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

[O.Supreme]

I dont know how many times I've retreaded this sentiment in this thread. Go to the Voltron.com forums. Those people have FELT the pain you are feeling now for the past 3 years! Maybe we all can get together and start a support group or something.

PABMBDAC (People Abused By Media Blasters Delays And Cancellations)

[Mac]

[MouthForWar]

[Kaiju Nexus]

[SeaHawk]

[Barnzilla]

[jellydonut25]

[king_ghidorah]

[canofhumdingers]

[KaiserGhidorah]

[Goji 84]

[Joseph Goodman]

Didn't Ed actually come out and say in the last thread that his print didn't actually have to problems heard on the disc, and that something must have gone awry in transferring the sound from it?

[John Schuermann]

Yes, he did. The problem evidently happened during the transfer.

I did the AIP dub restoration that circulated around when the original ADV DVD came out around 10 years ago. I still have those elements. I actually have even better elements available to me now so I could make an even better copy. Instead of pulling the AIP dub in whole, I actually crossfaded to the Japanese elements whenever there was no dialogue present, which ended up being a good 20% or more of the film.

Perhaps when I get done working on HALCYON I will take another stab at a restoration. However, I expect Barnzilla to re-imburse me for my time

[Goji 84]

[John Schuermann]

[Goji 84]

[John Schuermann]

It's sourced from a film print in good shape, I don't remember if it was 16 or 35mm. It came from one of the "notable" people in this Godzilla fandom who sent it to me as a gesture of appreciation for the work I did on the ADV release. I don't know if they want me to share their info, so for now I plead the fifth.

[Barnzilla]

[jellydonut25]

[brianc]

[Benjamin Haines]

[John Schuermann]

I finally watched DAM all the way through with the AIP dub just this last week. As everyone knows, the first 5 minutes are pretty horrible and distracting. After that, it settles down but there are segments of the dub marred by pretty significant pops and clicks. A few scenes don't sync up exactly, and there are some speed issues as well. Much of this is simply due to the fact that 16mm is the source, and it is only going to sound so good. They average 16mm projector does not have the same rock-solid sync of most 35mm projectors.

Barnzilla has something of a point - Media Blasters "should" have noticed the truly horrible distortion at the beginning of the film and corrected it.

HOWEVER.

The AIP dub was considered a bonus feature that they were under no obligation to supply.

I can easily imagine that the disc producer assumed that the distortion came from the source print itself, because it does sound like the type of noise one often gets from 16mm sourced audio elements (even the superior elements I have suffer from some of the same type of distortion from time to time).

The realities of production deadlines and budgets sometimes dictate that compromises need to be made.

A true and complete restoration of sound and film elements takes a great deal of time and money, which I can't imagine any company would undertake for a title that they can only expect to sell X number of copies.

Barnzilla - when you say "no excuses," it sounds like a demand that MB make up for this terrible personal injustice they visited on you and the entire Godzilla fandom. I agree that they should have looked into why the sound was so messed up at the beginning of the film. However, don't you agree there is a limit to the time and money one can spend on a project before it no longer becomes financially viable? If there was no way the MB could afford a new sound transfer, or if it was impossible to get a new transfer done in time to get the disc master to the duplication facility when they had booked it, does it at least make this understandable? Wouldn't it make more sense to say:

I am disappointed in the quality of the dub. However, I am grateful that MB went through the trouble to find these elements and include them as a bonus feature. I wish they had done a better job QC'ing those elements before releasing the disc, and if they were aware of the problem and just said "it's good enough" when they had the time and resources to correct it, I am unhappy with Media Blasters as a company. However, if they were running up against time and money concerns, I can understand why this happened while at the same time be disappointed. Since I don't know the particular circumstances around this problem, I can't with authority state that it's a travesty against all mankind and condemn without having all of the facts.


Does that sound reasonable to you? And, if not, please pick out the flaws in the above statement. I would love to understand your reasoning.

[BleepBloop]

I have two questions about the Destroy All Monsters DVD:

1. Is it worth getting?

2. What did Toho take issue with for this release?

[lhb412]

^The DAM release is the best copy of the film available and has a lot of extras. Yes, it's a must-buy.

MB included extras that weren't pre-approved by Toho, who are notoriously anal about such things.

[Barnzilla]