Kraken Releasing to put RETURN OF GODZILLA on Blu-Ray

[lhb412]

[swfreakjpb]

[Dai]

I finally got hold of this blu-ray after some delays with the place where I bought it. An interesting twist: unlike previous Kraken titles, this disc appears to be region-free. I've tested it for blu-ray zones A, B, and C, and it works on all of them.

One caveat; I bought it from an eBay seller, so I can't be 100% sure it's not a bootleg, but I've done a close comparison of the print quality on the cover and disc art compared to Kraken discs I bought direct from Amazon, and they look like a match. I'd say I'm 95% sure it's legit. The only difference I noticed is that the 1984 disc is in a regular case, whereas my copies of Ebirah and Gigan both use 'environmentally-friendly' cases with holes cut in the plastic in the shape of a recycling symbol. It's the same case brand though (Elite). Can anyone else confirm if their Godzilla 1984 comes in a case with no cut-outs?

[O.Supreme]

^My RoG BRD is in a solid case also...didn't even notice the others were the "environmentally friendly" ones. as if using slightly less plastic makes a difference

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dr Kain]

I hate the eco friendly cases as they feel cheap, easy to break, and the cover art often suffers from them. It always annoys me when someone is cheap and uses those type of cases, especially for BDs that cost in the $40+ range.

[Kailem]

[rortiz77]

[jellydonut25]

There's been a bit of complaining about this disc, the picture quality, the subtitling, etc etc etc...

So far, the only one I mostly agree with is the use of Goodbye Godzilla on the menu screen, but that's just more of a "WTF?!?!" than a serious complaint.

The text all over the screen is a problem with Toho's version of this film, not like Kraken just threw words everywhere. It's maybe a tad disappointing they subtitled overtop the Japanese text, but I can understand why they did it, and it's not like it's impossible to read.

It's a good release overall, more or less what I've come to expect from Kraken (solid but with no extras), and my only REAL complaint, which I know isn't Kraken's fault, is the lack of Godzilla 1985, which after re-watching the Japanese version just the other day, has definitely been solidified as my preferred version of the film. In fact, only Gojira and GRA stand out to me as movies with Americanizations where I prefer the Japanese cut...and KOTM is such a different film tonally, it's almost hard to say which one I prefer.

So, yeah...GO AMERICA!

[william newell]

Yeah, after watching this, I favor '85 as well. To me, the Japanese version is very much a typical giant monster flick. Monster shows up, battles mankind, and is defeated. Godzilla really doesn't have any specific reason to be. The U.S. cut, while basically the same, has Raymond Burr(God bless him!)making references that Godzilla is "searching for something." While we never find out just what the "something" is, it does keep us(well, me anyway)interested and wanting to find out. I don't know, it just seems like Godzilla is treated more like an actual character in this(the '85) version. Hope that all made some sort of sense...

Oh, and as to the Kraken release it's all right for what it is, but it does make me REALLY miss the Monsters HD version. That looked great!

[swfreakjpb]

Bought a new player so I could watch it. Now I own a Player no one will want cause there will be more and more releases it will not play. Only thing I have to nit pick is the English text over the Japanese, but that really is not a big deal. The picture looks fine to me. Beats my DVD copy put on the HD screen. That was awful. I guess I do not have an eye for critiquing such things. I have been happy with a tube screen and a low grade DVD player up until a year ago.

[Benjamin Haines]

I've had time to watch everything on Kraken's new bluray. For context, I've had Toho's Japanese DVD since 2006. That disc has no English subtitles but there used to be a great website called Tokyo Monsters that provided downloadable English subtitle scripts for every Godzilla movie.* Those scripts made it possible to watch the Japanese DVDs with English subtitles on a computer and to burn subtitled DVD-R copies for viewing on a TV set.

*and still does through the magic of archiving: https://web.archive.org/web/20061113094642/http://www.tokyomonsters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=36

That's how I've been watching The Return of Godzilla for the past decade. I've been looking forward to Kraken's new bluray so I can have an official release with English subtitles, but I was particularly excited to be able to finally watch this movie with its international English dub. I'd never heard this dub before and I was really curious about it, so I checked it out, and what did I find?

The dialogue in the international dub is about 90% identical to the old subtitles from Tokyo Monsters. In many cases it's word-for-word. In most others it's just barely different. Here's an example from 1:04:33 into the movie, the radio newscaster:

KRAKEN SUBTITLES:
"We have received word from the Godzilla Emergency Countermeasures group. Having reached land, Godzilla is currently in the Nagata area and headed toward Shinjuku. Residents, please evacuate per the instructions of your local authorities."

INTERNATIONAL DUB:
"According to Crisis Center Headquarters, Godziller is passing through Nagatako, making for Shinjuko. All inhabitants are being evacuated! All residents are to evacuate immediately!"

