French Polynesia: The late 1960s. A collection of atolls sits peacefully in the Pacific Ocean. A voice counts down in French. It reaches zero. And suddenly the sea boils with an atomic blast that spreads out for miles, raining radioactive dust for miles further.

The Present: A Japanese fishing boat moves through a rainstorm. Below decks, the crew is working feverishly to pack the thousands of tons of fish in the ship's hold on ice for the journey back to Japan. On the bridge, the officer in charge sits with his feet on the radar screen watching sumo wrestling.

His sports watching is interrupted when radar detects a huge, submerged object barreling towards the ship. The radar operator calls the captain to the bridge. The captain sounds a general alarm. The alarm comes too late. Below, huge claws rake through the hull, spilling gallons of water into the cannery decks. Above, a huge tail swings into view and obliterates the bridge.

Chernobyl. A van drives past decaying trees rainy weather. This is the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Most of the native population is long gone. The only man who comes here anymore is Dr. Niko Tatopoulos, a biologist working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dr. Nick believes that, in the earthworms of Chernobyl, he will find conclusive evidence that nuclear contamination causes radical genetic mutations.

As he digs through the worm-filled dirt, a U.S. State Department helicopter descends through the rain. Marines begin unloading Tatopoulos' van as he frantically tries to dissuade them. A suit-wearing State Department official tells him that he's being reassigned.

Tahiti, a man walks through hospital. He's a Frenchman wearing a salt and pepper beard. He talks to a doctor in French as they walk to a shady corner of the hospital. The doctor leads the Frenchman to a Japanese man who lays in a hospital bed in deep shock. The Frenchman waves a lighter in front of the Japanese man's face, catching his attention.

"What did you see, old man?" the Frenchman says.

The Japanese man stares into the flame and says, "Gojira".

Dr. Tatopoulos finds himself in Panama. A normally small and quiet fishing village has been overrun by the United States military. Tatopoulos meets Colonel Hicks and attempts to explain the military man that accidents and spills are not in Tatopoulos" field. "I'm a biologist," Tatopoulos explains. "I take radioactive samples and I study them."

Colonel Hicks points to the ground. "There's your sample. Study it."

Tatopoulos is momentarily stupefied... until he realizes that he and the Colonel are standing in a footprint, a large, three-toed footprint the size of a car that has left a hole in the earth nearly five feet deep.

Amazed to the point of stammering, Colonel Hicks quiets him down by introducing him to Dr. Elsie Chapman of the National Institute of Paleontology. Though she does not believe Tatopoulos is right for the job at hand, she quickly warms to him. Something came out of the Pacific and stomped its way across the Panamanian countryside, before disappearing into the Atlantic Ocean. Tatopoulos, Chapman, and a third Doctor named Mendel Craven, have been called together of an analysis.

Craven shows everyone a tape released from the French government. It shows air footage of a Japanese cannery ship sunk off Polynesia. Only one man survived. The tape shows him as well, a man in deep shock who stares into the camera and whispers the word "Gojira".

Meanwhile, rain is falling in New York City. Audrey Timmons scrambles out of the rain and up to her offices in WDIF news. She carries groceries with her. They belong to Mr. Charles Caiman, WIDF's star reporter. For the past four years, Audrey has worked as Caiman's assistant and her career is stagnating and today is the day she plans to say something about it. Over the protests of her friend, Lucy, Audrey confronts Caiman about where her career is going. He tells her that her career will go very will if she has dinner with him tonight. Audrey, reminding Caiman that he is married, turns him down.

In Jamaica, Tatopoulos and the rest of the analysis team begins examining another Cannery ship, beached with gigantic slash marks across its sides. Hick's comes across a small trope of French speaking men who are also examining the ship. One man with a salt and pepper beard tells Hicks they are agents from La Roache Casualty and Property Insurance. Hick's tells them to leave. Meanwhile, Tatopoulos collects a skin sample from the ruined ship.

That night, rain comes to the Atlantic Ocean. Three fishing trawlers glide along complacently when, suddenly, all three of their gigantic nets are seemingly snagged on something underwater. The boats fight to unsling themselves and only succeed in getting pulled completely underwater.

The next day, in a military aircraft over the Atlantic, Hicks and the analysis team hear of the incident. Dr. Chapman proposes her theory on the cause of these strange incidents: An enormous reptile that we believed died out in the cetaceous period. Dr. Craven asks the impertinent question: "Where has it been for the last 65 million years"

Tatopoulos has a different theory: This is a mutation caused by the fallout from nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

Back in New York, Audrey dines with her friend Lucy and Lucy's husband, Victor, nicknamed "Animal". She lauds her disbelieve that her boss could put the moves on her. Her friends inform her that she needs to be tough to get ahead in New York. Audrey assures them that she can be and they are less then wowed. Audrey herself is wowed when she sees her old college sweetheart on TV: A youngish looking fellow named Nick Tatopoulos.

