect that their world itself was relatively small in comparison to Earth's population. Further, there are signs that the Mysterians themselves exhibit a very small ethnic gene pool...particularly in their need for human women to replenish their genetic stock.

The notion that their atomic war contaminated only their women seems laughable. Surely a radiation effect strong enough to sterilize one sex would put paid to the other. The more likely explanation is that the Mysterians' biological stock originated from a very small sample, and over time, has been depleted.

Well, there is nothing to say that Mysteroid could not be some known or unknown body in the solar system that we know. Conceivably, it might be a former asteroid, now blown to pieces. Or it might be an enduring asteroid or perhaps a moon of one of the four Gas Giants, or even a trans-Plutonian planetoid/mini-planet like Sedna.

If we simply confine ourselves to known large objects 90 miles in diameter or so, beyond the orbit of Mars, then we have perhaps ten known asteroids, six Jovian moons, ten Saturnian, five Uranian, four Neptunian, beyond Neptune there is at the very least, Pluto and its companion Charon, Quaoar, and the mysterious Sedna (a recent trans-Plutonian planet or planetoid which, like Mars, has a mysterious red-hued surface ). Essentially, there are, excluding the inner Sol solar system, some 38 potential planetoids.

My suggestion then, is that the Mysterians are not an extrasolar invader, but rather, that they originate within the system. They're a colony of Lemuria, established most likely within the asteroid belt extant between Mars and Jupiter, which was set adrift with other Lemurian colonies by the collapse of that civilization on Earth.

Like Seatopia and Mu, the Mysterians seem to be oriented towards utilizing dai kaiju as bio-weaponry, although in their case, they have to make do with a giant robot, Moguera (a second such giant robotic Moguera was briefly seen in the Japenese version of The Mysterians) .

However, the Simeons (a.k.a., the "black hole aliens") also employ giant robots (Mechagodzilla 1), and the Nebulans use a cyborg kaiju (Gigan).

If we actually set Mysteroid within the Sol system, should we then ask ourselves: how did we miss a nuclear war destroying their world? Well, what if it took place out in the asteroid belt or beyond? We now know that there are active volcanoes on the Jovian moons, something that we could not detect from Earth until very recently. If our telescopes are not sufficient to detect a volcanic eruption on Ganymede, they probably wouldn't spot a nuclear explosion even as close as Ceres. Further to which, even now, we don't have telescopes constantly trained on Ceres, Juno, and other large Jovian moons. Such a phenomenon would be relatively easy to miss, even now.

We should also note that if their nuclear holocaust occurred in the 1950's, or perhaps as early as the '30's or '40's, technology on Earth was even more primitive and thus less likely to detect it than today. We don't know the timetable of the Mysteroid holocaust, so for all we might speculate, it could have taken place as early as the 19th or even 18th century.

If, however, we locate the Mysterians in the solar system, then other pieces start to fall into place in our puzzle. I'll return to that later.

First, one observation, borrowed from Chris N: It appears that in the Toho Showa continuity, at least certain areas of technology moved dramatically ahead of our own. Maser/Markelite technology, various sorts of exotic weapons, exotic craft, giant robots, and intrasolar (i.e., sub-light) space travel are included in this. Particularly in terms of space travel, it appears that the space program was heavily under U.N. jurisdiction, that it reached the moon at least 12 years earlier than in "our" universe, that it established permanent space stations and a moon base, as well as sending manned expeditions even further, all by the late 20th century.

Chris N suggests that this came about in part through exposure to and reverse engineering of captured alien technology, particularly that of the Myserian invasion of 1957. I accept this.

XIANS/XILIANS

The Xians, who also appear indistinguishable from humans, who are sexually compatible with humans, and who breathe the same air and enjoy the same gravity, must also be considered human. And they can also be considered a Lemurian colony, albeit like the Mysterians, a warlike/imperialistic and curiously mechanistic civilization.

With respect to the Xians and their warlike, mechanistic nature, two things seem suggestive. One is that the Xians at least occasionally control King Ghidorah, which either accidentally or deliberately plundered the Martian colony and drove them back to Earth. This is suspicious.

King Ghidorah did not follow the Martians to Earth, and there is no record of the tri-headed monster attacking our world in ancient times (unless such an incident was relegated to one of the colorful dragon legends of Japan's past, which included the many-headed dragon Orochi and the latter's defeat by the legendary supernaturally powered hero Yamato Takeru, as depicted in The Three Treasures) . Why did King Ghidorah wait thousands upon thousands of years to move to our nearby planet from Mars? And, being driven from Earth by Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, how does he wind up in the control of the Xians? Unless, we assume that Ghidorah has been under the control of the Xians or similar races for a long, long time.

It seems reasonable to assume that the Martians were the losers in a Martian/Xian war in which King Ghidorah was used.

Next, we have the Mysterians, who note that their society was destroyed by war, and who are now, like the Martians before them, forced to flee to Earth.

Well, why should we assume that the Mysterians destroyed their own world? Perhaps the real story is that the Mysterians and Xians were long time rivals in the asteroid belt, and that the Mysterians were finally defeated.

