Destroy All Monsters and Megalon DVD/Blu-Ray Discussion 2

[Benjamin Haines]

Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon had such a limited window of availability because Media Blasters didn't toe the line with Toho when it came to special features. In the case of Megalon, it was really just the leaked Oops Edition that became a price-gouged seller's item. The barebones DVD re-release from Media Blasters has been widely available for about two years now.

Godzilla vs. Biollante went out of print because Echo Bridge's licensing agreement with Miramax apparently didn't span a very long time. They're a budget release company and they offered Biollante at a budget price so it's not really surprising that they had a budget contract.

Third-party vendors selling out-of-print releases at inflated prices is a trend as old as capitalism but I feel like it really took hold in the kaiju home media scene toward the end of the previous decade, when Sony's rights to the five Showa Godzilla movies they licensed in 2004 finally expired. That was also around the time that Media Blasters' DVD releases of various Toho films from the Showa Era also started going out of print.

[Dr Kain]

So yes, the BD is indeed real. I just watched it a little while ago. It actually exists.

I've posted my review for the movie in the Megalon discussion, but the disc itself is pretty subpar. First off, the 5.1 audio is terrible to the point that I had to change it to 2.0 because it sounds like there is an echo going on. The video is not even that good as there is constantly some white lines going across the bottom of the screen. Thankfully, the subs cover it up a lot o the times, so you only see it half as many times as you would without them. They also did not alter the black levels, so the brightness it up too high. Overall, this disc is just a mess, but at least my Godzilla collection is finally complete. At least for now.

[John Schuermann]

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Legion]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

Kain - since you are in Englewood and I am in Colorado Springs, if you ever want to see how a surround mix is actually made, let me know. I am a film composer and sound designer by trade, so can show you the actual nuts and bolts of how a soundtrack is put together. You are always commenting on sound issues, so it may interest you to see (and hear) what actually goes into a sound mix.

I just recently finished the 5.1 mix and score for "The Creep Behind the Camera" (now making its rounds to LA Screamfest and other film festivals - www.creepfilm.com) and can show you how that was put together. Right now I am working on recreating the US cut of GHIDRAH by extracting the video from the German Blu-ray, correcting the black levels in Sony Vegas, then re-editing to match the U.S. cut frame by frame. I've pulled the audio from the Classic Media disc, and the different Japanese mixes from the Blu-ray and DVD versions. They are interesting to compare. In my studio I can mute individual tracks, so you can hear exactly what is going on in each channel by itself.

Since Colorado does not have much of a filmmaking industry, I split up my time by both working on film projects and as a consultant between the home theater and filmmaking industries. I regularly travel between CO and LA, working with studios and the various CE manufacturers to get them talking to and understanding each other, and much of that discussion has to do with Blu-ray and other delivery media.

So, if you are interested enough in this stuff to see what goes into a mix (even on a low-budget level), contact me through the jsmusicandsound website listed in my signature.

[DannyBeane]

Just received Megalon in the mail today. I'm checking it out now but I won't be able to watch the whole thing till Monday

[walshiam]

[Henry88]

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

[jellydonut25]

Hm. I thought the Megalon disc looked pretty damn good myself. But I was also EXHAUSTED when I threw it on yesterday and kinda dozed in and out during the middle third of the movie.

[lhb412]

Anybody seen Megalon in stores yet?

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[John Schuermann]

[Cookie]

No luck with the BD of Megalon at FYE. Any other place I might be able to find it without going the online route?

[Dr Kain]

So MB is selling the Megalon DVD with all of the bonus features at NDK for $20 a disc. They don't even come in a regular case with artwork, just a plastic clear CD case.

[Legion]

[Shokara]

[walshiam]

What's NDK?

[Baltan II]

I'm guessing , a Colorado convention going on this weekend. Interesting that MB has any copies of this DVD left at all when it sounded like all of them were already sold out during Chiller. How many of the things are still out there?!

[Dr Kain]