» Killler whales have to shout to make themselves heard over whale-watching boats.
Beneath the calm, sheltered waters around Washington's San Juan Islands, local killer whales are trying to adapt to a new challenge: the overwhelming rumble of engine noise from a growing fleet of whale-watching boats.
Researchers studying the whales have discovered an abrupt and widespread change in the length of the animals' primary calls. It is the whale equivalent of shouting and repeating words to penetrate roaring background noise.
» New cut makes it clear that Godzilla is The Bomb
But whatever version you watch, the central theme of the film is inescapable. Just as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" grew out of the blacklist of the McCarthy Era, and "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" and "War of the Worlds" were spawned by Cold War fears of a Soviet attack, "Godzilla" reflects the nuclear nightmare.
But Godzilla isn't just the bomb -- he's hate and anger, war, the poisoned environment -- in short, he is mankind itself, the destruction wrought by the rage within us, an inner ugliness we can never quite seem to shake.