On the East Side, three bums gather down on the River. One, fishing pole in hand, sets down a lawn chair and casts his net into the River. Surprisingly, he gets a bite...and proceeds to have his fishing rod torn out of his grasp. Suddenly, the East River bulges wide and a huge wave begins rushing toward shore.

Above, on the FDR Drive, commuters look out their car windows to see a giant, reptilian monster rise out of the East River and step over FDR drive into New York. Boats, trapped in the creature's forest of dorsal spines, rain from the sky as it passes into the Fulton Fish Market beyond.

Several blocks away, New York Mayor Ebert is holding a rally. It's election time for the Mayor (who's campaign proclaims "Thumbs-Up for New York"). As Mayor Ebert begins to speechify, the ground begins to shake. The people can hear it in the air and feel it in the streets. As the pounding draws closer, the concussive shock bounces cars into the air. A block away, a building shatters and thirty story monster walks through the mayor's fleeing constituents.

Blocks away, in their little corner diner, Audrey, Lucy and Animal feel the shakes, too. Outside the diner windows, two large feet slam onto the street and walk past the diner. Animal, a cameraman for IDF News, grabs his camera from his overturned van and rushes off towards the creature.

He catches up to it as it reverses course near Grand Central Station, capturing it on tape. But as he stands in the middle of the street, the creature casually walks past him, almost crushing him in the process.

Colonel Hicks' plane lands in New Jersey, establishing a mobile command center. After meeting with the regional commander, Sergeant O'Neal, Hicks and the analysis team watch Animal's footage of the monster.

In WIDF headquarters, everyone is evacuating. Audrey sees some more footage of Nick at the Military Command Headquarters. She tries to tell Caiman about her "inside source" but he ignores her, on the way to the Command Center himself. She accidentally steals his press ID and joins Lucy on the subway.

At the Command Center, Mayor Ebert touches down and goes to meet with Colonel Hicks. As he wades his way through the throngs of reporters and business owners, he meets a man with a French accent and a salt and pepper beard. The man introduces himself as "Mr. Roache" of "La Roache Casualty and Property Insurance", claming that the mayor can count on their emotional and financial support. While he's saying this, Mr. Roache plants a listening device on Mayor Ebert's collar.

Lucy, overjoyed at Audrey's sudden show of gall, cuts Caiman's picture out of the ID and sticks Audrey's picture in.

Inside a bakery truck, parked somewhere in West New York, New Jersey, a team of French speaking men from "La Roache Casualty and Property Insurance" huddle together. The van is packed with surveillance equipment. Mr. Roache enters and begins to listen in on Mayor Ebert's meeting with Colonel Hicks.

The meeting is not going well. Hicks must confess that the military has no idea where the giant lizard might be. Ebert is furious, fuming about what kind of damage the mass evacuation of Manhattan will have to his political career. Sergeant O'Neil interrupts the meeting with another problem.

Flying into Manhattan, Hicks and the analysis team are led to the 23rd Street Subway Station. The Station has been completely raised and seemingly hollowed out. As if something dug into the ground below the subway tunnel to widen it. This giant lizard is apparently, like most of his genus, a burrower.

While Hicks fumes, Tatopoulos points out that this creature is not a human enemy, but an animal like any other. All the humans have to do is figure out what he wants and the animal will come to them. Both humans notice dead fish scattered about the tunnel floor.

A plan is concocted, with fifteen dump trucks carted into Madison Square, each loaded with fish. The fish is dumped at the foot of the Flatiron building, forming a pyramid of fish. The military, with Tatopoulos along for the ride, pile the fish on and wait, with artillery poised to take down the reptile once it emerges out of hiding.

Tatopoulos notices the large amount of covered manholes in the area and, along with several military men, sets about removing them. While removing a manhole cover on Broadway, Tatopoulos notices a huge crack forming in the street. Running as fast as he can, he's evades the lizard just in time as it rises out of the ground.

Fascinated, Tatopoulos snaps a picture of the creature, forgetting the camera's built-in flash. The light attracts the creature's attention. Swinging its head down to observe Nick, the creature sniffs him, decides to ignore him, and calmly walks toward the fish as soldiers scramble to avoid being crushed.

As the creature gulps down throat-fulls of fish, Hicks gives the word to fire. Artillery explodes across Madison Square, with two missiles streaking from a mobile rocket launcher. Deftly, the reptile ducks under these missiles, sending them into the Flatiron building. Enraged, the reptile turns toward the artillery and charges.

