Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Greetings All,

With the announcement of Criterion's Showa era Godzilla set, some fans are wondering about all the non-Godzilla Toho films. It appears Criterion already has Rodan and WotG, (as they are on Starz streaming service) could they be acquiring others as well? If so, what would you like to see? I've put together a list of 20 films I personally would like to see in a set. Of course some of these are quite problematic for various reasons and are not likely. Also, if 20 is too many, I've speculated *if* I had to trim 5, which would they be, could these sets be maybe 2 sets of 10? There's all sorts of variables. Some are obviously Kaiju films. Others are more sci-fi/horror themed. What are your thoughts?

Half Human 1955
Rodan 1956
The Mysterians 1957
Varan 1958
H-Man 1958
The Three Treasures 1959
Battle in Outer Space 1959
The Secret of Telegian 1959
The Human Vapor 1960
Mothra 1961
The Last War 1961
Gorath 1962
Matango 1963
Atragon 1963
Dogora 1964
War of the Gargantuas 1966
King Kong Escapes 1967
Latitude Zero 1969
Space Amoeba 1970
Last Days of Planet Earth 1974

I don't think Toho will license Half Human again, Prophesies of Nostradamus may be in a similar state of self-ban

Ah, okay. I understand. Thanks!

Well, the no brainer would a Rodan/War of the Gargantuas two-set. Yes, have the Japanese versions fine, but I would love to see a restored edition of "Rodan", the U.S. cut. When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, I don't recall that movie having any faded color scenes (or perhaps, I just did not notice it). And yes, please include the U.S version of WotG!

I would not mind having a three pack of the Toho features released by Brenco Pictures:
The Human Vapor
The Last War
Gorath
(both Japanese & U.S cuts)

And since "The Three Treasures" was mentioned, how about a Mifune/fantasy three-pack?
The Three Treasures
The Lost World of Sinbad (aka Samurai Pirate)
Princess from the Moon, which was shown on TCM not too long ago.

"The Lost World of Sinbad" has a special place in my heart. Though it is not a great movie, it did introduce me to Mifune (they did not play any Kurosawa features on the Million Dollar Movie back in the day!).

I don't think Rodan and WOTG have any similarities worth repeating the random 2-pack from Classic Media. If anything, they'll be in a set with other Honda kaiju films but definitely not together in one set.

If we’re gonna have Sinbad/Samurai Pirate I think its companion film, 1966’s undeservedly obscure Adventures in Kigan Castle, should be packed with it.

I would like to see films known to have rare international dubs, since that is pretty much the only material Toho is going to let US distributors use that can't be easily found on a pre-existing home video release.

I've narrowed it down to these:
The Three Treasures (the dub is also greatly shortened, only 122 minutes long, so maybe they don't approve it anymore)
Samurai Pirate
Adventure of Taklamakan

The Human Vapor, The Last War, Gorath and King Kong Escapes might have international dubs, but those films haven't fully reverted to Toho yet.

I'd also love a set that included these non-Honda Toho fantasy and sci-fi films. I've never seen many of them.

Basically a follow-up to Criterion's Godzilla set with Toho's other kaiju and sci-fi films, perhaps with special emphasis on the Honda-Tsuburaya collaborations. If they had to pair it down to a core selection of films (around 15 or so like the Godzilla set) I definitely feel those golden age films should be represented.

Toho Kingdom has genre listings for Godzilla, kaiju, sci-fi, etc. that come in handy when assessing this. Basically as many genre films Criterion could fit in a set would make me happy, even if it weren't all inclusive.

https://www.tohokingdom.com/genre_movie ... stings.htm