TOKYO MONSTERS SUBTITLES:
"According to the Crisis Command Headquarters, Godzilla is passing through Nagatacho, heading for Shinjuku! All inhabitants must evacuate! All residents must evacuate immediately!"


Here's another example, the Prime Minister's speech to the American and Soviet ambassadors:

KRAKEN SUBTITLES:
PM: "Our country adheres to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles: the non-possession, non-production, and non-introduction of nuclear weaponry. It is my wish to preserve that policy in this situation as well."
USSR: "That shows the egotism of your country! WE are the ones who had one of our subs sunk by Godzilla. We have the right to seek vengeance."
USA: "This is no time to be discussing principles!"
PM: "It is precisely because things have come to this that I am adamant regarding this. There is no such thing as "safe" nuclear weaponry. What's more, should we use them just once, it would destroy the balance of power that has made them a deterrent force. It would lead to the world's end. That is the nature of nuclear weapons. If you would call Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles "egotism," then so be it. However, is not the Soviets' and the Americans' desire to use nuclear weapons also egotism? Well, gentlemen? Then we're out of options. I will speak to both countries directly and serve as the final authority.

INTERNATIONAL DUB:
PM: "Let me state clearly what principles are involved for Japan. We neither possess, nor use nuclear weapons. That being the case, we cannot permit their use now. That's final."
USSR: "Your country's pride is at stake here! But Russia has already lost a valuable nuclear submarine to Godzilla! We have the right to destroy him!"
USA: "This is no time to be discussing principles!"
PM: "It is the right time when principles are at stake. We can't lose our heads because of a crisis. Besides, we have no proof nuclear weapons are going to work. But once we do use them, who can say when they'll be used again? We've lost any rights. You accuse us of acting out of national pride, and maybe we are guilty of that. But what of your attitude? What right do you have to say we have to follow you? You are being selfish too. I will agree to discuss it with your leaders, I'll talk to them personally, on our stand."

TOKYO MONSTERS SUBTITLES:
PM: "Let me state Japan's overall principles. We neither possess, nor use nuclear weapons. With that being said, we cannot permit their use now. That is final."
USSR: "Your country's pride is at stake! Russia has already lost a valuable nuclear sub to Godzilla! We have the right to destroy it!"
USA: (unsubtitled because he's speaking English)
PM: "No, it is the right time when principles are at stake. We cannot lose our heads because of this crisis. Besides, we have no proof that nuclear weapons will work. If we use them, who can say when they will be used again… You think that we are acting out of national pride and maybe we are… But what of your attitudes? What right do you have to say that we must follow you? Have you decided? I will personally speak with your leaders regarding our country's stand."


So yeah, mind officially blown. I've long wondered how the dialogue in the international dub is worded, and then it turns out I've basically been watching the movie with dubtitles all this time.

I am very happy with this new bluray from Kraken Releasing. The picture quality is the best I've ever seen this movie look. Watching it with the new subtitle script was quite a revelation for me and I'm glad to finally have the international dub now. It is too bad that the US version of the movie couldn't have been included but that was never an option unfortunately. This release may not have much in terms of extras but it is cool to have the trailers for four different Godzilla movies all on one disc.


(Edited in 2023 to check the "Do not automatically parse URLs" box and make my old rudimentary translation comparison readable again.)

[Dai]

This release may not have reference-quality levels of picture detail, but it's a massive upgrade over the non-anamorphic Universe Laser & Video DVD I had previously. The source print looks to have been in pretty good condition, and I didn't notice any distracting flaws in the transfer. As nice as it would be to have a detailed HD image that's sharp enough to shave with, in some ways a softer transfer for a catalogue title like this is more indicative of how it would have originally looked in cinemas.

[Kailem]

My copy just arrived a few minutes ago, and yep, it works on my Region B player! At last my Heisei collection is finally complete! Can't wait to finally watch it again after so many years. Nostalgia overload imminent!

[hanshotfirst1138]

God, I love being region-free .

[Benjamin Haines]

Bumping this thread to point out that Kraken's 2016 BRD & DVD releases of The Return of Godzilla now appear to be out of print just like their earlier Godzilla releases.

Amazon, Walmart, FYE and Best Buy all list them as either out of stock or only available from third-party sellers at inflated prices. Target, Barnes & Noble, Deep Discount and RightStuf no longer list them at all.

https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-1984-Blu-ray/dp/B01FZ8I7R4
https://www.amazon.com/The-Return-of-Godzilla/dp/B01FZ8PBHS

https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Return-of-Godzilla-Blu-ray/54652114
https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Return-of-Godzilla-DVD/54652115

https://www.fye.com/the-return-of-godzilla-pid.241880817.html

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/the-return-of-godzilla-blu-ray-1984/31535091
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/the-return-of-godzilla-dvd-1984/31534911


I guess this means that the rights to the first four Heisei Godzilla movies are all now back with Toho, with the rest of the Heisei films and half the Millennium Series set to join them by the end of this year. Hopefully they won't stay in limbo for too long. Maybe Legendary's next movie coming in March 2024 will compel some companies to take a look at the Godzilla flicks that Toho has available to license at that time.

