Jeff Krispow
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2001
- Messages
- 231
Just in case anyone cares, DVD Verdict has posted there review of the disc set here. And… amazingly enough… here noticed NO playback issues with his set. Imagine that. The only problem he noticed was that there were no subtitles for the voiceover actor interviews (which I have to agree with). Although he does make one mistake where he says the English dub storyline is identical to that of the Japanese, which it isn't by a longshot.
And here's another review I just found over from the folks at 10,000 Bullets here. Hmm another reviewer that gives the set a completely honest and fair review.
Oh, and let's not forget about IGN's review of the show here. Hmmm… also no playback issues. Interesting. On a especially telling notes, IGN also discusses the edited syndication versions we received here in the 1970s. Here's the excerpt:
One thing to remember, Erik -- When I wrote that the episodes were edited for their original syndication broadcasts, it doesn't necessary mean that those edits occured during SPEAKING segments. Many of the trims would have occurred during non-speaking segments -- for example, minor trims at the beginning or ends of a scene where there is essentially nothing "major" going on… such as where someone is walking into or out from a room, or maybe a long-shot of someone driving into the distance, of maybe some cuts to the longer fight sequences, or some of the more "excessive" (for the early 70s) rubber monster violence… whatever. A few seconds here and there begins adding up. I noted that in my review, but might not have made it clear enough.
A friend of mine used to have grey-market tapes he bought waaay back when, and the English soundtrack would suddenly cut over to Japanese every so often to fill in the blanks where there was no English-language audio. Just like this set does. I'm assuming that there were also inserts consisting solely of music and/or background sound also from the Japanese where it was missing from the English version(s). Again, just like this DVD set -- I noticed several instances where it was quite obvious that the music/background audio was re-inserted into the English track from the Japanese.
Sure, it's mildly annoying, but you can't pull audio that was never recorded out of thin air. The only way anybody can EVER know for sure 100% what was recorded for the original English syndicated versions -- and what wasn't -- would be to obtain Tsuburaya's English dub master copies and do a comparison. And Tsuburaya isn't letting ANYONE access those tracks, nor is it likely they'll ever use it themselves (their 1986 LD, 1994 reissue LD and 1999 DVD releases were Japanese-only, as was their April 2005 DVD megaset). So frankly, until such a time as Tsuburaya does use them -- or allow outside access to them -- it's pretty much a moot issue.
HOWEVER, that being said, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if the English soundtrack copies BCI did obtain were missing a few small bits of English here and there that WAS recorded… in fact, I'm certain of it. Again, since Tsuburaya has the originals locked away and unattainable, BCI had to make do with whatever old recordings they could find, mostly likely from private collections. And I'm sure most of these recordings were made over 30 years, back when the show was still syndicated.
So, no, I'm not at all surprised that a few seconds of English audio here or there ARE missing now, where they could previously be found on a grey market tape or bootleg created way back whenever. Just because a couple of us might have one English videotape version, doesn't necessarily mean that BCI had access to that exact same tape… or even knew of its existence. Or maybe they did, and the audio was even more problematic than another copy they had. Other considerations -- possibly their copy had deteriorated during a section… or the tape had crumpled… or it was just "not there" (old magnetic media). Another possibility (and one I've seen happen myself) -- possibly an English-track came from an episode copy originally recorded from a UHF station that had edited their own print even more (maybe due to damage, or maybe just to add more commercial time)? Who knows.
Another thing to take into consideration is this -- just because a company has the legal right to use or release a work doesn't mean they can just outright copy something off of a pre-existing version of the same work. In other words, even though BCI has to domestic rights to the series, they can't just grab the English-language soundtrack off an one of those pre-existing home video recording, unless they are able to obtain a release from that prior copyright holders, and possibly payments. It's a big mess no matter how you look at it.
Here's an example…
For example, there are a couple of instance where a former laserdisc producer I once knew pulled some of the soundtrack for a project off the then-recently-released legit CD soundtrack edition -- simply because he had it on hand, and was having problems getting better masters out of the studio vaults. The consequences had this been discovered at the time would have likely resulted in the LD project's immediate cancellation, followed by his firing and who knows what other legal repercussions. Yes, even though the LD was being released through the same studio that handled the CD release.
But if someone asked me right now to go out and find good-quality copies of all 39 English-language dubs -- knowing that the originals are locked away in Tokyo and unobtainable -- even with all the studio contacts and researchers I know, I wouldn't have the first clue even where to start. And even if I WERE lucky enough to find a full set, I honestly wouldn't know if another version existed out there somewhere with a 2 seconds of additional English dub for an episode. And I wouldn't even want to imagine how time-consuming it would be to go through multiple copies of 39 episodes checking to see if one of those copies might... just might be missing a second of dialogue.
Frankly, considering ALL the roadblocks that stood in BCI's way, I'm amazed the English-language dubs even exist at all in the state they do on these discs. But as most of you can likely see, things might not be as "quick and simple" as you may imagine them to be -- seemingly simply releases can be far more problematic to produce that you might imagine. (And this comes from personal behind-the-scenes experiences in the home video industry.)
