Sony Godzilla Blu Rays CONFIRMED!!

[KaiserGhidorah]

[Goji 84]

^ Yeah, the screening I saw in MA in 2003, and G-Fest in 2009 were both of Toho's subtitled print, which has the superior subtitles. These same subs are also on the R3 Chinese DVD release. Not sure if they're on the Madman R4 or not though.

[angilas]

[JimPV]

And the only title overlay that really peeves me is the one for GMK, 'cause the title animation is so terrific. Such a shame to cover that over with some cheese-ball white translation.

[jellydonut25]

Megaguirus is pretty annoying too. You've got the word buzzing around like an insect and such, and it's covered up by big white text.

[MouthForWar]

[Goji 84]

I think the weirdest thing about all of this is that it seems impossible to determine which are "official" Toho subs, and which aren't. Also the reemergence of the hybrid subs on GIGAN and EBIRAH may suggest that they're Toho's doing.

Like discussed earlier, Toho's subtitled prints of GMK don't have dubtitles, and these better subs have appeared on the R3 DVD. Why Toho didn't give Sony that same subtitle script is anyone's guess. The R3 of MEGAGUIRUS also apparently has better subs than the Sony, and it looks like they didn't appear on the recent BD, either. We have plenty of reason to worry that Sony will just reuse the dubtitle script for GMK. Like MFW said, all of the other Sony releases (including the re-releases of EBIRAH and GIGAN) feature the same dubtitles/hybrid subs seen on the old discs. Only VS. KING GHIDORAH/MOTHRA, and SPACE/DES got new translations, and that's because they never had ones to begin with on the old U.S. DVDs.

Normally it would be easy to point the finger and solely blame Sony for the dubtitles, but oddly enough the subs for TOKYO S.O.S', which people originally thought were dubtitles, are also seen on Toho's subtitled prints. Complete with "MechaG" in place of Kiryu, and everything. Ironically, X MECHAGODZILLA ended up getting one of the best translations (supposedly) of all the Sony's, with HEDORAH being a close second. There isn't any way to know if Toho is just reusing Sony's handy work, or if the dubtitles/hybrids are their doing.

[Dr Kain]

Doesn't it suck that we are part of a fandom nobody gives a crap about to the point that companies are too damn lazy to just properly subtitle the movies themselves?

[klen7]

At least our fandom gets wide domestic releases...

[MouthForWar]

Watched King Ghidorah and Destroyah tonight. I thought the movies looked just fine, MUCH better than I was expecting based on what the reaction has been. They aren't the best transfers ever, but perfectly serviceable Blu-Ray picture.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

[JimPV]

Watched vs. MechaGodzilla ('93) last night and was disappointed with the picture quality. Too dark, not particularly sharp, and has the same (incorrect) color-timing as the Sony R1 DVD. Vast majority of the time, looked no different than a SD picture. The main fun part about watching a movie you're familiar with on blu-ray is seeing (and hearing) all the detail, etc. you've been missing out on in SD, and seeing a familiar movie look sparkling. MechaGodzilla just looked drab. One of my favorite Heisei, too. Bummer...

[canofhumdingers]

Wait, I thought it was Tokyo SOS that had significantly different color timing between the US and Japanese home video releases....? I never got Sony's GvsMG '93 DVD because I had the madman disc...

[Hybrid Gojira]

Sounds like I'll be keeping my DVD collection (along with my boots). I value accurate subs.

[Dai]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but I can confirm that these discs are locked to Zone A. Between these, the likewise zone-locked Kraken releases and Criterion G'54, I definitely picked the right time to invest in a multi-zone player.

I've only watched Tokyo SOS in full so far. Nice, clean print, as you'd expect from a film of that age. The transfer is pretty soft during dialogue scenes, but a lot sharper during effects shots (aside from composited shots, which are also rather soft). In particular, the texture on Godzilla's skin and Mothra's fur is nice and sharp most of the time, and the miniature cityscapes look great. This makes me wonder if the softness elsewhere is down to the original lensing rather than the transfer.

I had a quick look at the end of KG and GvM. Since my DVDs are the uncut Madman releases, seeing the end credits chopped short on these two blu-rays is disappointing, especially for GvM. I love the melancholy note that most of the heisei movies end on, and cutting short that final refrain of Sacred Spring really diminishes the effect.

[Benjamin Haines]

[JimPV]

[Dr Kain]

WHich was weird because Toho's DVD for GxMG had a blue tint while Sony's did not.

[Benjamin Haines]

[canofhumdingers]

I remember seeing those screenshots before, but couldn't remember which was which. Any chance you've got a similar comparison for GvsMG '93?

And I have to wonder which color timing is closer to the original. One would assume Toho's but they've clearly demonstrated so much ineptitude and so little care for their own domestic releases that it's impossible to say which one is more accurate without having a print to compare. It's so easy to drastically alter the color pallette during the home video process. And given how good (and how much better than Toho's own transfers) some of the sony transfers have been, it's quite possible they got the more accurate color timing.

[Dr Kain]

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah - It was so nice watching this movie subtitled for the first time. There is a little translation error in the subs though as when they are looking at the dying Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea Mazaki says it is hard to imagine that this was the same creature to attack 10 years later, but the subtitles say 15 years. I guess they thought the line when he said "ju go" was supposed to be 15 instead of number 10. ARGH!! While I gave the movie a 7/10 last time I saw it, I might have to bump the score up to an 8 since there are a few things that work better now that can understand everything completely.

[DannyBeane]

One thing I've noticed with the Millenium blu rays, if you already have the films on DVD then don't waste your money unless you are a completionist. The jump in quality from DVD > Blu ray for specifically the Millenium films is barely noticeable to me. The Heisei films were a different matter though. They were huge improvements.

[Benjamin Haines]