This might explain the Xians' long term cloaking of their world, which otherwise saw no threat from Earth. Juggernauts need not hide from ants. The fact that they chose to cloak themselves suggests that there were rival Lemurian colonies. And, in fact, when we consider that all of these colonies had been around for a long time, this might explain why, and for how long, this Lemurian expatriate colony had cloaked itself.

The peculiar status of Lemurian colonies on small rocky worlds in the asteroid belt may explain much about the Mysterian and Xian societies. Their rigorous, disciplined quality and their spartan, mechanistic philosophy all make sense as the products of relatively tiny societies living in isolation in a harsh environment. Both have clearly diverged culturally a vast degree from their Lemurian ancestors, but then, they've had at least ten thousand years to do so.

It also seems reasonable to assume that King Ghidorah's first attack upon the Earth was also covertly under the direction of the Xians. If this is true, then the Xians can be seen to have attacked Earth twice. Why do this, after ignoring the mother world for so many thousands of years? They didn't even bother to send Ghidorah after the refugee Martians all those centuries ago.

There's a simple explanation. The Xians' attention was drawn to Earth by the Mysterians' flight to and attempt to relocate here. Further, the Xians were shocked when the Earth Defense Force defeated the Mysterians, and arguably began to inherit and understand Mysterian technology. For the first time since the fall of Lemuria, the Xians began to perceive Earth as a threat.

We know that the Xians' world is a concealed planetoid within the asteroid belt simply referred to as "Planet X." So it's not too unlikely that the Mysterians' 'planet' or planetoid was within the same belt, particularly if the two worlds were at war and the Xians were the ones who devestated the Mysterians' world.

NEBULANS

Next up is a clear and definitive non-human race. The Nebulans may diguise themselves as humans, but in actuality they are highly evolved, sentient cockroach-like insects. Their world, they tell us, suffers from terrible pollution and environmental degradation. They're interested in relocating.

Now, I haven't watched Godzilla vs Gigan lately, which is the only appearance of the Nebulans (unless you count their brief, behind-the-scenes appearance in Godzilla vs. Megalon, when they "loan" the services of Gigan to the Seatopians; see below) . Chris N suggests that they did not create their own civilization, nor did they evolve naturally. Rather, they and their civilization were both the products of lost 'humanoid' culture. I'm not sure if this is to be found in the movie, but I'm prepared to accept it. [It was alluded to in the film by the Nebulans-- CN]

There is a suggestive connection to ancient Lemuria and the other colonies in that like the Xians and Mysterians, and like the Muans and Seatopians, they too have a guardian monster. One that they have used technology to transform into a powerful cyborg. Thus, the Nebulans in this respect are midway between the Xians and Mysterians. This is a fairly distinctive feature to arise independently in five different cultures, unless all five had inherited the technological choice from a root culture.

It also seems interesting that the Xians and Nebulans shared or at different times obtained control over King Ghidorah. Meanwhile, the Nebulons were perfectly happy to share their cyborg, Gigan, with a confirmed lost Lemurian colony, the Seatopians. Thus, it would appear, these societies were verifiably linked and in contact, communication or rivalry with each other to some degree.

It would thereby appear to be conclusive that the Nebulans are themselves a lost Lemurian colony.

But how to explain the discrepancies? How did a nonhuman species replace the humans? And what of their references to the perils or locations of their homeworlds, which seem to preclude the Sol system?

First, in terms of explaining how they came about, we must remember that the Lemurian colonies within the solar system were tightly contained habitats established within or upon small, rocky, barren, inhospitable worlds. They did not have the luxury of a vast and bountiful world with free water and free atmosphere like that enjoyed by the inhabitants of Earth.

Rather, their populations were necessarily small, perhaps a few thousand or a few million. Resources were limited, constantly recycled, and the population existed at the limits of these resources. Pollution or mistakes were far, far more serious than their equivalents on Earth, because even a minor problem is huge in a small pool. Things were so tight that their environments had little opportunity to regenerate.

On Earth, if you cut down a forest, there are invariably more trees somewhere else... Except on a vulnerable isolated area like Easter Island, where cutting the trees spelled disaster. Easter Island was so remote that in practical terms, there was no forest anywhere else, or at least, nowhere that could be reached. Thus, losing their forest was an irredeemable calamity.

The Lemurian colonies in space may be considered to be similar to that the former inhabitants of Easter Island, so remote and isolated, so constrained in resources, that calamity was just around the corner. Some may be more remote than others. The colonies among the asteroids or the Jovian moons have, at least, other small planetoids that they can mine and seek essentials on. Beyond Neptune, however, it gets very empty.

The Lemurian colonies were smaller worlds, with limits on their life-sustaining resources. For the Mysterians and the Xians, this resulted in regimented, almost mechanistic societies. For the Martians, this had resulted in the eventual abandonment of their home.

In this context, we can easily see Lemurian colonies trying to stretch their resources, to do more with less, by enlisting or biologically engineering hardy servants (much as the ancient Muan/Lemurian society on Earth had done in regards to biological engineering) .

