Godzilla KOTM... from the Criterion Collection!?!?!

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

Going through the various discs and sampling, and while we're certainly not getting mind-blowing picture quality from Toho's transfers I wouldn't say anything looks terrible. They range from decent and watchable at worst te quite good at best. Mothra vs. Godzilla and Invasion of Astro-Monster are probably on the lower end of that spectrum, but going through and watching a few favorite scenes I'm still seeing a ton of detail and interesting stuff that I was never able to see before on DVD. Barring some spectacular developments these will certainly be my go-to versions of the films for viewing in most cases.

This set is such a cool package. It's fun just to hold it in your hands and leaf through. Even with the caveats it's still got to be one of the coolest Christmas presents I've ever gotten.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

As I mentioned in the Christmas thread I ended up getting this set for the holidays. So far I've only watched KKvsG in Japanese and while its not the first time I've seen it, it was my first time watching it properly with subs so I could understand what was going on. I did have the R2 DVD but never got around to ripping it to my computer downloading the Tokyo Monsters sub file and reburning it to watch it.

I must say I prefer this version of KKvsG over the Universal print now. I'll still pop in the US version from time to time for Nostalgia sake but I think the Japanese version is superior. And despite using the "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" 2008 master I was impressed with some of the colors in some scenes they really popped. It makes me wonder what the film would have looked like had they included the recent HD master. I can't wait to see what the 4K version on a UHD BD with HDR would look like.

Probably going to check out some of my favorite Showa movies over the next few days then give final impressions. I want to watch the extra stuff first.

EDIT:

I just finished off Mothra vs Godzilla from the set and I have two complaints about the film from this set. A lot of the scenes look really faded, very washed out. Finally there's like a white line that flashes across the bottom of the screen rather frequently. Its rather distracting. Does anyone else notice that or is it just me? I wonder if it happens on the Japanese BD release?

[canofhumdingers]

Those flashing white lines are splice marks. That’s where the various pieces of film were physically cut apart and then glued together in the editing room to create the movie. When handled properly, those should be masked out during viewing. People like to say how the versions Toho provided criterion show more picture at the edges, or aren’t cropped but the truth is we are seeing TOO much of the picture. Film is supposed to be matted when projected so as to hide the messy edges.

But no, the official Toho BD of the film does not show the splice marks. They didn’t crop the image more tightly but instead digitally erased them for the disc. Apparently they provided Criterion the raw HD master from before they tinkered with it and Criterion didn’t do anything to fix the issue.

[lhb412]

^ I read that Criterion was forbade from tinkering with what Toho gave them beyond the balance/color levels, hence why we're seeing the splice marks.

[kiryugoji04]

It's kind of hilarious that this set is simultaneously one of the best kaiju releases we've ever gotten and also a total trainwreck. Looking forward to unwrapping mine though! <3

[Dai]

[Dr Kain]

Well those splices are also on the trailer of the bonus disc, so that is how the movie was put together originally. It sucks, but oh well. We'll just have to deal with it until a superior 4K release is made.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

What movies have the splice marks? I know Mothra vs Godzilla and Ghidorah do. In fact I was watching Ghidorah earlier and shut it off because I was getting distracted by that which is a shame because I was really enjoying the picture quality all things considered.

[Dai]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[KaiserGhidorah]

I got this for Christmas and it's an ok set with a several flaws to it. Even though I'm still miffed at the fact alot of the American cuts aren't included, I have so many different versions of all the films I pretty much consider my collection complete now. The splice marks for Mothra vs Godzilla are unbelievably annoying and Ghidorah seems to have that problem to but outside of that, they look the best I've ever seen. The Mechagodzilla films look great and I'm quite pleased with the treatment for those. I still haven't checked out everything yet but I shall take my time in doing so. I did skim through the unused special effects feature and that was pretty cool. I wish more was included but you can't have everything in life.

[The Shadow]

Like many others, I received Criterion's Showa Godzilla Collection for Christmas (thank God for Barnes & Noble's Criterion sale) . I haven't had a chance to flip through it yet or watch any of the movies. It is kind of wild thinking about the fact that I own copies of every Godzilla movie in HD on blu-ray now -- In the immortal words of Mortimer Snerd, "who'd a thunk it?"

Of course, I would have preferred Criterion's set to include all of the US dubs (or alternate versions where appropriate) and hopefully we might see those down the line. Whatever one may think of the English dubs/US cuts, we can't deny that they were key to building Godzilla in the US. I'm sure plenty of fans would pick up a supplemental set that just had the US cuts/dubs that were missing from this Showa Collection if Criterion could work something out with Toho.

[lhb412]

I decided to consume the set one disc at a time in no particular order, and decided on the one with the two Mechagodzilla films first! Picture quality is consistent between the two: a bit soft and with that brownish yellow tinge that we're all too familiar with with Toho's transfers. Still, I'm seeing more detail then previously. I don't know if I'd ever really noticed a slight discoloration in the first Mechagodzilla's paint job. It's not straight silver like I've always thought; there are splotches of copper brown and other metallic colors in there. The real revelation has been the improved subtitles, with quite a few lines in vs. Mechagodzilla making a bit more sense, plus the King Caesar song translated! I didn't notice any similar revelations in the Terror subtitles, which may just be proof of the previous DVD having good subs!

Even though the method of storage for the discs is similar to that of the Zatoichi set it feels like they figured out how to make these sleeves work better. It's much easier to remove and reinsert the discs into their holders.

[Dr Kain]

[Gwangi]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[H-Man]

Regarding Rodan, the U.S. version used to be available as a rental on YouTube until very recently. It's since been removed, so I'd bet you can kiss that version of the film goodbye too.

The Japanese version meanwhile currently exists as one of Toho's worst hi-def transfers.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Watched Son of Godzilla tonight with my nephew and so far this has been the least impressive transfer I've seen, only the red color palette seems to pop all the other colors look muted for some reason. Then again that could have been because I was watching on the older 4K TV in the living room and that's not as good as mine I don't think.

I didn't notice the splice lines as much as I did on Ghidorah or even Mothra vs Godzilla (the worst of the films so far) maybe that's because I had the film on the dubbed version so my eyes weren't constantly looking down at the bottom of the screen. I do think some cropping was in order though not because of the splice lines but because shortly after Godzilla rescues Minya from the Kamacuras, the one he lifts in the air to flip you can see the top of the sound stage they when he does that.

Tomorrow we're going to watch MG74 from the set so hopefully that has a decent transfer.

[lhb412]

^ I'd read beforehand that Toho's transfer of Son of Godzilla was especially muted, even taking into account the general mutedness of the rest of the transfers.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Its like the only colors that pop ae greens and reds everything else is just meh. You don't even get much detail on the suits like you do in the other movies. For example in Ghidorah and in Mothra vs Godzilla I saw bumps on the dorsal plates that I've never seen before. Occasional Kamacuras would get details like that in Son but for the most part because of the lack of contrast it was just meh.

I just hope when and if Toho gets around to doing UHD BD releases of these films they don't do a half assed release like these 2008 masters.

[lhb412]

I just spent upwards of an hour and a half enjoying the packaging on this thing: the introductory essay, the liner notes for the individual films, and the numerous pieces of newly commissioned art... I gotta say: 10 out of 10 for Crterion's presentation. Some of the individual pieces of art are stronger than others, but I enjoy the variety that comes with such an anthology approach. Despite the large size of the book it is actually very light and easy to handle, and the discs are very easy to remove and reinsert from their holders.

Never heard the story about Nakano establishing the design of Mechagodzilla by taking a tin Godzilla toy and hammering the surface into a collection of grooves and sharp corners!

[Benjamin Haines]