Media Blasters released eight of Ishiro Honda's sci-fi films on DVD via their Tokyo Shock label from 2005 through 2007. It marked the first time that Toho classics like Atragon and Dogora were available uncut, widescreen and subtitled in North America. MB went on to release kaiju offerings from other studios such as Gamera the Brave and Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds. They eventually provided the long-awaited DVD & BRD upgrades for two classic Godzilla movies, Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon.
In most cases, Media Blasters ported over the contents from the existing Japanese DVD releases and subtitled them in English, including audio commentaries and other special features. Four of the Honda films that they released on DVD came with some very cool Toho-produced featurettes, specifically Varan, Matango, Latitude Zero and Space Amoeba, while select copies of Godzilla vs. Megalon also included an original featurette commissioned by MB.
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Varan (1958)
Media Blasters DVD - 2005
Lecture from Keizo Murase - 29:04
I'm not sure what the context is for this featurette. Based on the title, I would think that this workshop lecture from monster maker Keizo Murase was meant for a high school sculpting class but the only "student" present is Fuyuki Shinada, who previously crafted monster suits for the Gamera trilogy and GMK and is said here to have been studying under Murase for a year at this point.
Whatever the context, this featurette is just fascinating to watch as Murase shows Shinada and the documentary crew how to create a mold of Varan's uniquely textured skin. He uses hemp fiber in the plaster to reinforce the mold before coating it in latex.
About 12 minutes in, while the latex is drying on the skin mold, Murase discusses how he made Varan's spiky scales out of vinyl hose. He demonstrates how to cut it and then Shinada proceeds to cut his own hand.
After peeling off the finished skin mold, Murase has it painted with a water-based paint which is mixed with ammonia-diluted latex. After Varan's finished skin is applied to the back piece, Shinada applies the spiky scales.
As the documentary winds to a close, Murase brings out a sculpt of Varan's head. He reflects on how the movie was the first monster-molding project for which he was hired and how it set the course for his career.
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Matango (1963)
Media Blasters DVD - 2005
Interview with Teruyoshi Nakano - 27:39
Before he emerged as the director of special effects for Godzilla movies from 1971 through 1984, Teruyoshi Nakano spent more than a decade working as an assistant special effects director on numerous films under Eiji Tsuburaya, including Matango. This interview was recorded on September 8, 2003.
Nakano begins by discussing the frontal projection system and Tsuburaya's newly purchased Oxbury optical printer which they used extensively in the making of Matango. After about six minutes, he talks about how they created the mushroom-growing effects using technology similar to styrofoam.
About 12 minutes in, Nakano talks about Teizo Toshimitsu's contributions to the film's effects, including the big Matango suits and the makeup that made the actors look like they were turning into mushrooms. He reminisces about Hideyo Amamoto's performance, what lunch was like on the Toho lot, and the dilemma they faced about how to depict Kumi Mizuno's disfigurement. There are a lot of photos featured here.
After about 17 minutes, Nakano goes into how they made the derelict ship look old. He then describes the crew's process for making edible prop mushrooms using rice pastry ingredients day after day.
In the final stretch of the interview, Nakano describes how extensively Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya worked together on Matango, unlike most other Toho productions of that era, due to how much the cast interacted with the special effects on the set. He recalls how the Japanese film industry was already facing decline at that point against the rise of television but the filmmakers were flourishing with ambition and innovation.
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Latitude Zero (1969)
Media Blasters DVD - 2007
Crew Interviews with Seiji Tani, Teruyoshi Nakano, Koichi Kawakita and Motoyoshi Tomioka - 22:59
This documentary goes through a series of discussion topics as several crew members recount the making of Latitude Zero.
"Before they started shooting" kicks off with Seiji Tani, the film's chief assistant director, talking about the casting process and the decision to have the actors speak their lines in English but still shoot the film Japanese-style with the director in charge of production, rather than the American style of the producer being in charge. Teruyoshi Nakano, who once again served as assistant special effects director under Eiji Tsuburaya, recalls how Ishiro Honda tried the Hollywood method of shooting scenes with multiple cameras at once for a few days before deciding it was better to shoot each take with a single camera.
The subject moves to "Before the screenplay was completed" at 6:28. Tani says that the original script was written by Ted Sherdeman and later translated into Japanese for reference. Nakano doesn't mince words in describing how Shinichi Sekizawa reacted to that first draft.
"Then the shoot began" at 7:25 sees Tani describing disagreements between the Japanese and American sides of the production, particularly regarding a nude scene in the middle of the film and a stabbing scene toward the end.
At 12:09, the subject is "Trouble with Don Sharp" who was the Hollywood producer that arranged for the American actors to shoot Latitude Zero in Japan just before his company went bankrupt, leaving Toho to cover the movie's budget. Tani talks about the effect this had on the production as well as trouble with writer Warren Lewis.