Thus, the Nebulans, facing a diminishing or deteriorating habitat, attempted to reverse the tide by engineering a servant race of intelligent insects who could tolerate the degraded habitat and might therefore profitably be used to rehabilitate it to the ultimate benefit of the human population. As it turns out, their gamble lost, they passed into extinction, leaving only their servants to struggle with a world they'd poisoned. [It has been claimed elsewhere that the humanoid Nebulans didn't bio-engineer the insectoid race, but the latter rapidly evolved into sentient, greatly intelligent organisms on their own following the extinction of the humanoid race due to both exposure to the mutagenic toxins now saturating that world and the sudden environmenal "niche" left for them now that the formerly dominant humanoid race was no longer extant...it is this explanation that I personally accept, though cogent arguments can be made in favor of Den's theory, of course --CN]

But what about the inconsistencies? The Nebulans claim that their world is in the Hunter M Nebula? Perhaps this is merely bad translations, or connected to the difficulties of discerning locations in space. Perhaps, in reality, the Nebulans were simply using the location of a known space feature visible from Earth, to give an idea of where their world is in terms of Earth's sky. Their world would be too obscure to be picked out with the naked eye. Much easier to simply say, "Our world lies in the direction of the Hunter M Nebula, as seen from Earth."

This, by the way, gives us a clue as to the location of the Nebulans. Obviously, if they were associated with one of the Gas Giants, they would use that as a frame of reference. The fact that they don't tells us that they're either in the asteroid belt, or out there beyond in the Kuiper Belt, or perhaps around Pluto, Charon, Quaoar, or Sedna.

Since Sedna was an unknown world on Earth at this time, it or a similar but still undiscovered celestial body might be the best bet.

We don't know why the Nebulans made only a single attempt to take Earth. Perhaps it was simple distance, or limited resources, or they were easily discouraged.

THE SIMEONS

Following along on Chris N, for convenience, I'll call them "Simeons," because of their resemblance to apes. [These aliens have been referred to as the "Simeons" in various texts, including the alternate reality version of these pongoid aliens seen the GODZILLA comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics during the '90's, even though the Showa version never referred themselves as such in either of their two film appearances --CN]

It appears that the Simeons employed technology to create giant robotic monsters as did the Mysterians, while the Nebulons turned their fully organic dai kaiju into a cybernetic organism. This is a fairly distinctive set of technological choices to arise independently in three different cultures, unless all three had inherited the technological choice from a root culture (as noted above). And of course, in their second invasion attempt, they create both a human cyborg and enlist an organic kaiju, Titanosaurus. This ties them further to the Xians and Nebulans, as well as the Seatopians and Muans.

It also seems particularly suggestive that the Nebulans and Simeons had overlapping or identical technology, allowing them to disguise themselves as humans. These disguises were not just simple masks and costumes, but literally organic looking sheaths that covered their bodies, could fool ordinary humans, and could even appear to bleed if damaged.

As with the Nebulans, however, we come to various inconsistencies. How does a non-human race replace a human one? How do we reconcile the descriptions given by the Simeons of their world as being third from the sun and menaced by a black hole?

Like the Nebulans, and like every other Lemurian colony, the Simeons planetoid was isolated in space, trapped on a hostile and largely barren world. However, they were probably not as bad off or as isolated as the Nebulans. The Lemurian Colony of the Simeons was perhaps richer and more blessed. These people had the luxury to create a menial servant class to do their hard labour, while they reserved the higher pursuits to themselves. Or perhaps it was not seen as a luxury, but merely good sense to create a disposable menial labouring class, even if it meant reducing their own population slightly. This must have eventually resulted in their being supplanted by their own creations. In time, the Simeons' world became a Planetoid of the Apes.

[The article "The Aliens Of Godzilla" from G-FAN #62 and various info depicted in Terror Of Mechagodzilla strongly suggest that the former humanoid rulers were dominated and oppressed as the new servant class by their genetically engineered bipedal simian race, and many of the humanoids had horribly scarred visages, possibly as the result of constant torture by their demonstrably brutal and sadistic servants-turned-rulers...at least some of these scarred humanoids were involved in the Simeons' second invasion attempt of Earth from the aforementioned G-film, and they wore highly realistic-looking human masks seemingly composed from a latex-like substance to blend into the population; one of them unmasked and displayed his true scarred visage in the Japanese version of the above G-film --CN]

Trickier to explain is how the Simeons' planetoid could be in our solar system. Their world, according to them, is menaced by a wandering interstellar body whose immense gravity, a veritable black hole, threatens to destroy their home.

Well, obviously nothing like that was happening in the Sol system, or we would have noticed. Hey, we humans may not be all that observant, but we would certainly sit up and pay attention if a super-heavy remnant of a collapsed star wandered into our star system and started playing havoc.

Oddly enough, within two or three years of the failed Simeon invasions, that is exactly what happened to Earth. In 1977, Earth's space forces encountered, in the vicinity of Saturn, a small runaway planet which some scientists believed to be the ultra-heavy core of a collapsed star, a black body no longer emitting significant amounts of light, that had somehow run amok in our solar system, which was continously adding to its mass by devouring space debris, and whose gravity well posed a major threat. If Gorath isn't a mobile Einsteinian black hole, the difference may be hard to spot. [In this editor's opinion, Gorath more resembled a somehow mobile neutron star than a black hole, the latter of which is a form of spatial point singularity rather than an actual physical body with measurable mass --CN]

So massive was Gorath and so dangerous its gravity, that faced with the choice, scientists could only attempt to move Earth out of its path. This in itself is a stunning clue as to just how massive and dangerous Gorath was. If its mass had been less than that of Earth, or even substantially similar or greater, it would seem to have been far safer and less disruptive all around to push Gorath out of the collision course. In deciding to move Earth from its stately orbit, Earth's scientists acknowledged that the wandering, drifting planet was so immensely heavy that all our resources would be insufficient to so much as shove it a few degrees from its course.

