Godzilla DVD Re-Releases Take 2

[TylerPreston20]

[klen7]

[TylerPreston20]

[jellydonut25]

[Benjamin Haines]

When I bought Criterion's 2-disc Godzilla DVD, it was the fourth copy of the Japanese version and the fifth copy of Godzilla: King of the Monsters that I owned and it was worth every penny. Both versions of the film have seriously never looked better on any home media release. It's such a joy seeing this stunning black-and-white photography so lovingly restored, devoid of the excess print damage that had plagued other releases over the years while still retaining the grain and texture that is natural of a film made in 1954. Positively gorgeous!

And the presentation of the film is just the start. In addition to a pair of commentaries by David Kalat, there are over two hours of bonus features on these discs. We've got interviews with Akira Takarada, Haruo Nakajima, the late Akira Ifukube (taken from Toho's Japanese DVD release), Tadao Sato, as well as Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai. Every one of these pieces is an absolute treat full of information and insight for us fans to pore over. I would have happily paid for a DVD of these interviews alone and they make this Godzilla release from Criterion one hell of a package.

One of my favorite things about Criterion's release compared to the Classic Media DVD from 2006 is the presentation of the subtitles. CM's subtitles were a garish yellow, requiring me to turn down the color on my TV, and the font they used was so stilted-looking that it made every instance of the lowercase letters 'lo' mash together and look like a lowercase letter 'b' which was frequently distracting. Criterion's subtitles are a plain white color to complement the film and presented in an easily readable font. Major props to them for getting that crucial component of the viewing experience right.

All that being said, I was and continue to be utterly baffled as to why they used a photo of the Kiryugoji Godzilla suit from Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) for the pop-up image in the interior packaging. It doesn't upset me and I'm not crying foul about it, I just think it's really, really weird that they did that. It's not so much the usage of the 2002 suit's image itself that I find puzzling, it's the fact that Criterion were the ones that did it and I can't imagine WHY they did. If this had happened on a release from Goodtimes or Sony or some other company that just puts out products for profit without much of a second thought, I would just chalk it up to negligence/ignorance on their part. But an esteemed and prestigious company like Criterion? Considering how much effort they clearly put into the film restoration and disc contents for this release, I don't believe for a second that the people involved were oblivious to the fact that they were using a photograph of a Godzilla suit made in 2002 and not the suit featured in the movie they were releasing. Then whenever anybody asked Criterion why they used that suit's photo through online platforms such as Facebook, they always either gave a wordy answer that avoided addressing the question itself or ignored the query altogether. That just raises even more questions! They chose to use a photo of the Kiryugoji suit in the packaging for G'54 and then they consciously avoided even acknowledging that they did that. Not "we used that suit because we thought it looked cool" or "we used that suit because Toho made us," just total silence, which suggests that the reason they used it is something they don't want people to know about, but what kind of reason could that possibly be? It's just so bizarre.

In any case, Criterion's Godzilla release is fantastic all-around and I can't recommend it enough. It's the definitive presentation of both versions of the film so I'll almost certainly be passing on Classic Media's upcoming re-release of King of the Monsters unless they load it up with some unlikely bonus content.

[lhb412]

^Criterion, as they often due, gave the responsibility of designing their package to an established designer/artist. They guy who did the Gojira packaging was comics legend Bill Sienkiewicz, and he used the 2002 suit on the inside simply because he liked the way it looked.

He liked the way it looked.

I thought it was a bit weird, but the explanation was entirely understandable: Criterion gave Bill free-reign because he's Bill Sienkiewicz, Bill used that pic of the '02 Godzilla because he liked it. It was the right pose he wanted, the right shape, whatever. He liked the way it looked. Criterion used it, no doubt patting themselves on the back for getting such a big name to design their neat packaging. End of story.

The fact that fans rose up in uproar instead of simply going 'huh, that's kind of weird,' did nothing but make the fans look like obsessive-compulsive weirdos. Honestly, just thinking about this incident makes grit my teeth, because this actually became news and reflects so badly on the fan community. A complete and utter embarrassment.

[XvGojira]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Hybrid Gojira]

^ no clue, but the reasoning you gave makes sense.

The GXMG suit inclusion is really weird but I've seen a fair share of weird kaiju DVD stuff, tho much of it was Gamera (Heisei Gamera on a Showa Gamera DVD). I'd take a quality movie release with the wrong suit over a crap release any day.

And I've said this before, but "bad" fans exist in every fandom. It's not just Godzilla. It's pretty much anywhere you have the ability to voice an opinion and usually the negative ones tend to be loud.

[MekaGojira3k]

I hope i didn't react too violently, but I do remember thinking it's pretty strange. (I think I likened it to putting Daniel Craig on the cover of a Dr. No blu-ray) Not that it matters, it's just packaging and the disc inside is superb.

[RaymondBurr]

Bill Sienkiewicz was commissioned to do the painting used for the packaging. In the painting you can't tell which "Godzilla" it is because of the point of view. Sienkiewicz wasn't in charge of the design the packaging itself, so he didn't have any influence over the images inside the package.

Who knows why Criterion used the Millenium Godzilla design on the inside of the packaging. Didn't Toho mandate use of the Millenium design on some other project? The details escape me at the moment, but I seem to recall hearing that about something, maybe related to IDW covers or something?

If you go back and read the "discussions" on Facebook with Criterion, it is pretty clear that they thought people were complaining about Bill Sienkiewicz's painting, when in reality, people were complaining about the photographic image of Millenium Godzilla.

[Gwangi]

Yes, the packaging was weird as well as evil. Those awful, awful people! Boycott the disk, you have not purchased it yet. The good of society depends on it!

[Benjamin Haines]

[Henry88]

Has anyone seen the prices on Amazon lately 116 dollars for a copy of Godzilla versus mecha Godzilla, I really hope someone picks up the old titles because the getting ridiculous.

[JordanGLC]

While the prices are still inflated, you can get Sony's Showa titles for much less than $116 on eBay.

While the packaging would never keep me from buying a quality disc, especially something as excellent as Criterion's Godzilla, their choice to use the Millennium image was just odd.

If they were to do a release of Burton's Batman, would they put in an image of Bale in the cowl? After all, it's still Batman, right?

If they were to do a release of The Great Escape, would they use an image of Steve McQueen from Bullitt? Steve McQueen is in The Great Escape, so that would be OK?

If they were to do a release of The Godfather, would they use an image of Pacino from The Godfather Part III, it's of him playing the same character he did in The Godfather, so no problem?

[lhb412]

[lhb412]

... and we deserve to be here.

[MekaGojira3k]

[lhb412]

Our lives have been a long Tales From the Darkside episode.

[KaiserGhidorah]

I believe you can still purchase digital copies of Son of Godzilla and G vs MG 74 on VUDU for 9.99.

[MouthForWar]

On the one hand, you'd think it would be the prime period to re-release these on Blu-Ray with the new movie coming out and what not, but am I the only one that feels like we should be hearing about soon (or now for that matter) it if it were to happen? I mean, May isn't all that far away.... Do you think that they're waiting to see how the new one does since the market for old Toku is so small?

Maybe I'm just being cynical. I'd be pretty shocked if we didn't get a lot of re-releases this year.

[jellydonut25]

I'll admit, I'm a touch concerned we haven't heard anything yet...you'd think cynical studios would at least want to confuse stupid people and trick them into buying their catalog releases.

[Reaper G]

[MekaGojira3k]

Not Godzilla, but
http://www.amazon.com/Sci-Fi-Creature-C ... e+classics

Mothra is being released in a cheap monster 4 pack.

[Benjamin Haines]