The subject switches to "About the 2 teams, main feature and special effects" at 14:16. Nakano recalls how the American side didn’t understand why Toho used two separate crews to shoot the actors and the special effects. He provides an amusing anecdote about one of the American producers complaining that Japanese miniatures looked cheap and insisting that the real thing would look better. Nakano and the crew put that theory to the test! Koichi Kawakita chimes in here to talk about working on the movie's composite shots. Special effects cinematographer Motoyoshi Tomioka is also featured briefly.
The last four minutes of the featurette focus on Tani as he reminisces about Ishiro Honda. He mentions that they first worked together on Honda's 1959 baseball film Inao: Story of an Iron Arm and he describes how Honda made it possible for Tani to move up to working as a director for Tsuburaya Productions.
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Space Amoeba (1970)
Media Blasters DVD - 2006
Meet the Marine Animals Behind the Monsters - 8:52 total runtime
This is a delightful little featurette examining the three real-life marine animals upon which Kameba, Gezora and Ganime were based.
The most striking thing about this short documentary is that all three of these animals seem to be more fearsome in real life than their movie monster counterparts! The actual face of the matamata turtle (Chelus fimbriatus) looks much more monstrous than Kameba's face. A feeding demonstration with two kisslip cuttlefish (Sepia lycidas) individuals shows that they strike their tentacles out very quickly to snatch their prey. Gezora never does anything like that. The rubble crab (Daldorfia horrida) has arms and claws that are even bigger relative to its body than those of Ganime.
Although this is listed as one documentary, selecting it on the menu actually plays three separate featurettes in succession, one for each animal. The first two featurettes each have a runtime of 3:02 while the third runs for 2:48. The turtle was recorded at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo while the cuttlefish and the crab were recorded at the Ashizuri Ocean Aquarium in Kochi prefecture.
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Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Media Blasters DVD (“Oops Edition”) - 2012
The Art of Film Dubbing: An Interview with Ted Thomas - 30:26
Produced and Conducted by Steve Ryfle
Unlike the previous featurettes, which were ported from Toho’s Japanese DVD releases, this special feature was actually commissioned by Media Blasters for Godzilla vs. Megalon. Their original plan was to release Destroy All Monsters on DVD & BRD in October 2011 followed by Megalon in November 2011. However, not only did MB stick a boatload of unlicensed, Toho-owned photos in the galleries on those first-edition DAM discs, they also did the same for Megalon and even snuck in a transfer of Ed Godziszewski’s personal reel of movie trailers, most of which were for Toho movies that MB hadn’t licensed and a couple of which weren’t even for Toho films. Toho demanded that MB stop distributing those first-edition DAM discs and they also refused to approve the contents of Megalon, so that November 2011 release didn’t happen. Months later, Toho still hadn’t approved the Megalon contents so MB got their approval for a barebones DVD edition with just the dual-language movie and nothing else, which MB released in August 2012. Then, thanks to a in September 2012, MB ended up releasing a wave of Megalon DVDs to the public which did contain all of the extras that Toho never authorized. With indistinguishable packaging, these “Oops Edition” DVDs were from stores and online retailers for about a month before MB plugged the leak and the discs became rare collector’s items.
I know that a lot of people on this board have the “Oops Edition” of Godzilla vs. Megalon, but for those who don’t, here’s the interview with Ted Thomas via Dailymotion:
^ This version is actually more fully produced than the version on the “Oops Edition” DVD, which just plays the interview audio over a static screen with a photo of Ted Thomas and a bit of text. The version there on Dailymotion plays the interview audio over a series of movie clips and photos, more like the featurettes on Classic Media’s Godzilla DVDs. I don’t know if this is how Ryfle intended it or if some fan took it upon themselves to “finish” the featurette for Dailymotion but it does have a credit screen at the end with a 2011 copyright for Media Blasters and Happy Enterprises, which is the same production company name that Ryfle & Godziszewski used for the Classic Media featurettes. Additionally, this video was uploaded by a user named “marmosetman” which lists as an acting credit for Ryfle from a 1997 independent film called Former Child Star which also apparently featured Stuart Galbraith IV among its cast. Make of that what you will.
The interview itself is a captivating treat. Ted Thomas goes in-depth about his history of working in Hong Kong, how he got involved in film dubbing, his approach to voice acting and the volume of his work over the years. Thomas' company Axis International was commisioned to create the international English dubs for several of Toho's 1960s sci-fi films as well as the 1970s Godzilla movies and Daiei's Gamera vs. Barugon and Gamera vs. Gyaos. Among many characters, Thomas voiced the narrator and the emperor of Seatopia in Godzilla vs. Megalon and the sinister alien Kubota and the radio news broadcaster in Godzilla vs. Gigan. For anyone interested in learning about the history of adapting Asian films for Western audiences, this interview is a treasure trove.
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These five featurettes add up to just under two hours altogether. There's so much invaluable information here that comes straight from the people who worked on these films, providing their firsthand accounts of their roles in kaiju film history.