It's a hell of a coincidence that Earth and the Simeon world would both be faced with such similar menaces in such a close span of time. And it's a pretty amazing coincidence that the Simeons would choose to try and invade a world that was about to suffer the same fate they were fleeing. Rather, it is much more likely that, in Gorath, we find the stellar object that so terrified the Simeons.

Earth's encounter with Gorath also explains why the Simeons apparently gave up on their quest to conquer Earth after only two attempts. Obviously, after their second attempt, one of three things happened to them:

1) They refined their calculations of Gorath's trajectory and discovered to their horror that Earth was in its path. There was no point in going on with the conquest if their new home was going to be destroyed shortly after their old home. They abandoned their invasion and returned to their world to concoct a new escape plan or to meet their fate.

2) Gorath got them before they were able to come up with a third invasion attempt.

3) Perhaps the Simeons managed to avoid their fate, and having saved their society or their world (perhaps in the same way Earth was saved), they then lapsed into their dozy provincial slumber.

Gorath gives us a clue as to the location of the Simeons' world: They are definitely out beyond the orbit of Jupiter, since a year or two after their failed invasions, Gorath is only then approaching Saturn. Arguably, if they were around Jupiter, they might never be in danger, and would at the very least, still have a few more years to save their hirsute hides.

Arguably, they may be established on one of Saturn's moons, or perhaps Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Quaoar, or Sedna. My own view, is that Saturn is the most likely candidate, for reasons I'll now delve into.

We know that Gorath has approached Saturn. On the other hand, the other gas giants and Plutonian and trans-Plutonian bodies are all scattered over the ecliptic, toddling along in their long, slow, and occasionally eccentric orbits. There's no evidence that Gorath has approached near any of them, and in fact, Gorath might require a very bizarre and erratic trajectory to even pass by one or two before it reaches Saturn. Worse, Gorath is so massive that even if it were to pass close to or destroy the Pluto/Charon worlds or Sedna, its trajectory would not be altered in the slightest. Remember, these worlds are tiny compared to Earth, and when it comes to Gorath, it's far easier to move Earth out of the way than it is to try and push Gorath even a degree off course.

Even Uranus and Neptune might not be sufficiently massive to alter Gorath's course, at least not without being knocked out of orbit themselves, and if that had happened, Gorath would have been spotted long before it reached Saturn.

Which leaves us with the conclusion that the way the outer planets are scattered around, there is no way that Gorath could have encountered more than one other planet on its straight trajectory, before it reached Saturn.

The titanic distances involved also factor in. Saturn is ten astronomical units from the Sun (an astronomical unit is the distance between the sun and the Earth; thus, 10 astronomical units equal ten times the distance from the sun to the earth). Uranus is twenty. Neptune is thirty. At its closest, Uranus is the same distance from Saturn as Saturn is from the Sun, while Neptune is twice as far from Saturn and Saturn is from the sun. These are minimum distances, since they are not always at their closest. So Neptune and Uranus might well be several times further from Saturn, forty or fifty astronomical units.

Gorath has to travel that distance. We can assume it's travelling quickly, but we can also assume that as it approaches the sun it speeds up. Therefore, within ten astronomical units of the sun, it's probably moving twice as quickly as it was beyond twenty astronomical units of the sun.

Realistically then, we can certainly rule out Quaoar, Sedna, Pluto/Charon, and Neptune. Gorath would have devoured them well before the time of the Simeons' two attempts to annex the Earth. Even Uranus is a remote long shot. No, the most likely hypothesis is that the Simeons are from one of the Saturnian moons.

KILAAKS

The Killaaks are clearly and absolutely nonhuman. But, they share two very strange traits with some of the other cultures that we've now identified as lost Lemurian Colonies.

1) Like the Simeons and the Nebulans, they are adept at creating human 'sheaths' or disguises, which have the full appearance of living and breathing persons of apparent ethnic Japanese origin. One wonders for what purpose they would have developed this technology for in the first place, since in their environment, there seems no obvious use for it. Obviously, a hell of a coincidence. One wonders if they're not using the same technology, and if so, have they borrowed it from one of the other races, or do all three races inherit it from the same technological source?

2) Like the Mysterians, Seatopians, Xians, Simeons, and Nebulans, the Kilaaks' culture seems oriented to using and manipulating dai kaiju (and even cybernetically controlling them) as weapons of war and conquest. In fact, not only do they seek to control kaiju, but almost ridiculously, they control the same kaiju: King Ghidorah, previously employed by the Xians and the Nebulans and instrumental in thrashing the Martians.

The Ghidorah link ties together at least four known alien races, which suggests that either King Ghidorah is a cosmic tramp, or that the mighty space kaiju (or at least its control) is part of a common heritage. At the very least, it suggests some sort of link or communication between these apparently diverse races.

The Kilaaks, regardless of how profoundly alien they seem to be as silicon-based life forms, they appear to be inextricably linked to the Lemurian colonies.

