Talkback: Gorath

[Silver Kamen]

Discuss the film Gorath, also known as Suspicious Star Gorath.

[Reaper G]

I'd say that the Antarctic construction scene was maybe Tsuburaya's finest miniature work.

[Silver Kamen]

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

The large scale of the operation impressed me tons. The way those models all moved about is great. A lot was put into this movie and it shows.

[eabaker]

I love the amount of time spent with the doomed crew at the outset of the movie. It's its own little tragic movie-within-a-movie.

[lhb412]

I need to see it again (with a better copy), but from my first viewing a while back I had two conclusions: 1) The best of the 3 Honda 'space movies,' and 2) some of if not the greatest miniature work in a Toho film.

[Silver Kamen]

[Russzilla]

I haven't watched this movie in years. And when I say years, I mean back in the 1980s years. I need to find a copy of this and watch again.

[MouthForWar]

[MekaGojira3k]

I feel like this has some AMAZING MINIATURE WORK and then...nothing else. There are bits of the score that I dig, but nothing else in the film really does anything for me. :/

[Rodanex]

I still have never seen this one.

[Silver Kamen]

[Jinzo Ningen]

Someone needs to put this on Shout! Factory's radar mucho pronto. This one deserves a proper treatment with both versions (in correct aspect ratio) and from the best possible restoration/remaster currently available. Just hope the US language version could get a sonic cleaning too.

Shout! crew... do ya hear this?!? Pretty pretty please with a HUGE cherry on top!

[Silver Kamen]

[Jinzo Ningen]

Why? Because almost NO ONE on this side of the pond gives a rat's about tokusatsu, that's why. And the reasons behind why 7 and Q look the way they do has been exhaustively documented and commented on both here and elsewhere. I do not nor have I seen any releases from Discotek, but if they'd do a solid job of it without a price point that's out somewhere in the upper stratosphere then I'd be game, no question.

[Silver Kamen]

[Silver Kamen]

[Jinzo Ningen]

Classic Media, Sony releases petered out after all the Godzilla stuff was gone through shortly after the '98 film came out. BCI is dead in the water and Mill Creek has only re-issued stuff BCI had done previously and even then they didn't pump out things that BCI already had waiting in the wings (Silver Kamen). As for JPN (Generation Kikaida), they so far have only done Toei TV series and they haven't released anything since Inazuman was released a few years back.

I don't say Shout! are gods or anything, but these fellas seem not to look at things only from a financial perspective when obtaining rights for shows & movies pertaining to tokusatsu and daikaiju, although they certainly have an eye on fiscal returns. What's great about them is that these guys are bigtime fans of the genre and have enthusiastically gone after rights to stuff no one else would consider. If more companies want to jump into the kaiju DVD game then so much the better. In the end it's we fans who end up winning. I just hope the trend doesn't dry up and blow away as DVD releases trickle down as more and more people go to instant downlaods and streaming, neither of which I care for. I want a hardcopy that's clean and clear. Where I live it's impossible to get fast clean streaming and downloads too often look like compressed, pixelated crap. DVD and/or BLu-Ray are the way to go for me.

[H-Man]

Shout! made deals with MGM and Toei to release JOHNNY SOKKO and MESSAGE FROM SPACE. I can't imagine smaller, cheaper companies like Media Blasters, Mill Creek or Discotek would have bothered.

[Silver Kamen]

[Jinzo Ningen]

What I actually said was ALMOST no one, but I didn't mean to get sand under anyone's saddle blanket. Sorry if I opened up an ugly can of worms.

But you must admit that Shout! Factory has, by and large, not only released more than most other companies for this genre than most other outfits combined, AND they continue to release stuff we R1 folks here NEVER thought we'd see in the USA. Based on what I've read, it's pretty obvious that they'd have much rather have had full TBS participation and pristine source material to use for their "Q" and "7" releases, but thanks to the legal asshattery tied to the Chaiyo/TBS baloney they had to take what they could get. Who knows. perhaps one day in the future TBS will get this mess 100% straightened out once and for all and we'll see razor sharp Blu-Ray releases from the Ultra cannon with source materials direct from the TBS vaults WITH their full cooperation. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

[Silver Kamen]

[H-Man]

[kpa]

I like Shout! Factory a lot. Their subtitles on ULTRA Q were very hit-and-miss, but in general I've been pleased with their releases. From what I recall, they only dealt with MGM for JOHNNY SOKKO, and that's why those releases just used the old US transfers rather than any materials from Toei. Shout did look at the Toho Brenco titles -- which included GORATH -- but passed because MGM only has old pan&scan TV transfers of the US versions.

Discotek mainly focuses on anime but occasionally release live action films. They did Takashi Miike's YATTERMAN recently. They do very good work and their DVDs and Blu-rays are reasonably price (about the same range as Shout! Factory's titles).

Mill Creek has really stepped up over the past year or so. The BCI re-issues were done cheaply using the old BCI transfers, but more recently they licensed the Daimajin and Heisei Gamera films and did a great job. I found them a pleasure to work with... I suggested once that they dub the third Majin film since the other two had English dubs, and they went and did it with no further prodding from me. And when there was a problem with the subtitles on GAMERA 3 they immediately fixed it at their own expense. I'd love to see them to do a lot more tokusatsu releases.

I'd like to see VIZ Media and FUNimation do more because they generally do a great job with anime and live action titles.

[Silver Kamen]