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

[rortiz77]

Well, technically, Criterion UK does not exist. Thanks to a deal with Sony Pictures International, it's Sony who releases select Criterion releases in UK directly. You can find more details here:



Nevertheless, I also don't understand why Sony does not create an official UK page for these releases.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dai]

[Benjamin Haines]

It's so awesome that English-speaking Godzilla fans in Europe are about to go from decades of slim pickings on home video to having the entire Showa Series on BRD in one fell swoop.

This is also big news for any English-speaking fans living in other Region B parts of the world. Godzilla fans in Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the Middle East will be able to import the UK set and play the discs on their BRD players. Hopefully word gets around to them.

[lhb412]

^It may be hard for American fans to get this, but the UK release of this set might just be the most significant development for Godzilla fans outside Japan in... I don't know? Ever?!

[rortiz77]

[Dai]

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

[H-Man]

Speaking of Godzilla and the UK, is a comprehensive article on the Big G and kaiju films on the Sceptred Isle.

[rortiz77]

[SeaHawk]

Yeah I'm glad the UK is getting a photocopy of the Criterion box but I'm more interested in finding that pre-cert VHS of Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster with the Cinema Shares title card in widescreen. Anyone have that?

[lhb412]

Have I mentioned how happy I am that all the Japanese trailers are going to be included? They contain clips of many unused effects sequences and takes. I imagine they'll all be clustered together on the extras desk as with the Zatoichi set.

[Benjamin Haines]

[rortiz77]

[lhb412]

I have to wonder... what if, months beforehand, it was leaked that the set would be original Japanese cuts only? I mean, it isn't exactly: we have two alternate cuts and several English audio tracks - but how would your reactions to the set's announcement have differed if you had been 'inoculated' thusly? What if the set was only Japanese versions?

[canofhumdingers]

Honestly? I’d be even less thrilled. It’s not the timing of the knowledge but the knowledge itself. I’ve wanted newly (and properly) restored copies of all of these movies (both Japanese and U.S. theatrical cuts) for a long time now. I’m glad to have what we have, and I’m glad to be getting what we’re getting. But it doesn’t change my desire for it to be done better. And that’s the kicker; it absolutely can be done better but some stupid guys in suits are preventing it!

Edit: and I think a lot of my personal frustration comes from the knowledge that these guys preventing this from happening now may be unwittingly preventing it from ever happening. The original film elements will not last forever and many of them are probably (certainly?) already in very rough shape. Preservation of old films is becoming a “now or never” issue very rapidly.

[william newell]

I'm hoping that the theory mentioned earlier turns out to be true, that with Toho looking to make inroads into the American market, they're holding off on releasing(or allowing to be released)a comprehensive box set including both Japanese and U.S. versions until they themselves are able to do so.

[SeaHawk]

Just to ease everyone's worries about the survival of Showa US versions, LoC has 35mm prints of the early AIP theatrical versions (Godzilla vs. The Thing, Atragon, Lost World of Sinbad, Frankenstein Conquers the World) and GKOTM. These are probably copyright deposit prints.

[H-Man]

Glad to hear that but too bad we'll never officially see those versions again.

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

Taking the long view on the subject; we're just seeing the continued implementation of something that became evident in the mid-90s. Then, after a period of unavailability in the US, Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Destroy All Monsters became available to TV stations in the United States again, only now the original AIP versions had been replaced by the International dubs provided by Toho.

I'm reminded of how Studio Ghibli is very protective over the international versions of their work. Several of their films had been dubbed previously, but once Disney licensed their catalog new dubs were commissioned for all the films. Even then, some of these English language versions of Ghibli films took a few liberties in regards to translation and have been tinkered with sense. Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky were given a lot of additional humorous dialogue, even in scenes where no one was talking in the Japanese version. These have been eliminated in further releases, apparently at the request of Ghibli. While we have a tremendous amount of nostalgia and love for the versions we grew up on, from Toho's perspective it actually makes a little bit of sense to clamp down and make sure their films have a consistency in the versions released internationally. Wasn't it once the common parlance of bibliophiles that dubious, sometimes bootleg versions of books would be referred to as "delinquent" versions? Would it confuse a new audience member to have Godzilla called "Gigantis" and for Mothra to be called "The Thing," but only sometimes? From that perspective, there's a logic to it (even though I strongly disagree with it), but what isn't logical is that some of these movies now have no English speaking versions available at all. It would be very interesting if Toho decided (at some point) to have their vintage films dubbed into English again. Wouldn't anyone else be curious to see that? Of course, you'd want a company that did a better job than the ones Toho has been relying on for the last few decades.

... hell, and if they decided to have a go at the '90s and '00s film's again I'd frankly like that. I've never even watched most of the Millenium dubs, which are some of the poorest quality dubs in the series.

I don't remember there being a similar outcry among fans when Media Blasters failed to include the original English language versions in their release of all those Toho genre films in the aughts? In that case, I suppose the lack of availability of those films meant that it was rare for there to be any nostalgic feelings towards those versions, and most fans (and I certainly include the teenaged me at the time) we're just super happy to have the films at all.

[John Schuermann]

[O.Supreme]

[Joseph Goodman]