So, what are they really? All of the other known or suspected Lemurian colonies seem to recede deep into space. Thus, the Martians on Mars, the Xians in the asteroid belt, the Simeons at Saturn or beyond, etc.

The Kilaaks, on the other hand, seem adapted for an extremely hot world, and decidedly non-terrestrial conditions.

My theory then, is that the Kilaaks were actually designed by the Lemurians as an artificial life form used to colonize the planet Mercury, whose savage conditions rendered it otherwise off-limits to the Lemurian culture. The 'disguises' used by the Kilaaks, Simeons, and Nebulans may have actually been pioneered by the Lemurians to provide a 'human seeming' interface so that they could relate and deal with their most profoundly alien creations at times.

We note that the Lemurian technology was adept at creating biological wonders. So in our view, the Kilaaks would be well within the abilities of the Lemurians at the peak of their advancement, and the Simeons and Nebulans still within the capacities of even the diminished Lemurian colonies.

If the Kilaaks are within our solar system, then we have a motivation for them to attack Earth. They're happy being left alone, but by 1999, they know that the spatially expanding Earth society may not leave them alone. Earth spaceships will be visiting their world.

PEACELANDERS AND GAROGAIN

I will, however, finish by dealing with two final alien races. I've left them to the end because I have no direct familiarity with them, as they feature in a television series set in the Toho Showa Universe that I have never seen: Zone Fighter, The Meteor Man.

The first alien race occupied an idyllic world whose name translates into English as 'Peaceland'. What is significant about the people of Peaceland is that they seem physically indistinguishable from human, particularly Japanese humans, to the extent of being able to blend into the population of modern Tokyo.

This suggests that not only are the Peacelanders human, but they may be ethnically related to the Martians (who can also pass for Japanese), as well as the Xians (whose females at least can pass easily for Japanese), as well as the Mysterians. In short, they're all probably derived from the same ancestral root stock, the Lemurians. (Of course, by this token, we're forced to the inevitable conclusion that Japan itself is, ethnically at least, yet another Lemurian colony, albeit one which descended into mysticism and barbarism following the Lemurian collapse, unlike the other two terrestrial Lemurian relics...and just for the hell of it, we'll note that the Kilaaks, Simeons, and Nebulans' 'human-seeming' disguises all appear to be ethnically Japanese, even when there's no apparent reason for it, suggesting that their original templates were Lemurian).

Now, given that the Peacelanders are the descendants of an ancient spacegoing civilization likely confined to the Sol system, and all of whose other survivors are arguably confined to the solar system, we can reasonably place Peaceland somewhere in the Sol system.

We can even make some guesses as to where they were located. Obviously, they probably weren't in the asteroid belt, or they'd have fallen afoul of the Xians or their rivals, the Mysterians.

We can rule out Mars or Mercury, already respectively inhabited or ruled by their own Lemurian-derived cultures.

Since the Simeons' invasions took place after the Zone Wars, we can assume that their society resisted or was not in danger from the Garogain empire. And neither the Garogain nor the Peacelanders seemed particularly worried about the menace posed by the rogue collapsed star Gorath. This suggests that the Simeons probably orbited a different Gas Giant sub-system than the Garogain and Peacelanders.

Their world must be in the outer solar system, in a neighborhood where a rival culture, the Garogain, is able to establish an empire (which suggests at least two or three other worlds). So, most likely, they're parked around Jupiter, with Uranus or Neptune being long shots.

Did the Simeons choose Earth because their closest neighbors, the Garogain of the Jovian system and the Xians of the asteroid belt, were simply too tough?

[According to the Zone Family, the apparent sole survivors of the Peaceland Lemurian Colony, the Garogain only attack worlds who are culturally devoted to principles of peace, likely because they consider such worlds to be "soft" and pacifistic, and thus easy conquests; the Peacelanders appeared to be the only Lemurian colony that lacked the mechanistic, fascist nature of the other intrasolar 'alien races' derived from the ancient Muan exodus into space (though we know little about the ancient Martian colony)...since Earth from the late 20th century to the present is hardly a world dedicated overall to peaceful principles, it can be argued that the Garogain tried to conquer the Terran world because of Earth's highly modest level of technological advancement in comparison to them. This editor has also conjectured from the observable data that the Earth within the Showa Toho Universe is somewhat more peaceful than the one we know, due to the greater international cooperation from its many nation-states and much politically stronger U.N. that ensued beginning with the Mysterian invasion of '57, something that never happened in the "real" universe --CN]

Let's turn next to the Garogain. I haven't seen the series, but they are described as semi-humanoid. In photographs on [the Toho Kingdom site], they appear to be horned and armoured humanoids, but since their horns are detachable, this may simply be their costumes rather than their true forms

[Interestingly, the Garogain seem to have acquired the means to actually transform their humanoid agents into dai kaiju, which would suggest that they have acquired not the means of exotic rapid genetic morphology, but also to quickly and greatly augment one's mass by acruing more from an extradimensional source, a trick that the Peacelander sentai Zone Fighter and the robotic terrestrial sentai Jet Jaguar also learned, thus providing further precedence for this incredible phenomenon in the Toho Showa Universe --CN]

In particular, the Garogain were able to borrow or wrest Gigan from the Nebulans. And of course, they employed that cosmic tramp King Ghidorah, also deployed by the Xians, Nebulans, Killaaks in the past, and who was also responsible for destroying the Martian colony.