Breaking through the military ranks with three helicopters in pursuit, the reptile evades them through the canyons of Manhattan, causing liberal property damage in the process, including the destruction of the Chrysler Building. Evading missiles and bullets, the reptile circles around behind his pursuers and destroys them handedly.

In Madison Square, Tatopoulos collects a blood sample from the pavement. It's small, but it's there. Working on a hunch, Nick goes into a pharmacy as soon as he reaches New Jersey. He buys at-home pregnancy tests and meets Audrey. It seems Audrey left Nick seven years ago without a letter or a call. But after a small amount of negotiation, Nick seems ready to forgive and forget. He takes Audrey to his tent in the Command Center and offers her a cup of tea.

While they talk, Tatopoulos performs a test using the reptile's blood and finds that the reptile is, despite some rather obvious physical characteristics indicating the reptile's maleness, pregnant. Theorizing that the reptile reproduces asexually and has, in fact, traveled to New York as a pre-birth migration.

Leaving Audrey alone in his tent as he rushes off to confirm his theory. Audrey, in turn, opens a case marked "Top Secret" and reveals footage of Panama, Jamaica, the cannery ship attacked in the Pacific, and an old Japanese man whispering the word "Gojira".

Deciding to act tough, Audrey takes the tape to her boss at WIDF and films a segment on this story. Her story. Her first big break.

The next day, in a meeting with military brass and regional politicians, Tatopoulos tells them his theory on the creature's reproduction. Hicks begins campaigning for the military to divide their efforts and search for the creature's nest, despite contrary opinions from high ranking officials. Even Hicks' support goes down the drain when Charles Caiman airs a report on WIDF, telling the world about Dr. Tatopoulos' theories on this "Godzilla".

The military fires Tatopoulos on the spot. Nick, in turn, fumes at Audrey for taking the tape. Audrey, in turn, fumes at Caiman for stealing her report. She tries to get through to Nick, only to learn of his firing. Finding him as he's getting into a cab, Audrey attempts to apologize. Nick, having none of it, slams the cab door in her face, heading for the Newark Airport.

Animal watches the whole scene and follows Nick's cab in his van, figuring he'll talk some sense into Dr. Tatopoulos. Inside the cab, Nick watches from the back seat as he is driven past the exit to the airport and towards a riverfront warehouse, where the cab stops.

The driver is a Frenchman with a salt a pepper beard that Nick recognizes as "that insurance guy". The insurance guy introduces himself as Agent Philippe Roache of the French Secret Service, on assignment in America to destroy Godzilla before the reptile can breed. Roche informs Nick that the military has decided not to search for the creature's nest and asks for Nick's cooperation in hunting it down and destroying it before more Godzillas can be born. Nick agrees to help.

Animal, observing all of this, rushes home to tell Audrey about it. Audrey is in tears over what she did and Animal offers her a chance to redeem herself. He plans to follow Nick and the French men into the city and film it all, with Audrey along reporting it, telling the whole world that Tatopoulos was right in the first place. Audrey agrees.

Tatopoulos, Roche, and a team of French men disguise themselves as soldiers and drive into the city, sneaking through a checkpoint with an Elvis impression. Animal and Audrey sneak into the city through an old subway vent.

In Central Park, Nick's original plan has been redesigned. By setting a trap in an open area, the military plans to destroy Godzilla with as little collateral damage as possible. Everything is on schedule.

Driving to the 23rd Street Station, Nick and the French men begin to explore the hallowed out subway when Godzilla, smelling fish in the wind, smashes through a tunnel wall and crawls out into the streets. The military spots him instantly and readies itself in Central Park.

But at the opening of Central Park, just as the cover of New York's skyscrapers ends, Godzilla pauses. He observes the pile of fish, well lit and inviting in open ground, and he sees the military men, crouch with their lights and their guns and their artillery. Not falling for the same trick twice, Godzilla turns and leaves.

The military opens fire and gives chase with an armada of helicopters. Rushing down 58th Street, Godzilla blows through military artillery, crushing everything in his way. Vaulting over an army encampment on the West Side highway, Godzilla dives into the Hudson River, right into the sites of the three submarines waiting there for him.

Dodging torpedoes as easily as he dodges missiles, Godzilla swims smoothly under the U.S.S. Anchorage, blowing it apart with its own torpedoes. Shifting course, Godzilla moves back towards Manhattan and begins to tunnel into the bedrock under the city. As he forms a tunnel, the U.S.S. Indiana and U.S.S. Utah close in and scores a direct hits.

