Godzilla KOTM... from the Criterion Collection!?!?!

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

[O.Supreme]

[Dai]

[jellydonut25]

It's weird how it can almost be better than I'd 'feared' but then still really disappointing.

I don't understand the lack of at least international dubs for everything.
Aren't some of these things on the Criterion Channel streaming? They couldn't just put those over on the release? That's really disappointing. In recent years, Godzilla has definitely become a family-watch event for me. To not be able to do that with the best-looking version of the movie is a disappointment.
Losing the Frontier Missile Sequence and potentially losing Gigantis to time forever is a bummer.
The few biggest ones it really sucks to not have the dubs for are actually Gigan, Revenge and Hedorah for me...because I don't enjoy Hedorah quite enough to care about the AIP dub, plus I didn't grow up with it so I don't have that nostalgic attachment to it, PLUS I honestly don't think the two are all that wildly different....Revenge because it just seems like such an obvious inclusion...and Gigan because it's definitely the MOST obvious one they should include as there's no American-specific version of that movie.
Having to hang onto ALL my past releases in an oddball Frankenstein way is disappointing, and there's these weird little things that make it seem like Criterion is cutting corners...and given what some of my friends have said about their recent releases like Scanners and Mulholland Drive and Police Story, it seems like they're less easily absolved of blame here and that they ARE cutting some corners.

When the rumors first popped that there'd be NO dubs, this went from a must-buy to a probably not at all purchase...then the official press release comes out and...I dunno...it's something I might buy during one of their sales? I hate how their dumbass sales work, but I recognize it'd be cheaper than paying full price to not get what I would want for my favorite movie of all-time (Mothra vs. Godzilla), and to have to STILL reserve hard-drive space for fan restorations, and closet space for outdated formats that don't look as good.

To me, the GOOD is KKvsG Japanese version, some of the dubs, the artwork.
The bad is losing out on any of the US versions and having to still hang onto so many releases that just are flat-out not that good, because Criterion doesn't really go the EXTRA mile anymore. Because physical media is dead.

[Dr Kain]

Sorry, but I own enough Criterion releases (50 movies in fact) to call bullshit on them not going the extra mile. Their Detour release from a few month's ago is just top notch as is Blue Velvet. I have Scanners and I have no idea how anyone could call that release crap.

[Psycho Soldier]

I do share everyone else's concerns about the lack of dubs and English cuts, for the reasons Jelly and others have stated. I'd like to share all these movies with friends one day, and subtitled-only versions won't make that goal easy at times. On the other hand, I'm content with everything else. Most of the covers look awesome; the special features seem appealing; the movies should look and sound better than many of us have seen before. Assuming I don't get the set as a Christmas gift, I'll buy it at some point. The price seems a little more reasonable than I'd feared--not cheap enough to be a Day One purchase, but tolerable.

[Joseph Goodman]

[O.Supreme]

So I'm * guessing* at this point but, it seems reasonable to assume that Disc 1 will be pretty much the exact same as the Criterion BRD release from 2012, and discs 2-8 will have 2 films each, and contain any additional bonus features.

[Mac]

[Joseph Goodman]

[lhb412]

[Heiseigodzilla425]

[Gwangi]

[Mac]

[O.Supreme]

Dosen't reflect my opinion one way or the other...but I'm surprised, this didn't take long....

[Zack Metoyer]

So discs 2, 3, and 4 all contain THREE films each. That's right, zoom in to find the last disc is special features. Disgusting.

[lhb412]

^^ If you follow their YouTube you know what an enormous video/audiophile they are! The 4K version of that movie would be one of the biggest points of interest for them.

[lhb412]

[kiryugoji04]

This was never going to be a perfect set but I am still totally here for it. Honestly the only thing I found particularly surprising was the missing international dubs for the movies Kraken released. Given that there were ALWAYS going to be compromises made, this set is still pretty phenomenal and the plethora of extras, the inclusion of King Kong vs. Godzilla's Japanese, the artwork - oh my GOD the ARTWORK! - and so much more make this an incredible release all the same. Maybe not definitive for fans like us but I doubt many of us were going to get rid of all our old releases anyway, haha.

[GFan]

Wow, never thought I'd see the day where a U.S. company would/could release the entire Showa series in one set! I'll definitely be hanging on to my Kraken Blu-rays.. since it looks like Criterion probably used Toho's transfers on GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, HEDORAH and GIGAN.

REALLY surprised they went the way they did with the set artwork. I was expecting an orgy of original Japanese and international movie art all over the packaging. Not sure I like most of the covers, but it's kind of a cool approach I guess.

Could it be Classic Media destroyed UPA's materials for GIGANTIS, GODZILLA VS. THE THING, GHIDORAH and GODZILLA'S REVENGE when their rights expired? I prefer to watch the majority of the series in Japanese, but the lack of the previously available U.S. versions is really surprising. I would have loved to see an uncropped HD scan of the frontier missile sequence as a bonus feature!

[Joseph Goodman]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

I know there was some controversy about Bill Sienkiewicz's original cover for the Godzilla 1954 Blu-ray several years ago. What do y'all think about his redo?



I think it's the one of the most absolutely terrifying images of Godzilla I've ever seen! Fantastic.