Using the past criteria, it's difficult not to assign the Garogain as yet another Lemurian offshoot.

BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE - NATALS

These are apparently a diminutive race of munchkin or hobbit-like humanoid entities. I believe we only see them in their armoured space suits, where they are small by human standards. However, some reviews mention that they fly 'Mysterian' type ships. Does this suggest that they are allied to the Mysterians? Who knows. I'd have to find it, watch it, and compare to see if they really are the same kinds of ships.

On the other hand, given that the two movies (The Mysterians and Battle In Outer Space) were made within a few years of each other, there's some likelihood of reuse of props, sets, and space footage. Two of the characters in battle, although played by different actors, have the same names as characters in Mysterians, so its pretty clear that this was intended to be a sequel. [It's been widely argued whether or not Battle In Outer Space was intended to be an actual sequel to The Mysterians, or in actuality a remake, since much of the same script was utilized for both flicks; it's this editor's contention that Battle In Outer Space was actually a remake, not a sequel to, The Mysterians, and can thus be viewed as an alternate reality version of the Mysterian invasion; other authors and parascholars will likely disagree, and as such, I will present the entirety of author Den Voldran's deconstruction of the Natals below --CN]

These aliens, although they may use Mysterian ship designs, may be more closely linked to the Xians. The movie is set in 1965, when humanity has a functioning space station and can build ships to reach the moon. Oddly enough, this is the same year that Godzilla vs. Monster Zero was released.

No dai kaiju and no other indications of connections with the various Lemurian colonies appear. A battle takes place on the moon. The Natals are either based on the moon, or on a nearby asteroid or planetoid.

WAR IN SPACE

I could find almost nothing on this, except some very brief reviews. According to one review, Earth goes to Venus and encounters Venerians, who are then united with us when other aliens attack. Another review suggests that only Earth fights with Venus.

From the info provided on the Toho Kingdom site, it appears that the aliens may be called the Natals, but that doesn't help me much. On the other hand, a still from this movie on Toho Kingdom shows us a Hell Commander, who seems very human in appearance.

Despite the lack of other linking characteristics, we can at least say that Venus is inhabited, and that there may be another warlike Lemurian race.

[It's the opinion of this editor that War In Space is indeed part of the Showa Toho Universe canon, though taking place in an alternate future; once I have the opportunity to see this scarce film, I will work on incorporating it into the Showa Chron I have established, and also provide the author of this article with more details so that he can add them to his speculations. It does appear, however, that the Venerians represent a Venusian colony of Lemurians, who likely dwelled beneath the surface of that hostile, hellish world, but who encountered Earth later than the other Lemurian colonial remnants --CN]

'GODZILLA, MONSTER OF MONSTERS!' VIDEO GAME - XIANS/XILIANS RETURN

The Nintendo 'Godzilla, Monster of Monsters!' video game does not give us new information. But what it does do is solidify the connections and cross connections we've been making so far...

Set in the 21st century (likely later in the current century), this game's storyline depicts Godzilla and Mothra defending Earth against the Xians. Earth by this time has established domed colonies on Mars and elsewhere in the Sol system. The Xians attack these colonies and deploy a series of dai kaiju, organic, robotic, and cybernetic, including King Ghidorah, (Xians, Simeons, Nebulans, Kilaaks, Garogain, Martians), Gigan (Nebulans, Seatopians, Garogain), Moguera (Mysterians), and Mechagodzilla 1 (Simeons).

This kaiju armada reinforces the apparent linkages between the Xians and just about every other space, subterranean, or undersea race encountered by the Earth of the Toho Showa Universe. It also provides us with our first tangible link between the Xians and the Mysterians.

It appears that in the mid-21st century, an interplanetary war breaks out between the Xians and Earth for control of the Sol system.

A POSSIBLE SHOWA TIMELINE OF ALIENS AND OUTER SPACE

15,000-12,000 years ago

-Lemuria emerges, becomes technologically proficient, and achieves sub-light space flight.

- Mars is colonized by political dissidents. Colonies also established on Venus and perhaps the moon.

- Colonies established in the asteroid belt, particularly Mysteroid, "Planet X," and possibly Natal.

- Colonies established around Jupiter, particularly Garoga and Peaceland.

- At least one colony established around Saturn, Simeon.

- An incredibly remote colony established beyond Pluto on Sedna, later called the Nebulans.

- Artificial silicon life forms created for an industrial project on the heated side of Mercury (i.e., the side that happens to be facing the sun). 'Human seeming' appearance/protection technology developed for the silicon entities, who later call themselves the Kilaaks, when they leave Mercury and interact with humans.

- Various early dai kaiju developed.

12,000 - 10,000 years ago

- Lemuria sinks and is destroyed (along with their rivals for dominance of the Earth, Atlantis).

- Surviving fragment of Lemuria falls into barbarism and becomes Japan as it begins the slow climb back to civilization.

- Another segment of the Lemurian population survives underground and becomes the kingdom of Seatopia.

- Another relic or relics of the Lemurian Empire pull themselves together underwater and become a new Lemuria/Mu.