[lhb412]

When Return of Godzilla and Biollante played in some US theaters last year they apparently had the Janus Films logo at the beginning.

I reckon that they're just waiting for the rights to expire for the rest of the Heisei and Millenium Films and eventually Janus/Criterion will be home of the majority of Godzilla in North America.

[Kailem]

As someone who only recently picked up Criterion's Showa collection, I'd honestly be pretty happy if they ultimately ended up getting the rights to all the Heisei and Millennium films and released those in similar kind of sets as well (at least if they also released them in the UK as they did with the Showa collection). Even more so if they also end up releasing some sort of "Ishiro Honda tokusatsu collection" too, given the news from a few months back that they'd gotten the rights to several more of his non-Godzilla Toho movies.

Still, I'm glad that Kraken's G'84 Blu-ray was region free as it meant I was able to import it when it came out. It would have sucked if after all the years it was MIA from any sort of home video release outside of Japan it'd been locked and unable to play anywhere else (same with the Biollante Blu-ray).

[Benjamin Haines]

I don't know what to make of what Janus/Criterion is doing. Even if they've acquired the North American theatrical rights to G'84 and Biollante, there's still no indication yet that they've acquired the home video, TV or streaming rights. Meanwhile, the Criterion Channel now has The Mysterians, Varan, Matango, Atragon, Dogora, Frankenstein vs. Baragon and Space Amoeba available to stream, and that's on top of Rodan and War of the Gargantuas which they apparently obtained at the same time as the Showa Godzilla films. While Criterion has made Rodan and WotG available to stream on HBO Max and TokuSHOUTsu for a long time now, the rest of those movies still haven't shown up on those platforms and there's no indication that Criterion has obtained the home video or theatrical rights to any of them.

It sure would be great if Criterion wanted to release a Heisei/Millennium Godzilla box set and a sci-fi films of Ishiro Honda box set but, even after they managed to bring all of the Showa Godzilla films together, those still seem like such pie-in-the-sky concepts.

[lhb412]

The thing about Criterion is that they are sitting on this massive library of films they have barely released (if at all), and they are constantly acquired new films. Then you add to that the fact that they are curating the films; parsing them out very deliberately with a limited new selection every month. They balance classics - high profile films sure to be pretty successful, and often very unknown, niche films that have little commercial prospects but they just want to put out there and get in the collection. I've seen people very upset that they don't simply release everything they have claim to, and I understand that frustration... but I also understand that they have their own logic for their slow drip of release, and that curation and choosness and deliberateness is a big part of what is made Criterion legendary for decades now.

Which is to say; I'm petty sure they're acquiring the majority of the Godzilla series, and probably other Honda genre films. Criterion has, in the past several years, turned towards box sets for things like this, so you have the consideration of what films are available to acquire, weather quality versions of those films are available at that time... there's just a lot of stuff to consider. It wouldn't surprise me if these releases happened anywhere between one year from now and five years from now.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ I want to believe.


I guess the real question is just how much time needs to pass before the notion of Godzilla: Tokyo SOS and Godzilla: Final Wars being part of the Criterion Collection no longer feels ridiculous. I don't think we're there yet.

[lhb412]

^ They're no more ridiculous than Jet Li getting amnesia after a bonk on the head and fighting cowboys in Once Upon a Time in China and America or the Brucesploitation flick that forgets it's a Brucesploitation fluck and becomes a sci-fi supervillian flick; Game of Death II - both in the collection!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ I'm thinking back to early 2005 when the first bootleg theater camrip of GFW hit the internet and broke the fandom, when vitriolic flame wars broke out here on MZ, when threads got locked and deleted, when several users were banned and many others self-exiled not just from this board but from the entire fandom. Imagine riding the TARDIS back to that time and posting here on MZ, "Hey everyone, just give it about 20 years and Godzilla: Final Wars will be added to the Criterion Collection."

[lhb412]

^ We live in wild times, but I suppose we don't appreciate how wild because we're older and have real stuff to worry about other than our hobbies!

[Kailem]

Yeah I'm also hopeful that with things like Rodan and War of the Gargantuas Criterion is playing the long game. I totally get the frustration of people who just wanted those released on Blu-ray from them already, but perhaps it was always something they had in mind when they acquired them to do an Ishiro Honda box set somewhere down the line, and that necessitated sitting on them for all this time?

I'm not familiar enough with Criterion to know if there's any sort of precedent for something like that, and for sure there's a fair amount of hopium involved here, but otherwise it just seems like a strange decision to pounce on so many more of those films recently if they don't have any plans for them whatsoever. So yeah, I'll certainly be keeping my fingers crossed and hope that if they *do* have something in the works along those lines, we don't have to wait another five years to see it.