GAMERA originally was an enormous prehistoric turtle who lay in deep hibernation at the north pole until a Soviet plane carrying atomic bombs crashes into the area where Gamera slept detonating the cargo, and awakening and presumably irradiating the titanic terrapin.

Thus, Gamera made his first appearance in 1965's Gamera, which was also the only Gamera film to be in black-and-white. In 1966, the movie was released in America as Gammera the Invincible. Subsequent films, usually directed by Noriaki Yuasa and written by Nisan Takahashi, quickly became a big hit with children, who loved watching Gamera fight monsters. A total of 7 films were produced between 1965 and 1971. An eighth entry was slated for a 1972 release, tentatively titled Gamera vs. Garasharp.[1][2] Gross mismanagement of Daiei, however, put the company into bankruptcy, and the Gamera films were forced to cease production.
After Daiei was purchased by Tokuma Shoten in 1974, the new management wanted to do a new Gamera film in 1980, so Gamera: Super Monster was produced. The majority of the film used stock footage (with limited new scenes of Gamera flying), and acted as a "recap" of Gamera's history. However, Yuasa and Takahashi felt that they had done all they could with the monster, so they respectfully killed off Gamera at the end of the film.
This was the Showa series of Gamera films.
But in 1995 Gamera was reserected once again for The Heisei series.
Starting with Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), three Gyaos (A monster considred to be Gamera's arch nemisis, a Rodan-like flying reptile) are discovered on a remote island. The Japanese government discovers that they are all female, and decides that since they are the last of their kind, they should be captured and studied. Meanwhile, a search has been assembled for a moving atoll in the Pacific. They find it, small gems made of an unknown metal, and a stone sticking up out of the center of it. They manage to take pictures and collect some of the strange gems, but the stone crumbles and the atoll takes off towards Japan at high speeds. It ends up that the atoll is actually an ancient monster, made by the Atlanteans, called Gamera. He attacks the Gyaos, killing two, but one escapes. The remaining Gyaos grows to Gamera-like proportions and the two battle. Gamera manages to defeat his foe, and heads back to sea.
In Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996), earth was attacked by an alien force known as Legion.
In Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1999), Gamera had to face hordes of Gyaos and his ultimate foe, Iris.

Millennium series:

Gamera the Brave returns Gamera to his Showa roots, but with a modern twist. In the film, Gamera is first seen defending Japan back in the 1970s from the Gyaos, but sacrifices himself to destroy them by self-destructing. In the present, the child of a man who witnessed that battle finds a turtle egg that hatches into a baby Gamera that he names Toto. When a giant lizard monster named Zedus appears, Toto tries to fight the beast, but ends up being gravely wounded and taken by the military for study. He ends up escaping and growing to a larger size to try and fight Zedus again, this time succeeding against the monster. (Zedus was very similar to Godzilla. Some may wonder if this was because many Kaiju fans had been asking for a match up between the two Monsters, Gamera and Godzilla)

A future Gamera film was announced, slated for 2014, but to date it still seems to remain in Limbo. Only time will tell.

Gamera was created at the time that Toho studios was having great success with their Giant Monster Godzilla and his enemies and allies, So it seems that Daie studios wanted a piece of the Kaiju pie, and thus created Gamera. Some refer to Gamera as a "Godzilla rip-off". (Godzilla with a shell), But Gamera is an interesting Kaiju (Giant Monster) in his own right, and despite being a rather ludicrous creature (a giant turtle that breaths fire and flies spinning like a flying saucer) He has a fan following all his own.
(NOTE: Gamera's name comes from the Japanese word for "turtle" which is "Kame" with "-ra" attatched at the end. But "Kamera" seemed a silly name for a creature that was rather silly in tone to begin with, so the "K" was changed to a "G" at the begining of the name forming the name "Gamera".)

Goblin Grim (with source material from Wikipedia)




Gamera in his first appearance in 1964
and Gamera in the millenium series. (his final appearance, to date.)(He hasn't changed a bit, has he...?)