- In space, the colonies are abandoned and isolated. They lose contact with Earth, and have only limited contact with each other. They quickly declare their independence both of Lemuria and of each other.

10,000 Years ago to Modern Era

- Cut off from Lemuria and the other colonies, isolated deep in space, the Sedna colony runs into environmental problems. In an effort to solve these problems, the Sednians create intelligent insects able to thrive in the increasingly degraded environment, hoping to use them to repair their deteriorating biospheres [Or the sentient insectoids rapidly evolved following the extinction of the human Sednian colony as per alternate speculations --CN] .

- War breaks out between the Martian and Xian colonies. King Ghidorah is used to destroy the Martian colonies. The devastated Martians (at least some of them), flee back to Earth as refugees, later forming the small nation of Saladia.

- Around Saturn, apes are genetically engineered as intelligent, fully bipdal servants and labourers.

- Concerned by the aggressive Xian society, a Jovian colony engineers semi-human creatures as warriors.

- War breaks out between the Mysterians and the Xians for control of the asteroid belt. Evenly matched, the Xians are forced to cloak and shield their world, as do the Mysterians. The long stalemate results in a period of relative peace.

- Out on Sedna, humans finally become extinct. The intelligent insects become their heirs, confiscating and learning the secrets of their discarded technology.

- Around Saturn, the evolved apes eventually dominate their society, as the humans become enslaved. But having dominated their society, they become relatively peaceful, at least within the confines of their own world.

- Around Jupiter, the Garogain warriors gain control of their society. Declaring an Empire, they proceed to attempt to conquer the rest of the Jovian colonies. The Xians are concerned, but unable to defeat the Mysterians, they can do nothing.

20th and 21st Centuries

- The Xians finally defeat the Mysterians, destroying their world.

- Fleeing in defeat, the Mysterians attempt to take refuge on Earth and its moon, and re-establish themselves with a new base of operations. They are defeated by the hastily established Earth Defense Force, consisting of the combined might and resources of virtually every nation on the planet.

- The Xians, shocked at the handy way in which Earth has defeated the remnants of their old enemy, become concerned that Earth will inevitably become a threat to them.

- The Xians attack Earth, using the Natals as pawns, as well as sending King Ghidorah out to destroy Earth. Ghidorah is defeated by the remnants of the Martians, and a triumvirate of Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra.

Undaunted, they try again a year later, revealing themselves to gain control over Godzilla and Rodan.

- The sentient insects of Sedna, now referred to as the Nebulons, as their environment begins to deteriorate past the point of even their own tolerance, begin to re-establish contact with the various former colonies, with varying degrees of success. Their most successful contacts are with Seatopia and the Garogain Empire.

- The Garogain Empire conquers or extends its power over much of the Jovian system, with only one world holding out, Peaceland. War breaks out between Peaceland and Garogain. The Xians, concerned at this development, discontinue their attempts to conquer Earth, and prepare for a possible war with Garogain. Meanwhile, the Garogain war on Peaceland extends to Earth when the Zone Family seek asylum there.

- Concerned by environmental degradation and pollution on Earth, the Nebulons concoct a half-baked scheme to rescue themselves and Earthlings by taking over Earth, using King Ghidorah and Gigan as their pawns. It doesn't work, thanks to the intervention of a small group of astute humans along with the Earth kaiju Godzilla and Anguirus.

- The Nebulons retreat back to their world, but hopefully have obtained enough resources to rejuvenate their deteriorating planet/planetoid. They are at least content enough to be willing to 'loan' their monster, Gigan, out to the Seatopians a year later.

- Gorath enters the solar system. The Simeons determine it will approach Saturn. They make two attempts to save themselves by conquering Earth, in part by utilizing their gigantic and ultra-powerful robotic kaiju Mechagodzilla, the first scheme thwarted by a group of humans and the Earth kaiju Godzilla and King Seesar (with a contribution by Anguirus, though he was terribly wounded and defeated in solo combat with Mechagodzilla when the latter was disguised as the real Godzilla), and the second scheme thwarted by government agents and Godzilla, when the Simeons send both a rebuilt Mechagodzilla and the Earth kaiju Titanosaurus after him.

Their ultimate fate is unknown.

- Gorath is discovered by Earth scientists, who realizes that the planet is in serious peril. Earth, by this time, has developed space stations and a few ships which are beginning preliminary explorations of the solar system. The Xians and Goragain are not unduly bothered by this development since they believe that Earth's civilization will soon come to an end through Gorath.

- Earth's survival surprised both the Xian and Garogain and both decided to leave Earth alone, conceal their presence, and refuse contact. During this period, space exploration continued and a moon colony was established by Earth.

- Concerned by the growing threat potential of Earth, the Kilaaks decide to move by taking over Earth at the end of the 20th century, taking cybernetic control over key humans in power, all of the Earth kaiju, and by utilizing King Ghidorah. They fail after losing control of Godzilla and the rest of the Earth kaiju (which includes Mothra, Rodan, and Anguirus).

- The Xians and Garogain eventually have it out. The Xians win, leaving them the dominant power in the Sol system, outside of Earth. The other Lemurian colonies are either isolated or under some degree of Xian influence.

- Earth's space program expands, eventually discovering the lost Lemurian colonies on Venus and elsewhere, and establishing its own colonies on Mars and other intrasolar locales.

