Baragon

Baragon, the subterranean monster, first appeared in the world in the 1965 Toho film, Frankenstein Conquers the World, and became a popular monster in Japan despite his small film appearances

Ultra Q
Baragon was first seen in Toho's 1965 film, Frankenstein Conquers the World, where he fought and lost to a giant version of the Frankenstein monster. The floppy eared dinosaur became a beloved monster in Japan, despite his single film appearance. By 1966, Toho had no major plans for Baragon, but Tsuburaya Productions had major plans for the underground saurian.

During the production of Ultra Q in 1966, Eiji Tsuburaya made it no secret they were using suits from the Toho studios, even Godzilla himself appeared as the very first Ultra-kaiju. As the show continued, Tsuburaya wanted Gomess to return, but due to the suit being sent back to Toho, the executives sent the suit of Baragon to the Ultra Q set. This marked the first time Baragon became one with the Ultra-Universe, becoming the monster Pagos.

As Pagos appeared and was destroyed in his titular episode, Tsuburaya had plans to revive the monster and have him fight others such as Garamon, Kemur Man and Peguila. But the plans were never executed. As the series of Ultra Q ended, Baragon's suit sat in Tsuburaya's warehouse.

Moving onto bigger things
As the Ultra Q series finished, Baragon's suit was hauled out of storage for the third episode of Ultraman, gaining a new head, a yellow coat of paint for his back, and a green fin on his rump, Baragon was christianed the Transparent Monster Neronga. Neronga was a one off monster, destroyed by the titular hero's signature attack, but this wasn't the end of Baragon's career.

The next time Baragon's suit was reused, was during the Lawless Monster Zone episode where it was used for the Underground monster, Magular. Magular's time was brief, being dispatched by a simple well placed grenade from the Science Patrol, and the monster never got to even fight Ultraman or the villian of the episode, Red King.

The final time Baragon was dragged out of storage was when Tsuburaya planned to revive the monster Pagos for a Uranium based episode. However, the Pagos' head was butchered to create the head of the gold and green horse Dodongo, so Tsuburaya decided to just reuse the Neronga/Magular head. Removing the spikes of Magular and using six giant silver pedals to hide the seam around the neck, Gabora was born. The Baragon suit by this time was in shambles.

Back home at Toho
As the filming of Ultraman was done, Baragon's suit, damaged, paint smeared, and well worn, was ment to be revived as the monster Pagos, once again, for Eiji Tsuburaya's next series, UltraSeven. However, plans of Pagos revival where greatly changed as was his fight with Capsule Monster Windam. Windam was replaced by a new monster, Agira, and Pagos was completly re-written into the monster Riggah, so Baragon's suit remained in the Tsuburaya Warehouse for two years, gathering dust and mold. It wasn't until 1968 that Toho remembered how popular the pug like dinosaur was, and contacted Tsuburaya, requesting the suit back.

Baragon returned to the silverscreen in Toho's plan to end all Showa films, Destroy All Monsters. However, due to the budget of new Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan suits, the new Manda puppet, the refurbished Mothra puppet, and repairing King Ghidorah's suit and Kumonga's puppet, some of the monsters promised attention was drawn from him. Toho didn't even have time to repaint the beast back to his rustic red brown color.

Due to the damages of his stint as an ultra kaiju, Baragon was religated to a cameo role. With a completely new head remade, the monster appeared on a small monitor in Monster Land, promotional photos, and the ending cast parade. His original role of attacking Paris was given to the relatively new suit, Gorosaurus.

And thus ends the history of Baragon. His likeness and role in the Ultra-series would not be forgotten though, as Geronga appeared in Ultraman Max's tribute to Ultra Q.