In the tunnels, Nick and the French forces backtrack along Godzilla's self-made tunnel. The tunnel leads them to a huge hallowed out structure filled with fish, formerly know as Madison Square Garden. Godzilla has carefully laid approximately two hundred eggs in the Garden and, as Nick and the French men begin planting explosives, the eggs begin to hatch.

Audrey and Animal climb out of the subway in time to film the birthing first hand. Each baby is 9-feet tall and ravenous for foot, immediately set about devouring the fish scattered about the Garden. Nick does a quick smell check himself and discovers that every human in the Garden smells like fish. The hatchlings discover this too, and immediately begin chasing down and devouring the large, fast moving, two legged fish.

Soon, Audrey, Animal, Nick and Roache are the only humans left in the Garden. Nick tries to contact the military on a cellular phone Roache gives him, but all phone lines are currently busy. Trapped together, with no way to contact the outside world, Manhattan stands to become flooded with baby Godzillas.

Then Audrey has an idea. Leading the survivors to the Madison Square Garden broadcast booth, she convinces Ed, the WIDF technician to pick up the transponder feed from the Garden and put it on live.

Live from Madison Square Garden, with Audrey and Nick in front of the camera and Animal behind (with Roche staying discreetly out of range). Nick informs the world of the Godzilla's reproductive capabilities and calls for the military to destroy the Garden as quickly as possible.

Hicks, in turn, calls for a squadron of F-18s. Ethe technician informs the humans in the Garden that they have six minutes to escape. Thanks to Roche's quick thinking, the humans escape, just as the F-18 bombard the Garden with Harpoon Missiles.

The survivors look on as the Garden burns. Nick is thankful for Audrey's help in saving humanity. They share a moment, but the moment is very short. Godzilla, recovered and pissed off, bursts from the street and sees the remains of his young scattered about. Godzilla spots the four humans and makes a not-too-far-off intuitive connection. The chase begins.

Hotwiring a cab, Roache drives like hell through the city with Godzilla in hot pursuit. Like a man trying to catch a mouse, catching the cab proves none-too easy for Godzilla. After making a hurried right on 34th street, cab and monster run right into O'Neil and a convoy of military vehicles moving through the city. As they pass, Nick tosses the cab's ID out the window.

Still driving as fast as they can, Roache drives the cab into the Park Avenue Tunnel. The military has blocked off one end of the tunnel and Godzilla soon blocks off the other. As the reptile begins to dig the tunnel out, O'Neil's voice comes over the cab's radio. He tells Nick that they need to lure Godzilla out into the open so the military can get a clean shot at the monster.

Nick thinks up a plan. He tells O'Neil to direct the F-18s to the Brooklyn Bridge. Escaping by shinning the cab's high beams into Godzilla's face, Roache races to the Brooklyn Bridge. Over Manhattan, the departing F-18s swing reverse course and arm their Maverick air-to-ground missiles.

At the bridge exit, Godzilla bursts from the ground directly in front of his prey's cab. Doing a quick, one hundred and eighty degree spin, Roache still isn't quick enough to avoid Godzilla's closing jaws. Only a section of highway between Godzilla's bottom jaw and the cab prevent the humans from being crushed. Spotting a power line swinging aimlessly, Nick grabs the line and shoves it up into Godzilla's gums.

Reflexively, Godzilla opens his mouth and the cab bursts free across the Brooklyn Bridge. Godzilla follows, with the bridge shaking itself apart under his weight. By the time the cab reaches the Brooklyn side of the bridge, Godzilla is caught in the suspension cables. The F-18s swoop in and send twelve missiles into Godzilla's sides. Severely injured, Godzilla falls.

Nick ventures out towards Godzilla and looks into the reptile's yellow eye. He hears Godzilla's heart slow and stop. For a moment, Nick looks somber. The victory leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. Then Audrey takes his arm and leads him away from Godzilla's corpse, into the throng of reporters that await them.

Charles Caiman is there, overjoyed because he believes Audrey has secured an exclusive for him. Audrey takes this opportunity to officially quit as Caiman's assistant.

Animal notices that the tape has disappeared out of his camera and neither Audrey nor Nick removed it. Then the cell phone in Nick's pocket rings, the one Roache gave him inside the Garden. Roache is on the other end and promises to return Animals tape "after I have removed a few items from it". Roache thanks Nick for his help and hangs up. Nick, Audrey, and Animal walk away into the crowd.

Meanwhile, in the ruins of Madison Square Garden, the last surviving Godzilla egg cracks open and a new Godzilla shrieks its birth cry to the world...

written by Dr. Psy Chosis