- Another Xian attack, using Hell fighters and genetically engineered, 12-foot tall space beastmen as pawns, fails.

- The Earth forms a united planetary government (the Earth Union?), which may include both Mu and Seatopia, and may also include some or many of the former Lemurian space colonies as allies or associates.

- The Xians, who feel threatened by Earth's increasing domination of the Sol system, strikes back, launching a war to defeat Earth, a war that ultimately failed thanks to the intervention of the Earth Defense Force, Godzilla, and Mothra.

ADDENDUM

[Note: These additions to this article were made by the author after acquiring various info on the Toho Kingdom forums]

1) Gorath devoured the moon, which poses a problem since it seems to be back by Destroy All Monsters.

[It's the editor's opinion that the 1977 destruction of the moon depicted in Gorath may have been exaggerated or a dramatic story error.]

2) That Venus was destroyed during the '80's as depicted in War in Space, which doesn't really effect my theory at all, but helps it, since this would certainly upset the Kilaaks on Mercury.

Frankly, I hadn't even known about War in Space at all, and I've only seen a couple of stills and some very brief reviews.

[Understandable, since this is a highly obscure film that is difficult to obtain in the U.S.]

3) It turns out that Battle in Outer Space is set in 1965, which is the same year that King Ghidorah makes his two attacks [It has been argued, including by this editor, that Ghidorah's first attack on Earth occurred during one of the final two months of 1964] .

And for the record, multiple review sources claim that the Natals are flying Mysterian saucers. Interesting, non?

4) Seatopia is actually on the other side of Indonesia, apparently. I'm unable to explain why Japan should be their target. Except maybe the nuclear testing that they object to may be connected to the space program in which Japan is a big wheel?

5) It seems that in the Japanese version of Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster, the aliens claim to be from Venus. In the English version, the Princess is a Martian. Either one works just as well for my theory.

[This editor has conjectured that the Venusian reference in the dialogue of the Japanese version of the above flick was likely to be incorrect, unless it can be taken as an allusion to the fact that the known Venusian colony split off from the Martian colony when they first left the Earth as a single colony.]

6) Toho Kingdom has an interesting breakdown on the 'Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!' video game from Nintendo, with a couple of highly useful references (as far as the theory is concerned). The good thing is that all of the extraterrestrial worlds in the solar system have ancient 'alien' ruins on them, which is suggestive of long term 'alien' inhabitation of the Sol system, which in turn is suggestive of Lemuria/Mu. The other thing is that although the game moves through the solar system, neither the moon (destroyed in Gorath?) nor Venus (destroyed in War In Space?) appear to be among the planets. Interestingly, Mercury isn't in there either, which may suggest that the Kilaaks aren't breathing so good in the aftermath of Destroy All Monsters.

7) The ruins in the above video game also suggest that there were many more Lemurian colonies than just the ones we know about from their attempted invasions.

Undoubtedly, some of these colonies failed in the thousands of years between now and the fall of Lemuria, and some were almost certainly destroyed by war. But even so, I'm inclined to suspect that there are more Lemurian colonies out there than we've actually seen in the Toho Showa Universe.

One indirect piece of evidence suggests that both the Garogain and the Xians style themselves as 'Empires', which suggest that they are dominating smaller, passive colonies in their parts of space.

I gave 38 as the possible number of Lemurian/Muan Colonies beyond Mars. If we add the inner worlds, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, the number of viable colonies may have been as high as 42, or even higher if Venus and Mars had multiple colonies on them.

Undoubtedly, many have been lost, but as many as half may still be around.

Also, in the extraterrestrial colonizations by Earth between the late 20th and mid-21st centuries, it's likely that destroyed or derelict Lemurian colonies were patched up and re-occupied, to avoid the expense of building from scratch.

Okay, here is my thesis in a nutshell: all of the Aliens in the Toho Showa continuity are actually descendents of an ancient Lemurian civilization confined to Earth's solar system.

In putting this theory forward, I'm relying upon the following Toho movies or television series:

- Atragon (Mu)

- The Mysterians (Mysterians)

- Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster (Martians)

- Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (Xians/Xilians)

- Godzilla vs Gigan (Nebulans)

- Godzilla vs Megalon (Seatopians & Nebulans)

- Gorath

- Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (Simeons)

- Terror Of Mechagodzilla (Simeons)

- Destroy All Monsters (Kilaaks)

I'm not relying closely upon:

- Battle in Outer Space (Natals)

- War in Space (Venerians/Hell Fighters, Space Beastmen)

- Zone Fighter, The Meteor Man (TV) (Peacelanders & Garogain)

- Godzilla, Monster of Monsters! (video game) (Xians/Xilians).

This is primarily because I have not seen these films, series, or games directly, and my information is therefore second hand. I have enough to reference them after, but not up front.

The editor and webmaster of this site would like to thank Den Valdron for taking the time to compose this article espousing his way cool theories about the true origin and connection between the various alien races encountered by humanity from the 20th to 21st centuries in the Showa Toho Universe. I will be incorporating these ideas into my Showa Series Timeline when I update it next, and Den's contribution was essential to formulating ideas and connections which, in my opinion, were greatly superior and more useful than my own.

I would also like to thank the crew at Toho Kingdom for their hand in this.

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