Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Evan, naming bootleggers on MZ is against board rules. Please do not do this again.

To answer your question, the titles on the Toho trailer tape were used on the films. In the 1970s, Toho redited some of the films and included the as part of their various "Toho Champion Festivals" (collections of childrens' films, shows, and cartoons). Some of the edited versions were given new titles.

The re-edited MONSTER ZERO you named was released in 1971. GHIDRAH added the names of three monsters to the initial Japanese title to become GODZILLA-MOTHRA-KING GHIDORAH: THE GREATEST BATTLE ON EARTH that same year. DAM was re-released as GOJIRA DENGEKI TAISAKUSEN ( Very roughly "GODZILLA ELECTRIC BATTLE MASTERPIECE") in 1972. The only other "Champion Festival" retitling I can recall at the moment is for OPERATION LATITUDE ZERO, which became UNDERSEA OPERATION LATITUDE ZERO in 1974.

Everyone, I appreciate the support , but Meka Kaiju isn't worth getting too riled up about. It's clear from his posts in various threads he just a troll trying to cause problems (I mean, "it wasn't in the Compendium"? ).

The important thing is that between my post and musuko's I think we answered Evan's question, which is one of the reasons this board exists. And I don't think I did too badly on memory alone. I hope Evan will let us know if there's more info he's looking for.

Thanks again guys. Nice to know so many good people are watching my back.

This information is in 90% of Japanese books on Godzilla films, as well as several books on Toho/Japanese Fantasy movie posters -- in fact, I own a few of the reissue movie posters -- and this information has been common knowledge at least for twenty-four years (I first saw them in Japanese Godzilla books I bought in 1978 and 1979). KPA is VERY correct on this.

As for the rerelease titles, here are more transliteral translations -- previous ones were usually rendered by those with minimal Japanese language skills. The trailers were the same as the originals, except Toho added the new titles to them:

DAIKAIJU DAISENSO ("The Great Monster War" aka "Monster Zero") became KAIJU DAISENSO KINGU GIDORA TAI GOJIRA ("The Great Monster War: King Ghidorah tai Godzilla"). SAN DAIKAIJU CHIKYU SAIDAI-NO KESSEN ("Three Giant Monsters: The Greatest Battle On Earth" aka "Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster") became GOJIRA-MOSURA-KINGU GIDORA CHIKYU SAIDAI-NO KESSEN ("Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: The Greatest Battle On Earth"). KAIJU SOSHINGEKI ("Charging Attack of the Monsters" aka "Destroy All Monsters") became GOJIRA DENGEKI DAISAKUSEN ("Godzilla: Operation Blitzkreig"). IDO ZERO DAISAKUSEN ("Operation: Latitude Zero") became KAITEI DAISENSO IDO ZERO DAISAKUSEN ("Battle Beneath the Sea: Operation Latitude Zero").

And that's that!

August, the rerelease title of MZ really was "Kaiju Daisenso: Kingu Gidora tai Gojira", not the other way around. Check it out.

Give me a break for contributing, Muskogoji -- I made one incredibly MINOR error, from memory, at 3:30 am after a long day and a long night of work. I didn't know that was being scrutinized for a final grade! I still kicked ass in spite of one flub -- so, I want my no-prize, dammit!

What I was concerned with, were the English renderings, made by those with little or no Japanese skills -- let alone translation or writing experience -- and I don't know where the hell some of these English translations come from. Reading them gives them no credibility whatsoever -- talk about "lost in translation!"

If the translation sounds funny -- you need to render it (transliterate) into English that doesn't sound like it comes from Mars. These need to be considered before rendering in English for consumption by readers. KAIJU DAISENSO is literally MONSTER GREAT WAR, which doesn't sound too hot. THE GREAT MONSTER WAR sounds much better -- KAIJU SOSHINGEKI is still a hard one to render without sounding strange. CHARGE OF THE MONSTERS is close, but we leave out some nuance -- ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS would be better, but it's too simplistic and leaves out the "charge." The earliest rendering I have seen was in an issue of Japanese Fantasy Film Journal from 1970/1 which had ATTACK OF THE MARCHING MONSTERS... So, this one is still up for a definitive transliteration.

Once again, sorry I slipped up on ONE TINY FACT as I was falling asleep at the keyboard! ;p

In the words of the Colonial Commander: "And that's that!"