Godzilla showa/heisei movies in 4K (in Japan...)

[Benjamin Haines]

Here's another YouTube upload of some of the Final Wars deleted scenes without a kid talking over the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvX5NK2dsaQ

- Godzilla blasting Anguirus, Rodan and King Shisa at the end of their Mt. Fuji battle (ray animation absent)
- Zilla attacking Godzilla in Sydney (early CGI featured in Japanese trailers and TV spots)
- Joe Fenech as the Arizona man getting ready to step on a spider when his trailer gets crushed by Kumonga
- Michael Croaker and Brad McMurray as the two Sydney guys getting ready to steal a car when Zilla spots and chases them but here they're saved at the last second when the Xilians teleport Zilla away


Also, there's an English-subtitled rip of The Return of Godzilla from Toho's new 4K disc out there on the web and it looks magnificent!

[Kailem]

It's kinda wild that after all this time, we finally get to see the deleted scenes I remember reading about on here more than *20 years* ago! The extended Gigan awakening scene with Kenji Sahara is also available online, though I can't remember where I saw it off-hand.

"Now we have confirmation that Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster has been remastered in 4K too! It'll screen in Japanese theaters this August. Megalon and G'84 will also play in July.

That's all of the Showa Godzilla movies done. Now Toho just needs to release them all on Japanese 4K disc so Criterion can eventually do the same in North America and the UK."

They saved the best for last!! Here's hoping Toho don't drag their heels releasing the rest on disc over there so Criterion can get the greenlight for western releases like you say. Though until that day, I'm happy with my current Criterion Blu-rays for the time being. I do hope if/when the time comes that we see a 4K release of King Kong vs Godzilla though that *that* print is maybe a little less dark in some scenes.

That's great to hear about the G'84 4K though. It was one of the first Godzilla movies I ever saw and played a large part in getting me into the franchise when I was little, so I've always had a big nostalgic connection to it, as well as always feeling like it was a little overshadowed by the films that followed it up. So a "sooner rather than later" Criterion release of that one would certainly be very welcome indeed!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ It will probably be at least another year before we get an English-subtitled disc release of G'84's 4K restoration, and there's no telling how long we'll be waiting for KKvsG, so check your private messages.

[Benjamin Haines]

I don't have Toho's 2023 Japanese 4K disc releases but I do have digital rips of all of the disc contents. Since all of the special features are in Japanese without English subtitles, I created a list of notes for each disc's special features last year to keep them organized. Here's my list of all of the special features on Toho's Godzilla vs. Biollante release and how they compare to Criterion's.

Toho's Biollante disc includes eleven featurettes and thirteen promos, of which Criterion's disc has six featurettes and twelve promos, with four of those featurettes being edited together into one on Criterion's release just as they were on the old Echo Bridge and Lionsgate discs.

I've listed these special features here in the same order as they're listed in the digital rips, with the same combination of Japanese and English letters and Arabic numerals. I'm not sure if this is the same order in which they're presented on Toho's disc.


ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 01 (43:27)
This is an interview with monster sculptor Fuyuki Shinada featuring several behind-the-scenes photos. This was recorded on September 22, 2023 for Toho's 4K disc release later that year. This is not included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 02 (1:44)
This is a newsreel titled "Godzilla Returns After 5 Years" which I think was made for Japanese television during the film's production. It includes behind-the-scenes footage, press conference footage, voiceover narration, and music unrelated to the movie, with no clips from the finished film. This is not included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 03 (6:11)
This is a dialogue-free compilation of six shots of raw footage by Koichi Kawakita's SFX crew, plus the unused stop-motion footage of Godzilla fighting Biollante, all set to music from the film's score. It opens with a screen of Japanese text (0:00 to 0:07) before proceeding to a far shot of an unmoving rose-form Biollante prop being set aflame and burning (0:07 to 0:43). It then cuts to a close-up shot of a rose-form prop in motion as it's consumed by fire (1:43 to 2:28), followed by another far shot of the unmoving rose-form prop burning (2:28 to 3:33). It then cuts to the close-up footage of the final-form Biollante prop roaring toward the sky behind flames, which was composited into the background of the rose-form Biollante's burning scene in the finished film (3:33 to 4:27). It then cuts to the close-up shot of the Godzilla head animatronic looking up and reacting to Biollante's spores returning from the sky without the visual effects of the spores composited into the footage (4:27 to 4:54), followed by the half shot of the Godzilla suit reacting without the visual effects (4:54 to 5:30). The featurette then concludes with the three unused shots of stop-motion animation (5:30 to 6:07), which are presented in their 37-second entirety (whereas the old making-of documentary only includes a 20-second edit of this stop-motion footage). This featurette is included on Criterion's release, listed as Deleted Special Effects, even though the stop-motion footage is really the only segment that fits that description, as the other shots are simply raw footage of shots that are included in the film. However, the version of this featurette on Criterion's release is different in several ways. Not only does it lack the music from the film's score and the opening screen of Japanese text, it actually has the first four shots arranged differently. It begins with the close-up shot of the moving rose-form Biollante prop burning (0:00 to 0:45), followed by the close-up of the final-form Biollante prop roaring (0:45 to 1:40), then the far shot of the unmoving rose-form prop being set aflame (1:41 to 3:17), then the other far shot of it burning (3:17 to 4:23), with the remaining shots of the Godzilla animatronic (4:39 to 5:06), the Godzilla suit (5:10 to 5:45) and the stop-motion footage (5:56 to 6:42) presented in the same order. Criterion's version includes quite a bit of additional blank film between most of the shots, hence its extended runtime of 6:45, but what's really interesting about this edit is, unless my eyes are deceiving me, the version on Criterion's release actually includes a few frames of unique footage that are missing from Toho's featurette, in three separate instances. The first two instances occur at the transition from the final-form Biollante roaring to the rose-form Biollante being set aflame. On Toho's disc, the shot of Biollante roaring ends as she opens her jaws one last time, but on Criterion's disc, the shot continues with Biollante clamping her jaws nearly all the way shut after that, and it ends with a single frame of Biollante's mouth fully closed with a person's arm holding an upside-down slate clapper which reads "121-47-2" in the middle of the frame. After a brief bit of blank film, the shot of rose-form Biollante being set aflame begins with four frames of footage that aren't on Toho's disc, with the camera zoomed out and the rose-form prop sitting far back in the water surrounded by a pair of small step-ladders, with a person's arm holding out a slate clapper which reads "121-49-1" as a bright light quickly fills the frames. The final instance of unique footage on Criterion's featurette is at the beginning of the first stop-motion shot. On Toho's disc, it cuts straight from the walking Godzilla suit to the stop-motion Godzilla prop standing still with his back toward the screen. On Criterion's disc, it cuts from the walking Godzilla suit to several seconds of blank film, and then before it gets to the start of that first stop-motion shot, it shows six frames of the stop-motion Godzilla prop with a pair of Biollante's vines affixed to him, and visible in the background is the out-of-focus head of a stop-motion animator. All of those frames are absent from the featurette on Toho's disc but they are there on Criterion's disc.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 04 (5:59)
This is an audio-only featurette, which I think might be a compilation of radio spots. There are two for Godzilla vs. Biollante and one for Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, with the latter having much less voiceover narration and no sound effects. They each play over a black background with an image of a movie poster and a bit of text. This is not included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 05 (65:41)
This is a series retrospective and behind-the-scenes promotional special called "Godzilla vs. the Monster Corps. - You Too Can Become Dr. Godzilla" that was originally released on VHS in Japan on December 27, 1989. I think it might have aired on Japanese television before the movie's December 16 theatrical release, because it seems to promote the movie as something that's still upcoming. This is not included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 06 (1:01)
This is one of four brief featurettes narrated by Koichi Kawakita showcasing concept maquettes. These were previously included on Toho's 1993 laserdisc and 2002 DVD and later included with English subtitles on the 2012 Echo Bridge and 2014 Lionsgate discs, for which they were compiled into one featurette titled Behind the Design. These four featurettes are included on Criterion's release, again compiled into one and titled Behind the Design. This segment focuses on the Super-X2 and it's the fourth part of the Behind the Design featurette on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 07 (0:37)
This is another Behind the Design segment, focusing on the rose form Biollante design used in the film. This is the third part of the Behind the Design featurette on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 08 (0:47)
This is another Behind the Design segment, focusing on an unused Biollante design. This is the second part of the Behind the Design featurette on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 09 (0:42)
This is another Behind the Design segment, focusing on an unused Biollante design. This is the first part of the Behind the Design featurette on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 10 (48:59)
This is The Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante, the same documentary previously included on Toho's 1993 laserdisc and 2002 DVD and later included with English subtitles on the 2012 Echo Bridge and 2014 Lionsgate discs. This documentary includes all of the movie's deleted scenes during its runtime. This is included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Bonus 11 (1:44)
This is another newsreel titled "Godzilla Appears In Osaka!!" which I think was also made for Japanese television during the film's production. It includes behind-the-scenes footage, voiceover narration, and music unrelated to the movie, with no clips from the finished film. This is not included on Criterion's release.



ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 01 (0:19)
This is one of two versions of the TV spot featuring Biollante's final form, ending with the "now showing nationwide in Toho cinemas" onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as TV Spot 5.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 02 (0:19)
This is one of two versions of the TV spot featuring Biollante's final form, ending with the "12.16 (Saturday) releasing nationwide in Toho cinemas" onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as TV Spot 4.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 03 (0:19)
This is one of three versions of the TV spot narrated by Demon Kogure, beginning with the "fully sold out" onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as TV Spot 3.

ゴジラVSビオランテTrailer 04 (0:19)
This is one of three versions of the TV spot narrated by Demon Kogure, beginning with the "now showing nationwide" onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as TV Spot 2.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 05 (0:19)
This is one of three versions of the TV spot narrated by Demon Kogure, beginning with the "12.16" onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as TV Spot 1.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 06 (2:37)
This is the "Godzilla's Path" teaser featuring footage from several prior Godzilla movie trailers. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 1.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 07 (2:04)
This is the textless version of the English-dubbed export trailer. For some reason, this is the only one of these trailers and TV spots that is not included on Criterion's release.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 08 (2:04)
This is the English-dubbed export trailer with English onscreen text. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 6.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 09 (2:04)
This is the main Japanese theatrical trailer. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 7.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 10 (1:05)
This is the longer teaser. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 5.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 11 (0:44)
This is the "Special News" teaser. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 4.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 12 (0:34)
This is the early teaser featuring partially colorized footage from the original 1954 film. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 3.

ゴジラVSビオランテ Trailer 13 (0:14)
This is the "Godzilla 2" teaser announcing Toho's story contest. This is included on Criterion's release, listed as Trailer 2.