And… that's basically it. Hope you folks don't mind, but my (working) fingers are totally dead, and I think I've said all I could ever possibly say about these English dubs, not to mention DVD production, compatibility testing, and all that. Doesn't DVD production on a 40-year-old foreign series sound like fun? Hope you all learned something… I may quiz you on it at some point…
Have a happy heatwave…
And here's another review I just found over from the folks at 10,000 Bullets here. Hmm another reviewer that gives the set a completely honest and fair review.
Oh, and let's not forget about IGN's review of the show here. Hmmm… also no playback issues. Interesting. On a especially telling notes, IGN also discusses the edited syndication versions we received here in the 1970s. Here's the excerpt:
One thing to remember, Erik -- When I wrote that the episodes were edited for their original syndication broadcasts, it doesn't necessary mean that those edits occured during SPEAKING segments. Many of the trims would have occurred during non-speaking segments -- for example, minor trims at the beginning or ends of a scene where there is essentially nothing "major" going on… such as where someone is walking into or out from a room, or maybe a long-shot of someone driving into the distance, of maybe some cuts to the longer fight sequences, or some of the more "excessive" (for the early 70s) rubber monster violence… whatever. A few seconds here and there begins adding up. I noted that in my review, but might not have made it clear enough.
A friend of mine used to have grey-market tapes he bought waaay back when, and the English soundtrack would suddenly cut over to Japanese every so often to fill in the blanks where there was no English-language audio. Just like this set does. I'm assuming that there were also inserts consisting solely of music and/or background sound also from the Japanese where it was missing from the English version(s). Again, just like this DVD set -- I noticed several instances where it was quite obvious that the music/background audio was re-inserted into the English track from the Japanese.
Sure, it's mildly annoying, but you can't pull audio that was never recorded out of thin air. The only way anybody can EVER know for sure 100% what was recorded for the original English syndicated versions -- and what wasn't -- would be to obtain Tsuburaya's English dub master copies and do a comparison. And Tsuburaya isn't letting ANYONE access those tracks, nor is it likely they'll ever use it themselves (their 1986 LD, 1994 reissue LD and 1999 DVD releases were Japanese-only, as was their April 2005 DVD megaset). So frankly, until such a time as Tsuburaya does use them -- or allow outside access to them -- it's pretty much a moot issue.
HOWEVER, that being said, I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if the English soundtrack copies BCI did obtain were missing a few small bits of English here and there that WAS recorded… in fact, I'm certain of it. Again, since Tsuburaya has the originals locked away and unattainable, BCI had to make do with whatever old recordings they could find, mostly likely from private collections. And I'm sure most of these recordings were made over 30 years, back when the show was still syndicated.
So, no, I'm not at all surprised that a few seconds of English audio here or there ARE missing now, where they could previously be found on a grey market tape or bootleg created way back whenever. Just because a couple of us might have one English videotape version, doesn't necessarily mean that BCI had access to that exact same tape… or even knew of its existence. Or maybe they did, and the audio was even more problematic than another copy they had. Other considerations -- possibly their copy had deteriorated during a section… or the tape had crumpled… or it was just "not there" (old magnetic media). Another possibility (and one I've seen happen myself) -- possibly an English-track came from an episode copy originally recorded from a UHF station that had edited their own print even more (maybe due to damage, or maybe just to add more commercial time)? Who knows.
Another thing to take into consideration is this -- just because a company has the legal right to use or release a work doesn't mean they can just outright copy something off of a pre-existing version of the same work. In other words, even though BCI has to domestic rights to the series, they can't just grab the English-language soundtrack off an one of those pre-existing home video recording, unless they are able to obtain a release from that prior copyright holders, and possibly payments. It's a big mess no matter how you look at it.
Here's an example…
For example, there are a couple of instance where a former laserdisc producer I once knew pulled some of the soundtrack for a project off the then-recently-released legit CD soundtrack edition -- simply because he had it on hand, and was having problems getting better masters out of the studio vaults. The consequences had this been discovered at the time would have likely resulted in the LD project's immediate cancellation, followed by his firing and who knows what other legal repercussions. Yes, even though the LD was being released through the same studio that handled the CD release.
But if someone asked me right now to go out and find good-quality copies of all 39 English-language dubs -- knowing that the originals are locked away in Tokyo and unobtainable -- even with all the studio contacts and researchers I know, I wouldn't have the first clue even where to start. And even if I WERE lucky enough to find a full set, I honestly wouldn't know if another version existed out there somewhere with a 2 seconds of additional English dub for an episode. And I wouldn't even want to imagine how time-consuming it would be to go through multiple copies of 39 episodes checking to see if one of those copies might... just might be missing a second of dialogue.
Frankly, considering ALL the roadblocks that stood in BCI's way, I'm amazed the English-language dubs even exist at all in the state they do on these discs. But as most of you can likely see, things might not be as "quick and simple" as you may imagine them to be -- seemingly simply releases can be far more problematic to produce that you might imagine. (And this comes from personal behind-the-scenes experiences in the home video industry.)
And… that's basically it. Hope you folks don't mind, but my (working) fingers are totally dead, and I think I've said all I could ever possibly say about these English dubs, not to mention DVD production, compatibility testing, and all that. Doesn't DVD production on a 40-year-old foreign series sound like fun? Hope you all learned something… I may quiz you on it at some point…
Have a happy heatwave…
