GODZILLA VS HEDORAH, EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP and GODZILLA

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm disappointed that Sea Monster won't include the Titra dub. Plus, since the prints are coming from Toho they're sure not to look as good as the Sony releases. I'll probably pick these DVDs up eventually since the SRP is so cheap but they're definitely not immediate must-buys for me since I have the Sony discs.

I do like the cover art. Japanese posters, hewing to the Classic Media structures, cheesy taglines, and including both the US and international English titles? No complaints there.

[jellydonut25]

[Gman2887]

[JimPV]

[Dr Kain]

I see nothing wrong with the picture quality there. They look better than the Sony DVDs.

BTW, I'm not referring to all of the Sony DVDs. Their MechaG one does look nice but suffers from god awful dubtitles (and an untranslated line). However, their Ebirah video quality is down right awful and the subtitles look faded too. Hedorah's video is way too dark at times (like AvP:R dark). Gigan looks fine though. Well, outside of the god awful stock footage.

[Heiseigodzilla425]

So I have a couple of thoughts:

1) The Covers - I can't say that they are my favorite covers, but they certainly aren't the worst. I'm not sure if it's mandated by Toho or not, but it seems like the majority of DVD/Blu-ray releases here are using the Japanese posters. Either way, I prefer the posters over original artwork (such as Sony's releases.) I'm not sure if I saw it on this forum or Facebook, but someone said that they didn't like how they looked like VHS covers. I actually kind of like that. Also, generally, I really don't care one way or the other about taglines, but I really do like how they incorporated the original US release titles into the taglines (On a side note, I find it interesting that the Sony release of Sea Monster was titled GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER but this release is going by the EBIRAH - HORROR OF THE DEEP title, did Toho change the international title?)

2) Dubs - I would really love to see the AIP/Titra dubs included in HEDORAH and EBIRAH. The Sci-Fi Japan article's comment that "Details are still being finalized..." is slightly vague, but I'm hoping its not too late for those extra dubs to be included. I might look into trying to contact someone at Kraken to see if they would consider adding those in. And while I certainly love extras, I realize that they aren't too common for Godzilla releases, since the releases don't sell well. I'd be fine with extra dubs and Japanese trailers, but would certainly welcome anything else they can include. Also, on a somewhat related topic, I really hope we won't be seeing any dubtitles.

3) The Transfers - I highly doubt there's any chance we'll ever see the Sony transfers ever released again in R1/RA. I doubt Sony took the time to send them to Toho once the rights lapsed. I know Toho's transfers aren't the best, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing their transfer for HEDORAH. Sony's HEDORAH transfer's contrast and brightness never really sat well with me anyway.

4) Has there been any mention of the other Showa titles that Sony previously owned? (The only others are just MECHAGODZILLA and SON OF GODZILLA, right?) I'm slightly hesitant to say (since I'm not familiar with Section23's or Kraken's track record), but it would nice if they could grab the other available titles.

Overall I am pleased with the news of these releases. While I was hoping for a bit more, these releases look like they'll meet my expectations. For $15 (possibly cheaper on Amazon), I'll certainly support these Blu-Rays.

[Gman2887]

Hedorah has always looked dark. I'm pretty sure that's how it was shot. I haven't watched vs. the Sea Monster in awhile, but I don't recall any problems with it. Guess I'll have to revisit it.

As for the subtitles... They're not top notch, but I can read them and seem close enough to the actual dialogue.

[Benjamin Haines]

I think the darkness on the Sony DVDs is really just a matter of the viewing device. Whenever I view their Hedorah or Gigan DVDs on a computer, like when I want to take screencaps, the nighttime scenes look so dark to me that they're practically indiscernible, like so:



But here's a photograph of my Daewoo TV playing that same shot of that Sony DVD with my Samsung DVD player:



I originally posted these pictures in one of the early weekly movie viewing threads on this board and camofhumdingers responded that it was an issue of picture calibration. He said that any computer or TV that isn't properly calibrated for watching DVDs or other TV-based media isn't going to look quite right, and that my TV's preset contrast was way too high. I respect his insight and I don't doubt for a second that he's much more knowledgeable about this than I am, but for me the bottom line is my personal viewing experience. I always prefer watching movies on my TV with my DVD player rather than on my laptop and Sony's Showa Godzilla DVDs have always looked fantastic to me. I've had this TV since 2004 and this DVD player since 2003 and I have no desire to switch to something that's ostensibly supposed to be better but which ultimately makes the viewing experience worse for me. Sony's Showa Godzilla DVDs are the best any Godzilla movies have ever looked on any home media, in my humble opinion.

[H-Man]

[TylerPreston20]

[GaryT]

[Destroysall]

Just saw the latest Sci-Fi Japan article and I must say I am kind of disappointed that the International dubs will be on all three releases.. I was hoping the AIP dubs would be resurrected.

[StevenScrivello]

These releases will not use DVD upscales, and the Media Blasters DESTROY ALL MONSTERS disc didn't either. There's absolutely no evidence to support that statement, and the linked article from SciFi Japan confirms the existence of remastered High Definition prints of all Godzilla films in Toho's vaults. Regardless of opinions on the quality of Toho's remasters, all twenty-eight Godzilla films exist in restored High Definition, and these new releases will make use of those, just like Media Blasters did.

The claim that these releases will use DVD upscales is just blatantly untrue and has absolutely no foundations. Ignore it.

[TylerPreston20]

[StevenScrivello]

[Benjamin Haines]

[briizilla]

[TylerPreston20]

[H-Man]

[TylerPreston20]

[Shonokin]

Speaking of the forum rules, I would like all of you to stop talking about your piracy. Seriously. We take piracy and bootlegs seriously. You put that crap on our forum then we have to take the hit for it.

Tyler, please remove your direct evidence of piracy (ie: screengrab of your files).
If you don't I will. If I do then you get banned.
Unlike others who are kindly taking the time to talk to you and then you argue endlessly with, I won't have any of it on this subject. If you argue with me you get banned. Is that clear? Not one word of talk back about this issue.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Ultra T-Rex]

[klen7]

i REALLY like that they put both titles on the case.

[GaryT]

Tyler, I'm sorry, but you don't understand how video mastering works. Because an SD master and and HD broadcast looked similar, you jump to the conclusion that the HD is upscaled. Companies master in HD and then downconvert for SD servicing needs. That's why the SD looks like the HD. The SD has been donconverted; the HD has not been upscaled. That's how mastering works in the real world of professional studios, broadcasters and video labels.